If you’re bored of everyday kitchen chemistry and are hankering to bust out the big guns of molecular gastronomy, your ordinary cookbook probably won’t cut it. Fortunately, PopSci has you covered. Check out our favorite high-tech recipes-courtesy of International Cooking Concepts-perfect for rounding out any gastronomer’s oeuvre. All can be made using your run-of-the-mill, restaurant-quality Gastrovac,
the $4,000 machine revolutionizing haute cuisine at the world’s most cutting-edge eateries.
For a little food-technology magic you can try at home, launch our gallery for a step-by-step guide to high-tech cooking’s DIY guru Dave Arnold’s see our profile of Arnold here mojito-strawberry salsa. Note that the commercial vacuum sealer isn’t strictly required. But man, it’s cool.
Recipes for the Gastrovac can be found below and on the following pages:
Lettuce Sauted With Smoky Bacon
Pascal Barbot, l’Astrance, Paris
Preparation
Place the following ingredients in the Gastrovac: the meat stock, bacon, onions, carrots, rosemary, savory and lettuce hearts. Cook for 55 minutes at 50 C. Allow to cool and drain well.
Cut the lettuce hearts in half. Place a little melted butter and the sugar in a frying pan. Place the Romaine lettuce hearts in the frying pan with the flat side down and fry until golden brown. Season with fleur de sel, freshly-ground pepper and the orange zest. Serve with sauted chicken liver, deglazed with vinegar, or with a slice of grilled foie gras.
Ingredients(Serves 4)
4 Romaine lettuce hearts
2 strips fried bacon
8 new onions
Fleur de sel
Ground pepper
4 new carrots
2 liters white meat stock
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 sprig of fresh savory
25g butter
1 tablespoonful sugar
Zest of 1 orange
Kinder Tomato
Marcelo Tejedor. Casa Marcelo, Santiago de Compostela
Preparation
For the pulp and vinegar infusion: Heat the pulp and vinegar to 65. Add a tablespoon of powdered tomato and dissolve well. Leave to cool.
For the tomatoes: Blanch the tomatoes and plunge them into iced water immediately afterwards. Peel and dry them well. Using a teaspoon remove all juice and seeds, making an incision in the bottom of each tomato. Keep the juice.
Soaking the tomatoes: Put the tomatoes inside the Gastrovac basket, keeping it raised, and add the cold pulp and vinegar infusion. Make a vacuum for 15 minutes (0.8 bar) and submerge the tomatoes. Slowly break the vacuum so that the tomatoes are well soaked. Remove and strain the tomatoes. Save the infusion for future soaks.
For the tomato pil-pil: Put the hake pil-pil, the tomato juice, a tablespoon of powdered tomato and blanched garlic into the mixer or blender, blending them finely. Gradually introduce the olive oil until it becomes a stable emulsion. Pour it into a siphon and leave to cool in the fridge for one hour.
To serve: Fill the tomatoes with the tomato pil-pil and put them on plates. Dress with Siurana extra virgin olive oil and season with Maldon salt.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
4 vine-ripened tomatoes
1/2 liter of tomato pulp
2 tablespoonfuls of powdered tomato
30g of hake pil-pil
3dl Siurana 0.2 olive oil for the pil-pil, and 8cl for the seasoning
Maldon salt
Salmon, Seaweed and Pickled Cucumber
Marcelo Tejedor. Casa Marcelo, Santiago de Compostela
Preparation
Remove the bones from the salmon and cover it with the sugar, salt and pepper mix, leaving it to marinate for 12 hours. For the vinaigrette boil the water with the sugar, remove from the flame and add the star anise seed and aniseeds. Leave to cool and finish by adding the rice vinegar, chopped dried tomato and virgin olive oil. Keep to one side. Boil the green beans in water with salt and then cool them in iced water. Drain and keep to one side. Peel the cucumber and cut it lengthways. Then cut each half into 1cm slices. Put the apple vinegar in a bowl inside the Gastrovac. Put the cucumber slices in the basket, keeping it raised. Make a vacuum for 15 mins. After 15 minutes, submerge the basket with the cucumber into the vinegar, leaving it for 10 more minutes.
Break the vacuum slowly and take out the cucumber that will now be pickled and soaked in vinegar. Boil the Irish moss for 3 minutes in water and cool it in iced water. Keep to one side. Prepare some tarragon and purple basil leaves. Slice the green beans diagonally and finely. Remove the salmon from the marinade and wash and dry it well. Remove the skin with a knife and cut it in 1cm slices.
