Note by Note cuisine facts for kids

Note by Note cuisine is a special way of cooking. It's based on molecular gastronomy, which uses science to understand how food works. This cooking style was created by a French scientist named Hervé This. Instead of using regular ingredients like meat or vegetables, Note by Note cuisine uses pure chemical compounds. Hervé This explained it like a painter using only primary colors, or a musician creating music with sound waves on a computer. It's about building flavors from scratch.

The Story of Note by Note Cooking

Note by Note cuisine was created by Hervé This.

The idea for Note by Note cuisine began in 1994, according to Hervé This. He imagined a future where recipes might say things like "add two drops of a special solution to your soup." He officially named this cooking style in 1997.

For many years, it was hard to get people interested in this new way of cooking. Hervé This worked to promote it without making any money from it.

First Dishes in Restaurants

After 2006, Hervé This convinced his friend, the famous French chef Pierre Gagnaire, to try making Note by Note dishes. After about a year of work, Chef Gagnaire served the very first Note by Note dish in a restaurant. This happened in Hong Kong on April 26, 2008. They called this first dish "Note à note N°1." Later, Pierre Gagnaire created another dish named "Chick Corea," after the famous jazz pianist.

In 2012, Hervé This published a book called La cuisine note à note, which explained the whole idea.

Note by Note Events Around the World

Since then, many events and dinners have been held to show off Note by Note cooking:

• In 2010, chefs in France made Note by Note dishes in front of an audience.
• Also in 2010, an educational dinner was held at a cooking school in Paris.
• In 2011, for the International Year of Chemistry, a special Note by Note banquet was served in Paris.
• In 2012, public courses on molecular gastronomy, including Note by Note cooking, became available online.
• In 2013, the first International Contest for Note by Note Cooking took place in Paris. This contest still happens every year.
• In 2014, a Note by Note meal was even served to the royal family in Denmark.
• In 2015, chefs in Japan showed Note by Note sushis to the press.
• Later in 2015, a journalist from the New York Times tried a full Note by Note menu in Paris. Each dish was based on a single smell compound.
• In 2017, a company was started in France to sell the special compounds used in this cooking.
• Also in 2017, Chef Andrea Camastra in Poland started serving only Note by Note dishes in his restaurant, Senses.
• In 2018, more Note by Note dinners were served by chefs in France, Greece, and Singapore.

Today, Note by Note cooking is taught in some universities, like AgroParisTech in France and the Dublin Institute of Technology in Ireland. The international cooking contest continues each year.

How Note by Note Dishes Are Made

The "ingredients" used in Note by Note cuisine are called compounds. These can include things like water, ethanol (a type of alcohol), sucrose (sugar), proteins, amino acids, and lipids (fats).

For example, to make a special "wöhler sauce" using this method, chefs might combine:

• Water
• Anthocyanins (for color)
• Sugars
• Ethanol
• Amino acids (for flavor)
• Glycerol
• Phenols
• Quinones
• Organic acids

By using these pure compounds, chefs can create new flavors and textures that are not possible with traditional ingredients.

See also

In Spanish: Cocina nota a nota para niños