Tapioca Maltodextrin - Molecular Gastronomy

Ladies and Gents,

As Thanksgiving approaches, I find that I'm responsible for making desserts this Xmas. Due to this, I plan to make a standard (pecan pie or carrot cake) and something the family has never tried before with a recipe from Alinea - Caramel, salt

Is there a store in Chicago that sells the ingredient Tapioca Maltrodextrin? I plan to make a Fox and Obel stop on Sunday to see what they might have and pick up a few things... but otherwise, any advice?

Thanks in advance!

You're not going to find this at Fox & Obel, as there is little to no market among home cooks for the ingredient, which goes by the brand name N-Zorbit M. As far as I know, it is only available in commercial quantities; however, you can get a free sample that will be more than enough for your recipe from National Starch website. Now you too will be able to make rich, luscious, fresh ingredients taste chalky, stale, and processed. My sample arrived 5 days after I placed the order. Using it to make crystallized foie gras was educational, but didn't make me long for more.

Thanks for the suggestion! And thanks for the glowing review. I'll be curious to see how it all turns out with nutella as one base, and caramel as the other. There's definitely a reason I'm making a standard holiday dessert as a back up.

They sell it at L'Epicerie too

Ooh! Ooh! Got my free sample today! It's a very generous size, probably about a quart, although it weighs only a couple of ounces.
It came with a sheet for suggested uses -- all of them more mundane than Messrs. Achatz or Canto would put them to ("Stabilizing soup, my shiny metal ass!" I can hear them say)

Now to powderize something... Olive oil? Peanut butter? Caramel? Bacon fat?

[later]
Made peanut butter powder: 35gm Skippy Creamy plus 9gm (more than a half cup) N-Zorbit. The instructions say 2 parts oil to 1 part powder by weight, but I went light, and it seemed to work, with just a whisk. The stuff has a light fluffy consistency, not quite a powder (probably more N-Zorbit would lighten it up, as would a food processor), but it's fun.

I'm thinking garlic butter powder for popcorn...
Sprinkleable topppings for cupcakes...

It's interesting, but I'm not sure I really call it "food"

I received my free sample today.



Photographing odd jars of powder in the office is definitely one way to get coworkers to take an interest in your hobbies.

The Spice House on Wells now stocks a variety of molecular gastronomy "ingredients" in small batches. I picked up some sodium alginate and malto today. They were out of a few things but I get the sense they are going to continue to sell this stuff. I'm looking forward to playing around with some of this stuff and I'm glad I don't have to buy large quantities!

viaChgo wrote:The Spice House on Wells now stocks a variety of molecular gastronomy "ingredients" in small batches. I picked up some sodium alginate and malto today. They were out of a few things but I get the sense they are going to continue to sell this stuff. I'm looking forward to playing around with some of this stuff and I'm glad I don't have to buy large quantities!

That is fantastic news!

So I've got the alginate but no calcium chloride. The Spice House is currently out of calcium chloride. Any ideas as to where I could pick some up locally? I'd love to do something this weekend, so that rules out any Web sources. Thanks!

Amazon can do overnight shipping:

http://www.amazon.com/WillPowder-Calciu ... 488&sr=8-2

viaChgo wrote:So I've got the alginate but no calcium chloride. The Spice House is currently out of calcium chloride. Any ideas as to where I could pick some up locally? I'd love to do something this weekend, so that rules out any Web sources. Thanks!

Most home brew supply stores should carry calcium chloride. You could also try a compounding pharmacy (not certain that's something they would have on hand). As a last resort you could use a calcium dietary supplement found in any drug store. I believe most are calcium carbonate but I wouldn't expect the counter ion (carbonate versus chloride) to matter that much, though there may well be reasons the chloride salt is generally used.

Thanks for the home brew supply place tip!

I thought about overnight shipping but just can't justify the cost to mess around with on Saturday. Our guests would be willing & appreciative guinea pigs but if I have to wait, not a big deal.

A home brew place is where I get calcium chloride - cheaper by far and in smaller quantities. Calcium carbonate might work, though it may froth a bit depending on the acidity of the juice-alginate.