Nathan Archives - Modernist Cuisine

Soup and a Side of General Relativity

Posted on February 17, 2016 at 9:35 am.

Written by Caren

As a chef, Nathan’s passion for creating new dishes is twofold—he creates dishes and the dishes they’re served on. When thinking about a new bowl to create for a 2014 dinner, he found inspiration from a source not often associated with food: the general theory of relativity. The vessel, which is designed to hold two vibrantly colored soups, has a unique shape. Until recently, the bowl might have appeared to be an intricate spiral, but now, the inspiration for its shape—gravitational waves generated by two colliding black holes—has been receiving international attention.

Last week, news broke that on September 14, 2015, the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, a network of scientists from 15 countries, detected gravitational waves for the first time ever. Naturally, the Modernist Cuisine team was excited by this monumental discovery. In honor of Nathan’s cosmic muse, it seemed like a fitting time to share the story of his “gravitational waves” bowl.

In 1915, Albert Einstein came up with the general theory of relativity—in short, it theorizes that gravity is due to the warping of space–time. It was a radical idea for the era, but in 1916 he proposed yet another radical idea with the prediction of gravitational waves, ripples in the curvature of space–time that propagate from their source at the speed of light. He expanded his theory by positing that gravity is made of waves, just as radio signals are made of waves of electromagnetic radiation.

About 1.3 billion years ago, a system of two black holes orbited each other and emitted gravitational waves along the way. They eventually coalesced into a supermassive, spinning black hole, and for decades scientists have looked for evidence of its gravitational waves, but to no avail. Amazingly, the LIGO team figured out a way to not only detect gravitational waves but to also prove it was two black holes that produced them—a momentous discovery that helps confirm Einstein’s theory.

Well before Nathan began working on Modernist Cuisine, he spent his days researching general relativity and quantum theories of gravitation. Although his career took him down another pathway, his interest in those subjects remained and would continue to influence his work in new ways. The book Gravitation, for example, influenced the design and approach of Modernist Cuisine. Coauthored by Kip Thorne, one of the founders of the LIGO project, it’s a landmark in the study of gravity.

It’s no wonder Nathan found inspiration in the cosmos yet again. When he thought about colliding black holes in the spring of 2014, he didn’t just see gravitational waves—he also saw an otherworldly bowl that would make two soups spiral around one another.

To design the bowl, Nathan used Wolfram’s Mathematica to create a mathematical model that mimicked the gravitational waves of orbiting black holes just before they merge. Next, the Modernist Cuisine team turned Nathan’s Mathematica surface into a 3-D model using the machine shop’s five-axis CNC mill to carve the prototype out of solid aluminum.

From there, the aluminum 3-D model was used to make a negative mold out of plaster.

Local Seattle potter Wally Bivins then made porcelain bowls from the plaster mold by using a technique called “hump molding.” The clay is rolled into a sheet and tamped down over the mold so that the top surface of the plaster mold becomes the soup-side of the bowl. The soft clay bowl is fired in a kiln and glazed, which transforms it into a bright white porcelain dish.

Even before the announcement last week, we liked the story behind the gravitational wave bowl because it illustrated that the source of culinary creativity can come from anywhere—even outer space. Before, we were able to tell guests about a bowl inspired by Einstein’s theories. Now we look forward to telling Cooking Lab visitors that we serve soup from what will surely be one of the most important scientific discoveries of our time.

So, remember: if you’re ever at The Cooking Lab, those aren’t noodles in your soup—they’re ripples in the fabric of space–time.

Dinosaur Bone Broth

Posted on March 31, 2015 at 12:01 am.

Written by Caren

Bone broth is in. Technically it has been for a really, really long time. The resurgence of bone broth inspired us to create a Modernist Cuisine spin on the trend.

When people try to describe the Cooking Lab, and the building it’s housed in, you hear a lot of comparisons to a certain fictional chocolate factory. The analogy is fair, though we’ve yet to replicate Wonka’s three-course dinner gum. Truthfully, one of the best things about coming into the kitchen is that you can expect the unexpected: new breads, experiments, lasers, even dinosaurs.

Nathan loves food and cooking, but he also really loves dinosaurs. It’s not uncommon to come across fossilized bones at the lab. He’s contributed to paleontology literature and led expeditions in the Montana Badlands—his T. rex count is 12. Sometimes we get to examine some of the fossils that are brought in, but he’s never merged both of these interests. Until now.

