Whipping chocolate through Molecular Gastronomy

My brother and I are complete opposites. I'm the artist, he's the math geek. I don't own a TV, he has one in every room - even the bathroom. In my free time, I read up on how to improve my paella. My brother plays computer games based on Dungeons and Dragons.

The family mythology says that my brother, who dashed from house to house pushing door bells while I was in a stroller, has known since he was 4 years old that he wanted to be a computer engineer. I, on the other hand, still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

Given my lack of interest in science, it may come as a surprise that I snapped up Hervé This' book Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavor the second it was translated into English. Professor This (pronounced "Teess") has collaborated with many chefs, including 3-star Michelin chef Pierre Gagnaire, to help propel the movement that has become known as Molecular Gastronomy.

The most famous innovators of the Molecular Gastronomy movement reside not in the Professor's France, but across the border in Spain in the kitchens of El Bulli, Arzak, El Celler de Can Roca, and elsewhere. As a fan of all Spanish cooking, traditional and modern, I figured it is time that I loosen up some of my Luddite prejudices and learn about and perhaps even *gasp* play around with some of the new techniques.

I enjoyed the premise and promise of the Professor's book more than the reality. Perhaps I am not the best person to review such a book, as my interest in science falls even below my interest in the Olympic sport of curling. I rushed through high school chemistry in one summer, never took physics, and only got as far as trigonometry in math (although, as I never fail to gleefully remind my brother, I still managed to score 20 points higher than Mr. AP Calculus on the math portion of the SAT). There are lots of fun tidbits to chew on, but for the most part I found the book too focused on molecular theory and lacking in practical application. Then again, what did I expect from a chemist?

I ought to disclose one other bit of information. Truthfully, I only bought the book because one chapter, entitled "Chantilly Chocolate: How to make a chocolate mousse without the eggs," tantalized me with its possibilities. Unfortunately, like all the chapters in the book, this one turned out to be just 2 or 3 pages long. If you are more used to the in-depth discussions of Harold McGee's tome, On Food and Cooking, you will be disappointed with the brevity of the explanations in Molecular Gastronomy.

In a couple of pages, the Professor lays the foundation upon which the famous/infamous (depending on your point of view) foams (in Spain, espumas) were constructed. In his book, Dr. This ponders "Can the fundamental principle of Chantilly cream [crème Chantilly is French for whipped cream] be applied to fatty matter other than milk? Because chocolate contains cocoa butter, for example, it ought to be possible to make Chantilly chocolate." And guess what. It is possible!

If you make a "physicochemical system" that mimics the properties of cream, you can whip chocolate like you do cream. In fact, you can whip other things, such as goat cheese or butter, to make stable mousse-like foams. {My instructions, based on my experiments with Dr. This's one-sentence "recipe," are below, after the jump}.

If the book were filled with more fun and instructive experiments like whipping chocolate, I would be much more enthusiastic about Dr. This' book. I recommend all of you who cook or bake by profession to buy Molecular Gastronomy, because I believe that every serious professional should be at least somewhat familiar with kitchen science. Even if you are not a professional, if you are at all interested in the science and theory behind cooking and are a fan of Alton Brown, you will most likely enjoy this book.

Although I am not ready to trade in my mortar and pestle for a Thermomix just yet, I do plan to play around with my food a little bit more. While we may not all aspire to the creative high wire acts Ferran Adrià pulls of at El Bulli (and Aki and Alex share on their blog Ideas in Food), there is definitely much to be learned and gained from the Molecular Gastronomers. Even for a Luddite like me.

Chantilly Chocolate

based on instructions by Hervé This in Molecular Gastronomy

Finely chop half a pound (8 oz.) bittersweet chocolate (at least 70% cocoa butter) and place in a bowl. If desired, add a tablespoon of superfine baker's sugar and a pinch of salt to the bowl of chopped chocolate. Partially fill with ice another bowl of equal or larger size. In a pot, bring ¾ cup (6 oz.) water to a boil. Immediately pour water over chocolate and let sit undisturbed for a minute, then stir until chocolate is completely melted and smooth. This emulsion of chocolate and water is your "cream," so to speak.

