I am grateful

Let's begin by saying that I did not get any money from the flavouring industry.

In 1994, I created synthetic cooking, now known as "note by note cooking".

Why the nickname? Because of the following musical analogy.

A couple of centuries ago, people played the violin or the flute. When you lay your bow on the strings of a violin, you get a note — the sound of the violin.
And a couple of centuries ago, people cooked with ingredients. They used carrots, turnips, meats, fish… When you put a carrot into a saucepan, what you get is the taste of the carrot. There is a direct analogy between the sound of a musical note and the taste of carrot.

 One century ago, scientists analyzed sounds and broke them down into elementary sound waves, every sound being comprised of fundamental and harmonics.
At the same period, chemists analysed food ingredients and found out that they were comprised of compounds (water, lipids, proteins, etc.). The parallel is striking.

Fifty years ago, in order to make synthetic music, you needed a big roomful of computers, whereas now you can buy a synthesiser for a child in a toy shop for a few euros.
But the equivalent for food was nowhere to be found!

So, in 1994, I decided to work on that analogy. Since food ingredients were made of compounds, I would use those compounds to prepare dishes.
It should really be called “synthetic cuisine”, but that would scare people away, so I brought forward the artistic side to name the concept, and Note to Note it was.

When I decided to organize an international competition around Note to Note Cuisine, I turned to Éric Angelini (Mane Company) for help. He proposed a partnership, awarding prizes…
Then a miracle happened, which I have never been able to explain. I received a box from Mane SA. It contained about fifteen preparations, each one a pure component in a food solvent, and they could be used like pepper, salt, or curry powder…
I got twenty of these boxes. I had to name the preparations, and just as there is Chanel n°5, there was Note to Note n°1, n°2, n°3…

Every other month, I went to various countries with the double aim of developing molecular gastronomy in universities and offering the box to the greatest chefs — Pierre Gagnaire, Philippe Conticini, Heston Blumenthal… — so that they could experiment with it.

Jean Mane gave away these boxes; he refused to sell them. That was amazing. Selling them wasn’t part of his plan, he only meant to help me to develop my project. So I am extremely grateful to him for having supported me at that crucial stage of the building of my Cuisine Note à Note.

Later Michael Pontif, a young French chemist, created a company called Iqemusu, in order to sell the same kind of products.

And Note by Note cooking is spreading, thanks to these people : thank you !

Iberian Ham

In a recent cooking competition note to note, some candidates included in their dish a preparation that they named "Iberian ham".

I will not go back to the question of the reproduction of traditional, classic ingredients or dishes, but I propose that we be astonished to see so named... what was not Iberian ham, but a kind of copy, a reproduction of such a product: the name was usurped, and I do not believe that it is "fair", in the sense of the regulation of the food trade.

And then, why make something new by naming it like something old? The innovation is hidden, instead of being highlighted.

But, in reality, this post is more about sharing an astonishment: the composition of the preparations that were proposed by the candidates who made these "copies of Iberian ham" were actually so different... that it was very difficult to recognize Iberian ham.

For me, and for many people with whom I discussed the question, Iberian ham is served in very thin slices: there is even this Spanish ceremony which consists in putting the ham horizontally, on a support, and using a long knife, to make well-sliced strips.

But, above all, this ham is a beautiful, alternating red and white areas. In the red areas, my friends who have studied this product know that the proteins have been partially hydrolyzed and have released amino acids and peptides, among other things, so that these parts have a lot of flavor. In the white areas, it is fat, and here again, the long evolution of the ham, its maturation have led to the formation of odorant compounds.
Finally, the Iberian ham is characterized by this alternation of areas of different consistencies and different tastes, and in any case powerful.

But we must not forget that there is a lot of fat in total and that this marbling is essential for the quality of Iberian ham.

But in the realisations that were submitted to me, there was no fat!
I must admit that I was a bit shocked and disappointed. Am I old-fashioned? Biased? I know that some members of the jury spontaneously made the same analysis as I did, so it is not idiosyncratic.

And here I am expressing my incomprehension/why did the competitors claim to be making a reproduction of Iberian ham when their preparation did not contain the fat that is almost the hallmark of this ham?

After lecturing on Note by Note Cooking, I answer to questions

Here the message to which I am answering : 

 

"I really enjoyed the topics we learned and was fascinated where the direction of food is currently going.  

Given how unsustainable factory farming is and with the development of synthetic food, I wondered if you personally visualize a mostly vegan world in the near future?   There was a photo of a dish you posted of meat next to a fake meat, and you surprisingly seemed to indicate your preference for the fake meat (perhaps I misunderstood which one you preferred).  However, as a vegan myself, I have to say it truly gave me hope of a meatless world being a reality somewhat soon.

I look forward to hopefully hearing your views on this subject either in class or by email if you have a chance."

 

And this is my answer

 

Indeed, as you could see, I try avoiding having ideas, and rather stick to facts (and I have no crystal ball for divination):

 

1. there is a slow decline in meat consumption

 

2. the issue of proteins is difficult, because the human body being made of 20 % proteins, we need the building blocks...

 

3. but also because the iron of meat is much more bioavailable than for plants (and beware, population are sub deficient in iron, and we should not expose them to serious conditions such as iron deficiency

 

4. we can learn to synthesize new forms of iron that would be more available (such as artificial heme groups)

 

5. 2016 was made the international year of pulses for good reasons: these plants synthesize proteins, among other advantages, and there are big industries now extracting these proteins

 

6. the remnants, after extraction, can be given to insects... which can make proteins

 

7. about the picture of the real, ugly, meat and the "fibrés" (I insist that we don't speak of artificial meat, or fake meat, or in vitro meat, because words have to be loyal; as for plant based liquids instead of "milks", yes, the result was very interesting

 

8. but I did not had time to discuss what I called "diracs", except with the picture of the blue thing served in Montreal

 

9. more generally, as you could hear, I try to avoid "reproduction", because this is useless, and the copy is always poorly appreciated, or lets's say less appreciated than the original

 

10. by the way, why meat? I don't discuss here moral ideas, but only meat consumption ?

 

11. and note by note is much more interesting for creating new food, than sticking lazoly to the reproduction of old stuff, such as meat.

 

12. here the real question: which consistencies are "interesting", and why?

