Cook, Taste, Learn

Cook, Taste, Learn
How the Evolution of Science Transformed the Art of Cooking
Guy Crosby
Cook, Taste, Learn
Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History

Cook, Taste, Learn
How the Evolution of Science
Transformed the Art of Cooking
Guy Crosby
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS

N E W YO R K
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2019 Guy Crosby
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Crosby, Guy, author.
Title: Cook, taste, learn : how the evolution of science transformed the
art of cooking / Guy Crosby.
Description: First edition. | New York : Columbia University Press, [2019] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019021926 | ISBN 9780231192927 (cloth)
Subjects: LCSH: Cooking—Technique—History. | Gastronomy—History. |
Chemistry, Technical—History.
Classification: LCC TX645 .C76 2019 | DDC 641.01/3—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019021926
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent

and durable acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
Cover design: Milenda Nan Ok Lee

Cover and frontispiece art: Jehan Georges Vibert (French, 1840–1902). The Marvelous Sauce, ca. 1890.
Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Bequest of Elisabeth H. Gates, 1899 (1899:3.14).
Image courtesy Albright-Knox Art Gallery. The painting contrasts the traditional art of cooking with the
evolving science of cooking based on the scientific method of cooking, tasting, and learning.
Back cover (detail): Guy Crosby. Peaches in a Glass Bowl, 1956. Courtesy of the artist.
For Christine, Kristin, Justin, Grace, and Mike
Contents
P R E FA C E XI
AC K N OW L E D G M E N T S XV
1 The Evolution of Cooking (2 Million–12,000 Years Ago) 1
Fire, cooking, and the evolution of humans 1

The taste, smell, and flavor of food 2
How many basic tastes are there? 4

Recipe: Linguine with clam sauce 7
The impact of cooking on the human brain 8
The microscopic world of starch in food 9

What happens to food after we eat it? 12
Early methods of cooking food 14
2 The Dawn of Agriculture Revolutionizes Cooking

(12,000 Years Ago–1499) 19
The dawn of agriculture changes everything 19
Explaining gluten 22
The greatest technological advance of all time 25

The emergence of agriculture catalyzes advances in cooking 26
viii | CONTENTS
What is so special about water in food? 28

What is temperature, and how does it differ from heat? 31
Recipe: Bone-in pork spareribs with hoisin barbeque sauce 34
The first scientific theories evolve 36
3 Early Science Inspires Creativity in Cooking (1500–1799) 41
Science is reborn during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries 41
The difference between waxy and mealy potatoes 43
The rebirth of science—now we’re really cooking! 46
Making stock of things 48

Saucy emulsions and emulsifiers 52
Recipe: Christine’s rich brown gravy 54
The scientific method illuminates a new path 56
Thomas Keller and the science of butter-poached lobster 60
4 The Art of Cooking Embraces the Science of Atoms

(1800–1900) 67
The atomic theory changes science forever 67
Numbers both large and small 69
Science enters the realm of cooking 71
Recipe: Baked haddock with special breadcrumb topping 77
The art of cooking embraces the science of cooking 78
Does braising meat really make it juicier? 81

The many lives (and uses) of baking soda 84
ix | CONTENTS
5 Modern Science Transforms the Art of Cooking

(1901–Present) 91
Flavor rules 91
Terroir—A taste of place 98

Recipe: Julia Child’s brown-braised onions 102
Modern methods of cooking 103
Soft Matter—the science of gels 107

Star power 110
Cooking is the perfect embodiment of art and science 112
6 Cooking Science Catches Fire! 115
Cooking science goes viral 115

Science brings a new vision to cooking healthy food 117
Cooking science enhances the nutritional quality of food 119
Fighting cancer with cruciferous vegetables 122

Recipe: Tomato sauce with red bell peppers 129
Recipe: Delicious, healthy mashed cauliflower 132
To market, to market 133
7 The Good, the Bad, and the Future of Cooking Science 139
Good carbohydrates and bad carbohydrates 139
Recipe: White bean and roasted chicken chili 141

Winter vegetable—the science of pasta 144
Good fats and bad fats 147
Fats and oils—when structure dictates function 149

Cooking with olive oil 156
x | CONTENTS
Are there good proteins and bad proteins? 159
Diffusion confusion 162
The future of cooking science 165
BIBLIOGRAPHY 167
INDEX 175
Preface
It’s pretty amazing when you think about it: of all the living species on earth, only humans
cook their food! Cooking has played a very important role in the evolution of humans,
but only in the last few decades has the public shown much interest in the science of what
happens to food when we cook it by applying heat. What is it about cooking food that has
been so important in the evolution of humans? Why have humans evolved biologically and
socially so much faster than all other living species? What role, if any, has cooking played?
Plenty, if you ask Richard Wrangham, professor of biological anthropology at Harvard
University. Wrangham makes a compelling case for the role of cooking in his popular
book Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human. He is not the first to argue that
cooking influenced human evolution, but he is the first to claim that early humans began
using fire to cook food as early as 1.8 to 1.9 million years ago. Others believe that physical
evidence found in caves indicates fire was first used for cooking about 400,000 years ago.
Wrangham finds that the evolutionary evidence of one of our earliest ancestors, Homo
erectus—including the increasing size of the brain and the decreasing size of the teeth
and gastrointestinal system—strongly supports the conclusion that the use of fire to cook
food began more than a million years earlier. Cooking clearly played an extremely import-
ant role in human evolution. Through knowledge of cooking science, we can understand
why cooking was so fundamental to the evolution of humans. Throughout this book,
I will explore the evolution of science and how it has transformed the art of cooking right
up to the present.
Unfortunately, science is a mystery to many people. Its complex language is composed
of strange words that make it difficult to understand, inviting suspicion or lack of interest.
Yet science is a proven method for questioning and learning how the world works. It leads
xii | PREFACE
to new insights and the creation of new ideas, knowledge, and innovations. Through care-
fully designed studies, hypotheses of why certain things happen can be tested and affirmed
or disproved, following the scientific method of cooking, tasting, and learning. Consider,
for example, the theory of gravity (Newton), proof of the concept of atoms (Dalton), the
invention of the electric lightbulb (Edison), the development of a polio vaccine (Salk), the
design of the electronic transistor (Bardeen, Brattain, and Shockley), and the answer to
why the chicken crossed the road (Henny Penny). Some people are suspicious that science
can be used for negative purposes such as the development of atomic weapons, the cre-
ation of genetically modified organisms, or electronic surveillance. And, of course, in the
hands of dishonest, politically or financially motivated people, it can. But on the whole,
science has had a very positive impact on the evolution of humankind. Despite the long
history of scientific thought, beginning with the ancient Egyptians and early Greek philos-
ophers, the science of cooking has received little attention until very recently. The science
of cooking may seem to be of minor importance, but if Wrangham is correct, it may be
one of the most consequential and least appreciated of all the sciences.
The famous American sociologist Robert K. Merton (1910–2003, Columbia University)
once wrote, “Science is public, not private, knowledge.” That’s wonderful for those who
understand the science. But most science communication is perceived as pure gibberish.
For some, it can be more opaque than even private knowledge. As a scientist, I feel it is
essential to interpret science for the public so it can truly become public knowledge appre-
ciated and understood by all. To explain the science of cooking, I have included a series of
short essays on the cream-colored pages that delve deeper into the science considered in
each chapter, as well as a small number of my favorite recipes illustrating that science. It
is my hope that the growing interest in these topics will lead to a greater appreciation and
understanding of science and our world.
I close this brief preface with my favorite lines of poetry:
To see a World in a Grain of Sand

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
These are the opening lines to “Auguries of Innocence” by William Blake (1757–1827),
assumed to have been written in 1803 but not published until 60 years later. I first heard
xiii | PREFACE
these lines spoken by Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974) in 1973 during his very successful BBC
television documentary series The Ascent of Man. I have cherished them ever since. For
me, these lines eloquently express the concept of the atom and the structure of matter built
upon atoms. Yet, incredibly, the first precise proof of the modern concept of atomic the-
ory was not published until 1805 by John Dalton, a Quaker schoolmaster in Manchester,
England—2 years after Blake wrote his poem. How could Blake have imagined that grains
of sand and wildflowers are composed of infinitesimally small molecular structures com-
posed of even smaller atoms before the existence of the atom was proved? The answer will
become apparent later in this book. The history of science and our understanding of the
world are fascinating. I hope you find some of the same fascination and joy in the science
of cooking that follows.
Acknowledgments
The inspiration for this book emanated from Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us
Human, written by Professor Richard Wrangham of Harvard University. I also wish to
thank Professor Gordon Shepherd of Yale University for recommending me to the pub-
lisher, Columbia University Press. There are many who helped guide me through the pub-
lication process, including Jennifer Crewe, Associate Provost and Director at Columbia
University Press, and her staff, including Monique Briones, Lisa Hamm, Milenda Lee,
Marielle Poss, Meredith Howard, Justine Evans, Brian Smith, and Patrick Fitzgerald, as
well as Ben Kolstad, Editorial Services Manager, and Sherry Goldbecker at Cenveo Pub-
lishing Services. I am also grateful for the work of Katherine Langenberg and Sabin Orr,
who provided photographs for some of the illustrations, as well as many people who
helped provide permission for use of other illustrations including Jeanne Brewster, Nadine
Sobusa, Justin Hobson, Laurie Lounsberry McFadden, Dan Sousa, and Ian Matzen.
Help with some of the science, writing, and reviewing was generously provided by Pia
Sorensen, Adriana Fabbri, Nicoletta Pellegrini, Ali Bouzari, and Rebecca Dowgiert. In the
early stages of writing this book I received very helpful guidance from Zick Rubin, James
Levine, and Danielle Svetcov. I would also like to thank Christopher Kimball and Jack
Bishop for providing me the opportunity to coauthor my first two books on cooking sci-
ence published by America’s Test Kitchen. I owe a special thank you to Professor Walter
Willett for giving me the opportunity to teach a course on food science and technology
at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, which allowed me to gather much of
the information for this book, as well as to Professor Carol Russell who made it possible
for me to teach at Framingham State University following my retirement. Thanks also to
xvi | ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Harold McGee for catalyzing the public’s interest in cooking science. Finally I would like
to acknowledge the friendship, inspiration, and mutual interest in food, wine, and cooking
provided by our close friends Ruth and Bill Benz, Margaret and Rick Perez, Sandy and
Jerry Peters, Sue and Ron Daniels, and Darice and Bob Wareham. Thank you everyone for
helping to make this book possible.
Cook, Taste, Learn
1 The Evolution of Cooking
(2 Million–12,000 Years Ago)
Fire, Cooking, and the Evolution of Humans

Why are humans the only species living on earth that cooks its food? No one really knows
for sure. There is solid archeological evidence that early humans were using fire for cooking
about 400,000 years ago. Yet Richard Wrangham, an anthropologist at Harvard University,
believes that biological evidence, such as the increasing size of the brain and decreasing size
of the teeth and digestive system, suggests cooking may have started much earlier—almost
2 million years ago. He hypothesizes that early humans such as Homo erectus obtained
more energy and nutrients from food through cooking and thus developed bigger brains,
which gave them an evolutionary advantage over all other species. He also suggests that
the key evolutionary changes may have occurred over a relatively short time span, less than
100,000 years, giving Homo erectus a competitive jump start. To be fair, a number of scien-
tists disagree with Wrangham’s conclusions, finding them to be unsupported by hard evi-
dence. Whether or not we accept Wrangham’s hypothesis that cooking food started almost
two million years ago, cooking did offer other advantages. It made food safer to eat by
killing pathogenic microorganisms, and it imparted a different, very appealing flavor that
encouraged repetition of the dangerous act of cooking with fire. Ultimately, early humans
began to evolve into more advanced present-day Homo sapiens about 195,000 years ago,
by which time the volume of the human brain had increased by nearly 60 percent over that
of the earlier Homo erectus. Was this change a result of early humans cooking their food?
FIGURE 1.1
Rock art in the Tassili n’Ajjer cave in Algeria, estimated to be 5,000–6,000 years old, depicts early humans gathered around
an extinguished fire. Photograph attributed to Patrick Gruban/Wikimedia.
2 | THE EVOLUTION OF COOKING (2 MILLION–12,000 YEARS AGO)
Almost certainly, early humans encountered naturally occurring fires well before they
started cooking, and they probably perceived these fires as a threat to be feared. But the
onset of the ice age during the Pleistocene era, which lasted from about 2.6 million to
11,700 years ago, provided the impetus to create, use, and control fire for warmth, light,
and safety from predatory animals. Fire may also have had profound social consequences
by promoting gathering and trade between very small groups of early humans. Cooking
likely first happened by accident, perhaps when a wild boar was burned by natural fire
or a small animal caught by hunters was left too near the open flames of a human-made
fire. The alluring flavor of food roasted by fire likely led early humans to repeat the act
again and again, as many recent studies have proven that, even today, flavor is the single
most important factor in determining the foods we like and choose to eat. Limited con-
tact between the disparate small groups of early humans may have slowed the spread of
cooking beyond the first adapters, and thousands of years passed before cooking became
a widespread practice.
The Taste, Smell, and Flavor of Food

Even today people enjoy the flavor of food cooked over open flames or hot coals, along
with the sense that grilling represents a return to a much earlier way of cooking. The abili-
ties to smell and taste predate the earliest humans by billions of years. Examinations of the
ancient ancestors of present-day fish and amphibians indicate that specialized organs for
sensing appeared well before these species migrated onto land. Both taste and smell appear
to have evolved for survival and may be among the earliest senses developed, although not
all modern-day species react to the same tastes and smells. For example, cats cannot detect
sweet taste but are more sensitive to umami taste than humans—perhaps because cats
evolved on a diet rich in animal protein. This variety suggests that different species evolved
over time to detect the specific tastes and smells that were most critical for their survival.
Today about 25 percent of humans are much more sensitive to bitter taste, with the remain-
der having either average or much less sensitivity. You might think these so-called super-
tasters would have a significant evolutionary advantage, as avoiding bitter-tasting toxic
substances would make their survival more likely. But due to their heightened sensitivity to
bitterness, supertasters are picky eaters and tend to avoid vegetables, many of which, like
healthy broccoli and kale, are quite bitter. As a result, supertasters have a higher incidence
of colon polyps, which may lead to colon cancer. Nontasters tend to like spicy food, as well
as fat and alcohol, resulting in a greater tendency to be overweight, while average tasters
tend to like most foods. When it comes to survival, this may be an example of when it is
better to be average than above average.
Humans are hardwired in our DNA to detect taste from birth, or shortly after. We now
have evidence that humans detect six basic tastes: sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami, and fat.
The tastes for sweet, bitter, umami, and fat are detected by protein receptors located on
the surface of specific taste cells, while receptors for salty and sour are composed of ion
channels within the cell membranes of taste cells. Much of the mouth cavity and the upper
part of the tongue contain specialized receptor cells capable of detecting these tastes. Taste
receptor cells contained within the larger taste buds are continuously replaced every 9–15
days due to repeated exposure to mechanical abrasion and very hot foods. Thus the taste
buds are composed of about one hundred smaller individual taste cells and are part of the
larger papillae that appear as the visible bumps on the tongue as well as throughout much
of the mouth. In fact, the entire taste organ is one of only a few human organs capable of
total regeneration.
Sweet taste is critical for detecting sugars, which are required for quick energy. The
human brain uses the simple sugar glucose for almost all of its energy, requiring as much
as 4.2 ounces (about 120 grams) per day to keep it functioning. Bitter taste evolved to
guard against eating toxic plants, as many toxic substances taste very bitter. Humans have
about twenty-five different types of receptors for bitter taste and only one type for sweet
taste. Avoiding poisonous substances was apparently more important than detecting sweet
foods needed for energy. Humans are about a thousand times more sensitive to bitter sub-
stances than sweet ones. We need to avoid even tiny amounts of toxic, bitter substances
while consuming much more sugar for energy, so we have evolved different levels of sen-
sitivity for each taste. Salt (sodium chloride) is critical for maintaining the fluid levels in
our body, so the ability to detect salt is very important. Umami, described as a savory or
meaty taste, probably evolved to detect sources of proteins and the essential amino acids
that our body cannot make. Amino acids are used to build many important nutrients in
our body, such as hormones, and DNA while also providing an additional source of energy.
Fat, which is required for storing long-term energy, is also the source of two essential fatty
acids that our body cannot make, linoleic acid and linolenic acid. Sour taste is a com-
mon property of all acids. Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, is an essential nutrient that our
body cannot make. Our sense of sour taste probably evolved as a means to detect possible
sources of vitamin C.
HOW MANY BASIC TASTES ARE THERE?
Four basic tastes—sweet, salty, sour, and bitter—have component of the umami taste of bonito flakes. Further
been recognized as far back as the ancient Greeks and research found chemically similar nucleotides in shiitake
Romans. At one time, it was believed that each of the mushrooms, another source of umami taste. In all, nucle-
tastes was sensed in a different part of the mouth and otides responsible for umami taste were found in both
tongue. But it has long been known that this simple pic- animal and vegetable products, including tuna, dried sar-
ture is incorrect and that we sense tastes throughout the dines, beef, pork, chicken, Parmesan cheese, tomatoes,
mouth, at the back of the throat, and on the top of the mushrooms, and fermented soybean products, such as
tongue. The concept of four basic tastes was rigorously soy sauce. Many years later, in 1967, it was recognized
adhered to until the early 1900s, when Kikunae Ikeda, that combining the salts of glutamic acid and another
a Japanese physical chemist at the University of Tokyo, amino acid named aspartic acid with the nucleotides
decided to search for the taste of konbu, a seaweed that increased the intensity of umami taste by as much as
was commonly used to contribute a unique delicious, twenty times that of sodium glutamate or the nucleo-
savory taste, which he named umami, to many Japanese tides alone. This is an example of a true synergistic, or
dishes, such as the soup known as konbu dashi. In 1908, magnifying, effect. Thus combinations of foods such as
after a year of careful experimentation, Ikeda was able tomato sauce with Parmesan cheese and beef with mush-
to isolate a very small amount of a pure chemical com- rooms have a much stronger savory umami taste than
pound as the source of the umami taste in seaweed; he either food alone. This discovery has allowed cooks to
then proved the chemical structure was the same as that greatly intensify the savory taste of dishes by combining
of the previously known sodium salt of glutamic acid, an certain ingredients that supply both sodium glutamate
important amino acid in the human diet. Interestingly, and nucleotides. With this discovery, umami began to be
only salts (potassium, sodium, and calcium) of glutamic accepted more widely as the fifth basic taste. Ultimately,
acid elicit the umami taste. Ikeda proclaimed that umami between 1998 and 2000, researchers used molecular biol-
was the fifth basic taste because it was so commonly ogy to prove the existence of a specific protein receptor
encountered in Japanese food. But this was not well for sodium glutamate on taste receptor cells in the mouth,
received by other cultures around the world where sea- and with this discovery, umami was finally accepted as
weed was not commonly used in cooking, and for much the fifth basic taste.
of the twentieth century, umami was not widely accepted Aging and fermenting many protein-rich foods such
as the fifth basic taste. as fish, meat, cheese, and soybeans produce both sodium
In 1913, a student of Ikeda named Shinto Kodama glutamate and nucleotides, thus creating the source
undertook a study to identify the main source for the of intense umami taste found in fermented anchovies,
taste of bonito flakes, a form of dried tuna, which were aged Parmesan cheese, dry-aged beef, and fermented
also widely used to season Japanese food. He identified soy sauce. Today these ingredients are routinely used to
a type of chemical compound called a nucleotide, with heighten the savory taste of dishes around the world. Fer-
the name inosine-5’-monophosphate (IMP), as a new mentation breaks down proteins into peptides and amino
acids, the source of umami taste. In fact, glutamic acid was identified as the gene responsible for producing the
and aspartic acid are the most abundant amino acids in taste receptor protein for sensing medium- and long-
legumes, wheat, meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products chain fatty acids in the mouth. Further well-designed
such as cheese and milk from cows and humans. Fermen- taste tests published in 2015 by researchers at Purdue Uni-
tation is also a source of nucleotides, especially from fish versity confirmed that the taste of fat (actually free fatty
such as anchovies. More than 2,000 years ago ancient acids) was indeed a sixth basic taste. They coined a new
Romans fermented small fish in the presence of salt for word, oleogustus, to mean the taste of fat. (Oleo is Latin
several months to produce a fish sauce called garum. The for “fatty,” and gustus means “taste.”) In the future, we
Romans were very fond of using garum to season many may discover even more basic tastes, but as of today, it is
dishes, but they did not identify it as a fifth basic taste, accepted that humans sense six basic tastes: sweet, salty,
primarily because they were rigid believers that there sour, bitter, umami, and fat.
were only four basic tastes.
Until even more recently, it was widely believed that REFERENCES
humans sense only five basic tastes. But acceptance that Kurihara, K. “Glutamate: From Discovery as a Food Flavor to Role as a
taste evolved as a mechanism for survival led many to Basic Taste (Umami).” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 90,
supp. (2009): 719S–22S.
believe there may be other tastes that we sense. The most Pepino, M., L. Love-Gregory, S. Klein, and N. Abumarad. “The Fatty
logical is the sense of taste for fat, as fat is important not Acid Translocase Gene CD36 and Lingual Lipase Influence Oral
only for storing long-term energy but also for providing Sensitivity to Fat in Obese Subjects.” Journal of Lipid Research 53
(2012): 561–566.
the two essential fatty acids required for a healthy diet,
Running, C., B. Craig, and R. Mattes. “Oleogustus: The Unique Taste
linoleic acid and linolenic acid, which occur in plant oils. of Fat.” Chemical Senses 40 (2015): 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1093/
In 2012, a gene labeled CD36, located on chromosome 7, chemse/bjv036.
Interestingly, humans are far more sensitive to smell than taste. There are many mol-
ecules that most people can smell at the level of one part per trillion—and even at much
lower levels. To put this in context, one part per trillion is equivalent to 1 second in 32,000
years! That’s an awfully small amount. An example is the compound primarily responsible
for the aroma of green bell peppers. One drop of this pure compound is enough to make a
30,000-gallon swimming pool smell like green bell pepper. Why are we so sensitive to smell?
In terms of survival, the answer is not as obvious as it is for taste. Decomposing plant and
animal proteins develop a strong odor from the formation of volatile compounds called
amines. Think of the smell of old fish. So smell may have evolved to help humans avoid
consuming rotting food, but more likely it evolved as a means of communicating through
scent, allowing humans to detect minute amounts of pheromones, before language was
developed. Our nose contains about four hundred different types of receptors for smell.
In fact, the genes responsible for producing the protein receptors for smell comprise the
largest family of genes in the human genome. We are capable of detecting far more than
ten thousand different odors, which is a learned skill, unlike our ability to distinguish
tastes, which is stored in our DNA. Humans detect smells that enter through the front of
the nose, called orthonasal smell, as well as those that pass into the nose from the back of
the mouth, called retronasal smell. Retronasal smell created by chewing and swallowing
has been shown to be the most important contributor to the aroma and flavor of food.
Flavor is not something we sense with our nose or mouth like we do taste and smell. The
sense of flavor is created in our brain from the electrical signals coming from our receptor cells
for taste and smell. Thus, taste, smell, and flavor are distinct from each other. A number of dif-
ferent centers in the brain process the signals from our mouth and nose, creating an image of
flavor in our mind. Our craving for certain favorite foods is created in three different sections of
the brain, the same three sections that create our cravings for sex, addictive drugs, and music.
Is there any wonder humans have such a strong desire for food, one that goes well beyond the
need for energy and nutrition? These mental images of flavor include the comfort foods we
learn to love as children and crave as adults. They are the source of the desire for fast foods
like hamburgers, French fries, mac and cheese, and pizza that we first ate when much younger.
Evidence suggests we develop more receptors for the comfort foods we crave, thus magnifying
the effect over time. The craving for our favorite foods goes beyond the sensations of taste and
smell and the images of flavor created in our brain. The texture of food, which is the physical
feeling of the food in our mouth (think of slimy or chewy or crunchy); the sound when we
chew it (think of crispy potato chips); its temperature; how appealing it looks; and, above all,
the memories associated with eating it all combine to determine which foods we crave.
RECIPE 1.1 Linguine with Clam Sauce
The following recipe Over the past several decades, I have made this recipe countless times, and each time it tastes just
serves two (but see note as delicious as it did the time before. The secret lies in the intense flavor of the clam sauce. Using
at end): canned chopped clams cooked in their juice not only makes this a simple, quick dish to prepare but
also provides the remarkable flavor. The compound responsible for the intense taste and aroma
INGREDIENTS: holds the record for being detectable by humans at the lowest concentration recorded so far: 10−5
12 small whole fresh parts per trillion, or 0.01 parts per quadrillion! To put this in perspective, one part per quadrillion is
clams in the shell equivalent to 2½ minutes out of the age of the earth (4.5 billion years)! For more explanation, read
box 4.1, Numbers Both Large and Small. This compound’s chemical name—that is, how an organic
2 Tbsp. extra virgin
chemist defines the chemical structure of this compound—is pyrrolidinol-[1,2-e]-4H-2,4-dimethyl-
olive oil
1,3,5-ditiazine. Like so many sulfur-containing compounds, it has an intense aroma that is formed
1 medium onion, in trace amounts in boiled clams and shrimp. One whiff of an opened can of chopped clams in their
chopped into very juice will provide the unmistakable smell of the compound.
small pieces I like to embellish the dish by adding a modest number of small whole clams, such as count neck
2 garlic cloves, finely or Long Island clams. They are more for looks than anything else and do not significantly enhance
chopped the flavor, but they are fun to eat from the shells. Omit them if you can’t find whole clams in your
supermarket or you don’t want to fuss with them.
¼ cup dry vermouth
2 cans (6½ ounces, or
184 grams) cooked DIRECTIONS:
chopped clams in Soak the whole clams in very cold water for about 1 hour and drain.
clam juice
Heat a 10-inch stainless steel skillet on medium heat. Add the olive oil and onion, and gently
¼ cup chopped fresh cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft but not browned, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic,
flat-leaf parsley and cook for an additional minute, stirring occasionally. Briefly remove the pan from the heat, and
6 ounces dry linguine or allow it to cool for about 1 minute (to prevent the vermouth from splattering in the hot pan). Add
spaghetti the vermouth, and continue cooking until most of the vermouth has evaporated. Add the chopped
clams along with all of their juice, and cook the mixture vigorously until about 1/3 cup of liquid
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
remains in the pan. Distribute the whole clams evenly in the pan along with the chopped parsley;
Parmigiano Reggiano cover and continue to cook until the shells of all the clams have opened (discard any clams that do
cheese, freshly not open). Remove the opened clams in their shells with tongs, and place them evenly around the
grated, to taste perimeter of two plates (six clams per plate). Add freshly ground pepper to the clam sauce (the
canned clams contain enough salt that extra is usually not needed), and reserve off heat.
NOTE:
While the sauce is being prepared, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to the boil, add the
Enough sauce can be linguine, and cook until al dente. Reserve about 1/2 cup of the pasta water to add to the sauce if
made for four people by necessary. Strain the pasta, but do not rinse, and return it to the large pot; add the hot clam sauce
increasing the number of (without the whole clams) to the pasta, and mix along with the lemon juice. Add a small amount of
cans of chopped clams the hot pasta water if necessary to give the sauce the desired consistency; it should thoroughly coat
to three rather than two. the linguine but not be too soupy or too dry (about 1/3 cup of liquid is usually sufficient). Place the
Yield: 2 servings linguine and sauce mixture in the middle of the plates with the whole clams around the edges, and
serve along with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
The Impact of Cooking on the Human Brain

The image of flavor created in our brain raises an interesting question about the influence
of cooking on the development of the human brain. Was the alluring flavor of roasted
food as responsible for driving the development of bigger brains in Homo erectus as the
increased energy and nutrients made available by cooking food? The complex processing
of so much information to create the image of flavor in our mind may have played an
important role. We know that comfort foods lead to more taste and smell receptors, which
in turn require more processing in the brain. The receptors for sweet, umami, and bitter
have been discovered fairly recently in the gastrointestinal tract of humans. Here they play
a role in a variety of bodily responses such as the absorption of glucose and the release of
insulin. These “taste” receptors convey messages to the brain that turn on and off various
appetite hormones. It is conceivable that processing nerve responses from gastrointestinal
receptors may have placed additional demands on the brain, helping to speed its develop-
ment. The delicious flavor of roasted meat may also have accounted for the increased con-
sumption of meat in the diet of early humans. It is interesting to note that humans perceive
a much stronger umami taste from cooked meat than raw meat. Why is this important?
Because the body can convert amino acids from the digestion of cooked meat proteins to
the glucose required by the brain through gluconeogenesis. On average, the breakdown of
5.6–7 ounces (160–200 grams) of protein can produce the 4.2 ounces (120 grams) of glu-
cose required for energy every day. In a healthy person the body prefers to use the amino
acids from the breakdown of proteins for the synthesis of more important building blocks
such as RNA, DNA, and neurotransmitters rather than the production of glucose.
Cooking makes the protein and starch in raw food much easier to digest. Heating meat
over a number of hours slowly breaks down the protein collagen in tough, chewy connec-
tive tissue to easily digested, soft gelatin. Humans have a very difficult time digesting raw
starch. Heating food with water converts dry starch granules to an easily digested form by
a process known as gelatinization.
It is not clear when all of the digestive enzymes that break down proteins, starch, and
fats, rendering them more available for absorption into the body, evolved but it was prob-
ably many millions of years ago, well before the evolution of the earliest prehuman ances-
tors. Digestive enzymes are complex, three-dimensional proteins that have very specific
(continued on page 14)

THE MICROSCOPIC WORLD OF STARCH IN FOOD
Starch is one of the most common forms of carbohydrates within the granules. The sizes and shapes of the granules
in food. All plants produce glucose from carbon dioxide vary with each plant but are consistent within each type
and water by photosynthesis. As glucose is produced, it of plant. Figure 1 shows a micrograph of starch granules
is converted to starch, a polymer composed of thousands within empty potato cells. Potatoes contain the largest
of glucose molecules linked together end to end, which starch granules of the commonly consumed vegetables.
is then stored in plant cells for use as a source of energy. They also contain a large number of granules per cell.
Starch is thus an efficient way of storing lots of glucose in When starch granules are heated in water, they begin to
a minimal amount of space. Mammals also store glucose absorb some of the water and swell, as when air is blown
as a giant polymer called glycogen, which has a structure into a balloon. The granules continue to absorb water
that is similar to that of starch. But starch and glycogen as the temperature rises until they reach their maximum
differ in one important aspect. Plants store glucose in two volume and viscosity, a point called the gelatinization
forms: one is amylose, a smaller, linear molecule shaped temperature. This temperature is quite specific for each
like a long chain of paper clips, and the other is amy- type of starch, whether it is in corn, wheat, potato, rice,
lopectin, a much larger, branched molecule shaped like or sorghum. The gelatinization temperature depends on
a tree with both short and long branches attached to a
trunk. It is most common for plants to produce amylose
and amylopectin in a weight ratio of about 1:4. However,
some plants produce starch that contains almost no amy-
lose; this is commonly referred to as waxy starch (see the
box in chapter 3 titled The Difference Between Waxy and
Mealy Potatoes). For whatever reason, mammals evolved
to produce only the highly branched polymer of glucose
and none of the smaller, linear form.
The amylose and amylopectin molecules produced
by plants are organized into microscopic particles called
starch granules and stored within plant cells until needed
for energy. The amylopectin molecules are arranged in
alternating layers of organized crystalline structures and
amorphous noncrystalline structures, with the amylose
molecules randomly dispersed throughout. The linear
molecules of amylose and the ends of the long branches FIGURE 1
of amylopectin form helical structures, both alone and Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of potato cells, showing large granules of
starch within the cells, bounded by cell walls. Other components of the cells
entwined together. When the helical structures pack
such as fluid have been removed. Adapted from SEM by Don Galler, Massa-
together, they create the ordered crystalline regions chusetts Institute of Technology, courtesy of News.MIT.edu, August 14, 2012.
the type of starch and the ratio of amylose to amylopec-

tin in the starch granules. Higher amylose content delays
swelling and increases the gelatinization temperature. A
good example is the starch in rice. The starches in short-,
medium-, and long-grain rice vary in their ratios of amy-
lose to amylopectin. Long-grain rice contains 22–28
percent amylose by weight, medium-grain rice contains
16–18 percent amylose by weight, and short-grain rice
contains less than 15 percent amylose by weight and may
contain almost no amylose (making it waxy starch). Vari-
eties of long-grain rice have a gelatinization temperature
above 158°F (70°C), while waxy short-grain rice gelati-
nizes at 144°F (62°C). The gelatinization temperature of
the starch greatly affects the texture of the cooked rice.
This largely explains why long-grain rice is fluffy and FIGURE 2
short-grain rice is sticky. Granules in short-grain rice The structure of corn starch granules changes during gelatinization as they
burst at a much lower temperature, releasing starch mol- are heated in water from room temperature (uncooked starch, upper left)
to 203°F (95°C) (lower right), at which point nearly all of the granules have
ecules that cause the rice grains to stick together, while been disrupted and have become dispersed within the water. Peak viscosity
(thickness) of the gelatinized starch is achieved at 176°F (80°C), while heating
the granules in long-grain rice tend to remain intact. to 203°F (95°C) results in significant loss of viscosity. Watercolor on paper by
Figure 2 shows how granules of pure cornstarch the author.
absorb water and swell when heated. At 140°F (60°C),

the granules have started to swell, and at 203°F (95°C), making the bread soft and tender. But after a few days,
they have swollen so much that they are difficult to see. the bread becomes firm and appears to dry out. Most
Eventually, they burst and release amylose and amylo- people assume it is because much of the moisture has
pectin, creating a network of entwined molecules that evaporated, but in fact it really hasn’t. As bread ages,
trap water and thicken to a gel on cooling. This is how the amylose molecules form helices, which pack together
cornstarch thickens gravies and sauces and turns them to like pencils in a box, forming crystalline structures that
solid gels when refrigerated. trap water molecules inside the crystalline regions. This
The behavior of the starch molecules in bread causes makes the bread appear to be dry, but in fact it has not
it to stale and turn firm and dry. Fresh-baked bread con- lost any significant amount of water. The crystalline
tains about 35 percent water by weight, with the wheat structures also make the bread feel firm. The ends of the
starch granules swollen and gelatinized. At this level, long branches of amylopectin behave in a similar way,
the large starch and protein molecules are hydrated and but these crystalline regions are relatively short and not
flexible and are able to move about to a certain degree, as strong as those formed by longer chains of amylose,
and they will reverse with mild heat. If stale, dry, firm digested by digestive enzymes, so much of it passes into
bread is briefly heated in the microwave, these less stable the large intestine, where it is digested by the gut bacte-
crystalline regions of amylopectin are disrupted, releas- ria, which convert it to short-chain fatty acids, such as
ing the trapped molecules of water and making the bread butyric acid and propionic acid. The cells lining the large
appear softer and more moist, at least temporarily. The intestine use these short-chain fatty acids for energy. Ret-
process by which gelatinized starch molecules form crys- rograded starch, also called resistant starch because it is
talline regions over time is called retrogradation. Starch resistant to digestion, functions as a prebiotic and is ben-
molecules will retrograde (crystallize) at room tempera- eficial for the colonic cells. Because retrograded starch is
ture, but they undergo this process at a much faster rate not digested to glucose, the calorie content of foods con-
in the refrigerator. So don’t place bread in the refrigera- taining retrograded or resistant starch is lower than that
tor to keep it from staling; this only hastens the process. of cooked high-starch foods like rice, potatoes, and fresh
Fortunately, refrigerated bread can be revived by briefly white bread. The amount of retrograded starch is directly
microwaving it. Bread can also be stored in the freezer. related to the amylose content of the starch. Legumes are
Once the water molecules are frozen, the starch mole- especially high in amylose, and therefore resistant starch,
cules are also frozen in space, curtailing retrogradation. which is a major reason why they are a healthy food. Eat
Frozen bread can be thawed to yield soft, moist bread. beans for resistant starch!
One final point about starch in food. Most starch,
especially if it has been heated and gelatinized, is rap- REFERENCES
idly digested to glucose, which is quickly absorbed into Buleon, A., P. Colonna, V. Planchot, and S. Ball. “Starch Granules:
the body, elevating the levels of glucose and insulin in the Structure and Biosynthesis.” International Journal of Biological
Macromolecules 23 (1998): 85–112.
blood. The amount of glucose absorbed over a period of Crosby, G. A. “Resistant Starch Makes Better Carbs.” Functional
several hours following consumption of a food is called Foods and Nutraceuticals (June 2003): 34–36.
the glycemic index of that food. Foods with a higher Tester, R. F., and W. R. Morrison. “Swelling and Gelatinization of
Cereal Starches. I. Effects of Amylopectin, Amylose, and Lipids.”
glycemic index cause the rapid release of more insulin
Cereal Chemistry 67, no. 6 (1990): 551–557.
into the blood system, which impacts the amount of Thomas, D. J., and W. A. Atwell. Starches. St. Paul, MN: Eagan Press,
fat stored in fat cells. Retrograded starch is very poorly 1997.
WHAT HAPPENS TO FOOD AFTER WE EAT IT?
The human immune system evolved as protection for due to the presence of numerous folds and tiny fingers
the body against the invasion of large foreign molecules (villi); they provide a surface area for the absorption of
such as proteins and complex polysaccharides. About nutrients that is about six hundred times larger than the
95–98 percent of food by weight is composed of the four surface of a cylinder of the same diameter and length as
macronutrients: water, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. the small intestine. It takes about 4 hours for an undi-
Except for water and simple sugars, the macronutrients gested portion of a meal to pass from the mouth through
are all very large molecules that cannot be absorbed into the small intestine and enter the large intestine, with all
the body without first being broken down into much of it entering within about 8 hours of consumption.
smaller molecules by digestive enzymes in the small What isn’t digested and absorbed in the small intes-
intestine (most of which are formed in the pancreas). tine passes into the large intestine (colon) where it is
These molecules can then be transported across the cell metabolized (fermented) by billions of mostly benefi-
membranes lining the gastrointestinal system. The food cial bacteria. It enters the ascending portion of the large
we eat is therefore not available to the body until it is intestine from the ileum, moves on to the transverse sec-
first digested to smaller molecules in the gastrointestinal tion, and finally reaches the transcending portion, where
system. Complex polysaccharides such as starch must it is excreted as feces. Transport and metabolism of food
be broken down to simple sugars, proteins converted to residues through the large intestine are much slower than
amino acids and small peptides (two or three amino acids through the small intestine, often taking up to a week and
linked together), and fats separated into individual fatty more to be excreted. Most fermentation of food residues
acids and glycerol. by bacteria occurs in the ascending colon, while water
Digestion of food starts in the mouth, where some and water-soluble salts are absorbed from the descending
of the starch is digested to simple sugars. The food then colon, where the feces are also formed, with as much as
moves to the stomach, where very little absorption of 60 percent of the weight composed of dead bacterial cells.
nutrients occurs, and next to the small intestine, where Food residues entering the large intestine are primarily
most digestion takes place. Simple water-soluble mol- composed of nondigestible dietary fiber (mostly complex
ecules such as sugars and amino acids are transported polysaccharides), which includes about 1–10 percent of
directly into the portal blood system and then through the starch that is ingested with the food that is resistant
the liver (where many are metabolized), while fat-soluble to digestion in the small intestine. So-called resistant
fatty acids and other lipids such as cholesterol and fat- starch is prevalent in whole cereal grains and legumes,
soluble vitamins are first transported into the lymph sys- and it either is protected from digestion by association
tem before entering the blood system just before it passes with proteins or possesses a crystalline structure that
into the heart. The small intestine consists of three sec- makes it inaccessible to the digestive enzymes in the small
tions: the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum, in that order intestine. Grinding cereal grains such as whole wheat into
from top to bottom. The total length of the small intestine refined flour breaks up the protein-starch complexes and
is about 10 feet, with a surface area that is greatly enlarged makes much more of the starch available for digestion in
the small intestine. Cooking cereal grains and legumes to say how effective very early humans like Homo erec-
breaks down most of the crystalline structure of starch, tus were at digesting protein, but more than likely all the
making it much more susceptible to digestion. Nearly all enzymes for efficiently digesting protein (called protease
resistant starch that enters the large intestine is metabo- enzymes) were in place by the time of their evolution
lized by the gut bacteria to short-chain fatty acids (with nearly 2 million years ago. The presence of small proteins
two to four carbon atoms) that supply about 60 per- called trypsin inhibitors in peas, beans, lentils, wheat,
cent of the energy required by the cells lining the lower buckwheat, and rice bran may have affected the ability
colon. During this process, the bacteria produce hydro- of very early humans to completely digest proteins and
gen, methane, and carbon dioxide gases from the solu- may have lowered the nutritional quality of the proteins
ble nondigested dietary fiber and resistant starch, which they consumed. Fortunately, cooking makes proteins eas-
can cause unpleasant gas and bloating. All humans have ier to digest, and trypsin inhibitors are rendered inactive
a difficult time digesting raw starch; however, cooking by cooking these foods in hot water. Thus it becomes rel-
high-starch foods such as tubers made more nutrients evant to know when food was first cooked by boiling in
available for energy, as well as making them more tolera- water. This is another example of how cooking may have
ble for consumption by early humans. influenced the evolution of early humans.
The Recommended Daily Allowance for protein is
about 56 grams per day for a 150-pound (70-kilogram) REFERENCE
modern adult human. Today’s typical Western diet pro-
Tso, P., and K. Crissinger. “Overview of Digestion and Absorption.”
vides about twice the required amount of protein, all of In Biochemical and Physiological Aspects of Human Nutrition, ed.
which is efficiently digested and absorbed. It is difficult M. H. Stipanuk, 75–90. Philadelphia: Saunders, 2000.
requirements for the structure of the proteins, polysaccharides (such as starch), and fats
that they degrade into smaller fragments for absorption into the body. Proteins are degraded
to smaller peptides and amino acids by protease enzymes, starch is degraded to the simple
sugars maltose and glucose by amylase enzymes, and fats are degraded to free fatty acids
by lipase enzymes. The structures of these enzymes almost certainly morphed into more
active forms as humans evolved. Our earliest ancestors, who lived 4–5 million years ago
and earlier, ate mostly plants (we know this from isotopic analysis of teeth enamel) and
probably evolved the enzymes to digest starch before developing the enzymes to efficiently
digest proteins and fat. The very early evolution of enzymes to digest plant-based starch to
glucose may have played a role in the brain’s use of glucose as its primary source of energy.
As early humans consumed more meat, the enzymes for digesting protein and fat changed
structurally to become more efficient, thus allowing proteins and fats to contribute more
energy and nutrients for the body and leading to the development of bigger brains.
Early Methods of Cooking Food

Clearly, the controlled use of fire to cook food was an extremely important element in the
biological and social evolution of early humans, whether it started 400,000 or 2 million
years ago. The lack of physical evidence suggests early humans did little to modify the con-
trol and use of fire for cooking for hundreds of thousands of years, which is quite surpris-
ing, given that they developed fairly elaborate tools for hunting during this time, as well as
creating some of the first examples of cave art about 64,000 years ago. Physical evidence
shows that cooking food on hot stones may have been the only adaptation during the earli-
est phases of cooking. Then, about 30,000 years ago, “earth ovens” were developed in cen-
tral Europe. These were large pits dug in the ground and lined with stones. The pits were
filled with hot coals and ashes to heat the stones; food, presumably wrapped in leaves, was
placed on top of the ashes; everything was covered with earth; and the food was allowed
to roast very slowly. The bones of many types of animals, including large mammoths,
have been found in and around ancient earth ovens. This was clearly an improvement over
rapidly roasting meat by fire, as slow cooking gives time for the collagen in tough con-
nective tissue to break down to gelatin; this process takes at least several hours, and often
much longer, depending on the age of the animal and where the meat comes from in the
animal. The shoulders and hindquarters of animals are involved in more muscular action
and thus contain more connective tissue than the tenderloin near the ribs. Breaking down
tough connective tissue makes the meat easier to chew

and digest. Like today’s barbeque methods, cooking meat
slowly in earth ovens made it very tender and flavorful.
After dry roasting with fire and heating on hot stones,
the next true advance in very early cooking technology
appears to have been the development of wet cooking,
in which food is boiled in water. Boiling food would cer-
tainly be an advantage when cooking starchy root tubers
and rendering fat from meat. Many archeologists believe
the smaller earth ovens lined with hot stones were used
to boil water in the pit for cooking meat or root vegeta-
bles as early as 30,000 years ago (during the Upper Paleo-
lithic period). Others believe it is likely that water was
first boiled for cooking in perishable containers, either
over the fire or directly on hot ashes or stones, well before
this time. Unfortunately, no direct archeological evidence
has survived to support this conclusion. Yet we know that
even a flammable container can be heated above an open
FIGURE 1.2 flame as long as there is liquid in the container to remove
Ancient Chinese earthenware tripod cooking vessel, twelfth century B.C.E., the heat as the liquid evaporates. Thus containers made
from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Note that
the combed ridges increased heating efficiency by increasing the vessel’s of bark or wood or animal hides could have been used for
surface area. boiling food well before the Upper Paleolithic period. No
physical evidence of sophisticated utensils for cooking
food appears until about 20,000 years ago, when the first
pieces of fired clay pottery appear. Using sensitive chemical methods, scientists have deter-
mined that shards of pottery found in Japan contain fatty acids from marine sources such
as fish and shellfish. These heat-resistant pots may have been used to boil seafood. The
development of simple clay ovens did not occur until at least 10,000 years later. If cooking
has had such a profound effect on the evolution of humans, why is there little evidence
from earlier periods of the development of more sophisticated methods of cooking than
simply roasting in a hot pit or boiling in water with hot stones?
Jacob Bronowski may have answered that question in his enlightening book The Ascent
of Man. The life of early nomads, such as the hunter-gathers who existed for several mil-
lion years or more, was a constant search for food. They were always on the move, following
the wild herds. “Every night is the end of a day like the last, and every morning will be the
beginning of a journey like the day before,” he wrote. It was a matter of survival. There
simply was no time for them to innovate and create new methods of cooking. Being con-
stantly on the move, they couldn’t pack up and carry heavy cooking utensils every day, even
if they had invented them. Then, about 10,000 years before the last ice age ended, creativity
and innovation finally began to flourish in spite of the restrictions of nomadic life. Early
humans were finding that food was becoming more abundant due to warming weather, so
they could gather it more easily without needing to move constantly.
2 The Dawn of Agriculture Revolutionizes
Cooking (12,000 Years Ago–1499)
The Dawn of Agriculture Changes Everything

With the end of the last ice age and the beginning of the Neolithic period, about
12,000 years ago, everything changed. Everything! It was the dawn of the agricultural rev-
olution, when wandering nomads began to settle and turn into villagers. What made this
possible? The discovery that seeds from new varieties of wild grasses that emerged after
the end of the ice age, such as emmer wheat and two-row barley, could be gathered, saved,
planted, and harvested the following season. This occurred first in an area known as the
Fertile Crescent (Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Israel, and part of Iran). Enough food could
now be harvested in 3 weeks to last an entire year! Being able to harvest large quantities of
food at one time meant these early farmers could no longer move from place to place; they
had to build immovable structures for storing and protecting all the food, and this resulted
in the creation of permanent settlements. The agricultural revolution then spread to other
parts of the world over several thousand years. Thanks to the pioneering research of the
Russian scientist Nikolai Vavilov in the 1930s and the American scientist Robert Braidwood
in the 1940s, we now know that over several thousand years people living in seven indepen-
dent regions of the world domesticated crops and animals indigenous to that region (for a
summary, see table 2.1). Unfortunately, Vavilov’s studies were prematurely ended when he
was imprisoned in 1940 by the Stalinist government for his revolutionary views on evolution.
As the ice age was coming to an end around 12,000 years ago, early humans were harvest-
ing wild wheat and barley in quantity in the Fertile Crescent, but there was no evidence of
FIGURE 2.1
The Harvesters, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1565, from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
20 | T H E D A W N O F A G R I C U LT U R E R E V O L U T I O N I Z E S C O O K I N G ( 1 2 , 0 0 0 Y E A R S A G O – 1 4 9 9 )
TABLE 2.1
The Early Domestication of Plants and Animals by Region and Time
Independent Region Domesticated Plants and Animals Relative Time Frame (Years Ago)
Fertile Crescent Wheat, barley, goats, sheep, cattle 10,000–8,000

