I have been a member of The Kitchen Reader,  a food book club, since October of last year. We had interesting books to read and review, but the September book was the hardest to find.

Shopping mall bookstores just do not carry Molecular Gastronomy. Exploring the Science of Flavor by Hervé This. Therefore, I had to wait for a few weeks to get the book by mail order.

I expected to see a coffee-table book similar to The Modernist Cuisine by with glossy pages and pictures to drool for. In fact, what came was one of a textbook look, shape and format.

Unlike a university textbook, however, Molecular Gastronomy is an engaging book especially if one is interested in the science of preparing, eating and enjoying food.

I, for one, didn’t know that the mechanical behavior of bread resembles that of plastic materials. Neither did I know that beef marinates better in red wine than in white one.

Hervé This is a physical chemist at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique in Paris.  He is well known as a cofounder of the science called molecular gastronomy and the author of more than 6 books on molecular gastronomy.

While food science deals with the composition and structure of food, Hervé This explains, molecular gastronomy deals with culinary transformations and the sensory phenomena associated with eating.

Hence, all information in the 377 page book is categorized into four parts: 1) Secrets of the Kitchen, 2) The Physiology of Flavor, 3) Investigations and Models, and 4) A Cuisine for Tomorrow.

In Part 1, Secrets of the Kitchen, Hervé analyzes practical tips such as making stock, seasoning steak, cooking quiche, avoiding greasiness in deep frying, and preventing discoloration in fruits and vegetables.

Hervé outlines some research findings in Part 2, The Physiology of flavors. The cerebral areas activated during the perception of tastes have been identified, as the functioning of the cells that allow us to perceive the taste of foods. Chewing is what allows us to enjoy the juiciness and tenderness of meat, and chewing slowly deepens the perception of odorant molecules in cooked food.

The meat of the book is Part 3, Investigations and Models, where the author illustrates the science of food familiar to us. Caramel has been mentioned as early as 65 BC while the foam of sabayon is stabilized by the coagulation of the egg.

Part 4, The Cuisines of Tomorrow talks abut cooking in a vacuum, hundred-year-old-eggs, playing with textures, and the hidden taste of wine.

We have blogged several times on the topic of molecular gastronomy, among others Namaaz Dining – A New Light in Indonesian Gastronomy,  Rogue 24 – Modern Cuisine in Washington DC,  and Dr. Heston Blumenthal and The Fat Duck.  I could never imagine, however, that we cook today the way people cooked in middle ages. This information comes from the book.

With so many useful and fascinating information, Molecular Gastronomy by Hervé This is an encyclopedia that we need to refer to from time to time when we would like to explore the process of creating what we are eating and how to perfectly cook and enjoy them.

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Images: Hervé This: by FXcuisine.com; all others: Omar Niode Foundation