 

13. and also: when people change their diet, they need to know very well how to do, otherwise they can be very ill

 

14. and finally, about your first question of a future without meat, I would say no, but a redistribution (for example, mountains are best for raising cattle, because no agriculture is easy (hence the cheese such as reblochon, munster, and so many others) ; anyway, changes are slowly on the way... but they are slow : it took me 15 years before molecular cooking was accepted, and remember that I proposed NbN cooking in 1994 !

Note by note cooking: explanations

If you want to lean more about note by note cooking:

An article with an audio interview :
https://latest.worldchefs.org/podcast/episode-4-is-note-by-note-the-future-of-food/?utm_source=ALLLL&utm_campaign=ca358340ed-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_11_25_12_11_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_217a14193d-ca358340ed-199477805

More questions, more answers about molecular gastronomy and note by note cooking

This morning, I should not answer, because indeed the answers are already given, but I found new ways of answering.
The questions are in italics. 


What does molecular gastronomy mean to you as a scientist, or as a chef if you cook?

Molecular gastronomy should mean someone to me in particular. It means the same for everybody: the scientific discipline looking for the mechanisms of phenomena occurring during culinary processes. Nothing else.
The question is as strange as if I was asked: what does a cat mean for you, as a scientist, or as a chef if you cook.
And by the way, even when I cook (daily, at home, for all evening dinners plus meals of the week ends), I am not a chef, but I remain a scientist, and a scientist that cooks. The same when I am walking: I remain a scientist, and a scientist that walks.



How was your relationship with Nicholas Kurti( Kürti Miklós)?
 
It was a "love affair", immediate friendship that began as soon as we spoke on the phone, in 1986. After some seconds, he decided to come to Paris and see me, and we had this wonderful meal together, when we shared a "poule au vin jaune et aux morilles", at Maitre Paul, rue Racine, in the Quartier Latin of Paris. Immediately, we decided that we could share our results, thoughts, experiments... He was 50 years older than me, but we behaved as friends, and he was certainly not my tutor. Only a friend.
We shared everything: when I was invited as honoris causa in a university, I asked him to be along, and when he was proposed to write a text, we did it both (generally, I was writing the first draft, and he was improving it).
We did everything in a wonderful harmony, experiments on soufflés, on vinegar, organizing the Erice workshops... We spoke on the phone daily, and when I was making an experiment in Paris, he repeated it in London. He was a very good physicist, and I learned a lot from him in this regard, whereas he got much from me in chemistry, of which he did not know much.



I am not sure I understood this that’s why I am asking it.

Yes, but you make a load on me. Please read more carefully and use Google translate (or another one), because the explanations are clearly given. 


So is Note by Note for example when you deconstruct two material to their chemical structure and then construct it with another material with the same structure? 
 
Note by note does not mean deconstructing two materials to their chemical structure ! Indeed the sentence has no meaning: what is the "chemical structure, for example? And note by note cooking does not deconstruct. It means building a dish from pure compounds (let's say "chemical species" if you prefer). And what you build does not have the same chemical composition or chemical structure as... As what, by the way?


Or how is this going? I have read that for example the garlic and the coffee has the same structure so they can be combined to invent a new dish? 
 
By structure, you perhaps mean "composition". And no, garlic does not have the same chemical composition as coffee... otherwise they would be the same ! Please, also avoid the "I have read", and give precise references. By the way, only have good readings (can you recognize them?).
Finally, what you probably read is that coffee and garlic have one or more compounds in common, so that they would "pair". But this is a bad theory, that has nothing scientific as cooking is art, not a question of science.


I am sorry If I misunderstood this whole thing, it is a little hard for me to learn and write about such a hard theme in not my mother language.
 
Sorry for you, but I cannot help in this regard.


Can I do fruit caviars from agar-agar? Or is it just like gelatine but the vegetable matter of it?
 
You probably means "alginate pearls" with a liquid core, and for this, you need... sodium alginate. But it's true that I showed decades ago how to make it with gelatin: my solution is displayed on the internet site of Pierre Gagnaire. And I guess that I could also find a solution with agar-agar.





How can we invent totally new dishes with Note by Note?

Look at any recipe of the International Contest, or read my book Note by Note Cooking, at Columbia University Press.

Do you think that molecular gastronomy will be the future or not because it needs some hardly available items for it, or like liquid nitrogen. So will it be available in a normal kitchen or just for the best Restaurants?

You confuse molecular gastronomy (science) and note by note cooking. Molecular gastronomy is spreading in universities all over the world. And note by note is spreading in restaurants of all the world. But there are many answers about this elsewhere.
And note by note cooking will be able to used more and more common ingredients (remember this word: just as carrot and meat are ingredients of traditional cooking, pure compounds are the ingredients of note by note cooking).

Do you teach molecular gastronomy?
Yes,  in a lot of contexts.
- in the Erasmus Mundus Plus Master Programme "Food Innovation and Product Design"
- in the IPP Master Programme of AgroParisTech
- at the Ecoles des Mines de Paris
- at AgroParisTech, in the context of the Courses of Molecular Gastronomy
- and others

Many answers about note by note cooking

Today, a friendly lettre from a friend in Singapore. It begins by "Before you left I mentioned I had some questions to ask you, here they are (note I might be a bit neophobic)"

 Neophobia is the human behavior of being cautious about new food. This is a quality, otherwise the human species would not be here today: we would have been poisoned by the consumption of plants (remember that nature is very dangerous, and we eat only the fruits and vegetables that we can eat, either because we are manipulated by plants, for dispersing their seeds, or because we domesticated some dangerous species).


 I was thinking of the future and the use of Note by Note, and thought that, nutritionally, we could have a great gap between rich and pour when we separate components.  We know a vitamin or phytochemical will be inevitably more expensive than a starch, cellulose or sugar. 
Nowadays, we have more equality in this sense.  When buying a vegetable or fruit, it comes as whole and everyone has access to it.  It is, in a way, a more fair game.

This is really true : the compounds that makes up the majority of food ingredients (water, protides, glucides, lipids) are much more abundant than vitamins, for example, and this explain why they are cheaper. This is also part of the explanation of obesity in the world: when you eat too much fat and sugars, you gain weight and sick. And it is not a surprise that the poorest populations are the most obese in developed countries... But this last observation also shows that there is not much equality, even today.


My question is: what are the advantages of separating, at the farm, produce in its pure components besides increasing food creation possibilities?  Why not just dry a whole carrot?

