Archive for 'Science'
The Cookbook to End All Cookbooks
Nathan Myhrvold’s long-awaited magnum opus on the science of cooking is finally available for pre-order. Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking is a massive 5-volume collection, weighing in at 2,200 pages, and heavy enough to send you to the hospital if you drop it on your foot, the author quipped at last fall’s StarChefs Congress. Better start saving now, because the book will retail for $625 when it’s published at the end of the year, although Amazon is currently accepting pre-orders for $421.
The biggest names in the food world are already lining up with praise:
“This book will change the way we understand the kitchen.” –Ferran Adrià
“The most important book in the culinary arts since Escoffier.” –Tim Zagat
“The cookbook to end all cookbooks.” –David Chang
“A fascinating overview of the techniques of modern gastronomy.” –Heston Blumenthal
“Amazing! Unparalleled in its breadth and depth.” –Wylie Dufresne
Cabbage & Color
The bold color of red cabbage is due to a pigment molecule called flavin, which is part of the anthocyanin family. Anthocyanin pigments are excellent indicators of the pH, or relative acidity or basicity of their environment. If you’ve ever made a slaw with red cabbage you’ve probably seen this effect in action — the normally dark purple leaves will instantly turn red or even pink once you add vinegar to the mix, whose acidity lowers the pH of the mixture. Anthocyanins can exhibit a wide range of colors, from hot pink to red, through deep purple, then on to blue and even green.
Culinary Applications
David Barzelay of EatFoo uses this chemistry as the basis of an incredible dish for his Lazy Bear supper club: “Two Cabbages”. The dish is presented in two separate components: a bowl with a pile of Brussels sprout hash and a dollop of whipped Meyer lemon topped with nigella seeds; and a beaker of red cabbage soup. The second cabbage in the name refers to the Brussels sprouts, which are essentially baby cabbages.
The diner pours the soup into the bowl, where the acidity of the Meyer lemon immediately brightens the dark purple soup.
As the lemon and the soup are further incorporated, the soup takes on a bright pink color.
What a beautiful soup! A little bit of chemistry and creativity elevates a mundane cabbage soup to an elegant and dramatic dish.
Exploring the Color Palette: Green Eggs & Ham
The broad spectrum of colors that red cabbage can take on offers plenty of room for creativity. One idea for a playful dish could be “Green Eggs & Ham”. Egg whites are alkaline, with a pH of 9 or 10. Because of this, cabbage juice will turn green when exposed to raw egg whites. A Dr. Seuss-inspired breakfast perhaps?
On A More Serious Note
The anthocyanins that create these beautiful color changes may also have more important applications. They are used in new organic solar cells, where they convert light into electrons. Early research has also shown that these compounds, especially those found in black raspberries, have a powerful ability to inhibit cancer, aging and neurological diseases, inflammation, diabetes, and even bacterial infections. Researchers are actively exploring ways to make use of these incredible compounds.
Cheese “Snow” Using Liquid Nitrogen
Here’s a cool video of Alex Talbot of Ideas In Food using liquid nitrogen to quickly freeze cheese, which is then powdered in a blender. The video is taken from a November dinner at A Razor, A Shiny Knife, Michael Cirino’s Brooklyn-based supper club.
Cooking with Liquid Nitrogen from Mike on Vimeo.
UPDATE: Cathy Erway has a photo gallery of the entire dinner, entitled “A New Palate”, available on flickr.
Alex and his wife Aki Kamozawa are doing a hands-on workshop on “cold cooking” with liquid nitrogen on March 16th, through the Astor Center here in NYC. Sounds like fun!
This class will explore different techniques using liquid nitrogen covering basics on safety and handling and culinary techniques in order to bring cold cooking into your kitchen as a useful and efficient tool as well as an ingredient of refinement.
Test Your Tongue! The Science of Taste
Just bought my ticket for next week’s event at The New York Academy of Sciences on the science of taste.
The fourth event in the Science of the Five Senses Series, a 5-part series of live events designed to convey to scientists and nonscientists alike the state-of-the-art scientific knowledge about how humans perceive our environment, through presentations that integrate science and art.
At this event, a leading expert in taste and a popular food writer look at our understanding of the science of taste and the chemical underpinnings of flavors and foods. Learn about your own tastebuds by sampling miracle fruit, artichokes, fruit strips, and more!
Linda Bartoshuk, PhD is an internationally known researcher in the chemical senses of taste and smell and Director of Human Research at the University of Florida Center for Smell and Taste. She joined the University of Florida faculty as a visiting professor in the College of Public Health and Health Professions in 2005 from Yale University. She is a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences. Her research explores the genetic variations in taste perception and how taste perception affects overall health.
Harold McGee is a New York Times columnist and food science guru whose books include On Food & Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen; The Curious Cook: More Kitchen Science and Lore. He started out studying physics and astronomy at the California Institute of Technology, and then English literature at Yale University. In 1984 he published On Food and Cooking. Twenty years later, the revised and enlarged edition was named best food reference of 2004 by the IACP and the James Beard Foundation. In 2005, Bon Appétit magazine named McGee food writer of the year. In 2008, Time Magazine named him to its annual list of the world’s most influential people. He writes a monthly column, “The Curious Cook,” for The New York Times.
Full information and registration details here. Looks like we’ll be tasting miracle fruit courtesy of the Miracle Fruit Man!
The Experimental Cuisine Collective
Faculty members of New York University’s departments of nutrition, food studies, and public health and chemistry have joined forces with Will Goldfarb, chef-owner of Room 4 Dessert, in a collaborative working group that seeks to use scientific principles and experiments to produce advances in cooking. Through a series of workshops, the Experimental Cuisine Collective will discuss ways in which science may influence what we will be cooking and eating in the future, lead to a greater understanding of our diets, and contribute to safer food and better health across the globe.
The group’s goal is to develop a broad and rigorous approach to examine the properties, boundaries, and conventions of food, in a way that is intuitive and relevant to a broad audience. Five times a year, the participants will gather to explore notions of taste, texture, smell; boundaries of edible and inedible; and dining rituals and food taboos. Some of the questions the collective hopes to address include:
· Can scientific principles help determine which foods we enjoy?
· How can studying food help the public, from children to elderly, understand science?
· What technical and cultural foundations give rise to a new cuisine?
· How can the manipulation of chemical components of food alter notions of edible and inedible?
· How can education go from the classroom to the kitchen to the dining room in a way that best helps families understand how to make the right dietary choices?
Go there: The Experimental Cuisine Collective