There’s a lot of interesting work going on in the craft beer world. Geneticists, paleontologists, archaeologists, microbiologists, and master brewers have been teaming up to extract yeast from archaeological sites and from fossils to reconstruct old recipes and create new brews. We took a little inspiration from these efforts and applied the ideas to cuisine.

Dem Bones

We were able to obtain some fossils from some well-studied dinosaur species. These bones were superfluous so we decided to put them to a creative use The fossils turned out to be fragments of bone from the tail of a Triceratops, which was recovered from one of Nathan’s more recent trips to the Hell Creek Formation, located outside of Jordan, Montana. This formation is known for the incredible diversity of bones discovered there. Most date to the Cretaceous Period, which began 145.5 million years ago. It was the final portion of the Mesozoic Era, and the longest, lasting 79 million years. The Cretaceous Period ended with the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction event, 65.5 million years ago.

During this period, the area had a subtropical climate that supported a varied population of plants, mammals, and dinosaurs. One of the most recovered animals from the formation has been Triceratops horridus, a species that typically grew to 9 m/30 ft long and 3 m/10 ft tall and weighed between four and six tons. Fossils from the massive herbivore can be quite large, but bones from the tip of the tail can fit in the palm of your hand.

Nom Nom Dinosaur

There are no blueprints or rules to working with dinosaur fossils in the kitchen—it’s uncharted territory. You can touch a fossil to the tip of your tongue to determine if it’s legit (real dinosaur bones will slightly stick to your tongue, thanks to their porous structure), but there are no books to consult for cooking techniques or recipes.

The fossilization process also places some restrictions on how you can utilize prehistoric bones. Here’s a quick review. After an animal dies, soft tissues like organs and bone marrow begin to decay, leaving spaces where the tissue was. In a process called permineralization, the animal is covered in sediment from ash, silt, and runoff. The sediment protects the bones from decaying, and, eventually, minerals from the sediment fill the spaces left in the bones and replace the calcium phosphate to form a cast. Fossils from the Hell Creek Formation typically contain iron oxide and coal as well as the minerals quartz, feldspar, mica, and pyrite, all of which comprise the mudstone and sandstone found there.

With no soft tissue, marrow-based dishes were out of the question. Instead, we started to think about how we use one of the dinosaur descendants: chicken. The idea of Dino Broth was a quick revelation from there. Instead of pulling out the flavors of soft tissue to flavor our liquid, we would extract the minerals for an earthy broth.

Instead of simmering the fossils for days, head chef Migoya adapted our Pressure-Cooked White Chicken Stock recipe from Modernist Cuisine at Home. With only a few fossils to work with, we were concerned that a two-day simmer would compromise the bones and also fail to draw out all of the subtle aromatics of the minerals. By pressure-cooking the bones, we dramatically reduced our cook time, accelerated the extraction of flavors, and prevented aromatics from escaping into the air. A little salt, pepper, and MSG were added to the broth—just enough to enhance, but not alter, the mineral flavor. We all sampled it and thought it was quite good; the broth was comforting, complex, and earthy—the epitome of how terroir creates unique dimensions of flavor. It’s the next level of bone broth.

Big in Austin

We discovered that there’s one more rule to constructing a broth from fossils: it needs an epic debut. So off it went, packed away with the rest of the prep for a dinner at Qui. Admittedly, we did a bit of strategizing as we looked over the list of attendees. Who would take us seriously? Who would actually taste this stuff? Andrew Zimmern, that’s who.

We were fortunate to share a breakfast with the Bizarre Foods host during SXSW. Over coffee, eggs, and monkey bread, the conversation finally turned to dinosaurs. We revealed our broth and then eagerly fed him a sample, which we served steaming out of a makeshift shot glass that we made by hollowing out a raptor tooth. We’re not sure if it’s possible to surprise Andrew Zimmern with any food, but we’d like to think we might have done just that.

His first response was a hearty, satisfied laugh—we were hopeful. After one more swig, he responded, “It tastes like chicken, but it has a riverbed, river-stone vibe. There’s a citrus quality that’s really nice and appealing.” After passing the raptor tooth on to the rest of the party, he joked, “In two years, this is going to be on the [TGI] Fridays’ menu.” But then he got quite earnest. “That is unbelievable. I haven’t felt this alive since I was locked away in the Alcatraz vault and Geraldo set me free.” We thought the debut was a success.