Indeed, forget about note by note cooking as a new art as a start, and let's start from facts :
1. we will have to feed 10 billion people in 2050, and the sole solution today is to fight spoilage. Why spoilage? In part because we consume fresh products: hence the idea to fractionate at the farm (by the way remember that the milk and wheat industries are already fractionating).
2. if we fractionate at the farm, we make the prices more level, and this is good for everybody, because if the efficiency of agriculture is increased, the price of products is not hampered by the price of spoilage.
3. imagine that someone would be able to pay for a fruit, why would he pay more for the fractions ?

Now, drying is very energy consuming, and membrane techniques are much more powerful. In France, il particular, they are already applied for making drinkable water as well as for milk fractionation.

Moreover, having the fractions of carrots (including vitamins and phytochemicals) has the advantage that :
- we would not transport water
- we would probably save energy for cooking
- we decide for the nutritional properties of food
 - we decide for the toxicology of food (including managing questions  of allergies).


We have quite a few studies and line of thoughts suggesting that highly processed food can be detrimental to our health. 
One example from the book Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition, T. Colin Campbell
“Every apple contains thousands of antioxidants whose names, beyond a few like vitamin C, are unfamiliar to us, and each of these powerful chemicals has the potential to play an important role in supporting our health. They impact thousands upon thousands of metabolic reactions inside the human body. But calculating the specific influence of each of these chemicals isn’t nearly sufficient to explain the effect of the apple as a whole. Because almost every chemical can affect every other chemical, there is an almost infinite number of possible biological consequences.”

This question of transformed food being detrimental to health is not correctly managed in the public debate. For example, recently, there were articles about a certain (and bad) "Nova" categorization of food... but one forget to say that if you eat too much salt, sugar and fat, you get sick ! And remember that smoking is the worst... and main cause ! Drinking alcohol as well, is bad. And driving too fast. And, etc.
This is exactly the topic of my last book: bad faith! Because we all say that we want healthy food, but we forget that dietetics knows ONLY ONE rule: we have to eat of everything in small quantities, and make exercise. Do we apply this rule? No, certainly no... and this is why we are too fat, and sick.


I understand you classify process food/artificial food as any food that was, in some way, modified from its natural status.  Example: boiled potato, scramble egg, etc.  But when drying, coping (color or flavor compounds additions) and extracting pure components, we made those dishes much more artificial than boiling a potato. 
 
Is it true ? For years, I tried to tackle this question without finding an answer. Consider a choucroute, for example: the cabbage was selected, cultivated, fermented, cooking for hours. The sausage was produced from meat that was destroyed, added with ingredients, processed... About spicy crab? The sauce seems to be important, and you know perfectly how it is made, with spices addition. Indeed I could not find an "index of naturality".
And to finish about the potato:
- the potato that we have today is the result of MANY selections, like apples are certainly not wild apples
- is boiling more or less "natural" (indeed we should say artificial) than frying ?


I am thinking of ingredients’ natural “chemical balance” or proportions and level of processes.
I don’t think, eating Note by Note, or highly process food once in a while will kill you, but if Note by Note is the future of food, how much are we looking into its health impact when consumed daily?

When you speak of "natural balance", may I tell you that you are going too far ? There is no proof that there is any balance at all ! And the proof was given by elementary nutritional studies: when you give meat stock only to dogs, they die. I remind you the sole rule in dietetics: we have to eat of everything in small quantities and make moderate exercise.
By the way, all compounds from  fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, etc. are toxic at various levels. And this is why we have to vary, to change, otherwise we would get over the toxicity level. For example, one whole nutmeg would kill you; or basil, or tarragon, or the phenolics of grapes; or lycopene from carrots; or beta carotene from carrots...
This is why I am promoting the idea that we now have 30 years in front of us in order to work scientifically so that we get ready when note by note cooking will be the main way of feeding people. I don't say that I have THE solution; I simply say that we have to work fast in order to be ready. And this calls for a lot of nutrition, toxicology,  but also culinary work in order to be able to produce the needed dishes (I make a difference between a bunch of compounds and a dish, for many reasons, including questions of satiety and pleasure, but here I would be too long explaining).

I was thinking of the peach pie/tart you’ve mentioned in one of your lectures.  You told us it was more sour (acidic) once was cooked.  During that session I thought: maybe it was just perceived as more sour.  Maybe before cooked its natural shape does not let our taste buds capture the acidic flavour or sensation, but once its cooked and the shape it’s changed or released your taste buds than can perceive the flavour.   I’ve imagined the acid component being “trapped” in some structure which changes once cooked.  In its natural form not anatomically suitable to our taste buds. 
The time I was working with salt crystals and its different shapes and how salty we perceive a product depending on the salt crystal used.

Indeed I did not discuss peach by apricots. For sure, the issue of perceiving is important, but why would the perception so much changed ? This calls for interpreting the chemical and physical environment of the various acids in the fruit. And yes, perceived acidity is not the same as pH, as shows the experiment of drinking vinegar vs vinegar with a lot of sugar: whereas the pH does not change with the addition of sugar, there is certainly a difference in perception.  But anyway I am smiling because this question about apricots is only one of the thousands of questions that I have... and I shall not spend too much on this one in particular, but I find it useful for the discussion of scientific strategy ;-).
For salt, yes, the various salts give various salt perceptions, but this is only when the crystals are present (and crunchiness  or ions release is then to be considered); when the different crystals are put in solution, we did not observe any difference, when the chemical composition of the crystals are the same.

Atelier d'activités pratique note à note / Note by Note activities

Désolé pour mes amis qui ne parlent pas l'anglais : ce billet nécessitera l'utilisation de Google translate.

One word of explanation: I produced this after I did a workshop yesterday for a Swiss laboratory, after a  lecture. These are very easy experiments producing new food, and in particular note by note food.



Wöhler sauce

This one is a synthetic sauce, like a wine sauce.

1. in a pan, add 200 g water
2. add phenolics, tartaric acid, salt, msg, a spoon of grilled corn starch, and one small glass of ordinary oil.
3. put to the boil while whipping.

Wöhler was a remarkable German chemist.


 Würtz

Wurtz are gelified foams.

The protocole is the following:
1. in a large bowl, put 5 g gelatine
2. add 200 g aqueous solution
3. add  100 g sugar
4. heat until the gelatine is dissolved
5. whip extensively while cooling (put the pan in a larger pan with cold water or ice) until a large volume of foam is obtained
6. store in the fridge for gelification of gelatine.

