Cooking is an art – you need to know instinctively the amount of spices and salt to add, the amount of time it takes to cook certain foods, and the kinds of temperatures you need for optimal taste. Or so I thought, until I heard about molecular gastronomy. This field engineers a meeting and establishes common ground between science and cooking, where one is applied to the other to enhance taste and presentation. For those of us who think that cooking is just a matter of adding a pinch of salt and using the right amount of water, it’s a wakeup call to open our eyes to a world beyond the kitchen, a world where biochemistry is applied in the home to create cuisine worthy of a king.
Take the simple act of boiling an egg – almost all of us who cook know that all you need is water, heat and an egg, and when you let the egg boil in a pan for 10 minutes, it’s likely to be done. But molecular gastronomy goes beyond the boiling process to see how the yolk can be perfectly centralized – it normally floats to the top since it contains fat as opposed to the albumen’s protein and water. Molecular gastronomist Hervé This is of the opinion that the boiling point of water, 112 degrees Fahrenheit, is way too high to boil an egg. When an egg is cooked, its proteins uncoil into strands that form meshes that trap water. When the temperature is higher than required, too many egg proteins bind and cause dense meshes, and this means that the egg feels dry and rubbery. So now you understand why those eggs seemed so insipid when you boiled them? According to This, An ideally cooked egg is one that’s boiled at 153 degrees Fahrenheit.
Molecular gastronomy is an emerging science; one that some people feel is frivolous because it is being used to enhance the way food is cooked. But the scientists who have devoted their lives to this cause throw off criticism like water off a duck’s back – they are in this field to study how the process of cooking changes the molecular structure of food. And if the study serves to improve taste and add to good health, who’s complaining?
Take the simple act of boiling an egg – almost all of us who cook know that all you need is water, heat and an egg, and when you let the egg boil in a pan for 10 minutes, it’s likely to be done. But molecular gastronomy goes beyond the boiling process to see how the yolk can be perfectly centralized – it normally floats to the top since it contains fat as opposed to the albumen’s protein and water. Molecular gastronomist Hervé This is of the opinion that the boiling point of water, 112 degrees Fahrenheit, is way too high to boil an egg. When an egg is cooked, its proteins uncoil into strands that form meshes that trap water. When the temperature is higher than required, too many egg proteins bind and cause dense meshes, and this means that the egg feels dry and rubbery. So now you understand why those eggs seemed so insipid when you boiled them? According to This, An ideally cooked egg is one that’s boiled at 153 degrees Fahrenheit.
Molecular gastronomy is an emerging science; one that some people feel is frivolous because it is being used to enhance the way food is cooked. But the scientists who have devoted their lives to this cause throw off criticism like water off a duck’s back – they are in this field to study how the process of cooking changes the molecular structure of food. And if the study serves to improve taste and add to good health, who’s complaining?
This article is contributed by Sarah Scrafford, who regularly writes on the topic of Ultrasound Tech Programs. She invites your questions, comments and freelancing job inquiries at her email address: sarah.scrafford25@gmail.com.
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