Chef and molecular gastronome Rob Evans on the science of food

Popped lobster, instant apple mousse and other creations from the food lab.

I eat locally grown food, read food blogs and know that gelatin comes powdered AND in sheets. I follow the doings of the James Beard Foundation. Sometimes, I sneak down to Portland to eat. Heck, I even write about food once a month here in the Sun-Journal while eating a plate of lettuce I grew in my own kitchen garden!

Yet sadly, after spending a recent Saturday afternoon in the Dempsey Center’s demonstration kitchen, listening to and watching chef Rob Evans talk about the art and science of food, I realized I am not quite the foodie I try to be. I am just another recreational eater roaming the Pine Tree State in search of a perfect meal.

The two-hour event was the second in a series exploring the complimentary intersection of art and science in business innovation. Sponsored by the Maine Center for Creativity and held at The Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Healing, the mid-June event attracted more than 70 attendees from all over the state.

Rob Evans is known by some from his appearances on the Food Network’s “Chopped,” or from his first restaurant, Hugo’s Bistro, or from his latest restaurant, Duckfat — both in Maine’s restaurant capital, Portland. His love of eating began at birth: He says his mother told him he drank “twice the milk of every other baby in the hospital. It’s been the same way ever since.”

While he promotes George Jetson-sounding “molecular gastronomy,” Evans’ story reads more like an old-fashioned novel. No wealthy benefactor dropped from the sky with a boatload of cash and said “Here, go start a restaurant.” In fact, the New England native considered becoming an electrician, then worked as a prep, grill and fry cook. He headed west to Hawaii where he then spent time working in the high-paced, high-volume kitchens of cruise ships. After a few chops and stops along the way, he settled at the renowned Napa Valley restaurant French Laundry.

In 2000, Evans and his wife, Nancy Pugh, opened Hugo’s Bistro in Portland. In 2004, the year he and Pugh opened Duckfat, he was named one of Food and Wine magazine’s best new chefs. Nominated for a prestigious James Beard award in 2007 and 2008, he won the award in 2009. Along the way, the tall, wiry Evans has perfected his own brand of molecular gastronomy that he says “tastes good, it’s fun, and it’s exciting.”

Molecular gastronomy . . . what’s that have to do with eating out?

Known also as “modernist cuisine,” the cooking movement studies the physical and chemical properties of food and applies technical innovations from science to, for instance, transform eggs, deconstruct lobster and whip air into cider in order to create new tastes, textures and experiences.

Evans’ demonstration at the Dempsey Center was wide ranging, from the use of hydrocolloids to make “popped lobster,” to the increasing use of flash freezing to make new foods. As I noted earlier, the demonstration — which often delved into high science — left me occasionally questioning my self-applied “foodie” status and my “B” in high school science, but Evans’ ultimate goal of creating good food is a concept we can all appreciate.

My Rob Evans highlights:

* Salt is more than a must-have for potato salad.

It’s no surprise that Evans uses salt for direct flavor enhancement. He demonstrated how the flavor of an egg yolk can be intensified by curing it in a miso, a traditional Japanese seasoning made by fermenting soybeans in salt. Imagine grating just a teaspoon of egg yolk cured in miso over a salad and releasing a wealth of flavor.

Evans says the No. 1 thing he teaches young chefs is the creative use of salt as more than a simple food additive or an opposing flavor for sweet things such as ice cream and chocolate. It has chemical properties, he says, that can cause diverse reactions. For instance, salt applied directly to food causes moisture loss, makes the food stable and stops it from perishing. Used in this way, salt can create such popular cured meats as coppa and lomo (which Evans later served to demonstration attendees, thank you!).

On the other hand, salt used in a brining process actually adds moisture to food. Soaking foods in a solution of water, salt and other seasonings (a brine) prior to cooking causes the food to absorb and hold moisture during the cooking process. Evans says brining “can add up to 15 percent moisture to food and gives chefs and home cooks alike a window of time to help prevent overcooking, especially with fish, which generally cooks quicker than flesh meats.”

Always experimenting, Evans has even started making and fermenting salty fish sauce — indispensable these days — in his root cellar using Maine mackerel.

* Apparently I need a thermal immersion circulator.

One of the recent innovations in restaurants has been the addition of the thermal immersion circulator. The device enables cooking “sous vide” or under vacuum. Food is sealed in airtight bags and then placed in a water bath. The temperature is lower than normal cooking temperatures, and food cooks for longer periods of time — but not directly in water. The result, they say, is more even cooking, higher succulence and a better texture whether for meat or vegetables.

And while we’re on the topic of temperature, which was a bigger theme for Evans, let’s briefly mention the wonders of liquid nitrogen. Evans says its use has become mainstreamed in restaurants for flash freezing foods in ways that can turn them into new sensations. Evans says using liquid nitrogen “is easier than an ice cream machine.” He then went about pumping some cider mousse (more on that soon) into a balloon, flash freezing it with liquid nitrogen, peeling the balloon off and using the perfectly shaped cider mousse “serving boat” to host another flavored mousse.

Add liquid nitrogen to my weekly shopping list. Check.

* When you want to whip up something different, get some air.

As we all know, incorporating air into food can change an egg white into meringue or cream into butter. That’s just the beginning, according to Evans.

In a confessional moment, Evans told attendees he had recently been whipping water — yes water — by adding a modified soy product called “Versawhip” to it. While whipped water might not end up on the menu at his restaurant, he demonstrated how Versawhip could easily change apple cider into apple mousse.

He then loaded apple cider into something called a thermal whipper — which not only whips but can keep ingredients hot or cold without additional refrigeration or heat — and did just that. Using the thermal whipper, which is powered by flavorless N2O (nitrous oxide), a cook can now easily make a mousse out of almost anything, he said.

* Next time, try the popped lobster with that ear of corn.

Throughout the demonstration, Evans answered questions about his experiences, the Maine restaurant scene and even gave some advice to young chefs. In that regard, he said that given the range and depth of restaurants in Portland and the surrounding cities and towns, an aspiring chef may not need to attend culinary school if he or she is willing to put in the time of working with an established chef.

As the afternoon wrapped up, Evans set out a buffet of tastes that highlighted some of the techniques and foods he discussed

Among the offerings: popped lobster sticks, which he had just created. Imagine a snack that looks like a cheese puff with the texture of a pork rind and the uniquely Maine taste of lobster.

This is where the hydrocolloids — gels and gums and the like — came in. Unfortunately, even though I took copious notes about the ingredients (lobster roe, salt, water, tapioca starch and lobster) and what to do with them and the science behind them, it all started to sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher’s voice blending with the sound of the crackling hot fat. They were delicious, that’s all I know.

For Rob Evans, a creative and passionate guy doing what he loves, the lobster was an experiment. He told the crowd that the time and expense that goes into making the lobster sticks were too great to put them on his menu, but it’s all part of his food journey as he experiments, learns and serves up his successes.

“Food too perfect robs it of what it is supposed to be,” he said at one point in the demonstration. “In the end, it’s the flavor.”

We can all understand that.

Julie-Ann Baumer lives, cooks, gardens and writes from her home in Lisbon Falls. She is the hostess of the popular Moxie Recipe Contest, this year being held on Saturday, July 11, 2015. You can read more about it at www.moxiefestival.com or follow her on twitter @aunttomato.