Southern China Rice, pigs 8,500
Northern China Chickens, millet 7,800
Central America Corn, beans 7,500
South America Potatoes 5,000
Sub-Saharan Africa Sorghum 5,000
North America Sunflower 4,500
Source: Information compiled from B. D. Smith, The Emergence of Agriculture (New York: Scientific American Library, 1995).
domesticated plants and animals. By domesticated, I mean plants and animals deliberately
raised for food by humans rather than wild plants and animals gathered in the forests and
fields. Then within a period of roughly 300 years, between 10,000 and 9,700 years ago, the
first evidence of domesticated plants and animals began to appear in the southern Jordan
Valley around the ancient settlement of Jericho. In this relatively brief time period, the seeds
of plants like wheat and barley became larger while the bones of animals became smaller.
That’s how archeologists in the field can tell the difference—and it makes sense. As early
humans began to select seeds to plant, they chose the larger seeds, which were storing more
of the nutrients required for faster growth. The resulting crops grew faster to outcompete the
wild weeds and provided higher yields—and in turn produced still larger seeds. These early
humans also selected wheat plants with terminal clusters of seeds that retained the kernels
during harvest instead of allowing them to scatter in the wind like the wild varieties. The
rachis, the short stalk that holds the seed to the plant, became shorter and thicker with time
(figure 2.2). DNA analysis confirms that the physical differences observed between domesti-
cated and wild seeds originate in the plant’s genome. All these changes occurred as a result
of human selection of plants with more desirable traits. These are the first plants to be genet-
ically modified through human intervention. Similarly, domesticated goats and sheep were
selected to be more docile and adaptable to living in a confined pen and feeding off the scraps
of food left by their keepers. Thus they became smaller. These physical changes in domesti-
cated plants and animals began to take shape as humans started to produce their own food.
The development of new foods and methods of

cooking in the few thousand years following the
emergence of agriculture illustrates how important
this period was for the advancement of humans.
The change from a nomadic life to a sedentary
life in more secure settlements was critical, as it
allowed humans to make significant achievements
in technology and other areas. Within a few thou-
sand years, small farming villages grew into large
permanent settlements and then small cities. Jeri-
cho is perhaps the oldest permanent settlement,
providing an accurate record of agricultural devel-
opment between 10,000 and 9,700 years ago. Hunt-
er-gatherers first settled there around 11,000 years
ago in order to be near a constant source of water,
a spring-fed oasis. Archeological excavations of
the oldest buried sections of Jericho, which cover
an area of a little less than ¼ acre (0.1 hectares),
did not reveal any signs of domesticated seeds or
animal bones. By 9,700 years ago, the first domes-
ticated seeds of emmer wheat and barley began
to appear in higher levels of soil, and the earliest
farming settlement had grown to an area of about
6 acres (2.5 hectares) with perhaps 300 people liv-
ing in mud brick houses. By 8,000 years ago, Jericho
was home to a permanent agricultural settlement of
FIGURE 2.2
approximately 3,000 people occupying an area of
8–10 acres (3.2–4 hectares). About this same time,
A comparison of wild and domesticated wheat. Note the difference in the sizes
of the rachises that hold the seed (spikelets) to the plant. The larger rachis of the emmer wheat hybridized with a wild grass to pro-
domesticated wheat reduces the tendency of the seed to scatter in the wind. Ink
and watercolor on paper by the author, based on an illustration in The Emergence of
duce bread wheat, which contained higher levels
Agriculture by Bruce D. Smith (Scientific American Library, 1995), 73. of the gluten-forming proteins required for mak-
ing leavened bread. Wheat had finally emerged in
the form in which it is still grown and used today
around much of the world.
EXPLAINING GLUTEN
One question I hear a lot is “What is gluten? Can you air, which helps to form strong disulfide bonds. As
please explain it to me?” kneading continues, the protein networks combine to
It’s not surprising that people have a difficult time form sheets of proteins. Think of this step in the pro-
understanding gluten because it doesn’t exist in nature. cess as being similar to unraveling thread (proteins)
Gluten is a water-insoluble protein that is formed when and then weaving the straightened thread into pieces of
water is mixed with wheat flour. Proteins are very large cloth (networks) and finally stitching the pieces of cloth
molecules composed of amino acids. Two of the natu- together to form large sheets of cloth similar to a quilt
rally occurring proteins in flour are called glutenin and (see figure 1).
gliadin. When sufficient water is added to dry flour, the The chemical cross-linking of glutenin and gliadin
two proteins emerge from a “frozen state” and become forms gluten, a very elastic substance. Neither protein
flexible and able to move about. It’s not too different alone is as elastic and stretchable as gluten. But when
from stiff, dry spaghetti becoming flexible when it is they are chemically linked together, the resulting new
cooked in water. protein becomes elastic and stretchable like a rubber
The process of wetting the proteins is called hydra- balloon. The gluten becomes stronger and stronger as
tion. As water and flour are mixed, the hydrated proteins more bonds form between the proteins, like a weak,
are brought together and begin to interact. They literally thin rubber balloon becoming a strong, thick rubber
stick to each other through the formation of chemical balloon. And like a balloon, gluten can be inflated
bonds. These new chemical bonds are called cross-links. with gas and steam as dough rises and bread is baked
Again, it’s not unlike cooked spaghetti after it has been in the oven. Think of an inflated balloon covered with
poured into a colander and allowed to drain. After a few papier-mâché, which is how we made puppets when I
minutes, the strands of spaghetti stick together unless was young. When the papier-mâché dries, the balloon
they are separated by the addition of a little oil. In the can be popped and removed, leaving a rigid sphere.
case of gluten, a number of different types of chemical In the same way, as bread bakes, the inflated gluten
bonds form between the proteins, with some (disulfide dries, turning into a strong but flexible structure that
bonds) being stronger than others (ionic bonds and creates the holes in chewy bread. (Note that freshly
hydrogen bonds). baked bread still contains about 35 percent moisture by
Continued mixing causes more cross-links to form weight, which is sufficient to keep the starch soft and
between the proteins until a large network of chemically the gluten elastic.)
linked proteins is formed. Mixing can be done with a The scanning electron micrographs (SEMs) of differ-
stand mixer or by hand, as when dough is kneaded. ent stages of gluten development in figure 1 were taken
When dough is mixed or kneaded, the hydrated flexi- under high magnification and may help you envision the
ble proteins are stretched and aligned in the direction of formation of gluten from flour and water. The dimen-
kneading, providing more opportunities to form cross- sion bar at the bottom of each SEM shows distance in
links between the proteins. Kneading also incorporates microns (a micron is one-millionth of a meter).
(a) (b) (c)
(d)
(e) (f )
FIGURE 1
(a) A scanning electron micrograph (SEM) shows the protein network formed after water is added to wheat flour with no mixing. Starch granules have been
removed by washing (the starch granules normally fill the holes). (b) The protein strands begin to stretch and bond together after a few seconds of kneading the
dough. Starch granules have been removed by washing. (c) Underkneaded dough is shown with stretched aggregated strands of protein. Starch granules have
been washed away at the surface but remain trapped within the protein matrix. (d) A protein network results from optimally kneaded dough. Starch granules have
been washed away at the surface. (e) Another SEM shows a higher magnification of optimally kneaded dough with the starch granules still in place. When the
dough bakes, the starch granules will absorb water and swell many times larger, filling most of the gaps. (f) Under higher magnification, an exploded view shows
how sheets of gluten layer upon each other to form a flexible membrane capable of holding in gas. Photomicrographs reproduced from Zeitschrift fur Lebensmittel-
Untersuchung und -Forschung 190 (1990): 401–409.
Many factors affect the development and strength of (stretchable) and doesn’t shrink as much. Here are some
gluten. If too much gluten develops, it can make baked factors that affect gluten development:
goods, like piecrust, tough rather than tender. The
1. Variety of wheat: Soft wheat contains less protein (6–8
extent of gluten development also affects how high leav-
percent), less glutenin, and smaller proteins and forms
ened baked goods will rise and whether the crumb will
weaker gluten. Hard wheat contains more protein
be tender or chewy. Weaker gluten is more extensible
(10–14 percent), more glutenin, and larger proteins Enzymes break down gluten into smaller pieces, so
and forms stronger, more cohesive, elastic gluten. dough becomes softer and more extensible. Resting
2. Amount of water: Hydration is essential for gluten dough for 15–30 minutes allows time for this process,
development. Glutenin and gliadin absorb about twice known as autolysis, during which the enzymes break
their weight in water (hydration). Less water results in down gluten to produce more extensible dough, pro-
less gluten development by reducing protein mobility, viding more volume and an open crumb.
but too much water also reduces gluten development 7. Salt: Bread dough contains 1.5–2.0 percent salt by
by diluting the proteins so much that their interaction weight of flour. Salt slows enzyme activity and rate
is restricted. of fermentation. It also strengthens gluten, producing
3. Water hardness: The calcium and magnesium in hard bread with higher volume and a finer crumb.
water strengthen gluten. Water in Boston is soft, con- 8. Fat, oil, emulsifiers, and sugars: Fat, oil, emulsifi-
taining zero to sixty parts per million of calcium and ers, and sugar tenderize dough. Fat and emulsifiers
magnesium. coat proteins, reducing hydration and gluten devel-
4. Water pH: The ideal pH for gluten development is 5–6. opment (like oil coating spaghetti). Shortening,
A pH above or below pH 5–6 reduces gluten strength, like lard or vegetable oil, literally shortens gluten
producing more extensible (stretchable) dough. Add- strands (which is the origin of the word “shorten-
ing baking soda raises pH, producing more cookie ing”), producing more tender baked goods. Sugar
spread and a more porous, tender crumb. competes for water, reducing protein hydration and
5. Leavening: Expanding air bubbles strengthen gluten, gluten development.
increasing cohesiveness and elasticity and producing
higher volume and a finer crumb. REFERENCE
6. Enzymes: Enzymes that break down proteins are
Amend, T., and H.-D. Belitz. “The Formation of Dough and
naturally present in flour but are inactive when dry Gluten—A Study by Scanning Electron Microscopy.” Zeitschrift fur
and only become active when hydrated with water. Lebensmittel-Untersuchung und-Forschung 190 (1990): 401–409.
Similar developments were happening in other parts of the world. Evidence of rice agri-
culture dating from 7,800 to 8,400 years ago was found at Pengtoushan in the Hubei basin
near the origin on the Yangtze River in China. In this same village, the earliest house struc-
tures discovered in China have been dated by radiocarbon analysis at 7,815–8,455 years ago,
a sure sign that permanent settlements were occurring in other parts of the world around
the same time as Jericho. Near P’ei-li-kang, in the Yellow River region of northwestern
China, millet was first cultivated sometime between 9,000 and 7,500 years ago when inhab-
itants of this area transitioned from hunter-gatherers to farmers. The starch-rich millet was
ground into flour with footed stone mortars and pestles and used to prepare many types of
foods. The most interesting for our purposes is the earliest form of noodles found recently
in an earthenware bowl at Lajia in Qinghai, China, and dated by radiocarbon analysis to be
4,000 years old. It’s as though someone’s meal of freshly made noodles had suddenly been
interrupted by a natural disaster such as a flood or earthquake. These long, thin noodles
predate by 2,000 years the noodles made from more traditional wheat found in Italy.
The Greatest Technological Advance of All Time

Many anthropologists consider the deliberate production of food to be the greatest tech-
nological advance of all time. Why? Because in the 5,000 to 7,000 years following the emer-
gence of agriculture, the world’s population exploded from an estimated 3 million people
to 100 million people! In this relatively brief period, the population of early humans grew
almost thirty-five times more than it had during the previous 4–5 million years. Permanent
settlements offered safety and more time for childbirth. They made it possible to domes-
ticate animals and other crops, ensuring a steady supply of meat and dairy products that
provided more energy and better nutrition and allowed more time for innovation, includ-
ing the creation of new foods and methods of cooking. The development of agriculture
fostered innovation, and from this, the first scientific principles evolved for acquiring new
knowledge based on observable facts.
This is the time when we first see aboveground clay ovens created to bake bread from
dough made of ground kernels of bread wheat and water. It is conceivable that seeds from
wild grasses were ground, mixed with water, and baked on hot stones long before the use
of domesticated wheat. Either way, learning to make bread is an amazing discovery that
may have come about by much trial and error, signaling the first scientific approach to
creating a new form of food by cooking, tasting, and learning how to improve the earliest
forms of bread. It seems miraculous that wheat was one of the first wild grasses to be
domesticated because it is the only cereal grain containing enough of the gluten-forming
proteins required for making leavened bread. The proteins in other cereals are not as effec-
tive. Making bread from wheat also required the development of heavy stone implements
for grinding hard wheat kernels into finely grained flour. It meant that wheat and other
cereal grains became a substantial part of the diet, constricting that diet to a narrower
range of domesticated foods compared with the preagricultural period. The long-term
implications of the increased consumption of cereal grains as a substantial component of
the human diet are still being studied and debated.
The ancient Egyptians were the first to use yeast to make leavened bread, beginning
as early as 5,000 years ago. They adapted the technology from their use of yeast to make
alcoholic beverages, a process they discovered about the same time. Borrowing from the
Egyptians, the ancient Greeks are credited with significantly improving the methods for
making flour, bread dough, and bread. They produced white flour with the use of sieves
to remove the bran, which reduces the ability of yeast-leavened bread to rise. They also
developed methods to grind bread wheat into flour to make semolina bread. It is reported
the Greeks developed about seventy different types of bread, making it one of the most
consumed foods of that time. The first front-loaded clay ovens for baking bread were also
developed in ancient Greece. They were not very different from the wood-fired pizza ovens
used today. Not to be outdone, the Egyptians took this one step further, creating ovens
made of mud bricks sometime around 4,500 to 3,800 years ago. Rather than being dome
shaped like front-loaded clay ovens, many of these ovens were made with flat tops. The
flat tops evolved into cooking surfaces for heating pots and pans, and with that advance,
the “cooking range” was created, followed about 3,000 years ago by what is known as a
brazier. A brazier is much smaller than a brick oven, is heated with burning coals, is por-
table like a hibachi, and may have been used for both heating and cooking. The earliest
examples were made of clay, but these were soon replaced by ones made of more rugged
bronze at the beginning of the Bronze Age.
The Emergence of Agriculture Catalyzes Advances in Cooking

It is believed the ancient Egyptians made the next big advance in cooking, using palm oil
to fry food, at least 3,000 years ago when they learned how to extract the oil from the fruit
of the oil palm tree. Thus, cooking evolved from dry roasting, to boiling in water, to frying
in fats and oils. Early humans may have been cooking with animal fat much earlier, but
this is not certain. Boiling water maintains a constant temperature of 212°F (100°C) at sea
level. Even steam remains a constant 212°F although it contains about five times more heat
energy than boiling water.
The boiling point of water limits the highest temperature at which food can be cooked
to 212°F. Solid animal fats and liquid oils can reach much higher temperatures, around
338°F (170°C), enabling new forms of cooking and new flavors. The chemistry of fla-
vor development in boiling water is quite different from that in nonaqueous frying oils.
That’s why boiled beef tastes very different from beef sautéed in oil and boiled potatoes
taste very different from French fried potatoes. Frying oils undergo oxidation, produc-
ing unique flavors absorbed by the food as the oil displaces some of the water in the
food. Each method of cooking, dry roasting with fire, boiling in water, and now frying
in oil, produces a distinctly different flavor. Records show that not long after the Egyp-
tians used palm oil for cooking, the Greeks began using olive oil for deep-frying food. It
is believed the olive tree was first domesticated about 5,000 years ago, and the technol-
ogy for extracting oil from olives soon followed. Competition and technology exchange
between ancient Greece and Egypt proved to be very beneficial for the early advancement
of cooking science.
But frying food in oil brings a new challenge: what utensil to cook with. As noted ear-
lier, boiling water is less of a challenge because the evaporating water takes away heat;
this means almost any type of vessel can be used for cooking food in boiling water. But
frying oils do not evaporate when heated, so they do not remove heat from the vessel. A
fireproof vessel capable of being heated on the flat surface of a brick oven or a brazier is
required. Coarse clay pots had been developed between 7,000 and 8,000 years ago, but the
earliest examples were probably used to store liquids rather than cook foods. However,
we have found evidence in Greece of ceramic pots and pans made roughly 3,000 years ago
using finer clays fired at higher temperatures, so they were more suitable for frying as well
as boiling. Recall that early humans living on the islands of Japan had created fired clay
pottery more than 15,000 years earlier. It may have taken this long for the technology to
find its way to the Mediterranean region. More likely though the technology for making
fireproof vessels evolved from the technology used for making ovens with clay in the rela-
tively nearby Fertile Crescent.
WHAT IS SO SPECIAL ABOUT WATER IN FOOD?
Water plays many very important roles in food. It affects for enzyme and chemical reactions, through a number
texture (ranging from dry and brittle to moist and soft), known as water activity (aW). Water activity is the ratio
enables enzyme activity and chemical reactions (acting of the vapor pressure (P) of water in a food divided by the
as a solvent), supports the growth of microorganisms, vapor pressure of pure water (P0) at the same temperature
makes it possible for large rigid molecules like polysac- and is measured on a dimensionless scale of 0 to 1.0. The
charides and proteins to become flexible, move about and aW of pure water is equal to 1.0. Another way of deter-
interact, and conducts heat within food. mining water activity is by measuring the relative humid-
Foods such as meat, poultry, seafood, fruits, and veg- ity (RH) of the atmosphere in equilibrium with the food:
etables contain very high levels of water (75 percent or RH (%) = 100 × aW. In other words, water activity is a
more), so water is the most abundant component in many measure of the free and adsorbed water in a food—that
fresh foods. Other foods, such as dairy products and fresh is, the water that is available to be converted to vapor.
baked goods, also contain high levels of water (about 35 There is a general correlation between the moisture con-
percent or more). Foods that are high in moisture are at tent of food and its water activity, as shown in the follow-
risk of contamination from the growth of microorgan- ing table:
isms such as bacteria, yeast, and mold, while dry foods
like flour and pasta generally have long shelf lives. Food Moisture % Water Activity
But not all water that occurs in food is alike. Most food
Fresh meat 70 0.98
scientists divide water into three forms: free, adsorbed,
Bread 40 0.95
and bound. Free water is the water that can literally be
Flour 14 0.70
squeezed out of a food, like the juice in an orange or the
Pasta 10 0.45
water that sometimes separates in sour cream or yogurt.
Potato chips 2 0.10
Adsorbed water (spelled with a d) is water that is attached
to the surface of molecules like polysaccharides and pro-
teins. It is not readily squeezed out of the food. When food Most foods will not support the growth of bacteria if
scientists refer to the hydration of proteins such as glu- their water activity is less than 0.85 because at this level
ten and carbohydrates such as starch, they are referring there is not enough water available for the bacteria to
to adsorbed water. Bound water is water that is physically grow. However, yeasts can grow at water activities as low
trapped within crystals, such as crystalline starch, or other as 0.70, and some molds will grow even at water activities
substances in food (some food scientists prefer to define as low as 0.60! Foods with water activities in this range
just the free and bound forms of water). The important usually have preservatives added to prevent the growth of
point is that free and adsorbed water can promote the yeasts and molds. Acidic foods with a pH less than 4.6,
growth of microorganisms, while bound water cannot. such as tomato sauce, retard the growth of microorgan-
Food scientists measure the amount of water that is isms. Thus an acidic food with a water activity less than
available for the growth of microorganisms, as well as 0.85 is relatively shelf stable, especially if it is stored in
the refrigerator. In this case, low pH, water activity, and contain oxygen and nitrogen atoms, such as proteins and
temperature combine to provide good insurance against carbohydrates. A molecule of water has a unique struc-
the growth of harmful pathogens. ture, with two hydrogen atoms bonded to a single oxygen
Water activity is also related to the texture of food. The atom. Rather than being a linear molecule (H-O-H), the
amount of moisture in a food determines the mobility of two oxygen-hydrogen bonds are separated by an angle
the molecules in that food, especially the large molecules of 104.5 degrees due to the repulsion of other electrons
like proteins and polysaccharides that need moisture to (called nonbonded electrons) in the oxygen atom. But,
move about. Proteins and polysaccharides provide the more importantly, oxygen is a very electronegative atom.
structure of food. If they are rigid, the food will be hard, It has a strong affinity for electrons, while hydrogen does
but if they are flexible, the food will be soft. In this case, not. So the two electrons in each oxygen-hydrogen bond
water acts as a plasticizer (a softening agent), lowering of a water molecule spend more time around the oxygen
the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the molecules atom, giving the oxygen atom a partially negative electri-
in food. The Tg is the temperature at which molecules cal charge, while each hydrogen atom carries a partially
change from a rigid, glass-like structure (below the Tg) positive electrical charge. This produces a strong electro-
to a flexible structure (above the Tg). It’s not too different static attraction between the hydrogen atom of one water
from the melting point of a substance, such as the tem- molecule and the oxygen atom of another water mole-
perature at which a solid like chocolate melts to a liquid cule, creating a hydrogen bond between two molecules
(in this example, the fat crystals melt rather than water). of water. Because there are two hydrogen atoms in each
The water activity and the Tg of food show a steady lin- water molecule, one water molecule can actually hydro-
ear relationship over a wide range of values, so it is not gen bond with two other water molecules and so on, thus
surprising that a food with low moisture has a low water creating an infinite network of hydrogen bonds between
activity and a relatively high Tg. A food with these char- all the water molecules in a container of water.
acteristics is hard and crisp at room temperature. Adding The hydrogen bonds between water molecules are con-
more moisture, which could happen in a humid environ- sidered to be relatively weak, being only about 5 percent
ment, increases the water activity and lowers the Tg, so as strong as the chemical bonds formed between the oxy-
the food becomes soft and moist at room temperature. In gen and hydrogen atoms in a molecule of water. Yet when
other words, the Tg, the temperature at which the mol- all the hydrogen bonds are considered within a “sea” of
ecules change from flexible to rigid, is now below room water molecules, it becomes clear why it takes so much
temperature. This explains why foods become rigid and energy to separate molecules of water from each other so
hard in the freezer. they can begin to move more rapidly as heat is applied.
But why does a simple molecule like water (H2O) play It takes twice as much energy to raise the temperature
so many important roles in food? It all has to do with of water by, say, 68°F (20°C) as it takes to raise the tem-
hydrogen bonds, which occur between water molecules perature of olive oil by the same number of degrees.
and between water molecules and other molecules that This also explains why it takes five times more energy
to physically separate water molecules to the point that temperature and above. In dry wheat flour, the key pro-
they can escape from each other as steam. When water teins that form gluten, gliadin and glutenin, are rigid and
molecules escape as steam, they take all this extra energy inflexible at room temperature. When water is added,
with them, so the boiling point of water never rises above these two proteins become flexible at room temperature
212°F (100°C) at 1 atmosphere of pressure. If more heat and are able to unfold and move about and to bond with
is added to boiling water, the water just boils and turns each other to form gluten. Kneading the dough helps to
to steam more quickly rather than becoming hotter. But move the proteins around even more, ensuring enough
when water freezes, there is no place to which the mol- bonding (cross-linking) to form a strong gluten network.
ecules can escape, so ice can be cooled to virtually any The same is true of the starch polysaccharide mole-
temperature below 32°F (0°C). Ice cubes in a freezer will cules, amylose and amylopectin. When water is added
be the same temperature as the freezer. to starch, the water begins to hydrogen bond with the
Let’s finish our discussion of the roles of water in food starch molecules. In this case (usually at 35 percent or
by examining how water influences the properties of pro- more moisture), the Tg of the starch molecules is above
teins and polysaccharides. As mentioned earlier, foods room temperature, so it takes heat to reach a tempera-
with a low moisture content (perhaps 10–20 percent or ture at which the granules of starch absorb water and
less) will be rigid and hard, while foods with a higher swell. This is known as the gelatinization temperature of
moisture content (perhaps 35 percent or more) will be starch. When dry pasta is cooked, the gluten is hydrated,
flexible and soft. Proteins contain nitrogen atoms, and starch granules absorb water, the Tg decreases, and the
polysaccharides contain oxygen atoms. Both of these pasta changes from hard and brittle to flexible and chewy.
atoms are electronegative and therefore form hydrogen
REFERENCES
bonds with the hydrogen atoms in water molecules,
resulting in water molecules being adsorbed to the sur- Collins, J. C. The Matrix of Life—A View of Natural Molecules from
the Perspective of Environmental Water. East Greenbush, NY:
face of proteins and polysaccharides. The adsorbed
Molecular Presentations, 1991.
molecules of water lower the Tg of the proteins and Coultate, T. “Water.” Chap. 13 in Food: The Chemistry of Its Compo-
polysaccharides, making them more flexible at room nents. 6th ed. Cambridge, UK: Royal Society of Chemistry, 2016.
WHAT IS TEMPERATURE, AND HOW DOES IT DIFFER FROM HEAT?
Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy the total of all the energy of motion of all of its mole-
(the energy of motion) of all the molecules in a sub- cules. Its temperature is a measure of the average energy
stance. Because it is an average of the kinetic energy of motion of its molecules. Because there are many more
of all the molecules, the temperature of a substance molecules in the bowl of water than in a small tack (the
does not depend on the total number of molecules in a water weighs much more than a small tack), the water
substance. On the other hand, heat is a measure of the contains more energy in all of its moving molecules. But
total kinetic energy contained in all of the molecules in the tack is at a much higher temperature because the
a substance, so it is a function of the number of mole- average energy of all of its molecules is greater than that
cules. Heat is a form of energy, while temperature is a of the molecules in the water.
measure of the degree of hotness of a substance and is Distinguishing between heat and temperature is
measured by a thermometer. Heat and temperature are important in cooking science. The cooks at America’s
not the same. Test Kitchen devised a simple test to demonstrate the
Kinetic energy (K) is equal to half the mass (m) of a difference. They carefully heated containers of equal vol-
molecule (or a body of some type) times the square of its umes of olive oil and water to 165°F (74°C) in a sous vide
velocity (v): K = ½ mv2. Therefore the kinetic energy of a water bath and then placed a raw egg in each one. The
molecule is dependent on both the mass of the molecule water turned the egg white cloudy very quickly, indicat-
and its velocity. Because velocity is squared, the kinetic ing the proteins were denaturing and coagulating. The
energy of a molecule will be much more dependent on egg in the olive oil looked like nothing had happened—
the velocity of the molecule—simply because v2 will be the egg white was still transparent. The experiment is
a much larger number than m. In this sense, temperature reproduced in figure 1.
can be said to be a measure of the average speed at which Water cooks the egg faster than olive oil because it
all of the molecules in a substance are traveling. This is takes more energy to heat water to 165°F than it does
how temperature is often defined in simple terms (as the olive oil. The amount of energy required to raise the
speed of the molecules). temperature of a substance is called the heat capacity
Here is an example that distinguishes heat and tem- of that substance, and each substance has a different
perature. A small, red-hot tack is much hotter than a heat capacity. The heat capacity of water is about 2.1
large bowl of warm water. But the warm water contains times greater than that of olive oil. All that extra energy
more heat than the tack. The red-hot tack has a higher required to raise the temperature of water to 165°F is
temperature than the warm water because temperature available to cook the food faster. To learn more about
is a measure of the degree of hotness of a substance as heat capacity and cooking food, read the essay in chapter
read on a thermometer. Heat is a form of energy. When 3 on “Thomas Keller and the Science of Butter-Poached
a substance is hot, its molecules move more rapidly than Lobster, and “Why Foods Cook Slower in Oil,” Cook’s
when it is cold. The heat of a substance is a measure of Illustrated (March & April 2012): 30.
(a) (b)
FIGURE 1
(a) A sauté pan containing olive oil is heated to 165°F (74°C) and a raw egg added moments before the photograph was taken. Notice the egg proteins are
transparent and have not started to coagulate. (b) A sauté pan containing water is also heated to 165°F (74°C) and a raw egg added and the photograph taken
at exactly the same time as for the pan containing olive oil. Notice the egg proteins are translucent and starting to coagulate, showing the egg is cooking faster
in water than in olive oil at the same temperature. Photographs by Daniel J. van Ackere, America’s Test Kitchen. Reproduced with permission of America’s Test
Kitchen.
REFERENCE
Resnick, R., and D. Halliday. “Heat and the First Law of Thermody-
namics.” Chap. 22 in Physics for Students of Science and Engineer-
ing, Part 1, 466–488. New York: Wiley, 1962. (This was my first
college physics book.)
Once the appropriate vessels were invented, frying food in vegetable oils became very
popular. And that may be a good thing because vegetable oils like olive oil are rich in healthy
monounsaturated fatty acids and antioxidants. The use of olive oil may also have encour-
aged the development of seed- and nut-based oils, which are richer in healthy polyunsat-
urated fatty acids. These would have been a beneficial addition to a diet containing high
levels of saturated fats from animals (although palm oil
contains fairly high levels of saturated fatty acids, it also
contains good amounts of mono- and polyunsaturated
fatty acids). Through millions of years of evolution, the
human body never developed the enzymes needed to make
the two essential polyunsaturated fatty acids required in
our diet, linoleic acid and linolenic acid. These omega-6
and omega-3 fatty acids, respectively, are required for the
production of a family of extremely important compounds
called eicosanoids, which play many significant roles in the
body. In fact, no mammals produce the enzymes needed to
make these two fatty acids. We are dependent on plants
and vegetable oils (and fat from animals that eat plants) as
our sources of these two essential compounds. This may
be a consequence of the diet of very early prehumans: they
ate mostly plants, which provided ample amounts of the
two essential fatty acids, so there was no need to develop
the enzymes for making linoleic and linolenic acids.
Great changes had occurred in agriculture, food, and
cooking by the end of the Neolithic period and the start
of the Bronze Age, about 4,000 years ago. In the Babylo-
nian collection at Yale University, there is a series of clay
tablets known as the Akkadian tablets that includes two
tablets with the oldest known cooking recipes, dated 3,750
years ago (figure 2.3). The tablets originated in the area
between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers known as Meso-
FIGURE 2.3
potamia. The recipes confirm the amazing abundance and
An Akkadian tablet with the first written recipes, dated about 3,750 years
ago. Reproduced with permission from the Yale University Babylonian
Collection. (continued on page 36)
RECIPE 2.1 Bone-In Pork Spareribs with Hoisin Barbeque Sauce
INGREDIENTS FOR Some of the foods I most enjoy eating are based on Chinese-style cooking because the ingredi-
ents produce complex flavors that are savory, sweet, salty, tangy, and fragrant all at the same time.
SAUCE:
I have traveled to China, so I have a sense of what the real food is like, but I have to admit that I am
2 tsp. peanut oil not very good at cooking Chinese-style food at home. Pork is the most consumed meat in China,
2 garlic cloves, finely so there are many ways of cooking pork with flavorful savory sauces that provide lots of intense
chopped umami taste. The recipe for a Chinese-style hoisin barbeque sauce was developed a number of years
ago by barbeque chef Steven Raichlen and adapted here for use in preparing delicious bone-in pork
¼ cup hoisin sauce spareribs, but it also goes well with other cuts of pork, chicken, and even beef. It is very simple and
1 Tbsp. light soy sauce almost foolproof, but note that the ribs need to be covered with the barbeque sauce and refrigerated
at least 6 hours before cooking. Although the origin of hoisin sauce is not known with any certainty,
3 Tbsp. sake
it is most commonly used with food prepared in the Shanghai region of China. To tell the truth,
1 Tbsp. ketchup I like these ribs even more than American-style barbeque pork ribs.
1 Tbsp. rice vinegar A word of caution is in order regarding many of the soy-based ingredients used in Chinese cook-
ing: they can be very high in sodium and, like this recipe, also very high in sugar. One of the leading
¼ tsp. roasted sesame brands of hoisin sauce produced in the United States contains approximately 1 gram of sodium
oil
and 20 grams of sugar in just 2 tablespoons of sauce. Keep in mind that sodium amounts to about
1½ pounds bone-in 40 percent of the weight of salt (because one molecule of sodium chloride contains one atom of
pork spareribs sodium and one atom of chlorine), so 1 gram of sodium is contained in 2.54 grams of salt (about 0.4
Yield: 2 servings teaspoon); this means 2 tablespoons of the hoisin sauce mentioned will contain almost ½ teaspoon
of salt. The U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines have established an upper limit of 2.3 grams
per day of sodium (contained in 5.8 grams of salt, or almost 1 teaspoon), with even lower limits
for some at-risk groups with elevated blood pressure. So read the Nutrition Facts label on soy-based
products for guidance, and follow the simple rule of eating all foods in moderation, in both quantity
and frequency, rather than abstaining altogether.
These ribs go well with dry-cooked spicy string beans, jasmati rice, and bok choy sautéed with
chopped garlic in peanut oil. To prepare enough beans for two, cook about two cups of them on
medium heat in a small amount of hot peanut oil in a covered skillet until well browned but still
relatively firm (about 5 minutes). Remove the pan briefly from the heat, and add a mixture of
1 tablespoon of light soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of Shaoxing cooking wine, and 1 teaspoon of com-
mercial chili garlic paste (less if you don’t want them too spicy). Mix well to coat the beans. Cover
the skillet, and finish cooking the beans on medium heat for about 5 more minutes, until the beans
are relatively tender.
DIRECTIONS:
First, prepare the hoisin barbeque sauce. In a small saucepan, cook the oil and garlic on medium
heat until the garlic is very lightly browned, about 1–2 minutes (depending on the heat). Do not
allow the garlic to brown too much, or it will become bitter. Add the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sake,
ketchup, and rice vinegar, and continue cooking the mixture until the sauce is reduced by about
25 percent and starts to thicken; then allow the sauce to cool, and mix in the sesame oil.
Next, prepare the ribs. Pour about a quarter of the cooled sauce in the bottom of an ovenproof
casserole dish large enough to hold the ribs. Then place the ribs on top of the sauce, and pour the
remaining sauce evenly over the top of the ribs. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate the ribs for
at least 6 hours.
When ready to cook the ribs, remove them from the refrigerator, and allow them to warm to near
room temperature (about 20 minutes); replace the plastic wrap with aluminum foil. Meanwhile,
heat the oven to 325°F. Place the covered casserole dish on the middle rack, and bake the ribs for
1½ hours. Uncover the ribs, and continue baking for another 30 minutes to concentrate the sauce.
(Don’t cook the ribs any longer than 2 hours total, or they will become too dry.) Remove the ribs
from the excess sauce, and serve.
variety of foods available at that time. Dishes described in the recipes include a great vari-
ety of meats, fowl, fish and shellfish, grains, vegetables (including root vegetables), mush-
rooms, many varieties of fruit, honey, milk, butter, animal fats, vegetable oils (including
sesame and olive oils), numerous kinds of bread, beer, and wine. On one tablet, there are
twenty-five recipes for stews, twenty-one with meat and four with vegetables, showing an
amazing richness and refinement. The stews contain a wide variety of meats and some
vegetables, are slowly cooked in covered clay pots, and are seasoned with a variety of herbs
and spices, as well as beer and wine. The ancient Egyptians and Greeks, and later the
Romans, took advantage of the great abundance of readily available food by holding huge
banquets for the ruling classes.
Roughly 2,500 years ago, the Chinese discovered the process for fermenting salted soy-
bean paste as a method for preserving soybeans. The fermented paste found its way as a
seasoning to Japan where, over many years, it evolved into Japanese soy sauce, known as
shoyu. About the same time (2,700–2,500 years ago), the Chinese developed a process for
making cast iron from raw iron ore, and relatively soon afterward, during the Golden Age
of the Han Dynasty (2,200–1,800 years ago, when classical Chinese cuisine evolved), they
created the first cast-iron wok for frying food with very hot sesame oil. Almost immedi-
ately, the Chinese developed the technique of stir-frying food in a very hot wok, which
the famous Chinese chef Eileen Yin-Fei Lo describes as a process of cooking food to the
precise point of doneness—and no more. Known as ts’ui, “it is a quick process and, when
done properly, foods are never overdone, their fabric is never destroyed, their taste remains
sharp and in focus.” To accomplish this, all of the food must be cut into bite-sized pieces
and ready to tip into the wok at the precise moment, depending on the food. This surely
set Asian cooking on a path all its own.
The First Scientific Theories Evolve

We have finally reached the point where ancient Greek scholars are beginning to develop
theories about the nature of matter using the scientific method of forming hypotheses,
designing tests, and answering questions based on observable facts. Without these the-
ories, it is not possible to think about cooking in scientific terms. The earliest theories
originated with the Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus about 2,600 years ago. He was
concerned with explaining how the entire universe worked, including the states of matter,
for which he invoked the concept of elements, although not the kind of elements we think
of from the periodic table. Thales and his fellow philosophers conceived of the elements
as earth, water, air, and fire, representing solid, liquid, gas, and heat, respectively. The four
elements were interchangeable, as water can be converted to a solid (earth) by freezing
to make ice or to a gas (air) by heating with fire to produce steam. It fell upon Aristotle
to finally unite the various theories and synthesize a cohesive concept around 2,300 years
ago. Aristotle explained that everything we can see and touch is produced by the combi-
nation of matter and form. Each form consisted of the opposing qualities of heat, cold,
moisture, and dryness, thus giving qualities to each of the four elements. Earth had the
qualities of cold and dryness, water the qualities of cold and moisture, air the qualities of
heat and moisture, and fire the qualities of heat and dryness. The elements were now inter-
changeable. Building on the ideas that the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Democritus had
formulated about 100 years earlier, Aristotle envisioned the four elements as constructed
of what he called “compound atoms,” the actual building blocks of all matter. Amazing!
Aristotle and Democritus actually conceived of atoms long before they were proven to
exist. It was not until 1805 that John Dalton provided a precise proof of the concept of
atomic theory. When William Blake wrote the beautiful opening lines of his poem “Augu-
ries of Innocence” in 1803, he must have known of Aristotle’s concept of compound atoms
as the building blocks of all matter, including a “Grain of Sand” and a “Wild Flower.” He
even imagined these atoms were so small that an infinite number could fit “in the palm of
your hand” (the opening four lines of the poem are quoted in the preface to this book).
Aristotle’s contributions to scientific theory were so powerful they dominated scientific
thought for many centuries. In one sense, this was a great step forward, but in another,
it limited the conception of new ideas and led many scholars in the wrong direction. If
matter was interchangeable, then gold, the most valuable of all metals, could be formed
from other, less desirable metals. The “science” of alchemy was born. Alchemists were
convinced that mercury and sulfur could be combined to produce gold, and so the quest
began. During the medieval period (from the fifth to the fifteenth century), science fell
under the influence of alchemists and took a hiatus as far as cooking was concerned.
To be sure, there were advances in science. For example, Ibn al-Haytham (965–1040), the
great Arab mathematician and physicist, was credited with clearly defining the modern
scientific method of experimentation and also recognized that the human eye sees a cone
of rays from an object, thus giving it a three-dimensional perspective. But cooking in that
period underwent only modest changes, including the incorporation of spices from Asia,
the use of sugar to sweeten and preserve foods, and the development of new methods for
preserving food by salting, pickling, and drying—but nothing equivalent to what began to
evolve in the 1500s.
The quest to transmute substances into gold lasted until about the sixteenth century,
when irrefutable facts finally caught up with the last of the alchemists. New thinkers were
coming up with new scientific theories that changed the understanding of how the world
works. In 1661, Robert Boyle finally demolished Aristotle’s concept of the four elements
when he proceeded to experiment with combustion as the basis of fire, proving it was a
process rather than an element. Between 1774 and 1777, Joseph Priestley and Carl Wilhelm
Scheele independently discovered oxygen as the component of air responsible for combus-
tion. And Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier pulled everything together by proving the role of oxy-
gen in combustion in 1789. His carefully designed and beautifully executed experiments
turned chemistry into a true science, and as a result, he is known as the father of modern
chemistry. Unfortunately, his brilliant contributions to science ended in 1794 when he was
executed by the guillotine during the French Revolution.
Finally, no review of cooking science could be complete without an understanding of
heat. Until 1798, scholars of that era still believed heat was a physical substance like water
or mercury. That same year a brilliant American from Massachusetts named Benjamin
Thompson, and later known as Count Rumford of Bavaria, provided the first real evidence
that heat was a form of energy and not a physical substance. While boring cannons for
the Bavarian government, he concluded the heat generated during boring was caused by
mechanical friction and could not be a physical substance as everyone had believed. Science
was finally revivified, heading in a direction that would bring cooking to the highest levels
of gastronomic accomplishments over the next several hundred years. As we will learn
in chapter 4, it was no coincidence that French cooking reached its zenith with Antoine
Carême’s nouvelle cuisine shortly after French science achieved similar status with Lavois-
ier’s exquisite experiments.
3 Early Science Inspires Creativity in Cooking
(1500–1799)
Science Is Reborn During the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

The early pioneers of well-planned, carefully executed scientific experiments, such as
Robert Boyle and Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, provided the foundation for the classical sci-
ences of physics, chemistry, and biology as early as the sixteenth century. But unlike the
pure sciences, cooking science does not have a history of academic research on which to
build a knowledge base. Even food science is a relatively new field. The first formal aca-
demic department of food science that carried out scientific research was established at the
University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1918, with Dr. Walter Chenoweth as its head.
Claimed to be the first in the United States, it may also be among the first departments of
food science in the world.
Cooking science is an applied science based on the knowledge of physics, chemistry,
biology, engineering, nutrition, and, of course, food science. Until very recently, there were
no academic departments dedicated to cooking science; rather, the closest academic field
was gastronomy, which involves the study of food history, culture, and both classical and
modern cooking techniques known as molecular gastronomy. Two good examples are the
gastronomy programs at Wageningen University in the Netherlands and at Boston Univer-
sity in the United States. In addition, scientific journals for publishing research on cooking
science have only recently been introduced. The Journal of Culinary Science and Tech-
nology has been published since 2005, and the International Journal of Gastronomy and
FIGURE 3.1
The Alchemist, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1558, from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Note
how the activities and expressions on the faces of the alchemists mock the “science” of alchemy.
42 | E A R LY S C I E N C E I N S P I R E S C R E AT I V I T Y I N C O O K I N G ( 1 5 0 0 – 1 7 9 9 )
Food Science, created in 2012, publishes peer-reviewed research in cooking science. The
Department of Public Health at the University of Parma in Italy has published extensive
research on the impact of cooking on nutrients in food (see chapter 6). Recognizing the
need to apply science to the culinary arts, the Culinary Institute of America initiated a
bachelor’s degree program in culinary science in 2015. The founders of this program real-
ized that chefs working in commercial kitchens benefited from knowledge of cooking sci-
ence, allowing them to create and scale up recipes without sacrificing the consistently high
quality of dishes made with ingredients that may vary in composition, such as their water,
sugar, or starch content, depending on how they were harvested and stored. As an exam-
ple, a local food processor I recently visited told me that, when making potato salad, they
have to adjust the cooking parameters each time they change from using potatoes grown
in Massachusetts to using potatoes grown in Maine. They have learned that producing the
same quality batch after batch benefits from the application of cooking science
Let’s continue the evolutionary journey of cooking science by going back more than
six centuries from the present to learn how the early theories of the classical sciences first
evolved and how they were applied to cooking. As previously mentioned, alchemy domi-
nated scientific thinking as far back as 2,000 years ago when it was practiced in the ancient
city of Alexandria in Egypt. From there, it spread to the Far East and medieval Europe,
surviving until the early 1700s. One of the first people to challenge alchemy was the Ital-
ian metallurgist Vannoccio Biringuccio (1480–1539). His writings did not involve food or
cooking, but in the following quote from his book De la Pirotechnia, published in Italian
(not Latin) shortly after his death in 1540, he strongly condemned alchemy, paving the way
for new thinking about chemistry and science:
For this reason I tell and advise you that I believe that the best thing to do is turn to
the natural gold and silver that is extracted from ores rather than that of alchemy,
which I believe not only does not exist, but also in truth, has never been seen by
anyone, although many claim to have seen it. For it is a thing whose principles are
unknown, as I have told you; and whoever does not know the first principles of things
is even less able to understand the end.
Because we know the ultimate fate of alchemy, Biringuccio’s statement seems very logical
and insightful today. But how was his criticism viewed at the time when alchemy was an
accepted science? Was he ridiculed for being a heretic or praised for being a visionary?
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WAXY AND MEALY POTATOES
No doubt you have read that high-starch mealy potatoes, potatoes, were observed to absorb more moisture, while
like Russet Burbank, are best for mashing and baking, less of the moisture in the lower-starch waxy potatoes
while low-starch waxy potatoes, such as Red Bliss, are was absorbed by the swollen starch granules, leaving
best for boiling and making potato salad. Much has been more free moisture. This explains why mealy potatoes
written about why waxy and mealy potatoes perform dif- are perceived as dry, while waxy potatoes are character-
ferently, but not all of it is consistent with the research on ized as moist. On eating, the waxy potatoes release the
the cooking properties of different varieties of potatoes. loosely held water that is not bound up by the lower level
So let’s see what the research tells us. of gelatinized starch.
Let’s start by defining what we mean by waxy and Interestingly, McComber’s research showed that
mealy potatoes. According to Professor Diane McComber in both the waxy and the mealy varieties, the cells of
(Iowa State University, retired), sensory panelists describe steamed potatoes were intact and not collapsed when
cooked waxy potatoes as moist, mushy, and smooth, while visualized by scanning electron microscopy. Her research
cooked mealy potatoes are harder and drier and produce a also showed that calcium and magnesium ion concentra-
sensation of particulate matter in the mouth. Waxy pota- tions were higher in Russet Burbank potatoes than in the
toes tend to have a thin skin, be less dense, and contain less Pontiac variety of waxy potatoes. Calcium and magne-
starch (about 16 percent on a wet weight basis) and more sium ions are known to strengthen pectin, the polysac-
moisture. Mealy potatoes tend to have a thicker skin, be charide that is part of the cell wall structure and, more
more dense, and contain more starch (about 22 percent importantly, that acts as a glue to hold the cells together.
on a wet weight basis) and less moisture. On a molecu- These observations led her to agree with earlier research
lar level, the starch in waxy potatoes is composed almost that had concluded the cells of steamed mealy potatoes
entirely of the large branched molecule called amylopec- resist separation into individual cells but break “into par-
tin, while the starch in mealy potatoes is composed of a ticulate masses,” producing a texture that is less smooth
mixture of amylopectin molecules (about 74 percent) and than that of waxy potatoes.
the much smaller, linear amylose molecule (about 26 per- This research goes a long way in explaining the dif-
cent). Both amylopectin and amylose are polysaccharides, ferences in texture of mealy and waxy potatoes, but
which function as storage forms of glucose. it doesn’t entirely explain why they behave differently
Further research by McComber showed that, when when cooked. To help shed some light on this question,
high-starch Russet Burbank potatoes were cooked Joseph Bazinet, a student in my 2011 Food Analysis class
(steamed), the potato cells became “completely engorged at Framingham State University, undertook a project to
with gelatinized starch,” in contrast to two varieties of measure the cooking differences of three varieties of pota-
low-starch waxy potatoes, which appeared to be “only toes using a texture analyzer instrument manufactured by
30–50 percent filled” with swollen starch granules. Using Brookfield Engineering (see figure 6.2). His research helps
nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, the starch to explain some of the cooking differences of waxy and
granules, present at a higher level in Russet Burbank mealy potatoes. For the study, we chose high-starch mealy
Russet Burbank, low-starch waxy Red Bliss, and interme- slightly lower force required for the intermediate Yukon
diate Yukon Gold, which is described as a medium-starch Gold potatoes. These results indicate the cell structure of
potato with cooking properties in between waxy and mealy potatoes is more readily broken down by boiling
mealy potatoes. Small cylinders (1.3 × 2.5 centimeters) of water and are consistent with the observation that mealy
each variety were removed and cooked in boiling distilled potatoes are better suited for mashing and baking. Both
water for 10 minutes; they were then plunged into ice waxy Red Bliss and intermediate Yukon Gold hold their
water to stop further cooking. The force (measured as the shape when boiled and thus are better suited for use in
peak load in grams) needed to compress each cylinder by potato salad. These results also suggest that Yukon Gold
40 percent was recorded with the texture analyzer, using potatoes behave more like waxy potatoes. However, these
a flat disk with a diameter wider than the potato cylinder results are from only one lot of commercial potatoes, and
(numerous conditions were tested before selecting this it is well known there is significant variation in density and
method as being the most reliable). The results are shown starch content even between potatoes of the same variety.
in figure 1 (based on nine replicates of each variety). Research from the Agrotechnological Research Insti-
From these results, it is clear that mealy Russet Bur- tute, Wageningen, Netherlands, supports our results.
bank potatoes required the least amount of force to com- Researchers there found that more pectin was released
press the boiled potato cylinders. Yukon Gold and Red when mealy potatoes were boiled compared with waxy
Bliss required similar amounts of force, with perhaps a potatoes. Furthermore, they concluded from transmis-
sion electron microscopy that the release of more pectin
from the cooked mealy variety of potatoes resulted in cell
Peak Load of Different Potato Varieties
Using a 40% Target Compression wall loosening and increased cell sloughing (most likely
400.00
clumps of cells, as suggested by McComber) compared
350.00
with waxy potatoes. Again, this is quite consistent with
300.00
the experiment showing less force is required to compress
Peak Load (g)
250.00
200.00 cooked mealy potatoes, making them better for mashing
150.00 and baking but less smooth and moist.
100.00
More recent research published by the same group from
50.00
0.00
the Netherlands convincingly showed that the dry matter
Yukon Gold Red Bliss Russet Burbank (DM) content of mealy, waxy, and intermediate potato
Variety of Potato
varieties strongly overrules any cultivar-specific effects
FIGURE 1
on the cooking properties of potatoes and that the DM
directly correlated with the starch content of each variety.
A graph showing the force required to penetrate three varieties of potatoes
cooked under identical conditions, measured using a texture analyzer Thus, the starch content of a potato variety has the great-
(see figure 6.2). Note that it takes less force to penetrate the Russet Burbank
potato than the Yukon Gold and Red Bliss potatoes. The graph is drawn from
est impact on cooking properties. Not only do mealy
the author’s research at Framingham State University in 2011. potatoes contain more starch, but also the composition
of the starch is different (a mixture of amylose and amy- McComber, D. R., E. Osman, and R. Lohnes. “Factors Related to
lopectin), as mentioned earlier. As heat penetrates a cook- Potato Mealiness.” Journal of Food Science 53 (1988): 1423–1426.
Nonaka, M. “The Textural Quality of Cooked Potatoes. I. The Rela-
ing mealy potato, the starch granules swell and gelatinize tionship of Cooking Time to the Separation and Rupture of Potato
more rapidly than in waxy potatoes. The greater pressure Cells.” American Potato Journal 57 (1980): 141–149.
exerted by large numbers of swelling starch granules com- Trinette van Marle, J., K. Recourt, C. van Dijk, H. A. Schols, and A.
bines with the heat that is breaking down the pectin glue G. J. Voragen. “Structural Features of Cell Walls from Potato (Sola-
num tuberosum L.) Cultivars Irene and Nicola.” Journal of Agri-
between the potato cells to force the cells to swell, rupture, cultural and Food Chemistry 45 (1997): 1686–1693.
separate, and slough off more readily during cooking. Van Dijk, C., M. Fischer, J. Holm, J.-G. Beekhuizen, T. Stolle-Smits,
All this research just to understand why Russet potatoes and C. Boeriu. “Texture of Cooked Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum).
1. Relationships Between Dry Matter Content, Sensory-Perceived
make better mashed potatoes! And we knew this all along!
Texture, and Near-Infrared Spectroscopy.” Journal of Agricultural
and Food Chemistry 50 (2002): 5082–5088.
REFERENCES
McComber, D. R., H. T. Horner, M. A. Chamberlin, and D. F. Cox.
“Potato Cultivar Differences Associated with Mealiness.” Journal
of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 42 (1994): 2433–2439.
Another important figure in the evolution of cooking science is Jan Baptist van Helmont
(1577–1644), a Flemish chemist who also earned a doctor’s degree in medicine. He was the
first to coin the name gas (perhaps around 1635–1640) when he observed what he described
as “gas sylvestre,” the gas produced by fermenting grape must, which he also called the
“gas of wines.” Van Helmont noted that it was the same gas produced by burning charcoal
and that is was distinctly different from air, although he had no idea that it was actually
carbon dioxide. He also studied digestion and was the first to suggest that food is digested
in the body by what he called “ferments,” which today would be considered the same as
digestive enzymes. Although Van Helmont believed in alchemy and asserted that the only
true elements were air and water, he at least contributed a few original scientific ideas that
still hold true today.
Next we come to the contributions of Robert Boyle (1627–1691), who published more
than twenty scientific papers and books, including his most famous, The Sceptical Chy-
mist, in 1661. He did most of his experiments on the nature of the elements and the role of
air in combustion with Robert Hooke (1635–1703), his faithful assistant for many years at
Oxford University. In The Sceptical Chymist, Boyle challenged Aristotle’s four elements—
earth, air, water, and fire—by defining elements as “unmingled bodies not being made of
any other bodies,” which is consistent with our present-day definition of the pure elements
within the periodic table, like copper and sulfur. In 1650, Boyle learned of the work of Otto
von Guericke (1602–1686) in Germany, which included his experimenting with air pressure
and vacuum and designing a pump to remove air from within closed vessels. Boyle repeated
von Guericke’s work in 1660 and designed his own pump with which he could remove air
from sealed glass containers, enabling him to study the effect of air on combustion. In
his 1672 work “New Experiments Touching the Relation Betwixt Flame and Air,” Boyle
described numerous experiments in which he burned various substances such as sulfur in
both the presence and the absence of air. He was able to prove with careful experimenta-
tion that air was an essential component of combustion and that fire was not one of the
four basic elements. The scientific principles established by Aristotle several thousand years
earlier were finally beginning to crumble, making way for a new renaissance in science.
The Rebirth of Science—Now We’re Really Cooking!

