"molecular mixology" news and stories

My friend Tony Conigliaro is a pretty neat guy. Besides sporting a unibrow AND a bow tie with an air of a nutty professor, he fascinates me with his love for the science of cocktails. His intrigue has led him to be declared one of the molecular mixology masters. His London bar that has no name but is referred to by its address -- 69 Colebrooke Row -- and has the cocktail kingdom buzzing with one of his latest creations: aged cocktails.

Inspired by an old bottle of the fortified wine aperitif called Dubonnet that Tony says had aged to a point where it was "exquisite, complex beyond words," he decided to try aging some cocktails in bottles. He experimented with 20 different cocktails, but none impressed him after six months. While cleaning out the basement over a year later, he rediscovered his experiments. The aged Manhattan was "astonishing," so he offered it to his bar patrons.

Bartender and blogger Jeffrey Morgenthaler visited Tony's bar and came back to his Oregon bar base of Clyde Common and decided to give the aging cocktail notion a totally American touch by aging drinks in used barrels. He first started with an oak cask that had previously held Madeira wine. After five to six weeks, he shared his aged rye Manhattan and sold it all within a few days.

Molecular mixology evolved from concepts of molecular gastronomy, the application of science to the analyzing of flavors. The term was invented in 1969 by the Hungarian physicist Nicholas Kurti in a presentation titled "The Physicist in the Kitchen." Hervé This (pronounced "tees"), French scientist and author of Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavor, popularized the phrase. In 2005 the Dutch liquor company Bols sponsored a symposium that brought Monsieur This and eight bartenders together, sparking the chemical cocktail interest.

At first making drinks with scientific tools seems a bit space age, with vacuum chambers, nitrous oxide, dry ice, and sodium alginate. When you mention molecular mixing, most people immediately think of bar chefs changing the physical properties of a drink by creating foams, airs, gels, powders, mists, and gelatinized balls called "caviar." A molecular understanding of a drink's components is not new, though.

More on molecular mixology after the jump.

Have you heard of molecular mixology? I hadn't until recently, but apparently it's moving from the high end bars to your kitchen, according to Forbes.com.

According to the article "molecular mixology, the method takes scientific principles and tools and applies them to the construction of alcoholic beverages." Gelatin, flames, freezing and flavored simple syrups are all a very big part of molecular mixology. There are generally a lot of steps involved, so prep time is high, but apparently these beverages translate well to home preparation, except the most "wildly dangerous" of course.

I don't know about you, but if I'm making cocktails at home, they're going to have to be simple. Anything with a lot of prep time can stay at the bar, as far as I'm concerned. Would you put a lot of time into drinks at home?

Bartending takes a note from Ferran Adria and starts using unusual techniques to prep drinks. Dubbed molecular mixology, the trend is popular at restaurants already doing avant-garde food, while a few other select venues add a touch of foam here and there.  How about a "rum and Coke" with rum powder and soda-flavored Pop Rocks?

Chew on This author Eric Schlosser is in New York to promote his new book and discusses how timing played a crucial role in the wild success of his previous book, Fast Food Nation.

Eric Asimov wonders whether Merlot has been unfairly maligned and visits Swanson Vineyards, a producer of estate-grown merlot, in Napa.

As tourists begin to trickle back in to New Orleans, some are forced to admit that parts of the dining scene have changed. Some restaurants are still closed and there are a few that will never reopen, but the city goes on, and it goes on with beignets and gumbo.

Chef Iacopo Falai justifies the purchase of a smoker by smoking just about everything and pairing it with perfectly prepared food. Mark Bittman, the minimalist, roasts fennel

Parkerhouse rolls begin to find their way back to dinner tables.

Frank Bruni visits A Voce and leaves it with three stars.

[Image NYT]

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