In Chicago there is a restaurant called Alinea. I have been there with my family once and it is a wild experience. The desserts though were incredible. One being an edible toffee helium balloon and a dissected cheesecake. I highly recommend going if you haven’t.
Edible Beef Tallow Candle
There are lots of weird recipes in the ever evolving world of molecular gastronomy. One example that I found that may be practical are edible candles. In a restaurant in London, England, the bread is served with a candle made from beef fat, gelatin, spices, and vinegar. When guests first …
Transparent Pumpkin Pie
I first came across a YouTube tutorial for making transparent pumpkin pie in 2018. The idea was fascinating, but I still have yet to try it. Since it is the season of all things pumpkin spice, I decided it was a good recipe to share this season. It is a …
Blueberry fish eggs
Maybe not the craziest molecular gastronomy recipe ever, but I found a recipe for blueberry caviar that sounds good. To make blueberry caviar blueberries, sugar, and white wine are mixed over low heat for an hour. It is then drained through a muslin cloth overnight. The resulting mixture is then …
Ultra Thin Shrimp Taco
The strangest food I found created with molecular gastronomy techniques is the miniature shrimp taco. It is simple to create by layering ultra thin edible film on top of itself using egg wash as a glue to hold the edible film together and topping it off with nori flakes, shrimp …
Edible Helium Balloon
Chef Mike Bagale of the Chicago restaurant Alinea, which has three Michelin stars, is credited with creating the edible helium balloon initially. The technique is rather easy to follow: essentially, he makes an edible helium balloon by mixing a lot of flavorful fruit essences with inverted sugars, then he pumps …
Some Real Funky Cheese
Casu Marzu is a strange, Italian cheese. It’s a cultural dish that originates from Sardinia. Made from sheep’s milk and a unique aging process. Instead of letting the cheese sit in an enclosed space to become more flavorful, Casu Marzu is left outside to be swarmed with piophila casei, cheese …
Deconstructed Buffalo Wings?
One of the greatest pleasures in life is a buffalo chicken wing dipped in a blue cheese dressing with some celery on the side. I still remember trying this now favorite dish of mine at a restaurant in Issaquah, Washington called the Sunset Alehouse. The memories that I associate with …
Molecular Gastronomy-Glass potato chips
After doing some research on molecular gastronomy recipes the most unique recipe I found was one on glass potato chips. These potato chips look transparent and shiny while still maintaining the same shape, texture, and shape of a regular potato chip. To make a glass potato chip you first …
Ice cream but for winter
A recipe I found involving the use of molecular gastronomy is maple flavored “hot ice cream” using methyl cellulose extracted from plant cellulose. Methyl cellulose is unique as its structure has both hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions. In warmer temperatures, the hydrophobic regions are more pronounced, and it gels up due …
My Relationship with Food
Food consumption can be influenced by a variety of factors. For as much as food is part of a person’s life, I feel like there is not enough conversation about the relationship people have with food. Since we interact with food so much, disordered eating can become common and not …
How Food has Changed to me as I have Grown
When I was a kid I mindlessly ate everything given to me. Like many kids I was picky about certain foods, but I did not give much thought into what I was eating. For my entire life I’ve felt a strong personal responsibility for all that is wrong in this …
Does food always taste the same?
I have always been a picky eater, which is something that I thought would never change. Coming to college I never thought about all of the things in my life that would change that would prove to be a challenge. Part of the reason for this change was the food …
The Event that Changed Me
The irony of the event that shaped my life and made me the person that I am today is the fact that I do not remember it. In the spring of 2005, I was born premature and underweight. I luckily had a twin sister who was in the same boat …
Food Makes Up You
You are what you eat. A saying that’s been around for a very long time. That doesn’t mean if you eat exclusively burgers, you’ll become one. What does it mean then? I believe it has to do with your upbringing. The many things you eat can explain social standing, places …
You Are What You Eat
I’m Vietnamese by origin. Our country is famous for its agriculture such as rice export. Further notice, according to a report from the Office of Agricultural Affairs, Hanoi, the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) stated that during the first 8 months of 2023, Vietnam has …
Journey with Cooking
When I was young both my parents worked late and we rarely ate dinner together as a family. When they did make meals they would make simple meals like spaghetti, chili, hamburgers, and chicken. These were almost always pre-packaged or frozen and Since we rarely ate dinner together a lot …
Food – An image of the soul
The way a person consumes food can reveal a lot about their personality, interests and aversions. I am no exception, and my consumption of food has changed throughout my childhood. I was born into a low-middle class household, and that meant we didn’t have much money to spend on food. …
I’m Not Picky.
I’m not a picky eater. This hill is one that, up until recently, I was willing to die on. I grew up being the kid that ordered off of the grownup menu, not because of the larger portion sizes, but because there was nothing I wanted to eat less than …
I am what I eat
A lot can be learned from someone based on the way they eat. My eating habits have been slowly changing since I was young. All of these different habits and reasons for them have made me into the person I am today. When I was young, my dad …