Boyle also experimented with air and pressure, leading to his formulation of Boyle’s
Law: the pressure of a gas, such as air, increases as the volume of the gas decreases
(that is, compressing a gas into a smaller volume increases the pres-
sure of the gas). He published his research in 1662, and several years
later it caught the attention of Denis Papin (1647–1713), a young
French physicist and mathematician. Papin visited London to meet
with Boyle in 1675, and the two got along so well that Papin stayed
and worked with Boyle from 1676 to 1679. Based on Boyle’s Law,
Papin concluded that heating water in a closed container with a
fixed volume would cause the pressure of the water to increase,
allowing the boiling point of water to be increased above its normal
boiling point of 212°F (100°C) at atmospheric pressure. Unfortu-
nately, even a heavy metal container would explode from the pres-
sure of the steam if it became too hot! As a result, Papin designed
the first safety valve, using a weight to open a valve and release
the pressure before it got high enough to explode the container.
This clever invention led Papin to design his “steam digester”
for cooking food under pressure at temperatures higher than the
normal boiling point of water, thus creating the first pressure
cooker, which he presented to the Royal Society of London in 1679
(figure 3.2). It is reported that Papin’s steam digester was used to
cook inexpensive fatty cuts of meat and bones in water to produce
delicious stews. After leaving London, Papin moved to Germany,
FIGURE 3.2 and in 1690, he built the first model of a piston-driven steam engine,
Dennis Papin’s pressure cooker, 1680–1681. Notice the long which he used to power a paddle-driven boat. Unfortunately, life
weighted arm on the left for releasing pressure. Photograph
by P. Faligot. From the photographic collection of Musée des
was not very kind to Papin; he died a pauper and was buried in a
Arts et Métiers, Paris. Reproduced with permission. pauper’s grave in 1713.
The new experimental science developed in Boyle’s era began to
have a significant influence on seventeenth-century French cooking.
A very innovative chef named François Pierre de La Varenne (1615–1678) published the
first influential cookbook on French cooking, Le Cuisinier françois, in 1651. His book
contains the first mention of preparing a stock, known as a fonds de cuisine, in which he
recommended using discarded mushrooms as the base for the stock rather than throwing
them out. La Varenne cleverly used egg whites to clarify his stocks by allowing the albumin
proteins in egg whites to bind with the insoluble proteins from meat that cause the stock
to become cloudy.
MAKING STOCK OF THINGS
French chef François Pierre de La Varenne (1615–1678) A traditional stock usually calls for meat (or fish),
is credited with publishing the first recipe for a simple bones, and vegetables, typically onions, carrots, and cel-
stock to flavor a dish in his 1651 cookbook, Le Cuisinier ery. Raw meat, bones, and vegetables may be placed in
françois. There the frugal La Varenne describes how cold water to start the extraction process, or they may
to make mushroom stock from blemished mushrooms be roasted in the oven prior to extraction to enhance the
rather than discarding them. It was more than 150 years flavor of the stock. The process starts with extracting
later that the great French chef Marie-Antoine Carême the molecules we taste and smell from the meat, bones,
(1784–1833) perfected the basic process still used today and vegetables. During the optional oven-roasting step,
of soaking meat in cold water and then slowly warm- nonvolatile nucleotides are derived from the energy-
ing and simmering the mixture to avoid overly coagulat- storing compound adenosine triphosphate (ATP), pro-
ing the protein while concentrating the relatively clear teins break down to nonvolatile peptides (small fragments
stock. The French have been masters at making great of proteins) and even smaller amino acids, and onions
stock ever since. and carrots release nonvolatile sugars. Because they are
Carême’s procedure can be broken down into three nonvolatile, we cannot smell any of these molecules. But
basic steps: extraction, filtration, and reduction. The first they are all soluble in water, so they can be extracted
step extracts flavor molecules from the ingredients with and tasted in the stock. The peptides and amino acids
water or wine, while the second step removes unwanted combine with the nucleotides to produce a potent savory,
coagulated protein, fat, and insoluble ingredients to pro- meaty umami taste, while the sugars and an amino acid
duce a clear stock. The last step evaporates some of the called glycine lend sweetness. Under the conditions of
water to produce a concentrated, more flavorful stock. dry heat in the oven, volatile aroma molecules that we
Each of these steps plays a role in creating the flavor of can smell are also produced. The peptides and amino
the stock. The ingredients determine the specific flavor acids react with certain of the sugars (called reducing
molecules that are extracted, while heating time and sugars, such as glucose and fructose but not sucrose) by
temperature control both the loss of volatile aroma com- the Maillard reaction to produce very potent, volatile
pounds and the formation of new flavor molecules. Fil- aroma molecules (for more on the Maillard reaction, see
tration not only produces a clear stock but also removes chapter 5). These include the caramel-like 4-hydroxy-
undesirable bitter tastes present in coagulated protein 2,5-dimethyl-3(2H)-furanone, the popcorn-smelling
(scum) and rancid fat. The reduction step concentrates 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, and the meaty-smelling sulfur-
flavor and provides additional time for the creation of containing 3-(methylthio)propanal. In addition, the fats
more flavor molecules. In addition to creating flavor, the are oxidized to compounds with a deep-fried odor, such
heating steps (extraction and reduction) release gelatin as 2,4-decadienal and 2,6-nonadienal. These two com-
from the collagen in the connective tissue of meat and pounds are soluble in fat but not water. During the slow
bones. Gelatin provides viscosity and a pleasing unctu- extraction step in simmering water, the onions (or leeks)
ous mouthfeel to the stock. produce a sulfur-containing water-soluble compound
called 3-mercapto-2-methylpentane-1-ol (MMP). In 2011, a study conducted at the Culinary Institute of America
German researchers showed that the strong meaty aroma determined the optimum temperature and time to form
of this compound is the most potent contributor to the peptides and amino acids from proteins and nucleotides
flavor of stock, along with 2,4-decadienal, mentioned from ATP: the stock should be reduced at 185°F (85°C)
above. But MMP is formed only when the onion is finely for a minimum of 60 minutes. The flavor of the stock
chopped, not when it is left whole. Don’t forget to chop clearly changes with time, so it is advisable to reduce the
the onion! stock slowly for several hours.
After slowly simmering the stock for many hours, Like flavor compounds, gelatin is formed very slowly,
any protein scum that has floated to the top is removed by the breakdown of collagen in the connective tissue of
by skimming, and the extract is filtered until clear. The meat and bones. Collagen breakdown takes hours at rel-
last step in the process is reduction. Most cookbooks atively low temperatures. At around 185°F, the tempera-
call for reducing the stock to a specific volume to con- ture at which water slowly simmers, it takes about 6 hours
centrate the water-soluble, nonvolatile taste molecules for significant amounts of gelatin to form. Therefore, the
rather than specifying how long the stock should be extraction and reduction steps are best conducted over a
heated. During this step, some of the volatile aroma period of at least 6–8 hours to increase the formation of
compounds are lost with the escaping steam. At the gelatin and important flavor molecules such as MMP. It is
same time, additional aroma compounds are slowly not uncommon to heat a stock for 16–20 hours, although
formed. This is especially true of the very important it is unclear if this much time is necessary. But it does
compound MMP, which takes several hours to form in explain why slowly reducing a stock to 25–50 percent
significant amounts. Meanwhile the proteins continue of its original volume produces such a flavorful concen-
to break down to peptides and amino acids, especially trated demi-glace. It is far more than just the reduction
umami-tasting glutamate, while nucleotides continue in volume.
to form as a result of the ATP breakdown. This is very Several other factors are important. When the
important because recent research from Denmark has extraction step is started with cold water, the proteins
shown that flavor is affected not only by the reduction slowly coagulate and float to the top so they can be easily
volume but also by the length of time the stock is heated. removed by skimming the surface as well as during filtra-
And the two are not directly related. Depending on the tion. Starting with hot water and boiling the liquid breaks
amount of heat applied (high or low flame), the stock the coagulated protein down into small bits, which are
can be reduced rapidly or slowly. Fast reduction drives hard to remove and result in a cloudy stock. Finally, veal
off some aroma compounds without allowing sufficient bones are frequently added in the preparation of both
time to generate new flavor molecules. Compounds like veal and beef stocks. The degree of collagen cross-linking
MMP and 2,4-decadienal require a certain amount of in the connective tissue of bones increases with the age
time to form, so a slow simmer over a longer period of of the animal. Because veal is produced from a young
time produces more of these crucial compounds. Finally, calf rather than an older steer, the collagen in veal bones
is much less cross-linked than that in beef bones. This Krasnow, M. N., T. Bunch, C. F. Shoemaker, and C. R. Loss. “Effects of
means the collagen in veal bones breaks down more rap- Cooking Temperatures on the Physiochemical Properties and Con-
sumer Acceptance of Chicken Stock.” Journal of Food Science 77,
idly and completely to gelatin, so veal bones yield a lot no. 1 (2012): S19–S23.
more gelatin. Snitkjaer, P., M. B. Frost, L. H. Skibsted, and J. Risbo. “Flavour
Development During Beef Stock Reduction.” Food Chemistry 122
REFERENCES (2010): 645–655.
Christlbauer, M., and P. Schieberle. “Evaluation of the Key Aroma

Compounds in Beef and Pork Vegetable Gravies a la Chef by Sta-
ble Isotope Dilution Assays and Aroma Recombination Exper-
iments.” Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 59 (2011):
13122–13130.
Using his method for making stock, La Varenne was the first to describe the prepa-
ration of milk-based béchamel sauce (which doesn’t require clarifying), as well as a
roux made of pork fat for thickening sauces in place of breadcrumbs. Without realizing
it, he had prepared some of the first emulsified sauces. In the case of béchamel sauce,
the starch from the roux interacted with the milk proteins to form a stable thickened
emulsion. La Varenne may have been the first to prepare a Hollandaise-type emulsion,
stabilized with egg yolk as the emulsifying agent, as a sauce for asparagus. Through
his influence, stocks became the base for preparing many great sauces, setting the
stage for French cooking to become one of the great cuisines of the world in the eigh-
teenth and nineteenth centuries, following the leadership of the celebrated chef Marie-
Antoine Carême (1784–1833). Some renowned French chefs of the time, such as François
Marin (chef to Madame de Pompadour and author of the three-volume cookbook
Les Dons de Comus, published in 1742), even described themselves as chemists and
cooking as a form of chemistry. But more on these science-guided chefs later when we
reach the pinnacle of French science with Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, just before the
French Revolution.
More than 100 years elapsed from the time of Boyle’s experiments to the discovery
that air contained the pure element oxygen, the actual gas required for combustion, and
that the heat produced by combustion was not a substance but a form of energy. Now
we’re really cooking! Without heat, there can be no cooking in the true meaning of the
word (to prepare food for eating by applying heat). The discovery of oxygen is a fascinat-
ing story, with two scientists independently discovering the substance in air that makes
life possible.
In 1772, Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1742–1786), a Swedish apothecary chemist, became the
first to prepare oxygen, although at the time he had no idea what he had discovered. He did
this in his pharmacy near Stockholm by heating a variety of inorganic compounds such
as mercuric oxide, potassium nitrate, and silver carbonate, and he called the liberated gas
“fire air” because a candle would burn brightly in it. The gas was not named oxygen until
many years later when its true chemical structure was determined. Unfortunately, Scheele
did not feel any urgency about publishing his important discovery. Even though his manu-
script was delivered to the publisher in 1775, it was not actually published until 1777. The
reason for the delay is not known.
SAUCY EMULSIONS AND EMULSIFIERS
It is common knowledge that oil and water don’t mix. If with four times more oil than vinegar, the oil is dispersed
you try to mix them together, they quickly separate, with as tiny droplets in a continuous phase of vinegar (O/W
the water sinking to the bottom and the oil floating on emulsion). As a result, mayonnaise does not feel greasy in
top. If you mix them very vigorously, one of them will the mouth because the mouth senses only the continuous
break up into droplets and disperse in the other. But even watery vinegar phase and not the dispersed oil droplets.
this dispersion won’t last long, and the two will soon sep- Now consider a simple vinaigrette made by vigorously
arate as before. mixing about four parts of oil with one part of vinegar.
Vigorously mixing oil and water has two possible In this case, the vinegar becomes dispersed as droplets in
outcomes. In one, droplets of oil are dispersed in a con- a continuous phase of oil (W/O emulsion). If the vinai-
tinuous phase of water. In the other, droplets of water grette is prepared by slowly adding the oil to the vinegar
are dispersed in a continuous phase of oil. The first form with very vigorous mixing, the W/O emulsion will usu-
(oil droplets dispersed in water) is called an oil-in-water ally stay together long enough to taste—and even drizzle
emulsion (O/W emulsion), while the second form (water on some salad greens. A W/O vinaigrette “tastes” very
droplets dispersed in oil) is called a water-in-oil emulsion oily compared with mayonnaise. Another example is but-
(W/O emulsion). (See figure 1.) ter, which is also a W/O emulsion. Butter feels greasy in
Distinguishing between an O/W emulsion and a W/O the mouth rather than wet.
emulsion is very important because the mouth senses But why does mayonnaise exist as an O/W emulsion
only the continuous phase rather than the dispersed while a vinaigrette, containing the same ratio of oil to
phase. Mayonnaise is a perfect example. Mayonnaise vinegar, exists as a W/O emulsion? Confused? The
contains about 80 percent oil and 20 percent vinegar, plus answer is actually quite simple. The mayonnaise con-
small amounts of egg and seasoning like mustard and tains egg and mustard, which act as emulsifiers to sta-
salt. The surprising thing about mayonnaise is that, even bilize the oil as droplets. Emulsifiers are substances that
facilitate the dispersion of one phase (as tiny droplets)
into another. A simple vinaigrette does not contain emul-
sifiers, so the smaller volume of vinegar ends up being
Dispersed Dispersed dispersed as droplets in a much larger continuous phase
phase (water) phase (oil)
of oil. Without an emulsifier, the liquid used in excess
Continuous Continuous
usually forms the continuous phase.
phase (oil) phase (water)
Egg yolks contain lipoproteins and phospholipids, like
lecithin, that coat the surface of the oil droplets and pre-
Water-in-oil emulsion Oil-in-water emulsion vent the droplets from coalescing and forming a contin-
uous phase even though the volume of oil is four times
FIGURE 1 greater than the volume of vinegar. But not all emulsifiers
The composition of water-in-oil (W/O) and oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions. stabilize the oil as droplets. Some are better at stabilizing
the vinegar as droplets. It depends on the properties of water from separating by forming a protective barrier
the emulsifier. around the droplets. But there is another way to stabi-
As a general rule, the continuous phase is the one in lize emulsions. Thickening agents like starch, flour, and
which the emulsifier is soluble. If an emulsifier is more gums also stabilize emulsions, but they are not emulsi-
soluble in oil, then oil will form the continuous phase fiers. They do not form a protective barrier around the
regardless of the proportions of oil and vinegar. Simi- dispersed droplets. Instead, these substances increase
larly, water-soluble emulsifiers stabilize vinegar as the the viscosity of water. When oil is dispersed in water
continuous phase. In the home kitchen, we have rela- that has been thickened with starch (the starch-water
tively few emulsifiers to pick from—namely, egg yolks, mixture must be heated first to thicken it), the oil drop-
mustard, and casein in milk. Both egg yolks and mustard lets will be stabilized because the high viscosity of the
tend to stabilize emulsions with oil droplets suspended starch-water continuous phase prevents the oil droplets
in vinegar. That’s why adding a little mayonnaise, which from moving around and coalescing. Can you think of
contains egg yolks, to a mixture of three parts of oil to any examples? Soups, sauces, and gravies thickened with
one part of vinegar forms a fairly stable W/O emulsion. cornstarch or flour form stable O/W emulsions with any
The food-processing industry has literally dozens fat that may be present. The O/W sauce will be creamy
of emulsifiers from which to choose. They range from and smooth but not greasy because water is the contin-
water soluble to oil soluble. The solubility properties uous phase. Check the label of those superstable creamy
are expressed in terms of the emulsifier’s hydrophilic- salad dressings in the supermarket, and see if any of
lipophilic balance (HLB). Hydrophilic substances are them contain starch.
water loving, while lipophilic substances are fat (oil) When a stable emulsion is made, it can be difficult to
loving. The HLB scale runs from 0 to 20. Emulsifiers with see whether the continuous phase is oil or water. Taste
a high HLB value (for example, sodium stearoyl lactyl- can sometimes give an indication, as described above.
ate) are hydrophilic and water soluble. Emulsifiers with a But the best way to identify the continuous phase is to
low HLB value (for example, glycerol monostearate) are measure the electrical conductance. An emulsion with a
oil soluble. Emulsifiers with HLB values between 3 and continuous vinegar phase (plus a little salt) will readily
6 stabilize W/O emulsions, while emulsifiers with HLB conduct a low-voltage electric current, but an emulsion
values between 11 and 15 stabilize O/W emulsions. Emul- with a continuous oil phase will not. As an interesting
sifiers with intermediate values (8–10) are good wetting exercise, use this method to check emulsions made with
agents (they promote the spreading of a liquid phase, different ratios of oil and water stabilized with different
such as water, onto a solid phase, such as cocoa powder) emulsifiers or none at all.
but relatively poor emulsifiers.
So far I have discussed emulsions stabilized with REFERENCE
emulsifiers. That is, the emulsifier prevents the oil and Stauffer, C. Fats and Oils. St. Paul, MN: Eagan Press, 1996.
RECIPE 3.1 Christine’s Rich Brown Gravy
INGREDIENTS: It is hard to imagine a Thanksgiving dinner without friends, relatives, and Christine’s rich brown
gravy. My wife, Christine, has made her gravy the same way for decades, and in all those years,
1 medium onion, finely
I have never tasted a more delicious rich brown gravy that so beautifully complements the roasted
chopped
turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. It also elevates any leftovers to a new level, so make enough
1 carrot, peeled and cut to have some in reserve.
into small disks One of the secrets to the delicious flavor is the homemade turkey stock, building on the rich
1 celery stalk and some savory gravy-enhancing flavor of finely chopped onions simmered for several hours. Any stock rec-
leaves, chopped ipe that uses a whole or quartered onion and doesn’t call for simmering the stock for at least several
hours (2–4 hours is best) just won’t be nearly as good. The stock is then thickened with a roux made
1 turkey neck and bag
of flour and fat in which the starch from the flour gelatinizes with heat, thickens, and stabilizes the
of giblets (gizzard,
heart, and liver) fat and water emulsion until it is velvety smooth.
provided inside the Finely chopping the onion damages countless cells, causing the release of an enzyme called
turkey alliinase that reacts with a natural compound in onions called isoalliin to rapidly produce pro-
panethial-S-oxide (PSO), the tear-causing compound. When the finely chopped onion is cooked in
1 tsp. salt
water for several hours, the prolonged gentle heating slowly transforms the PSO into a new com-
2 Tbsp. all-purpose pound, 3-mercapto-2-methylpentan-1-ol (MMP), which is water soluble. Of the nearly fifty flavor
flour compounds identified in brown gravy produced from beef, pork, or vegetables and finely chopped
1 Tbsp. Gravy Master onions, this simple compound has been shown to have the greatest impact on the savory, meaty
(optional) flavor of gravy even though it is formed in only minuscule amounts. The more finely chopped the
onion, the more PSO and MMP produced. Leaving the onion whole or only cutting through it
Yield: 4 cups (as when halving or quartering) produces very little PSO. Your eyes won’t tear up, but neither will
you produce the compound responsible for the intense, savory flavor of rich brown gravy.
The same process can be used to make gravy for roasted chicken, beef, or pork or vegetable-based
gravy. For roasted chicken, use the chicken parts included in the bag found in the cavity of the
chicken to make the gravy. Scraps of beef or pork with bones can be used to make beef or pork
gravy, and a vegetarian version of gravy can be made with umami-rich ingredients such as mush-
rooms in place of the poultry or meat in the stock and vegetable oil in place of the animal fat in
the roux.
DIRECTIONS:
The total preparation time is about 3 hours, performed while the turkey roasts and rests.
To make the homemade turkey stock, place 4 cups of water in a 2-quart saucepan, and add the
onion, carrot, and celery. Submerge the turkey neck and the giblets in the liquid, and add the salt.
Bring the water to a slow simmer, and continue to cook uncovered for at least 2 hours, adding water
as needed to maintain a fairly constant level in the pan. Strain the hot stock into a large bowl or
1-quart measuring cup, discard the solids, and reserve the stock until the turkey is removed from
the oven.
While the turkey rests, pour the drippings from the roasting pan into a fat separator. Make sure
to leave any fond (pan scrapings and brown bits) in the pan. Return the defatted drippings to the
pan, and reserve 2–3 tablespoons of the fat for making a roux. Add the strained stock to the pan,
bring the mixture to a gentle simmer, and scrape up all the fond to distribute it thoroughly into the
stock. Meanwhile, make a roux in a small saucepan by thoroughly mixing about 2 tablespoons of
the reserved turkey fat with the flour and heating the mixture until it is light golden brown in color.
Whisk the roux into the simmering drippings-stock mixture until the roux is evenly dispersed and
there are no visible lumps. Slowly simmer the gravy for about 30–45 minutes, until it is velvety and
thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
If you like darker brown gravy with notes of caramel and umami, slowly add Gravy Master a
little at a time (be careful not to add too much—a little goes a long way) until the desired color is
reached. It also adds to the flavor if you have limited drippings with too little fat (which depends on
the size of the turkey and the temperature of the oven). Add salt and pepper to taste.
In the meantime, on August 1, 1774, Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) first prepared oxygen
by heating mercuric oxide in his laboratory in Birmingham, England. He also had no idea
that he had prepared oxygen; he knew only that it was a component of air that caused a
candle to burn brightly with a vigorous flame and in which a mouse could thrive. This
latter observation convinced Priestley that the “special air” he had prepared was probably
a component of “common air” that was essential for life. He quickly published his obser-
vations in three volumes titled Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air.
The first volume appeared in 1774 and the other two in 1775 and 1777. Priestly is thus given
credit for being the first to publish on the preparation of oxygen, while Scheele is recog-
nized as the first to prepare it. Priestley was a self-trained chemist who was a supporter of
the French Revolution, a separatist theologian, and a founder of Unitarianism in England.
His outspoken views led to arguments and fights with many of the local inhabitants of
Birmingham, and after they burned his home and church, he fled to America in 1791,
where he became friends with Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Priestley’s origi-
nal laboratory has been reconstructed and is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution
in Washington, D.C.
The Scientific Method Illuminates a New Path

In October 1774, shortly after publishing his first volume of Experiments and Observations
on Different Kinds of Air, Priestley visited Paris, where he met with the brilliant young
French chemist Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743–1794) (figure 3.3). When Priestley told him
about the “special air” he had produced that caused a candle to burn with a vigorous flame
and in which a mouse thrived, Lavoisier was intrigued by these properties but perplexed
about how heating the red solid mercuric oxide produced the special air. He was familiar
with the earlier work of Boyle, in which the latter performed experiments measuring the
precise weight gained when a metal was heated vigorously by a flame in air. Boyle thought
the gain in the weight of the metal was due to a combination of the metal with the flame,
as fire was considered a substance at the time. The experiments of Scheele and Priestley
were qualitative in that the weight of the gas produced by heating mercuric oxide was not
measured. Lavoisier had the incredible insight to believe that the increase in the weight of
the metal heated in air was caused by a combination of the metal with the special air (he
called it “pure air”) that had been discovered by Scheele and Priestley. Lavoisier later named
the pure air oxygen and was also responsible for naming the elements carbon and hydrogen.
FIGURE 3.3
Portrait of Antoine-Laurent
Lavoisier and his wife, Marie-Anne
Pierrette Paulze, by Jacques-Louis
David, 1788, from the collection
of the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York.
To test his hypothesis, Lavoisier devised an experiment for which he is now famous—
and that earned him recognition as the father of chemistry. To perform his experiment
for the Royal Academy of Sciences just outside Paris, Lavoisier needed a source of intense
heat, which turned out to be a device called the “burning glass,” a very large magnifying
glass lens that could focus the energy of the sun into an intense source of heat. With this
source of heat, Lavoisier decomposed solid mercuric oxide into liquid mercury and the
pure air (oxygen) discovered by Priestley and Scheele. He carried out the experiment in
a closed apparatus (called a retort) so the air (oxygen) could be captured and its volume
measured precisely, along with the exact weights of the starting mercuric oxide and the
liquid mercury product. Then he performed the experiment in reverse and found that the
weights of the liquid mercury and pure air (oxygen) consumed, and of the mercuric oxide
produced, were exactly the same as when he ran the reaction in the opposite direction,
starting with mercuric oxide. He had proved for the first time that the exact weights of a
chemical reaction run in either direction are constant and that matter is neither created
nor destroyed—the law of conservation of matter. This amazing discovery was published
in 1777 in Memoirs de l’Académie royale des sciences. Lavoisier went on to describe the
invariable laws of nature that govern the process of combustion, publishing his thesis in
1783, also in Memoirs de l’Académie royale des sciences. Thus the understanding of com-
bustion as a chemical process of oxidation that generates energy (in the form of heat and
light) had progressed from Boyle to Lavoisier, reaching completion in a little more than
100 years.
In his relatively brief life, Lavoisier was interested in many aspects of chemistry, includ-
ing the process of fermentation, all based on his newfound understanding of the law of
conservation of matter. He described fermentation as follows:
This operation [fermentation] is one of the most striking and extraordinary of all
those which chemistry presents to us, and we must examine whence comes the dis-
engaged carbonic gas [carbon dioxide] and the inflammable spirit [alcohol] which is
formed and how a sweet body, a vegetable oxide [sugars], can transform itself thus
into two different substances, one combustible [alcohol] and the other highly incom-
bustible [carbon dioxide].
Lavoisier continues:
Upon this principle the whole art of making experiments in chemistry is founded:
we must always suppose a true equality between the principles of the body which
is examined and those which are obtained on analysis. Thus, since must of grapes
gives carbonic acid gas [carbon dioxide] and alcohol, I may say that must of grapes =
alcohol + carbonic acid [carbon dioxide dissolved in water produces carbonic acid].
The equation for the conversion of grape must into alcohol and carbon dioxide is the
first example of a modern chemical equation. As with Priestley, Papin, and Vavilov, life
was not kind to Lavoisier. At the age of twenty-six, he was elected to the Academy of
Sciences and that same year became involved with Ferme générale, a tax-farming (col-
lecting) agency for the royal government. Following the French Revolution, an order was
issued in November 1793 to abolish the Ferme générale and arrest all former tax farmers.
Lavoisier was convicted of crimes against the people and guillotined on May 8, 1794, at
age fifty. In late 1795, the French government informed Lavoisier’s widow he was officially
exonerated, as he had been “falsely convicted.” We can only dream of what great contri-
butions Lavoisier may have made to science had he lived another 25 years. The life of pio-
neering scientists, especially those who make major contributions to knowledge and social
change, has not always been easy.
After nearly 2 million years, fire and combustion were finally understood to be a chemi-
cal process of oxidation that generates light and heat, making it possible to explain the true
nature of heat, which was first proposed by Count Rumford (1753–1814) in 1798. Until this
point, heat was believed to be a weightless fluid called caloric, even by such outstanding sci-
entists as Lavoisier. Count Rumford was born Benjamin Thompson in Woburn, Massachu-
setts. As a young man, he proved to be adept at science, especially mathematics and physics,
and occasionally walked the 10 miles from his home to Cambridge to attend lectures at Har-
vard University. At the age of nineteen, he married a fairly well-to-do, but significantly older,
woman (Sarah Walker) and moved to Rumford, New Hampshire, later named Concord
and now the state capital of New Hampshire. At the beginning of the Revolutionary War,
Thompson favored the British and even did some spying for the British army. When the Brit-
ish evacuated Boston in 1776, Thompson escaped to England, leaving his wife and daughter
in America. He became a member of the Royal Society in England in 1779, was knighted in
1784, and moved to Bavaria the following year. There he took a position as a commander
in the military and was given the title of count, renaming himself Count Rumford after the
town in New Hampshire. One of Count Rumford’s duties was to supervise the boring of
cannon tubes from solid pieces of metal. Rumford noticed that the friction created by bor-
ing the metal produced intense heat, which he assumed was released by the metal as caloric.
But then he noticed that the same amount of heat was generated when using a dull drill as
when using a sharp new drill, although the dull drill would not penetrate the metal. How
could caloric be released if the dull drill could not penetrate the metal? At this moment in
1798, he realized heat could not be a fluid but must be a form of energy generated by the
friction created during the drilling process. He actually described heat as mechanical energy,
which could be measured as the “mechanical equivalent of heat,” later known as the heat
capacity or thermal capacity of a substance such a water or iron or olive oil.
THOMAS KELLER AND THE SCIENCE OF BUTTER-POACHED LOBSTER
Thomas Keller is a great chef who knows a thing or two pure substances, and their heat capacities can be mea-
about cooking. So when he first decided to poach lobster sured very accurately. Using olive oil and water as surro-
in butter instead of wine or cream, he must have had a gates for butter and wine, we can explain the difference
good reason (The French Laundry Cookbook, 1999). The in their heat capacities. Water has a heat capacity that is
obvious one is that lobster prepared this way is luscious, about 2.1 times greater than that of olive oil. This means
moist, and supertender—the perfect marriage of flavor that it takes 2.1 times more calories of heat to raise the
and texture! temperature of water by 10°C than it does to raise the
Is there any science behind poaching lobster in but- temperature of olive oil by the same amount.
ter that we can build upon to create new dishes similar But why? Recall that temperature is a measure of how
to Keller’s? The answer is yes, but it may seem counter- fast molecules are moving. Water molecules have a strong
intuitive. It all has to do with the difference in the heat affinity for each other due to an electrostatic attraction,
capacities of butter and wine. When heat is applied to which creates relatively weak associations between water
a substance, such as butter or wine, the temperature of molecules known as hydrogen bonds. As a result of these
the substance rises. Mathematically, the quantity of heat hydrogen bonds, it takes lots of energy to pull water mol-
added to a substance divided by its rise in temperature is ecules away from each other in order to get them to move
called the heat capacity of that substance (that is, heat faster. Molecules of olive oil have much less affinity for
capacity equals the quantity of added heat divided by each other, so it takes less energy to separate them and
the rise in temperature). The quantity of heat is mea- make them move faster.
sured in calories and the temperature rise in degrees Okay, so it takes about twice as much energy to heat
Celsius (the temperature scale used in the laboratory). water (or wine) to 160 degrees Fahrenheit (the tempera-
The typical units of heat capacity measured in the lab- ture scale used in the U.S. kitchen) as it does to heat olive
oratory are expressed as calories/gram of substance to oil (or butter) to 160°F (71°C). But what does this have
raise the temperature by one degree Celsius (°C), or calo- to do with poaching lobster in butter? All that extra
ries/gram (°C). This is exactly equal to 1 Btu/pound (°F) energy added to water heated to 160°F is transferred to
when expressed in the Fahrenheit scale typically used in food cooked in the water or wine. Only half the amount
the United States. For the purposes of this discussion I of heat energy is available to transfer to food cooked in
will explain heat capacity for both the scientific scale olive oil or butter heated to 160°F, so the food cooks more
expressed in degrees Celsius (formerly centigrade) and gently and slowly.
Fahrenheit for those not familiar with the scientific scale. This may seem counterintuitive. Ask most people,
The heat capacities of butter and wine are not the and they will probably say that oil is hotter than water,
same. It takes more calories of energy to raise wine by so food cannot cook more gently in olive oil than water.
10°C than it does butter. Unfortunately, wine and but- They remember that oil can be heated to frying tem-
ter are mixtures with varying compositions, so their heat peratures, usually 350°F–375°F (177°C–191°C), while
capacities may vary. But water and olive oil are relatively water can’t be heated any higher than its boiling point
of 212°F (100°C), so they assume oil must be hotter contains twice as much heat energy as olive oil (for more
than water! But if we cook lobster in oil and water, both on heat, temperature and heat capacity read the sidebar
heated to 160°F, the water will contain twice as much on “What is Temperature and How does it differ from
energy to convey to the lobster as the oil does. The key Heat” in chapter 2) .
is the different amount of energy available to transfer to With knowledge of the heat capacity of substances like
the food when both oil and water are heated to the same olive oil, it is possible to cook foods very gently in these
temperature. substances using the sous vide method of controlled-
Not sure you believe this? Here’s a simple experiment temperature cooking. Is it any wonder that Keller,
you can do to convince the nonbelievers. Heat two small after creating his luscious recipe for butter-poached
pans, one with water and the other with oil, to 135°F lobster, went on to write an entire cookbook about
(57°C) (no higher!). Now, stick the index finger of each sous vide cooking, Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide
hand into each liquid at the same time. Which one feels (Artisan, 2008)? Now you know the rest of the story
hotter? These experiments were done at America’s Test (Who said that?).
Kitchen and published in Cook’s Illustrated (March &
April 2012: 30), where you can read about the results. REFERENCE
You may be surprised to find that the water feels much
Resnick, R., and D. Halliday. “Heat and the First Law of Thermody-
hotter than the olive oil because the water contains more namics.” Chap. 22 in Physics for Students of Science and Engineer-
heat energy. At exactly the same temperature, water ing, Part 1, 466–488. New York: Wiley, 1962.
Later that same year, Count Rumford returned to England to spend more time research-
ing heat. In 1799, he visited Paris where he met Marie-Anne Lavoisier, the widow of
Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, and they married in 1804 (Rumford’s first wife had died earlier
in the United States). Marie-Anne had assisted her first husband in his laboratory and
was thus able to assist Rumford with his research on heat, but other than that, it was an
unpleasant marriage. Rumford invented not only the Rumford fireplace, which he designed
to radiate more heat, but also the modern kitchen range, the drip coffeepot, and the dou-
ble boiler. He is also considered to have created the low-temperature method of sous vide
cooking in 1799, which he demonstrated by cooking a shoulder of mutton overnight in a
machine he had developed for drying potatoes. His method was later described in an essay
in which the mutton was referred to as perfectly cooked, extremely tender, juicy, and very
flavorful. What we might think of as a new method of cooking is really quite old. Thus
Rumford applied his knowledge of heat to produce many useful inventions for the kitchen
and cooking. Although he was very gifted and influential, with a history of many signif-
icant accomplishments as a scientist, soldier, and statesman, only a handful of people
attended his funeral in late August 1814 in the village of Auteuil, less than 4 miles from the
center of Paris.
During the mid- to late 1700s, similar developments in science and cooking were occur-
ring halfway around the world in China. As in Europe, a stark dichotomy existed between
a relatively small minority of those in the very wealthy and ruling classes and the teeming
masses of the poor and less fortunate. During the lengthy Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), the
population of China grew from about 150 million in the mid-1600s to 450 million by the
mid-1800s. With far too little food to feed the masses, widespread famine spread through-
out the country. To counteract the great disparity between rich and poor, the ruling policy
makers encouraged the planting of high-starch foods that were not indigenous to China,
such as sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, and corn, which soon became a favorite among
the Chinese peasants.
For the wealthy and ruling classes, food and cooking were as highly regarded as art and
literature, and talented chefs were respected and well paid. As in Europe, the best chefs
worked within the imperial palace while another hierarchy of respected chefs worked in
private homes as personal chefs for the wealthy and elite. Many of the chefs in private
homes were women. In China, there was a third category of chefs who worked in the
commercial kitchens of restaurants serving businesspeople and of catering firms supply-
ing the numerous banquets. Unlike in Europe, restaurants have been a significant part of
FIGURE 3.4
Scene on the Yangtze River near

Nanjing, China, illustrating the
trading of food. Oil on wood
panel painted by the author
(1988), based on an original
sketch by Thomas Allom, 1843.
the business of food and gastronomy in China since about the twelfth century. In fact,
the restaurant claimed to be the world’s oldest, Ma Yu Ching’s Bucket Chicken House,
was established in Kaifeng, China, in 1153 CE. The restaurant’s signature dish, Chinese
“bucket chicken,” bears no relation to KFC’s “bucket of chicken.” Those who could afford
to eat out did so on a regular basis, purchasing food from street vendors, tearooms, and
both small and very large restaurants. Chefs like Zhang Dong’guan, who worked in the
imperial palace of Emperor Qianlong (1736–1795) and favored Suzhou cuisine, were as
sought after and as famous as today’s celebrity chefs. Poet, artist, and gastronomic food
critic Yuan Mei (1716–1798), called the Brillat-Savarin of China, wrote a well-known book
on cooking with the title Suiyuan Shidan (Recipes from Sui Garden), published in 1796.
Unlike the elevated status of gastronomy in China during the 1700s, the state of science
was not as advanced or respected, with much of it imported from Europe by Jesuit and
Protestant missionaries who focused primarily on astronomy and mathematics. Europe
was ahead of China in the sciences of chemistry (except for gunpowder) and physics and
in the technology of basic machines, industrial production, and the mechanization of
agriculture, while China had developed expertise in the manufacture of silk and porce-
lain and the large-scale production of tea that was sought after by the Europeans. There
is no evidence that China discovered or developed any basic science that was important
for cooking during this period, perhaps because cooking was clearly viewed as an art of
the highest order rather than a science. The same was true for China’s neighbor India,
although the styles of cooking, and especially the uses of spices and seasonings, were very
different between the two countries. Yet both developed a love for cooking with hot chili
peppers, which were introduced to coastal China in about 1670 and found their way to
Sichuan in southwestern China in 1749, long after being domesticated in Mexico about
6,500 years ago.
4 The Art of Cooking Embraces the Science
of Atoms (1800–1900)
The Atomic Theory Changes Science Forever

