A short while ago after joining the UK food bloggers association I was emailed by Peter Crosskey who showed an interest in this post on alternative fish preparation. we got chatting about modern techniques and I found he had recently attended a lecture by the almost legendary Herve This.
I was far too jealous before I read the piece below which he has produced for this blog, and even more after! Any way, without any further ado I hand the floor, nay the screen, to Peter, many thanks for writing this.
The scientist who gets a cubic metre out of one egg white
Fresh from the Eurostar, Hervé This was in his element when he arrived at Imperial College to address a lecture hall full of chemical engineering students in London on November 30 last. With a twinkle in his eye and a playful smile that flitted across his lips between sentences, he was fulfilling his vocation: sharing his knowledge of the science that underpins cooking.
The co-founder of molecular gastronomy wears the weight of his learning lightly: March 2010 will see the 30th anniversary of a sunken soufflé. It was this which propelled Hervé to map out the scientific principles that underpin what happens in the kitchen.
He opens with an obligatory PowerPoint slide to introduce himself. Then he announces that on the train here he changed his mind about what he was going to do in this lecture.
"Let us make a simple experiment," he exclaims, much as his late colleague Nicholas Kurti would have done all those years ago when no-one had heard of molecular gastronomy. His approach is direct and engaging: he takes an egg out of its box and separates the white into a bowl.
"You say 'egg white' and yet it is yellow," he observes as he works. "But don't worry: in France we make the same mistake, too." He explains that there are about 30 grams of egg white in the bowl and that 90% of it is water.
"When the water is taken out, you are left with about 3 grams of protein – and it is yellow!" he exclaims, pulling out of his pocket a glass phial of dried egg white, like a stage magician. The phial is stowed as rapidly as it appeared and he is holding up two egg whisks: "Which one is better?" he asks, before grasping them both firmly in a single hand and using the two together.
Now an egg whisk is nothing short of "...medieval..." for This, who constantly challenges old ideas. "I hate tradition. Slavery is traditional," he interjects.
What distinguishes humanity from animals is an ability to consciously change the world around us, This argues. The mastery of fire and cooking food gave humans a decisive advantage in a hostile prehistoric world.
Society is constructed by human endeavour, This reminds his audience. "When it is built, it is beautiful," he says, pausing long enough in front of a Powerpoint slide with a restaurant plate shot to make his point.
He has been whisking steadily all the while, so the egg whites are firm now: he inverts the bowl abruptly just to make the point. So far This, who thinks nothing of generating a cubic metre of foam from a single egg white, has added only sugar.
He reaches for a bottle of water: this is his secret weapon that transforms the contents of his three-litre bowl into the magic cubic metre. "Of course it is very difficult to measure a cubic metre of egg foam at all precisely," he adds, returning to the scientific business in hand.
"Now, water has no taste, but you can use green tea, fruit juice, olive oil, anything you want." He crosses the boundaries between science, technology and cooking with ease, but never loses sight of his own role, even when pouring his egg white foam into a beaker and transferring it to a microwave.
"You see, I am a scientist and my job is to create knowledge: technologists use knowledge to make tools like this microwave, while chefs use their skill and equipment to make people happy at the table." He pauses, flings open the microwave door, withdraws the beaker and up-ends it with a vigorous shake, turning out the soft set foam.
He challenges the next generation of scientists to lay the foundations for greater things. He does it with such style and enthusiasm that we are all inspired to return to our laboratories, workshops and kitchens with raised expectations of what can be acheived.
Hervé was in the UK for a two-day whistle-stop tour to promote the English translations of two of his books. Earlier this year, Columbia University Press (CUP) published Building a Meal: From Molecular Gastronomy to Culinary Constructivism, being a translation of his 2007 book Construisons un Repas.
The most recent CUP translation is The Science of the Oven, a translation of his 2007 publication De la Science aux Fourneaux. Intended for a scientific audience, it remains an engaging read for lay readers, shot through with candour and Hervé's gentle humour.
Every month. in addition to contributing to the journal Pour la Science, This writes about a scientific insight for the website of his friend, the chef Pierre Gagnaire ( http://www.pierre-gagnaire.com/ ).
For readers of French, Hervé This has a blog at http://hervethis.blogspot.com/ which is well worth following.
Finally, anyone can sign up for the lectures that Hervé This gives at AgroParisTech ( http://www.agroparistech.fr/-Annonce-Cours-de-gastronomie-.html ). Both the page and the lectures are in French, but the inspiration is universal.
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About panel:
This post has been contributed by freelance journalist and blogger Peter Crosskey who was fortunate enough to attend a lecture given by distinguished French scientist Hervé This, the surviving co-founder of molecular gastronomy. My thanks go to Alex for letting me submit this article. A more general piece, along with reviews of two English translations of books by Hervé This can be found at:
http://www.crosskey.co.uk/index.php/2009/12/05/science-that-is-good-enough-to-eat/
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