Molecular gastronomy in Thai food

Molecular gastronomy is the process of using science and chemistry to prepare food. It is a modern kitchen movement that often swaps the physical composition of the kitchen by using maximum creativity to create completely abstract and new dishes and flavors. I recently had the opportunity to enjoy a Thai meal where the fusion molecular gastronomy chef prepared a series of Thai fusion dishes for us to try. Our food, which was served in races plate by plate, was a creative and modern take on Thai cuisine.

We started with a tom yum shrimp cocktail. Now, as you probably know, shrimp tom yum is one of the most famous soups in Thailand, but serving it as a cocktail drink, mixed with alcohol, is a completely different spin on the (now drink) dish. Just like a regular bowl of tom yum soup, the cocktail was packed with lime juice, but that’s where the similarities ended. The cocktail included a splash of gin, soup stock, and the shrimp, instead of being added to the cocktail, were grilled on a bamboo skewer and used as a stir stick. The chef instructed us to stir the drink with the shrimp skewer, eat the shrimp in one bite, and then sip the cocktail. While he reminded me of any Thai tom yum soup, at the same time it was so contrastingly different.

After the cocktail, we ate foie gras with red curry. The foie gras, being typical of French cuisine, while the flavors and spices of the curry were influenced by Thai food. This was a Thai fusion dish, meaning the ingredients were definitely not typical of traditional Thai food, but rather a fusion of two different cuisines. The creamy foie gras combined with the spicy flavors of typical Thai food and a lovely touch of basil, made the dish rich and melt-in-your-mouth. Once again, it was an idea and mix of flavors that I had never experienced before, and it was extremely enjoyable.

To round out the mains we had green curry. But instead of serving it hot like a normal Thai curry, the chef decided to completely change the composition of the dish by serving it frozen. After the green curry mix was cooked with coconut milk and reduced to let the flavors condense, it was then flash frozen into a thin bowl-like structure. Green curry had to be eaten quickly to maintain the modern molecular composition, so it would still be frozen when eaten. The result was very interesting once again. When I closed my eyes, I tasted all the normal components of a Thai green curry, but there was a slight crunch from freezing, and the creamy, cold sensation was more similar to ice cream than a bowl of green curry and rice. It reminded me a bit of eating an Indian kulfi, an ice cream made with thick cream and flavored with cardamom, but instead of cream it was coconut milk and instead of cardamom it was the variety of spices in the green curry paste that created attractive taste.

Finally, for dessert, we finished with mango sticky rice, which is one of the best known and loved sweets in Thailand. But whereas a regular mango sticky rice is a pile of sweet coconut sticky rice combined with a slab of perfectly ripe mango, this was a sparkling dessert that looked like a pile of soap suds. In this example of Thai molecular gastronomy, the chef completely changed the physical structure and appearance while maintaining a surprisingly similar taste. Each bite of the light bubbles produced a powerful mango and rice flavor in my mouth.

While I wouldn’t want to eat Thai food that has been molecularly altered too often, it was a very fun treat. I was so amazed at the creativity, the precise cooking and the thought behind the display of all the dishes. Also, it was amazing how the dishes looked nothing like normal, but after trying them, I was definitely able to spot the dish it represented or was inspired by.