First put a small spoonful of aniseed vinaigrette on a plate, then place the salmon slices, pickled cucumber, seaweed, herbs, capers and beans. Sprinkle with Maldon salt.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
Marinated salmon
300g Scottish salmon
20g sugar
300g coarse salt
5g ground black pepper
Aniseed vinaigrette
20g sugar
5cl water
1 star anise seed
10 aniseeds
2cl rice vinegar
1 dried tomato
2 tablespoons of virgin olive oil
Pickled cucumber
1 cucumber
1/2 liter of apple vinegar
4 sprigs of Irish moss seaweed
4 large capers
Tarragon leaves
Purple basil leaves
Green beans
Maldon salt
Chilled Foie Gras Marinated With Poudre de Duc, Poached in Marina Alta Muscatel
Sergio Torres. El Rodat, Javea
Preparation
Bleed the foie gras and remove the fine top layer of skin that covers it to better infuse the spices. Blend all of the spices, cover the foie gras and leave to marinate for 12 hours.
Wash the foie gras and boil in the Gastrovac at 65 degrees for 20 minutes, together with the wine and all of the spices. Drain and leave to cool in the fridge. Garnish with a jelly of apple with spices, and some herb and lettuce leaves to give a refreshing touch to such a spicy recipe.
Ingredients
400-500g foie gras, approx
Lettuce shoots
4 liters sweet white wine
1 cinnamon stick
The peel of 1 lemon
The peel of 1 orange
Thyme
1 bay leaf
Indonesian pepper
Jamaican pepper
Szechuan pepper
Vanilla
Galangal
Nutmeg
Saffron
Clove
Ginger
Cinnamon
Mace
Cardamom (grains of paradise)
Sugar
Marina Alta Freshly Grown Vegetables With Wild Mushrooms
Sergio Torres. El Rodat, Javea.
Preparation
Turn and shape each vegetable separately. Blanch the sea fennel in plenty of salted water and cool with ice. Wash the borage and keep in water with a pinch of ascorbic acid (vitamin C), along with the artichokes and turned potatoes.
Peel the asparagus, wash the wild mushrooms with a brush under the tap with just a little water so they do not get too damp. Put all the vegetables in the Gastrovac with the ready-prepared consum made from the peel of the vegetables and the wild mushroom stalks.
Strain through a cheesecloth. Reduce 3/4 of its volume, add salt and pepper and boil at 65 degrees for 20 minutes. Season to taste.
Ingredients
1 flowering courgette
2 baby carrots, 1 small leek
5g sea fennel
10g wild silverbeet
2 green onions
4 wild asparagus
1 green asparagus
6g potatoes
6 mangetout peas
1 green bean
6g broccoli
6g cauliflower
1 artichoke
1 calot
5g beans (washed)
5g peas (washed)
1 turnip
5g chard
10g morels
10g borage
2 stems of wild garlic flower
50g vegetable consomm
Olive oil
Sel gris
Pepper
Red Peach Segments Soaked in Almond Essence and White Flower Soup
Andoni Luis Aduritz. Mugaritz, Rentera.
Preparation
For the soup: Heat the water, the vanilla and the crushed pepper. Bring to the boil, remove and add 8 fresh pennyroyal mint leaves and leave to infuse for 15 mins. After 15 minutes take out the mint leaves and leave covered to cool. When it is at 40C add the sugar and the pectin and return it to the flame until it reaches 70 C. Remove, add the remaining mint leaves, the white wine and the peach pure, add to iced water to cool and cover so that it starts to set. Always keep covered and very cold.
For the soaked peaches: Pour the water, sugar, bitter almond essence and vitamin C or ascorbic acid into the Gastrovac. Mix well until smooth.
Using the tip of a knife, make an incision down to the stone from the peach’s stalk, turning the fruit until it has been cut through all round. In this way with a slight twist of the two parts the peach can be divided into two halves. Remove the stone from the middle. Carefully peel the peaches (as there is a good variety of this family of fruits you could use “clingstone” peaches, nectarines or something similar). Cut the halves into twos or threes depending on the pieces. Put the slices into the water, sugar and bitter almond essence mix. Without heat turn the pot on and apply the maximum vacuum. Soak for as long as it takes the peach to go translucent. The soaking is carried out, opening and closing the air valve every 4-5 minutes during the soaking time. These impulses make the peach expel a bit of its juice to be mixed with that of its surroundings, in this case, the bitter almond syrup.
For the fresh almond: Carefully shell the almonds using a nutcracker. Remove the fine skin covering the nut and keep it between two pieces of damp paper or cloth.
To serve
Cut the 6 pennyroyal mint leaves that have not yet been used in the infusion into a julienne, and add them to the infusion.
Strain the juice from the peaches into a soup dish, serve 2 peach slices, or whatever fruit was used, and 4 fresh almonds. To complete the dish pour a large amount of the mint, peach, sweet muscat, pepper and vanilla infusion on top with the mint julienne. Best served cold.
