Here’s Chow Magazine’s ten-point crib-sheet for sounding knowledgeable about molecular gastronomy (tip two: don’t call it molecular gastronomy). This is a high-tech food-prep fashion wherein foods are combined in novel ways and delivered via precise apparatus, like inhalers and pipettes.
3. Frozen food. Flash-freezing is to molecular gastronomy as flame-broiling is to Burger King. El Bulli was the first restaurant to experiment with quickly freezing the outside of various foods, sometimes leaving a liquid center, using a volatile set-up involving a bowl of liquid nitrogen dubbed the TeppanNitro. Later, Alinea’s Achatz began using an appliance called the Anti-Griddle, whose metal surface freezes rather than cooks.
4. Spherification. Also known as ravioli (not the kind you eat with marinara sauce), spheres are what you get when you mix liquid food with sodium alginate, then dunk it in a bath of calcium chloride. A sphere looks and feels like caviar, with a thin membrane that pops in your mouth, expunging a liquid center. Popular experiments from the chefs above have included ravioli made from puréed mango and from pea purée.
(via Megnut)