Right after breakfast, we made our way to La Barbecue, where we met up with our friend Kerry Diamond, who joined us on our barbecue crawl before her interview with Nathan. Kerry has visited the lab twice; she attended our 35-course dinner last June. It’s safe to say that at this point, she’s also learned to expect the unexpected from us. The line at La Barbecue is really long. Waiting offered the perfect opportunity to gather another valued opinion from someone who knows and loves food.

Another laugh at our raptor claw and another swig. “I spent all night researching Nathan and all of his interests, including dinosaurs, and now he’s feeding me bone broth that was made from fossils he found.” After another taste, she added, “It’s familiar like homemade chicken broth, but really distinctive at the same time. Is this gluten-free?” It’s definitely local, but we’re not sure if dinosaur is seasonal.

We’re still experimenting and refining the broth. We’re interested to see if fossils from different dinosaurs will differ in flavor profiles or if the excavation location is what matters. Next, the culinary team will be testing broth made from Apatosaurus fossils that Nathan unearthed during a dig in Colorado. Our Jurassic Broth could end up on one of our dinner menus when we have access to extra fossils; however, as Andrew Zimmern pointed out, this project illustrates the most remarkable thing about food. It’s an experience; when you’re curious and experiment, even with the simplest ingredients, you can create incredible moments for people.

Tastes Like Chicken

As Andrew Zimmern noted, our broth did indeed taste like chicken—for a good reason. That’s exactly what it was. This post is really our Modernist spin on April Fools’ Day. Thank you to chef Zimmern and Kerry Diamond for their help in our hijinks. As for real dinosaur bone broth, we can dream. For now, we hope you have a happy April Fools’ Day.

Remembering Charlie Trotter

Posted on November 5, 2013 at 8:08 pm.

Written by Caren

This morning, the world lost a culinary legend with the passing of Charlie Trotter, chef and owner of the world-famous Charlie Trotter’s restaurant Chicago. Charlie left a lasting legacy. He was a pioneer in the world of fine dining, and was one of the first American chefs to create a model for haute cuisine that wasn’t just an import of European food, but instead was intrinsically based on the cuisine of the United States. He was also one of the first American celebrity chefs. Charlie emphasized dining as an emotional and intellectual experience, and considered classic dishes as a starting point for improvisation, rather than rule. He was a passionate advocate for perfection and excellence, to the degree that he wrote several management books about how to take those values from high end food to other disciplines. A host of innovative chefs like Homaro Cantu, Graham Elliot, and Grant Achatz passed through his kitchen and went to create an exciting set of Chicago restaurants. For me, Chicago is one of the most exciting cities in the world to go to dinner, and that is part of Charlie’s legacy.

I was fortunate to be one of the chefs passing through his kitchen – albeit for a single dinner. My team and I had the rare privilege to cook alongside Charlie to celebrate his restaurant’s 25^th anniversary, shortly before its closing last year. We spent several days with Charlie and his staff, and we experienced his gregarious (and sometimes outrageous) personality and incomparable hospitality first-hand. From the moment of our arrival, it was clear that Charlie knew just how to make a guest feel welcome. When our car pulled up to the entrance of Trotter’s, his entire staff – chefs, servers, hosts and all – lined the sidewalk in military formation, as if prepared for the arrival of a foreign dignitary. Once inside, Charlie was quick to put everyone at ease. He enjoyed singling out his chefs and servers, one by one, by interrupting their task at hand and inquiring, for all to hear, “If you were on a desert island and could only bring one book to read, which would it be?” Newer employees answered nervously, realizing the question was a test, and having clearly been put on the spot for Charlie’s amusement. Experienced Trotter’s team members responded with the correct answer, “Yours, Chef!” It was his way of breaking the invisible tension that divides the diners and service team in traditional fine dining, putting the whole room at ease.

Charlie’s memory will live on in the hundreds and thousands who dined at his restaurant, read his books, or knew him from television. He made an immeasurable impact on the world of fine dining, and we will miss him deeply.

-Nathan

Announcing Our New Book: The Photography of Modernist Cuisine

Posted on May 22, 2013 at 2:00 am.

