Food | science equipment | oil | ultraviolet sterilizer

But Myhrvold - bearded, cheerful, bespectacled - is never happier than when puttering around in his lab, using science equipment to make food. He uses his ultrasonic cleaner, the same kind of powerful instrument used to clean jewelry, for tasks as different as making stock and emulsifying oil and water. He cooks short ribs inside a vacuum-sealed bag for 36 to 40 hours, and then, when they are completely reddish pink and medium rare all the way through, sears their surface on an induction range that superheats pans through magnetism, without ever giving off radiant heat. He has an ultraviolet sterilizer to free his environments of incubating microbes. He uses a custom-built cold smoker to experiment on salmon, as well as liquid nitrogen to make frozen cream puffs. But his goals are much loftier than just adapting science tools: Like any molecular gastronomist, amateur or professional, he wants to re-create food from the level of its tiniest particles.

Myhrvold speaks rapturously of fluid gels, or liquids that act like solids until the moment you pour them, and mozzarella powder ("You can eat it with a spoon!"). Some of the equipment he uses is beginning to find its way into ordinary restaurants and even the homes of some especially ambitious gourmets. He speaks approvingly of the Pacojet, a machine that grinds and pulverizes frozen ingredients, creating incredibly smooth mousses and sorbets out of practically anything. And he adores the ultimate kitchen appliance, the Thermomix, an all-in-one gastronomy engine that chops, grinds, mixes, blends, steams, heats, stirs, weighs, times, kneads, whips, stews, and homogenizes - sometimes doing two or more of these things simultaneously.