When you’re cooking, you’re a chemist! Every time you follow or modify a recipe, you are experimenting with acids and bases, emulsions and suspensions, gels and foams. In your kitchen you denature proteins, crystallize compounds, react enzymes with substrates, and nurture desired microbial life while suppressing harmful bacteria and fungi. And unlike in a laboratory, you can eat your experiments to verify your hypotheses. In Culinary Reactions, author Simon Quellen Field turns measuring cups, stovetop burners, and mixing bowls into graduated cylinders, Bunsen burners, and beakers. How does altering the ratio of flour, sugar, yeast, salt, butter, and water affect how high bread rises? Why is whipped cream made with nitrous oxide rather than the more common carbon dioxide? And why does Hollandaise sauce call for “clarified” butter? This easy-to-follow primer even includes recipes to demonstrate the concepts being discussed, including:· Whipped Creamsicle Topping—a foam· Cherry Dream Cheese—a protein gel· Lemonade with Chameleon Eggs—an acid indicator
Author(s): Simon Quellen Field
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Year: 2011
Language: English
Pages: 258
Tags: Пищевая промышленность;Пищевая химия;
Copyright......Page 5
Contents......Page 8
Introduction......Page 14
1. Measuring and Weighing......Page 18
Variations in Recipes......Page 19
Why Sifted Flour?......Page 20
Density and Good Eggs......Page 21
Calorie Estimation......Page 22
2. Foams......Page 26
Egg Foams......Page 28
Chemistry Lesson: How to Read Structural Formulas......Page 29
Fat Foams......Page 30
Gluten Foams......Page 31
A Bread Recipe......Page 32
Leavening Alternatives......Page 38
Chemistry Lesson: Ionic Bonds......Page 40
Gelatin Foam......Page 41
Chemistry Lesson: Covalent Bonds......Page 43
Sugar Foam......Page 44
Recipe: Whipped Creamsicle Topping......Page 46
A Note About Nitrous Oxide......Page 52
Why Some Things Don’t Mix......Page 54
Emulsifying Agents......Page 55
Chemistry Lesson: Hydrogen Bonds......Page 56
Gum Stabilizers......Page 57
Shortcuts and Aids......Page 58
Hollandaise Sauce......Page 59
Other Emulsifiers......Page 61
4. Colloids, Gels, and Suspensions......Page 64
Water-Based Colloids......Page 65
Starches......Page 66
Agar and Agarose......Page 67
Pectin Gels......Page 68
Protein Gels......Page 69
Recipe: Cherry Dream Cheese......Page 72
A Holiday Variation......Page 90
How to Make a Cheese Press......Page 91
5. Oils and Fats......Page 96
Chemistry Lesson: Different Ways to Look at Molecules......Page 99
Monounsaturated Fats......Page 103
Polyunsaturated Fats......Page 104
Chemistry Lesson: Kinky Molecules......Page 105
Omega-3 and Omega-6 Fats......Page 107
Trans Fats......Page 108
6. Solutions......Page 112
Seltzer and Temperature......Page 116
Syrups, Broths, and Other Solutions......Page 117
Candy......Page 119
Liquors......Page 120
7. Crystallization......Page 122
Controlling the Size of Crystals......Page 124
Amino Acids......Page 128
Chemistry Lesson: Four Kinds of Protein Structure......Page 130
Denaturing Proteins......Page 131
Milk......Page 133
Eggs......Page 134
Meat......Page 135
Glutamate......Page 136
Cheese......Page 137
Recipe: Thanksgiving Turkey......Page 138
9. Biology......Page 150
Yeast......Page 151
Sourdough......Page 153
Yogurt......Page 158
Sour Cream and Cultured Buttermilk......Page 159
Bleu Cheese......Page 160
Wine and Beer......Page 162
Salt and Drying......Page 165
Alcohol Sterilization......Page 166
Antimicrobials in Herbs and Spices......Page 167
Microbial Competition......Page 168
Recipe: DNA from Your Halloween Pumpkin......Page 169
Surface-to-Volume Ratios......Page 178
Heat Flow Rates......Page 180
Solving the Surface-to-Volume Problem......Page 181
Drying......Page 182
Timing......Page 184
Equipment......Page 185
11. Heating......Page 188
Browning Reactions......Page 189
Protein Denaturing......Page 192
Flavor Producing......Page 193
Carcinogens......Page 194
Color Changes......Page 199
Nutrition Changes......Page 201
Leavening......Page 202
12. Acids and Bases......Page 204
Effect of Acid on Proteins......Page 207
Cooking with Acid......Page 208
Cooking with Alkali......Page 209
pH-Sensitive Colors......Page 212
Sour Sensing......Page 213
Recipe: Lemonade with Chameleon Eggs......Page 214
13. Oxidation and Reduction......Page 222
Apples, Avocados, and Lemon Juice......Page 223
Vinegar from Wine......Page 227
Oxidation of Oils and Fats......Page 228
Chemistry Lesson: How Oxygen Forms Molecular Bonds......Page 229
Free Radicals......Page 230
Antioxidants......Page 236
14. Boiling, Freezing, and Pressure......Page 238
Altitude......Page 239
Raising the Boiling Point......Page 240
Pressure Cookers......Page 242
Vacuum in Canning Jars......Page 243
Making Ice Cream......Page 244
Index......Page 246
