Howard Schwartz > wrote
>My intention was broader than wine and fine, but that's good too. In your
>example, why are tomatoes and basil a good >pairing? And can that
>information be used to suggest other pairings that one might not have
>thought of otherwise.

There is a lot of this going on at the moment Howard. You may have heard of
a movement in world cuisine called Molecular Gastronomy. This can be
described as "Science in the Kitchen" wherby chefs and scientists are
working collabratively to identify on a molecular level what flavours work
together and why. This is happening in a lot of places, some of the most
well known are The Fat Duck of chef Heston Blumenthal in the UK or Ferran
Adria's El Bulli in Spain. A good overview of the subject can be found here
www.discoverychannel.co.uk/kitchen/index.htm
In Melbourne Australia we have George Calombaris' Reserve Restaurant which
is almost entirely devoted to MG and Fenix, the restaurant of George's
mentor Raymond Capaldi which incorporates elements of MG into a more
traditional fine diner serving Mod Oz.
Some of the food pairings are quite unusual (carpaccio of beef with
raspberry sorbet for example) but work well. A lot of it is also new ways to
present old combinations. I have had at Reserve an oyster in frozen
Champagne foam. A bottle of Mumm has a couple of leaves of gelatine
dissolved in it and it is then gassed & frozen inside a soda syphon. When
discharged from the syphon the champagne is a thick glossy white foam which
is served in a shot glass with a pacific oyster on top. This is a
magnificent (and classic) combination as all who love Oysters and Champagne
can testify. I've also had risotto with an olive oil ice cube, where an ice
cube tray is place in the freezer long enough to form a shell, a hole is
knocked into the top of the ice cube and the water is tipped out leaving
only a shell which is then filled with an unfiltered Extra vigin olive oil,
a drop of water is placed on the hole and the tray is completely frozen. The
cubes are then turned out & served on hot risotto which melts the water
(less than a teaspoon in all) very quickly leaving the very cold oil to
gradually ooze down over the risotto and be incorporated into it.
There is a lot of this in MG using temperature as another component in
layering complexity into the dish, it also deals with our expectations
before we taste (what we see, smell and what our experience tells us to
expect) there is an interesting example of a wine tasting on the website I
referenced above, I reproduce it here -

"If you taste a wine you will be influenced by its colour. Indeed a recent
experiment fooled all the experienced wine tasters. In this experiment the
tasters were asked first to taste 6 white wines and describe the flavour.
They described the flavours using words like "refreshing", "strawberry",
"citrus", etc, to identify different notes in the aroma - these are words
frequently used to describe white wines. Then when asked to identify the
wines the tasters were able to correctly identify the grape and the region -
some even giving the exact vineyard and vintage.

Next a trick was played - the same 6 wines were served again, but this time
with a little inert red food dye added. This time the tasters used
completely different language to describe the flavour - "woody", "tannic",
"powerful", etc. all words associated with red wines. Then when asked to
identify the wines all plumped for red grape varieties and a few ventured
opinions on actual wines they believed they had just tasted.

However, when the experiment was repeated again - this time with the tasters
blindfolded - they once again got the answers correct. "

I think that food pairings (wine being a food, albeit a very diverse one)
all apply the same principles which have been expounded on well in the
earlier thread (and the many threads that have dealt with food & wine
matching here) essentially looking to balance the flavours and trying to
gain a synergy where they become more than the sum of their parts. I think
that what's happening here with MG can potentially have an impact on wine
and our understanding of the flavours involved. I imagine a day in the
future where I may buy a wine by reading the complex chemical composition
instead of the tasting notes.

Cheers Andrew

Mike Tommasi wrote:
> The major fault with this meal is that, paradoxically, despite the
> wide spectrum of sensations, after a promising debut one settles
> quickly into monotony.

Yes, I think dealing with sensory-specific satiety is one of the
higher level concepts orchestrating concepts within a meal.

On Sun, 23 Jan 2005 04:28:12 GMT, Andrew Goldfinch wrote:

>
> There is a lot of this going on at the moment Howard. You may have heard of
> a movement in world cuisine called Molecular Gastronomy. This can be
> described as "Science in the Kitchen" wherby chefs and scientists are
> working collabratively to identify on a molecular level what flavours work
> together and why. This is happening in a lot of places, some of the most
> well known are The Fat Duck of chef Heston Blumenthal in the UK

If you're interested in this, Blumethal writes a column each week in the
Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Typing Heston Blumenthal into the search box will produce all his most
recent articles. They're always fascinating.
--
Cliff Laine, The Old Lard Factory, Lancaster http://www.loobynet.com
* remove any trace of rudeness before you reply *
---------------------------------------------------------
Best Eurovision Song Title So Far:

"Vsichki Drehi Mi Prechat" - All Clothes are an Obstacle to Me
(Bulgaria)

Mike Tomassi Wrote

> Hi Andrew
>
> I have spoken about this with Herve This, author of the definitive
> work on this subject, and a very enjoyable conferencier... the guy is
> a riot.
>
> Hey, the results in the kitchen can be variable. Here is a review I
> wrote about a dinner at El Bulli two summers ago. I just translated it
> into english, so there may be some franglais left over...
>
> Read the whole thing if you can... ;-)
>

Huge Snip

> it is enough to make you vomit (the theme of the evening). And the
> coconut
> only makes things worse.
>

Hi Mike
Well it certainly sounded like a disapointing evening! (I did read the whole
thing ) Whilst I am sure it is difficult to maintain the degree of
innovation that El Bulli is known for it is dinner the customers come for. I
would assume (and consistently tell less adventrous friends) you could
happily try dishes or cuts of meat (or offal etc.) that you may not normally
eat when you have a 3 star chef cooking. (or even a 1 star for that matter).
Vomit is not a descriptor I would ever want to see in my notes of a dinner I
had been anticipating (or any dinner really) When technology intrudes and a
tradesman tries to serve us up more flash than substance it will always be
ultimately unsatisfying. You only have to look at Hollywood, the great
action set pieces and CGI animation don't make a great movie, insightful
well written dialogue, delivered skillfully does. At least I can cross El
Bulli off my list of restaurants to visit when I holiday in Europe.
Excellent review BTW.
Cheers Andrew