The next great kitchen tool

[dcarch]

Take a look at 3-D printing. Check out on youtube 3-D printing.

That will be the next greatest kitchen appliance.

dcarch

Edited April 23, 2013 by dcarch (log)

[sigma]

Was the branding iron the last great kitchen tool?

[bhsimon]

An induction cooktop that can also weigh. ‘Reduce by half’ would be so much easier.

[minas6907]

Hmmm, I could print a few extra kitchen aid mixers to have on standby...I'd probably be making duplicates of everything in my kitchen. Material would have to be food safe of course.

[dcarch]

As you know, you can scale up or down printing with a printer. Whatever you are "printing" out using this technology/appliance, you can make it any size you want.

Think baking and confectionery making.

Think infinite possibilities of making desserts.

Think how amazing to print out a chicken that looks like a real chicken in every way, using tofu.

And just think, you can print you own sous vide machine. LOL!

dcarch

[gfweb]

Something about SV seems to uniquely provoke certain folks. I read comments that say in essence "I will NEVER do SV" as though it is a lesser form of cooking or immoral in some way, which I don't get. One doesn't hear similar disavowals of smoking meat or induction cooking.

It may be that SV is the target of anti-Modernist feelings and takes heat because it is so often discussed on eG.

Might be a market for a book...Atavistic Cuisine, a guide to primitive cooking techniques. Smoking, grilling, salting, & burying in the ground till it ferments will all be covered.

Edited April 23, 2013 by gfweb (log)

[Hassouni]

Might be a market for a book...Atavistic Cuisine, a guide to primitive cooking techniques. Smoking, grilling, salting, & burying in the ground till it ferments will all be covered.

HELL YES!!!!

[Baselerd]

I don't think 3D printing will be very relevant for a while. I use a "nice" 3D printer routinely at my work and the quality of the materials that the current tech is able to produce is very poor. They are also fairly complex and expensive...

On the topic of SV hate, I've always gotten the impression that many haters think it lacks "soul." I understand bagging food and programming a machine isn't as enjoyable to some people as cooking up an old fashioned meal. With that said, there isn't really a good reason I can think of to dislike perfectly cooked food that is 100% repeatable. Without a doubt, using SV has dramatically improved the average quality and convenience of my cooking.

Edited April 23, 2013 by Baselerd (log)

[dcarch]

Back to 3-D printing:

For those people who for some reason cannot eat lobster, it is possible to "print" out a lobster using texturized fish meat, which look like a lobster in all its details, furthermore, the fake lobster can actually have shells that is made from food material which has the same hardness as real lobster shells. It is possible to "print" out fake chickens with bones which look the same as real bones.

Imagine fake ribs which you cannot tell it's fake by looking.

dcarch

[Jason Perlow]

Back to 3-D printing:

For those people who for some reason cannot eat lobster, it is possible to "print" out a lobster using texturized fish meat, which look like a lobster in all its details, furthermore, the fake lobster can actually have shells that is made from food material which has the same hardness as real lobster shells. It is possible to "print" out fake chickens with bones which look the same as real bones.

Imagine fake ribs which you cannot tell it's fake by looking.

dcarch

When that happens I'll be pining for good ol' fashioned sous vide.

I love Star Trek and I was always impressed by the "replicator" technology. But unless it TASTES and smells like and has the exact texture and color of the real thing, then I'm not interested. I don't want ersatz food, I want real food.

Edited April 23, 2013 by Jason Perlow (log)

[Honkman]

Imagine fake ribs which you cannot tell it's fake by looking.

I couldn't care less if the look is the same, food is about the taste and texture and as long as it can't be replicated 3D-printing is just another way for industry to sell people fake/fast/processed food instead of "real" food

Edited April 23, 2013 by Honkman (log)

[Ericpo]

Well I don't know about "tedious" but I'm doing my best to get a grilling thread going!

I for one don't have an issue with SV cooking, other than that I have not tried it. If you enjoy it, great. If you don't enjoy it don't do it.

Imagine fake ribs which you cannot tell it's fake by looking.

I couldn't care less if the look is the same, food is about the taste and texture and as long as it can't be replicated 3D-printing is just another way for industry to sell people fake/fast/processed food instead of "real" food

This is exactly right however. I have no desire to eat a "printed" or "replicated" rack of ribs. That is simply begging the food industry to add even more undiferentiated excess crap or "bulking agents" to our food. Ever had a microwave dinner with "ribs" in it? Ground pork trimmings mixed with flour msg and God knows what else, then formed into the shape of riblets.....!

NO THANK YOU.

The only use I could see in this technology would be to make kitchen tools that one lacks...then use those tools to prepare real food.

[Jason Perlow]

I could see this having two initial uses, which is on deep space missions (like say, a moonbase or a colony on Mars) or on long duration submarine missions where space is at a premium and food storage is always going to be a an issue. The thing is, long duration space missions are almost certainly going to get most of their fresh food from hydroponics, and this is probably only going to be of value for synthetic proteins made from say, soy or amino acid chains. Aquaponics also has potential, but I don't know how fish would behave in space without the introduction of artificial gravity.