The name is from Charles Adolphe Würtz, a famous chemist from Alsace.


 Gibbs

This is a soufflé that you can make in some seconds, but more precisely, it is a chemically coagulated gel.

The protocole is:
1. In a large bowl, put 1 tea spoon of coagulating proteins (such as egg white powder).
2. Add 2 spoons of water
3. Add oil while whipping until the system is like a white mayonnaise sauce  (probably about 200 g of oil)
4. Put this emulsion in small cups
5. Heat the cups in the microwave oven, until you observe an expansion by about 40 %: you get the chemically coagulated emulsions.

Now, repeat the experiment, but before cooking (step 5), add sugar (50-100 g), a pinch of salt, food colorant, odorant compound.

The name is from the famous American physical chemist Josiah Willard Gibbs.



Record volume for whipped egg white and Geoffreys

You have to know that today, we have the world record of the largest volume of foam from one egg white: we made more than 40 litres.
And if you try  to beat this record, be ready to spend some time, and have multiple collaborators, with large vessels.

1. put one egg white in a vessel
2. whip
3. when it is fully whipped, add 1 spoon of sugar, and whip
4. then add one spoon of a liquid (with no fat : apple juice, etc.), and whip
5. while whipping, add alternatively sugar and liquid
6. when the volume is more that can be stored in one vessel, divide in two vessels and whip the two
7. and so on until you beat the record.

In the end, you can add color, taste (sugar, salt, citric acid...), odorant compounds (taking into account that oil can "kill" foams).

Also in the end, you can distribute volume of foams in cups or glasses, and cook in a microwave oven, until a chemically gellified foam is obtained, and this is a Geoffroy, from a French chemist of the XVIIIth century.


Conglomeles

Conglomeles are artificial plant tissues. They are made from alginates pearls with liquid core, glued together.

1. In a large vessel, dissolve  2 g of sodium alginate in 300 g water
2. Mix with a blender
3. In 1 L of orange juice, add 200 g of calcium lactate.
4. Pour drops of orange juice in the water with alginate
5. Recover the pearls and rince them.

For making conglomeles :
6. put the pearls in a bowl
7. in a pan, heat water with citric acid, sugar and gelatine
8. Pour this liquide on the pearles and cool unti it is set.


 Liebig (sheets of dressing)

Liebigs are physically gellified emulsions.

The idea is to make an emulsion using gelatine as a surfactant. When cooling, it will gelify.
1. In a large vessel, put 1 g of gelatine
2. Add 100 g of vinegar
3. whip oil added slowly until a thick consistency is reached.
4. Pour this emulsion on a silicone sheet or in an oiled plate
5. put in the fridge
6. when gelified, detach the "sheet" of dressing.

Justus von Liebig was a German chemist. He began his studies in Giessen, and finished in Munich.


 Diracs

Diracs are artificial meats.

In order to choose the right consistency (not too hard, not too soft), one has to make the following experiment:
1. In one large bowl, pit 50 % water and 50 % egg white proteins. Mix thoroughly.
2. Take a sample of this mixture and put it in a small cup or glass.
3. Then add 50 % water to the remnant, mix and keep a sample in another cup or glass.
4. And repeat, forming a series of glasses with decreasing quantities of proteins.
5. Put all glasses in the microwave oven and heat: you will get coagulated masses in decreasing order of toughness.

 Select now the consistency that you need, and make it again, adding finally color, odor, taste, and cook.

For emulsified diracs, you have to add oil in the dirac preparation before cooking.
For aerated or foramy diracs, whip the water+protein mixture before cooking.

Paul Adrien Marie Dirac was one founding father of quantum physics. He was from England.






 Chocolate Chantilly

This one is not "note by note", but it is frequently asked.  It is a chocolate mousse without eggs, with a very delicate consistency as whipped cream.

1. in a pan, put 200 g water
2. add 225 g of ordinary chocolate
3. Heat until the chocolate has melted and makes an emulsion
4. Put the pan on cold water or ice and whip until the consistency changes (as well as color: becoming whiter).
5. Stop immediately whipping. You can store it in the fridge.

Questions and answers

Today, some questions are answered, in view of a trip to Singapore, at then end of June


1. In recent media reports, it was written that “note-by-note” cooking approach can “stave off energy crisis, eliminate food waste and end world hunger”. Can you please explain more about the NbN approach and its potential?

There are two different ideas: note by note cooking, which is a new way of cooking, and the Note by Note Projects, that include note by note cooking, but aims are improving the efficiency of our food production systems.Let's tell the story this way: today, we are 7 billions humans, and about 1 billion is starving. In 2050, there will be 10 billions, so that we have to plan methods for feeding everybody.

More or less, the agreement is that spoilage is to be fought, and it is true tht if 30% of the producted food is spoiled, avoiding this would improve greatly the efficiency of agriculture.

One way to fight spoilage is to “fractionate” at the farm, which means separating water, and making proteins, sugars, amino acids, phenolics, etc.

This would avoid the transportation of fresh products that spoils... and means transporting water (a truck full of tomatoes means a truck full of 95 % water!).

Moreover, as the Minister of Argentina for agriculture told me, this would have the advantage to make prices more even, which is good for the farmers.

Indeed, In the NbN projects, the farmers will enrich by selling new products... but they would have to make a small fractionation step at the farm... with hardware already existing (and cheap).

This being said, the citizens would receive powders (nowadays, you can already buy tons of proteins from plants)... and they will have to cook : this is exactly Note by note cooking.

By the way, a very fresh information: recent dinners by chefs in restaurants showed that NbN dinners cost twice less and need twice less time to prepare !

2. What made you decide to explore (and promote) NbN to the F&B industry?

Indeed, to tell the truth, in the beginning (1994), I had only the idea that a more rational way of cooking was possible. But more and more, it evolved. First, I considered that a new form of culinary style was possible, and then the many advantages of note by note cooking appeared.

And finally, I can tell you that, being a Gourmand, I was so happy of the Note by Note meal that my friend Pierre Gagnaire served to the New York Times journalist, when they came to Paris to see me about NbN: I am having meals frequently at Pierre's... but this meal was the most exciting, because of entirely new flavours !

3. Can this approach be applicable to the F&B industry in Asia? If yes, how can this approach be integrated with or adopted to Asian cuisine?

