Molecular Gastronomy is dead
Just recently the term has become controversial with Heston Blumenthal the Michelin starred chef proclaiming "Molecular Gastronomy is dead", and Ferran Adria "..the biggest lie out there in terms of cooking."

In December last, the 3 celebrated chefs; Ferran Adrià - El Bulli in Spain, Thomas Keller - French Laundry in the US, Heston Blumenthal - Fat Duck, UK., got together with writer Harold McGee and produced an Agenda for Great Cooking challenging the fashionable term and distancing themselves from the Molecular Gastronomy tag;

"..this approach has been widely misunderstood, both outside and inside our profession. Certain aspects of it are overemphasized and sensationalized, while others are ignored..
..the term "molecular gastronomy" does not describe our cooking, or indeed any style of cooking."

Not before time I say, Molecular Gastronomy always sounds so nauseous, the sooner we lose it the better. I love all these new ideas and flavours - surely Nouvelle Cuisine describes them perfectly, at least it conjures up something appetising !

Origins

"The invention of a new dish is of greater importance to the happiness of mankind, than the discovery of a new star"

So said Nicholas Kurti, Hungarian physicist, in a 1969 presentation entitled 'Physicist in the Kitchen'. Kurti later went on to coin the unappetising term 'Molecular Gastronomy', although almost 200 years before him Sir Benjamin Thompson, another foodie-physicist had beaten him to the idea;

"The advantage that would result from an application of the late brilliant discoveries in philosophical chemistry and other branches of natural philosophy and mechanics to the improvement of the art of cookery are so evident..."

This scientific approach to cooking became recently mainstream with the publication of 'The Science and Lore of the Kitchen' by Harold McGee.

Examples of Combined flavors
white chocolate and caviar
salted butter caramel
ice creams that taste like tobacco
herb and salt-scented quail eggs wrapped in a caramel shell
duck a l’orange sunny side-up where the egg yolk is an orange alginate

The Sous Vide technique
Both meat or fish can be cooked at low temperatures over long periods using temperature controlled containers. The meat is first vacuum sealed in a plastic bag then put into temperature controlled water and left typically for several hours at temperatures ranging from 55 - 65 degrees C. The uniform cooking temperature throughout gives a perfectly cooked pink and tender piece of meat.