Are you a little grossed out? When Kaci first asked me if I would help her out with this segment I was pretty grossed out - and I thought 'chemicals have no place in the home kitchen.' I dove head first into research so I would be able to speak about this knowledgeably. I watched a ton of videos online of reporters who had no idea what they were doing talking to chefs who had never used the product. It seemed extremely irresponsible.
I'll link the segment here when it's available online so you can watch it - but here's what I learned
- Transglutaminase is a naturally occurring enzyme. Much like you would use pineapple to marinate meat in because the enzymes in pineapple breakdown meat, this enzyme joins together meat protein strands.
- Transglutaminase is not very accommodating to the home chef. It should not be inhaled, it needs to be kept in a completely airtight container, for total 'adhesion' the meat should have all air sucked out - most homes don't have a vacuum sealer.
- Transglutaminase is being used by restaurants - mostly in benign ways. Molecular Gastronomists like Wylie DuFresne and Nils Noren are using the product to create amazing dishes that would otherwise not be possible. Many restaurants use the 'glue' to adhere bacon to the outside of a steak or to eliminate casing in sausage making
- The rumor that restaurants are using the 'glue' to turn scraps of meat into a full steak seems to be just that - a rumor. For a restaurant to do that would be technically illegal, time consuming, and reputation ruining. If you are eating at a restaurant where you think this would ever actually happen, get up immediately. Leave the table. If you aren't aware of where the restaurant is sourcing their meat, you should move on or eat the pasta.
I'll use this time to get on my locally raised, responsibly produced soapbox. You can ask a restaurant where their meat came from - it should say on the menu. Good restaurants will put the name of the supplier on the menu or put the meat "credentials" on the menu (organic, grass fed, etc.) You should know what you are eating! If you are eating at wd-50 or Alinea then you are pretty well aware that some unique cooking techniques and ingredients were used in cooking. But they are all still top of the line.
Want to know more about transglutaminase? Click here. Or here. You can order this for home cooking, and if you are an experimental cook who likes to play around in the kitchen, you will find this interesting. Be sure you have plenty of time to dedicate to experimenting.
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