How to Weigh Molecular Gastronomy Ingredients (The Basics)

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How to Weigh Molecular Gastronomy Ingredients (The Basics)

Molecular gastronomy ingredients (“MG ingredients” for the rest of this post) tend to be used in very small quantities, measured by weight, and need to be evenly and thoroughly dispersed in liquids. As a result, you’ll need a small amount of specialized equipment to use them effectively.

Recommended Equipment:

  • Kitchen Scale
  • Gram Scale
  • Immersion (Stick) Blender
  • Calculator
  • Mise en Place Cups (or other very small cups for measuring powders)

Application-Specific Additional Equipment:

  • Squeeze Bottles or Pipettes for Spherification & Reverse Spherification
  • Syringes & Surgical Tubing of a similar gauge for Gel Noodles
  • Food Processor for Powdering Fats

The Basic Technique:

1

Zero/tare the kitchen scale to account for the weight of the container you’re using.
Measure the weight of the mixture you’re hoping to gel/powder/foam/etc.

2

Look up the recommended percentage of the MG ingredient for the application.
3

Use a calculator to find out how much that percent of your mixture weighs. That’s your target amount of the MG ingredient. You’ll likely need to convert to smaller units.

Conversions:
1 pound = 16 ounces
1 ounce = 28.34 grams

4

Use the gram scale to measure out the right amount (again, don’t forget to zero/tare).
5

Combine the two (usually using the immersion blender), being careful to dissolve any clumps.

6

Note: You may need to adjust amounts or add other MG ingredients depending on the mixtures and techniques you’re using. Several of these ingredients can be a bit finicky, so if it doesn’t work, think through what might have caused it to fail, make changes, and try again!

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Molecular Gastronomy Recipes