In 1799, while Count Rumford experimented with low-temperature cooking, Joseph-Louis
Proust (1754–1826), a French chemist, proved experimentally that the elements that com-
prise chemical compounds always combine in constant proportions. Proust did much of
his research with copper carbonate and showed that its proportions of copper, carbon,
and oxygen are always the same regardless of how or when the compound is prepared.
This became known as the law of constant proportions. This was just the evidence that
John Dalton (1766–1844) needed to prove his concept of atomic theory in 1805. Dalton’s
theory would change science forever. Finally, all matter, everything that exists on earth and
beyond, could be understood in terms of its most fundamental building blocks, atoms.
Dalton spent his career as a meteorologist working in Manchester, England, where
he started thinking about the physical properties of the gases in air. Out of this evolved
his concept of atomic theory, which stated that all chemical elements are composed of
extremely small particles of matter that he called atoms (after the Greek word atomos,
meaning “indivisible”). All the atoms that comprise a single element, such as oxygen, are
identical in their weight (called atomic weight) and chemical properties, but the atoms in
different elements, such as carbon and sulfur, have weights and properties that are different
from those of oxygen atoms. The constancy of weight and chemical properties for all the
atoms in each element determined the proportion in which they combined with the atoms
FIGURE 4.1
Engraving of John Dalton, by William Henry Worthington, 1814. From the Science and Society Picture Library collection of
the Science Museum, London. Reproduced with permission.
68 | THE AR T OF COOKING EMBRACES THE SCIENCE OF ATOMS (1800–1900)
of other elements to form chemical compounds such as copper carbonate. For example,
Dalton’s theory explained why one atom of carbon (C) would always combine with two
atoms of oxygen (O) to form carbon dioxide (CO2), while one atom of carbon (C) would
also combine with four atoms of hydrogen (H) to form methane (CH4), which was known
as marsh gas in his day.
With Dalton’s theory, it was now possible to understand the structure of chemical com-
pounds based on the particles of matter called atoms and to predict how the atoms of
one element would combine with the atoms of other elements to form new chemical com-
pounds. It would soon be possible to predict how the molecules in food, such as water,
sugars, fats, and proteins, would behave when heated. Understanding why meat develops
such a wonderful flavor when it is roasted and why the starch in potatoes becomes soft and
easy to digest when baked in the oven and why vegetables become tender when boiled in
water has become possible based on Dalton’s atomic theory. As these secrets of cooking
are gradually revealed through science, chefs are able to create innovative new dishes with
delicious flavors and sumptuous textures. Jacob Bronowski eloquently described Dalton’s
revolutionary contribution to science in his book The Ascent of Man:
Dalton was a man of regular habits. For fifty-seven years he walked out of Manches-
ter every day; he measured the rainfall, the temperature—a singularly monotonous
enterprise in this climate. Of all that mass of data, nothing whatever came. But of
the one searching, almost childlike question about the weights that enter the con-
struction of these simple molecules—out of that came modern atomic theory. That
is the essence of science: ask an impertinent question, and you are on the way to the
pertinent answer.
The meaning of William Blake’s poetic lines “Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour” finally becomes clear when understood in terms of Dalton’s
atomic theory (the opening four lines of poetry are quoted in the preface to this book).
Atoms are so infinitesimally small that, until very recently, we have not been able to visu-
alize them—so small we can easily hold a nearly infinite number in our hand (the number
of oxygen and hydrogen atoms in a thimbleful of water is about 2 followed by twenty-four
zeros—an extremely large number!). And because the atoms that make up matter can be
neither created nor destroyed, according to the law of the conservation of matter, they
exist for all eternity.
NUMBERS BOTH LARGE AND SMALL
Numbers can be very confusing, especially if they are not Another extremely large number is the number of
the typical numbers you are used to dealing with, such atoms or molecules in the amount of a substance that
as the price of a pound of salmon or the balance in your equals its atomic or molecular weight in grams. Mole-
checking account. To make matters more difficult, scien- cules are substances composed of more than one atom.
tists and much of the developed world follow the metric For example, one molecule of water is composed of two
system, based on units of 10, to measure everything from hydrogen atoms chemically bonded to one oxygen atom
weights (for example, a kilogram) to distance (for exam- (H-O-H, also written as H2O). The atomic weight of
ple, a meter), while Americans are saddled with unwieldy hydrogen is 1, and the atomic weight of oxygen is 16,
units such as 12 inches in a foot and 16 ounces in a pound. so the molecular weight of a single molecule of water is
The metric system makes it a lot easier to work with very 2 × 1 + 16 = 18. Therefore, 1 molecular weight of water
large or very small numbers. weighs 18 grams, which chemists decided in 1898 should
Everyone knows the speed of light is extremely fast. be called a mole (short for molecular weight). If you have
Traveling at the rate of 3.00 × 108 meters per second, ever taken a chemistry class, then you are familiar with
in 1 year (called a light year), light travels 9.46 × 1015 the term mole. As a point of reference, 1 tablespoon of
meters, or almost 1 × 1016 meters. When we see numbers water weights 15 grams, so 18 grams, or 1 mole of water,
like these, measuring distances in units of 10 is very is about 1.2 tablespoons of water. Many years earlier
convenient because 10 multiplied by 10 (10 × 10) = 100, (about 1811), an Italian scientist named Amedeo Avoga-
which is designated 102. The 2 is called an exponent. Ten dro (1776–1866) determined that 1 mole of a substance
multiplied by itself three times (10 × 10 × 10) = 1,000, contains 6.022 × 1023 molecules, or approximately 6 fol-
written as 103. The exponents tell us how many times lowed by twenty-three zeros. This is an extremely large
10 is multiplied by 10, which in turn tells us how large number of molecules in only 18 grams of water. The
a number is in thousands (103), or millions (106), or number of atoms or molecules in 1 mole of any substance
even trillions (1012). The distance light travels in 1 year is 6.022 × 1023, which became known as Avogadro’s num-
is approximately 1 followed by sixteen zeros (10 mul- ber. As another example, the molecular weight of carbon
tiplied by 10 sixteen times), or 10,000,000,000,000,000 dioxide (CO2) is 44 (2 × 16 + 1 × 12, the atomic weight
meters. If a decimal point is placed immediately to of carbon), so 44 grams of carbon dioxide equal 1 mole,
the right of the 1 in this very large number, then there which also contains 6.022 × 1023 molecules of carbon
are sixteen zeros after the decimal point (count them), dioxide. At standard atmospheric pressure and room tem-
equaling 1 × 1016, the number of meters traveled by light perature, 1 mole of a gas such as carbon dioxide fills 22.4
in 1 year. In 1 million light years, light would travel liters (roughly 5.5 gallons). In other words, 22.4 liters of
1016 × 106 = 1022 meters because when multiplying these carbon dioxide weigh 44 grams. Similarly, 1 mole of oxy-
numbers, the exponents are simply added (16 + 6 = 22). gen (O2), with a molecular weight of 32 (2 × 16), will fill
The metric system makes it relatively easy to deal with 22.4 liters and weigh 32 grams, while 1 mole of nitrogen
very large numbers. (N2) will occupy 22.4 liters and weigh 28 grams (2 × 14).
With the knowledge that 1 mole of each of the gases meter equals 1 × 10−9 meters, or 0.0000000001 meters—
that make up air (which is about 78 percent nitrogen, a very, very small number indeed.
22 percent oxygen, and only 0.04 percent carbon dioxide) When we deal with very small numbers in the metric
occupies 22.4 liters and contains 6.02 × 1023 molecules of system, we use negative exponents of 10 rather than posi-
that gas, it becomes possible to calculate that 1 liter of air tive exponents. Just as positive exponents tell us how many
contains about 25 × 1021 molecules, which is how Enrico times 10 is multiplied by 10, negative exponents express
Fermi calculated the number of molecules in 1 liter of air the number of times 10 is divided by 10. So 10−3 means
for his physics class. Further, by calculating the approx- 10 divided by 10 three times, which equals 0.001. Notice
imate volume of air surrounding the planet and the that the decimal point is moved three places to the left of
number of molecules in this volume of air and then by the number 1 to form 0.001, so the exponent is −3. Simi-
determining the ratio of the two numbers, he could esti- larly, 10−6 equals 0.000001, which is the same as one part
mate that there was a “probability of one” that each liter per million. Recall that humans can smell some molecules
of air breathed in by a person living today will contain at less than one part per trillion, which is equivalent to
at least one molecule of air breathed out by Julius Cae- 1 molecule dispersed in 1,000,000,000,000 molecules,
sar in his dying breath. Of course, Fermi made lots of such as water or air; this also equals one part per 1012
assumptions to simplify the calculation of this probabil- parts or about 1 second in 32,000 years! The human olfac-
ity, including that all the molecules of air breathed out by tory system is exquisitely sensitive. As an example, if you
Caesar are still in the air rather then being incorporated are a nonsmoker, have you ever driven past a car with its
into trees or humans or anything not in the air. window open, with someone smoking inside the car, and
This brings us to extremely small numbers such as the smelled the smoke? How many molecules of smoke do
size of atoms and molecules. If 1.2 tablespoons of water you think were in the air you breathed in? Small weights
(1 mole) contain about 6 × 1023 molecules, then each mole- are measured in grams, milligrams (one-thousandth of a
cule has to be incredibly small. If we could take 10 million gram, or 10−3 grams), micrograms (one-millionth of
atoms (for example, atoms of carbon) and line them up a gram, or 10−6 grams), nanograms (one-billionth of a
one next to the other, the line of atoms would be only gram, or 10−9 grams), and pictograms (one-trillionth of a
about 1 millimeter long (1 millimeter is about 0.04 inches). gram, or 10–12 grams). Do you think there may have been
This would be similar to the point of a pencil contain- 1 nanogram of smoke in the air you breathed—or per-
ing 10 million (10 × 106) atoms. The diameter of atoms haps even less?
was first estimated by the Swedish physicist Anders Jonas
Ångström (1814–1874), who adopted his last name as the REFERENCE
unit of measure for the diameter of an atom. Today we
Morrison, P., P. Morrison, and the Office of Charles and Ray Eames.
measure such small distances in nanometers rather than Powers of Ten: A Book About the Relative Size of Things in the
angstroms, but the diameter of an atom is still the same: Universe and the Effect of Adding Another Zero. New York: Scien-
about 0.1 nanometers, or about 1 × 10−10 meters. One nano- tific American Library, 1982.
Just imagine that the atoms in the carbon dioxide breathed out by your great-grand-
parents who are no longer physically with us are still present in the atmosphere, as well as
in organic matter still present today on the planet. Even more astounding is the famous
proposition known as Caesar’s Last Breath, posed by Enrico Fermi (1901–1954), Nobel
laureate in physics. He calculated that there is a “probability of one” that every breath of
air you take contains at least one molecule of air (comprised of oxygen, nitrogen, and a
small amount of carbon dioxide) breathed out by Julius Caesar in his last dying breath.
Each breath of air (about 1 liter) contains about 25 × 1021 molecules (equal to 25 followed
by twenty-one zeros—another extremely large number), making it almost certain that at
least one of those molecules you just breathed in was in Caesar’s last breath. Statistically,
a probability close to 1 means there is a strong chance an event will occur, while a prob-
ability of 1 means an event will almost certainly occur. In this sense, we really never lose
contact with our late loved ones. The great Indian-born American author Deepak Chopra,
expressed this so beautifully when he stated, “The fragrance of your ancestors lingers here
right now.” A truly powerful thought.
Science Enters the Realm of Cooking

The artistic creativity of cooking finally fused with the new science of Dalton,
Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, and Robert Boyle following the French Revolution. Of all
creative activities, cooking best embodies the elements of art and science. I suspect that’s
why I find cooking so appealing and satisfying. Perhaps no other chef of this era com-
bined art and science in his cooking more than the “King of Chefs,” Marie-Antoine
Carême (1783–1833). The great chef Auguste Escoffier once said, “The fundamental
principles of the science [of cooking], which we owe to Carême, will last as long as
cooking itself,” while Carême himself stated, “The chef committed to science is more
responsive to the praise given by his Patron than to the handful of gold that he might
receive from him.” Clearly, Carême was a true artist, as seen in the magnificent pastries
and dishes he created, but much of his success was due to the science applied in making
his creations.
Abandoned by his parents in the streets of Paris at the age of eleven, Carême did
not have an easy start in life. Fortunately, by the age of sixteen, he had found his way
to an apprenticeship at a Parisian pastry shop and was discovered by his first patron,
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord (known simply as Talleyrand), the minister of
foreign affairs during Napoleon’s reign. At that time, the best chefs in France worked
for wealthy patrons rather than in commercial restaurants, as food shortages follow-
ing the French Revolution limited the availability of fresh ingredients and most peo-
ple could not afford to eat in restaurants. After serving Talleyrand for many years,
Carême went on to work for a number of other influential patrons, including the tsar
of Russia and Baron de Rothschild. During this time, he wrote a number of major
books on French cooking, claiming he reached a far greater audience through writing
than all the meals he cooked as a private chef. His reputation soon spread, establishing
him as the most celebrated chef in Europe, the creator of nouvelle cuisine, or modern
French cooking.
It was no coincidence that French cooking reached its zenith with Carême’s nou-
velle cuisine not long after French science achieved similar status with Lavoisier’s exqui-
site experiments. Carême’s beautiful cuisine was based on science. Despite what you
might have read about his elaborate dinners, he believed in maintaining simplicity; using
seasonal ingredients; reducing the number of spices (typically parsley, tarragon, and
chervil); simplifying sauces, often made from a small number of concentrates; and serv-
ing meats in their natural juices rather than heavy gravies. In his final book, L’Art de
la cuisine française (1833), he listed recipes for almost 300 soups and 358 sauces. It was
clear from his use of ingredients such as anchovy butter and shrimp paste made from
the tails of shrimp that he was aware of the savory taste of umami well before it was
identified almost one hundred years later, in 1908, by a Japanese physical chemist. Once
Carême had gained a reputation as a celebrated chef, he was able to live a very comfort-
able life, which unfortunately came to an early end at the age of forty-nine, presumably
due to tuberculosis.
During the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821) developed into a
prominent statesman and military leader, ultimately becoming the emperor of France
from 1804 to 1814 during the Napoleonic Wars (1799–1815). He recognized very early that
an army fights on its stomach and must be constantly supplied with safe, nutritious food.
Unfortunately, as his armies conquered ever more territory, it became increasingly difficult
to preserve food transported over long distances for extended periods of time. In 1795, at
Napoleon’s request, the temporary French government, known as the Directory, offered a
sizable reward of 12,000 francs to anyone who could develop a new method to prevent food
from spoiling. Nicolas Appert (1750–1841), a brewer, confectioner, and chef, answered the
call and eventually won the coveted prize in 1810.
Appert was born in Châlons-sur-Marne (renamed Châlons-en-Champagne in 1998),

located about 92 miles (148 kilometers) from Paris in the heart of the Champagne region in
northeastern France. In 1780, he moved to Paris and opened a small but successful confec-
tionary shop. From a very early age, he experimented with food and acquired an extensive
knowledge of food preparation and the methods available at the time for preserving foods.
These methods could be divided into two categories: one involved desiccating the food, which
is how salting and smoking meat and fish work, and the other called for adding foreign sub-
stances such as sugar or vinegar (pickling) to prevent fermentation and putrefaction. Both
methods had undesirable effects on the texture and flavor of the food. To make matters worse,
no one knew why these methods worked, which may explain why they were not very success-
ful in preserving foods for very long periods. The general theory at the time was that exposure
to air causes food to spoil. It would be another 60 years before the culprit was discovered by
Louis Pasteur to be nearly invisible microorganisms (frequently coming from the air).
In his experience working with food, Appert had learned
that “heat has the essential quality to arrest decomposition”
and that “heat applied in the proper manner effects perfect
preservation after having deprived them [the food] in the most
rigorous manner possible of contact with air.” On the basis
of this knowledge, Appert set out to devise a new method for
the long-term preservation of food. For more than 10 years, he
carried out extensive tests to perfect his new method, which
involved both heat and rigorous exclusion of air. His process
required four steps: (1) place the food in wide-mouthed glass
bottles, (2) cork the bottles with great care “because success
depends chiefly on the closing,” (3) submit the enclosed food
to boiling water (in a water bath) for more or less time accord-
ing the nature of the food, and (4) remove the bottles from the
water bath at the prescribed time. His theory was that heating
the tightly sealed bottles (the corks were inserted with pressure,
sealed with “fish glue,” and secured with wire) in boiling water
drove out all traces of air from inside the food, thus preventing
FIGURE 4.2
putrefaction (figure 4.2). His method was fortuitous for several
The glass bottle used by Nicolas Appert (ca. 1809) and one of the
first “tin” cans developed by Peter Durand (1810). Watercolor on
reasons. First, he chose to use glass bottles because he knew
paper by the author, based on early photographs. glass was impermeable to air (presumably from his knowledge
of bottling champagne), and, second, this choice meant he had to use relatively small bot-
tles, as large glass bottles are more easily broken. With small bottles, he could heat the food
completely through, raising even the center of it to the same temperature as boiling water.
Little did he know that this process killed all the harmful microorganisms that were hid-
ing in the food. If he had used much larger containers, he might not have heated the food
completely through and might not have destroyed all the harmful microorganisms. As we
shall see, this later became a fatal problem in the hands of a less scrupulous food processor.
During his lengthy trials, Appert prepared dozens of different preserved foods, includ-
ing roasted meats, poultry, fish, stews, soups, sauces, vegetables, fruits, and desserts. The
meat dishes were all partially cooked before they were placed in the jars and heated, which
typically required between 1 and 2 hours in the boiling water bath. The length of time was
arrived at by trial and error. In 1804, Appert opened an experimental facility for the large-
scale preservation of food, using his new method to produce enough food for testing by
the French navy. Following this successful trial, he presented his results to the government
in 1809, which approved his method and requested that he write a complete report on
his process for preserving foods before awarding him the prize money in 1810, approxi-
mately 14 years after he began his work. His report on The Art of Preserving All Kinds
of Animal and Vegetable Substances for Several Years was 107 pages long and included a
detailed description of his method of bottling the food, followed by 61 pages of recipes
(Appert 1812). With the prize money, Appert set up a company and small factory for pre-
serving food in 1812; it continued in operation until 1933.
Appert’s method drew lots of attention, especially from Peter Durand, a British inven-
tor, who determined Appert’s method would be better suited for nonbreakable metal con-
tainers, a new invention at the time. Durand obtained a patent for his method in 1810,
using soldered iron containers lined with tin to better resist acidic foods. An entirely new
method of preserving food called canning had been born— and, with it, what is now
known as the tin can (figure 4.2). In 1812, two Englishmen, Bryan Donkin and John Hall,
purchased Durand’s patents; formed the company Donkin, Hall, and Gamble; and turned
the invention of canning into a commercial success, of sorts. The method was very expen-
sive, and the cans had to be opened with a hammer and chisel (the can opener would not
be invented until 1855). The major customers for canned foods were the governments of
Britain and France, which were thus able to supply their armies and navies with safe, nutri-
tious, good-tasting, nonperishable food. As far as satisfying Napoleon’s original request to
provide a method of preserving food for the military, canning was a great success.
During the early 1800s, the introduction of canned food proceeded relatively slowly,
primarily because the cost made it unaffordable to all but the wealthy and the govern-
ment. Producing the tin-lined cans alone required more than a dozen steps, as the seams
had to be soldered with lead inside and out and then along the outside at the top and
bottom, once the can was closed. But those who were fortunate enough to buy canned
food from the primary manufacturer in England— Donkin, Hall, and Gamble—raved over
the quality and the flavor of the food. And there were no complaints about its safety or
spoilage. Britain’s Royal Navy quickly became the major customer, buying large quantities
to supply its ships, especially those going on long voyages and extended expeditions. In
1845, the Royal Navy embarked on the largest, most expensive expedition yet undertaken
in an effort to find the lucrative Northwest Passage. This would involve two naval ships,
the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, which had to be specially outfitted for use in Arctic
waters and stocked with enough provisions to feed 129 men for 3 years. The expedition
was under the command of Sir John Franklin, who led a handpicked crew of officers and
sailors (plus a dog named Neptune and a pet monkey named Jacko). The Royal Navy
determined the expedition would require 29,500 cans of dozens of different varieties of
precooked canned meats, vegetables, soups, and sauces, including more than 20,000 cans
of soup (each weighing 1 pound) and 9,500 cans of meat and vegetables (ranging in weight
from 1 to 8 pounds each). The expedition was scheduled to sail on May 19, 1845, yet the
order for all the provisions was not issued by the navy until April 1, 1845, making the task
nearly impossible to complete on time and within budget. To make matters much worse,
the Royal Navy chose to select the winning bid based on the lowest cost! Reputable sup-
pliers such as Donkin, Hall, and Gamble quickly dropped out of the competition, which
was won by Stephan Goldner, owner of a small, unknown, unsanitary canning plant in the
squalid section of London’s East End.
Goldner may have won the contract because he had patented a process for heating canned
food to a temperature of 250°F (121°C) using a concentrated solution of calcium chloride
(which boils at a much higher temperature than pure water) rather than a bath of boiling
tap water. Goldner believed he could use his patented process to can food faster than other
companies and therefore meet the deadline while keeping costs low. His was by far the low-
est bid of those submitted. But Goldner was an unscrupulous person willing to do what-
ever it took to make a profit at the expense of the Royal Navy. He used extremely cheap
cuts of old meat loaded with heavy bones and spoiled or wilted vegetables, and he hired
dozens of unskilled, unsanitary laborers off the street who took shortcuts in producing
the cans and processing the food. Apparently, the navy never inspected Goldner’s blood-
splattered plant, or it might have pulled the plug on the contract. By the end of the first
month of the contract, Goldner had not delivered a single can of food! The navy was begin-
ning to worry (panic is more likely), so Goldner asked to package the food in larger cans,
up to 12 pounds each, which he argued would allow him to produce the food faster, and the
navy agreed to this without objection. In fact, most of the food was packaged in cans that
were much larger than the 1-pound cans originally specified by the navy. Finally, all of the
cans were delivered to the docks just 48 hours before sailing. Naturally, in its haste to meet
the sailing deadline, the navy never checked the contents of the cans and simply accepted the
food without objection and loaded all of it below decks on the ships. Goldner had met the
deadline and received full payment for his effort. He was never heard from again after 1852.
Much of this information is detailed in the original government records of the time.
The fate of Franklin’s expedition is now well known, with all 129 members lost; they
either froze or perished from some disease like pneumonia or from an unknown cause—
perhaps food poisoning or even cannibalism. Numerous rescue attempts and searches have
been undertaken over the years. It became apparent that the ships had been completely ice
bound for more than 2 years and that the crew eventually abandoned them to search for an
escape route over the ice and snow. In 1984, several well-preserved frozen corpses of the expe-
dition’s crewmen were found and examined by Dr. Owen Beattie of the University of Alberta.
In 2014 and 2016, the two ships were found sunken but in remarkably good condition.
Some of the corpses showed very high levels of lead in their tissue, and until recently, most
investigators believed the crew may have been weakened by and succumbed to lead poison-
ing from the lead pipes used to transport drinking and cooking water inside the ships and
from the lead solder used to seal the cans of food. But evidence is now mounting that many
of the deaths might be linked to improperly canned food contaminated with botulinum, a
fatal neurotoxin produced by Clostridium botulinum bacteria. One corpse was found to
contain a species of Clostridium spores in its intestine. The food poisoning may have been
caused by the large cans Goldner used in his rush to complete the order. Completely heating
the food in a 12-pound can, even in a 250°F (121°C) calcium chloride water bath, takes far
longer than heating food in a 1-pound can (the exact time depends on the food), poten-
tially resulting in cold spots in the middle of the food where Clostridium spores would not
be killed. Clostridium spores must be heated to 240°F–250°F (115°C–121°C) for 3 minutes
to be completely destroyed. Yet Goldner heated the 12-pound cans for the same length of

RECIPE 4.1 Baked Haddock with Special Breadcrumb Topping
INGREDIENTS: Would you like to eat more fish but are tired of so much salmon and find white fish like haddock,
hake, and cod (members of the same family of fish) are too bland and uninteresting for your taste?
Here is a recipe for a special breadcrumb topping that makes even bland-tasting white fish really
olive oil
delicious, and it is quick and easy to prepare for weeknight meals, as well as for special company.
1 ounce red bell pepper, Many people are reluctant to cook white fish at home because it is so easy to overcook, making it
finely chopped dry and flaky, and it’s also pretty expensive, so you don’t want it to be disappointing. The secret to
1 garlic clove, finely preparing great white fish is to bake it with a breadcrumb topping that prevents the fish from drying
chopped out and overcooking and is also really flavorful. The oily breadcrumbs keep moisture in the fish and
insulate it from overcooking. The topping in this recipe was developed by my father-in-law to use on
¼ cup dry vermouth,
baked stuffed shrimp in his New England seaside restaurant. I decided to use it on baked white fish
plus additional for
the fish to solve the problem of dull, overcooked white fish.
The topping derives its signature flavor from finely chopped red bell pepper and garlic sau-
2/3 cup freshly téed in oil and finished with a touch of vermouth. Almost any type of breadcrumb will work, but
ground dried bread, I prefer freshly ground dried leftover French baguette and sometimes ground Ritz crackers, the clas-
preferably French-
sic base for a topping (although the baguette provides a better texture and appearance). Packaged
style baguette
panko-style breadcrumbs also work, but don’t use the regular packaged breadcrumbs sold in the
1 Tbsp. butter supermarket, or they will impart a very dull, musty flavor to the topping. Also, read the label on any
12- to 13-ounce wild- store-bought prepared breadcrumb topping, as some still contain partially hydrogenated vegetable
caught haddock fillet, oil or shortening, a source of harmful trans fat.
skin removed For a great healthy meal, serve the fish on top of mashed cauliflower (see recipe in chapter 6),
along with leafy greens (spinach, Swiss chard, mustard greens, bok choy, etc.) sautéed with garlic
Fresh-squeezed lemon
and oil, and carrots roasted with a little brown sugar and butter.
juice
Chopped parsley
DIRECTIONS:
NOTE: Preheat the oven to 350°F. In an 8-inch stainless steel skillet, heat the olive oil on medium heat, add
This recipe can be easily the bell pepper, and sauté for about 4 minutes, until the edges of the pepper just begin to darken.
scaled up to almost any Add the garlic, and continue cooking for about 1 minute; then allow the pan to cool off the heat
amount and stored in for about 1 minute (to prevent the vermouth from splattering in the hot pan). Add the vermouth,
portions in the freezer and continue cooking until virtually all of the vermouth has evaporated. Allow the pan to cool off
for many months. heat for another minute, add the breadcrumbs, and mix well. Season the breadcrumbs with a small
Yield: Enough amount of salt and freshly ground pepper, if desired.
breadcrumbs for Place tiny dabs of butter evenly on the bottom of a shallow baking dish, place the fish fillet on
2 servings of fish top of the butter, and splash with a small amount of additional vermouth. Spread the breadcrumb
(see note) topping evenly over the fish, and bake on the middle rack of the oven for 20 minutes. Season with a
little fresh-squeezed lemon juice and chopped parsley, divide into two portions, and serve.
time as the 1-pound cans because he had no idea that heat was required to kill any patho-
genic microorganisms (and because he was rushing to fill the order). Clostridium botulinum
bacteria were unknown until 1897. In 1845, it was assumed, even by Appert, that heat was
required only to drive all the air out of the food. Once sealed inside the can, the anaerobic
Clostridium spores happily resided there until activated by heat, resulting in the growth of
the bacteria and the production of the deadly neurotoxin. With fuel running short, some of
the canned food, especially the food taken along by the sled parties looking for an escape
route out of the ice fields, may not have been heated at a high enough temperature or for
a long enough time to destroy any resident toxin. Destruction of 99 percent of botulinum
toxin C requires that food be heated at 176°F (80°C) for 5 minutes.
Aside from this tragic example of taking shortcuts, canning has proved to be a very safe
way of preserving food. In fact, in 1974, the National Food Processors Association opened
and tested a number of foods that had been canned in 1865. The appearance, smell, and
vitamin content had deteriorated, but there were no traces of microbial contamination.
The food was judged to be safe to eat, if less than appealing.
The Art of Cooking Embraces the Science of Cooking

During the period from 1820 to 1860, there were great advances in science, especially in
food chemistry, in both France and Germany. Competition between the academic scientists
in these two countries was especially fierce and yet very constructive. By the late 1830s,
they had established that plants and animals contained sugars, fats, and nitrogenous sub-
stances soon to be identified as proteins. They found that, together with water, these sub-
stances comprised all the macronutrients present in food and therefore all the components
involved in the transformations that occur when food is cooked. When I was in graduate
school many years ago obtaining my PhD degree in organic chemistry, it was required
that every student prove he or she was proficient in reading and writing scientific German
before graduating. For those like myself who are not adept at learning languages, scientific
German is especially difficult, as some sentences can be an entire paragraph in length, and
many words are actually compound words created by putting multiple words together into
one long word. For example, the German word for the number 7,254 is siebentausendz-
weihundertvierundfünfzig! The longest word in the Guinness Book of World Records is
a German word containing thirty-nine letters—rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften,
which means “insurance companies providing legal protection.”
So why am I writing about the difficulties of German scientific language? Because in

1821 Friedrich Accum (1769–1838), a German chemist, wrote one of the early books on
cooking science, and it has perhaps the longest title of any book on science or any other
topic: Culinary Chemistry Exhibiting the Scientific Principles of Cookery with Concise
Instructions for Preparing Good and Wholesome Pickles, Vinegar, Conserves, Fruit Jellies,
Marmalades, and Various Other Alimentary Substances Employed in Domestic Economy,
with Observations on the Chemical Constitution and Nutritive Qualities of Different
Kinds of Food. Fortunately, it is simply referred to as Culinary Chemistry. Despite the
lengthy title, the book sold very well and helped pull Accum out of poverty. He wrote that
“the art of preparing food is a branch of chemistry: The kitchen is a chemical laboratory.”
Aside from being rather verbose, Accum was very instrumental in bringing to the public’s
attention the widespread problem of adulterated processed food, which he referred to as
“death in the pot.” Not to be outdone by the Germans, Jean Brillat-Savarin (1755–1826),
the famous French gastronome and amateur food scientist (a lawyer by profession), pub-
lished his famous book The Physiology of Taste in 1825, just two months before his death.
The full title of his book easily challenges Accum’s: The Physiology of Taste, or, Medi-
tations of Transcendent Gastronomy; A Theoretical, Historical and Topical Work, Ded-
icated to the Gastronomes of Paris by a Professor, Member of Several Literary Societies.
I will not attempt to add any more about Brillat-Savarin’s life, as he is so well known in
cooking and gastronomy circles and the title of his book says it all.
Justus von Liebig (1803–1873), one of the best-known German chemists of the time, made
significant contributions to food chemistry and the science of cooking. He was an extremely
productive chemist with an extensive body of very influential work in pharmacy, organic
chemistry, agricultural chemistry, physiological chemistry, food chemistry, and even the chem-
istry of sewage. He was also a very careful experimentalist, often having his students recheck
and validate the work of other scientists. Among the many works that Baron von Liebig
wrote, one of his most important, published in 1847, was given the thankfully brief title
Research on the Chemistry of Food. A number of scientists from France (Michel Chevreul,
Jean Dumas), the Netherlands (Gerardus Mulder), Sweden (Jöns Berzelius), and Germany
(Friedrich Wöhler) were involved in identifying the sugars, fats, and proteins in food. How-
ever, Liebig made some of the most significant contributions, especially regarding the nutri-
tional importance of these constituents of food to good health. He showed that respiration
was a slow form of combustion in which the organic matter of food was oxidized to form
the carbon dioxide expelled in the breath and that the heat generated by the reaction was the
source of body heat. He went on to say the “the unassimilated nitrogen of the food, along
with the unburned or unoxidized carbon is expelled in the urine or in the solid excrements.”
One of Liebig’s most successful ventures was the development of “meat extracts” as
a cheap, nutritional food for the poor, as well as for ill and invalid patients, and in 1862,
he formed the Liebig Extract of Meat Company along with a partner, Georg Giebert.
With Giebert’s business guidance, the company made Liebig a wealthy man. Today the
company is part of the multinational company Unilever. Liebig’s process involved boiling
chopped meat in eight to ten times its weight in water for half an hour to dissolve all of the
active nutritional ingredients, remove the fat, and concentrate the extract by evaporation.
In this manner, 33 pounds of meat could be reduced to 1 pound of “essence, which is suf-
ficient [when reconstituted] to make broth for 128 men.”
Unfortunately, in today’s world of cooking lore, Liebig is better known for the error
he made rather than for all his accomplishments. He insisted that, when meat is added to
boiling water, the protein on the surface coagulates and forms a barrier against the loss
of juices and nutrients. Cooks have assumed ever since that the surface of meat seared
in a hot pan or oven forms a crust, preventing the loss of juice from the meat. But Liebig
never extended his supposition to meat seared with dry heat. Research conducted at the
University of Missouri in 1930 proved searing did not prevent loss of juice by showing
that roasts cooked in a very hot oven lost more moisture than similar roasts cooked in a
colder oven. In fact, the amount of moisture lost from cooked meat has been shown to be
directly proportional to the internal temperature of the meat. The myth that braising meat
in liquid makes it juicier has been disproved by research conducted in the 1970s and 1980s
that showed the heat transferred from a simmering braising liquid such as water causes the
muscle fibers to shrink and squeeze out as much moisture as in meat roasted in a dry oven.
There is one other area of cooking in which Liebig played a role that many cooks may
not realize. One of his American students, Eben Norton Horsford (1818–1893), became a
professor of chemistry at Harvard and obtained a patent in 1856 for a new baking powder
that could replace yeast in baked goods. Horsford founded the Rumford Chemical Works
in Rumford, Rhode Island, to manufacture the product, which was sold as Rumford Bak-
ing Powder. In Germany, Liebig promoted the product as “the chemical method for making
bread” from refined white flour and encouraged two of his German students to manufac-
ture the product for Europe, using a mixture of calcium and magnesium phosphates and
sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). In 1868, Liebig showed that white bread made from
refined white flour (flour from which the bran had been removed) was nutritionally inferior
to bread made with whole wheat flour.
DOES BRAISING MEAT REALLY MAKE IT JUICIER?
One of the most common cooking myths is that braising by connective tissue. Each fiber is composed of hundreds
meat makes it juicier. After all, braising is a method of of small tubules called myofibrils, which are made up of
cooking meat in a liquid such as stock or wine. It seems bands of proteins called actin (thin filaments) and myosin
common sense to assume that some of the liquid would (thick filaments) that control muscle action. When mus-
make its way into the meat as it cooks and make it juicy. cle contracts, the actin and myosin proteins bond together
Before deciding whether this is fact or fiction, we need to through the formation of chemical cross-links, causing the
examine the structure of meat and what makes it juicy or proteins to move closer together. When the muscle relaxes,
dry when it is cooked by different methods. the cross-links are broken, and the actin and myosin return
Meat is the muscle tissue of an animal. It is composed to their original positions. Actin and myosin are held in
primarily of muscle fibers, connective tissue, fat, and water. position by other proteins called Z-disks.
The first two are proteins. The dominant proteins in mus- The meat from animals is about 75 percent water
cle fibers are actin and myosin, while the primary protein by weight. About 80 percent of this water is contained
in connective tissue is collagen. A deconstructed picture within the myofibrils in the spaces between the thick and
of muscle and its component parts is shown in figure 1. thin filaments (see figure 1). When meat is cooked to high
Muscle is composed of thousands of muscle fibers, each temperatures (reaches the well-done stage), the myofi-
of which is composed of very long individual muscle cells. brils shrink in diameter, squeezing out some of the water
The muscle fibers are packed into bundles surrounded inside them. Shrinking actually starts at temperatures as
low as 104°F (40°C), with maximal water loss beginning
at 140°F (60°C). Muscle fibers have been shown to shrink
very rapidly to about half of their original volume when
heated to temperatures between 122°F (50°C) and 158°F
(70°C). If a piece of meat is cooked and immediately
sliced, the juice we see running out of the meat is the
water that has been squeezed out of the myofibrils into
the spaces between the muscle fibers, where it is free to
escape as soon as the meat is sliced. Active shrinking of
the myofibrils during cooking is the major cause of water
loss in meat.
The ability of meat to hold onto the water within
muscle tissue is called its water holding capacity (WHC),
which determines how much water the meat will retain
FIGURE 1
(or lose) when cooked. Related to the WHC of meat is its
ability to absorb water from a brine solution. One of the
The composition and structure of a muscle fiber. Watercolor and ink on paper
by the author. most important factors in determining the WHC of meat
is the pH of the meat. Because the juiciness of cooked marbled with fat, and cook it to an internal temperature
meat is perceived as tenderness, the pH of raw meat is of 145°F (63°C) at the thickest part of the meat, accord-
perhaps the single most important factor in determining ing to the new U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines.
the eating quality of cooked meat. The center should still be pink. Beef tends to be more
Many of the amino acids that link together like a acidic, with a pH around 5.5–6.0. But since a whole cut
long chain of paper clips to form proteins are electrically of beef is sterile inside, it can be cooked to 125°F–130°F
charged. The electrical charges of different regions of a (52°C–54°C) without danger of food poisoning. As we
protein greatly affect how it interacts with its neighbor- will see, a lower internal temperature results in more
ing proteins. These charges are directly influenced by the tender, juicy meat. Before I finally answer the original
pH of the environment surrounding the protein. In an question about braising meat and juiciness, let me just
acid environment, the protein acquires additional posi- add that the pH of meat is largely dependent on how the
tive electrical charges, while in an alkaline environment, animal was treated shortly before slaughter. The more
it acquires additional negative electrical charges. At a pH stressed the animal is, the more lactic acid that builds up
called the isoelectric point, all of the positive and negative in the muscle tissue following slaughter, thus lowering the
electrical charges of a group of neighboring proteins are pH of the meat. More stress = more acid = lower pH.
completely balanced, so the proteins are electrically neu- So does braising meat make it juicier? The answer is
tral. At this pH, there is no repulsion between proteins, no! For meat at a given pH, the amount of water it retains
so all of the proteins can cluster together like a crowd of when cooked is directly related to its temperature not to
people. When muscle proteins pack together this tightly, how it was cooked. This is because the temperature of
there is little room for water inside the myofibrils. In the meat determines how much the muscle fibers shrink,
addition, tightly packed muscle fibers are difficult to bite how much water they can hold, and how tender the meat
through. Thus, when the pH of meat is at its isoelectric will be. The research supporting this conclusion goes
point, it will be very tough and dry when cooked. back 40 years. Several research papers published in the
The isoelectric point of most meat such as beef and Journal of Food Science, Journal of Animal Science, and
pork is about pH 5.2, or mildly acidic. As the pH rises Meat Science (see the references) in the 1970s and early
and becomes less acidic, the muscle proteins acquire addi- 1980s support this conclusion. It is surprising the myth
tional negative electrical charges that force the proteins that braising meat makes it juicier has lasted this long.
apart (remember that like charges repel each other), cre- The following table summarizes the results published
ating more space for water and making the muscle fiber in the Journal of Food Science (McCrae and Paul 1974),
easier to bite through. The quality of lean pork is strongly in which the researchers compared “cooking losses” in
influenced by the pH of the meat. To be tender and juicy, braised and roasted beef steaks cut to a thickness of
pork should have a pH of 6.5 or higher. Fortunately, it is 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) from the same cut of eye of the
relatively easy to judge the pH of pork, as darker pork has round beef. Both braised and roasted meats were cooked
a higher pH. Select pork that is relatively dark and well to the same internal temperature of 158°F (70°C).
The oven temperature for roasting the meat was 325°F REFERENCES
(163°C). Water was used as the braising liquid. Bendal, J. R., and D. J. Restall. “The Cooking of Single Microfibers,
Small Microfiber Bundles and Muscle Strips from Beef Muscles at
Measure Braised Roasted Varying Heating Rates and Temperatures.” Meat Science 8 (1983):
93–117.
Total cooking loss 29.58% 28.20% Bengtsson, N. E., B. Jakobsson, and M. Dagerskog. “Cooking of Beef
Drip loss 20.02% 5.62% by Oven Roasting: A Study of Heat and Mass Transfer.” Journal of
Food Science 41 (1976): 1047–1053.
Evaporation 9.57% 22.58%
Cross, H. R., M. S. Stanfield, and E. J. Koch. “Beef Palatability As
Affected by Cooking Rate and Final Internal Temperature.” Jour-
Notice the amount of water lost (along with a small nal of Animal Science 43 (1976): 114–121.
amount of fat) is essentially the same for both dry and McCrae, S. E., and P. C. Paul. “The Rate of Heating As It Affects the
Solubilization of Beef Muscle Collagen.” Journal of Food Science
wet cooking methods. But, interestingly, the ways the 39 (1974): 18–21.
water was lost were different. Most of the water lost Offer, G., and J. Trinick. “On the Mechanism of Water Holding in
during braising was the result of drip loss, while most Meat: The Swelling and Shrinking of Myofibriles.” Meat Science
8 (1983): 245–281.
of the water lost during roasting was the result of evap-
Schock, D. R., D. L. Harrison, and L. L. Anderson. “Effect of Dry and
oration, which seems quite logical. It is very clear that Moist Heat Treatments on Selected Beef Quality Factors.” Journal
braising meat in liquid does not make it juicier. of Food Science 35 (1970): 195–198.
THE MANY LIVES (AND USES) OF BAKING SODA
Baking soda, aka sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3), has baking soda initiates the breakdown of pectin, the reac-
been used as a leavening agent for baked goods since at tion proceeds on its own.
least 1869. When heated or mixed with acid, baking soda In another application, increasing the amount of
forms carbon dioxide gas (and water as a by-product of baking soda in a recipe for “Crisp Gingersnap Cookies”
the reaction). It is frequently used alone, but it is more (Cook’s Illustrated, November & December 2011: 22–23)
often used in the form of baking powder, in which it is helps to develop desirable fissures in the cookies, as well
combined with certain acids, such as monocalcium phos- as to produce drier cookies with increased browning and
phate. It is also common practice to use baking soda and flavor. In this case, the baking soda weakens the devel-
baking powder together when a recipe involves acidic opment of gluten, creating a more porous structure.
ingredients such as buttermilk. Without the addition of More-alkaline dough also promotes cookie spread, as
baking soda, the acid in buttermilk would quickly neu- well as browning and flavor by the Maillard reaction (for
tralize the baking powder, which is designed to release detailed discussion of the Maillard reaction see the sec-
much of its gas slowly in the oven. tion on “Flavor Rules” in chapter 5).
All of this is well known to cooks. But baking soda Use of a small amount of baking soda also makes
has many other applications in the kitchen that are less it possible to make “Great Home Fries” (Cook’s Illus-
well known. These applications are based on the fact that trated, January & February 2012: 12–13). When the
sodium bicarbonate is a mild alkali. Most food ingredi- potato cubes are cooked in water with a little baking
ents are neutral or acidic. Egg whites are the only other soda for just 1 minute, the exteriors of the potatoes
commonly used alkaline food ingredient. become mushy, releasing the starch molecule known as
For many years, baking soda has been used to has- amylose, which helps to make a crispy brown crust when
ten the cooking of vegetables. It does this because the the potatoes are roasted in the oven. Meanwhile the inte-
added alkali greatly accelerates the breakdown of pec- riors remain firm and moist, so they cook up creamy
tin, which strengthens plant cell walls and holds the and tender. In this case, the baking soda hastened the
cells together. Nowadays cooks prefer their vegetables breakdown of the potato cell walls, enabling the release
firm, so baking soda is not used very much for this of amylose.
purpose. But there are times when a pinch of alkaline As a final example, baking soda helps to tenderize
baking soda makes cooking easier. Take the example of meat. The tenderness of pork is dependent on the pH of
“No-Fuss Creamy Polenta,” published in Cook’s Illus- the meat. Up to a point, the higher the pH of the meat
trated (March & April 2010: 18–19). The addition of is, the more tender it will be. Consider a recipe for “Sich-
a small amount (literally just a pinch) of baking soda uan Stir-Fried Pork in Garlic Sauce” (Cook’s Illustrated,
to the water used to cook the coarse-ground cornmeal March & April 2012: 10–11). After the pork was soaked
softens the cell walls of the cornmeal and dramatically for only 15 minutes in a dilute solution of baking soda
reduces both the cooking time and the amount of stir- (made by dissolving 1 teaspoon of baking soda in ½ cup
ring. It takes just a pinch because once the alkaline of water), it cooked up to be juicy and supple. Increasing
the pH of meat makes it less acidic and helps it to retain are about a thousand times more hydroxide ions in the
more moisture, which helps it to remain tender. solution of sodium carbonate than there are in the solu-
To understand how these reactions occur, let’s look tion of baking soda!
more closely at the chemistry of baking soda. When
2NaHCO3 ⇒ Na2CO3 + CO2 + H2O
something is alkaline, it means a solution of this sub-
stance in water has a pH greater than 7, which is neu- But how readily does this decomposition occur? At
tral. A solution with a pH below 7 is acidic. The pH scale America’s Test Kitchen, I measured the pH of a 5 percent
(0–14) is a measure of the concentration of hydrogen solution of baking soda in water and found it to have a
ions (H+) and hydroxide ions (−OH) in solution. When pH of 8. I then gently boiled the solution, keeping the
dissolved in water, acids produce an excess of hydrogen volume constant, while removing small aliquots for test-
ions, which combine with water to form hydronium ions ing. After cooling, I measured the pH of the samples with
(H3O+), while alkalis produce an excess of hydroxide ions. a pH meter. After I had heated the solutions for about
At neutral pH 7, the two ion concentrations are equal. 30 minutes, the pH had increased to about 9.7, confirm-
A 5 percent solution of baking soda in water exhibits a ing that much of the sodium bicarbonate had broken
pH of about 8, as measured by a pH meter. A solution down to sodium carbonate, water, and carbon dioxide,
with pH 8 is considered a mild alkali, as the pH is not which had escaped from the boiling water. It is also pos-
much higher than a neutral pH of 7. sible to get the same reaction in the oven. Heating baking
Most cooks have heard enough about acids, alkalis soda at 250°F (121°C) for about 1 hour produces sodium
(also called bases), and the pH scale that they understand carbonate. As both are white powders, there appears
this. But what many cooks don’t realize is that baking to be no change. But by measuring the pH of solutions
soda is not very stable. As mentioned in the first para- of both baking soda and the reaction product, we can
graph, baking soda decomposes with heat to release quickly confirm the reaction has taken place.
carbon dioxide gas and water. The other product that is This raises the interesting question of how import-
formed by this reaction is called sodium carbonate (see ant this conversion is when cooking and baking with a
the following chemical equation). Sodium carbonate is pinch of added baking soda. Is the effect really due to
a much stronger alkali. A 5 percent solution of sodium sodium bicarbonate or to sodium carbonate? Should we
carbonate has a pH of more than 11. This means there even care?
Louis Pasteur (1822–1895) is justifiably renowned for his brilliant