[Smithy]

I can see using the 3D printer to replicate, or scale up or down, kitchen tools. I have some WWII vintage tools that just aren't made any more, or else are of inferior make. As for using it to "print" faux food I may be more of a Luddite.

I love Star Trek and I was always impressed by the "replicator" technology. But unless it TASTES and smells like and has the exact texture and color of the real thing, then I'm not interested. I don't want ersatz food, I want real food.

Yes. Remember the Nutri-matic in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? After a long and complicated computerized analysis of the individual's DNA, tastes and needs it always dispensed something that was "almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea". :-)

[dcarch]

"This is exactly right however. I have no desire to eat a "printed" or "replicated" rack of ribs. That is simply begging the food industry to add even more undiferentiated excess crap or "bulking agents" to our food. Ever had a microwave dinner with "ribs" in it? Ground pork trimmings mixed with flour msg and God knows what else, then formed into the shape of riblets.....!

NO THANK YOU."

1. I saw a program sometime ago. A reporter was reporting a fancy Jewish event. The reporter was shocked to see shrimp cocktail served. Then he found out those were intimation shrimps. There are people because for one reason or another, have to have some food flexibility.

2. I saw a documentary of a corporation's flavor lab. The flavor scientist, using various flavor chemicals and made a mixture for the reporter to taste. The reporter said, "This tastes exactly like roasted chicken." The scientist added a few more drops of something, "Now this tastes like beef stew my mom makes."

The point has nothing to do with whether you like it or not, the point is this technology is amazing, and may have many revolutionary food related implications.

dcarch

[Mjx]

. . . .

The point has nothing to do with whether you like it or not, the point is this technology is amazing, and may have many revolutionary food related implications.

dcarch

On the one hand, yes, definitely.

On the other hand, we're human, we're emotional creatures, and make strong associations between process and product, so for a lot of people, the amazing aspect is pretty much overshadowed (I think) by a sense of potential loss.

We all know people who positively slave over things, and produce mediocre results at best, results that are easily surpassed by opening a tin of something and heating it, but... you know, aunt Whosis put effort into the one, and in the same time-frame, some faceless corporation banged out thousands identical tins; one is 'just for you', the other is 'just for profit', so before we can comfortably accept radically new food technology, an equally significant psychological shift will probably need to take place.

ETA, I'd probably find it easiest to try something of this sort if it was a sort of food that had no associations, maybe something from a culture whose food I'd never otherwise have a chance to try (e.g. recreations of 18th century Basque food).

[annabelle]

I don't know that I like this. It seems rather a slap in the face to actually learning how to cook, bake and grill food for oneself and one's family.

3-D printing is going to involve a substantial monetary investment and much the same as the aforementioned sous vide set-ups requires dedicated space. While not as time consuming as sous vide, it certainly isn't something you could trust your teen around while you are out of the house. Overzealous button punching generally equals a call to the repair shop.

[dcarch]

. . . .

The point has nothing to do with whether you like it or not, the point is this technology is amazing, and may have many revolutionary food related implications.

dcarch

On the one hand, yes, definitely.

On the other hand, we're human, we're emotional creatures, and make strong associations between process and product, so for a lot of people, the amazing aspect is pretty much overshadowed (I think) by a sense of potential loss.

Absolutely. I agree.

However, the main point is this, this technology is not what big food conglomeration can do to harm the public and make big money, the whole excitement is as the title of this thread says "Next Kitchen Appliance", this technology has come to a point now soon it will be well within the general home cooks' budget.

What wonderful creative recipes can you come up with is what I like to know, including all those of you with sous vide phobias.

Forget about sphericfication, the machine can print out square bubbles. I would love to print out an ice cream using square bubbles of incredible color complexity and each bite with a different flavor.

dcarch

[IndyRob]

Speaking of appliances, would anyone be interested in an automatic adjustable bread slicer? The idea is that you'd drop an unsliced loaf of bread vertically into a box. Then, you'd adjust a thickness dial and press say '2' for the number of slices and 2 slices of the selected thickness would pop out the front. Meanwhile, the remaining bread stays sealed in a box unsliced until needed.

Anyway, here's a similar thread we had about such things... http://forums.egullet.org/topic/136372-the-dawn-of-post-modernist-cuisine/?hl=3d#entry1779168

And more recently there's news about noodle making robots being employed in China. They're already cheap enough ($1,600) for the well off to afford as a novelty for entertaining.

[Honkman]

"This is exactly right however. I have no desire to eat a "printed" or "replicated" rack of ribs. That is simply begging the food industry to add even more undiferentiated excess crap or "bulking agents" to our food. Ever had a microwave dinner with "ribs" in it? Ground pork trimmings mixed with flour msg and God knows what else, then formed into the shape of riblets.....!