Written by Caren

When I began writing Modernist Cuisine, I had several goals in mind: to explore the scientific principles behind cooking, to explain the latest Modernist techniques from the top restaurants around the world, and to punctuate the collection with stunning visuals. Nearly every review that came in cited our photography; even commenters who took issue with the Modernist approach or found the book too long or daunting praised the photos and illustrations.

I think we owed that enthusiastic reception, in part, to the fact that our photography stood out as distinctive in a world crowded with food imagery. We created cutaway photos that offer dramatic views inside previously hidden realms of cooking. We stepped away from recent trends in food photography, which have long seemed to me to focus more on the ambiance than the actual food, and shot our dishes on black and white backgrounds that highlight the beauty inherent in the subjects. We also deployed a wide range of photographic techniques, such as compositing, microscopy, macro photography, and diffuse lighting, to create photos that are informative as well as visually interesting.

This approach required extra time, effort, and money, but it was worth it. I love photography as much as I love food and cooking. It’s been a passion of mine for as long as cooking has (since grade school)!

Soon after the publication of our second cookbook, Modernist Cuisine at Home, I started thinking more seriously about the hundreds of thousands of photos that my team and I have made and collected over the years’ those that made it into the volumes of our books and the many more that didn’t. I decided to showcase them in a new way by creating a book dedicated to the images themselves.

We pored over our vast photo library and ultimately selected 405 photos for our book, The Photography of Modernist Cuisine. Of those images, 145 are presented full-bleed across one or two full pages. As we look at these images, it’s hard to resist the temptation to comment on their backstories, to share some of the scientific, culinary, or photographic context to the image. We didn’t want to add captions on the images that would distract from their impact, so we have instead included a chapter in the back of the book that presents some short but interesting backstory for each photo. Readers who dip into that section will learn, for example, how I coaxed crystals of vitamin C to produce a kaleidoscopic explosion of colors, how we use enzymes to remove the peel from the tender juice sacs of a grapefruit, or how you can quickly turn fresh herbs into a crispy snack or garnish in your microwave oven.

We also included a chapter that reveals, in a very visual way, all of the major methods that we used to make these images. From cut-in-half kettle grills to levitating hamburgers, we explain how it was done. We even have a few pages on how to get the best food shots in restaurants if all you have handy is a point-and-shoot camera or a camera phone. While we were at it, we cut a camera lens in half to illustrate how it works.

One thing you won’t find in our new book is a single recipe. When I first told friends about our new project, they thought it was a nice idea, but asked, “Of course, you’re going to have a few recipes, right?”

No. This is a photo book. If you’d like to try our recipes, and we hope you will, please check out our other books, or click here.

In 2011 Modernist Cuisine tested the then dubious proposition that people would buy a six-volume cookbook. The Photography of Modernist Cuisine is a similar experiment: Will others share our desire for an art-quality book that immerses readers in vistas of food that are familiar, yet profoundly new? I hope that readers will be drawn to our photos and will share with us the child-like wonder and curiosity that we feel when we look at them.

The Photography of Modernist Cuisine will be released October 22, 2013.

Nathan Demos Microwave Recipes on Rachael Ray

Posted on November 28, 2012 at 2:48 pm.

Written by Caren

Today, Rachael Ray invited Modernist Cuisine at Home author Nathan Myhrvold on her show. Using only olive oil, a little salt, and a microwave, Nathan taught Rachael how to make puffed chickpeas and kale chips. Watch the video above for the complete demonstration. To get the recipes, visit the page on RachaelRayShow.com. And for more on puffing in the microwave, watch our MDRN KTCHN video on puffy snacks.

Google Talks with Nathan Myhrvold

Posted on November 21, 2012 at 10:09 am.

Written by Caren

Have you ever wondered, pound for pound, which costs more, Modernist Cuisine at Home or Parmesan cheese? Nathan does the math in the Google Talks video above, and, as it turns out, our new book is a steal. Nathan also discusses printing quality, why you shouldn’t dismiss blowtorches, how he found inspiration on eGullet, and much, much more.

For more on Google Talks, click here.

Watch Nathan’s Modernist Cuisine Story on NOVA scienceNOW

Posted on November 2, 2012 at 3:45 pm.

