function hide_user_promo_bubble_second_stage() { var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); bubble.style.display = "none"; } function hide_user_promo_bubble() { var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); var myAnim = new YAHOO.util.Anim(bubble, { opacity: { to: 0 } }, 1, YAHOO.util.Easing.easeOut); myAnim.animate(); setTimeout("hide_user_promo_bubble_second_stage()", 1100); } function handle_promo_username(params) { var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); var img = $("user_promo_bubble_image"); var anchor = $("user_promo_bubble_link"); if (params.has_photo == "true") { img.src = "http://images.huffingtonpost.com/profiles/" + params.user_id + "-tiny.png"; } else { img.style.display = "none"; Dom.addClass(anchor, "wide"); } anchor.innerHTML = "Shared by " + params.user_name; anchor.href = "http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/" + params.user_name; bubble.style.display = "block"; var myAnim = new YAHOO.util.Anim(bubble, { opacity: { to: 1 } }, 2, YAHOO.util.Easing.easeOut); myAnim.animate(); } if (HuffPoUtil.getUrlVar("user_promo")) { YAHOO.util.Event.onDOMReady(function() { var parts = document.location.hash.split(","), shared_by = "", badge = "", i; if (parts.length < 2) return; for (i = 0; i < parts.length; i++) { if (parts[i].indexOf("sb=") !== -1) { shared_by = parts[i]; } if (parts[i].indexOf("b=") !== -1) { badge = parts[i]; } } if (shared_by == "" || badge == "") return; var bubble = $("user_promo_bubble"); if (!bubble) return; var entry_id = HuffPoUtil.GetEntryID(); if (!entry_id) return; var user_id = parseInt(shared_by.substr(shared_by.indexOf("sb=") + 3)); if (!user_id) return; var badge_type = badge.substr(badge.indexOf("b=") + 2); if (!badge_type) return; script = document.createElement("script"); script.setAttribute("type", "text/javascript"); bubble.appendChild(script); script.setAttribute("src", "/include/share_track.php?a=view&eid=" + entry_id + "&uid=" + user_id + "&b=" + badge_type + "&cb=handle_promo_username"); }); } GastroLab: Liquid Nitrogen With José Andrés Deadly, Delicious Beans, Desk vs. Toilet, Cancer From Milk? More...

GastroLab is where HuffPost Food keeps you...posted, on the latest notable developments and breakthroughs in food science -- from theories and discoveries on the science of taste, to cooking, nutrition, and much more.

José Andrés' Mad Science

1 of 18

For the Best End-of-Summer Margarita, Orange You Forgetting Something?

Unfuddling The Many Different Cuts Of Pork Ribs

PHOTOS, VIDEO: The World Testicle Cooking Championship

PHOTOS: The Obamas' Unscheduled Po' Boy Lunch Stop At New Orleans' Parkway Bakery And Tavern

The Semi-Secret World Of Trader Joe's: The Tasty Bits

10 Culinary Professionals's Favorite Tools & Tricks

José Andrés spoke at Google's DC offices the other day and in fascinating detail launched a defense and explanation of using liquid nitrogen in cooking (as many food critics have taken to questioning its presence in the kitchen).

Andrés makes his "Bleu Cheese with Almonds" dish in an unconventional way. He starts by frying peeled whole almonds, then adds water (a new thing called "H20," he says), and blends them to make liquid almonds. He adds them to a PacoJet that turns the liquid almonds into a sorbet, or a chilled almond paste. After adding cream to the mixture, he uses an immersion blender to make a "cream of almond." Then the mad science starts happening.

Andrés dips a small ladle into a pool of liquid nitrogen (at negative 196 degrees) to cool it down. Then he dips the back of the ladle into his cream of almonds, then back into the chilly pool to separate the almond cup (that's taken the shape of the outside of the ladle) from the ladle. The almond paste has turned from a liquid into a solid cup, sort of like a small pastry shell (or in the words of Andrés, "almond itself is asking, 'what is happening to me?'"). He then fills the shell with a blend of bleu cheese and cream that he puts into a canister that gets pumped with nitrous-oxide. The mixture becomes mousse-like and ready to fill the almond cups. He tops it with a small piece of passion fruit and grated almonds.

Andrés also described his mentor's Ferran Adria's legendary liquid olives preparation (18-minute mark), called "sphereification" or "Esferificación" in Spanish. The technique, simultaneously being developed by pharmaceutical companies under the name "encapsulation," refers to encasing a liquid inside a solid shell made of the same stuff. Andrés explained how he makes "mojitos" in this way. He adds to the mojito mix alginate, a compound made naturally in seaweed. That mixture gets put in a solution of salt and the alginate gelatinizes, creating a self enclosed liquid. A liquid mojito, then, rests inside of a shell of mojito. That mixture can then be added to a canister that gets pumped with CO2 to become carbonic.

