Molecular gastronomy – cooking of meat
Special Symposium - Innovations in Food Technology (LMC Congress)
Innovations in Food Technology - Poster Session (LMC/Food - P1)
Keywords: molecular gastronomy
Molecular gastronomy can be considered as the scientific study of what it is that makes one dish delicious and another mediocre or even terrible. One definition could be the application of scientific principles to the understanding and improvement of domestic and gastronomic food preparation but several other definitions have been proposed. Molecular gastronomy integrates gastronomy, food chemistry, physics, and sensory science and covers the entire range from raw material to eating experience. Molecular gastronomy contributes to development of high quality food and meal experiences through a deeper understanding of relationships between the physical/chemical characteristics of food, the processes during preparation, and human perception.
The aim of the PhD project is to explore different paths towards excellent sensory quality of cooked meat by studying the preparation process. The project is focused on heat treatment of meat in restaurant and domestic kitchens, primarily cooking for a long time at low temperatures (slow cooking). During the heat treatment various processes take place, some of thermodynamic and some of kinetic nature. These processes, in particular their time and temperature dependence, are to be investigated using a variety of analyses (e.g. differential scanning calorimetry, texture analysis, colour measurements and sensory evaluation). The intention is to use these results to make a mathematical model for simulation of meat preparation. The cooking process can then be optimised with respect to the sensory quality of the cooked product using simulations of various temperature profiles and thus broaden the spectra of possible preparation methods in restaurants and at home.