Of course, very easily. And the interesting thing is to see how different culinary artists will produce different cuisine. Indeed we can envision “asian NbN cuisine”, or “western NbN cuisine”, etc. (you see, I make a difference between cooking = technique, and cuisine=style)

4. You are scheduled to give a speech to the graduating culinary and pastry batches at Singapore’s At-Sunrice Global Chef Academy this month. Can you share with us some of the advice that you will impart to these newly graduated chefs?

Of course, the main ideas are work, loyalty, kindness, care, boldness... But I know that I shall have to explain that cooking is first love, then art and finally technique.

The technical component of cooking is important, for sure, but it is not difficult... if you accept to detach from tradition (I am not saying that tradition is useless or bad, but I say that tradition is the sum of the successes and advances of the past ; our Great Ancestors would be angry if they saw that we did not contribute to the advancement of culinary art).

But the question of art is most important. It is not difficult and it is not important to grill meat or boil vegetables, but rather the issue is to determine how to do it and why.

Indeed I realize more and more that one main issue around is that the goals are not clear, and it has to be very clear ! Indeed, imagine that you are in Paris ; if you don't understand clearly that your goal is Singapore, you will perhaps arrive in Hong Kong, or Tokyo, but not in Singapore. And it's only when the goal is clear that you can determine the way to reach it. In Greek, the way is “methodon”, method. Yes, when you have the goal, you can try to find the way, and this is “strategy”. And they you can implement, and this is tactic.

Coming back to hard “work”, or to innovation, creativity, etc. , the idea lies in this sentence: “Il faut tendre avec efforts vers l'infaillibilité sans y prétendre”.

And by the way, if I have time, I shall tell them the wonderful story of Michael Faraday. As an orphan, he was going once per week, in the evening, in “Improvement of the mind” sessions... and he became the one of the greatest physical chemists of all times.

But I know that I shall also have to make it very clear to explain the difference between Molecular gastronomy, molecular cooking, mocular cuisine, and note by note cooking/cuisine.

By the way, I would be very happy if I could stimulate the creation of a laboratory for molecular gastronomy in a chemistry department of Singapore

5. How do you see the future of food preparation? Do you think that chefs in Asia should create more molecular gastronomy offerings in their menu?

Indeed you confluse (sorry to tell you that) molecular gastronomy and cooking.

Molecular gastronomy is one science of nature, as physics, chemistry, biology. It is for scientists, not for chefs. Molecular gastronomy cannot be in a menu.

Molecular cuisine, instead, is cooking, for chefs, not for scientists... but this is 35 years old... and this is why we should move fast toward Nbn (like jazz is 50 years old, and new music can be introduced).

The future of food preparation : certainly NbN for the reason given above about 10 billions people on the earth.

Finally “should” Asian chefs offer more molecular cuisine: no, because molecular cuisine is old.

“Should” chef offer NbN ? If they want. The question is art : an artist does what he/she perceives, feels...

But it's true that if a chef serves NbN, this is NEW, and only the new can attract journalists... and guests.

6. What do you think chefs in Asia should do to get more diners to try molecular gastronomy offerings?

Again : confusion between molecular gastronomy (science), on one hand, and cooking, on the other hand. But I don't see the difference between this question and the previous ?

7. What are your future plans concerning NbN approach and molecular gastronomy? Will you be participating in more events here in the region in connection with promoting these culinary disciplines?

For molecular gastronomy, I am doing efforts to spread this science all over the world... and it works well. More and more, in science and technology universities, laboratories for molecular gastronoy are created.

For NbN : for sure, we have to be ready in 2050, and I am promoting all over the world this new way of cooking, with about 1 new countrie per two months. Right now, I am considering how to change the International Contest for Note by Note Cooking (we do tomorrow the 6^th).

More events in Asia? Why not, if people in Asia are interested.

(but remember: molecular gastronomy is not a culinary discipline, it's science ;-) ).

Questions About Note by Note Cooking

How does note by note cooking work?
To say it in one sentence: note by note cooking means making dishes from ingredients that are pure compounds (such as water, triglycerides, proteins, lipids, phenolics, colorants, odorants compounds, taste compounds, vitamins, oligo-elements).

In order to understand better, a comparison with synthetic music is helpful.
Indeed, two centuries ago, music was performed using traditional instruments, and cooking was using traditional ingredients. Then one century ago, physicists began analyzing sounds into pure waves, as chemists were analyzing food into pure compounds. About 50 years ago, one room full of computers was used to synthesize music from pure waves, but today a synthesizer costs only 20 euros in a shop for children. For food? Pure compounds are cheap, and it's easy to make synthetic food. This is note by note cooking.


You have said in the future we won't cook with fruit, vegetables or meat, but note by note with pure compounds. Why?
I am not sure that I would say that exactly... and I don't have crystal ball!
But I say that fruits and vegetables are fragile physical-chemical systems, full of water, so that they are expansive to transport (transporting water!), and they are easily damaged.
In order to reduce spoilage, it would be useful to extract water from plant tissues at the farm, so that only "dry" nutrients would be transported, without cold systems (expansive, energy consuming, bad gases for the climate).
This would also have the advantage of making the prices more regular, because of the possibility of storage.
And of course, the plants needed to produce sugars, lipids, amino-acids and proteins, etc.  would not be the traditional ones.
But instead of saying that there would be no carrots, I would say that as for music, there will  probably be traditional as well as new food ingredients.



How can the industry prepare for note by note cooking? Particularly suppliers, manufacturers, supermarkets and chefs?
Today, we observe the creation of small companies selling products for note by note cooking, but indeed this is one of my old goals: selling additives, odorant compounds, etc. to anybody. Just as gelatin was introduced in supermarkets and vanillin preparations, pure compounds for note by note cooking can be sold there.
Indeed I am confident because having introduced gelling agents from algae in the food sector, I see them now in supermarkets. The same for some tools such as siphons or low temperature cooking.
For note by note cooking, it will follow the same process.


How can you see note by note cooking changing the way we make and sell food?
Indeed note by note cooking done as it is done today is probably too difficult for the public, just as the first synthesizers were to complex, and only for specialists. But music companies made simpler synthesizers for children, so that today anybody can use them.
I have the feeling that food companies have an opportunity to create tools for cooking (3D printing systems, for example), but also "kits", instead of pure compounds.


