Chemistry in Your KitchenWhether you know it or not, you become a chemist any time you step into a kitchen. As you cook, you oversee intricate chemical transformations that would test even the most hardened of professional chemists. Focussing on how and why we cook different dishes the way we do, this book introduces basic chemistry through everyday foods and meal preparations. Through its unique meal-by-meal organisation, the book playfully explores the chemistry that turns our food into meals. Topics covered range from roasting coffee beans to scrambling eggs and gluten development in breads. The book features many experiments that you can try in your own kitchen, such as exploring the melting properties of cheese, retaining flavour when cooking and pairing wines with foods. Through molecular chemistry, biology, neuroscience, physics and agriculture, the author discusses various aspects of cooking and food preparation. This is a fascinating read for anyone interested in the science behind cooking. |
Contents
Coffee | 3 |
Flavor Extraction | 15 |
References | 21 |
Pigs are Magic | 29 |
Food Safety and Evolution | 36 |
Eggs | 42 |
EggCellent Research | 49 |
References | 58 |
Water In Water Out Balance | 158 |
Saucy | 167 |
Delicious by Any Definition | 173 |
Its About Time | 195 |
More Meat Time | 196 |
References | 212 |
Jillian Dempsey | 221 |
Gretchen Keller | 227 |
References | 77 |
Jelly | 81 |
Lets Jam | 87 |
Molecular Schmolecular | 94 |
Macaroni and Cheese | 100 |
On and Off | 107 |
References | 117 |
Citizen Scientists | 124 |
References | 134 |
Back to the Basics | 152 |
Beer | 235 |
A Monster Mash | 245 |
Sending Them Off | 252 |
References | 273 |
Churning | 283 |
References | 290 |
Bread | 297 |
Epilogue | 305 |