Written by Caren

Last night, NOVA scienceNOW aired “Can I Eat That?,” a show on the science of food and cooking, which profiled Nathan Myhrvold in the final segment. Host David Pogue narrates a behind-the-scenes look at Nathan’s inspiration for creating Modernist Cuisine and Modernist Cuisine at Home. For those of you interested in seeing The Cooking Lab’s equipment, how the cutaway photos were made, or what Nathan looked like as a kid, we think you’ll enjoy this. It is a great illustration of the story of Modernist Cuisine.

Watch Nathan’s New York Times Talk

Posted on October 18, 2012 at 2:01 pm.

Written by Caren

In case you couldn’t make it in person or stream it live last Saturday, here’s your chance to watch Nathan’s New York Times Talk with Jeff Gordinier. In the video above, Nathan tells Jeff about his favorite way to decant wine, when a chef’s own two hands are the best kitchen tools, how syringes are essential to roasting the best chicken, and more. Nathan also does a mean duck-in-a-feeding-frenzy impression!

My First Memphis in May

Posted on May 15, 2012 at 4:18 pm.

Written by Caren

In 1991, I was reading an article about a guy, John Willingham, who had won the World Championship of Barbecuemultiple times, and at multiple championships (like many cult followings, barbecue is claimed by many, so which contest is the definitive World Championship is still up for debate). The most interesting part of the article to me was that he claimed that the key to his whole success was his amazing barbecue cooker, which he had invented. I decided right away that I needed to have one of those cookers.

I called him up and soon discovered what an amazing character he is; hes a really smart businessman. At the end of our conversation he said, Well, Im not going to sell you a cooker unless I get a nondisclosure agreement.

So I said, Okay, send me one. He sent me this five-page legal nondisclosure agreement, which I signed and sent back. It was all pretty standard. Some people might be put off at this point, but I am familiar with NDAs because we use them all the time in the technology world.

The next thing I knew, FedEx delivered a refrigerated box of ribs to my house. It included instructions, which I followed exactly, on how to cook the ribs. These were the best ribs Ive ever had in my life. At this point, the guy had me totally hooked.

So I called him back and said, Okay, Im ready to buy a cooker.

But John told me, Well, I wont sell a cooker to someone I dont like. In fact, I wont sell a cooker to most of my friends.

We had about a three-hour phone interview in which I had to justify that I was worthy of acquiring a cooker. He also had concerns about the rainy weather in Seattle, and how that would affect the cooker. In the end, I did get my cooker, and with it I made the best ribs Id ever made. But they werent as good as Johns. So I tried again, and I tried again, and I called him on the phone. Clearly, I was not quite getting all the elements together.

Exasperated, I said, John, why dont I just come down to Memphis and maybe you can teach me.

He said, Oh, thats great. Why dont you come down in May. We have a little contest coming.

On my way there I thought, okay, Im going to have a couple hours of barbecue instruction, and then Im going to go over to Beale Street and hear some jazz, and then maybe Ill tour Graceland, and then Ill go home. Itll be pretty straightforward, a fun weekend. Well, it turned out his little contest was the Memphis in May World Championship of Barbecue Cooking Contest.

John handed me an apron and said, Youre on the team; its the only way youll learn.

For three days I cooked for 16 hours a day (this was before I went to La Varenne or had even worked in a restaurant kitchen). It was an incredibly intense experience; I trussed a whole hog for the first time in my life. I trimmed about 300 pounds of ribs. Ultimately, they put me in charge of two dishes: one for the pasta category and one for the anything but pork category. We made smoked pasta and decided to use ostrich for the “anything but pork.” We won first place for both those dishes, amazingly enough! We also won Best Team Overall. John and his team deserve all of the credit, of course. I was just this weird technology guy who they took under their wing.

I have to say though, my barbecue did get better. Maybe not as good as Johns, but Im still working on it.

The Memphis in May World Championship of Barbecue will be held this year from May 17 to 19.

Nathan’s Decision to Leave Microsoft

Posted on April 12, 2012 at 1:57 pm.

Written by Caren

Nathan Myhrvold left his postdoc research with Stephen Hawking to write software and become Microsoft’s first chief technology officer. So after 14 years on the job, what could possibly pull him away from that? Nathan tells Big Think, “It is always an issue when you’re good at something to say, do I keep getting better at that thing or do I switch to something else?” Of course, for Nathan, it wasn’t just one thing. He founded a company, excavated dinosaurs, and, lucky for us, explored the art and science of cooking. Watch the video below or read the article on bigthink.com.