What new dishes could be created through this cooking?
Note by note cooking is cooking, not producing new ingredients. It creates new dishes (second part of the question). And here, the possibilities are infinite: using note by note cooking, you can create EVERYTHING! The shape you want, the consistencies you want, the colors you want, the odor you want, the number of calories you decide, etc.



Do you think more unusual ingredients could become more accepted (like algae for example) if note by note cooking is introduced?
It is a hope, and a goal. I hate the idea that additives are only for companies. Either such compounds are useful, and the public should have it, or they are not, and the industry should not use them. The same for odorant compounds, or "flavourings".
And I want to give the public the possibility to decide and innovate. Consider, for example, a flavourings with a "strawberry flavour". This steals from the chef the possibility to decide for the flavour of the dishes that he or she is creating. And this is why, for odors, I want pure odorant compounds being sold (dissolved in oil, for example), so that the creator can decide.
 By the way, I analyze that the public fear of additives and other products is partly due to the fact that it cannot buy it and use it in home kitchens.



What problems in the world could note by note cooking tackle? Is it expensive?
Food security, by fighting spoilage
Energy savings: transportation and cold techniques
Water savings in arid countries
Making prices even
Allergies
Quantity of calories
Making food from unedible plants (by fractionation, keeping only the good compounds)

No, it's not expensive: you can buy plant proteins by tons, for example, and odorant compounds are very cheap, because a pure bottle of one of them is about 10 euros... and you have to dissolve by one billion, often.

A propos de cuisine note à note/ About note by note cooking

Souvent, ce sont des étrangers qui m'interrogent en anglais... et je leur réponds en anglais. Pour une fois, ce seront des francophones qui devront utiliser un logiciel de traduction pour me comprendre.



About note by note cooking, some questions today, with comments :

I searched some award-winning Note by Note dishes done by students.
Why only "by students" ? I don't see any difference between students, lay people, chefs... And remember that often, chef design recipes for others, who have simply to follow.

They look really high-end fine dining. 
I don't know what you where you looked at, but if you go on the site of the International Centre for molécular gastronomy AgroParisTech-Inra (hosted on AgroParisTech), you can see many recipes. Some are fine dining, and some are more simple. For example, the demonstration of the dirac, of the gibbs, etc. are very simple.

But the article only mentioned equipment like a siphon and alginate bath were used. 
You say "the article", but there are hundreds of pages, dozens of articles.
Siphons can be obtained in very popular supermarkets today. And "alginate bath" does not mean anything. A bath is a bath, which mean a vessel full of water. Alginate (generally sodium alginate) is something that you can find in supermarkets as well. It is a powder that you just need to put in water, in order to get a sodium alginate solution. But I don't see the relationship with note by note cooking in particular.

I'm wondering: is Note by Note cooking very difficult for common people? 
The answer is no. And the dirac and gibbs demonstrate this fully.
Indeed, the issue of note by note cooking is not to use modern tools (this was for molecular cuisine), but instead to have new ingredients. Making a "dirac" by mixing 25% proteins, 75% water, plus compounds for color, taste and odor is straightforward. And this is one goal: to make it easy!
 
What tools are they required?
Is it difficult? No! And I would even say that it will be even easier in the past. Remember the comparison with electronic music: at the beginning, one room full of computers was needed, but today a synthesiser for children costs only 20 euros.
At home, today, I don't have particular tools, only the traditional ones, as anybody.

Is it possible to bring it to people's home? 
Yes. Remember that I succeeded in having siphons everywhere in the world, as well as agar-agar... even to the point that people speak today of "plant gelatin", which is meaningless, because gelatin is an animal product; indeed they want to say plant jelling agent.

And do you want to bring common people cook in Note by Note way?
Yes, for sure, otherwise I would not take one second answering your questions. Coming back to tools: they are not the difficulty for todays practitioners. The difficulty is that fact that I have, and they lack, the knowledge for deciding which compounds to mix. This means that, for the lay people in the future, already make "mixes" or kits will have to be designed and sold (remember that you find that already today, with ready to use custards, flours for bread, etc.
By the way, it is exactly as in the beginnings of synthetic music: a room full of computers was needed... and today it's simmle.

You mentioned "note by note cooking" is the key, in particular in regard to food 3D printing. Can you explain it in detail? 
In order to use the full potential of 3D printers, it's better to use products that have a very specific functionality, and this means pure compounds, hence note by note cooking.

How do you see the relationship between food 3D printing and Note by Note cooking?
Same answer than above.

Is it possible that food 3D printing combines and prints the compound for people?
This sentence has no meaning. A compound is a compound: sucrose, amylopectin, ovalbumin... You cannot "print a compound" (sorry, but you need to know more chemistry, and I cannot make a full course here).

I personally think that cooking with compounds make people lose the primary emotional attachment and memory to food (raw material). 
I don't care about personal opinions of people (and yours in particular, sorry). And all this is old stuff. What do you think about the "primary emotional attachment and memory" concerning sugar? Would you be ready to extract sugar from beetroot yourself?
And more generally do you still ride a horse or do you have trains, planes? And do you make your own ink, writing with feathers?
Such "attachment" is fantasy, and you can trust me that when people are hungry, they don't behave like well fed city dwellers. By the way, do you cultivate your vegetables yourself?
Finally, you should have a look to the history of potato introduction in France, at a time when the Faculty of medicine was publishing that this Solanacae was a cause of lepra. Don't forget, as well, to read about the times when it was said that trains would make the milk "turn" into cows, or about the "heavier than air" that would never fly.
Please stop being afraid.

As compounds don't have any shape, color, texture or smell, it cannot trigger people's memory to food. 
Why do you confuse compounds and dishes. By the way, compounds can have shape, and note by note dishes have a shape: this is even the first step of note by note cooking, i.e. deciding for a shape.
And finally, do we need to trigger people's memory to food? Really?

In this way, people cannot predict what this dish would be smell or taste in the end, and they think compounds cannot bring the cooking pleasure as meat & vegetable did. 
Wrong idea based on the previous wrong idea.
But yes, you can make a dish for which the guest have no idea of the flavour... but it's already the case with old cooking. Imagine that you make a pie: can you guess if the stuffing is sweet or not ? No.
About "cooking pleasure", perhaps you mean "the pleasure of cooking", or "the pleasure of eating".
When I am cooking note by note, I have the same pleasure than when I am cooking in the old way: I am doing my best, so that :
1. my friends are happy
2. it is "good", i.e. beautiful to eat.

