Dave Arnold would like to fix you a gin and tonic. Sound good? It will be. It will be very, very good. It will be like no gin and tonic you have ever seen or tasted in your life. It will also be considerably more involved, shall we say, than cracking open the Tanqueray and Schweppes.

A kitchen equipped for "molecular gastronomy"—gourmet cuisine as cooked by Mr. Wizard, basically—is all about the tech. Devices that wouldn’t be out of place in a chemistry lab fill the kitchens of some of the world’s most adventurous chefs, enabling far-out dishes like whipped-cream pancakes, lobster sorbet (shells and all) and meat-flavored mushrooms.

Thanksgiving may be the country’s oldest celebration, but that’s no reason to cook with 17th-century tech. Whereas early settlers cooked over open fires, we have smart ovens that automatically adjust to what’s inside them, thermometers that read surface temperature with infrared radiation, knives with molecular structures that keep them sharp longer, and a meat grinder as powerful as a small car engine. Give thanks for technology.