Just the word itself does not, at first glance associate itself with fine dining, or the art/craft of cooking at all, at least in my mind. But such is the nature of cooking and the evolution, or progress of the discipline. Hydrocolloids is, in my mind anyways, just the fancy, proper term for a wide variety of substances for the purpose of gelling, thickening, or emulsifying liquid foodstuffs. If you have not read or heard anything on the subject just think of them as newer and better ingredients in your pantry. Cornstarch and gelatin, as well as the flour you use to make a roux or slurry are themselves hydrocolloids and certainly the ones that most people are familiar with. Xanthan Gum and Agar Agar, as well as Carrageenan are probably the first ones that the average person might recognize the names of and whether you know it or not you are more than likely already part of your daily diet, in the ice cream you have for dessert, the salsa with your chips, and a host of other products. While you might say that cornstarch and gelatin have worked just fine for thickening your products the possibilities of these new hydrocolloids, gums, gels and emulsifiers opens up a whole new world of textures and flavors. Gelatin like sauces that maintain their viscosity at higher temperatures with one, thickened juices, or liquids that don’t require heat with another and the list goes on.
While I am touting the possibilities that hydrocolloids offer the modern chef, I (at this point anyways) am certainly not professing to be any expert on the subject. As I began this website, or blog, I had just recently had my creative drive reawaken and with it the search for an outlet for this urge began, I started to hunt high and low for inspiration and ideas, at the time I was not limiting myself to the culinary arena but certainly anything I was going to was going to be associated with my profession one way or the other. Enter the world of the chef’s blog. Inspiration came to me from so many venues that I was actually a bit overwhelmed, and despondent at the same time. Had I removed myself from the world of high end cuisine for too long? My current position does not allow me to move forward and experiment with these as much as I would like but I am learning and researching as much as my free time allows. As much as these hydrocolloids are fascinating in the possibilities they open up to the chef wishing to experiment the literature out there in print form seems to be somewhat limited, and what I have found looks to be along the lines of reference material for the manufacturing industry (acceptable) and quite pricey (not so acceptable). The idea of spending almost $200.00 on a book only to find out that it’s not what I was after really makes me stop and re-evaluate the situation. On line material is out there to be found, but seems to assume a better than basic knowledge of the substances. The ones I have found that have been the most useful so far are the blog/website Ideas in Food and a PDF “book”, Textures, that can be found at http://khymos.org.
As I discover more in regards to this subject matter, rest assured I’ll share it here. If all works as planned I should have a nice windfall of new products waiting for me at home as the next days off happen in a couple of weeks, at that point sourcing these ingredients in Canada may finally be a done deal, without breaking the bank. Next up, start the more difficult task of sourcing sous-vide equipment in Canada, also without breaking the bank, or paying Customs Canada their piece of the pie. Stay tuned.
and hump day is tomorrow!