Culinary Science

New York, New York… so good they named it twice – and twice this year I’ve had the pleasure of working in this incredible city. I only visited New York for the first time back in Christmas 2004 as part of a six-week trip overseas with one of my closest friends, Melissa. It was one leg of a rather arbitrary itinerary that took us from Paris to Berlin to New York and finally Brazil, where we spent New Years in Rio de Janeiro before visiting Foz do Iguacu, Salvador da Bahia, and Manaus (the gateway to the Amazon Jungle).

I usually carry a journal on longer trips because I have a terrible memory and like to remember moments as well as favourite restaurants and places to visit. I’ve just been flicking through the pages of my 04/05 Journal for the first time since returning 18 months ago and not surprisingly (considering my obsession with food), much of my writing revolves around culinary experiences. Whether at home or travelling, food certainly comprises a disproportionate slice of my weekly budget. My return trips to New York in February and May this year were no different, although working 14-hour days did limit us somewhat. Nonetheless on the eve of our one-day off a week, I did manage to lure the crew to Balthazar – one my favourite restaurants and the same place I’d celebrated my birthday a few months earlier. Roasted Halibut was followed by drinks at a nearby Irish Pub, where we met up with some of the lovely girls we’d been working with that week. Actually, we were quite spoilt in New York. Filming for several days at Olives, a top restaurant run by renowned Chef Todd English (above), certainly had its edible perks.

The Food Profiling story commenced in Cincinnati at the beginning of our trip, continued into New York, and eventually finished at the Sydney Fish Markets where the powder was put through its paces. Like film and television drama, our stories are very rarely shot chronologically and quite often pick-ups are required (additional filming to round out the story). Such was the case for this story – both the opener and closer were filmed at the Sydney Fish Markets on returning to Australia. Most of the technology was shot at the company headquarters of Givaudan where all of the science comes together. It was here that we met the team behind Givaudan’s TasteTrek program, which aims to discover and tap into unique aromas and flavours throughout the world using proprietary headspace technology. Amazingly, the headspace process and apparatus captures the aroma molecules of a particular dish or food and uses that information to recreate the flavour for the consumer market. The first Givaudan TasteTrek occurred in Madagascar back in 2003. The aim of the mission was to discover new flavours and tastes, and species of plant life from an exotic part of the world... and what better way to seek adventure and discovery than soaring above the Madagascan canopy on a blimp (photo courtesy of Givaudan). The team was successful - discovering, among other things, a new berry with flavours similar to blackberries. Other culinary TasteTreks have seen the Givaudan team travel to authentic food stalls and restaurants in Thailand, China, South Korea, Philippines, Vietnam, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, France and the US – but its collaboration with celebrity chef Todd English was a first.

In its partnership with Todd, Givaudan created a range of five signature flavours. We followed the process for one specific dish, Lobster Puttanesca – prepared by English at his New York restaurant, Olives. The very difficult task of sampling it revealed incredible flavours; lots of chilli, garlic, onion, capers, and truss tomatoes. Simple but strong Mediterranean flavours that were then extracted as aroma molecules. The headspace capture process for the Puttanesca dish took approximately 2-3 hours and new versions of the same dish were replenished every 20 minutes or so to keep the aromas fresh. So how does the technology work? The apparatus is basically a glass dome and the area inside of the dome is referred to as the headspace. Attached to its top are three glass tubes with specialised filters. At the end of each tube is a soft, pliable tube connected to a small vacuum pump that draws air out of the headspace dome and up through the filter, capturing the aroma molecules in a glass ampule. A solvent in the ampule helps capture the aroma molecules in the form of liquid droplets and that information is analysed in the laboratory and eventually converted into a seasoning powder.

It’s quite a crazy looking apparatus and the procedure really is extraordinary. Essentially, scientists are creating a unique molecular profile of the dish so that you and I can cook authentic restaurant meals without the hassle or high cost. So does it taste as good as the real thing? I was eager to find out, but it would be another eight weeks before the fate of a Sydney lobster was sealed in my hands. It was certainly easy enough and, apart from the lobster, reasonably cheap – olive oil, linguine, canned tomatoes, and of course the essential ingredient. On first tasting, it wasn’t quite there so we added a little more powder… and then a little more… and finally, just one more teaspoon (we only had the sample, which didn’t carry instructions). Bingo. Lobster Puttanesca à la Sara Groen. While it tasted the part and didn’t look too far off the original, I have to admit I did miss the actual textures and colours of the real deal. Of course you’re not going to be too worried about that when you’ve just finished a long day at work, beaten off contenders for the grocery store queue, and succumbed to road rage on the traffic laden trip home.