This kitchen tip comes from the July and August Cook’s Illustrated. The test kitchen examined whether removing the seeds and jelly from a tomato, as many recipes call for, has any effect on the final flavor of the food.
The conclusion? The recipe with the seeds and jelly was significantly more flavorful. Apparently [...]

Posted in Food Science, Kitchen Tips 3 Comments »

Egg whites are made up primarily of water (90%) and protein (10%), with trace amounts of other molecules. Of the different proteins, there are three that are useful to know because of their effects on cooking.
Ovomucin - This protein thickens and solidifies the egg white when cooked. Although it makes up a [...]

Posted in Food Science 2 Comments »

Whipped cream, though not the luxury it was a couple centuries ago, is still placed on countless desserts, adding a light, but rich flavor. How does “simple physical agitation…transform a luscious but unmanageable liquid into an equally luscious but shapeable ’solid’?” Harold McGee, On Food and Cooking.
Whipped cream begins with a cream that is [...]

Posted in Food Science 6 Comments »

From my recent forays into cooking, I frequently have come across recipes asking me to brown a food. I also remember Alton Brown mentioning it on his show, Good Eats, when discussing stews. He made sure to brown the outside of his short ribs in a skillet before braising them in the oven. [...]

Posted in Food Science, Techniques 3 Comments »

<A href=”http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US&ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Fthneco-20%2F8005%2F05489516-02ac-45fa-b23a-1b726219a487&Operation=NoScript”>Amazon.com Widgets</A>
I was reading through Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking yesterday and found his discussion of milk, lactose, and osteoporosis interesting.
Milk is one of the few foods that is actually supposed to be a food, so it is unsurprising that milk contains many nutrients. All milk is primarily made of [...]

Posted in Food Science, Health 4 Comments »