“Molecular Food”… An experiment to combine Egyptian and Italian cuisines

Molecular dishes have become a favorite in fine dining restaurants, where modern foodies can enjoy great taste and elegance.

Part of this fun, some of which was revealed by Saeed Saad, executive chef of the “Atlantic” hotel and the “Lapscaria” restaurant in the town of Alassio in the Savona province on the west coast of Liguria, who not only did that, but also worked on the development of molecular food to add to his menu innovative new dishes that combine Between the charm of oriental cuisine and the strength of its taste and the elegance and modernity of the western.

Saeed relies in his experience on the experience of presenting foods in a renewed and different manner, based on a scientific approach and a distinct manipulation of the senses, on the grounds that “the sense of taste alone is not sufficient to enjoy food, and that it is necessary to involve other senses such as smell and hearing, so what is the wonderful hearing of the crunch of food.” According to Saeed.

Molecular food attracted the Egyptian chef about 15 years ago when he noticed its wide spread and the multiplicity of its tools and the uniqueness of its methods between liquid nitrogen and lasers, in addition to the method of curdling. And effort, which is what this type of cooking achieves.”

He adds, “I liked the main goal of it, which is to deviate from the ordinary and invent unusual ways and dishes.” A chef in this field is Fern Adria in Spain.”

Saeed says, “The concept of molecular cuisine lies in the use of chemistry in the kitchen to improve food products. In it, the same substances are transformed from one state to another using additional ingredients, whether with the aim of changing the shape or taste, preserving the product for a longer period or improving its texture.

For example, liquid materials can be converted into gelatin crystals, by converting the regular sauce into gelatin balls, or caviar, but with the flavor of the sauce we want, as well as converting oils into powder through maltodextrin, providing meat glue and linking two types of meat to each other. .

Saeed’s effort was not limited to delicious dishes of molecular food, but rather worked on innovation and integrating cultures. He says: “As the son of the Egyptian civilization that knew molecular food thousands of years ago, I had to touch it with the fragrance of history befitting my belonging to this civilization.” He adds: It is proven that the pharaohs used salt and many ingredients and methods for preserving fish and meat, and they carried out chemical processes such as fermentation, salting and condensation with salt, and when he moved to the West, they developed it professionally with the use of a chemical extracted from starches.

If you always find happiness in trying new things, then eating a plate of Chef Saeed’s molecular cuisine is a great idea that leads you to enter a new world full of excitement. Molecular cuisine method by condensing red chili juice.

More than that, he made the toasted Egyptian bread sit on the throne of the dish with confidence: “I bake the baladi bread that I grew up with in my country and adored, as my mother used to bake it and the tortillas, while giving the dish the distinctive flavor of fish in Alexandria, where I was born and raised, and it consists in The basis of cumin and garlic, with the addition of basil and herbs beloved in Europe, and I was surprised that it was very admired by visitors to the restaurant, but became a main dish on the menu.”

Italy and its kitchen hijacked the heart of the chef who moved to it about 25 years ago. “I love arts and it is the home of the arts, and in it I also loved cooking, as I saw a chef who was creative in presenting artistic paintings of food, so I decided to become an innovative chef like him.”

But despite the dominance of molecular and modern eating over most of his dishes, Saeed is keen to find areas of the heritage of the two countries in them, including serving Sinjari fish and cumin tahini with Sayadiyah rice on the Alexandrian way, and he also created a plate of fish rolls to which types of cream are added, some of which are from beans. Others are inspired by the famous Egyptian folk dish “Al-Basara”, which he places on a “floor” to spread the dish, and the same thing he did in many fish such as seabass, mullet and mayas, where he combined the ingredients and cooking methods coming from the nutritional legacy of the two kitchens belonging to Mediterranean food. .

What is interesting is that when he finally won the Italian heritage cooking competition and the Northern Province championship in culinary heritage, Manuel also summoned part of Egypt’s heritage to boldly add it to a dish in which Italians race to prepare a recipe coming from the food of their ancestors. And it is one of the seven international kitchens, and the competitions in its sections are very difficult tasks for the Italians themselves, especially when you are in the field of traditional cooking, which increases the difficulty and challenge, but I won amid everyone’s astonishment.”

And he continues: «In this competition, they set up a kind of market, which includes all the local food raw materials such as olives, basil, artichokes, green beans and fish, and in the last competition I chose Sgombro, because it is one of the types that are on hand, and here the challenge is to make ordinary, cheap ingredients A dish that is placed on the menu of luxury restaurants.

The member of the Italian culinary team, who won the Italian championship in 2008 and 2012, says, “The real surprise is that I relied on creating the dish on an authentic Alexandrian mixture based on the use of cumin and lemon in particular.”