What do you think about this? Note by Note cooking is a big leap, how do you think people can adapt it?
I don't care, because I have nothing to sell. Remember that I don't get one pence on note by note cooking, no investment in companies, no patent... and I don't care about being "famous" (what's the use when you are dead?).
Indeed, note by note cooking will be here soon for many reasons :
- 10 billions people in 2050
- spoilage to fight
- energy crisis
- water crisis
- high demand for proteins
- farmers to enrich (because they are in charge of environment, landscapes and primarily food security) (please don't confuse food security and food safety).
But finally, remember that I shall succeed, because:
1. I am using the right strategy (give it to the king, and the public will ask for it)
2. it is the only new culinary art trend
 3. it is new (and the media have to advertise new ideas, not old ones)
 4. it is already spreading.

A very short history of note by note cooking. I tell you (for years) that I will succeed !

A short history of Note by Note Cooking

In the scientific circles, there is a traditional joke : when an innovation is proposed, the « Dear Colleagues » begin with saying that it's impossible, then « it's not new », and then « I thought about it first ». These three behaviours were indeed observed after I proposed Note by Note Cooking, in 1994.

However, on can remember that, at the beginning, I was myself – a chemist !- hesitating about this possibility of simply adding compounds in dishes, considering that I was perhaps too provocative. I needed some months about thinking it possible to make fully synthetic dishes.

What is more interesting is that in any cultural activity, there is a prehistory, a birth and an history. Note by note cooking was almost coming after drinks but also after sweets, that created low quality products by mixing gelatin, sugar, water, colorants and citric acid.

This is prehistory, as it's not cooking. And I proposed note by note cooking only in 1994. This is the birth. And I even have to say that my old friend Nicholas Kurti was reluctant about this proposal, as he writes clearly in his 1969 lecture at the Royal Society : chemistry has nothing to give, but physics can be introduced more.

How did note by note developped later ?

I showed it in lectures only in 1998, in France. At that time, the name « note by note » was not given, and I was simply discussing using pure compounds such as vanillin, cinnamic acid, paraéthylphenol… first in whiskies, then in food. I was even doing practical demonstrations during my lectures, as I was demonstration Maillard reactions from pure proteins and reducing sugars such as glucose.

Hoewever, in 1999, I observed that the number of invitations to make lectures and to give interviews was decreasing : at that time, because the world feard the 2000 year bug, the public feared chemistry. I decided to stop my provocations, and I came back to traditional « culinary precisions ».

The big bug did not come, and the rythm of interviews and lectures developped again, as before.

In 2006, as molecular cuisine and molecular cooking were spreading all over the world, I understood that I did a mistake stopping the promotion of note by note cooking, and I decided to do it again. A name was needed. As I was writing my book about the fact that cooking is art, I chose « note by note », because there is a relationship with music. Of course, the parallel with music shows that this is slightly wrong, as it should have been « wave by wave »… or synthetic cooking, but who cares : there was anyway a metaphor. And I wanted to avoid any reference to « molecules », because the name « molecular cuisine » was a mistake of the past.

In 2008, as I was lecturing in the Réunion island, I came to the idea that it would be good that my friend Pierre Gagnaire would be the first chef to serve a note by note dish. I remember that I was in the harbour of Saint Paul, at dawn. I called Pierre and he accepted.

Then, I had to work withi him, in order to design this dish, that was shown to the press and to the public in Hong Kong the 24 th of April 2009. This first note by note dish served in a restaurant was called "Note à Note N°1"

What next ? As Pierre Gagnaire is not the man of a particular trend, he had no reason to go entirely forward in this direction. But I usad a lecture at the meting of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, in Strasbourg, in 2010, in order to invite two Alsatian cooks, Hubert Maetz and Aline Kuntz, to make two note by note dishes, that they did in front of the audience, helped by me.

Then, still in 2010, because I was the president of the Educational Committe of the Instute for Advanced Studies in Gastronomy, I organize a note by note educational dinner at the Ecole du Corbon bleu, in Paris. The chefs were Patrick Terrien, Patrick Caals, Frédéric Lesourd, Bruno Stril, Philippe Clergue, Marc Thivet, Franck Poupard, Patrick Lebouc, Jean-François Deguignet, Jean-Jacques Tranchant, Nicolas Bernardé (MOF), and Xavier Cotte. And the menu was the following:

Royale de sous bois, blanc-manger truffé et bouillon légèrement mousseux Profondeur iodée de poulpe et Saint-Pierre, écume et transparence de spaghettis aux cèpes Pigeonneau en deux cuissons, sa compotée de cuisses, potimarron fondant, gelée aux polyphénols, asperges virtuelles Mille-feuille de chèvre frais au siphon Guimauve en deux textures Ardoise « This » Sucrette glacée au parfum de Menton

It can be observed that these first dishes contained still fruits and vegetables. At that time, cooks did not had easy access to appropriate dilutions of odorant compounds.

I jump over the large number of lectures, shows, talks, interviews, and I give only the most important steps. The next one was in 2011 : for the International Year of Chemistry, the official partner was the Dow Chemicals Company, who accepted to fund a note by note banquet, the day before the official opening at UNESCO, in Paris : the 26 th of January, the team of the catering company Potel & Chabot, under the direction of the chef Jean-Pierre Biffi, served a wonderful menu  :

Sur une idée d'huitres : huitres de tapioca, bavarois d'amylopectine, tapioca de citron vert, eau de mer gelée, crème d'huitres, vapeur cristallisée Soufflé au homard, sauce wöhler et gelée de framboises Fibres de bœuf, capellini, cylindres orange Boule de cassis

Here, one has to interpret the names of the dishes. For example, there was no lobster in the « lobster » dish, but an artificial flavouring of lobster. Lime was not present as well. For raspberries and black currants, it was the powder of these fruits… and this is indeed note entirely note by note. And there was a real mistake in the end, because the team put reals fruits in the plate, around the main element.

However it was so good that Potel & Chabot served it again in April 2011 to the 450 guests gathered for the French Michelin stars, at the Espace Cardin, in Paris.

