I don't think I'm really going out on a limb claiming that, either. We've come a long way since the days of spear-and-eat. Recently, while continuing to improve our dining experience, science has also been making food awesome.
How many times have you been sitting there, eating a hamburger and thinking "I wish there was a chicken patty fused to this" or "why aren't these noodles made completely out of shrimp?"
Ask, and ye shall receive.
The magic ingredient in all these dishes is transglutaminase, an enzyme that irreversibly binds two amino acids together. These amino acids (lysine and gutamine) are present in very high levels in skeletal muscle, making this culinary voodoo possible. The amide linkages that are formed are extremely robust - they're also present in the "backbone" of every protein, so to destroy them you would basically have to dissolve the entire piece of meat (which, if you're nice, I might demonstrate for you someday).
Anyway, the important part is that cooking won't ruin it!
Presumably, you can buy it straight from Ajinomoto, the supplier, though it's also available from Le Sanctuaire for $88 a kilogram.
If anyone is looking to do any early birthday shopping for me, this is definitely on my list. Shrimp noodles! Chickensteak! Turducken! Bacon wrapped anything! The possibilities are endless.
2 comments:
Oooooooooooo, that’s going to take roulades to a whole new level! Be careful though, dissolving meat in phenol can be dangerous ;)
I'm trying to get a sample from the company... Hopefully I'll be able to do something interesting soon!
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