Food Nerdism on the Cheap

Dave Arnold and Nils Norén teach cooking and food science at the French Culinary Institute and are uber-nerds. Though they bristle at the term “molecular gastronomy” – Arnold said in an interview, “Either every [chef] is manipulating molecules or no one is.” – it’s the easiest way to classify their work.

Arnold earned a degree in philosophy from Yale and Masters from Columbia but chose instead to geek out with old lab equipment he bought on eBay doing things like distilling individual flavors from complex ingredients like celery, basil or chocolate, slow poaching meats in tepid water baths for hours at a time or making ice cream from liquid nitrogen. In 2005, he was hired as the director of culinary technology at the FCI to essentially codify the avant-garde ciusine pioneered by chefs like Ferran Adrià, José Andrés and Wylie Dufresne. A year later, Swedish chef, Nils Norén was hired on as
Vice President of Culinary and Pastry Arts.


Jimmy Fallon - less annoying than I thought he'd be

They were on the TV a few nights ago. Watch the video and you’ll see why their stuff is so cool – they make food fanciful without being too fancy. The problem is that the equipment they use is prohibitively expensive for the home cook. For instance, a sous-vide set-up – an immersion circulator that heats water at ultra precise temperatures for cooking food in plastic bags – would cost at least a grand. There is a home machine on the market but it’s still five hundred bucks and would eat up a third of my counter space.

The SousVide Supreme

But I was intrigued by the quick pickling rig they had where they made instant martini cucumbers. The basic concept is you take a vegetable that has a lot of air packed in its cells and subject it to a vacuum while in a flavored solution, i.e., gin and vermouth. Within seconds, the air comes out and when depressurized, gets replaced by the flavor bath – instant pickle.
On sale for $1,099 at Cabela's

I spent a couple hours looking at equipment online and the good vacuum sealers and chambers all start at $1,200 and are huge. The only other option was using a marinating attachment with one of those food bagging things, but it’s not nearly as good and it still costs a lot and takes up valuable space.


Luckily, I stumbled upon a YouTube video where Dave Arnold shows a down and dirty method for doing the same thing with a syringe. I just happened to have a 60ml syringe around (don’t ask) and decided to try it out.

Make sure no air bubbles are in the syringe
I started with a very dirty martini. I figured the olive brine would add some needed salt. I put it in the syringe body with a couple slices of Persian cucumber and, with my thumb on the squirty part, I pulled out the plunger (keeping it pointed down so the cukes stay in the martini liquid).

Keep it pointed down

You can see the air bubbles expanding out of the slices; it just takes a few seconds. Sure enough, the final result tastes like a dirty martini and has almost all of the crispness of a fresh sliced cucumber.

Before and after

I tried the same with just a straight vinegar brine and it made a tasty pickle. Eating Granny Smith slices pickled in a cinnamon-sugar-lemon liquid was like eating a crispy slice of apple pie. I imagine that you could do it with any fruit or vegetable that can be eaten raw and floats (i.e., contains air). Watermelon rind, zucchini, carrots, onions, jicama, etc.

It doesn't actually shrink that much. The slice on the left is just bigger.

Obviously the downside is that you can only do a few slices at a time and they have to be small enough to fit in the syringe. More importantly, what would you use this for? I dunno. Culinary curiosity? Garnish for a dish? When you’re short on time and need a couple tiny pickles? Maybe a tray of cocktailed pickles? Imagine infusing fruits and vegetables with gimlets, martinis, whiskey sours, etc. Kinda sexy.

I’ll admit that a lot of the stuff Arnold and Norén do, like enzymatically peeling a grapefruit, seems like overkill, but it is all done in pursuit of creating delicious things in a creative way, which is the goal of any chef. I bow to them. Check out their awesome blog.