This same year in October, another note by note dinner was served by the chefs-teachers of the Cordon bleu School, in Paris. The chefs were Patrick Terrien, Patrick Caals, Philippe Clergue, Frédéric Lesourd, Patrick Lebouc, Franck Poupard, Bruno Stril and Marc Thivet, Jean-François Deguignet, Xavier Cotte, Nicolas Jordan and Jean-Jacques Tranchant, and the menu was:

Mille feuilles terre et mer trois couleurs, souligné des deux sauces Kientzheim et crustacés Recherche note à note en pot-au-feu Reconstitution d'une mozarella, huile d'olive et mâche Le dessert Cordon bleu

One month later, the Association Toques blanches internationales was doing his first « Workshop innovation », on note by note cooking  : Jean-Pierre Lepeltier (Hôtel Renaissance La Défense, Paris), David Desplanques (Hôtel Crowne Plazza République, Paris), Michael Foubert (Hôtel Renaissance Arc de Triomphe), Marie Soyez (Hôtel Renaissance La Défense, Paris), David Crenn (Hôtel Renaissance La Défense, Paris), Vincent Vitasse (Hôtel Concorde Lafayette, Paris), Julien Mercier (Hôtel Pullmann Bercy, Paris) were experimenting, after some products were shown.

This workshop led, this same year in December, on culinary courses given by the chefs of the same Assocation, during the raise funding event Téléthon: Jean-Pierre Lepeltier (Hôtel Renaissance La Défense, Paris), David Desplanques (Hôtel Crowne Plazza République, Paris), Michael Foubert (Hôtel Renaissance Arc de Triomphe), Marie Soyez (Hôtel Renaissance La Défense, Paris), David Crenn (Hôtel Renaissance La Défense, Paris), Vincent Vitasse (Hôtel Concorde Lafayette, Paris), Julien Mercier (Hôtel Pullmann Bercy, Paris) were educating public that had paid for the courses and taste the dishes.

Then, in Montreal, April 2012, a serie of lectures and press conferences were organized at the Institut du Tourisme et d'Hôtellerie du Québec (ITHQ). For the first press conference, the chef Ismael Osorio and the scientist Erik Ayala Bribiesca, along with chefs and students of ITHQ, served four bouchées note by note to about 150 journalists. A funny phenomenon appeared : the new dishes were dividing groups of « like » and « don't like », but these groups were not the same for all bouchées.

The next day, a note by note meal that was less « art moderne » was served to international journalists, with comments.

2012 was also the year in which the public and free Courses on molecular gastronomy discussed note by note cooking. During three podcasted days of lectures, chefs were invited : Philippe Clergue, from le Cordon bleu, and Jean Pierre Lepeltier, the president of the Toques blanches internationales.

In July this year, at Euroscience Open Forum, Dublin, Ireland, my own lecture was followed by the production of note by note food samples by the chef David Desplanques. And, in August, note by note cooking was shown to the students of the Eramus Mundus Mastre Program Food Innovation and Product Design, at AgroParisTech, Paris. The chef Jean-Pierre Lepeltier (Hôtel Renaissance La Défense, Paris) came to show new note by note dishes.

Later, there are too many things, such as a new workshop of the Toques blanches internationales, in August 2012, a press conference with demonstrations when the book "La cuisine note à note en 12 questions souriantes" was shown to the press, with dishes prepared by chefs Jean-Pierre Lepeltier, chef Hôtel Renaissance Paris La Défense, Laurent Renouf, sous chef Hôtel Renaissance Paris La Défense, Julien Lasry, chef de partie Hôtel Renaissance Paris La Défense, Marie Soyer, chef de partie Hôtel Renaissance Paris La Défense, Mickael Foubert, chef Hôtel Renaissance Arc de Triomphe, Lucille Bouche, sous chef Hôtel Renaissance Le parc Trocadéro, Yannick Jaouen (sous-chef Hôtel Mariott Rive Gauche Paris)

In 2013, the first International Contest for Note by Note Cooking took place in Paris. Pierre Gagnaire came and showed the dish named « Chick Corea », that was previously shown at the Book Fair of Paris, some weeks earlier.

Now, the Contest is having its sixt event, after :

- 2014 : using methional

- 2015, playing with proteins, octenol

- 2016, using cellulose and trigeminal compounds

- 2017, fibrous consistencies and acidities.

In July 2013 the Company Mane produced a box of about 20 compounds that was offered to some French chefs, allowing training chefs in the restaurant of Akrame, then at the Plaza Athénée.

After works on multiscale food elaboration, students were trained at doing note by note dishes. The same year, a rich Georgian was introducing a note by note dish in a fast food chain that he owns, whereas the chef David Desplanques was working with Elham Tehrani, student of the Master FIPDes, for designing note by note dishes.

In Canada, a company was designing kits for children, and the Dublin Institute of Technology was inviting new students to work on a note by note educational program. 

Since, all went fater, with about 200 lectures per year, all over the world, showing note by note cooking.

Some items only.

- in Denmark, in 2014,the University of Aarhus and chefs produced a note by note meal served to the king family.

((images Danemark))

- in Estoril, Portugal, in Boston and New York, in some French culinary schools, as well, note by note cooking is taught.

- in Japan, 2015, a collaboration of the Corbon bleu and Ritsumekan University led to showing note by note sushis to the press, by the chef Guillaume Siegler.

Recette  Texture de riz « Note by Note » 200g d’eau 12g d’agar Acide tartrique 3g de glucose 2 g de glutamate de sodium 2g de Xanthane 5g de fecule de mais Quelques gouttes de “Basmati” “Note by Note” No-8 Quelques gouttes de Vinaigre acetique. Feuille de texture recouvrante “Note by Note” 200g eau Une pincee de “Bacon” note by Note” “No 10” 8g agar-agar 0,5g glutamate de sodium 0,5g acide tartrique P.S sel 2g de glucose 1g de xanthane 1g isothiocyanate d'allyle Colorant rouge et noir –Jaune et rouge

Then, in 2015, when a journalist of the New York Times came to Paris in order to make a piece on note by note cooking, the chef Pierre Gagnaire accepted to make a whole menu in which all dishes were based on one single odorant compound. The menu was :

Amuses bouche 1-cis-hexen-3-ol gaïacol et 2,4,6-triisobutyl-5-dihydro-4H-1,3,5-dithiazine 2-acétylthiazole acétyl méthyl carbinol acétyl propionyl pipérine Chick Corea benzaldéhyde

Now, the most important : in 2017, a company was created by a young French entrepreneur to sell note by note compounds… whereas the chef Andrea Camastra, of the restaurant Senses, in Warsaw, Poland, moved entirely the restaurant in the note by note domain.

Which will be the next steps ?