Ingredients
For the soup
400ml of spring water
100g red peach pulp pure
1 vanilla pod
6 black peppercorns
12 leaves of pennyroyal mint
50g sugar
3g pectin
90 ml muscat wine
6 more leaves of pennyroyal mint for serving
For the soaked peaches
2 well-ripened but firm peaches
450ml of water
2 drops of natural bitter almond essence
50g sugar
0.25g vitamin C or ascorbic acid
For the fresh almond
16 fresh almonds in their shells
Optional
Acacia flowers, elderflowers, or any flowers with a not-too-harsh, fresh smell
Soaked Cucumber With Gazpacho Water, Frozen Goat’s Cheese Droplets and Requienii Mint Leaves
Andoni Luis Aduritz. Mugaritz, Rentera.
Preparation
For the gazpacho: Peel the onions, garlic and cucumbers. Remove the stalk of the pepper and tomato. Cut all the vegetables into medium slices and put them together with the water and the salt in a container. Leave the mix to soak for 4-5 hours.
Blend everything in a mixer or using a hand-blender. Filter this liquid pure through very fine paper or cloth. Leave
the liquid to strain by its own weight without adding any kind of pressure.
For the cucumber: Cut the cucumber into 4cm-long cylinders. Peel the cucumber slices by turning them by hand with the knife held vertically so that no kind of edge is formed.
Place the cucumber in a container and sprinkle it with salt. Leave the cucumber to sweat for 10 minutes, pass it under the tap and then dry it.
Put the cucumber pieces in the Gastrovac together with the translucent gazpacho. With no additional heat, at room temperature, begin soaking, opening and closing the air valve to the pot. As the cucumber pieces are submerged in the gazpacho soup, each time pressure needs to be reapplied they will absorb the liquid around them.
For the cheese: Put the cheese in a forcing bag and leave it to fall in droplets into a container with liquid
nitrogen so that they form teardrop shapes. Drain and keep in the freezer at -20 C.
For the mint: Cut the tiny mint leaves with the utmost care and wash them in cold water with food cleaner.
To serve: Have frozen non-crack plates in the freezer for the gazpacho consum. Stand each cucumber piece on end on the plate and add the cheese teardrops. Sprinkle some of the mint leaves over the cucumber and cheese and finish with a little of the cold gazpacho consum, until it nearly covers the cucumber.
Ingredients (Serves 8)
For the gazpacho
700g tomato
500g cucumber
100g onion
80g green pepper
10g garlic
15g salt
1.5l mineral water
For the cucumber
1kg cucumber
20g salt
For the cheese
200g whipped creamed
Fermented goat’s cheese
For the mint
40 leaves of menta requieni
Prawns, Prawns, Prawns!
Moshik Roth. Brouwerskolkje, Overveen
Preparation
Beat the methylcellulose with the stock for 5 minutes with a manual beater. Leave to stand for one day in the fridge. The next day the liquid should be clear.
Soak the king prawn with its stock at room temperature for 45 minutes in the Gastrovac. Then saut it over a low flame, not going above 60C. Put 2 king prawns in the Thermomix with the liquid nitrogen for a few seconds until it takes on a powdered texture.
Put the soaked king prawns on the plate with the foam and powder on the side. The idea of the dish is to serve king prawns at different temperatures to incorporate the flavors of the Vadouvan.
Ingredients
5 (live) king prawns 9/13
1 liter prawn stock
26g methylcellulose
Vadouvan
Liquid nitrogen
King prawn foam (xanthan based)
Ceps Consomm
Moshik Roth. Brouwerskolkje, Overveen
Preparation
Freeze the wild mushrooms with the water and put them in the Gastrovac at 75C for 2 hours. Next, sift and cool. Clear the drained liquid and add salt to taste. The vacuum created in the Gastrovac guarantees a finished product of the highest quality, without oxidation and without any loss of flavor.
Ingredients
3l water
1.5kg chopped wild mushrooms
Iberian Pork
Moshik Roth. Brouwerskolkje, Overveen
Preparation
Prepare the hay broth with the same technique as with the mushrooms, but using beef stock instead of water. Boil the pork in the Roner at 68C for 24 hours and mix the methylcellulose with the hay broth. Soak the pork cheeks in the Gastrovac at 45C for one hour and at 60 C for approximately 15 minutes. Garnish with apricot, chicory and potato mousselin with fenugreek and almond foam.
Ingredients
1kg Iberian pork jaw
2l hay broth
52g methylcellulose
Citrus Fruit Crystallized in the Gastrovac
Pascal Barbot, l’Astrance, Paris
Preparation
Brush clean the citrus fruit with water. Use a juicer to squeeze the juice from the fruit. To blanche the fruit, place in a pan of cold water and heat, removing when the water begins to boil. Drain the water and set the citrus fruit aside. Make a syrup with the juice, the vanilla pod and the sugar.
Place the syrup and the fruit peel in the Gastrovac. Cook for 6 hours at 55 C. Leave to cool. Use the crystallized citrus fruit zest as a condiment.
Ingredients
1kg seasonal citrus fruit: oranges, citron, tangerines, etc.
500g icing sugar
1 vanilla pod