Note-by-Note Cooking is a landmark in the annals of gastronomy, liberating cooks from the constraints of traditional ingredients and methods through the use of pure molecular compounds. 1-Octen-3-ol, which has a scent of wild mushrooms; limonene, a colorless liquid hydrocarbon that has the smell of citrus; sotolon, whose fragrance at high concentrations resembles curry and at low concentrations, maple syrup or sugar; tyrosine, an odorless but flavorful amino acid present in cheese—these and many other substances, some occurring in nature, some synthesized in the laboratory, make it possible to create novel tastes and flavors in the same way that elementary sound waves can be combined to create new sounds.
Note-by-note cooking promises to add unadulterated nutritional value to dishes of all kinds, actually improving upon the health benefits of so-called natural foods. Cooking with molecular compounds will be far more energy efficient and environmentally sustainable than traditional techniques of cooking. This new way of thinking about food heralds a phase of culinary evolution on which the long-term survival of a growing human population depends. Hervé This clearly explains the properties of naturally occurring and synthesized compounds, dispels a host of misconceptions about the place of chemistry in cooking, and shows why note-by-note cooking is an obvious—and inevitable—extension of his earlier pioneering work in molecular gastronomy. An appendix contains a representative selection of recipes, vividly illustrated in color.
- Table of Contents
- A Note on the Translation
- List of Tables, Figures, and Color Plates
- Introduction: Why the Need for Note-by-Note Cooking Should Be Obvious
- 1. Shape
- Polyhedrons
- Nonpolyhedral Solids
- The Fable of the Man with the Golden Brain
- 2. Consistency
- A Woeful Misunderstanding
- The Relation Between Consistency and Flavor
- Not Everything Has to Be Soft
- Thinking in Physical Terms
- Additives
- Contrasting Consistencies
- Color Plates
- 3. Taste
- Misdirection and Misperception
- The Impossible Description of Unknown Tastes
- Sapid Compounds
- Mineral Salts
- Organic and Mineral Acids
- Amino Acids and Their Derivatives
- Sugars
- Alcohols and Polyols
- Intense Sweeteners
- Flavoring Agents
- Bitterants
- Matrix Effects
- A New Basic Taste
- 4. Odor
- Manipulating Odorant Compounds
- Methods of Extraction and Processing
- Natural, Same as Natural, Artificial
- Volatility, Threshold Perception, Toxic Risk
- A Lexicon of Basic Culinary Odors
- Odorant Compounds
- On the Properties of Odorigenic Extracts and Compositions
- Trigeminal Sensations
- 5. Color
- The Eye Precedes the Palate
- Legally Approved Coloring Agents
- Natural Versus Artificial Redux
- 6. Artistic Choice and Culinary Nomenclature
- Substance and Form
- The Construction of Flavors
- Naming Dishes
- The First Generation of Note-by-Note Menus
- 7. Nutrition, Toxicology, Market Dynamics, Public Interest
- The Mixed Blessings of Abundance
- A World of Plenty, Filled with Danger
- Selection and Supply of Compounds
- Political Considerations
- Appendix: A Few Recipes
- Index
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