research on the role of microorganisms in the fermentation and spoilage
of wine and milk, published in 1857. The process of preserving milk and
fruit juices by heating them to specific temperatures for specific times
to kill the microorganisms was named pasteurization in his honor. Far
less well known, but of equal scientific importance, is his discovery very
early in his career of the three-dimensional shape of naturally occur-
ring organic molecules known as chirality. He had a fascination with
the shapes of crystals, especially the crystalline salts of tartaric acids
obtained from wine. During one of his many attempts to prepare crystals
of the sodium ammonium salt of tartaric acid, he noticed that some of
FIGURE 4.3
the tiny crystals were mirror images of each other, as shown in figure 4.3.
The left- and right-handed crystals of sodium ammonium
The crystal on the right is a mirror image of the crystal on the left. Our
tartrate first recognized by Louis Pasteur. two hands bear the same relationship. Our right hand is a mirror image
of our left hand, but try as we might, we cannot superimpose either hand
on top of the other. That is, placing our right hand directly on top of our left hand, or vice
versa, leaves our thumbs on opposite sides.
Pasteur went on to show that solutions of the “right-handed” crystals dissolved in water
rotated the plane of polarized light to the right (clockwise), while solutions of the “left-
handed” crystals rotated the same plane of polarized light to the left. Thus the mirror-
image pairs of crystals were described as being optically active due to their ability to rotate
the plane of polarized light either to the left or to the right. When crystals dissolve in
water, all the molecules are released into solution. This means the rotation of polarized
light that passes through the solution is due to the dissolved molecules and not the crystals.
The three-dimensional structure of sodium ammonium tartrate therefore exists as mirror
images. One mirror image is shaped like the right hand and the other like the left hand.
Pasteur publicized his beautiful research in a lecture at the French Academy of Sciences
in May 1848. Today we call molecules that rotate a plane of polarized light in opposite
directions enantiomers.
Why is this important to the science of food and cooking? Because many molecules
that exist in optically active forms produce very different tastes and smells. That’s because
the protein receptors in our mouth and nose that recognize molecules of taste and smell
are themselves optically active and will recognize only one specific enantiomer but not
the other. Thus the optical isomer (enantiomer) of monosodium glutamate that rotates
polarized light to the right (called dextrorotatory) produces the meaty, savory umami
taste, while its mirror image, which rotates polarized light to the left (called levorotatory),
is tasteless. An example related to smell is the optically active, naturally occurring mol-
ecule called carvone. The enantiomer that rotates polarized light to the right smells like
caraway seed, while its mirror image elicits the aroma of spearmint. In this case, the enan-
tiomer that smells like caraway seed presumably activates a different protein receptor from
the one that produces the aroma of spearmint. Pasteur’s discovery had a profound impact
on understanding the chemistry of flavor, as we shall learn later in chapter 5.
A well-known chef who made major contributions to the science of cooking during this
period was Joseph Favre (1849–1903). He was a follower of Marie-Antoine Carême and
learned early in his career about the importance of applying science to
cooking, which enabled the Swiss-born chef to become one of the most
famous names in French gastronomy. Orphaned at age fourteen, he was
sent to apprentice as a cook with an aristocratic family in Switzerland
for three years and then moved to Paris in 1866. Once on his own, he
worked in numerous restaurants in France, Germany, Switzerland, and
England. In 1877, he launched La Science culinaire, a professional jour-
nal promoting the application of science to cooking that was success-
fully published for 7 years. Soon after, in 1879, he founded a professional
union for chefs that published another journal, L’Art culinaire, thus
becoming one of the first chefs to blend both art and science in cooking.
Favre also recognized the importance of applying science to create new
dishes that were not only appealing and flavorful but also healthy, stat-
ing that “culinary science aims to achieve heath through food that sus-
tains virility and the intellectual faculties.” He is perhaps best known
for writing the four-volume Dictionnaire universal de cuisine pratique,
published in 1895.
Finally, before the close of the nineteenth century, we come to Mrs.
E. E. Kellogg (figure 4.4), one of the first women to write a book on
cooking science. Her book, titled Science in the Kitchen and pub-
lished in 1892, focused on cooking methods and recipes for creating
FIGURE 4.4
healthy food. Emma Eaton graduated from Alfred University (Alfred,
Mrs. E. E. Kellogg, from the collection of Alfred University,
New York) in 1872 and shortly thereafter was drawn to work at the
Alfred, New York. Battle Creek Sanitarium, a center for rehabilitating invalid soldiers.
There she met and married the founder, Dr. John Harvey
Kellogg, a member of the famous Kellogg cereal family.
Emma Kellogg’s primary role at the sanitarium was to
create and conduct a cooking school, as well as to plan
healthy menus for its patients (which numbered 7,000 at
its peak in 1906). In 1884, she instituted an experimental
kitchen to “develop the principles of healthful cookery,”
which led her to publish her well-known book. In April
2018, I gave an invited lecture at Alfred University enti-
tled “Science in the Kitchen” and had the good fortune
to examine one of the first original copies of Kellogg’s
book, kept in the university’s library (see figure 4.5).
Like Favre’s journal on culinary science, Kellogg’s book
established a new direction for cooking science, focus-
ing on understanding the nutritional composition of
food and how to select, prepare, and cook food to pro-
vide a healthy diet. As you will learn in chapter 6, one
of the most important contributions of cooking science
is to inform cooks how to prepare food that is not only
appealing and flavorful but also healthy. Kellogg was a
harbinger of what lay ahead for cooking science and its
profound impact on human health.
FIGURE 4.5
Cover of Science in the Kitchen, by Ella Kellogg, 1892, from the collection of
Alfred University, Alfred, New York.
5 Modern Science Transforms the Art of
Cooking (1901–Present)
Flavor Rules
Have you ever noticed how the people who judge cooking competitions on television
shows describe the dishes they are rating? For example, “Oh, I like the way you have bal-
anced the acidity with the sweetness of the dish,” or “Your dish would have benefited from
more contrast between the bitter and salty elements.” Do you notice anything? All of the
comments relate to the taste of the dish and not the flavor (recall from chapter 1 that taste,
smell, and flavor are distinctly different from one another). Sweet, sour, bitter, and salty
are all sensations we taste in the mouth; they have no odor. Recall that the image of flavor
is created in our brain from what we taste and smell. Extensive research has shown that
smell, especially from aromas we inhale into the nose from the back of the mouth, called
retronasal smell, accounts for perhaps 85 percent of the flavor of food. Yet the judges’
comments usually relate to taste and not smell or flavor. Despite perhaps 2 million years
of being exposed to the flavor of cooked food, humans have not developed the language to
adequately describe smell and flavor. Perhaps this is because we detect only six basic tastes
but learn to recognize way more than ten thousand different odors, which combine to cre-
ate an almost infinite number of flavors in our brain. How can we possibly describe all of
them? Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart described his threshold test for pornography
by stating “I know it when I see it.” Describing flavor is like that. I know what I like, but
I can’t really describe it. The people who judge cooking competitions couldn’t get away
FIGURE 5.1
A still life of Peaches in a Glass Bowl, representing beautiful art and food combined. A pastel by the author (1956), after an
original oil painting by A.-F. Bonnardel (1867–1942).
92 | MODERN SCIENCE TRANSFORMS THE ART OF COOKING (1901–PRESENT)
with that; instead, they talk about taste because we have words to describe it. Can you
describe the aroma of tarragon other than saying it smells like tarragon? Understanding
the science of creating the flavor of cooked food will help us understand flavor even if we
can’t adequately describe it in words.
There are many reasons why modern humans choose to eat the foods they do, including
flavor, nutrition, appearance, texture, safety, and convenience. Many studies conducted
around the world have convincingly proved that the flavor of food is the most important
determinant of which foods people like and choose to eat and therefore whether their diet
is healthy or harmful. In this sense, the flavor of food may have had as much impact on
human development as a person’s genetics. Creating flavorful, appealing food at home or
in restaurants owes as much to the application of cooking science as it does to the quality
of the ingredients. Of all the techniques and processes for creating great flavor, none is
more important than the Maillard reaction, discovered in 1912 by the French physician
and chemist Louis Camille Maillard, a member of the faculty of medicine at the Univer-
sity of Paris. He was interested in diseases of the kidneys and the effects of certain chemi-
cal processes that occurred within these two organs. Many amino acids and simple sugars
like glucose (from starch or glycogen) and lactose (in milk) are common components of
bodily fluids and therefore pass through the kidneys. Maillard decided to see what hap-
pens when various amino acids are heated with simple sugars dissolved in water. Perhaps
to his surprise, he found that the reaction produces deep brown–colored solutions, which
he concluded might be the source of the brown colors formed in cooked foods such as
roasted meat and baked bread that also contain amino acids from proteins and sugars
from starch or glycogen, the form in which mammals store glucose. Little did he suspect at
the time that the reaction subsequently named after him was responsible for some of the
most alluring flavors formed when meat is cooked, bread is baked, and coffee and choco-
late beans are roasted.
The formation of dark brown colors in heated foods became known as nonenzymatic
browning to differentiate it from the formation of brown colors by the action of an
enzyme called polyphenol oxidase (PPO) in potatoes, apples, and avocados that are sliced
and exposed to air. The Maillard reaction takes place between proteins and amino acids
and a number of simple sugars (called reducing sugars, a category that does not include
sucrose), so it is different from the process of caramelization, which involves the reaction
of only sugars and not proteins or amino acids. When cooks refer to browning meat
in a hot pan as caramelizing it, they are making a chemical error because the abundant
amount of proteins and amino acids relative to the very small amount
of glucose in meat ensures that the Maillard reaction is the source of the
color and flavor.
Following Maillard’s discovery, other chemists noted the potential con-
tribution of this reaction to the flavor of cooked food. But the true signif-
icance of Maillard’s reaction did not become apparent until John Edward
Hodge (1914–1996), a chemist working for the U.S. Department of Agri-
culture (USDA), published his extensive observations in 1953. In the most
cited paper ever published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chem-
istry (a publication of the American Chemical Society), Hodge summa-
rized all of his and prior chemists’ research on the role of the Maillard
reaction in developing the color and flavor of cooked food. His publica-
tion literally turned the world of flavor chemistry upside down. Hodge, an
African American born in Kansas City and educated at the University of
Kansas, spent 40 years of his life working as a chemist at the USDA labo-
ratories in Peoria, Illinois. Surely he deserves as much recognition for his
contributions to flavor chemistry as Louis Camille Maillard.
FIGURE 5.2
Thanks to extensive research conducted around the world following
John Edward Hodge, USDA chemist.
Hodge’s pioneering publication, we now know that the Maillard reaction
can be manipulated in many ways to enhance the flavor of cooked food.
For example, although the reaction will take place very slowly even at room temperature, it
does not occur rapidly in food until about 302°F (150°C) and higher. That’s why foods that
are roasted, baked, or seared develop more color and flavor than foods cooked at lower
temperatures. Have you ever wondered why most recipes call for baking or roasting in a
350°F oven—and almost never below 300°F (except for barbeque)? It has long been a rule
of thumb that the darker the color of roasted meat, the more flavor it will have. Also, the
level of moisture in food has a strong influence on the rate of the reaction, with the opti-
mum level being in the middle between very little moisture and very high moisture. Thus
the surface of bread dough or a beef roast will not start to brown and develop much flavor
until surface moisture has been significantly reduced from the heat of the oven. A steak
will start to brown and develop flavor much faster if the surface of the meat has been dried
before placing it in the hot pan. The flavor of braised meat is very different from that of
roasted meat because the high level of moisture present in the braising liquid discourages
the Maillard reaction in favor of other reactions. In addition, a water-based braising liquid
will not get any hotter than 212°F (100°C). The pH of the food also plays an important
role, as the rate of the reaction increases 500-fold when the pH increases from 5 to 9 (pH 7
being neutral). Cookies that are leavened with alkaline baking soda are much darker than
those baked without baking soda. One technique for producing darker, more flavorful skin
on roasted chicken or turkey is to rub a very small amount of a weak alkali like baking
powder on the skin.
That researchers have identified more than 3,500 flavor compounds formed by the
Maillard reaction is proof that the flavor of cooked food is very complex. Only a frac-
tion of these compounds are formed when cooking a specific food like baking a loaf of
bread or roasting coffee beans. Many of the compounds are formed in extremely small
amounts, yet their threshold for detection (especially through smell) is so low that even
minuscule amounts can make a major contribution to flavor. Maillard reaction products
can be formed and detected in amounts from a few parts per million to less than one part
per trillion. Recall that one part per trillion is the same as 1 second in 32,000 years. That’s
why some compounds formed in the smallest amounts often make the largest contribu-
tion to flavor. In Hodge’s day, the identification of Maillard reaction products was a slow,
tedious process capable of detecting and identifying only compounds formed in milligram
amounts or higher. Sophisticated laboratory instrumentation to separate and identify
many of these trace products was not available until the late 1950s, when gas chromatogra-
phy interfaced with mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) was introduced. The gas chromatograph
separates a complex mixture of compounds based on their volatility, which is import-
ant for aroma compounds that we detect by smell (recall that aroma is the most import-
ant component of flavor). The mass spectrometer determines the mass and structure of
each compound. Although mass spectroscopy was developed in 1952, the first computer-
controlled MS was not introduced until 1964, and it greatly sped up the process of identi-
fying each compound. GC-MS has been extensively used to identify the trace amounts of
flavor compounds in wine and extra virgin olive oil.
Then in the early 1970s, a process called high-performance liquid chromatography
(HPLC) was developed and interfaced with MS. HPLC uses a liquid solvent rather than a
gas to separate a complex mixture of compounds based on differences in physical prop-
erties, thus enabling the separation of nonvolatile compounds that may be important for
taste rather than smell. HPLC-MS was more sophisticated in that a method had to be devel-
oped to deal with the relatively large volume of water-based or organic solvent introduced
into the MS. With computer control, these instruments came to be routinely used for flavor
FIGURE 5.3
The author operating a high-performance liquid chromatograph coupled to a mass spectrometer at Framingham State
University in 2011.
analysis during the 1980s. Figure 5.3 is a photo of me in front of the HPLC-MS instru-
ment at Framingham State University (the part of the instrument on the right is the MS).
It was one of the most challenging instruments I have ever used, even after complet-
ing a 1-week training course presented by the manufacturer. Fortunately, during my last
2 years in graduate school, I had a paid teaching assistantship to operate the chemistry
department’s first mass spectrometer, so I already had some understanding of the basic
principles of mass spectroscopy. At Framingham State, we used HPLC-MS to determine
the content of a polyphenol called resveratrol in wine. With these sophisticated instru-
ments, it is now possible to identify nearly all of the important flavor compounds formed
in cooked food.
One variant of the Maillard reaction that has received very little attention involves
the reaction of the oxidation products of fats and oils with amino acids and proteins in
roasted meat. The oxidation of fats and oils in cooked meat creates much of the deli-
cious flavor through the formation of volatile aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, and a variety
of other products. But these oxidation products are also capable of reacting with the
abundant amino acids and proteins in meat to form new flavor molecules and colored
pigments in a way very similar to the reaction of simple reducing sugars like glucose
in the Maillard reaction. One aldehyde in particular, 2,4-decadienal, is formed in rela-
tively large amounts by the oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids and has been shown
to produce a number of compounds responsible for the flavor of roasted meat via the
Maillard pathway. The oxidation of fats and oils requires fairly high temperatures and
dry conditions on the surface of the meat, conditions similar to those necessary for the
Maillard reaction. Fats and oils that are rich in unsaturated fatty acids, such as those in
poultry and grass-fed beef, are more easily oxidized and therefore more reactive with
amino acids and proteins than saturated fats are. Although cattle fed cereal grains are
higher in total fat, grass-fed cattle contain about five times more unsaturated fat and
therefore will produce roasted meat with a flavor profile that is quite different from the
meat of cattle raised on cereal grains during the last 120–150 days before slaughter.
Rubbing unsaturated cooking oil on the surface of a steak or roast or on the skin of
chicken or turkey will enhance both flavor and color.
Vegetables are another food in which flavor can be manipulated for better or worse.
There are about thirty-six cruciferous vegetables, now more commonly called brassicas,
consumed around the world. These include such common vegetables as kale, Brussels
sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, broccoli rabe, and kohlrabi, as well as others less com-
monly associated with this group, such as arugula, horseradish, and wasabi. They all
have one thing in common: their rather sharp, pungent, often bitter flavor when eaten
raw. The surprising fact about all these vegetables is that the raw vegetable actually
contains no flavor at all—at least not until the cells of the vegetable are damaged by
cutting, chopping, slicing, or chewing. When I give lectures on the science of taste,
smell, and flavor, I often hand out samples of fresh arugula leaves and ask members
of the audience to smell them. If the leaves are fresh and undamaged, there is no odor.
Then I ask them to hold the leaf just under their nose and quickly tear the leaf. All of
a sudden there is a burst of pungent aroma that surprises them. What happened? When
the leaf is torn, cells are ruptured, releasing a compartmentalized enzyme called myros-
inase that very rapidly reacts with compounds present in the cells called glucosino-
lates. Almost immediately upon contact with the myrosinase, the glucosinolates are
converted to volatile pungent compounds called isothiocyanates. This occurs within
seconds in varying degrees within every cruciferous vegetable. There are dozens of
different glucosinolates, so each cruciferous vegetable forms its own unique pungent,
bitter flavor when cells are damaged.
Both the glucosinolates and the isothiocyanates are fairly bitter tasting, so all of the
vegetables in this group have this pronounced taste in common. The more damage that
is done to the cells, the more flavor that is developed, so finely chopping the vegetable
instead of slicing it creates more flavor. Allowing the chopped vegetable to rest for 5 or
10 minutes before cooking also increases the amount of flavor. But many people, espe-
cially young children, dislike the bitter taste of cruciferous vegetables like broccoli.
Blanching the vegetable for about 30 seconds in simmering water deactivates most of the
myrosinase (which becomes inactive above about 140°F, or 60°C). Cooking the vegetable
after blanching significantly reduces the bitter taste. Try this with your children to see if it
increases their liking of cruciferous vegetables. Finally, the isothiocyanates are molecules
that contain a sulfur atom. As chopped or sliced cruciferous vegetables are cooked, the
pungent isothiocyanate molecules are slowly converted to more mellow, nutty-flavored
sulfur compounds called disulfides and trisulfides. At America’s Test Kitchen, the test
cooks cooked cauliflower in boiling water for different periods of time and asked pan-
elists to taste the cooked vegetable at different intervals. They found that, after cooking
for only 10–20 minutes, the cauliflower was still sulfurous tasting due to the formation
of volatile hydrogen sulfide. After 30–40 minutes of cooking, the cauliflower had the best
mellow, nutty flavor, while after 50–60 minutes, the flavor was exceptionally bland. Soup
made by cooking the cauliflower for 30–40 minutes clearly had the best flavor. Because all
cruciferous vegetables owe their flavor to sulfur-containing compounds, the sulfur con-
tent of the soil in which they are grown is very important, with higher sulfur content
providing more flavor. This is an example of what the French call terroir, meaning the
factors in the natural environment where wine grapes are grown that affect the flavor of
the wine. But terroir can be just as important in terms of the flavor of plant foods like the
cruciferous vegetables.
TERROIR—A TASTE OF PLACE
The French are given credit for being the first to recognize more intense their flavor and pungency are. The ACSO
the importance of the taste of place, or terroir. They have compounds are derived from the natural sulfur-containing
long identified the place of growing food with the quali- amino acid called cysteine. Not surprisingly, research
ties of that food. For this reason, French wines are named studies have shown that the intensity of the flavor and
for the area where the grapes are grown rather than for pungency of alliums is related to the sulfur content of the
the variety of grape, as is done in the United States. It is soil, which is referred to as the sulfur fertility of the soil.
now widely recognized that terroir extends beyond wine; Sulfur exists in the soil in the form of sulfate salts, which
the quality and flavor characteristics of olive oil, cheese, are absorbed by the plants and converted into cysteine
and honey are related to where the olive trees, cows, and and a few other sulfur-containing amino acids. Higher
honeybees live and grow. Certain wines and other agri- levels of sulfate in the soil are correlated with more fla-
cultural products are labeled Appellation d’Origine Con- vor and pungency. Milder, sweeter onions like the Vidalia
trôlée in parts of France and Denominazione di Origine onion are grown in soils with low levels of sulfate.
Controllata in Italy to indicate they are produced in Another class of vegetables, the cruciferous vegeta-
specific regions of these countries. In the United States, bles, produce their characteristic flavor and pungency
we have Vidalia onions, which may be grown only in the through chemistry that is similar to that of the alliums.
southeastern counties of Georgia, according to the Vida- But in this case, an enzyme called myrosinase is liber-
lia Onion Act of 1986. For an excellent review of the role ated when the cells are damaged. Myrosinase converts a
of terroir in the quality of food, read The Taste of Place different group of sulfur-containing compounds called
by Amy B. Trubeck. glucosinolates into the compounds called isothiocya-
Cooking with local ingredients is becoming a huge nates that are responsible for the flavor and pungency of
trend in the United States. Most chefs believe that local cruciferous vegetables. There are about thirty-six differ-
ingredients not only are fresher but also taste better. But ent cruciferous vegetables commonly consumed around
is there any science to support this? Yes! There are now the world. In the United States, the most common are
many examples in the scientific literature of the impact cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, broccoli rabe,
of growing conditions and the environment on the fla- cauliflower, mustard greens, collard greens, turnips,
vor and texture of food. Perhaps best known among bok choy, Swiss chard, radishes, and arugula. All these
these foods are the alliums, which include onions, gar- are tasteless until chopped, sliced, or chewed. More cell
lic, leeks, scallions, shallots, chives, and even ramps. The damage creates more flavor. Blanching cruciferous vege-
alliums develop their characteristic flavor and pungency tables inactivates myrosinase, resulting in milder, less bit-
only when the enzyme alliinase, released when their cells ter flavor. Research has shown that, as with alliums, the
are damaged, comes in contact with sulfur-containing sulfur fertility of the soil correlates with the flavor and
compounds called S-alkenyl cysteine sulfoxides (ACSO). pungency of cruciferous vegetables.
That’s why a whole head of garlic or an onion bulb has What really got me thinking more about the validity of
no odor. The more that onion and garlic are chopped, the the taste of place was a blind taste test done with cooked
dry cannellini beans at America’s Test Kitchen in 2013. impart different regional flavors to fermented foods.
Beans from five different sources were tasted plain, in a Benjamin Wolfe, who collaborated with Chang while
dip, and in a soup. All of the beans were tasted blind six working at Harvard University and who is now at Tufts
times by a panel of twenty-one tasters each time. The dry University, has evaluated the different bacteria, yeast,
beans from each source were also sent to a laboratory and mold that colonize regionally made salamis, and
to determine their levels of calcium. Calcium in beans his results are fascinating. According to Wolfe, salamis
is mostly associated with the pectin that holds the cells colonized with different microorganisms have distinctly
together and strengthens the cell walls. It was anticipated different flavors. Notice in figure 1 the different local
that more calcium would result in less “blow out” (burst- yeasts and molds growing on the surface of the salamis.
ing of the outer shell) of the beans and a better interior Microbial terroir at work!
texture. The results were astounding! As shown in the Finally, the question of the taste of place arises as to
following table, the ranking of the beans by taste and tex- other foods. It is easy to see why the flavor of alliums and
ture correlated perfectly with the calcium content, with cruciferous vegetables is closely linked to where they are
the beans containing the most calcium ranking the high- grown. They owe their flavor to specific enzymatic reac-
est. There were even two brands of beans that contained tions that occur with a small group of sulfur-containing
essentially the same amount of calcium that tied in the
taste ranking! As you might have guessed by now, research
studies have shown that the level of calcium in beans is
related to both the genotype and the calcium content of
the soil. So, again, where the beans are grown matters!
Cooked Dried Cannellini Beans
Rank Brand Calcium (mg/100g)
1 A 362
2 B 204
Tie C 176
Tie D 175
5 E 168
Outside of the world of plant foods, I should mention FIGURE 1

the interesting exploration of microbial terroir by David A comparison of the insides and outsides of different samples of salami pro-
Chang, chef/owner of the Momofuku restaurant group. duced in Portland, Oregon; Virginia; Oakland, California; Utah; and Berkeley,
California, illustrating how local microorganisms produce different forms of
Chang is experimenting with local microorganisms to salami. Photographs provided by Benjamin Wolfe, Tufts University.
compounds derived from the amino acid cysteine. So the REFERENCES

sulfur content of the soil is a very important factor in Boyhan, G. E., and R. L. Torrance. “Vidalia Onions—Sweet Onion
the intensity of the flavor of these plant foods. But many Production in Southeastern Georgia.” HortTechnology 12, no. 2
other vegetables have more-complex sources of flavor. (2002): 196–202.
Falk, K. L., J. G. Tokuhisa, and J. Gershenzon. “The Effect of Sulfur
Potatoes are an example. Potatoes that are boiled, baked, Nutrition on Plant Glucosinolate Content: Physiology and Molec-
or steamed owe their flavor to many different reactions ular Mechanisms.” Plant Biology 9 (2007): 573–581.
that occur during cooking, including the reactions of Felder, D., D. Burns, and D. Chang. “Defining Microbial Terroir: The
fats and sugars and amino acids, the formation of sulfur- Use of Native Fungi for the Study of Traditional Fermentative Pro-
cesses.” International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science 1
containing compounds, and the Maillard-Hodge reaction, (2012): 64–69.
which forms potent aroma compounds called pyrazines. Quintana, J. M., H. C. Harrison, J. Nienhuls, J. P. Palta, and K.
Research has shown that the flavor of cooked potatoes Kmiecik. “Differences in Pod Calcium Concentration for Eight
Snap Bean and Dry Bean Cultivars.” HortScience 34, no. 5 (1999):
is determined by both genotype and environmental
932–934.
conditions. But because of the complexity of the many Randle, W. M., D. E. Kopsell, and D. A. Kopsell. “Sequentially Reduc-
flavor-forming reactions, there is no single environmental ing Sulfate Fertility During Onion Growth and Development
factor, such as the sulfur content of the soil, that can be Affects Bulb Flavor at Harvest.” HortScience 37, no. 1 (2002):
118–121.
correlated with cooked potato flavor. Not all foods can Trubeck, A. B. The Taste of Place—A Cultural Journey Into Terroir.
be linked to a taste of place. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008.
This brings us to the flavorful alliums, which include garlic, onions, leeks, shallots, chives,
and scallions (often referred to as the onion family). Like the cruciferous vegetables, the
fresh, intact alliums contain no flavor until their cells are damaged. To prove the point, smell
a fresh whole head of garlic or an undamaged onion or shallot, and you will smell nothing.
When the cells of alliums are damaged, they release a compartmentalized enzyme called
allinase, which converts odorless sulfur-containing amino acids called cysteine sulfoxides
to volatile pungent flavor compounds called thiosulfinates. More cell damage creates more
flavor, so mincing garlic produces more flavor than slicing or chopping it. To enhance the fla-
vor of alliums, they should be placed in room-temperature oil and heated rather than being
tossed into hot oil. This gives the enzyme more time to form the flavor molecules before the
heat deactivates it. Again, like with cruciferous vegetables, sulfur-containing compounds
play a very important role in the flavor of alliums, so the sulfur content of the soil where
the alliums are grown is very important. Mild, sweet-tasting Vidalia onions are grown in
regions of Georgia with sulfur-poor soils—yet another example of how terroir affects the
flavor of many foods. Cooking also mellows the sharp, pungent flavor of the alliums by con-
verting the thiosulfinates to disulfides and trisulfides. But be careful not to overcook garlic;
it produces bitter-tasting compounds when it begins to turn brown in hot oil.
Although all the alliums have very similar flavor chemistries, onions, shallots, leeks, and
chives differ from garlic in one very important aspect: they contain an additional enzyme that
is not present in garlic. This enzyme, called lachrymator factor synthase (LF synthase), con-
verts the pungent thiosulfinates to propanethial S-oxide (PSO), a volatile compound known
as a lachrymator because it causes the eyes to tear. The more cell damage that is done, the
more PSO that is formed, so mincing onion creates more tears than slicing onions. In fact, slic-
ing an onion from pole to pole damages fewer cells and produces less tearing than slicing an
onion through the middle. Finally, chopping or mincing onions might be bad when it comes
to producing tears, but it has a definite advantage when cooking members of this family for
their flavor. Relatively recent research has shown that cooking finely chopped onion in water
for 1 or 2 hours, or longer, produces a savory, beefy-tasting compound called 3-mercapto-
2-methylpentan-1-ol (MMP). The name of this simple sulfur-containing compound may
sound complicated, but it describes the chemical structure of the compound, as do the names
of most organic compounds (see the chemical structure in figure 5.4). Although MMP is
formed in extremely small amounts (about 50 micrograms per kilogram of yellow onions;
a microgram is one-millionth of a gram), it has been shown to have the greatest impact
of all flavor compounds formed in vegetable and beef stocks and gravies prepared with

RECIPE 5.1 Julia Child’s Brown-Braised Onions
INGREDIENTS: Julia Child’s recipe for brown-braised white pearl onions has been a favorite at our Thanksgiving table
for decades, during which time it has been prepared with loving care with relatively minor variations
1½ Tbsp. clarified
by my wife, Christine. The intensity of the onion flavor, augmented by the subtle aroma of selected
butter
herbs and wine, brings back memories and sensations that are hard to surpass on a beautiful crisp
1½ Tbsp. extra virgin fall day in New England. Although Child originally developed the recipe to accompany coq au vin
olive oil or boeuf bourguignon, we find the onions pair extremely well with oven-roasted turkey stuffed with
24 small white pearl chestnuts and with all the other dishes at our traditional Thanksgiving table, including deep orange
onions, 1–1½ inches butternut squash, creamy mashed potatoes, bright green steamed beans, homemade cranberry-orange
in diameter, peeled relish, and especially Christine’s incredibly rich brown gravy made from slowly simmered turkey stock.
There are so many complex facets to the intense flavor of these melt-in-your-mouth onions. The
½ cup beef stock or
bouillon first stage of flavor development arises when the onions are browned in a mixture of extra virgin
olive oil and clarified butter, resulting in both the caramelization of the sugars and the Maillard
½ cup dry light red reaction of the sugars with proteins in the butter and onion. The butter should be clarified so it
wine, such as pinot reaches the high temperature required for both reactions without being delayed by evaporating the
noir or Beaujolais
water in the butter. Onions are rich in a nonvolatile, non-odorous, organic sulfur-containing amino
4 parsley sprigs acid known as 1-propenyl-L-cysteine sulfoxide (1-PRENSCO), which they produce from inorganic
sulfate absorbed from the soil.
½ bay leaf
The second stage of slowly cooking the browned onions in a watery liquid such as wine, stock, or
¼ tsp. dried thyme even plain water converts the nonvolatile sulfur compound to volatile potent flavor compounds such
½ cup light cream, as savory propenyl propyl disulfide and meaty-tasting 3-mercapto-2-methylpentane-1-ol (MMP),
optional which humans can smell at levels as low as 0.1 to 0.01 parts per billion. In addition, onions contain
relatively high levels of both glutamate and nucleotides that interact synergistically to produce a
NOTE: savory umami taste. In fact, onions contain about 70 percent as much glutamate and nucleotides as
shiitake mushrooms, which are a well-known source of great umami taste. The formation of these
The recipe can be scaled
up two or three times intensely savory compounds in the slowly cooking onions, combined with the aromas and tastes
using one or two 12-inch released from the wine and herbs, produces an intense, complex flavor that is hard to surpass.
skillets. Christine has
made as many as sixty DIRECTIONS:
to sixty-five onions
at a time for large Heat the butter and olive oil in a 10-inch stainless steel skillet on medium heat until shimmering (but
Thanksgiving dinners. not smoking). Add the onions, and cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes, rolling the onions
Yield: 6 servings in the butter–olive oil mixture from time to time until they are uniformly brown. Add the beef stock
(see note) or bouillon, red wine, parsley, bay leaf, thyme, and a little salt to the pan, and mix. Loosely cover the
pan and simmer very slowly for about 1½ hours, until the liquid has reduced to a thick syrup. If nec-
essary, remove the cover to allow more rapid evaporation of the liquid. Check frequently, and stir the
onions to make sure they do not burn as the liquid is reduced. If desired, add about ½ cup of light
cream to produce a creamier sauce. The onions can be refrigerated and reheated several days later.
members of the onion family (MMP has a recognition threshold of

CH3 only 0.0016 micrograms per liter in water). Speaking from personal
experience, the slow formation of this water-soluble compound has
a tremendous impact on the savory, beefy flavor of stock and gravy.
Thus, for more intense flavor, stocks should be prepared with finely
chopped onions and not whole onions. This explains why cooking
HO SH stocks for long periods (hours) with finely chopped onion develops
more flavor and why cooking onions in water develops more savory
flavor than sautéing them in oil, which forms more caramelized fla-
CH3 vor compounds. MMP is formed at levels five to seven times higher
in leeks and chives than in yellow onion, which is why these mem-
FIGURE 5.4
bers of the onion family form more flavorful stocks than simple
yellow onions, the frequent choice of many cooks.
The chemical structure of 3-mercapto-2-methylpentan-1-ol (MMP).
Modern Methods of Cooking

Food science received very little academic attention before the early
1900s, resulting in a dearth of basic research to support the science of cooking. What little
research there was had been conducted by departments of home economics, also known as
domestic science. Early research efforts focused on plant and animal sciences and supported
agriculture rather than food or cooking. By 1905, ten dairy schools had been established in
the United States and Canada, including those at the land-grant colleges of Cornell, Wiscon-
sin, Iowa State, Purdue, and Penn State, but there were no departments of food science. The
American Chemical Society created its Division of Agricultural and Food Chemistry in 1908,
and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst established the first department of food sci-
ence in 1918. In 1936, the journal Food Research was launched, and shortly thereafter it was
purchased by the Institute of Food Technologists (founded in 1939) and renamed the Journal
of Food Science. Since these early efforts, food science has become an established academic
discipline, drawing on research in chemistry, biology, physics, engineering, microbiology,
and nutrition. As of 2017, there were forty-five departments or schools of food science in the
United States, with many combined with departments of nutrition. Research conducted at
these institutions has provided the bulk of our current knowledge of the science of cooking
for the past 100 years, yet throughout all these years, departments of food science have paid
relatively little attention to cooking science as an independent field of study.
The three basic methods of cooking—beginning with dry forms of heat such as roast-
ing and grilling, followed by wet methods such as boiling and braising, and then by frying
or sautéing in fat or oil—have been in use for at least 5,000 years. Even sous vide cooking
at a constant low temperature traces its roots back to 1799. Yet in all this time, the only
other truly new method of cooking to appear has involved the use of microwave ovens,
developed by Percy Spencer at the Raytheon Corporation in 1945. The use of microwaves
for heating food was based on radar technology that Raytheon developed during World
War II. The first commercial “Radarange,” introduced in 1947, was the size of today’s
refrigerator and intended for commercial use. The countertop microwave oven, first sold
by the Amana Corporation in 1967, proved to be so popular that by 1997 more than
90 percent of American households owned a microwave oven!
Microwave ovens are great for quickly heating or reheating food, but they cannot brown
meat or make crispy fried chicken. Basically, microwaves cause the excitation and vigorous
movement of water molecules in food, thus cooking food at no higher than 212°F (100°C),
a temperature that is too low to rapidly brown or crisp food. Their other limitation is the
uneven distribution of microwaves in the enclosed oven, causing cold spots in foods like
a whole russet potato or a sizable piece of meat. In the brief time needed to “microwave”
foods, the electromagnetic waves penetrate only about the outer inch of the food (depend-
ing on the food) before they are all absorbed by water molecules; the interior of the food is
cooked as conduction slowly transfers the heat from the hot surface into the food. Despite
these limitations, the convenience of rapidly heating foods has made microwave ovens a
huge success.
Sous vide cooking is often presented as a modern invention, first used in 1974 by French
chef Georges Pralus at the Troisgros Restaurant in Roanne, France (sous vide is a French
term meaning “under vacuum”). But we learned in chapter 3 that Benjamin Thompson
actually demonstrated precise low-temperature slow cooking of a mutton roast in 1799
using a device for dehydrating potatoes, which he also invented. Thompson did not seal
food under vacuum in plastic pouches, as is done today, so technically his method does not
meet the definition of sous vide cooking, but it clearly demonstrated that cooking meat at
a low, controlled temperature for a very long time rendered even tough cuts of meat ten-
der, juicy, and flavorful. The sous vide process, in which food is vacuum sealed in a plastic
pouch and cooked slowly at a precise low temperature, retains the moisture and nutrients
in meat or fish while also slowly breaking down tough connective tissue to gelatin. Sous
vide cooking is now widely used in many high-end restaurants. It is especially suited for
slowly par-cooking all sorts of foods, rapidly freezing the food in vacuum-sealed plastic
pouches for many hours or overnight, and then quickly finishing the cooking process when
the customer’s order is received in the kitchen. It is reported that some international food
service organizations cook large batches of foods by sous vide in a central location, flash
freeze them, and then ship them all over the world to be finished to order in local restau-
rants and cafeterias.
It would be an oversight not to include in the realm of modern methods of cooking
what has become known as molecular gastronomy—and more recently called molecular
cuisine—which has been defined as “the scientific discipline that deals with the develop-
ment, creation, and properties of foods normally prepared in the kitchen.” I prefer the term
molecular cuisine and define it as the application of science for the purpose of creating out-
standing food with unique flavor, texture, and appearance. Clearly, it is not, as some have
suggested, merely a style of cooking, like fusion cuisine. The creation of this science-based
approach to cooking traces its roots to a conference on this subject held in Erice, Italy, in
1992. Although many well-known chefs have embraced molecular gastronomy, some have
moved away from this new approach to cooking for fear of appearing to use the method to
create gimmicks rather than to prepare great food. Many serious diners and chefs find the
concept of molecular gastronomy to be confusing and even pretentious, perhaps because
gastronomy is defined in my dictionary as both “the art or science of good eating” and
“cooking, as of a particular region.” Which is it, cooking or eating? Art or science? For this
reason, I prefer the less ambiguous word cuisine. Add the word molecular in front of gas-
tronomy or cuisine, and many are left wondering if it represents the missing link between
art and science or a clever marketing ploy. But those who practice molecular gastronomy or
molecular cuisine for the purpose of creating great food are serious advocates for applying
science to the art of cooking. I must state emphatically that the field of cooking science that
is the subject of this book is far broader and more comprehensive than molecular cuisine.
Many of the world’s top trend-setting chefs—such as Alice Waters, Ferran Adrià, Hes-
ton Blumenthal, René Redzepi, Wylie Dufresne, Thomas Keller, and Grant Achatz—have
utilized the concepts of molecular cuisine, confirming this modern approach to cooking
should not be taken lightly. Yet they are adamant that molecular cuisine does not define
or limit their approach to cooking, which is far broader and more imaginative and cre-
ative. It is only one tool in their vast portfolio of tools. These great chefs have elevated the
texture and appearance of food to the same level as flavor, creating truly novel forms of
foods that are a feast for the eyes, nose, and mouth. Edible gels, foams, and emulsions have
been used in cooking for hundreds of years, but the science of how they work has been
understood for only about the last 100 years. In my earlier career, I worked for the world’s
largest producer of the polysaccharide carrageenan, isolated from different varieties of red
seaweed. Carrageenan is one of the gelling agents used in molecular cuisine. FMC Corpo-
ration started manufacturing carrageenan back in the 1940s and understood a lot about
the science of gels. We were also using carrageenan and its cousin sodium alginate in the
early 1980s to make spherical gel beads, similar to the products of spherification, a creative
technique popularized more recently by Ferran Adrià. But molecular cuisine is not only
about creating new forms of food using gels, foams, and emulsions; special equipment
like rotary evaporators; and novel substances like liquid nitrogen. Innovative chefs have
combined their knowledge of science with the art of cooking to create truly inspirational
new forms of food, often based on the highest-quality seasonal local ingredients. These
chefs are like emulsifiers, blending art and science into gastronomic delights. But for me,
a simple dessert of very fresh strawberries, served with a dollop of sour cream sprinkled
with brown sugar, is just as good, if not better, than the most imaginative dessert created
using molecular gastronomy. This simple fresh dessert was first served to me many years
ago by my late dearest friend, Bill Benz, and his wife, Ruth.
Today modern, globe-trotting restaurant chefs have moved well beyond molecular gas-
tronomy by exploring hybrid cuisines based on their diverse heritages and cultural back-
grounds, producing a fusion of ingredients and bold flavors from around the world. Great
food and cooking are no longer dominated by a single cuisine as they were during the
heyday of French cooking. Like so many things today, cooking has become globalized,
and science has helped to guide this change. Take, for example, the innovative cooking of
David Chang, chef/owner of many successful restaurants, including Momofuku in New
York City. Chang has pioneered the use of fermentation to create unique new foods and
flavors by collaborating with microbiologists and even publishing his research in academic
journals. His team has used native (local) forms of environmental microbes such as fungi
and bacteria to increase the amino acid content and umami taste of fermented meats and
grains, naming this novel approach microbial terroir. After researching the preparation of
katsuobushi (dried, fermented, and smoked skipjack tuna, known as bonito flakes), the
team developed butabushi, a new form of fermented steamed pork, as well as new forms
of koji (fermented rice) and miso (fermented soybeans). This work led to the creation of
three new sauces—Hozon, Bonji, and Ssäm—derived from the fermentation of grains,
nuts, seeds, and legumes other than soybeans.
SOFT MATTER—THE SCIENCE OF GELS
Physics involves the study of matter, and one form of the weight in grams required to move a piston into the gel
matter that is important to food and cooking is soft (made with about 7 percent gelatin) to a depth of 4 milli-
matter, which includes foams and gels but also extends meters. Gelatin has many applications in food, including
to liquids, colloidal suspensions, emulsions, and poly- confectionary and jelly desserts; dairy products such as
mers. Among the common foams and gels are ice cream, yogurt; meat products, where it replaces fat; and sauces
meringues, mousses, puddings, pie fillings, and flans. and dressings. Perhaps gelatin’s most useful application
Emulsions are well known in the form of mayonnaise, is in cooking sauces; when added, it produces a luscious,
dressings, and sauces. The advent of molecular cuisine unctuous mouthfeel similar to that obtained by reducing
led to the creation of novel forms of foams and gels based veal stock to a demi-glace. The collagen in veal (especially
on an understanding of the science of soft matter. Even the bones) breaks down to gelatin much more readily and
though the study of soft matter is relatively new, gels have at much lower temperatures than that in tough cuts of
been in existence for a very long time. Gelling and thick- beef or pork, which must be cooked for hours to obtain
ening agents derived from connective tissue have been the same amount of gelatin.
used in home cooking for more than 2,000 years. The Gelatin is a very large protein molecule that forms
name gelatin—based on the Latin word gelatus, meaning regions of helices when solutions cool. The helical
“firm or frozen”—was in common use as early as 1700. regions can be formed within a single gelatin molecule
The commercial production of purified gelatin began in or by several molecules intertwining to form a very large
the United States in 1850 and in Europe about twenty-five network held together by double or triple helices that
to thirty years later. trap water, forming a soft gel structure. Substances that
Gelatin is derived from the principal protein in con- form gels with water are known as hydrocolloids. The
nective tissue, called collagen, an aggregate of proteins general mechanism of large molecules entangling with
that exist in the form of strong fibers. Treating sources each other to trap water within the network of mole-
rich in collagen, especially animal hides, bones, and pig- cules (but not necessarily by forming helices) is found
skin, with either acid or alkali breaks down the collagen in other gelling agents, such carrageenan, pectins, algi-
fibers into a single protein called tropocollagen, which nates, xanthan gum, gellan gum, and starch (discussed in
consists of three very similar protein chains wound into a the “Microscopic World of Starch in Food” in chapter 1).
triple helix. Further processing with heat unwinds the tri- In all of these cases, the molecules are very large poly-
ple helix into single strands of the protein known as gel- saccharides (polymers of small sugar molecules) rather
atin. When placed in cold water, gelatin swells, absorbing than proteins.
as much as five to ten times its weight of water; it then Various forms of red seaweed have been used in food in
dissolves at higher temperatures and upon cooling to China going as far back as 2,600 years ago. Carrageenan
81°F–93°F (27°C–34°C) forms a relatively soft but elas- has been produced commercially since the 1930s and is
tic gel that melts in the mouth. The strength of a gel, most commonly obtained by treating different varieties
known as the bloom value, is determined by measuring of red seaweed with alkali and then precipitating the
product with alcohol or potassium chloride. There are forms gels in the presence of calcium ions, which act as
three forms of carrageenan—kappa, iota, and lambda— bridges to hold molecules of pectin together into a net-
that are obtained from different varieties of red seaweed. work, but it also requires relatively low pH. The acid is
Kappa carrageenan forms strong brittle gels in the pres- required to alter the electrical charges on the pectin mole-
ence of potassium and calcium ions, iota carrageenan cules, helping them to bond together. Low-methoxyl pec-
forms weak elastic gels with calcium ions, and lambda tin is used not only in jams, jellies, and preserves but also
carrageenan acts to thicken water but does not form a in a variety of milk-based products, including yogurt and
gel in the presence of ions. The ability to form gels in cultured milks.
the presence of calcium ions makes very low concen- Gels made with sodium alginate have been used com-
trations of kappa and iota carrageenans useful for pro- mercially since about 1940 and are commonly encoun-
ducing milk-based gels such as puddings, flans, and tered in processed food. Sodium alginate is a chemical
yogurts. Carrageenan also interacts synergistically with relative of carrageenan but is found in brown seaweeds
nongelling food gums, such as guar gum and locust bean rather than the red varieties. It forms gels in the pres-
gum, to produce gels with very unique properties. With ence of added calcium ions in the same manner as
its variety of different properties from gelling to thicken- carrageenan: the calcium ions act as bridges that link
ing, carrageenan has found numerous uses in meat, fro- molecules of alginate together to trap water within the
zen desserts, water gels, many dairy products (including infinite network of molecules. Unlike carrageenan gels,
ice cream, cheese, and chocolate milk), toothpaste, salad alginate gels are heat stable, thus finding numerous
dressings, beverages, coffee creamers, and pet food. applications in restructured foods such as onion rings,
Pectin, another polysaccharide hydrocolloid, was first pimento fillings for olives, fish patties, and pet food, as
isolated in relatively pure form in 1825 and has been in use well as in bake-stable filling creams, salad dressings, may-
for a very long time, starting with the home preparation onnaise, ketchup, and instant puddings.
of fruit preserves. Pectin occurs naturally in most plant A more recent addition to the list of food-approved
materials, where it forms part of the cell walls and holds hydrocolloids is xanthan gum, discovered by the U.S.
the plant cells together, and is most abundant in citrus Department of Agriculture. Commercial production of
fruits and apples. Some fruits like strawberries contain xanthan gum started in the United States in the 1960s,
very low levels of pectin, which explains why strawberries and its use in food was approved by the Food and Drug
must have pectin added to them in order to form straw- Administration (FDA) in 1969. Xanthan gum differs from
berry jam and jelly. There are two forms of commercial the complex polysaccharides discussed earlier in that it is
pectin, low-methoxyl pectin and high-methoxyl pectin. produced by fermentation of a bacterium, Xanthomonas
The latter form will produce strong gels at relatively low campestris, rather than by isolation from plant material.
pH (pH 3.2–3.4 is optimum) but only in the presence of Strictly speaking, xanthan gum is not a gelling agent.
high concentrations of sugar, which is why fruit preserves Rather, it forms very viscous solutions at very low con-
contain so much added sugar. Low-methoxyl pectin centrations and interacts with other gums, such as guar
gum, locust bean gum, and sodium alginate, to produce hydrocolloid called konjac flour, a complex polysaccha-
solutions with unique thickening properties, such as ride isolated from tubers of Amorphophallus konjac,
reaction and stability to high-speed mixing (called shear) a plant native to China, Japan, and several other Asian
and resistance to acids, bases, proteins, sugars, and salts. countries. Konjac flour has been known and used in
As a result of these properties, xanthan gum has found China and Japan for many years not only for its unique
applications in salad dressings, sauces, gravies, canned gelling properties in food but also for its ability to lower
soups, ice cream (to reduce ice crystal formation), syr- cholesterol levels in the blood. When a viscous 1 percent
ups, and fillings. solution of konjac flour in water is treated with a mild
The most recent gel-forming food-approved poly- alkali, such as potassium carbonate or even ground oys-
saccharide is gellan gum, produced by aerobic fer- ter shells (primarily calcium carbonate), and heated to
mentation of the bacterium Pseudomonas elodea and about 176°F (80°C) for a few minutes, it forms a firm,
patented in the 1980s. Gellan gum forms very viscous very elastic, rubbery gel upon cooling to room tempera-
solutions in cold water, and when heated to 176°F–194°F ture. The gel is amazingly heat stable, and if placed on
(80°C–90°C) and then cooled to room temperature, it the surface of a hot plate heated to 350°F (177°C), it will
forms gels at concentrations as low as 0.05 percent. Gel remain for several hours without melting or drying out.
strength is enhanced by the addition of various gel-form- But even more amazing is that, when the gel is cooled to
ing salts containing calcium and sodium ions. By regulat- near freezing (about 39°F, or 4°C), it turns back into a
ing concentrations of both gellan gum and different salts, viscous liquid! Konjac flour is approved by the FDA for
gels can be produced with properties ranging from soft use in providing heat stability in veggie burgers, meat
and elastic to hard and brittle. Applications range from patties, surimi (imitation fish), and noodles.
water-based jellies to fabricated foods, icings, milk-based
desserts, and pie fillings. REFERENCE
During my last 10 years working in the food ingredi- Imeson, A., ed. Thickening and Gelling Agents for Food. Glasgow:
ents industry, I was involved with a very interesting food Blackie Academic and Professional Press, 1992.
STAR POWER
Star anise is an important culinary spice used in Asian flavors of all three oils. The oils are soluble in fat and
cooking to flavor slow-cooked braised and stewed dishes. alcohol but very poorly soluble in water. Interestingly,
It is often used both by itself and as a component of the trans-anethole is a sweet-tasting compound that is about
well-known Chinese five-spice blend that typically con- thirteen times sweeter than sugar.
sists of finely ground anise pepper, star anise, cassia, After prolonged heating in water, trans-anethole is
cloves, and fennel seed. The five-spice blend is used in slowly converted to an oily liquid named 4-methoxybenz-
marinades and barbeque sauces, on roasts, and in stews aldehyde (also known as p-anisaldehyde) that possesses a
and soups such as the Vietnamese beef noodle soup fairly pleasant vanilla-like aroma. When it comes to flavor
known as pho. Chinese cooks use star anise to season development in slow-cooked braised and stewed meats
braised and stewed pork and stewed chicken dishes that and poultry, this compound plays one of the most sig-
are cooked for several hours in a blend of four parts water nificant roles and is the reason why the stews and braises
and one part soy sauce seasoned with star anise. This is must be cooked for several hours to develop the desired
one of their favorite ways to cook delicious braised fatty flavor. This brings up an important point in the develop-
pork belly. Although star anise was brought to Europe ment of cooked meat flavor. What little flavor raw meat
from China near the end of the sixteenth century, it has has comes mostly from the taste of the residual blood in
found relatively little use in Western cooking even today. the meat. The characteristic flavor of cooked meat arises
Star anise is the fruit of an evergreen tree (Illicium from chemical reactions that occur during cooking.
verum Hook) that is native to southwestern China and One of the most important sources of flavor is the Mail-
northern Vietnam and now cultivated in these countries, lard reaction between sugars, such as glucose and fruc-
as well as in Laos, India, the Philippines, Japan, and tose, and various amino acids formed by the breakdown
Korea. As its name implies, the fruit is an eight-pronged of proteins. But this reaction occurs much more readily
star-shaped pod. The pods are harvested when still green, when meats with very limited water are roasted at tem-
but they turn to a reddish-brown color after drying in the peratures above 300°F (about 150°C) and can be easily
sun and develop a licorice-like, sweet, but pungent flavor seen, for example, on the hot, dry surface of a roast.
that intensifies during prolonged cooking in a stew or Boiling meat produces very different flavors because the
broth. The dried pods of star anise are about 2.5–3.5 per- Maillard reaction is more subdued in high concentrations
cent essential oils by weight. A volatile compound called of simmering water, which causes very different chemical
trans-anethole makes up about 85–90 percent of the oils, reactions than dry roasting.
another volatile compound called methyl chavicol makes The process of slowly simmering meat is where star
up about 2 percent, and numerous other compounds are anise makes such a large contribution to flavor. Research
present in smaller amounts. Pure trans-anethole is a crys- recently conducted at Rutgers University’s Department of
talline semisolid that melts at about room temperature Food Science has shown that trans-anethole slowly breaks
(70°F, or 21.4°C) and is also found in star anise, anise, down to 4-methoxybenzaldehyde in simmering water,
and fennel oils, providing the characteristic licorice-like which in turn reacts with the sulfur-containing amino
acids L-cysteine and cystine to produce the characteristic anisatin that has acute neurological effects on humans,
flavors of Chinese stewed pork dishes. The primary prod- fish, and animals. Unfortunately, the two varieties are
uct of the reaction with L-cysteine is a sulfur-containing nearly indistinguishable from each other, and there have
compound called 4-methoxybenzothialdehyde, which is been reports of Chinese star anise being contaminated
responsible for much of the stewed meat flavor created by with the Japanese variety, also known as shikimi.
star anise upon slow cooking. Although trans-anethole
contributes a licorice-like flavor to the dishes, the new REFERENCE
sulfur-containing compounds derived from trans-anethole Pu, X. “Thermal Reaction of Anisaldehyde in the Presence of L-Cysteine,
that form during prolonged cooking are the secret to the a Model Reaction of Chinese Stew Meat Flavor Generation.”
unique flavor of dishes seasoned with star anise. Master of science thesis, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ,
2014.
Home cooks should be aware that Chinese star anise
Nutra. “FDA Warning on Star Anise Teas.” September 10, 2003,
is quite different from Japanese star anise (Illicium anisa- https://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Article/2003/09/11
tum Linn), which contains a highly toxic substance called /FDA-warning-on-star-anise-teas.
The desire to cook food with diverse ingredients and new flavors has moved out of the
realm of top-name chefs and restaurants and into the home kitchen. I like to think that
the late, greatly admired chef Anthony Bourdain played a significant role in fueling home
cooks’ interest in exotic foods of the world, as well as in the diverse human cultures that
created these wonderful cuisines and flavors. Christopher Kimball’s new venture, Milk
Street, is helping to encourage this renaissance for the home cook by developing simple
recipes with bold flavors that use ingredients and cooking techniques from around the
world, including Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Although science is not an obvious
tool in developing these recipes, it still plays a very important role in developing the tech-
niques used, from the simple, such as blooming spices (roasting them in oil or butter,
known as tadka in Indian cooking), to the more complex, such as making great, tender pie
dough using a foolproof process based on tangzhong (a Japanese method in which boiling
water is added to a small amount of flour to rapidly gelatinize the starch).
Cooking Is the Perfect Embodiment of Art and Science

