For a moment, put aside the big 3D printed infrastructures. Homes? Forget them. The vehicles? Forget it. It's time to talk about the serious stuff - it's time to talk about the 3D printed CHICKEN. Do we realize? Cutlets 3D printed and cooked at the same time with the laser. Who can ever do such a prodigy?
It is the result of the work of a team of scientists from Columbia University in New York. The “chef printer” comes in the form of a machine equipped with the ability to 3D print chicken meat, also performing “precision cooking” via “multi-wavelength laser”.
For those curious about lab-grown meat (myself included): Chicken still doesn't materialize out of thin air: I'm not talking about creating lifelike meat like wagyu beef from materials that are anything but. As it stands, the team simply fed the machine with pureed chicken, a bit like nuggets from fast food companies. Of course, this usage suggests that in the near future a cutlet indistinguishable from those we eat today will also be printed from cultured meat, but now is not the time.
The plus: precision cooking, for chicken and more
In their article published this month in the journal Science of Food, the Columbia team says the main challenge to overcome was “controlled spatial delivery of cooking energy.” And this is exactly where lasers come into play. Lasers allow you to direct a precise and easily controllable jet of thermal energy directly where you need it. It can be so precise that it can cook a chicken cutlet right in its packaging.
Experimenting with a few different types of lasers, the team found that infrared ones browned food "more efficiently" than blue ones, but the blue lasers were apparently better at cooking the chicken internally.
It is believed that this “chef printer” technology will enable more creative food design, allowing us to personalize meals and cook (even at home) with previously unthinkable qualities: from tests, “printed and cooked” chicken breast has retained more moisture and shrank less during cooking than regularly cooked chicken.
In what might be one of the saddest taste tests ever, the research duo decided that the 3D-printed, laser-cooked chicken was better than conventionally prepared chicken. Despite the fact that there was a metallic taste left by the laser during cooking. There is still a little work to do, in the meantime I still suggest the traditional method.
