Molecular gastronomy is the process of using science and chemistry to prepare food. It is a modern movement in cooking that often changes the physical makeup of the kitchen by using maximum creativity to create completely new and often abstract dishes and flavors. I recently had the opportunity to enjoy a Thai fusion meal where a molecular gastronomy chef prepared a number of Thai fusion dishes for us to try. Our meal, which was served plate by plate, was a modern and creative take on Thai cuisine.
We started with a tom yum shrimp cocktail. Now, as you probably know, shrimp tom yum is one of the most famous soups in Thailand, but serving it as a cocktail drink, mixed with alcohol, is a whole different spin on the dish (now drink). Like a normal bowl of tom yum soup, the cocktail was filled with lime juice, but that’s where the similarities ended. The cocktail included a splash of gin, soup stock and the shrimp, rather than being added to the cocktail, was grilled on a bamboo skewer and used as a stir stick to mix the drink. The chef instructed us to stir the drink with the shrimp skewer, eat the shrimp in one bite, and then sip the cocktail. While he reminded me of any Thai tom yum soup, at the same time he was so contrastingly different.
After the cocktail, we had red curry foie gras. Foie gras, being typical of French cuisine, while the flavors and spices of the curry were influenced by Thai food. This was a fusion Thai dish, meaning the ingredients were definitely not typical of traditional Thai food, but a fusion of two different cuisines. The creamy foie gras combined with the spicy flavors of typical Thai food and a lovely hint of basil, made the dish rich and melt-in-your-mouth. Again, it was an idea and mix of flavors that I had never experienced before, and it was extremely enjoyable.
To round off the main courses we had green curry. But instead of serving it hot like a normal Thai curry, the chef decided to completely change the composition of the dish by serving it frozen. After the green curry mix was cooked with coconut milk and reduced so the flavors condensed, it was then quickly frozen into a thin bowl-like structure. Green curry had to be eaten quickly to maintain the modern molecular composition, so it would still be frozen when eaten. The result was very interesting once again. When I closed my eyes, I tasted all the normal components of a Thai green curry, but there was a slight crunch from freezing, and the creamy, cold sensation was more like ice cream than a bowl of green curry and rice. It reminded me a bit of eating Indian kulfi, an ice cream made with thick cream and flavored with cardamom, but instead of cream it was coconut milk and instead of cardamom it was the variety of spices in the green curry paste that created the attractive taste.
Finally, for dessert, we finished with mango sticky rice, which is one of Thailand’s best known and loved sweets. But whereas a normal mango sticky rice is a pile of sweet coconut sticky rice combined with a perfectly ripe slab of mango, this was a frothy dessert that looked like a pile of soap scum. In this example of Thai molecular gastronomy, the chef completely changed the physical structure and appearance while maintaining a strikingly similar taste. Each bite of the light bubbles produced a powerful mango and rice flavor in my mouth.
While I wouldn’t want to eat Thai food that has been molecularly altered too often, it was a really fun treat. I was so amazed at the creativity, precise cooking, and thought behind the display of all the dishes. Also, it was amazing how the dishes were nothing like normal, but after trying them, I could certainly spot the dish that it represented or was inspired by.