Chapter 14 of Harold McGee book details cooking methods and utensil materials, which honestly would not have crossed by mind as something that would affect the way we cook our food. We know the basic difference in thermal conductivity of metals and alloys, but this chapter contains way more intricate information about how and why certain things are cooked that way. At science canteen, we have the pasta shop with a sous vide egg as one of their topping options. It actually means “under vacuum” in French, the process of vacuum sealing food in a bag and cooking it at a very precise temperature in a water bath. Proteins that egg contains coagulate at a range of temperatures. Ovalbumin, the largest protein component is roughly 54% in egg white and coagulates when temperature reaches 80 degrees celsius, whereas the yolk thickens around 65 degrees celsius.
The innovative development in recent years is induction heating.
With induction hobs, the heat is localised at the base of the pan and is transferred directly to the food, making it energy efficient. You can safely touch the metal at the top portion of a pan or pot and it would only feel slightly warm as compared to the metal pot when we are cooking on the stove. This also makes induction cookers more energy efficient.
For the pancake workshop in Week 4, our group was assigned to make the western pancake. As seen above/below, we added into the bowl butter and sugar first, followed by eggs, milk, flour and baking powder. Then we stirred/whisked to create homogeneity in the batter. For other groups assigned souffle, the amount of air introduced into the batter to create the fluffy texture was important as it makes the batter light and tender.
The gas bubbles interrupt and hence weaken the network of gluten and starch granules, diving it into millions of very thin, delicate sheets that form the bubble walls. The baking soda added serves to diffuse into and enlarge whatever tiny primordial bubbles that already there. Primordial bubbles are added during the initial mixing process.
Possibly due to the high heat towards the end, our 3rd pancake charred slightly (as seen in the photo). This browning is due to the Maillard reaction, a naturally occurring condensation between carbonyl groups in reducing sugar like glucose to amino groups in amino acids (see reaction in the picture)
Using the knowledge acquired in McGee, I can play around with my batter for baked goods and dishes to obtain the perfect recipe, knowing that the chemistry I’ve been learning plays a part in it.