Molecular Gastronomy

[notoriouslyKEN]

I just saw this article on wired.com about Molecular Gastronomy and Hervé This. Very interesting read. Anybody hear about this sort of stuff or have any of his books?

The Father of Molecular Gastronomy Whips Up a New Formula

EDIT:
Here are some of his books on Amazon.com

Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavor
Kitchen Mysteries: Revealing the Science of Cooking
In the Kitchen with Pierre Gagniere and Louis XIV

[Mezzaluna]

I believe this is partly what you'd eat at Alinea in Chicago. I found it to be very interesting, but not for everyday sustenance by any means.

[notoriouslyKEN]

I was thinking more for theory than individual recipes. Find out what sort of ingredients work together that one wouldn't normally think to pair together. I wouldn't expect people to live off of bacon ice cream or anything crazy like that.

[Ishbel]

I've eaten a few times at Heston Blumenthal's restaurant, the Fat Duck. I have to say, the snail porridge left me shuddering...!
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[RAS1187]

I had the pleasure of staging for one day at Moto (Chef Homaro Cantu). Right with Alinea, Moto is also keeping Chicago on the map for Gastronomy.

Cooking methods could involve the use of liquid nitrogen or a class IV laser. One dish that caught my eye was the Dessert Nachos (Candied Corn Chips, Kiwi & Mint Juice "Salsa", and frozen mango puree "Cheese".

[syoung68]

The Ultimate Online MG resource may be khymos.org Look at the Links section for other sites.

Some of the Restaurant that are doing this type of cooking include:
As previously stated, Moto and Alinea in Chicago
WD-50, Room 4 Dessert, in NYC
Element in Atlanta
Binkley's in Pheonix
Mini Bar in DC

Of course El Bulli in Spain and The Fat Duck in England - Bray specifically - Thanks Ishbel

A few of the MG centric Blogs that I read on a regular basis are
Ideas In Food - ideasinfood.typepad.com
Chadzilla - chadzilla.typepad.com
Hungry In Hogtown - hungryinhogtown.com

Here is my $.02 on the whole MG thing, which BTW, most chefs that cook like this HATE the term "molecular gastronomy". Whatever. My thoughts are that it is fun. It is the unexpected - apple caviar, pastaless ravioli, fish noodles, real caviar paired with white chocolate, etc.

The average home cook can do some of this stuff as the chemicals are becoming widely available but it will not replace everyday cooking. As a home chef, these folks inspire me to be more creative. I am never going to make snail porridge, but at my next dinner party maybe I will make strawberry caviar to go on top of simple store bought vanilla ice cream.

[Ishbel]

SYoung. The Fat Duck isn't in London, it is in a village called Bray, near Windsor.