NO THANK YOU."

1. I saw a program sometime ago. A reporter was reporting a fancy Jewish event. The reporter was shocked to see shrimp cocktail served. Then he found out those were intimation shrimps. There are people because for one reason or another, have to have some food flexibility.

2. I saw a documentary of a corporation's flavor lab. The flavor scientist, using various flavor chemicals and made a mixture for the reporter to taste. The reporter said, "This tastes exactly like roasted chicken." The scientist added a few more drops of something, "Now this tastes like beef stew my mom makes."

The point has nothing to do with whether you like it or not, the point is this technology is amazing, and may have many revolutionary food related implications.

dcarch

1) That's the same as vegetarian trying to mimick "fake" bacon - If you decide not to eat the real thing why do you want to eat just a bad imitation (and imitation crab taste really awful)

2) These are pretty common stories who hear quite often but as a chemists I am very confident that it will be nearly impossible also in the future to replicate flavor foods, especially whole dishes. Of course these reporters want to sell their story and claim some powders/liquids taste like stew/chicken/whatever but actually they don't, not even close. It's the same as claiming truffle oils taste like real when it is just some thioether whith some related flavor.

Edited April 23, 2013 by Honkman (log)

[dcarch]

1) That's the same as vegetarian trying to mimick "fake" bacon - If you decide not to eat the real thing why do you want to eat just a bad imitation (and imitation crab taste really awful)

2) These are pretty common stories who hear quite often but as a chemists I am very confident that it will be nearly impossible also in the future to replicate flavor foods, especially whole dishes. Of course these reporters want to sell their story and claim some powders/liquids taste like stew/chicken/whatever but actually they don't, not even close. It's the same as claiming truffle oils taste like real when it is just some thioether whith some related flavor.

Very interesting discuss this has turned into.

1. No, no one is proposing to use this technology to only make fake food. The new technology has the capability of making food for many special needs. I don't eat fake bacon or fake crab, but that does not make them go away. Obviously plenty of people enjoy them.

2. Artificial flavoring will not disappear because you and I don't approve, truffle oil will not disappear either because the purists sneer on it. Talk to Gordon Ramsay and Heston Blumental about truffle oil. Besides, that has nothing to do with this topic.

dcarch

[Heartsurgeon]

".Atavistic Cuisine,"

it's already been done...

Faviken...

with recipes like "broth of forest floor" and "fermented mushroom juices from last year" or "vinegar in a hollowed out birch stump"

read about it here: http://foodsnobblog.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/faviken-magasinet-jarpen/

or get the cookbook http://www.amazon.com/F%C3%A4viken-Magnus-Nilsson/dp/0714864706/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366772999&sr=8-1&keywords=faviken

the book is a hoot!

Edited April 24, 2013 by Heartsurgeon (log)

[lesliec]

To coin a phrase ... if it looks like a duck (breast) and tastes like a duck (breast) ...

Imagine using 3D printing to produce 'raw' ingredients, which of course you could then cook with all the traditional skill you possess. Then imagine the reduction in emissions from all the cows you wouldn't then need to keep on farms.

Yes, it's a while away (which makes it a little far from being the 'next' great kitchen tool). But will anybody really be surprised when it arrives?

[janeer]

I teach innovation at U of A and we deal a lot with 3D printing, and have one in our office, so I am pretty comfortable with it...Currently, there is successful experimentation of printing of functioning organs, skin/tissue, guns, etc. Certainly kitchen tools can be printed easily (they can print whole houses). As for taste/texture, that is very advanced...but not impossible. There has been some experimentation with printing chocolate.

As for SV: I was over it before it started. Who has the time??

[Ericpo]

1) That's the same as vegetarian trying to mimick "fake" bacon - If you decide not to eat the real thing why do you want to eat just a bad imitation (and imitation crab taste really awful)

2) These are pretty common stories who hear quite often but as a chemists I am very confident that it will be nearly impossible also in the future to replicate flavor foods, especially whole dishes. Of course these reporters want to sell their story and claim some powders/liquids taste like stew/chicken/whatever but actually they don't, not even close. It's the same as claiming truffle oils taste like real when it is just some thioether whith some related flavor.

Very interesting discuss this has turned into.

1. No, no one is proposing to use this technology to only make fake food. The new technology has the capability of making food for many special needs. I don't eat fake bacon or fake crab, but that does not make them go away. Obviously plenty of people enjoy them.

2. Artificial flavoring will not disappear because you and I don't approve, truffle oil will not disappear either because the purists sneer on it. Talk to Gordon Ramsay and Heston Blumental about truffle oil. Besides, that has nothing to do with this topic.

dcarch

dcarch, I think you've hit the nail on the head...I obviously have a problem with "printing" or "synthesizing" food, but the other printing possibilities in a kitchen a virtually endless.

What's this about them soon becoming affordable to the home cook? I was not aware of such advancements...exciting idea though!