Also check out his hilarious explanation of super-cooling as it relates to freezing a bottle of beer, and the wondrousness of ice in your free... more

comments(157)

<< Previous 1 of 18 Next >>

Total comments: 157 | Post a Comment

Rate This Slide

Rank #2 | Average: 8.6

Iffy. Fascinating!

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Current Top 5 Slides

loading...

Choose your Top 5 Slides

UserName

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Top User Slides

<<Previous | Next>>

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Users who voted on this slide

<<Previous | Next>>

loading...

Know something we don't? E-mail us at [e-mail]

Comments

[angry expat]

There is no good reason to drink milk in the 21st century. In the past it was used in regions where there was a lack of other food sources. The milk lobby is very powerful and has plenty of celebs to hawk their product.

I cut milk from my diet last summer after determining that it was simply not natural for us to ingest the milk of another species, full of hormones and enzymes meant for the babies of that species. I am convinced that it is harmful to our systems in large enough doses and responsible for all sorts of shenanigans in our bodies. Not surprised if it causes cancer - what other adult animal drinks another animal's milk? It is not natural or beneficial.

[SilentSolidarity]

So now that we found this hormone for sweetness, can we create a drug and then legalize it so that it destroys our youth?

[GomboMan]

Esferificación is a fun technique. I've had liquid olives and liquid white asparagus done this way— I started laughing in the restaurant when they popped in my mouth.

[aligatorhardt]

This article is more sensationalism than science. The smear on milk is really the fault of growth hormones added to cattle feed. The statement that sugar in colas produce abnormal fat deposition is improperly placed because these drinks do not contain sugar, but high fructose corn syrup which is not the same as fruit juice. I hope they do not add the chemical to hide the aftertaste of artificial sweeteners because we need the warning of the unnatural sweetener's presence. I think the presence of insects in food coloring should be labeled as "smashed bug guts and parts" for truth in advertising.

[barts]

HA. Women are the better sex. Not only do they live longer than men, they have more parties, and eat more chocolate desserts, but now they can even taste beer better than their pot-bellied arm-chair counterparts.
Next time your man tells you which beer brand is better, just laugh in his face.

[RDAM]

As a one-time professional chef, I love experimental food...
However, Chef Andres, be honest, aren't you really just doing whippets till you're stupid high and then simply playing with your food for fun?
Well at least that's what I do with a canister full of nitrous-oxide.
(BTW...he's a great chef.)

[Godweiser]

Knowing kitchens, I'm pretty sure that people that do this do play with the whippits. It's too irresistible not to take a whif once in a while. But then, a high chef is a happy chef.

[JL-Sosa]

I'll take my food WITHOUT liquid Nitrogen... I don't care how trendy and expensive it makes it...

This reminds me of the Boondocks episode "The Itis"

God people are stupid in the name of popularity...

[TheFoodFreak]

I respectfully disagree with your statement. Liquid nitrogen's popularity is rooted from progressive chefs pushing what we thought food can be. Its not because they are trying to be cool. Sure its mainly found in high end restaurants, but you could easily do it yourself. Have you ever experience it?? Don't knock it till you've tried it. I'm not saying eat food made with liquid nitrogen instead of what your eating now. Nobody is saying that, its all about innovation and mixing up our often mundane lives a little bit. Tell Steve Jobs, him and all the people who buy his products are stupid in the name of popularity...no they are smart because their products work better than everyone else's. And by generalizing that "people are stupid in the name of popularity...", I assume, since I can appreciate it, I'm included in that and take offense. That's like me saying, "God, people who don't try new things because they think its trendy are really stupid, ignorant fools". I am not stupid in the name of popularity, I'm a food freak, I'm not a food snob, and I love new and exciting things in food. If that makes me stupid then I guess I'm stupid, but I'll be in good company. For the record, I don't think your a stupid ignorant fool.

TheFoodFreak.wordpress.com

[JL-Sosa]

Food Freak,

I am, first and foremost a food lover. As you can probably tell from my profile pic I have the "gut cred" to back it up. But above that, I love to cook. Because I love to cook, I am, I suppose you could call me, a purist. We have been eating for millenia longer than liquid nitrogen has been available as either consumer fad or laboratory fodder. I believe in the classic way of doing things, and in much the same way as I shave with a safety razor, write with a fountain pen, and take 8 hours to make chicken stock, I believe that faster/snazzier/more expensive/popular is rarely, if ever, better.

Could I make veal stock in a microwave? Probably. Would I? No. Should I? (in my opinion) no.

I apologize if you took offense with my tone, I was simply being candid and expressing my opinion. And for the record, yes, though the iPhone was a paradigm shift in the way people use telephones, it has been left in the dust by newer product offerings because of it's very nature of being designed for idiots (can't customize it without breaking the EULA, can't download 3rd party, etc.).