Simple cooking is a craft that requires significant knowledge and skill, while the finest
form of cooking is said to be an art. Knowing how to season a dish is a skill, but Thomas
Keller’s exquisite Peach and Summer Onions at the French Laundry is a work of art.
Even with these examples, the meaning of cooking as an art is not entirely clear. In the early
1970s, artist and photographer Martha Rosler wrote a fictitious dialogue between French
chef Julia Child and New York restaurant critic Craig Claiborne titled The Art of Cooking.
Julia Child: Craig, my dear, I’ve been thinking. We all know that cooking is an art. But
I wonder: How did it get to be one? After all, most of what we think of as art hangs on
the wall or sits out in a courtyard.
Craig Claiborne: Yes, cooking is an ephemeral art; the painter, the sculptor, the musi-
cian may create enduring works, but even the most talented chef knows that his mas-
terpieces will quickly disappear. A bite or two, a little gulp, and a beautiful work of
thought and life is no more.
Julia Child: I see. You’re talking of masterpieces and talent and beautiful work, but isn’t
cooking primarily a matter of taste?
Craig Claiborne: Of course! But isn’t all art a matter of taste?
Julia Child: Yes! But are they the same kind of taste?
Craig Claiborne: Classic French cooking is a fine art, as surely as painting and sculp-
ture are. Its great works, such as poulard a la Neva and filet de boeuf Richelieu, are
masterpieces designed to enchant both the palate and the eye. And the classic French
cuisine implies as well the careful blend of textures, colors, and flavors; it means spar-
kling crystal, gleaming silver, and immaculate napery. When all these come together, it
is one of the glories of the civilized world.
So there you have an interpretation of the art of cooking from a famous artist. But, you
may say, great art can be created without science. True, but science can significantly enhance
the art of cooking, as it can any form of art. Consider that about 2,000 years ago all painting
was two-dimensional with no perspective. Then about 1000 C.E., the great Arab mathema-
tician and physicist al-Haytham recognized mathematically how the human eye sees objects
in three dimensions, and within several hundred years, great artists like Leonardo da Vinci
and Albrecht Dürer were creating great art with a three-dimensional perspective. Or con-
sider how chemists of that era learned how to make beautiful stable pigments that greatly
contributed to the exquisite colors of paintings by the Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer or the
more recent American luminist painter Fitz Henry Lane. In the same way, a chef who knows
that the green pigment chlorophyll in green beans is unstable in acid, which chemically
changes the chlorophyll into a dull olive green pigment, can add just a tiny pinch of baking
soda to retain the beautiful bright green color of fresh beans during cooking. Or consider
that a fat like butter transfers much less heat energy to food than wine does, a realization
that enabled Keller to create the luscious texture of his butter-poached lobster. By knowing
how the muscle fibers in meat begin to shrink and squeeze out moisture at certain tempera-
tures, a chef can cook meat that is tender and juicy. And, finally, Andrea Geary, a test cook
with America’s Test Kitchen, masterfully adapted her knowledge of the crystal structure of
fat (with a little help from me) to create chocolate brownies that were supermoist and chewy.
As a professional scientist, amateur artist, and enthusiastic cook, I truly believe cooking
has evolved over the past 200 years to become the perfect embodiment of art and science.
The future of modern cooking is moving toward an emphasis on fresh seasonal local ingre-
dients that are lovingly prepared, using both science and art, to produce exquisitely beau-
tiful food enhanced with bold exotic flavors, making it pleasing for both the palate and the
eye. Simultaneously, science-based cooking methods such as sous vide are being employed
to retain and even enhance the nutritional quality of food, as explained in the final two
chapters of this book. It’s like having your cake and eating it, too.
6 Cooking Science Catches Fire!
Cooking Science Goes Viral

I first met Harold McGee in January 2005 at a coffee shop on University Avenue in Palo
Alto, California, where I asked him to autograph the second edition of his popular book
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, published the previous year.
For me, the book was very inspirational, as I was going to start working part-time as the
science editor for America’s Test Kitchen in March 2005. The original founder of the test
kitchen, Christopher Kimball, had a sincere interest in cooking science and its applica-
tion in the development of recipes that worked for home cooks, so I was really excited
to start this new journey after retiring from the food ingredients industry. Over coffee,
McGee confided that the first edition of On Food and Cooking, published in 1984, had
not sold well but that the new, significantly revised edition was a very big success. The
new edition has received a James Beard book award and an International Association of
Culinary Professionals cookbook award, and it’s hard to find a serious cook today who
does not own a copy.
What happened in the 20 years between the first and second editions of the book that
accounted for one being a disappointment and the other being a huge success? Simply
put, home cooks and professionals became fascinated with cooking science. After the first
edition of On Food and Cooking, McGee published a second book in 1990 called The
Curious Cook: More Kitchen Science and Lore, which didn’t let the public forget about
FIGURE 6.1
A beautiful, delicious, and healthy dish of pan roasted grouper and roasted carrots on a bed of legumes and whole grains,
prepared by sustainable seafood chef Rick Moonen. Photograph by Sabin Orr.
116 | COOKING SCIENCE CATCHES FIRE!
cooking science. Clearly, McGee deserves the bulk of the credit for awakening the public to
the joys of cooking science, and his 2004 book was a barometer of that awakening. But I
believe the real interest that led to McGee’s success started with the publication of Cook’s
Illustrated magazine by Christopher Kimball. Kimball had started publishing a cooking
magazine called Cook’s Magazine in 1979 and soon after sold it to Condé Nast Publica-
tions, which eventually stopped publication in 1989. Kimball then began publication of
Cook’s Illustrated in 1992.
The inaugural issue of Cook’s Illustrated contained cooking science notes written by
McGee on the need for scalding milk and the science of butter. It also included a full article
on “The Way to Roast Chicken,” for which McGee roasted more than a dozen chickens
under a variety of conditions and temperatures to find the best method. His scientific
approach to developing a recipe became the formula for success for Cook’s Illustrated. That
groundbreaking 1992 issue also contained a large anonymous sidebar on “The Science of
Egg Whites.” The cooking public loved it, and subscriptions grew twice as fast as for any
other cooking magazine, reaching a total of 1.2 million subscribers by 2009. McGee’s early
contributions to the magazine were critical because they gave the science credibility. Even
today there is far too much fabricated cooking science (Should I say made-up cooking
science?) being published, especially on the internet. Be careful if you read a book or blog
on the science of cooking that does not back up the “facts” with either valid kitchen tests
or references to the source of this information in the scientific literature. Otherwise, you
are relying on the author as the source, and who knows from where they may have gotten
the science. Note that McGee has fifteen pages of references at the back of On Food and
Cooking. Is it any wonder it is such a valuable resource?
The public’s interest in science-based cooking was further fueled by the very popu-
lar television show America’s Test Kitchen, launched in 2000 and now producing shows
for its nineteenth season. On each program, artful animation that catches the audience’s
interest illustrates the science behind selected recipes. To be sure, other developments have
bolstered the interest in cooking science, including the creation of the Food Network in
1993 and the airing of Alton Brown’s very popular science-based show Good Eats, which
started on a local Chicago television station in 1998 and moved to the Food Network the
following year. And then there were the contributions of other authors such as biochemist
Shirley Corriher, who wrote Cookwise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Cooking in
1997. After I personally pestered Kimball and executive editor Jack Bishop for 2 years
to write a book on cooking science, the company finally published The Science of Good
Cooking in 2012. It rapidly became the second-highest-selling book for the company after
appearing on the New York Times “Best Seller List” for 8 weeks. This was followed in
2016 by a second science book, Cook’s Science, which was nominated for a James Beard
book award. As the named coauthor of both books, I was responsible for researching and
writing all of the science, based on a review of almost 350 scientific papers.
Is the current interest in cooking science sincere, or is it a passing fad? I believe the
interest is sincere and will increase in coming years because, as we will learn in the next
sections, cooking science teaches us how to prepare and cook healthy food. The Centers
for Disease Control determined that 70 percent of all deaths in the United States in 2014
were due to chronic diseases and predicts that this proportion will increase to 75 per-
cent by 2020 without changes in our diet and physical activity. The increasing incidence
of diet-related chronic diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, dental
diseases, and certain cancers, in both the developed and the developing worlds is drawing
greater attention to what foods we eat and how we prepare and cook them to reduce our
risk of developing these life-threatening diseases.
Science Brings a New Vision to Cooking Healthy Food

Thanks to research sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), recommen-
dations promoted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and dietary guidelines
developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and American Heart Associa-
tion (AHA), as well as extensive academic research on nutrition and epidemiology, we now
know quite a lot about the foods in our diet that are healthy and those that are unhealthy.
For example, evidence compiled by NIH shows that foods rich in antioxidants—such as
carotenoid pigments, polyphenols, and vitamins C (ascorbic acid) and E (tocopherols)—
reduce the oxidative stress caused by the reactive free radicals formed in our body, thus
reducing the risk of cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and
eye diseases. On the flip side, many health organizations have compiled extensive infor-
mation showing that some fats, but especially trans fats, significantly increase the risk of
heart attacks and strokes, as well as causing inflammation, insulin resistance, and diabetes.
Unfortunately, we know much less about how home cooking affects the nutrients in food.
One of the reasons is that the levels of nutrients in fresh fruits and vegetables vary sig-
nificantly between batches of the same crop depending on when, where, and how it was
grown; when it was harvested; and how it was processed, shipped, and stored. As we will
learn later in this chapter, cooking food can cause further significant changes in the levels
of nutrients, both good and bad, depending on how it was cooked. Expanding our scien-
tific knowledge of how cooking affects the nutritional quality of food will have a profound
impact on human health, fueling increased interest in cooking science.
Since the late 1930s, research on how food processing, including both food service and
home cooking practices, affects the approximately four dozen nutrients required for human
nutrition has been steadily increasing. For a very thorough review of the research between
the late 1930s and early 1970s, refer to Nutritional Evaluation of Food Processing, edited
by Robert S. Harris and Endel Karmas (the second edition, published in 1975, is still in
print). Although the extensive data are now quite dated, they are still valid because the
chemistry of nutrients does not change and the relative impact of many forms of food pro-
cessing on the nutrient content of food remains the same. Chapter 17, by Paul LaChance
and John Erdman (both were associated with the Department of Food Science at Rutgers
University), covers “Effects of Home Food Preparation Practices on Nutrient Content of
Foods” and is clearly relevant for the home cook, while chapter 16, by Paul LaChance, on
“Effects of Food Preparation Procedures on Nutrient Retention with Emphasis Upon Food
Service Practices” is especially relevant for restaurant chefs. This book has great mean-
ing for me because Robert Harris (1904–1983) was my mother’s cousin and professor of
nutritional biochemistry for 33 years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was
also the senior editor for the thirty-one-volume series Vitamins and Hormones, published
by Academic Press. Harris awakened my interest in nutrition, although it was soon super-
seded by my fascination with the structures of organic molecules and the beauty of the
chemistry of steroids such as cholesterol, progesterone, and testosterone.
For those seeking a very readable, scientifically accurate book on healthy eating (with
recipes), I strongly recommend the most recent version of Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy:
The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating, written by Walter C. Willett, MD,
and published in 2017. Willett was chair of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard
T. H. Chan School of Public Health for 25 years and is one of the world’s leading experts
on nutrition. Finally, for those seeking a scholarly paper on the effects of cooking on
nutrients in food, see “A Review of the Impact of Preparation and Cooking on the Nutri-
tional Quality of Vegetables and Legumes,” which I coauthored with Adriana Fabbri,
a postdoctoral student from Sao Paulo, Brazil. See also “The Effect of Cooking on the
Phytochemical Content of Vegetables,” by Mariantonella Palermo, Nicoletta Pellegrini,
and Vincenzo Fogliano.
Promoting the application of cooking science as a means of enhancing the nutritional

quality of food has been an interest of mine for many years. In May 2013, I gave a lec-
ture on “Pairing Cooking Science with Nutrition” at the Department of Nutrition of the
Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. The lecture was largely based on Seminars
in Food Science, Technology, and Sustainability, the course I teach at the Department of
Nutrition. In January 2014, I was invited to give essentially the same lecture as the Zagat
guest chef at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California. At the time, the huge
Google campus had about thirty-five independent cafeterias, most serving three free meals
per day and nearly all focused on healthy food. My lecture was recorded for YouTube,
should you want to watch it. Fortunately, the video does not show the unsettling drama
that occurred just minutes before the lecture was recorded—when I had to reformat about
a dozen of my slides because the Google projection equipment was not compatible with
the slides prepared on my computer! The lecture was presented several more times, includ-
ing at the 2015 Conference on Nutrition and Health, organized by Dr. Andrew Weil and
held in Phoenix. Some of the following examples of how cooking affects the nutritional
quality of food are adapted from these lectures.
Cooking Science Enhances the Nutritional Quality of Food

Food is composed of a very complex mixture of divergent components, which makes
studying and understanding the science of cooking a significant challenge. The compo-
nents of food can be divided into two broad categories, the macronutrients and micro-
nutrients. The macronutrients consist of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and water and
comprise about 98 percent of food by weight, while the micronutrients consist of very
small amounts of numerous vitamins, minerals, and, in the case of plant foods, substances
called phytochemicals, many of which are bioactive and nutritionally important. Processes
that occur during cooking primarily involve the macronutrients and affect the flavor, tex-
ture, and appearance of the food, as well as the digestibility of proteins and starch, while
effects on the micronutrients have a greater impact on the nutritional quality of the food.
Factors including cooking temperature, cooking time, pH, and cooking medium (such as
water, steam, fat, or dry cooking) play a very important role. For example, increasing the
volume of water when boiling vegetables increases the loss of water-soluble vitamins and
minerals, so something as simple as how much water is used for boiling a vegetable will
affect nutritional quality (a 5:1 ratio of water to food is commonly used).
TABLE 6.1 Vitamins are essential nutrients that our body cannot make or does
Maximum Cooking Loss of Vitamins in Food not make in sufficient amounts, so we must obtain them from our diet.
Maximum Table 6.1 shows the maximum vitamin losses that occur when food is
Vitamin Cooking Loss (%) cooked by a variety of methods. Not all methods of cooking result in
Vitamin A 40 such large losses, but the numbers do convey the relative stability of vita-
Vitamin B6∗ 40 mins for a variety of cooking conditions. A word of caution is necessary
Vitamin B12∗ 10 when considering numbers like those shown in table 6.1: look for trends
Vitamin C∗ 100 rather than putting too much weight on the absolute numbers because of
Vitamin D 40 the large variation that occurs in the composition of food. You will note
Vitamin K 5 that the greatest loss occurs with vitamin C (ascorbic acid) because it is
Niacin∗ 75 water soluble, unstable to heat, and easily oxidized; thus it serves as the
Riboflavin∗ 75 “canary in the coal mine” and is often used as a standard to compare the
Thiamin∗ 80 effects of different methods of cooking on the loss of nutrients in food.
Folic acid∗ 100 Fresh fruits and raw vegetables are therefore the best sources of vitamin C,
which plays many important roles in the body. Vitamin C is involved in
Source: Harris and Karmas 1975.
∗
Water-soluble vitamins. the synthesis of collagen, the primary protein in connective tissue that
aids in healing wounds and reducing the onset of scurvy. As a reducing
agent that functions as an antioxidant, vitamin C also plays an import-
ant role in reducing the oxidation of LDL cholesterol, thus providing protection against
cardiovascular disease. Lack of vitamin C is best known as the cause of scurvy, indicated
by the body’s failure to produce sufficient collagen for bones and connective tissue, but the
first sign of vitamin C deficiency is fatigue, a concern among many people.
Again, when considering the effect of cooking on the nutritional quality of food, it
is very important to look for trends in the data rather than focusing on specific num-
bers because even the best-designed studies show significant variation in the numbers.
For example, consider the important family of bioactive phytochemicals called gluco-
sinolates, found in all cruciferous vegetables (about thirty different glucosinolates have
been found in cruciferous vegetables). These glucosinolates and their breakdown products
(called isothiocyanates) have been linked to a significant reduction in the risk of developing
many types of cancers, including breast, stomach, and bladder cancers. However, cooking
destroys nearly all of the isothiocyanates, which throws into question the identity of the
cancer-fighting agents in cruciferous vegetables. Cooking studies have found that boiling
these vegetables until tender (a valid end point) resulted in reported losses of 18–59 per-
cent of the total glucosinolate content, with a mean loss of 37 percent. Ranges of reported
cooking losses this wide are common in cooking studies. Furthermore, consider that the
total glucosinolate content of fresh cruciferous vegetables varies five- to eightfold within
different samples of the same vegetable due to differences in cultivars, soil fertility (includ-
ing sulfur and mineral content), weather, cultivation practices, and postharvest storage
conditions. Whether crops are grown conventionally or organically makes little difference.
Coupled with the losses during cooking, this means the amount of beneficial phytochemi-
cals in these foods can vary widely. There is one downside to consuming an excess of fresh
cruciferous vegetables: one of the various isothiocyanates formed from the glucosinolates,
aptly named progoitrin, spontaneously forms a compound that interferes with the uptake
of iodine by the thyroid gland, resulting in goiter. But this occurs only with the consump-
tion of fresh uncooked cruciferous vegetables.
Several years ago Adriana Fabbri, a postdoctoral student working with me at Harvard,
decided to see if the glucosinolate content of broccoli had changed over the previous
25 years, perhaps due to changes in soil fertility (especially sulfur content) or fertilizer
use. California produces 90 percent of the broccoli grown in the United States, and state
records had shown that fertilizer use on broccoli had remained fairly constant (varying
only a few percent) during this time, thus eliminating fertilizer use as a factor. A review
was conducted of numerous studies analyzing the total glucosinolate content of broccoli
grown in California (many different cultivars are grown) over a period of 25 years. The lev-
els of total glucosinolates reported in the broccoli varied so widely that it was not possible
even to see a clear trend based on when the broccoli was grown or to determine if changes
in soil fertility had been a factor. This is why it is difficult to draw firm conclusions from
a single set of numbers or even a single study; rather, any conclusions should be based on
the results of many studies. In the field of nutrition, analyzing the trends reported in a
large set of studies is called a meta-analysis. Yet we often read reports in the press or on
the internet about a single study that has shown some dramatic effect of a food or nutrient
on human health.
Not only is a very wide range of nutrient levels found in all crops, but also the stability
of nutrients following harvest has a significant impact on the nutritional quality of fruits
and vegetables. Table 6.2 shows the percentages of vitamin C lost when samples of five
types of freshly harvested vegetables were stored under different conditions. Notice that
the vegetables stored frozen (−4°F/−20°C) for 12 months lost less vitamin C (relative to the

FIGHTING CANCER WITH CRUCIFEROUS VEGETABLES
The relationship between diet and cancer in humans Other commonly consumed forms are horseradish, bok
has been recognized for more than 40 years. For exam- choy, broccoli rabe, turnips, arugula, watercress, radishes,
ple, a Western diet high in fat has been associated with and wasabi. As we have learned elsewhere in this book, all
an increased risk of colon cancer, while people living in cruciferous vegetables contain naturally occurring com-
China, Japan, and Korea who consume a low-fat diet are pounds (phytochemicals) called glucosinolates, which,
four to ten times less likely to develop colon or breast can- upon cell damage, react with an enzyme called myrosinase
cer than people living in the United States. Almost half to produce bioactive compounds chemically known as
of the cancers diagnosed in the United States occur in isothiocyanates (ITCs). In nature, these compounds act as
the lung, colon, rectum, breast, and prostate. Fortunately, deterrents to insect attack, so it is not surprising that they
there is substantial evidence that a diet high in fruits and might produce biological effects in humans. The ITCs are
vegetables reduces the risk of developing certain cancers believed to be the bioactive compounds primarily respon-
due to the presence of bioactive molecules known as che- sible for protection against various forms of cancer (indole
mopreventive agents. One difficulty in finding clear rela- 3-carbinol is another chemopreventive agent formed from
tionships between diet and the suppression of cancers in glucosinolates), but as pointed out in this chapter, most
humans arises from the wide variation in the levels of che- of the ITCs are destroyed by cooking, which raises the
mopreventive agents in fruits and vegetables caused by cul- question of the identity of the cancer-fighting agent(s) in
tivation practices, soil composition, weather, environment cruciferous vegetables. Let’s explore the possibilities.
(including water), fertilizer use, and postharvest treatment, Numerous animal and in vitro (isolated cell) studies
including the impact of storage, preparation, and cooking. have confirmed the role of ITCs in suppressing cancers by
For more than 30 years, cruciferous vegetables have a number of mechanisms, including detoxifying carcin-
been associated with a reduction in the risk of certain ogens, protecting cells against DNA damage, inhibiting
cancers, shown more recently to include breast and blad- blood vessel formation in tumors, and inhibiting tumor
der cancers and possibly lung and even prostate cancers. cell migration (National Cancer Institute 2012). Even if
Research has attributed the protective role of cruciferous the identity of the chemopreventive agents is uncertain,
vegetables to bioactive molecules formed within the plant extensive studies strongly support the role of crucifer-
cells when they are damaged by chewing and cutting. ous vegetables in reducing the risk of cancer. But animal
These are the same compounds that are responsible for the and cell studies are relatively easy to control, using spe-
pungent taste and aroma of cruciferous vegetables. About cific doses of pure bioactive molecules that tend to give
thirty-six different cruciferous vegetables are consumed fairly clear results within a limited time frame. Compa-
around the world, but in the United States, we tend to rable studies in humans are not possible except with very
focus on one genus of this family known as Brassica oler- small, carefully controlled groups of subjects. Many of
acea, which includes kale, collard greens, Chinese broc- the epidemiological studies done with very large groups
coli, cabbage, savoy cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, of people involve recalling what was eaten and when, how
broccoli, broccoli romanesco, cauliflower, and broccolini. often, and in what quantity it was eaten. If these were
the only limitations, given enough subjects over sufficient have been very different for each subject depending on
time, we could see fairly clear trends of diet versus health the source of the vegetable and how it was prepared.
outcomes. Unfortunately, the wide variation in the level The watercress study resulted in another interesting
of bioactive molecules present or formed in fruits and observation. Boiling the watercress for 3 minutes com-
vegetables, coupled with the impact of preparation and pletely destroyed the myrosinase enzyme, yet some ITCs
cooking methods, makes it very difficult to determine the were still found in the urine of subjects who consumed
actual amount of bioactive molecules consumed by the the cooked vegetable, although much less than in that
test subjects. For example, we know that the level of glu- of subjects who consumed raw watercress. According to
cosinolates in a single crop like broccoli can vary five- to the authors, this was the first study to show that intact
eightfold, and boiling can eliminate almost 60 percent of glucosinolates in a cooked cruciferous vegetable can be
this variable amount. This means that some subjects who converted to isothiocyanates in humans. So cooking cruci-
consumed the same number of servings of broccoli per ferous vegetables may not eliminate all beneficial bioactive
week may have ingested many fewer or many more ITCs molecules. Furthermore, incubating cooked watercress
than other subjects. And this difference is compounded if juice containing glucosinolates, but no ITCs, with human
one set of subjects steamed their broccoli and another set feces produced a significant amount of ITCs; this indicates
boiled theirs, as glucosinolates and ITCs are water solu- that some of the bacteria in feces from the gut microflora
ble and easily leached into cooking water, while steaming may possess myrosinase-like activity, making them another
has been shown to increase the level of ITCs. source of ITCs. So even though cooking destroys most of
Relatively few studies have been conducted compar- the ITCs formed from glucosinolates, it does not rule them
ing the amounts of ITCs consumed in raw versus cooked out as the cancer-fighting agent formed in cruciferous veg-
cruciferous vegetables. One such study conducted at the etables because they are produced in multiple ways.
American Health Foundation (Getahun and Chung 1999) Taken as a whole, in vitro, animal, and human studies
compared the amount of ITCs consumed in raw versus confirm that cruciferous vegetables help to fight certain
boiled watercress and then analyzed the amount of ITCs cancers, especially bladder and breast cancers.
excreted in the urine. Subjects eating raw watercress not
REFERENCES
only consumed about 4.6 times more ITCs than those
eating cooked watercress from the same batch but also Getahun, S. M., and F.-L. Chung. “Conversion of Glucosinolates to
Isothiocyanates in Humans After Ingestion of Cooked Watercress.”
excreted about 10 times more ITCs, indicating that cook-
Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention 8 (1999): 447–451.
ing watercress in water significantly reduces the level of Murillo, G., and R. G. Mehta. “Cruciferous Vegetables and Cancer
ingested ITCs both by leaching out the glycosinolates and Prevention.” Nutrition and Cancer 41, nos. 1 & 2 (2001): 17–28.
ITCs and by deactivating the myrosinase enzyme. So even National Cancer Institute. Cruciferous Vegetables and Cancer Preven-
tion. Bethesda, MD: National Cancer Institute, 2012.
though subjects in a large study consumed the same num- Willett, W., and P. J. Skerett. Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard
ber of servings of a cruciferous vegetable over a period Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating. New York: Free Press,
of time, the amount of bioactive molecules ingested may 2017.
TABLE 6.2
Loss of Vitamin C (as % of Dry Weight) Due to Storage
Food Fresh 68°F (20°C) 7 Days Fresh 39°F (4°C) 7 Days Frozen −4°F (−20°C) 12 Months
Broccoli −56 0 −10

Carrots −27 −10 0
Green beans −55 −77 −20
Green peas −60 −15 −10
Spinach −100 −75 −30
freshly harvested vegetables) than did those stored for 1 week at refrigerator temperature
(39°F/4°C) or at room temperature (68°F/20°C). This is the case with many types of frozen
vegetables because they are almost always rapidly blanched and flash frozen within a few
hours after harvest. The vitamin C content of spinach and green beans is very susceptible
to degradation because fresh vegetables contain active enzymes that catalyze the oxidation
of vitamin C during storage. Blanching before freezing deactivates the enzymes. In addition
to vitamin C, other fairly unstable vitamins in vegetables are folic acid and thiamin. You can
imagine that the loss of less stable nutrients like vitamin C can be quite significant in fruits
and vegetables that are shipped across the United States or from foreign countries and then
stored at a distribution center before finally arriving at the supermarket, where many vegeta-
bles are kept moist, but are not refrigerated, for several days. In many cases, these so-called
fresh vegetables should be stored in the refrigerator as soon as they are brought home
because they lose fewer nutrients there than at room temperature. For the past 10–20 years,
controlled atmosphere storage and modified atmosphere packaging methods have been uti-
lized to prolong the shelf life and improve the nutrient stability of fresh fruits and vegetables.
In both cases, the level of oxygen in the package or storage chamber is reduced from about
22 percent, the level in the atmosphere, to about 2.5 percent, while the level of carbon dioxide
is increased from about 0.04 percent, the level in the atmosphere, to 2.5 percent. The differ-
ence is made up by adding more nitrogen. Increasing carbon dioxide and decreasing oxygen
greatly retards the respiration and spoilage of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Cooking further exacerbates the destruction of some (but not all) nutrients in food,
but the methods and conditions of cooking greatly influence the extent of loss or gain.
Tables 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5 illustrate very effectively how three common cooking methods
TABLE 6.3
Loss or Gain of Nutrients in Cooked Broccoli
Nutrient Raw Boiled Steamed Fried
Total carotenoids 28∗ +32% +19% −67%

Total phenols 100∗ −73% −38% −60%
∗
Vitamin C 847 −48% −32% −87%
Total glucosinolates 71† −59 % +30% −84%
Cooking time 8 mins. 13 mins. 3 mins.
∗
Numbers are expressed in milligrams of nutrient per 100 grams of food on a dry weight basis.
†
Number expressed in micromoles (molecular weight) per gram of food on a dry weight basis.
Percentages are expressed as increase or decrease of nutrient on a dry weight basis.
TABLE 6.4
Loss or Gain of Nutrients in Cooked Carrots
Total carotenoids 118∗ +14% −6% −13%

∗
Total phenols 70 −100% −43% −31%
Vitamin C 31∗ −10% −39% −100%
∗
Numbers are expressed in milligrams of nutrient per 100 grams of food on a dry weight basis; percentages are expressed
as increase or decrease of nutrient on a dry weight basis.
TABLE 6.5
Loss or Gain of Nutrients in Cooked Zucchini
Total carotenoids 50∗ −4% −22% −35%

∗
Total phenols 59 −70% −41% −63%
∗
Vitamin C 194 −4% −14% −14%
∗
Numbers are expressed in milligrams of nutrient per 100 grams of food on a dry weight basis; percentages are expressed
as increase or decrease of nutrient on a dry weight basis.
affect the percentages of specific nutrients lost or gained for three vege-
tables. Out of many similar studies that I could cite, I have selected this
one from the Universities of Parma and Napoli because the design and
breadth of the study are so well thought out. You may be thinking that
I have cautioned against relying on a single study, but the results of this
study are so consistent with many others that I am comfortable using it
as an example.
Most studies of this nature measure the loss of nutrients after cooking
the vegetables for a specific length of time, such as 10 minutes. A specific
cooking time is useful for comparing the loss of one nutrient with that of
another or one vegetable with another. But at home, we cook vegetables
until they reach a certain tenderness, which is how this study was con-
ducted, making it more representative of home cooking than a laboratory
study. The researchers determined how long it took to cook carrots, zuc-
chini, and broccoli to the desired tenderness, as determined by a trained
taste panel. The end points were then quantified by measuring the ten-
derness with a very sensitive laboratory instrument called a texture ana-
lyzer, which measures the force necessary to penetrate a sample of food
(figure 6.2). The forces needed to penetrate both the raw and the cooked
vegetables were then used to calculate the percent softening after cook-
ing each vegetable to the desired tenderness under carefully controlled
conditions. All tenderness measurements were performed at 122°F
(50°C), typical of the temperature at which the vegetables would be con-
sumed. Measurements were then made of the levels of specific nutrients
in samples of the raw and cooked vegetables, with each sample coming
from the same batch of the vegetable being tested to ensure there was no
FIGURE 6.2
difference in the nutrient content between samples of the same raw vege-
A texture analyzer similar to an earlier model used by the
author for his research at Framingham State University.
table. Three samples of each vegetable were cooked by each method, and
Reproduced with permission from Brookfield Engineering. the nutrient content of each sample was measured ten times to ensure
reproducibility. The nutrient contents were measured for total carotenoid
pigments (the yellow, orange, and red pigments in vegetables; beta-carotene is the precur-
sor of vitamin A), total polyphenols, vitamin C (ascorbic acid), and total glucosinolates.
The first three nutrients function as antioxidants in food, while the glucosinolates and
their breakdown products, the isothiocyanates, are bioactive phytochemicals. A diet rich in
these four nutrients reduces the risk of developing certain cancers, as well as cardiovascular
and other degenerative diseases. Notice that only table 6.3 contains glucosinolates because
these phytochemicals are present only in cruciferous vegetables, like broccoli.
Before venturing into an explanation of all these numbers, let me mention that these
studies were conducted in Italy, where the desired end points of tenderness selected by the
taste panel were representative of Italian tastes and may not be the same for cooks in other
countries. Based on the cooking times, you can decide if you would cook the vegetables
for a longer or a shorter time to achieve the tenderness you prefer (Nicoletta Pellegrini,
one of the authors, kindly provided me the cooking times). The boiling time was based
on adding the vegetable to already boiling water (using a 5:1 ratio of water weight to veg-
etable weight), steaming was performed at atmospheric pressure where the temperature
of the steam is the same as that of boiling water (212°F/100°C), and deep-fat frying was
performed in 9.3 cups (2.2 liters) of peanut oil at 338°F (170°C). In addition, the vegeta-
bles were prepared for cooking as they traditionally are in Italy, which may differ from the
methods of preparation in other countries (such as the method of cleaning, chopping, and
the size of the chopped vegetables). Even given these differences, it is obvious that cooking
vegetables has a significant impact on their nutritional quality.
So what trends can we infer from these carefully designed and executed experiments?
First, of the three cooking methods, steaming is the least destructive of the nutrients, while
high-temperature deep-fat frying is the most destructive (particularly for vitamin C in broc-
coli and carrots). Although steaming took the longest time to cook vegetables to the desired
tenderness, it generally did not extract water-soluble nutrients (such as vitamin C, polyphe-
nols, and glucosinolates) the way boiling did, while frying involved the highest temperature
and extracted oil-soluble nutrients like the carotenoids. The one drawback with steaming
is that the lengthy cooking time promoted oxidation of light-sensitive nutrients such as
the polyphenols, as we see for zucchini. The other important observation is that cooking
actually increased the availability of some nutrients, especially the carotenoids in carrots
and broccoli (the chlorophyll that makes broccoli green also masks the modest amount of
carotenoids that are present). Steaming also increased the availability of glucosinolates in
broccoli, presumably because they were released from the cell walls by the heat.
That cooking increases carotenoids has been well documented for lycopene, the major
red carotenoid pigment in tomatoes. Studies have shown that the amount of fat-soluble
lycopene absorbed into the blood is almost four times higher from cooked tomato products
(such as sauce and paste) than from fresh tomatoes and that cooking tomatoes in an oil
such as olive oil increases the amount of lycopene absorbed into the blood by 80 percent.
This is very important because epidemiological studies have shown that consuming two to
three servings of tomato sauce per week reduces the risk of all forms of prostate cancer by
35 percent and that of the most advanced forms by 50 percent. In fresh tomatoes, lycopene
is bound to proteins, which limits its absorption into the body, while cooking releases the
lycopene from the proteins, so it is more readily absorbed with fats and oils.
Carotenoids are not the only nutrients whose availability and absorption are positively
affected by cooking, as shown by research conducted by the USDA. Researchers there stud-
ied how cooking a variety of vegetables—including kale, broccoli, cabbage, collard greens,
mustard greens, Brussels sprouts, spinach, and bell peppers—influenced the binding of bile
acids in the intestine. Bile acids are responsible for solubilizing fats, oils, and oil-soluble
vitamins, which allows them to be absorbed into the body from the intestine. Bile acids are
steroids synthesized in the liver from cholesterol, a process that consumes at least half of
the approximately 800 milligrams of cholesterol produced each day in the body. However,
about 95 percent of bile acids are reabsorbed back into the body and recycled for further
use in the intestine, thus limiting the amount of cholesterol used for synthesis. Cooking
the vegetables listed by boiling (10–14 minutes), steaming (10–20 minutes), and sautéing
(15–20 minutes) increased their ability to bind and eliminate bile acids from the body com-
pared to that of raw vegetables. The net result of eating these cooked vegetables is that more
bile acids are excreted from the body (rather than being recycled); thus more cholesterol
is consumed and its level in the blood reduced. The effect of cooked vegetables was com-
pared with that of cholestyramine, a drug approved by the FDA for the reduction of bile
acids and cholesterol. The results of the in vitro laboratory study showed that 100 grams
of cooked vegetables were 4–14 percent as effective as 100 milligrams of the drug. This
may not sound like much, but consider that these levels are the same as or slightly higher
than the bile acid binding values of oat bran and ready-to-eat oat bran cereals, which have
been approved by the FDA for a heart healthy label because they lower cholesterol. The
most effective vegetables and cooking methods were sautéed or steamed kale and mustard
greens, followed by steamed or sautéed collard greens, and then sautéed broccoli, cabbage,
and bell pepper. Evidence suggests that cooking converted some of the insoluble dietary
fiber in the vegetables to soluble fiber that was responsible for binding the bile acids. So
next time you are looking for a different vegetable to cook, try sautéing peppery mustard
greens and a little chopped garlic in olive oil and then briefly simmering them with a few
tablespoons of chicken stock or bouillon until they are tender. If you don’t like the strong
peppery taste, try blanching the greens in hot water for about 30 seconds before sautéing to
deactivate the myrosinase enzyme that produces the pungent taste (see chapter 5).
RECIPE 6.1 Tomato Sauce With Red Bell Peppers
INGREDIENTS: This sauce is a rich source of healthy orange- and red-colored pigments called carotenoids, espe-
cially lycopene from tomatoes, capsanthin from red bell peppers (and also found in paprika),
and beta-carotene from carrots. Carotenoids function as antioxidants and are associated with a
olive oil
reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and some cancers, such as prostate and lung cancers, as
1 medium red bell well as age-related macular degeneration (a few of the carotenoids, such as beta-carotene, serve as
pepper (or ½ large precursors of vitamin A). There is some evidence they may also help to maintain cognitive health.
red bell pepper), cut Carotenoids in foods tend to be bound to proteins, which reduces absorption of the carotenoids
into thin strips into the body from foods such as fresh tomatoes. Cooking releases carotenoids from the proteins,
1 carrot, peeled and making them more accessible for absorption. All carotenoids are oil soluble, so preparing tomato
chopped into small sauce with olive oil aids in their absorption from the small intestine and thus increases their levels
pieces in the blood. Here the prolonged heating not only releases more of the carotenoids into the oil,
1 medium to large making them available for absorption, but also helps to oxidize some of the carotenoids to produce
yellow onion, a more complex flavor.
chopped into very My mother first made this recipe and passed it on to my older sister and eventually to my wife,
small pieces Christine, and then to me. It differs from other basic tomato sauces by calling for a significant
amount of red bell pepper, which not only enhances the flavor but also provides another rich source
4 garlic cloves, finely
chopped of red carotenoids. The recipe makes enough sauce for six to eight servings of pasta. Because the
sauce is made with acidic tomato puree, it has a low pH (<4.6) that retards the growth of bacteria
3 ounces tomato paste and mold, so any leftover sauce will keep in the refrigerator for several weeks. Leftover sauce is also
(half of a 6-ounce great for making a bean soup, as well as a topping for pizza.
can)
If you are like my wife and want to restrict your consumption of pasta, then serve the sauce over
1 28-ounce can ground diagonally sliced zucchini sautéed with garlic and olive oil, which she prefers to pasta. Read box 7.1,
peeled tomatoes Winter Vegetable—The Science of Pasta, to learn why its reputation as a high-starch, high-glycemic-
1 tsp. sugar index food is not justified.
1 Tbsp. dried oregano

DIRECTIONS:
1 Tbsp. dried basil
Add the olive oil, red bell pepper, and carrot to a 2-quart saucepan, and cook on medium heat,
Yield: 6–8 servings
stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes to soften and brown some of the edges of the red bell
with pasta
pepper and carrot. Add the onion, and continue cooking on medium heat, stirring occasionally,
for another 4 minutes, until the onion is soft and perhaps even a little brown on the edges. Don’t
worry if the vegetables become too dark, as you really can’t overcook them for this recipe. Add
the garlic, and continue to cook for another minute, stirring frequently to prevent burning the
garlic, which makes it bitter. Add the tomato paste, and mix with the vegetables to help draw
out the carotenoids from the paste (notice how red the oil has become). Then add the toma-
toes, and mix thoroughly. Add about ½ cup of water, and even more if the sauce is too thick,
and reduce the heat.
Simmer the mixture for about 45 minutes, adding more water if needed to maintain the same
volume and consistency so the sauce does not burp out of the pan. Stir the sauce as necessary to
prevent burning. Add the sugar to offset the acidity of the tomatoes, season with the oregano and
basil, mix thoroughly, and continue to simmer on low, stirring occasionally, for about 1 hour (tasting
and smelling as you go). Keep adding water as necessary to prevent the sauce from becoming too
thick or burning. Taste, smell, and add salt, pepper, and more sugar as desired. Thin the sauce with
more water if it is too thick for your taste.
Other methods of cooking, including microwaving, pressure cooking, stir-frying, and

oven roasting, have been studied for their effects on the nutritional quality of food. In gen-
eral, heating in a microwave oven for less than 3 minutes, such as when warming food, does
little to affect the nutrients, including vitamin C and the glucosinolates. But using longer
heating times (over 15 minutes), as when fully cooking vegetables and meats, can have a
significant impact on nutrients because the energy in a microwave oven is high enough to
destroy many heat-sensitive molecules. For vegetables, you would be better off steaming
them even if it takes a little longer.
Pressure cooking has somewhat less destructive impact on nutrients compared with
boiling in water at atmospheric pressure. Even though pressure cookers heat the water to
250°F (121°C) under 1 atmosphere (15 pounds per square inch) of pressure, the cooking
time is significantly less, so cooking food to an end point based on texture (rather than
time) in a pressure cooker takes much less time than cooking in boiling water and the food
suffers about 15–20 percent less destruction of nutrients. But remember that any food
cooked in water will lose water-soluble vitamins and minerals into the cooking water.
To avoid the loss of valuable nutrients when braising meats and vegetables, the braising
liquid should be used to prepare soup, sauce, or gravy.
Stir-frying cooks foods very rapidly. However, because it requires a very high tempera-
ture and small pieces of food (with high surface area), it actually destroys most of the
vitamin C and polyphenols.
The effect of oven roasting is best judged by its impact on thiamin (also known as
vitamin B1). Thiamin is an important vitamin; it is involved in the metabolic pathway of
respiration, providing an important source of energy for the body, and is also believed to
play a role in nerve function. Meats are good sources of thiamin, so thiamin is a good
indicator of the impact of oven roasting on nutrient retention. For some unexplained rea-
son, pork contains about ten times more thiamin than beef, lamb, poultry, or fish. Because
thiamin is water soluble and unstable to heat, most of its loss occurs when food is boiled
or when cooked meat produces drippings. As an example, early studies showed about a
42 percent loss of thiamin from chicken roasted to an internal temperature of 190°F (88°C),
some of which was presumably due to loss of moisture. During roasting, meat such as
beef and poultry can lose as much as 25 percent of its moisture as the muscle fibers shrink
due to heat. Always allow roasted meat to rest at least 15 minutes before slicing to provide
time for the juices to be reabsorbed by the muscle tissue; this avoids the loss of thiamin and
other water-soluble nutrients through drip loss.
RECIPE 6.2 Delicious, Healthy Mashed Cauliflower
INGREDIENTS: This recipe uses a very simple cooking method, based on the science discussed near the end of
chapter 5, that retains the flavor and nutrients in mashed cauliflower, making it a more nutritious
4 cups 1½-inch pieces
substitute for mashed potatoes. Rather than being full of rapidly digested starch, cauliflower is high
cauliflower
in dietary fiber and much lower in starch than potatoes. Also, because none of the cooking water
1 garlic clove, smashed is removed, all of the nutrients, such as the glucosinolates, isothiocyanates, water-soluble vitamins,
½ tsp. salt fiber, and minerals, leached from the cauliflower will still be present. The cooking time is important.
Cauliflower must be cooked long enough to retard the initial rapid formation of sulfury, pungent
¼ cup (4 Tbsp.) crème isothiocyanates and to allow the conversion of any that do form to nutty-tasting disulfides and
fraîche
trisulfides—but not so long as to allow the latter compounds to evaporate, leaving a bland, dull
cauliflower mash.
NOTE:
For a flavorful, healthy meal, spread the cauliflower puree evenly on plates, top with a protein
Other seasonings, such source such as oven-baked fish or grilled chicken and accompany with a leafy green vegetable or
as ground pepper or hot salad. Cooking other vegetables in this way in the minimum amount of water will result in a con-
sauce, can be added if centrate you can use without straining to make soups and sauces.
desired.
Yield: 4 servings
DIRECTIONS:
Place the cauliflower in a 2-quart saucepan, and add just enough water to cover only about half of
the pieces. Add the garlic and salt. Simmer the cauliflower uncovered for at least 20 minutes (up to
25 minutes), until it is very soft and tastes and smells nutty and sweet rather than harsh and sulfury.
Most of the water should have been absorbed by the cauliflower or evaporated, so there is no need
to drain excess water from the cauliflower. Next add the crème fraîche, and thoroughly puree the
cauliflower with a hand-held blender until it is smooth and creamy.
TO MARKET, TO MARKET
Do you remember when fat was the villain and reduced- produce meat that is not as tough and dry as shoe leather.
fat food became the rage? Food companies scrambled Is it any wonder sales have not kept pace with those of
to reduce the fat content of almost every food that con- chicken? Until just a few years ago, the USDA recom-
tained fat, especially saturated fat, which was linked to mended cooking whole cuts of pork to 160°F (71°C) to
increased levels of cholesterol in the blood and to heart avoid any illness due to trichinosis parasites. But moving
disease. This effort occurred in the mid- to late 1980s hogs indoors and feeding them a well-controlled, safe
and continued to increase through the 1990s. Jumping diet has lowered the incidence of trichinosis to about two
on the bandwagon in 1987, the National Pork Board cases per year in the entire U.S. population. In 2011, the
launched an advertising campaign to promote “Pork. USDA changed its recommendation to cook whole cuts
The Other White Meat.” The campaign presented of pork to 145°F (63°C), followed by a 3-minute rest.
pork as more like healthier, lower-fat chicken than red Ground pork must still be cooked to 160°F like ground
meat like beef because beef was higher in saturated fat beef, but a whole cut of pork can be cooked so it is slightly
than chicken. Well before the start of the advertising pink inside and much more tender and moist. Although
campaign, pork breeders were taking steps to produce this recommendation is moving in the right direction, it
leaner pigs. The meat-eating public was well aware does not result in more flavorful meat.
of the concerns about eating red meat, resulting in Buying pork in the supermarket is a guessing game.
chicken consumption overtaking that of beef in 1992. How does one know if a cut of pork will be flavorful,
The pork producers wanted pork to be perceived as moist, and tender? Is it even possible to buy pork with
more like chicken. these attributes, and if so, how does one identify it? With
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a little knowledge of the science of pork, it is actually
always classified pork as a red meat because of its simi- quite easy. It is based on the color of the fresh meat.
larity to other red meat in fat content and composition. To understand the science, let’s step back and look at
Newer generations of leaner pork may have less fat than how the quality of pork is categorized and how pork is
older generations, but the composition of the fat is still produced. The three standards for pork quality are the
about the same, largely due to the cereal grain–based ideal standard, RFN (stands for reddish-pink, firm, and
diet fed to pigs and cattle since the 1970s. Pigs with less nonexudative, or no exuded water in the package), and
fat might be a healthier form of red meat, yet unlike the the two lower standards, PSE (pale, soft, and exudate)
case with chicken, the per capita consumption of pork and DFD (dark, firm, and dry). PSE is inferior in texture
has remained almost constant since 1970, approach- (mushy), flavor, and moistness. DFD is actually of excep-
ing 50 pounds per person per year in the United States. tional quality with excellent water-holding capacity and
Could it be that leaner, paler pork is less appealing to tenderness. But because of its dark red color, consumers
the consumer? wrongly believe it is meat from older animals or lacks
Leaner pork is less flavorful and less moist, and it freshness. About 25 percent of all pork falls into the less
requires careful attention to cooking conditions to desirable PSE and DFD categories.
The three critical stages in pork production that affect found in the blood, where it transports oxygen from
the quality of the meat occur before, during, and after the lungs to the muscle cells. Hemoglobin is actually
slaughter of the animal. Nowadays slaughtering animals composed of four myoglobin molecules linked together.
and birds for food consumption is referred as harvesting. But hemoglobin is too large to enter muscle cells. In
Not surprisingly, the amount of stress experienced by the order to transport the oxygen into the cells, each hemo-
pig before and during slaughter has a profound effect on globin molecule must dissociate into four myoglobin
the quality of the meat. When animals are stressed, they molecules, which then ferry the oxygen into the mus-
produce higher levels of lactic acid, which lowers the pH cle cells. The intensity of the red color of myoglobin is
of the meat. The pH of muscle in live animals is neutral, dependent on the pH. The higher the pH, the redder the
or pH 7. When excessive lactic acid is produced during myoglobin. Thus we can simply look at the pork and
stress, the pH drops significantly—to as low as 5.2–5.5 gauge its pH. Darker red–colored meat means higher
(moderately acidic). The pH of the muscle tissue deter- pH. The darker red color means the pork will be more
mines if the meat will be tender and juicy or tough and tender, moist, and flavorful. Unfortunately, consumers
dry. It also has a direct bearing on the flavor of the meat. who shun dark, firm, and dry (DFD) pork because they
The pH of pork is measured 45 minutes after slaughter think it is not fresh are rejecting the best cuts of pork.
and typically should be close to pH 6.2—and preferably So next time you are in the supermarket, look for cuts
closer to pH 6.5. If the pH is lower—for example, pH of pork that are dark and well marbled with fat and
5.7—the muscle fibers will tighten and hold less mois- that contain no free water in the package. Pass up those
ture when the meat is cooked. But, most importantly, the pale, mushy-looking cuts because they will be tough,
enzymes called calpains that break down the muscle pro- flavorless, and dry.
teins and make the meat tender and flavorful are most Look at the port cutlets in figure 1. Which would you
active close to pH 7. These enzymes continue to tenderize prefer?
meat after the animal has been slaughtered. Meat that Some of the top breeders of pigs are now taking great
has a pH of 6.5 will be much more tender and flavorful care to raise and slaughter their animals with the min-
than meat that has a pH of 5.7 or lower. imum amount of stress, producing meat that is dark,
But, of course, we can’t bring a pH meter to the flavorful, and tender. Pork from these pedigreed pigs is
supermarket when we buy pork. Fortunately, there is expensive but worth it—not only because the quality of
a simple way to tell the pH of the meat, and that is the meat is higher but also because the animals have been
by its color. The pigment that colors all red meat is a treated more humanely. Next time you are in the super-
protein called myoglobin. It is found in all muscle cells market, notice how dark the pork has gotten. Perhaps the
and is there to store the oxygen that muscles need for National Pork Board will change its slogan to “Pork. The
action. Hemoglobin, another red-colored protein, is Other Red Meat”!
REFERENCES
Buege, D. Variation in Pork Lean Quality. Clive, IA: U.S. Pork Center
of Excellence, 2003 (originally published as a National Pork Board
/American Meat Science Association fact sheet).
Warriss, P. D. Meat Science: An Introductory Text, 102–204. Walling-
ford, Oxfordshire, UK: CABI, 2000.
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 1
A comparison of pork cutlets with different colors due to the pH of the meat.
The darker-colored pork (a) has a higher pH than the lighter-colored pork (b).
Photographs from FeaturePics.
Whole grains and legumes are also good sources of thiamin, much of which resides in
the bran layer or outer coating. Again because it is water soluble, almost 50 percent of the
thiamin in legumes is removed when beans are soaked and then cooked in water. Other
water-soluble vitamins such as riboflavin and niacin are also leached from beans during
soaking and cooking (about 50 percent and 70 percent, respectively). Polishing rice to
remove the outer hull and germ results in thiamin reduction. Rice that has been parboiled
in preparation for polishing loses significantly less thiamin because the vitamin diffuses
into the endosperm of the rice during the parboiling step. Parboiling is not quite what it
sounds like; the rice is steeped in water and then steamed and dried rather than being sim-
ply boiled in water, which would result in much greater loss of thiamin. Finally, one other
significant loss of thiamin occurs in baked bread; as much as 30 percent of the thiamin in
wheat flour may be lost during baking.
Sous vide cooking is moving from the restaurant into the home kitchen with the creation
of more affordable cooking devices. The advantages of this method are twofold when it
comes to enhancing the nutritional quality of food. First, cooking food at precisely con-
trolled lower temperatures in vacuum-sealed pouches reduces the loss of nutrients by both
excessive heat (which affects thiamin, folic acid, and B vitamins) and oxidation (which
affects vitamin C and phytochemicals). Second, all juices are retained within the pouch so
water-soluble vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals are not lost, especially if the juices
are used to make a sauce or flavoring. These effects are true for meat, poultry, fish, and
vegetables. Not only does sous vide cooking produce melt-in-your mouth textures, but also
it protects the true flavor and nutritional quality of the food. What more could you ask for?
7 The Good, the Bad, and the Future
of Cooking Science
Good Carbohydrates and Bad Carbohydrates