Just as with whipping cream, you want the cream, or in this case the melted chocolate mixture, to cool (and from a chemist's point of view, to crystallize). To speed this process up, place the bowl of melted chocolate in the bowl of ice and slowly stir with a spatula. Unlike cream, however, this chocolate mixture will become solid and un-whippable if it gets too cold. In several tries, I found that the ideal point is achieved when the chocolate becomes as thick as molasses, no more. This occurs after just a few minutes of stirring.

Immediately whip the chocolate with hand-held electric beaters set to the highest speed. I tried using both a whisk and a standing mixer (Kitchen-Aid) with the whip attachment, and ended up with a big mess of chocolate stuck inside the wires of the whisk. The old-fashioned beaters worked the best.

The Professor warns that 3 problems can occur. In my attempts to play with the experiment, I achieved all 3! Go Brett! First, if the chocolate mixture doesn't contain enough fat and therefore doesn't whip into a foam, melt the mixture again over a pan of boiling water and add more chocolate. Second, if the mousse isn't light enough, melt the mixture again and add some water. In both cases, cool and whisk as above. Keep playing around with the proportion of water and chocolate until you get the result you want. Third, if you overwhip the chocolate mixture, it will become grainy. In my experience it takes a lot of whipping for this to occur. If it happens, melt, cool and repeat.

In honor of the molecular gastronomy roots of this technique, I served the mousse as a riff on a simple Catalan recipe. I drizzled a quenelle of the chocolate mousse with fruity extra virgin olive oil (Catalan, of course) and topped it with a few grains of Maldon sea salt. You could even add a paper-thin slice of toasted bread on top like a tuile, if you are so inclined.

Food|and Drink|Recipes|Desserts|Chocolate|Molecular Gastronomy

Comments

[alice]

My retirement plan is to teach molecular gastronomy as an emeritis at a fancy private university once I have fulfilled my obligation as a cancer biologist!

[clare eats]

That is coool

[Anita]

Hi Brett,
That book sounds really fascinating - as an engineer by training and a baker at home, molecular gastronomy lies right at the intersection of my interests. Thanks for pointing it out! I like the result of your experiment as well:)

[yoony]

this sounds fascinating! i was never a science person myself, as chemistry was the worst class ever in high school.

[Silversara]

Fascinating! I might need to get this book... then again, i've always loved to play with chemistry ;)

[tankeduptaco]

I was so enjoying myself until I got to the salt and olive oil. Most things I can imagine how they taste, but I can't imagine that. Did you adapt it from somewhere?

[Amy]

But, but, but, how did it taste?

[Melissa]

Ha ha, I'd be careful what I said about curling if I were you! You'd get mobbed if you went around saying things like that on the street here ;) I must say I was very intrigued by your experiment, and especially curious about your olive-oil sea salt garnish. I tried chocolate made with olive oil in Paris at the salon des saveurs, and must say I was somewhat underwhelmed... So yes, how did you like it? And, is this molecular marvel better than 'regular' chocolate mousse?

[Brett]

Alice, that's a great sounding retirement plan! I say, why wait? Ride the wave of popularity of molecular gastronomy while it's still hot. Then again, maybe you shouldn't get career advice from a food blog.

Clare, not only cool, but fun (and tasty).

Anita, I've read that a lot of young engineers are having fun with the new molecular gastronomy movement - although their focus is considerably less gastronomic than Ferran Adrià's. In a way, baking is all about chemistry, isn't it? (Maybe that's why baking is not my passion).

Yoony, I took chemistry during summer school just so I could get it over with quickly. Plus, I heard it was ridiculously easy. I recall that the teacher left the periodic chart of the elements on the wall during our exam on that topic, requesting that we not look at it "too often."

Silversara, it's a fun book. It's not for everyone, but if you like chemistry, you'll love this book.