Molecular Gastronomy angers me, why? Because it's a popular fad, based on all the senses other than TASTE which is what I believe food is about. To be fair, I don't think you a stupid ignorant fool either.

[aligatorhardt]

You have to admit that NHO2 is the fastest way to get cool.

[Godweiser]

The whole point of molecular gastronomy is to emphasize taste by putting it into different textures for people to try, to take them out of their comfort zones.

[gator landon]

how about elaborating on how hemopressin can help millions of people quit smoking? instead this particular write up just focuses on being an appetite suppressant.

[aligatorhardt]

Don't let the tobacco mob hear you say that.

[GomboMan]

Interesting. I suppose it's similar to how homopressin has been linked to Rev Ha ggard.

[Nilknarf Annasus]

I'm sorry for all those would-be entrepreneurs who would like to create "new food." PLEASE leave my food alone. You sound like Frankensteins re-animating things that should be left in the grave. We humans are natural creatures who are designed to eat the natural foods grown in our environment. Every time we tinker with those natural foods, we find there are serious, long-term side effects.

Since you guys are so creative, how about trying to figure out a way to clean up the oil spill or how to get the thieves and idiots in DC to work together for the good of the CITIZENS of our country or how to get the hell out of the Middle East so we can use the money and materials in THIS COUNTRY that is currently being thrown away at rates to rival the oil spill?

Stop trying to make us something we are not.

[TheFoodFreak]

So you only eat natural food. No processed foods? Do you ever buy ketchup? Or drink a Coke? Do you know anything about Monsanto? Corn and Soybean subsidies? 99% of things in the grocery store are made from corn and soybeans that scientists genetically modified so that the corn can be sprayed with RoundUp and not die (and also so they can OWN the rights to corn and soy beans...like all of them, that are supposed to grow naturally from the land and feed the people). Then they take the corn and soy beans and transform into most of the products you see on the grocery store shelves. I'm sorry, but you'd be contradicting yourself if you are guilty of purchasing these products because liquid nitrogen is more natural than changing the gene structures of our food behind our backs.

If you don't buy any of this stuff and you know all about Monsanto, I apologize, but what chefs are doing with food is not even close to the "new foods" that multinational agri-businesses are doing. I wouldn't even call it food. They are fundamentally changing the structure of the food we eat and no one even knows it.

No one is trying to make us something we are not, liquid nitrogen doesn't hurt anyone, its just really cold, its super ice, don't be afraid. Its fun and delicious and its something new, you should really try it.

I agree with everything else about D.C.!

[dauphin]

Liquid nitrogen has no taste. It is a method for freezing. It does provide excellent texture though.

[aligatorhardt]

Are you being tortured until you use this method?

[TheFoodFreak]

No, Im just trying to talk to food lovers about food, is that awful?

[dauphin]

We are not "designed" to eat anything, we have evolved to our current consumption of foodstuffs and continue to do so. There are no side effects to using liquid nitrogen or an immersion circulator.

[Godweiser]

So long as there's money in it, it will continue. My suggestion is to stick with restaurants that don't do molecular gastronomy or eat at home.

[goatboyslim]

The same chemical that regulates blood sugar levels also changes perceptions of sweetness. Does anyone else see the potential for disaster in adding this to food? The article doesn't give enough specifics, such as amounts,etc. but it seems like this could end up being a science experiment on a really large scale. And another story is about blocking the aftertaste of artificial sweeteners-so they can use saccharine more often? Why do I feel like I just got through reading Dr. Frankenstein's lab notes?

[AmericaninIndia]

Everybody knows the Chinese dip the pine nuts in diesel fuel to preserve them for the long journey to the States...

[goatboyslim]

Mmmmmmmmm......Diesel fuel.

[JL-Sosa]

Die-licious...

[aznurse]

there was a show on TV about how pine nuts are grown and manufactured. This was filmed in the
U.S. they had be scooped up using a rake, picked up, seperated from dirt, and each one was hand cracked and the nut saved. It was crazy!

[throwcautiontothewind]

Two possibilities--we've already seen products from China tainted with chemicals that shouldn't be there. The alternative is that the pine nuts are suffering from the traditional fertilizer used in China-- "night soil"--yep, excrement (even from humans). If you're traveling there, NEVER eat raw fruit or vegetables.

[MMounier]

http://66squarefeet.blogspot.com/2009/08/bitter-taste-in-mouth-caused-by-chinese.html

It was the Chinese ones that did it for me. I have since eaten Spanish pine nuts (after a lot of hesitation), and nothing bitter happened. My bitterness (...) lasted well over two weeks. Horrible.

[Tunghoy]

I don't understand why they're just now discovering the sulfur in onions and garlic. The reason Vidalia onions are sweet is because the soil in Georgia where they grow is devoid of sulfur. If you grow Vidalias anywhere else, they're just regular onions.