When choosing a healthy diet, one of the most challenging decisions is that between good
and bad carbohydrates, and good and bad fats, all of which are macronutrients that we con-
sume in much larger amounts than micronutrients. Dietary carbohydrates range from sim-
ple sugars (such as fructose and glucose, both of which are monosaccharides, and sucrose,
a disaccharide), to medium-sized molecules called oligosaccharides that are composed of
three to ten simple sugars linked together (including raffinose, stachyose, and inulin), to
very large polysaccharides composed of hundreds or thousands of interconnected sugar
molecules (including starch, cellulose, hemicelluloses, pectin, and beta-glucans). Dietary
fats run the gamut from solid saturated fats such as tallow (beef fat) and lard (pork fat)
to a wide range of liquid mono- and polyunsaturated oils, including olive, soybean, and
grape seed oils. Today the consumption of sugars added to processed and prepared foods
(called added sugars to differentiate them from the natural sugars in fruits and vegetables)
has become a major health issue, as it increases the risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease,
and liver disease. Added sugar increases the level of glucose in the blood, causing increased
secretion of insulin, which, among its many physiological effects, causes the body to store
excess food calories as fat in adipose tissue and creates the potential for developing insulin
resistance, obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Largely due to industry pressure,
the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently postponed the requirement to label the
amount of added sugars in processed food until 2020. The American Heart Association
FIGURE 7.1
Painting on silk, by Yan Ciyu, mid- to late twelfth century. The painting depicts the mystery of what lies ahead in the future,
which we cannot see but only imagine.
Reproduced with permission of the Freer/Sackler Art Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution.
140 | THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE FUTURE OF COOKING SCIENCE
recommends limiting added sugars to 6 teaspoons per day for women, 9 teaspoons per day
for men, and 3–6 teaspoons per day for children. In 2017, the average American consumed
22 teaspoons per day of added sugars, or more than 66 pounds per year. The major sources
of added sugars in the American diet are soda and sports drinks, which provide almost
half of all the added sugars consumed by children and adults. A single 12-ounce can of
some sweetened drinks contains as much as 11 teaspoons of added sugars.
Many consumers have come to recognize that the presence of oligosaccharides in food
is fairly widespread, as evidenced by the recent interest in the FODMAP diet developed by
Monash University in Australia to treat bloating, gas, heartburn, and pain in the gastrointes-
tinal system. FODMAP stands for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccha-
rides, and polyols (sugar alcohols). Most of the symptoms are caused by the oligosaccharides,
which are very poorly digested in the small intestine and reach the large intestine where cer-
tain bacteria eagerly ferment them to produce gas and the other unpleasant responses. So we
can put added sugars and possibly oligosaccharides in the basket of “bad” carbohydrates,
although the oligosaccharides do not affect the level of glucose in the blood or insulin secre-
tion and therefore are not involved in fomenting the harmful diseases caused by added sugars.
Beans are an inexpensive food that is considered to be very healthy because it is high in
protein, minerals, and dietary fiber. In the fall of 2017, a student from Mexico City taking
my class at Harvard on Seminars in Food Science, Technology, and Sustainability told
me that in the past 25 years the consumption of beans in Mexico has declined by about
50 percent, apparently because they are thought of as food for the poor but also perhaps
because they can cause gastrointestinal problems. Some of that fiber in beans is due to
the small oligosaccharides raffinose (three sugar molecules linked together) and stachyose
(four sugar molecules linked together), which cause the gas and flatulence associated with
beans when fermented in the large intestine. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
has shown that heating dry beans to the boiling point in a large volume of water, allowing
them to rest (hydrate) off the heat for 1 hour (as an alternative to soaking overnight), and
thoroughly rinsing them eliminates 40–50 percent of these two troublesome oligosaccha-
rides, thus reducing the tendency of cooked beans to produce gas. The hydrated beans
can be immediately cooked in soups, stews, and chilies, or they can be frozen for use later.
Canned beans are a convenient alternative to dry beans, but they are very high in salt,
added primarily to maintain the texture of the beans in the can. One study has shown that
thoroughly rinsing canned beans removes about 40 percent of the salt (and sodium), so
it is always best to rinse canned beans before cooking. Rinsing also removes some of the
oligosaccharides dissolved in the residual canning liquid.
RECIPE 7.1 White Bean and Roasted Chicken Chili
INGREDIENTS: Whenever my wife, Christine, and I are in Palo Alto, California, we always try to have breakfast or
lunch at the Peninsula Fountain and Grill on Emerson Street. Established in 1923 by the Santana
2–2½ total ounces of
family, this old-fashioned diner always serves very good basic food made from scratch.
jalapeño and serrano
One of our favorites for lunch is white bean and turkey chili. Not wanting to wait until our next
or poblano chilies
visit to Palo Alto to enjoy this hearty, healthy dish, I decided to reproduce it at home. Instead of using
1 Tbsp. extra virgin roasted turkey, which we don’t have all that often, I substituted roasted chicken as a way to use leftovers.
olive oil There are three key components in the dish that required some experimentation. First is the mix-
1 medium onion, ture of roasted chilies. Although the Peninsula Fountain and Grill uses a mix of serrano and jalapeño
coarsely chopped chilies, the dish is not very spicy. The secret is to remove virtually all of the white pith inside the chilies.
Capsaicin, the compound responsible for the pungent flavor of hot chilies, is produced only in the pith
1 garlic clove, finely
chopped and migrates to a small extent to the seeds. Removing both the pith and the seeds eliminates nearly all
of the heat. If you like more heat, you can remove less of the pith or add red pepper flakes. I like to
2½ cups chicken stock grill the chilies and then remove most of the charred skin. You can also char them under the broiler.
(made as above or The second key component is the less obvious use of coarsely ground corn tortilla chips. They
purchased)
add lots of flavor, as well as thickening the liquid. It took me a few tries to realize this was one of
6 ounces chopped white the secret ingredients.
meat from leftover The third component is a flavorful chicken stock. If you use a commercial chicken stock, choose
roasted chicken one that is low in salt (some can contain as much as 680 milligrams of sodium per cup). If I am
1 15½-ounce can using leftover roasted chicken, then I like to make my own stock with the carcass. That way I can
navy beans or both control the sodium content and ensure fresh flavor. To make 4 cups of stock, use one coarsely
great northern chopped carrot, one chopped celery stalk plus some leaves, one chopped medium onion, 1 teaspoon
beans, drained and of chopped fresh sage, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. This is equivalent to 295 milligrams of sodium per
thoroughly rinsed cup of stock. Simmer all the ingredients in 4 cups of water, together with the leftover chicken car-
2 ounces coarsely cass, for about 2 hours; then cool and strain. Add in enough water to make 4 cups.
ground corn tortilla For this recipe, almost any variety of white beans will work, but we prefer smaller navy beans
chips (the same beans used for Boston baked beans). You can also use great northern white beans. For
convenience, I use canned navy beans. Like all canned beans, they tend to be high in salt, which is
1½ Tbsp. cumin
added both to enhance the flavor and to ensure a uniform tender texture when the beans are cooked
3 Tbsp. light sour cream in the can. The sodium content of canned beans can be reduced by as much as 40 percent by simply
Sprigs of fresh cilantro draining and rinsing the beans (Duyff, Mount, and Jones 2011). This simple procedure reduces the
leaves sodium content of a 15½-ounce can of beans to 819 milligrams of sodium. Together with the salt in
the stock and the tortilla chips, one serving of white bean and roasted chicken chili contains about
Tortilla chips 570 milligrams of sodium and only 374 calories.
Yield: 3 servings
DIRECTIONS:
Slice the peppers in half, and carefully remove the pith and seeds. Char them on the grill (or under
the broiler), cool, remove most of the blackened skin, and cut them into ½-inch pieces.
In a 3-quart saucepan, heat the olive oil, peppers, and onion until the onion is translucent (about
5 minutes). Add the garlic, and cook for another 30 seconds (do not overcook the garlic, or it will
become bitter). Add the chicken stock, chicken, and beans to the saucepan, followed by the ground
tortilla chips. Add the cumin, and mix all the ingredients.
Simmer the mixture for about 20 minutes, until most of the tortilla chips have disintegrated and
the liquid has thickened. Taste and season with additional salt and ground black pepper, if needed.
If the chili is not spicy enough, add a small amount of red pepper flakes, and simmer for a few more
minutes. Top each serving of chili with 1 tablespoon of sour cream, a few sprigs of cilantro and a
few tortilla chips. Enjoy!
The good carbohydrates are the nondigestible polysaccharides that function as dietary
fiber, providing laxation and the feeling of fullness (satiety) with fewer calories. Whole
grains and legumes are the best sources. If you are uncertain about what dietary fiber is,
you are certainly not alone. In 2016, after more than 20 years of debate, the FDA finally
settled on a definition for dietary fiber and a recommended daily intake of 28 grams per
day for adults. The average American consumes only about 16 grams per day. In case you
are wondering, the FDA’s final definition is as follows: “non-digestible soluble and insol-
uble carbohydrates (with 3 or more monomeric units), and lignin that are intrinsic and
intact in plants; isolated or synthetic non-digestible carbohydrates (with 3 or more mono-
meric units) determined by FDA to have physiological effects that are beneficial to human
health.” As a complex polysaccharide, starch is a special case in that it is not a dietary fiber
according to the FDA definition because it can be rapidly or slowly digested to maltose
and glucose in the small intestine. Thus it elevates the level of glucose in the blood and the
secretion of insulin while contributing about 4 calories of energy per gram, which squarely
puts these forms of starch in the “bad” carbohydrates camp.
However, a small portion of starch, known as resistant starch, is not digested in the
small intestine due to its crystalline structure or inaccessibility to digestive enzymes, has
a subdued effect on blood glucose and insulin levels, and is very beneficial for the good
bacteria living in the large intestine that eagerly metabolize resistant starch to short-chain
fatty acids that are used for energy by the cells lining the large intestine. I have conducted
research on dietary fiber and resistant starch off and on for about 20 years (Fabbri, Schacht,
and Crosby 2016). Resistant starch functions as a prebiotic soluble dietary fiber (although
it is an insoluble form of fiber), increases the absorption of calcium into the body, and is
believed to reduce the risk of colon cancer and inflammatory bowel diseases of the large
intestine. Resistant starch also contributes less than half of the calories of regular digestible
starch and is definitely a good carbohydrate that should be included in a healthy diet. Unfor-
tunately, Americans consume only about 3–8 grams of resistant starch per day depending
on the diet, compared with a recommended intake of 20 grams per day by some health
organizations. The best sources of resistant starch are legumes and whole grains and, to a
lesser degree, some extruded cereal products. The levels of resistant starch in raw legumes
such as beans, peas, and lentils are actually very high (around 35 percent by weight), but
raw legumes must be cooked to be edible, and this destroys all but about 5–6 percent of

WINTER VEGETABLE—THE SCIENCE OF PASTA
Winter vegetable! That’s what my mother called mac- It is therefore desirable to eat high-carbohydrate foods
aroni when I was growing up in Massachusetts. When that have a low GI.
vegetables were scarce and prices high during the win- The GI of a food represents a comparison of the per-
ter months, there was always macaroni. My favorite centage of glucose released into the blood from a specific
was winter vegetable with brown gravy whenever we amount of food to pure glucose, which is assigned a GI
had roast beef on Sunday afternoons. When we had of 100. Every food is therefore ranked on a scale of 0 to
no brown gravy, then melted butter with salt and pep- 100 as determined by analyzing the level of glucose in the
per was a good stand-in. My mother had lots of other blood over a period of 2 hours after consuming a known
one-dish meals made with versatile macaroni: American weight of the food, typically 50 grams (glucose levels are
chop suey, sausage casserole (made with breakfast sau- measured over 3 hours for diabetics). Foods with a GI
sage links and canned stewed tomatoes), and, of course, above 55 are considered high GI foods, while those with
macaroni and cheese. a GI below 55 are ranked as low GI foods. One serv-
To this day, I am still a great fan of all forms of pasta, ing of a baked potato (4 ounces) has an average GI of
not just macaroni. But, unfortunately, pasta has gotten a 85, 4.3 ounces of French fries have a GI of 75, and 1 cup
bad rap for being a high-carb, high-calorie food, and as (6 ounces) of short-grain white rice has a GI of 72, while
a result, many home cooks avoid it. In fact, pasta is sim- the same amount of long-grain rice has a GI of only 56.
ple to prepare, versatile, nutritious, and satisfying; it’s a Why is one variety of rice ranked so much lower than
food that most adults and children like. One of the most another? Recall that starch is made up of two molecules
important measures of the impact of carbohydrates on called amylose and amylopectin (see box 1.2, The Micro-
our health is called the glycemic index (GI), which is a scopic World of Starch in Food). Amylose readily forms
numerical rating of foods based on their effect on blood crystalline structures that are more resistant to digestive
sugar levels in our body. Some high-carbohydrate foods, enzymes than the amorphous forms of amylopectin that
especially those high in starch, cause a sudden surge in are rapidly digested to glucose. The starch in short-grain
the levels of the sugar glucose in the blood; this in turn rice contains high levels of amylopectin and very little
triggers a rapid release of the hormone insulin, which sig- amylose compared with long-grain rice. Legumes such as
nals cells to take up the glucose as a source of energy for kidney beans, lentils, navy beans, and chickpeas are among
the cells. If the glucose is not quickly taken up and used the plant foods with the highest levels of amylose, so it is
for energy, then the insulin shuttles the excess glucose not surprising that the GIs of these foods range from 27 to
in the blood to fat cells, where it is converted to fat and 38 even though they contain lots of starch. Not all starch
stored for future use. Thus too many high-carb foods can is alike, just like not all high-starch foods are fattening.
result in excess fat and weight gain, potentially leading to So what would you guess is the GI of one serving
diabetes and heart disease. Foods that produce a sudden (1 cup, or 6 ounces) of cooked spaghetti? You might be
surge in glucose levels have a high GI, while those that surprised to learn it is only 41, which is clearly in the range
release glucose more slowly into the blood have a low GI. of a low GI food. One cup of macaroni (5 ounces) has a
GI of only 45. But it’s not because the flour used to make bread, the protective web of protein in pasta prevents the
pasta is high in amylose like long-grain rice and beans. starch granules from bursting and releasing starch mol-
Another factor is responsible for the low GI of pasta: ecules when it is cooked. Thus the protein protects the
the protein content of durum wheat, which is coarsely starch in pasta from rapid digestion to glucose, resulting
ground into semolina flour and used to make most pasta. in much slower release of glucose into the blood com-
Unlike in the highly refined, finely milled bread flour used pared with white bread. But not all pasta is alike because
to make white bread, the protein and starch granules in some brands are made with lower-protein flours. If the
semolina flour are largely undisturbed. Both coarse- cooking water becomes very cloudy when the pasta is
ground semolina flour and finely ground white bread cooked, this is a sign that unprotected starch granules
flour contain about the same amounts of starch (about have burst, releasing molecules into the water and pro-
73 percent of dry weight), amylose (about 22–28 percent ducing pasta that will have a higher GI than better-quality,
of the total starch), and protein (12–14 percent of dry higher-protein pasta. It’s also a good reason to cook pasta
weight), yet the GI of white bread is 70, while that of spa- only long enough to reach the al dente stage so the starch
ghetti is only 41. To make dried pasta, coarsely ground granules have not all ruptured.
semolina flour is mixed with water, made into dough,
extruded into spaghetti (or other forms), and dried, leav- REFERENCES
ing the starch granules still intact, surrounded by a pro- Brand-Miller, J., T. M. S. Wolever, S. Colagiuri, and K. Foster-Powell.
tective web of strands of gluten protein (for more on the The Glucose Revolution: The Authoritative Guide to the Glycemic
science of gluten, see box 2.1, Explaining Gluten). When Index. New York: Marlowe, 1999.
Pagani, M. A., M. Lucisano, and M. Mariotti. “Traditional Italian
wheat is ground very finely to make refined white bread
Products from Wheat and Other Starchy Flours.” In Handbook of
flour, many of the starch granules are broken apart and Food Products Manufacturing, ed. Y. H. Hui. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley,
the protein matrix fragmented. Unlike in refined white 2007.
TABLE 7.1 the resistant starch by weight. The resistant starch that survives is very
Resistant Starch in Selected Foods stable to further cooking; for example, reheated canned beans contain
Mean Grams of about the same amount of resistant starch as freshly cooked beans.
Resistant Starch per Although 5–6 percent does not sound like a lot, it is among the highest
100 Grams of Food
Food as Consumed levels in any cooked food and is sufficient to provide ample fuel for
the good bacteria in the large intestine that thrive on resistant starch.
Granola 0.1
Levels of resistant starch in a variety of prepared and cooked foods are
Oatmeal cookies 0.2
shown in table 7.1. If you want to increase the resistant starch in your
All-bran cereal 0.7
diet, add dry rolled oats to your breakfast cereal. White beans, such
Potato, baked 1.0
as cannellini or lima beans, make a wonderful side dish for roasted
Whole wheat bread∗ 1.0
chicken when slow cooked in the oven with a whole sliced onion, a
Spaghetti, cooked 1.1
little dry mustard and salt, and perhaps a few sprigs of fresh rosemary.
Potatoes, boiled 1.3
One family of nondigestible polysaccharides that deserves more
Rice, brown, cooked 1.7
attention both in cooking and in health is the pectins, which are
Peas, cooked/canned 2.6
major structural components of all plant cell walls as well as the glue
Crackers, Ryvita 2.8
between cells that binds them together. You are probably familiar
Corn flakes 3.2
with them as the gelling agent that forms jams and jellies. Pectins are
Rye bread 3.2
less stable in alkaline conditions and more stable under acid condi-
Lentils, cooked 3.4
tions. This explains why cooking green beans takes longer in acidic
Beans, white, cooked/ 4.2
canned tomatoes than in plain water and why adding a pinch of alkaline bak-
Pumpernickel bread 4.5 ing soda cuts the cooking time in half when boiling green beans and
Oats, rolled, uncooked 11.2 making polenta with coarse cornmeal. The complex polysaccharide
∗
structures of pectins can be broken down by an enzyme called pectin
Containing 51% whole wheat flour.
methylesterase (PME), which is what causes fruits to soften as they
ripen. Fruits and vegetables also soften as they cook because heat
breaks down their pectins. The technique of precooking can be used
to activate PME in fruits and vegetables, which prevents them from becoming mushy when
roasted in the oven for too long. PME alters the structure of the pectins, allowing them to
form ionic cross-links with calcium ions, thus fortifying the cross-linked pectins against
breakdown by heat. The enzyme is most active between 130°F and 140°F (55°C and 60°C)
but is deactivated above 160°F (70°C). Fruits and vegetables that contain the highest levels
of PME and that are the most benefited by precooking are apples, cherries, beans, cauli-
flower, tomatoes, beets, carrots, and both white and sweet potatoes. After heating any of
these in the oven for about 30 minutes at a temperature between 130°F and 140°F, they can
be cooked until tender at higher temperatures (as when roasting carrots) without turning
limp or mushy. This technique is often used to advantage when making apple pies, as it
prevents the apples from becoming mushy and turning the pie into soup. Apples purchased
out of season (after January) that have been in controlled atmosphere storage for many
months tend to turn mushy more than fresh apples. If you have ever encountered “hard
core” sweet potatoes that refuse to soften in the center when baked in the oven, it is due to
the action of PME while the potatoes were stored for long periods in the refrigerator. The
PME, together with the calcium ions released, slowly reinforces the cell wall pectins during
cold storage, making it impossible to soften the sweet potatoes by cooking.
Like resistant starch, the soluble, nondigestible pectins are eagerly metabolized in the
large intestine by billions of healthy bacteria that form the gut microbiome. Mounting evi-
dence is showing that pectins appear to have a number of health benefits. The fact that they
are intimately bound up with other polysaccharides in plant cell walls and subsequently
broken down into fragments by the gut bacteria makes it very challenging to ferret out their
health effects. The gelling behavior of pectins has been shown to lower cholesterol levels in
the blood by trapping the cholesterol and eliminating it from the body, and there is some evi-
dence that they may help reduce inflammation and retard the growth of tumor cells. Unfor-
tunately, Americans consume only a little more than half the recommended dietary intake
of fruits and vegetables and have done little to change this picture during the last 30 years.
Good Fats and Bad Fats

The average adult consumer appears to have a reasonably good understanding of good
carbs and bad carbs, probably because the nutrition community and the media have had
a fairly consistent message on carbohydrates and health for the past 20–30 years. The pic-
ture is not so obvious for good fats and bad fats, largely because the media, with the food
industry’s help, have vilified fats and overemphasized low-fat and fat-free foods during the
1990s and well into the following decade. The message they have delivered is that high-fat
diets are the cause of overweight, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. Yet nutrition studies
have consistently shown it is possible to maintain and even lose weight with diets in which
fat constitutes up to 40 percent of the calories. It all comes down to regulating the calories
consumed versus the calories burned—and not the source of the calories. Fat has been
shown to contain 9 calories per gram (versus 4 calories per gram for carbohydrates and
proteins), which probably accounts for the bias that fat makes you fat. Consumers have
known about the unhealthy relationship of cardiovascular disease and fats since Dr. Ancel
Keys showed a connection between the consumption of saturated fat and heart disease
beginning in the 1970s. More recently, the concern has spread to the health effects of cook-
ing oils and the alarm about the smoke point of oils, the temperature at which cooking
oils begin to smoke in a hot pan or fryer. The average consumer has been bombarded with
different viewpoints on the safety of both fats and oils.
So let’s start with the basic facts about the chemistry of fats and oils. In very simple
terms, at room temperature, fats are solid and oils are liquid. Sometimes you will see
the word fat used when referring to both fats and oils, so keep in mind there are solid
and liquid forms of fat. Fats and oils are chemically called triglycerides, meaning they
are composed of three long-chained fatty acids linked to a single molecule of an alco-
hol named glycerol. The fatty acids can be saturated or unsaturated, which refers to the
types of carbon-carbon bonds and the number of hydrogen atoms attached to each carbon
atom. Saturated fatty acids contain the maximum possible number of hydrogen atoms, so
they are therefore “saturated” with hydrogen (-CH2-CH2-). Unsaturated fatty acids have
varying numbers of carbon-carbon double bonds (-CH=CH-) that contain fewer hydro-
gen atoms. As illustrated in box 7.2, Fats and Oils—When Structure Dictates Function,
molecules of saturated fatty acids are linear and can pack together like an ordered box
of crayons, making them crystalline with a melting point above room temperature. Mol-
ecules of unsaturated fatty acids have kinks, which prevent them from forming ordered
crystalline structures and therefore enable them to melt below room temperature. Solid
saturated fats contain an abundance of saturated fatty acids, while liquid unsaturated oils
contain an abundance of unsaturated fatty acids. It stands to reason that an abundance
of solid saturated fats can coalesce into crystalline structures within blood vessels (fat in
the blood occurs as part of complex particles such as LDL cholestrol.) Oxidation of the
crystalline fat lining blood vessels creates insoluble deposits called plaque that restrict
the flow of blood, including that to the heart and brain. Unsaturated oils have much less
tendency to form crystalline structures and are therefore less likely to clog blood vessels
even though they are more readily oxidized than saturated fatty acids. Then there are the
trans fats, which are relatively minor components of natural fats but which are produced
in abundance when unsaturated oils are commercially treated with hydrogen gas in the
presence of a catalyst, creating unsaturated fatty acids in which the carbon-carbon double
bonds assume a new shape (called trans, or opposite), as shown in box 7.2. Like saturated
fatty acids, trans fats are linear crystalline solids, but they are more readily oxidized than
saturated fatty acids. Chemically, trans fats are predisposed to clog blood vessels and form
plaque even more readily than saturated fats do.
FATS AND OILS—WHEN STRUCTURE DICTATES FUNCTION
In architecture, we often hear the expression “form fol- generating fats and oils composed of a very large num-
lows function,” but in chemistry, the opposite is true. The ber of different triglycerides. A vegetable oil like corn oil
three-dimensional structure of a protein directly deter- and a fat like beef tallow are composed of many different
mines is function, such as a digestive enzyme or a hor- triglyceride molecules.
mone like insulin. Perhaps one of the best examples of a An example of the chemical structure of a single tri-
relatively simple chemical structure that dictates function glyceride molecule is shown in figure 1. The long zig-zag
can be found in fats and oils. Simply put, fats are solids chains in red, green, and blue represent three different
at room temperature, while oils are liquids, and the rea- fatty acids, while the short black lines connected to the
son for this is directly related to their chemical structure. Os in the middle represent a glycerol molecule attached
The structure of these molecules dictates not only their to the three fatty acids by ester bonds (-O-C=O). The
physical properties such as melting point but also their double lines within the green and red fatty acids rep-
behavior in the human body, their impact on health, and resent carbon-carbon double bonds. Each angle in the
their reactions to cooking. zig-zag lines represents the location of a carbon atom.
Fats and oils belong to a larger family of molecules The green and red fatty acids contain a total of eigh-
called lipids that also includes steroids like cholesterol, teen carbon atoms each, while the blue fatty acid con-
progesterone, and bile acids; the oil-soluble vitamins A, tains sixteen carbon atoms (including the C=O and the
D, E, and K; and the colorful carotenoids such as lyco- CH3 carbon atoms on each end). If you look closely at
pene and beta-carotene. Chemically, all fats and oils are the carbon-carbon double bonds, you will notice that the
called triglycerides (sometimes called triacylglycerides), carbon atoms on either side of the double bonds reside
the chemical name that indicates they have three fatty on the same side and are designated as cis double bonds,
acids that are attached to a simple alcohol called glyc- meaning the carbon atoms attached to the double bond
erol (the suffix -ol identifies it as an alcohol) by link- lie on the same side. Virtually all double bonds in natu-
ages called ester bonds, which are formed when acids rally occurring fatty acids have the cis configuration, as
react with alcohols. Although glycerol is present in all shown in figure 1. Trans double bonds, found in commer-
triglycerides, the structure of the three fatty acids can cially produced, unhealthy trans fats, have the adjacent
differ based on the number and type of carbon-carbon carbon atoms on the opposite sides of the double bond
double bonds (C=C) they contain. Fatty acids occur- (the adjacent groups are transposed).
ring in plants, animals, and fish can contain anywhere
MODELS OF A TRIGLYCERIDE MOLECULE
from no double bonds (called saturated fatty acids) to as
many as six double bonds (called polyunsaturated fatty A structural change as simple as the conversion of a cis
acids) contained within long chains ranging from ten to double bond to a trans double bond can turn a healthy fat
twenty-two carbon atoms (with eighteen carbon atoms into an unhealthy fat. Why is this? Figure 2 shows three
being the most common), and each of these acids can molecular models of fatty acids, each containing nine
be attached at three different positions on glycerol, thus carbon atoms. These are called Dreiding models, which
H3 C
O
O
O H3C
O O
H3C
FIGURE 1
The chemical structure of a triglyceride fat molecule.
are manufactured so the bond lengths and bond angles

are very precise in terms of actual atomic dimensions. FIGURE 2
On the right end of each model, you will see the acid A comparison of precise three-dimensional Dreiding molecular models of a
saturated fatty acid (top), a trans fatty acid (middle), and a cis fatty acid
group, called a carboxyl group, which contains two (bottom). The saturated and trans fatty acids possess similar three-dimensional
red oxygen atoms. The molecule at the top is a satu- structures that differ from the three-dimensional structure of the cis fatty acid.
Photograph by the author.
rated fatty acid in which the black carbon atoms with
attached hydrogen atoms adopt a linear zig-zag shape.
The molecule in the middle is a trans-fatty acid in which The bottom molecule in figure 2 contains a cis dou-
the lone carbon-carbon double bond starts at the third ble bond that starts at the fourth carbon atom from the
carbon atom from the carboxyl group. Notice that carboxyl group. Notice that the two hydrogen atoms
the two hydrogen atoms attached to the double bond attached to the carbon atoms of the double bond lie on
are trans (opposite) to each other. But, most important, the same side of the double bond. Notice also that the
the linear zig-zag shape of the trans molecule is almost shape of the molecule is no longer linear because the cis
identical to the zig-zag shape of the saturated fatty double bond causes a bend in the zig-zag shape of the
acid just above. Saturated fats are known to build up molecule. Saturated fats and trans fats have a linear shape
inside blood vessels and become oxidized, forming hard that allows the fatty acids to line up with each other like
deposits of plaque that block blood vessels and cause a box of crayons and form organized crystalline struc-
cardiovascular disease. The nearly identical shape of the tures that melt above room temperature, so they are sol-
trans fats causes them to do the same thing, but because ids like beef tallow and lard; naturally occurring cis fatty
unsaturated trans fats are more easily oxidized, they acids such as those in unsaturated vegetable oils cannot
form artery-clogging plaque even more readily than sat- easily form crystalline structures, so their melting points
urated fats do. are below room temperature. Changing a double bond
from a trans configuration to a cis configuration changes double bond in the red omega-3 fatty acid (linolenic acid)
a solid fat into a liquid oil. Unsaturated fatty acids are starts at the third carbon atom from the end of the zig-
less able to form solid plaque in arteries than saturated zag chain of carbon atoms (omega is the last letter in the
and trans fats are. The classic example in which fat dic- Greek alphabet, so it designates the end of the chain),
tates function is cocoa butter, the highly saturated fat in while the lone double bond in the green fatty acid is nine
chocolate: it can exist in six different crystal structures, carbon atoms from the end of the chain, meaning it is an
but only one is responsible for the smooth sheen and snap omega-9 fatty acid, oleic acid, which is found in abun-
of good-quality chocolate, as well as its very important dance in olive oil. The last double bond in an omega-6
property of melting in your mouth and not in your hand. fatty acid such as linoleic acid (not pictured) starts at the
Finally, you have probably heard of omega-3 and sixth carbon atom from the end of the chain. The best
omega-6 fatty acids and the beneficial role of omega-3 sources of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids are fatty
fatty acids in health. The numbers 3 and 6 refer to the fish (especially salmon, tuna, and sardines), walnuts,
location of the last double bond in the unsaturated fatty almonds, and flaxseed. Omega-6 fatty acids are obtained
acid. In the triglyceride molecule in figure 1, the last in abundance from vegetable oils.
TABLE 7.2
Level of Saturation of Common Fats and Oils
Fat or Oil Source Iodine Value∗ % Saturated % Unsaturated
Butter 33 65 35
Beef (tallow) 47 48 51
Palm oil 52 49 51
Pork (lard) 56 42 58
Chicken 77 33 67
Olive oil 82 12 88
Peanut oil 92 18 81
Canola oil 107 7 92
Corn oil 123 14 86
Soybean oil 131 15 85
Herring oil 162 21 79
∗
Numbers are average iodine values.
As I will discuss a little later in this chapter, there are many reasons to choose healthier
unsaturated oils from plants and fish over saturated fats, especially fat from red meat.
Table 7.2 shows the level of saturation of a variety of fats and oils, using the old but reliable
iodine value test to determine the number of carbon-carbon double bonds contained in the
fatty acids (Stauffer 1996). More-saturated fats with the least number of carbon-carbon
double bonds have lower iodine values and appear at the top of the table; more-unsaturated
oils with more double bonds are found at the bottom. It is clear from these numbers that
animal fat is more saturated than vegetable oils and that chicken fat is more unsaturated
than beef or pork fat. If you look carefully at the numbers in the table, you will notice there
is not a perfect agreement between the iodine value and the percentage of unsaturated fat
or oil. This is because the iodine value measures the critical number of double bonds in the
fatty acids and not simply the percentage of unsaturated fatty acids by weight in the fat or
oil. Olive oil, for example, is about 79 percent monounsaturated oleic acid (one HC=CH
double bond), while a number of the unsaturated fatty acids in herring oil have three to
six double bonds each. Thus the iodine value of herring oil is double that of olive oil even
though the percentage of unsaturated fat in herring oil is lower than in olive oil.
When it comes to good fats and bad fats, the clear villain in the crowd is trans fat.
Because its link to heart disease has been so clearly proved, the FDA now requires that the
content of trans fat in processed food be listed on the Nutrition Facts label. Although a
very small amount (1–2 percent) of trans far occurs in both animal fat and refined veg-
etable oils, the vast majority is commercially produced by the partial hydrogenation of
vegetables oils such as soybean oil. If you see the words partially hydrogenated vegetable
oil in the list of ingredients on the label of a processed food product, you know it contains
trans fat. In 2015, the FDA removed partially hydrogenated vegetable oil from its list of
“generally recognized as safe” ingredients approved for use in food. Trans fats are generally
solid at room temperature and more resistant to oxidation than unsaturated vegetable oils,
so they proved to be useful for deep-fat frying and for the production of solid spreads like
margarine to replace solid shortening in baking (and eventually replaced much of the solid
saturated fat like tallow and lard used in these applications). In the 1990s, evidence from
the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and many other research institutions
began to show the connection between the consumption of trans fat and heart disease.
Trans fat increases the level of bad LDL cholesterol and lowers the level of good HDL cho-
lesterol in the blood, promoting the formation of blood clots that can trigger heart attacks
and strokes. The ensuing campaign to remove trans fat from processed food and frying fat
has been quite successful, with most of it now replaced by blends of solid fats with liquid
oils. The World Health Organization has requested that all governments around the world
eliminate the use of trans fats by 2023.
Saturated fats are also considered bad fat because they raise the level of bad LDL cho-
lesterol and are therefore associated with an increased risk of heart disease. They are not
as bad as trans fat because they do not lower the level of good HDL cholesterol, but they
should still be limited in the diet.
The mono- and polyunsaturated oils from plants and fish are considered the good fats.
As mentioned earlier in this book, humans require the presence of two chemically related
polyunsaturated fatty acids in our diet—linoleic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid, and linolenic
acid, an omega-3 fatty acid (the numbers 3 and 6 refer to the location of the last carbon-
carbon double bond in the fatty acid). These fatty acids are essential, as they are respon-
sible for producing many important biologically active molecules such as the eicosinoids,
which are involved in regulating processes such as smooth muscle contraction and relax-
ation, blood clotting and blood thinning, the production and reduction of inflammation,
and much more. Strangely, humans never evolved the enzymes to produce these acids,
so they are essential in our diet. They are found in some vegetable oils such as soybean
and canola oils, nuts such as walnuts, and green leafy vegetables. Linolenic acid is also
very important because the body converts it in very small amounts to two very important
longer-chain omega-3 fatty acids you may have heard of, called eicosapentaenoic acid
(EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Both are essential components of cell mem-
branes throughout the body, serving as gatekeepers for what is transported into and out
of cells, and DHA is the most abundant fatty acid in the brain. These two important acids
are fairly abundant in fatty fish such as salmon, sardines, and mackerel. Don’t be put off
by farmed salmon, which may contain twice the amount of EPA and DHA as wild-caught
salmon due to the diet fed to farmed salmon.
Now let’s turn our attention to what happens with liquid oils and solid fats when
we cook with them. During cooking, oils and fats can undergo at least three important
chemical changes: (1) oxidation, (2) polymerization, and (3) breakdown of the triglycer-
ide molecules to free fatty acids and glycerol. Oxidation of the fatty acids in oils and
fats during exposure to high heat in the presence of air produces the delicious taste
and aroma of fried food by forming very small amounts of dozens of new compounds
called aldehydes, ketones, and alcohols. The most abundant compound formed is
2,4-decadienal, an aldehyde that is responsible for most of the enticing flavor of fried
food. Polymerization of cooking oils occurs when they are exposed to high heat and air
during sautéing and deep-fat frying. You may have noticed the golden yellow sticky sub-
stance that forms a ring around the inner rim of a sauté pan when you are cooking meat
or vegetables; it is very difficult to remove without scrubbing with soap and hot water,
often aided by an abrasive like baking soda. This is oxidized, polymerized vegetable oil,
and it may account for as much as 25 percent of used cooking or frying oil depending
on how long the oil was heated. And, finally, high heat in the presence of water or par-
ticulate matter from food causes the triglycerides in vegetable oils and fat to break apart
into free fatty acids and glycerol even more readily. All of these products, including some
small amounts of colored pigments, form and build up during the prolonged heating
of oil, especially in oil used for extended periods of time for deep-fat frying. There is
nothing more disappointing than being served fried foods with off-flavors and -colors
because the restaurant has not changed the cooking oil frequently enough. It is a sure
sign of poor quality.
If cooking oil is heated to too high a temperature, the free glycerol will lose two mole-
cules of water and form acrolein, an acrid-smelling, toxic substance that is responsible for
the blue haze, or appearance of smoke, above oil heated to its smoke point. The “smoke”
from pure cooking oil is actually polymerized acrolein, plus perhaps some water vapor
if there is any moist food in the pan. Pure acrolein has a very low boiling point, around
125°F (52°C), so it does not remain in the hot oil. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health
Administration has set a limit of 0.1 parts per million of acrolein vapor in the air inside a
commercial kitchen. This is roughly equivalent to 1 second in 2 weeks, which should give
you some idea of the toxicity of acrolein.
In my opinion, there is no need to heat cooking oils to their smoke point (usually
400°F/204°C or higher). After all, as soon as you put a piece of moist meat in the pan,
the sudden evaporation of water from the surface of the meat will immediately lower the
temperature of the oil way below its smoke point. To sear meat, it is much wiser to
thoroughly dry the surface of the meat (by using paper towels or putting it in a very dry
freezer) and then place the meat in oil hot enough to shimmer but not smoke (about
390°F/199°C). You will get better results with much less splattering of hot oil all over
the stove. The best indicator that oil is ready for sautéing is the “shimmer” you see on
the surface, the result of convection currents in the oil caused by the heat. The presence
of food and water greatly reduces the smoke point of cooking oil, so using the oil for
a prolonged period or cooking large amounts of food in batches without changing the
oil eventually causes the oil to break down and smoke at a much lower temperature.
For example, as fresh soybean oil breaks down to free fatty acids and glycerol during
heating, the formation of as little as 1 percent of free fatty acids (by weight of the oil)
will lower the smoke point from 414°F (212°C) to 314°F (152°C). Some lower grades of
extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) can be as much as 0.5 percent free fatty acids, which causes
them to smoke at lower temperatures than highly refined vegetable oils. Very high quality
EVOO with very little free fatty acid has a smoke point (405°F/207°C) higher than that
of even highly refined canola oil (400°F/204°C). And refined grades of olive oil can have
smoke points (468°F/242°C) higher than even those of refined corn, palm, and peanut
oils (450°F/232°C). So don’t be fooled by people who say you shouldn’t cook with olive
oil because it has such a low smoke point; it all depends on the grade of the olive oil.
One last point about the smoke points of oils: they are not easy to determine accurately
unless using the proper equipment, as when shining an intense light across the surface of
the oil to make it easier to detect the particles of “smoke” at a specific temperature. So
be very cautious when making decisions based on reported smoke points that vary from
source to source.
COOKING WITH OLIVE OIL
Without hesitation, I can state that olive oil is my favor- EVOO for my cooking (although I buy a lower-priced,
ite oil for cooking, especially for panfrying (sautéing) good-quality EVOO for everyday cooking).
almost anything. So why don’t more people use olive oil Due to their chemical structure, all vegetable oils are
for cooking in view of its “good for you” reputation? subject to at least three changes during cooking: (1) oxi-
Let’s find out what the experts think. dation, (2) polymerization, and (3) hydrolysis by the
Several years ago I asked one of the senior teaching water in food. The extent of these reactions is dependent
chefs at the prestigious Culinary Institute of Ameri- on the composition of the fatty acids in the oils. The
can why he didn’t recommend olive oil for cooking. He very high level of monounsaturated oleic acid in olive oil
emphatically answered, “Because olive oil imparts too reduces its susceptibility to oxidation compared with veg-
much flavor to food!” “Are you serious? That’s a com- etable oils containing more polyunsaturated fatty acids
plete myth,” I shouted. When I was the science editor such as soybean, sunflower, corn, and canola oils. The
for America’s Test Kitchen, one of the cooks had done a dominant oxidation product of linoleic acid in these oils
simple test showing that, when a good grade of extra vir- is 2,4-decadienal, which is produced at a level 3.4 times
gin olive oil (EVOO) was heated for 10 minutes at 350°F higher in canola oil and almost 4.5 times higher in soy-
(177°C) and then cooled, its taste was indistinguishable bean oil compared with regular olive oil when the oils are
from that of refined soybean oil subjected to the same heated at 356°F (180°C) for 15 hours. This is important
treatment (as determined by a taste panel of ten judges). because of the health concerns regarding the oxidation
All of the volatile, green, grassy aromas of fresh olive of cooking oils.
oil had evaporated, leaving behind oil that was as bland Virgin olive oil is rich in phenolic antioxidants such as
tasting as a highly refined vegetable oil. And that should hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol and their derivatives of eleno-
not be surprising, as two of the dominant aroma com- lic acid, which help protect the oil from oxidation during
pounds, hexanal and Z-3-hexenal, boil at 266°F (130°C) heating. Approximately 40–50 percent of the hydroxy-
and 259°F (125°C), respectively. Panfrying food with tyrosol phenols in virgin olive oil are lost after frying
EVOO does not produce food tasting like fruity, grassy, one batch of potatoes for 10 minutes at 356°F (180°C),
green olive oil. The cooks then compared their favor- and nearly 90 percent are lost after frying six batches
ite brand of EVOO with a commercial blend of refined (60 minutes total frying time). Tyrosol and its derivatives
vegetable oils. The two oils were indistinguishable when are much more stable, losing only 20 percent after frying
cooked with a tomato sauce and oven-roasted potatoes. twelve batches. These results demonstrate that the phe-
Although one may argue this proves a good grade of nolic antioxidants in virgin olive oil are doing their job
EVOO may not be worth its high price for cooking, I take protecting the fatty acids from oxidation compared with
comfort in knowing that its high levels of phenolic anti- other vegetable oils. Olive oil is unique in that it is the
oxidants, like hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol, and the unique only vegetable oil that contains the potent anti-inflam-
anti-inflammatory agent oleocanthal ensure that more of matory agent oleocanthal. Despite its simple chemical
them survive the cooking process. So I always reach for structure, oleocanthal is quite stable to cooking; when
EVOO containing 53.9 milligrams of oleocanthal per turn out to be light and fluffy when the proteins unfold
kilogram of oil was heated at 464°F (240°C) for 90 min- and cross-link at lower temperatures. As the new science
utes, instrumental analysis showed it lost only 16 percent editor for Milk Street, I did a little literature searching
of its oleocanthal. However, the same study showed that and found that olive oil contains some unique phospho-
up to 31 percent of the biological activity of oleocanthal lipid surfactants that presumably help the egg proteins
was lost based on a taste bioassay. to denature and lightly cross-link at lower temperatures
Another reason home cooks won’t use olive oil for and to form light fluffy curds rather than the overly
cooking is that they are concerned about the low smoke cross-linked tough scrambled eggs that result from
point of the oil. They may not be aware that the smoke overcooking. This interesting property may lead to new
point of olive oil varies with the degree of refinement applications for olive oil in making emulsions, sauces,
of the oil. The smoke point of an oil is reached when and baked goods.
the triglyceride molecules break apart to glycerol and
free fatty acids and the glycerol is rapidly dehydrated to REFERENCES
the toxic aldehyde acrolein, which is responsible for the America’s Test Kitchen. “Does It Pay to Cook with Extra-Virgin Olive
blue haze seen above “smoking” oil. Unfiltered EVOO Oil?” Cook’s Illustrated (January & February 2014): 16.
can have a smoke point as low as 375°F (191°C). The Cicerale, X., A. Conlan, N. W. Barnett, A. J. Sinclair, and R. S. Keast.
“Influence of Heat on Biological Activity and Concentration of
smoke point of high-quality cold-pressed EVOO con- Oleocanthal—A Natural Anti-inflammatory Agent in Virgin Olive
taining very little free fatty acid is about 405°F (207°C), Oil.” Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 57 (2009):
while that of refined olive oil is about 468°F (242°C). 1326–1330.
Except for a few cases, it is not necessary to heat cook- Crosby, G. “Do Cooking Oils Present a Health Risk?” Food Technol-
ogy 72, no. 5 (2018): 50–57.
ing oil to its smoke point. I recommend heating any oil Gómez-Alonso, S., G. Fregapane, M. D. Salvador, and M. H. Gordon.
no higher than 374°F (190°C). “Changes in Phenolic Composition and Antioxidant Activity of
While playing around in the kitchen, Christopher Virgin Olive Oil During Frying.” Journal of Agricultural and Food
Chemistry 51 (2003): 667–672.
Kimball, founder of the new Milk Street Kitchen,
Katragadda, H. R., A. Fullana, S. Sidhu, and A. A. Carbonell-
noticed that eggs could be scrambled to a light, fluffy Barrachina. “Emissions of Volatile Aldehydes from Heated Cook-
consistency with hot EVOO. Eggs leavened by steam ing Oils.” Food Chemistry 120 (2010): 59–65.
In recent years, controversy has been building around the health concerns related to
cooking oils. The opinion of those who study the chemistry of cooking oils is mixed,
with some believing the oxidation products formed in cooking oils present significant
health risks and others believing humans have sufficient detoxifying mechanisms to protect
against the harmful effects of oxidized oil. In my opinion, there is very little health risk in
cooking with vegetable oils in the home because the oils are usually used only once and not
heated for very long. It is also possible to control the temperature of the oil and not let it
reach the smoke point, where harmful products like acrolein can form. The optimum tem-
perature for cooking oil is about 356°F (180°C) and should not exceed 374°F (190°C). The
risk comes in consuming food prepared outside of the home that has been deep-fat fried
in cooking oil that has not been changed for several days or more, allowing the buildup of
oxidation products and colored pigments. The color and smell of the oil are often telltale
signs of oxidized oil. Typical deep-fat batch fryers are operated at least 8 hours per day
and the oil filtered every day to remove particulate matter from food, which lowers the
smoke point and makes the oil more susceptible to oxidation. But many restaurants fail to
replace the used oil with fresh oil more than two or three times per week, and often they
may simply add a portion of fresh oil. A recent study of frying oils used in independent
(nonfranchise) restaurants found that 35 percent of the restaurants exceeded in-use quality
standards. Generally, oil quality cannot be maintained in batch fryers with a turnover rate
greater than or equal to 20 hours of operation. Research conducted by the Department
of Nutrition at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health strongly suggests that
consuming deep-fat fried foods four or more times per week (mostly outside of the home)
significantly increases the risk of developing chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart
failure, obesity, hypertension, and coronary artery disease. Over the past 40 years, con-
sumption of food away from home has increased 42 percent. So don’t stop using cooking
oils at home, but do limit the amount of fried food consumed outside of the home where
you have no control over the quality of the cooking oil.
I advise using a variety of oils at home, including olive, canola, corn, peanut, and soy-
bean oils, so you obtain a mix of polyunsaturated omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids along
with monounsaturated fatty acids like oleic acid. For my one go-to cooking oil, I use EVOO
most of the time, although for stir frying I like to use peanut oil. Some cooks argue that
they do not like the strong grassy flavor of olive oil. But did you know that, after heating
olive oil at 350°F (177°C) for only 10 minutes, all of the volatile grassy notes are driven
off and the oil tastes the same as heated refined soybean oil! Olive oil, especially EVOO, is
oxidized much more slowly than polyunsaturated oils like canola and soybean oils. Using
2,4-decadienal as an indicator of oxidation, polyunsaturated canola oil produces about 3.4
times more of this aldehyde than EVOO, while soybean oil produces about 4.5 times more
under the same cooking conditions. The monounsaturated oleic acid in olive oil is oxidized
about ten to twenty-five times more slowly than the polyunsaturated linoleic and linolenic
acids in canola and soybean oils, plus olive oil contains significant levels of polyphenols,
which act as very effective antioxidants that protect the fatty acids from oxidation. In a
well-controlled study using EVOO to fry French fries at 356°F (180°C), there was a three-
fold decrease in the antioxidant activity of the oil after six consecutive fryings of 10 minutes
each (1 hour total frying time) using the same batch of oil (the oil was cooled between each
frying), indicating the antioxidants were doing their job protecting the fatty acids against
oxidation. If you are concerned with the potential health effects of oxidized cooking oils,
then I recommend you use EVOO like I do. The famous PREDIMED diet study conducted
with 7,447 women and men in Spain (ages fifty-five to eighty), all at high risk of develop-
ing cardiovascular disease due to overweight, high blood pressure, and cholesterol levels,
showed that a Mediterranean-style diet containing EVOO (1 liter per week per household)
reduced the actual incidents of cardiovascular events (heart attack, stroke, and death) by
30 percent compared with the lower-fat control diet over the course of the 4.8 years of the
study. Consumption of mixed nuts (30 grams/day/person) showed similar beneficial results.
Are There Good Proteins and Bad Proteins?