TUT, I ate the combination at several tapas bars in Barcelona after reading about it in an article by Amanda Hesser in the NY Times. If you click on "simple Catalan recipe" in my post above, you will see the original recipe as posted on Bruce Cole's website "Saute Wednesday."

Amy and Melissa, oops, I neglected to mention how it tastes! It tastes like pure chocolate, which is after all the only ingredient. But, as has been the case with much of the food I have tasted at the few molecular gastronomy restaurants, it wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be. Personally, I'll take the classic chocolate mousse - like Julia Child's recipe - any day.

Melissa, I like the combination of chocolate, olive oil, and coarse salt. It's much better the simple way it is served in Barcelona, though (see link in my post). I preferred the combination of olive oil on vanilla ice cream (read about it here) that I had in Catalonia last summer. In fact, a new Italian restaurant in Marin is featuring this combination on softserve ice cream cones!

[The Bachelor Chef]

Amazing pic I tell ya

[vanessa]

bitchin' post. i've read alot about Prof. This. Had no idea that his book had been translated into the English. I"ll need to look for it and persue. I'm fasincated by the science, though admittedly, i am such a poor student. and i totally empathize with sucking at math and science—i avoided calculus at all costs and discovered the joys of stats 101. blech.

[Bea at La Tartine Gourmande]

Very interesting post! Now I am intrigued by the book as well as the recipe. Now I should probably buy the French version to not lose myself in the science of English words!

[Gustad Mody]

very cool stuff.

[Mark]

You should place a warning at the top of this post: "Do Not Read If You're Extremely Hungry". That looks just awesome, and it's not even lunchtime yet... :-)

- Mark

[Jessica "Su Good Eats"]

I love the combination of olive oil and chocolate! I first discovered it by dipping an olive oil potato chip in chocolate fondue. What Einstein Told His Cook has a recipe for dairy-free chocolate mousse, which I've been wanting to try. It's mainly chocolate and olive oil.

[shauna]

Okay, those photographs are truly scrumptious. I just keep staring at them and salivating.

[kel @ Green Olive Tree]

Hola, this is pure science! I like the first pic you have there. Btw, do you have a choc moouse recipe to share?

kel @ Green Olive Tree

[Sonali]

Hi Brett,

Offtopic :

For your "Bay Area Short List" you may want to try 'Spicehut' in Sunnyvale. They are pretty good. Certainly the best Kesari Bhaat I tasted. Its a Indian fastfood-like joint.

Disclaimer : My blog although named 'spicehut' is not connected to them :).

-Sonali

[Sonali]

PS: I have added IPOS to my faves link section.

[Brett]

Hi Everyone! I am so sorry I've been neglecting the ole blog. I've been super busy and have had zero time to spare. I'm working on a fun post that should be up by tomorrow morning.

BC, Vanessa, Bea, Gustad, Mark, Shauna, and Kel, thank you!

Jessica, thanks for the link to the recipe from Theresa Barrenchea. Sounds right up my alley.

Kel, this is a true story. One of the first recipes I made as a kid was the chocolate mousse in one of Julia Child's books (not Mastering the Art of French Cooking). I'm sad to discover I don't seem to have that book any more.

Hi Sonali, congratulations on the new blog!

[rob]

That's fascinating. I've been dabbling in molecular gastronomy myself after getting one of the El Bulli cookbooks, and I've been eyeing This' book for a while now. I guess I'll have to buy it.

Thanks for sharing the results of your experiment with honesty and humour.

[Martin Lersch]

For a comprehensive list on books about molecular gastronomy and food chemistry, check out this page:

http://folk.uio.no/lersch/mat/index.e.html

Regards,

Martin Lersch

[chocolate strawberries]

Here's how to make delicious chocolate covered strawberries. First of all ensure that the strawberries you are intending to use are dry, then allow them to be room temperature warm prior to making them. After the strawberries have been covered in chocolate, put them in your refrigerator to cool, but do not store them in the fridge. Consume within 1-2 days.