1.) Cream Whipper

What it does: No modern dish would be complete without some wispy bit of foam floating about on top of your food. While whipped cream has been around forever, it is El Bulli’s Ferran Adria who made “espuma” popular in molecular gastronomy, whipping up foams made hot or cold, with a variety of flavors, from foie gras to truffles. Simply take a cream whipper (which uses a cartridge of nitrogen dioxide to spurt out a foamy version of whatever you put inside) and load it with your personal creation. Just note that for a foam to hold, it needs to have some kind of texture agent like cream or agar added to it.
B5,310 at Verasu. 83/7 Wireless Rd., 02-254-8100. www.verasu.com

2.) Oven Thermometer

What it does: If you’re cooking curries, you’re not going to have this problem. But start trying to pull of well-done roasts, or even a thick, perfectly medium rare T-bone steak, and you’re setting yourself up for a lot of (expensive) trial and error. How do the pros do it? They simply stick this gadget into their roast chicken, leg of lamb or ham and wait for the perfect temperature to come up.
B330 at Verasu. 83/7 Wireless Rd., 02-254-8100. www.verasu.com

3.) Cotton candy machine

What it does: Ferran Adria (him again) famously played with this machine, so why not give it a try at your home? Foie gras cotton candy might be a little expensive to try on your first attempt, but there are many other flavors you can whip up in this machine. Simply mix in a spice or flavoring extract with some sugar, dump into the machine, and start spinning the candy floss onto a stick.
B5,000 at M-trade Bangkok. Order online at www.m-tradebangkok.com.

4.) Blow Torch

What it does: What’s the best thing about a crème brulee? The crispy texture and caramelized notes of its top crust, of course. It’s easy to do, simply sprinkle the crème with brown sugar and blast away with a blow torch. But once you have this cool gadget, it’s time to get a lot more creative. Melt cheese in your cup of onion soup, glaze miso sauces on fish or roast marshmallows over cocktails.
B1,385 at Pantry Magic. G/F, The Eight Thonglor, 88/22 Sukhumvit 55 (Thonglor), 02-713-8650-1. www.pantry-magic.com/bangkok

5.) Spherification Kit

What it does: This kit covers techniques including spherification, gelification and emulsification. It includes all the necessary food additives like agar, soy lecithin, calcium and lactate. But more importantly, it includes tools like a food grade syringe and slotted spoon that are indispensable to making these high-tech delights. Finally, there’s a DVD guide to teach you how to use it all.
US$78.90 (shipping included for delivery in Thailand) at www.molecule-r.com.