MEAT GLUE

Has anyone heard of or know about this?
http://d.yimg.com/nl/australia/site/pla ... selUI=hide

Yes, I've heard of Transglutaminase -- partly because it's an enzyme and I'm a biochemist. But I read about it in the context of molecular gastronomy, the Ferran Adria kind of thing. You can buy kits on Amazon to experiment with some of the tricks of the new laboratory ways of cooking. I hadn't thought of the fact that you probably want to wear a mask when using it since you could theoretically glue your lungs shut!!

http://www.amazon.com/Ajinomoto-Activa- ... 566&sr=8-1

The whole video piece was in based on the idea that this is a way for butchers/restaurants to cheat consumers. I hadn't really given that any thought. Mostly I've heard of it as a way to do clever things with fancy foods. David Chang's "Momofuku" cookbook has several pages on cute stuff to do with meat glue, starting on page 190.

They say it's the best way to make Ballotines, and they invented "shrimp noodles" -- noodles made entirely of pureed shrimp, mixed with a little glue and put through an extruder.

Yes. In fact my butcher showed me some trade publications that sell machines to put meat together. He also told me that when you get a perfectly round piece of filet mingon you can be sure that it's frankenmeat because real filet doesn't have that type of shape. As always - let the buyer beware...

[Jenise]

Isn't this the same product that's been used for years to create "chopped/pressed/formed" lunch meats and the like? I mean, hasn't it been around for years, it's just that only recently hasn't it become more mainstreamed in that it's being used on the restaurant level? Still scares me. A kit? Euw.

But that aside, welcome Mark S in NY, you're new!

Jenise -- the kit has stuff like calcium alginate and agar in it, stuff used in certain restaurants today but hard to find in stores. You won't "get it" unless you have read about Adria's showy cuisine at (the former) El Bulli.

He does things like liquefy green olives, and then carefully pour a spoonful of the green liquid into a solution of calcium alginate, which forms a rather firm skin. So you have something that looks like a green olive, but when you pick it up and pop it into your mouth, you get a mouthful of very intensely olive flavored liquid.

I will admit that I have enough to handle with traditional techniques and am not hugely interested in these new directions.

http://www.amazon.com/Experimental-Kit- ... y_k_text_c

[Jenise]

Oh I'm very aware of the olives and other things people like Adria, Andres, Dufresne etc have been doing. I just don't understand the scientific terms so the descriptions of what makes those and what makes meat glue, if they're similar or the same, don't ring any bells with me.

FWIW I think the "lunch meats" (like "Head Cheese" etc) were/are just held together with a bit of fat, or pressed together in a sausage casing. Meat glue is a step up in sophistication (and price) and probably is only used if you're trying to simulate a steak or a filet mignon, something you can sell for real money.