Molecular Gastronomy – The Science of Flavour with Internationally Acclaimed Chef Gaggan from Bangkok

On the 28th of June, over two hundred (200)YFLO and FLO members in Kolkata gathered in the Pine room at Park Hotel for a once in a lifetime opportunity to watch Chef Gaggan Anand demonstrate a few of his spectacular dishes using the science of Molecular Gastronomy. This was no ordinary demonstration. Gaggan intertwined stories with food demonstrations as we watched in awe.

Chef Gaggan Anand is the owner and head chef of Gaggan restaurant in Bangkok, which is arguably the world’s best Indian restaurant. He has won several accolades for his work in the field of Molecular Gastronomy and his restaurant is now rated as the 10th best restaurant in Asia.

Chef Gaggan taught us that the fundamental rule of Molecular Gastronomy is to “to learn to first deconstruct and then reconstruct basic recipes” or what he refers to as “progressive cooking”. For Chef Gaggan, cooking is all about making memories in the mouth. According to him food is seductive, enriching and powerful.

Chef Gaggan amazed the audience with his demonstration on how easy it is to make dishes such as a dhokla soufflé, a rabdikulfi and even a chocolate mousse in the comfort of your own home using just a few ingredients and some simple machinery.

The last dish Chef Gaggan demonstrated was for his version of a reconstructed papdichaat. Using a process called Spherification, the audience was amazed at how such a simple dish could be made to look and taste so elegant. Audiences were warned however, that as simple as it looks, spherification is a very scientific process and requires a large amount of accuracy.

Members were unanimously impressed with Chef Gaggan’s demonstrations and were left with the confidence to try some of his tricks at home.

Sponsors: Century Ply, The Park, Thai Airways, Shree Bhatter, Thai Toursim.