Technology

Are you coming to my Shabat table tonight?

14 Comments
No Gravatar

I miss my lab.

For years, I had a 10,000 square foot facility just for my own studies.  Sure, there were other labs at my disposal, but this one was mine.  To do with what I wanted.  (OK.  My clients would often want me to use the lab for their benefit, but it was still mine and for my ideas.)

Now, my only lab is my kitchen.  And I cook as if I am a chemist, working in a lab.  More and more folks are seeing that a scientific approach to kitchen cooking makes sense. After all, foods are simply mixtures of different chemical compounds.

McCabe and Smith- Unit Ops of Chem E
I’m feeling really old- I used the FIRST edition of McCabe and Smith

Yes,  heating, freezing, mixing, blending are all unit operations of chemical engineering.  All we do when we cook is to effect physical and chemical processes to transform ingredients into a finished product.Maillard Reaction

Consider these facts.  Browning meat?  That’s just the Maillard reaction.  (That is the reaction between amino acids [proteins] and reducing sugars.)  Or, how many folks (wrongly) told you to never press down on your burger while cooking it?  (Sorry, Charlie- pressing down on the burger augments the surface area in contact with the hot metal, thereby increasing the flavor of the patty. ) Or, this idea?  Stop boiling water and then adding pasta and cooking it for 10 minutes.  Nope.  Not I. I pour hot water (from my electric tea kettle) over the pasta, add a dollop of salt (to stop the pasta from sticking to each other) and then bring the water to boil plus 1 minute.

After all, isn’t science simply a process of wondering why the heck we do what we do?  Doesn’t that make us all better cooks?  Figuring out how to do what we do better, to augment the flavors we present to our guests?

Decades ago, folks would argue with me that cooking isn’t science.  But, go to any high end restaurant nowadays and you will hear about the science of bearnaise sauce, the souffle, chocolate mouse, custard- and a slew of other dishes.  Molecular gastronomy is now the ‘in’ thinking.

I’m sure the guests I entertain each week are glad that I use science to prepare our dinners.

Share this:
Share this page via Email Share this page via Stumble Upon Share this page via Digg this Share this page via Facebook Share this page via Twitter
Share

Related posts:

  1. Summertime- and the warnings are coming…
  2. It’s coming- to a faucet near you. (Hopefully, not too soon!)
  3. Eating Well?
  4. Culinary Excellence Elevated by Technology
  5. Dietary Needs

14 thoughts on “Are you coming to my Shabat table tonight?”

  1. Ah a blog right up my alley, or should I say kitchen! I’m glad it’s okay to smash the burgers when cooking because I’ve always done it that way. Definitely going to change the way I cook pasta!

  6. Greetings from Idaho! I’m bored at work so I decided to
    browse your site on my iphone during lunch break.
    I enjoy the knowledge you present here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home.

    I’m surprised at how quick your blog loaded on my phone ..

    I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyways, great site!
    Woah! I’m really digging the template/theme of this site.
    It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s
    tough to get that “perfect balance” between usability and appearance.
    I must say you’ve done a fantastic job with this.
    Also, the blog loads super fast for me on Internet explorer.
    Superb Blog! I’ve been surfing online more than 3 hours today, yet I
    never found any interesting article like yours. It is pretty worth enough
    for me. Personally, if all webmasters and bloggers made good content
    as you did, the internet will be much more useful than ever before.

    Jona recently posted..Jona

Comments are closed.