Humans rapidly absorb a simple sugar like glucose and store it in the body as a complex
molecule called glycogen, which can be converted back to glucose as needed for energy.
Humans also absorb fatty acids from the digestion of fats and oils and store them as fat
in adipose tissue unless burned for energy. But proteins are not absorbed into the body.
Instead, they are broken down by digestion into individual amino acids that are absorbed
into the body and used to build the new proteins required to produce essential components
such as muscle and connective tissue, the hemoglobin in blood, a multitude of enzymes,
and hormones like insulin. In all, there are about ten thousand different proteins created in
the body from the amino acids released by digestion of the proteins in our diet.
The proteins in our diet are the source of the twenty different amino acids needed
to build the proteins programmed for synthesis by the DNA in our chromosomes when
needed by our body to maintain good health. The body is capable of synthesizing eleven
of the twenty amino acids as needed but cannot make the other nine, which means they
must come from the proteins in our diet. Sources of dietary proteins that contain suffi-
cient quantities of all twenty amino acids, including the essential ones we cannot make,
are called complete proteins, while those proteins that do not contain enough of the nine
essential amino acids to meet our needs are referred to as incomplete proteins. It’s not
the case that these proteins do not contain any of the essential amino acids; it’s just that
they don’t contain them in the amounts our body requires. Sources of complete proteins
include eggs, meat, poultry, fish, and dairy products, while many of the proteins in plants,
including legumes and cereal grains, are incomplete. Fortunately, the essential amino acids
that are deficient in some plant products like rice and corn are sufficient in others like
beans and bread, which explains why certain combinations of foods such as beans and
rice are a healthy source of all the essential amino acids. In one sense, we might say that
complete proteins are the good proteins, but it’s not fair to say that the incomplete pro-
teins are the bad proteins because most people, especially those in the developed world,
consume about twice as much protein as they need to supply all of the amino acids to
maintain a healthy body.
If we were to single out a specific protein as a bad protein—like trans fat is the villain
of all fats and added sugars are the bad sugars—then gliadin, the cause of celiac disease,
would be the clear choice for the bad protein. Gliadin occurs primarily in wheat, as well as
rye and barley, and is one of the structural components of gluten, which is formed when
water is added to wheat flour and kneaded into dough. As a protein, gluten does not occur
in wheat; it is formed only when gliadin chemically combines with another protein in wheat
called glutenin during the preparation of bread dough. That’s why gliadin and glutenin are
often referred to as the gluten-forming proteins in wheat. Celiac disease is an autoimmune
response to specific sequences of amino acids in gliadin that destroy the villi that line the
gastrointestinal tract, resulting in decreased absorption of nutrients accompanied by gas,
bloating, stomach pains, diarrhea, and weight loss. It is a terrible disease that is triggered
by exposure to even tiny amounts (about 50 milligrams) of gliadin. About one out of every
one hundred Americans tests positive for celiac disease. The formation of gluten in wheat
dough does not destroy the sequence of amino acids in gliadin that causes celiac disease ,
so those with celiac disease are sensitive to all sources of gluten in food. Many more suspect
they are “gluten sensitive,” but this is very difficult to determine without proper testing.
The only solution is to go on a gluten-free diet, which is very difficult to accomplish, given
the enormous number of food products that contain gluten. Fortunately, many gluten-free
products are now available in the supermarket, and many cookbooks provide recipes for
preparing gluten-free foods at home. Fairly recently, Spanish scientists developed a geneti-
cally modified form of wheat with up to 97 percent less gliadin than regular wheat.
Most proteins occur in their native biologically active state in two basic shapes, globular
and fibrous. The long chains of amino acids in globular proteins, such as insulin, hemo-
globin, eggs, and a plethora of enzymes, are twisted into coils resembling a somewhat
spherical shape, while the amino acids in fibrous proteins, including actin and myosin
(muscle proteins) and collagen (the dominant protein in connective tissue), are arrayed
in a somewhat linear shape. When heat is applied to proteins, they undergo a process
known as denaturation, causing the globular proteins to unfold and the fibrous proteins to
contract or shrink. This is what happens to the globular proteins in an egg and the fibrous
proteins in muscle tissue in meat and fish when they are cooked. The numerous proteins
in egg whites and yolks unfold and form chemical cross-links with each other, creating an
infinite network of united proteins that form the rubbery solid structure of a cooked egg.
None of the water in a raw egg is lost when it is cooked; rather, it becomes trapped inside
the infinite network of proteins. When meat is cooked, the fibrous muscle and connective
proteins shrink in both diameter and length, squeezing out some of the water trapped
within the network of proteins and causing overly cooked meat to become dry. The loss of
water from meat can be reduced by brining the meat in a dilute solution of salt (sodium
chloride) before cooking. The salt slowly diffuses into the meat and dissolves some of the
muscle proteins. During cooking, the dissolved proteins form a gel that holds the water in
the meat, much like gelatin released from collagen in connective tissue.
The process of denaturation occurs at a very specific temperature for each protein. For
example, egg whites (10 percent protein and 90 percent water) from hen eggs begin to
coagulate and thicken around 145°F (63°C) and are fully firm and rubbery at 176°F (80°C),
while the yolks (16 percent protein, 35 percent fat, and 54 percent water) begin to thicken
at about 150°F (65°C) and become fully set at 172°F (78°C). Because egg white proteins set
over a wider temperature range than egg yolk proteins, cooking whole eggs with the desired
texture can be a challenge. The muscle and collagen proteins in meat have a similar specific
set of temperatures at which they begin to shrink. Surprisingly, the muscle proteins in beef
start to shrink at temperatures as low as 104°F (40°C), with maximum shrinkage and water
loss occurring at 140°F (60°C) and above. The purpose of citing all these temperatures is
to illustrate how important it is to carefully control the temperature of the food within a
specific range, as well as the cooking time, when cooking meat, poultry, fish, and eggs.
DIFFUSION CONFUSION
Cooks commonly brine and marinate meat, poultry, and off-road vehicle. Molecules or ions that diffuse into meat
fish to increase tenderness, retain moisture, and enhance or fish are more like off-road vehicles moving in all direc-
taste. Brining works by allowing salt to diffuse into the tions at random, similar to Brownian motion. So we
food, where the increased levels of sodium and chloride can’t use a formula as simple as distance = rate × time
ions dissolve some of the muscle proteins, enhancing ten- to calculate how far a large number of molecules or ions
derness and forming gels during cooking that bind water will randomly move in a certain amount of time. But one
and aid in moisture retention. The heightened level of characteristic of the diffusion of molecules or ions helps
salt also enhances the taste of the food. Marinating food to simplify the equation; for a very large number of mol-
is thought to perform similar functions, but research ecules or ions, diffusion always occurs from a high con-
has shown that the acids in marinades, such as vinegar centration of molecules or ions to a lower concentration.
and lemon juice, penetrate very poorly, producing effects Placing meat or fish in a concentrated brine or marinade
mostly near the surface of the food. Only marinades will cause the molecules or ions to diffuse into the meat
that contain high levels of salt, such as that found in soy or fish, where the concentration of molecules or ions is
sauce, will penetrate beyond the surface. much lower.
The diffusion of a substance is defined as the quan- To determine how far salt or acid will diffuse into meat
tity of molecules or ions that in a unit of time (usually or fish within a certain amount of time, we need to mea-
a second) pass through a unit of area (usually a square sure the diffusion coefficient of the substance in the food.
centimeter) of a plane perpendicular to the direction of The diffusion coefficient (D) is a measure of the rate of
movement. The diffusion of molecules or ions within movement of that substance (salt or acid). It is similar to
another substance, such as a gas, liquid, or solid, occurs the miles per hour of the car, which we simply read on
by the random motion of the molecules or ions, known the car’s speedometer. While the diffusion coefficient is a
as Brownian motion. Brownian motion is caused by the number that must be measured just like the speed of the
collision of particles, or molecules, with the atoms or car, it is expressed in units of square centimeters (cm2)
molecules that make up the gas, liquid, or solid. Calcu- per second instead of miles per hour. In other words, D is
lating how far salt or acid diffuses into meat, poultry, or a measure of how fast molecules or ions (in the case, of
fish after a certain amount of time is not too different salt or acid) move through a unit of area (square centime-
from calculating how far a car can go in 3 hours if it trav- ters) in a unit of time (seconds).
els at an average speed of 50 miles per hour. The equation Diffusion coefficients must be measured in the labo-
for this calculation is distance = rate × time. If the car is ratory. For substances such as salt and acid, there are a
traveling at an average rate of 50 miles per hour for a time number of laboratory methods that can do this. For each
of 3 hours, then the car will travel 50 × 3 = 150 miles. specific food, the diffusion coefficient must be measured
Calculating how far a car will travel is fairly straight- under well-defined conditions of concentration, tempera-
forward because the car travels on defined roads in spe- ture, and time, as these variables will affect the result.
cific directions. It can’t go just anywhere unless it’s an Let’s take the example of beef. A recent paper published
in the journal Meat Science (Lebert and Daudin 2014) of a random walk to describe the motion of the mos-
reported that the mean diffusion coefficient (D) for a quitoes. That very same year Albert Einstein published
salt solution diffusing into beef measured at various a famous paper on Brownian motion in which he calcu-
concentrations (1.5–10 percent) at various times (2, 4, lated the complicated path of a dust particle in air based
and 6 days) was 5.1 × 10−6 cm2/second at 50°F (10ºC)— on the concept of a random walk driven by collisions
this is the same as 0.0000051 cm2/second. It shows the of the dust particle with gas molecules in the air. This
rate at which sodium and chloride ions move through a is very similar to the diffusion of salt or acid in water.
very small area in a very brief amount of time, similar For his solution, Einstein focused on the calculation of
to how cars move through a tollbooth. The same paper the diffusion coefficient of a dust particle moving in air
stated that the mean diffusion coefficient (D) for protons by Brownian motion. Thanks to Einstein, we can use a
(H+, acid) formed by the ionization of acetic acid was simplified equation for a random walk and the diffusion
3.5 × 10−7 cm2/second at 50°F (10ºC) for various concen- coefficient for salt or acid to calculate how far salt or
trations and times. Note that this is more than ten times acid will diffuse into beef after a certain amount of time.
lower than the rate at which the sodium and chloride ions The simple equation we use to calculate the random
move (which both move at the same rate). The diffusion walk of salt or acid into meat or fish is L = 4 × D × t,
coefficient for protons in beef is about sixty times lower which means the square root ( ) of 4 times the diffu-
than that for protons in pure water because the protons sion coefficient (D) times the time (t, in seconds). L =
bind to proteins, especially the proteins in connective tis- the distance the salt or acid moves into meat or fish in a
sue, and this impedes their motion. given time t. Why do we calculate the square root of the
A much earlier study published in the Journal of Food product of 4 × D × t? Because the diffusion coefficient is
Science (Rodger et al. 1984) found that the diffusion coef- expressed as cm2 over time, and we want to calculate the
ficients of salt and protons into herring were 2.3 × 10−6 distance in centimeters, not square centimeters (an area).
cm2/second and 4.5 × 10−6 cm2/second, respectively. In this The square root of cm2 equals centimeters. (For example,
case, the rate of diffusion of acid is about twice that of 3 × 3 = 9, while the square root of 9 = 3.) So let’s calculate
salt. This is because fish contain very little connective tis- some examples.
sue to impede the movement of protons, which normally 1. How far will salt diffuse into beef in 3 hours?
diffuse faster in pure water than salt does. First, 3 hours = 10,800 seconds (3 hours × 60 minutes
Calculating how far salt and acid (as protons, H+) will × 60 seconds) = 10.8 × 103
diffuse into meat or fish after a certain amount of time
Answer: L = (4 × 5.1 × 10 −6 cm 2 / sec × 10.8 × 10 3 ) =
requires a more complicated equation than distance =
rate × time. The equation is based on the concept of a 0.22 = 0.5 cm
random walk, a term first proposed by Karl Pearson in 2. How far will acid diffuse into beef in 3 hours?
1905. Pearson wanted to know how an infestation of Answer: L = (4 × 3.5 × 10 −7 cm 2 / sec × 10.8 × 10 3 ) =
mosquitoes spreads in a forest, so he invoked the concept 0.015 = 0.1 cm
3. How far will acid diffuse into fish in 3 hours? much more slowly than sodium and chloride ions but also
−6
Answer: L = (4 × 4.5 × 10 cm / sec × 10.8 × 10 ) =
2 3 because the concentration of hydrogen ions from vinegar
0.19 = 0.4 cm is exceedingly small. (Lemon juice has a pH = 2, which is
Does this agree with what we observe? Let’s consider equivalent to only 0.01 grams of protons per liter. This
brining meat in a 5 percent salt solution versus marinat- is ten times higher than the concentration of vinegar but
ing meat in vinegar that is 5 percent acetic acid. Both still a very small number compared with salt.) That’s why
contain equal weights of salt and acetic acid. But in solu- the salt in brine can penetrate an entire turkey in 24–48
tion, salt is completely ionized to sodium and chloride hours while an acidic marinade penetrates less than the
ions, so a 5 percent solution of salt contains 50 grams of outside ¼ inch of the food.
sodium and chloride ions per liter. Acetic acid is a weak I thank Pia Sörensen, PhD, senior preceptor in chem-
acid, meaning only a tiny fraction is ionized to hydrogen ical engineering and applied materials with the Harvard
ions [H+]. The strength of acids is measured by the con- John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied
centration of hydrogen ions in solution, which is what Sciences for informing me of the use the random walk
affects the proteins in meat and fish. The pH of vinegar = concept and the simplified equation for calculating the
3, which equates to only about 0.001 grams of hydrogen rate of diffusion of ions and molecules into food. Both
ions per liter. So a 5 percent solution of acetic acid (vin- the concept and the equation are used in the Science
egar) contains only 0.001 grams of hydrogen ions liter. and Cooking course at Harvard. In addition, Sörensen
This is far less than the 50 grams of sodium and chloride pointed out the very low concentration of protons in vin-
ions per liter. egar as an important factor in understanding why weak
Because of the concentration differences between the acids diffuse so slowly into meat.
ions of sodium and chloride and the protons in a weakly
ionized acid, salt should diffuse into food much faster REFERENCES
than acid. And, in fact, almost no protons diffuse into Lebert, A., and J.-D. Daudin. “Modelling the Distribution of aw,
meat compared with sodium and chloride ions. Does it pH and Ions in Marinated Beef Meat.” Meat Science 97 (2014):
now make more sense that so little acid, in the form of 347–357.
Rodger, G., R. Hastings, C. Cryne, and J. Bailey. “Diffusion Properties
hydrogen ions, penetrates meat or fish compared with of Salt and Acetic Acid Into Herring and Their Subsequent Effect
salt, in the form of sodium and chloride ions? It’s not on the Muscle Tissue.” Journal of Food Science 49, no. 3 (1984):
only because hydrogen ions (protons) diffuse into meat 714–720.
Tender cuts of beef, like tenderloin, should be cooked to an internal temperature of

120°F–125°F, or 49°C–52°C (it reaches the well-done stage at 130°F/54°C). As large cuts
of beef are sterile inside, they can be cooked to relatively low temperatures and still be
perfectly safe to eat as long as the surface becomes very hot. Recently, the USDA lowered
the recommended safe temperature for whole cuts of pork to 145°F (60°C). Tough shoul-
der cuts of beef and pork containing a lot of connective tissue should be cooked in a low
oven (325°F/163°C) for at least several hours to an internal temperature of 190°F (88°C) to
break down the collagen protein in that connective tissue to gelatin. Collagen is a strong
protein composed of three chains of gelatin wound into a triple helical structure held
together by numerous hydrogen bonds. Collagen does not start to slowly unwind until
140°F (40°C), and, ultimately, it takes several hours, often as many as 6 hours, at higher
temperatures to fully disentangle to gelatin. Gelatin is a unique protein that is capable of
binding ten times its weight of water, so even though tough cuts of meat like barbequed
pork are cooked to 190°F (88°C), they will remain relatively moist. Because chicken and
turkey may contain harmful Salmonella bacteria within their muscle tissue, they must be
cooked to 160°F (71°C) throughout to ensure safety. Chicken and turkey, as well as ground
beef and ground pork, require cooking to an internal temperature of 160°F (71°C).
The Future of Cooking Science

Over the last several years, the emerging field of culinary medicine has been added to the
realm of medical education. Culinary medicine has been defined as “a new evidence-based
field in medicine that blends the art of food and cooking with the science of medicine.”
Its objective is “to attempt to empower the patient to care for herself or himself safely,
effectively, and happily with food and beverage as a primary care technique.” A number of
medical schools, including Tulane, Harvard, and Northwestern, have implemented classes
and certificate programs in culinary medicine to instruct doctors and patients on how to
use food and cooking to improve and maintain their health at home. But stop and think
about how the field of culinary medicine has been defined above. That definition refers to
cooking as an art and medicine as a science! Culinary medicine will not achieve its stated
objective until cooking is understood to be a science like medicine. How can sound advice
be given to the patient about what foods are healthy to eat without thoroughly under-
standing how different methods of cooking those foods will impact their nutritional qual-
ity! If a recommendation is made to eat more healthy vegetables, then a recommendation
must also be made on the best way to cook those vegetables to optimize the level of specific
vitamins and key phytonutrients. Steaming may be best to optimize the glucosinolates in
broccoli, but sautéing in olive oil is best for releasing the lycopenes in tomatoes. Cooking
has moved well beyond the world of art and into the world of science, just like medicine
did decades ago. Cooking science offers the potential to increase the quality of human life.
The science of cooking is still in its infancy, yet in the past 20 years, it has caught the
attention of the cooking world and is poised for explosive growth. It’s not going to explode
because it teaches us how to cook a tender, juicy steak, or how to make the perfect pie dough,
or how to kick up the flavor of your favorite dish. It’s going to explode because it teaches us
how to optimize the nutritional quality of the food we eat by minimizing the loss of essential
nutrients like vitamins and minerals and enhancing the other nutrients like beneficial antiox-
idants, prebiotics, and phytonutrients.
The science-driven changes in the way we cook will help reduce the risk of developing
chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, obesity, type 2 diabetes, dementia, and many
forms of cancer. Cooking science will enhance the quality and joy of life. Cooking will be
seen no longer as just an art but as a perfect blend of art and science, creating simple dishes
that are delicious to eat and good for our health.
Bibliography
Have you noticed there are literally dozens of “kitchen myths” related to cooking? So many that
there is even a recently published book on the subject. A myth is a falsehood, a fiction, or a half-
truth that has been devised to explain why something happens, but in reality, it is a fabricated answer
that is untrue. The classic example is the myth that searing meat seals in juices; it was proved false
in 1930 but still persists even today. A more recent example is the myth that Arborio rice, used for
the preparation of risotto, forms a thick, creamy sauce because the starch in Arborio rice contains
virtually no amylose (starch composed of only amylopectin is known as waxy starch). This expla-
nation makes a good story—except it’s not true. A search of the scientific literature reveals that the
starch in Arborio rice contains 17 percent amylose on a dry basis, while the starch in long-grain rice
contains 24 percent amylose and waxy glutinous rice contains less than 4 percent amylose (based
on research conducted at the Guelph Food Research Center and published in Cereal Chemistry in
2010). The point of this discussion is that “scientific” explanations of why certain things happen
in cooking should be questioned if they are not backed up by the scientific literature and/or well-
designed kitchen tests. Too many cooking science explanations are fabricated to support the obser-
vations rather than being proved by scientific experiments. In my view, the bibliography that follows
is the most important part of this book, as it reveals the sources used to support the statements
made throughout the text. Fortunately, my position with Harvard University gives me access to these
critically important sources.
Preface
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1. The Evolution of Cooking

Barki, R., J. Rosell, R. Blasco, and A. Gopher. “Fire for a Reason: Barbeque at Middle Pleistocene
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2. The Dawn of Agriculture Revolutionizes Cooking

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5. Modern Science Transforms the Art of Cooking

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Index
Page numbers in italics indicate figures or tables.
absorbed water, 28 America’s Test Kitchen, 31, 61, 85, 97–99,

Accum, Friedrich, 79 115–117
acetic acid, 164 amines, 6
acidic foods, 28–29 amino acids, 3–4, 82, 110–111, 159–160
acrolein, 155 amylopectin, 9–11, 43, 144
ACSO. See S-alkenyl cysteine sulfoxides amylose, 9–11, 43, 144
actin, 81 ancient Egyptians, 26–27, 36
added sugars, 139 ancient Greeks, 26–27, 36–38
adenosine triphosphate (ATP), 48–49 ancient Romans, 5, 36
aging, 4 Ångström, Anders Jonas, 70
agricultural revolution, 19 animals, domestication of, 19–20, 20
agriculture, 25–27, 33, 36 anisatin, 110
AHA. See American Heart Association Appert, Nicolas, 72–74, 73
air, 46–47, 56, 69–71 apples, 147
air heat, 73 Aristotle, 37–38, 46
Akkadian tablet, 33, 33, 36 L’Art de la cuisine française (Carême), 72
Alchemist, The (painting) (Bruegel the Elder), Art of Cooking, The (Rosler), 112–113
40, 41 Art of Preserving All Kinds of Animal and
alchemy, 40, 41–42 Vegetable Substances for Several Years, The
Algeria, 1 (Appert), 74
alkalis, 84–85 arugula, 96–97
allinase, 98, 101 Ascent of Man, The (Bronowski), xiii, 15–16,
alliums, 98–99, 101 68
American Heart Association (AHA), 117, aspartic acid, 5
139–140 atomic theory, in history of science, 67–71
176 | INDEX
atoms, 37, 67–70 Bronowski, Jacob, xiii, 15–16, 68

ATP. See adenosine triphosphate Bronze Age, 26, 33
Auguries of Innocence, xii, 68 brown-braised onions recipe, 102
brown gravy recipe, 54–55
bacteria, 12–13, 147. See also specific bacteria Brownian motion, 162–163
baked haddock recipe, 77 browning meat, 92–93
baking powder, 80 Bruegel the Elder, Pieter, 18, 19, 40, 41
baking soda, 84–85, 94 Bucket Chicken House, 63
Bazinet, Joseph, 43–44, 44 butter, 60
beans, 98–99, 140–142 butter-poached lobster, 60–61
béchamel sauce, 51
beef, 82, 165 caloric, 59
bell peppers, 129–130 calpains, 134
bile acids, 128 cancer, 122–123, 126–128
Biringuccio, Vannoccio, 42 cannellini beans, cooked dry, 98–99
bitter taste, 3 canning, 74–76, 78
Blake, William, xii, 37, 68 carbohydrates, 139–140, 143, 146–147
bloom value, 107 carbon dioxide, 58, 68–71
body heat, 79–80 carboxyl group, 150
boiling, 15, 27, 30, 125, 127 Carême, Marie-Antoine, 48, 51, 71–72, 87
Bonaparte, Napoleon, 71–72, 74 carotenoids, 127–128
bone-in pork spareribs with hoisin barbeque carrageenan, 106, 108
sauce recipe, 34–35 carrots, 125, 126
Bonnardel, A.-F., 91 carvone, 86–87
bound water, 28 cauliflower, 132
Bourdain, Anthony, 112 ceramic pots, 27
Boyle, Robert, 38, 41, 46–47, 51, 56 cereal grains, 12–13, 26
Boyle’s Law, 46–47 Champagne region, of France, 73
Braidwood, Robert, 19 Chang, David, 106
brain, 1, 8, 14 chemistry, 57–58, 63–64, 79. See also specific
braising meat, 81–83, 93–94 chemists and chemicals
brassicas, 96–97, 122 chemopreventive agents, 122
brazier, 26 Chenoweth, Walter, 41
bread, 10–11, 22, 24–26 Child, Julia, 102, 112–113
Brillat-Savarin, Jean, 79 China, 25, 36, 62–64
British Royal Navy, 75–76 Chinese earthenware tripod cooking vessel,
broccoli, 96–98, 121–122, 125, 126–128 15
177 | INDEX
Chinese-style cooking, 34, 110–111 meat; oil; vegetables; specific cooking

chirality, 86 methods
cholesterol, LDL, 120, 148, 153 cooking range, 26
cholestyramine, 128 cooking science: Appert and, 72–74; art and,
chopped vegetables, 97–98 78–80, 86–88, 112–113; Boyle and, 46–47;
Chopra, Deepak, 71 French Revolution and, 71–72; future of,
cis double bonds, 149–151, 150 165–166; Goldner and, 75–76; for healthy
Claiborn, Craig, 112–113 food, 117–119; in molecular cuisine,
clam sauce, linguine with, recipe, 7 105–106; of nutrition, 117–121, 124, 125,
clay ovens, 25 126–128, 131, 136; peer-reviewed research
clay pots, 27 in, 41–42
Clostridium botulinum, 76, 78 Cook’s Illustrated, 84, 116
collagen, 49–50, 81, 107, 165 Cook’s Science, 117
combustion, 38, 46 corn starch granules, 10, 10
comfort food, 6 cravings, 6
complete proteins, 160 cross-links, 22, 49–50
compound atoms, 37 cruciferous vegetables, 97–98, 122–123
compounds, in smells, 6 crystalline structures, 9–10, 12–13, 148
connective tissue, 14–15 crystals, 86, 86
conservation of matter, law of, 58, 71 Cuisinier françois, Le (La Varenne), 47–48
controlled atmosphere storage, 124 Culinary Chemistry (Accum), 79
cooked dry cannellini beans, 98–99 Culinary Institute of America, 42, 49
cooked meat, 8, 14–15 culinary medicine, 165–166
cooking: agriculture in advances of, 26–27, 33, cysteine sulfoxides, 101
36; of ancient Egyptians, 26–27; as art, 62,
71, 78–80, 86–88, 112–113; baking soda in, Dalton, John, 37, 66, 67–68
84–85; cereal grains, 13; Chinese-style, 34, David, Jacques-Louis, 57
110–111; dry, 14–15; by early humans, 1–2; decomposition, 6
early methods of, 14–16; fire for, 1–2, 14; deep-fat frying, 127, 153–154, 158
French, 47–48, 71–73; Homo erectus, 1; on De la Pirotechnia (Biringuccio), 42
hot stones, 14–15; human brain and, 8, 14; Democritus, 37
in human evolution, 1–2, 15; legumes, 13; denaturation, 161
modern methods of, 103–106, 112; nutrients DHA. See docosahexaenoic acid
and, 124, 125, 126–128, 131; protein, starch diet, cancer and, 122
and, 8; sous vide, 104–105, 136; vessel, dietary fiber, 143
earthenware, 15; vitamin loss from, 120, diffusion, 162–163
120–121, 124, 124, 126; wet, 15. See also diffusion coefficient, 162–163
178 | INDEX
digestion, 12–13 Experiments and Observations on Different

digestive enzymes, 8, 14 Kinds of Air (Priestley), 56–57
disaccharide, 139 extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), 156–159
disulfides, 97
DM. See dry matter Fabbri, Adriana, 121
DNA, 3, 20, 122 fats, 8, 14, 24; frying in, 27, 31–33; good and
docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), 154 bad, 147–148, 152–155, 158–159; oils and,
domestication, 19–21, 20, 21, 25–26 148–151; oxidation of, 96; saturation level,
Donkin, Bryan, 74–75 152, 152; trans, 148–151, 150, 153
double bonds, 149, 150 fat taste, 3, 5
dough, 22, 24–26 fatty acids: omega-3 and omega-6, 33, 151;
Dreiding models, 149–150, 150 polyunsaturated, 33; saturated, 148–150,
dry cooking, 14–15 150; short-chain, 11; unsaturated, 96, 148,
dry matter (DM), 44 151–152
Durand, Peter, 73, 74 Favre, Joseph, 87–88
FDA. See Food and Drug Administration
earthenware tripod cooking vessel, 15 Ferme générale, 58–59
earth ovens, 14–15 fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides,
eggs, 31, 32 monosaccharides, and polyols (FODMAP),
egg yolks, 52–53 140
eicosanoids, 33, 153–154 fermentation, 4–5, 36, 46, 58, 86
eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), 154 Fermi, Enrico, 71
Einstein, Albert, 163 Fertile Crescent, 19–20
elastic substance, 22 fertilizer, 121
electronegative atom, 29 fire, 1–2, 14, 38
emulsifiers, 24, 52, 52–53 flavor: of alliums, 98–99, 101; boiling water
emulsions, 52–53 and, 27; in human brain, 8; Maillard
enantiomers, 86–87 reaction and, 92–94; oxidation of fats and
energy, 3, 14, 29–31, 59–61 oils in, 96; retronasal smell in, 91; smell,
enzymes, 8, 14, 24. See also specific enzymes taste and, 6; of vegetables, 96–97
EPA. See eicosapentaenoic acid flour, 12–13; of ancient Greeks, 26; konjac, 109;
Erdman, John, 118 proteins in, 22; wheat, 30
Escoffier, Auguste, 71 FODMAP. See fermentable oligosaccharides,
ester bonds, 149 disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols
Europe, 62–64 food: acidic, 28–29; digestion of, 12–13; flavor
evolution, 1–3, 5, 15 of, 6; Homo erectus cooking, 1; preservation
EVOO. See extra virgin olive oil of, 73, 73–74; production, as technological
179 | INDEX
advance, 25–26; protein-rich, 4; science, glycerol, 148–149, 154–155

41–42, 103; taste and smell of, 2–6; water glycine, 48
activity, 28, 28–29; water and, 28–30. See glycogen, 9, 159
also cooking; specific topics Golden Age of the Han Dynasty, 36
Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 108– Goldner, Stephan, 75–76, 78
109, 117, 128, 139, 143, 153 granules, 9, 9–10, 10, 23, 45
France, 73, 98 gravy recipe, 54–55
Franklin, Sir John, 75 Guericke, Otto von, 46
free water, 28 gums, 108–109
French cooking, 47–48, 71–73
French Revolution, 51, 56, 59, 71–72 Hall, John, 74–75
frozen vegetables, 121, 124, 124 Han Dynasty, 36
frying, 27, 31–33, 125, 127, 131, 153–154, Harris, Robert S., 118
158 Harvesters, The (painting) (Bruegel the Elder),
18, 19
garlic, 98, 101 harvesting, 134
garum, 5 heat: air and, 73; body, 79–80; capacity, 31,
gas, 46–47, 51 60; energy, 59–61; in glass bottles, 73–74;
gastronomy, 62–63 oxygen and, 57–59; proteins and, 161;
GC-MS. See mass spectroscopy radiating, 62; temperature versus, 31–32
gelatin, 48, 107 helical structures, 9–10
gelatinization, 10, 10, 30 Helmont, Jan Baptist van, 46
gellan gum, 109 hemoglobin, 134
gels, 107–109 high-performance liquid chromatography
GI. See glycemic index mass spectroscopy (HPLC-MS), 94–96,
Giebert, Georg, 80 95
glass bottle, 73, 73–74 HLB. See hydrophilic-lipophilic balance
glass transition temperature (Tg), 29 Hodge, John Edward, 93, 93–94
gliadin, 22, 30, 160 hoisin barbeque sauce, recipe, 34–35
gluconeogenesis, 8 Homo erectus, 1, 8, 13
glucose, 8–9, 14 Homo sapiens, 1–2
glucosinolates, 97, 120–123, 125, 126 Hooke, Robert, 46
glutamic acid, 4–5 Horsford, Eben Norton, 80
gluten, 22–24, 23, 30 hot stones, 14–15
gluten-free diets, 160–161 HPLC-MS. See high-performance liquid
glutenin, 22–24, 160 chromatography mass spectroscopy
glycemic index (GI), 144–145 human beings, 1–6
180 | INDEX
human brain, 8, 14 large intestine, 12

hunter-gathers, 15–16, 25 La Varenne, François Pierre de, 47–48, 51
hydration, 22, 24 Lavoisier, Antoine-Laurent, 38, 41, 56–59, 57,
hydrocolloids, 107–109 62, 71–72
hydrogen, 29–30 Lavoisier, Marie-Anne, 62
hydrogen bonds, 29, 60 law of conservation of matter, 58, 71
hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB), 53 LDL cholesterol, 120, 148, 153
left-handed crystals, 86, 86
Ibn al-Haytham, 37 legumes, 11–13, 136, 143, 146
ice age, 2, 16, 19–20 LF synthase. See lachrymator factor synthase
Ikeda, Kikunae, 4 Liebig, Justus von, 79–80
immune system, 12 light, polarized, 86–87
incomplete proteins, 160 linguine with clam sauce recipe, 7
intestines, 12 lipids, 149
iodine value test, 152, 152 lobster, 60–61
isoelectric point, 82 local food, 98
isothiocyanates (ITCs), 97, 122–123 long-grain rice, 10
lycopene, 127–128
Japan, 36
Jericho, 21, 25 macronutrients, 119
Jordan Valley, 20 Maillard reaction, 48, 92–94, 96, 110
Journal of Food Science, 82, 103, 163 mammals, 9
juiciness, of meat, 81–83 Marin, François, 51
marination, 162, 164
Karmas, Endel, 118 mashed cauliflower recipe, 132
Keller, Thomas, 60–61 mass, 31
Kellogg, E. E., 87, 87–88, 88 mass spectroscopy (GC-MS), 94
Kimball, Christopher, 112, 115–117 mayonnaise, 52
kinetic energy, 31 Ma Yu Ching, 63
kneading, 22 McComber, Diane, 43–44
konbu, 4 McGee, Harold, 115–116
konjac flour, 109 meat: braised versus roasted, 82–83; braising,
81–83, 93–94; browning, 92–93; cooked, 8,
LaChance, Paul, 118 14–15; isoelectric point of, 82; juiciness of,
lachrymator factor synthase (LF synthase), 81–83; as muscle tissue, 81; pH of, 81–82,
101 84–85, 134, 135; searing, 80; WHC of, 81–82
lard, 139 meat extracts, 80
181 | INDEX
Memoirs de l’Académie royale des sciences, NIH. See National Institutes of Health
58 nitrogen, 69–71
mercury, 57–58 nomads, 15–16
meta-analysis, 121 nucleotides, 4
metabolism, 12 nutrients, cooking and, 124, 125, 126–128, 131
methyl chavicol, 110 nutrition: cooking science of, 117–121, 124,
microbial terroir, 106 125, 126–128, 131, 136
micronutrients, 119 Nutritional Evaluation of Food Processing
microorganisms, 28, 73, 86, 98 (Harris and Karmas), 118
microwave ovens, 104
MMP. See 3-mercapto-2-methylpentan-1-ol oil, 24, 148; cooking, health concerns and,
mole, 69–70 158; egg cooking in, 31, 32; fat and,
molecular cuisine, 105–106 148–151; frying in, 27, 31–33; mono- and
molecules, 6; amylopectin, amylose and, 9–11, polyunsaturated, 139; olive, 27, 31, 32,
43, 144; atoms and, 69; in digestion, 12; 156–159; oxidation of, 96; palm, 26–27;
Dreiding models of, 149–150, 150; kinetic partially hydrogenated vegetable, 153;
energy of, 31; starch, 9–11, 30; triglyceride, saturation level, 152, 152; smoke point of,
149–151, 150; water, 29–30 154, 157–158; vegetable, 33, 153; water
mono- and polyunsaturated oils, 139 versus, 31, 32, 60–61
monosaccharides, 139 oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions, 52, 52–53
Moonen, Rick, 114, 115 oleocanthal, 156–157
mouth, 3 oleogustus, 5
muscle fiber, 81, 81 oligosaccharides, 139
muscle tissue, 81, 134, 135 olive oil, 27, 31, 32, 156–159
mushrooms, 47–48 omega-3 fatty acids, 33, 151
myofibrils, 81 omega-6 fatty acids, 33, 151
myoglobin, 134 On Food and Cooking (McGee), 115–116
myosin, 81 onion, 98, 101–103
myrosinase, 97, 122 orthonasal smell, 6
oven roasting, 131
nanometers, 70 ovens, earth, 14–15
Napoleonic Wars, 72 O/W. See oil-in-water emulsions
National Institutes of Health (NIH), 117 oxidation, 58–59, 79–80, 96, 148, 158
Neolithic period, 19, 33 oxygen, 29–30, 51, 56–59, 69–71
network, of proteins, 22
“New Experiments Touching the Relation palm oil, 26–27
Betwixt Flame and Air” (Boyle), 46 pan roasted grouper, 114, 115
182 | INDEX
Papin, Denis, 47, 47 preservation, of food, 73, 73–74

partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, 153 pressure cooker: of Papin, 47, 47
pasta, 144–145 pressure cooking, 131
Pasteur, Louis, 73, 86, 86–87 Priestley, Joseph, 38, 56
pasteurization, 86 propanethial S-oxide (PSO), 101
Paulze, Marie-Anne Pierrette, 57 protein, 3–4; complete and incomplete, 160;
Peaches in a Glass Bowl (pastel), 90, 91 denaturation, 161; digestive enzymes as,
Pearson, Karl, 163 8, 14; fats and, 8, 14; gluten as, 22; good
pectin, 108 and bad, 159–161, 165; heat and, 161;
pectin methylesterase (PME), 146–147 hydrated, 22; networks and sheets of,
P’ei-li-kang, 25 22; polysaccharides and, 12, 14, 29–30;
percent softening, 126 Recommended Daily Allowance for, 13;
periodic table, 36–37 starch and, 8, 12–14; trypsin inhibitors as,
pH: of baking soda, 85, 94; of meat, 81–82, 13; water and, 23; wheat and, 23–24
84–85, 134, 135; of muscle tissue, 134, 135; Proust, Joseph-Louis, 67
of water, 24 PSO. See propanethial S-oxide
pho, 110 pyrazines, 99
photosynthesis, 9
Physiology of Taste, The (Brillat-Savarin), 79 raffinose, 140
plants: domestication of, 19–20, 20; eicosanoids random walk, 163
and, 33; glucose produced by, 9; wheat, 20, Raytheon Corporation, 104
21 recipes: Akkadian tablet, of first written, 33,
plaque, 148 33, 36; baked haddock with breadcrumb
plasticizer, 29 topping, 77; bone-in pork spareribs with
Pleistocene era, 2 hoisin barbeque sauce, 34–35; brown-
PME. See pectin methylesterase (PME) braised onions, 102; linguine with clam
polarized light, 86–87 sauce, 7; mashed cauliflower, 132; rich
polyphenol oxidase (PPO), 92 brown gravy, 54–55; tomato sauce with
polysaccharides, 8, 12, 14, 29–30, 139, 143, 146 red bell peppers, 129–130; white bean and
polyunsaturated fatty acids, 33 roasted chicken chili, 141–142
polyunsaturated oils, 139 red bell peppers, 129–130
pork, 82, 133–134 Red Bliss potatoes, 43–44, 44
pork cutlets, 135 red seaweed, 106–108
pork spareribs recipe, 34–35 relative humidity (RH), 28
potato cells, 9 Research on the Chemistry of Food (Liebig),
potatoes, 43–45, 44 79
PPO. See polyphenol oxidase resistant starch, 12, 143, 146, 146–147
183 | INDEX
resveratrol, 95–96 sheets, of proteins, 22

retrogradation, 11 Shinto Kodama, 4
retronasal smell, 6, 91 short-chain fatty acids, 11
RH. See relative humidity shortening, 24
rice, 10, 25 short-grain rice, 10
right-handed crystals, 86, 86 shoyu, 36
roasted meat, 8, 14, 82–83 small intestine, 12–13
Rosler, Martha, 112–113 smell, 2–6, 91
Royal Navy, British, 75–76 smoke point, of oil, 154, 157–158
Rumford, Count, 59, 62, 67 sodium ammonium tartrate, 86, 86
Rumford Chemical Works, 80 sodium bicarbonate, 84–85
Russet Burbank potatoes, 43–44, 44 soft matter, 107
sour taste, 3
salami, 98 sous vide cooking, 104–105, 136
S-alkenyl cysteine sulfoxides (ACSO), 98 soybeans, 36
salt, 3–4, 24, 164 soy sauce, 36
saturated fatty acids, 148–150, 150 Spencer, Percy, 104
saturation level, of fats and oils, 152, 152 stachyose, 140
sautéing, 128 star anise, 110–111
savory, 4 starch: in bread, 10–11; cooking, 8; digestion
scanning electron micrograph (SEM), 9, of, 12–13; gelatinization temperature of,
22, 23 30; glycogen and, 9; granules, 9, 9–10, 23,
Sceptical Chymist, The (Boyle), 46 45; microscopic world of, 9–11; molecules,
Scheele, Carl Wilhelm, 38, 51, 56 9–11, 30; of potatoes, 43–45; protein and,
science: of ancient Greeks, 36–38; atomic 12–14; resistant, 12, 143, 146, 146–147;
theory in history of, 67–71; in cooking retrograded, 11; in rice, 10; waxy, 9
healthy food, 117–119; early theories, steam, 30
36–38; food, 41–42, 103; of pasta, 144–145; steam digester, 47
rebirth of, 46–47, 51, 56; in sixteenth and steaming, 125, 127
seventeenth centuries, 41–42, 46. See also stir-frying, 131
cooking science stock, 47–51, 103
Science in the Kitchen (Kellogg), 87–88, 88 storage, of vegetables, 121, 124, 124
Science of Good Cooking, The, 116–117 sugars, 3, 24
scientific method, 36, 56–59, 62–64 Suiyuan Shidan (Yuan), 63
seared meat, 80 sulfur, 101
seaweed, 4, 106–107 supertasters, 2
SEM. See scanning electron micrograph sweet taste, 3
184 | INDEX
Talleyrand-Perigord, Charles Maurice de, vegetables, 128; baking soda in cooking, 84;
71–72 boiling, steaming and frying, 125, 127;
tallow, 139 brassicas, 97; chopped, 97–98; cruciferous,
tartaric acid, 86 97–98, 122–123; flavor of, 96–97; frozen,
Tassili n’Ajjer cave, viii, 1 121, 124, 124; storage of, 121, 124, 124;
taste, 2–6, 8, 79, 97–100 vitamin loss, from cooking, 120, 120–121,
taste cells, 3 124, 124, 126
temperature, 29–32, 161, 165 vitamin C, 120, 120–121, 124, 124
terroir, 97–100, 106 vitamin loss, 120, 120–121, 124, 124, 126
texture, of food, 29 vitamins, water-soluble, 136
texture analyzer, 126, 126
Tg. See glass transition temperature water: absorbed and bound, 28; boiling
Thales of Miletus, 36 point, 27, 30; cooking with, 15; egg
thiamin, 131, 136 cooking in, 31, 32; food and, 28–30;
thiosulfinates, 101 free, 28; gluten and, 24; hardness, 24;
Thompson, Benjamin, 59, 62, 67 hydrogen molecules in, 29–30; molecules,
3-mercapto-2-methylpentan-1-ol (MMP), 29–30; oil versus, 31, 32, 60–61; O/W
48–49, 101–102, 103 emulsions, 52, 52–53; oxygen molecule in,
tin cans, 73, 74–75 29; pH of, 24; protein and, 23; temperature
tomatoes, 127–130 of, 29–30
tomato sauce, 129–130 water activity, 28, 28–29
toxic substances, bitter taste of, 3 watercress, 123
trans-anethole, 110 water holding capacity (WHC), 81–82
trans fats, 148–151, 150, 153 water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions, 52,
triglycerides, 148–151, 150 52–53
trisulfides, 97 water-soluble molecules, 12
tropocollagen, 107 water-soluble vitamins, 136
trypsin inhibitors, 13 waxy starch, 9
wet cooking, 15
umami taste, 3–5 WHC. See water holding capacity
unsaturated fatty acids, 96, 148, 151–152 wheat, 12–13, 20–21, 21, 23–26, 30
Upper Paleolithic period, 15 white beans and roasted chicken chili recipe,
U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 117, 141–142
133, 140 whole grains, 136, 143, 146
whole wheat, 12–13
Vavilov, Nikolai, 19 Willett, Walter, 118
vegetable oils, 33, 153 wine, 60, 95–96
185 | INDEX
W/O. See water-in-oil emulsions Yellow River, 25

Worthington, William Henry, 66, 67 Yin-Fei Lo, Eileen, 36
Wrangham, Richard, xi, 1 Yuan Mei, 63
Yukon Gold potatoes, 43–44, 44
xanthan gum, 108
Z-disks, 81
Yan Ciyu, 138, 139 Zhang Dong’guan, 63
yeast, 26, 28 zucchini, 125, 126
Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History
Albert Sonnenfeld, Series Editor
Salt: Grain of Life, Pierre Laszlo, translated by Mary Beth Mader

Culture of the Fork, Giovanni Rebora, translated by Albert Sonnenfeld
French Gastronomy: The History and Geography of a Passion, Jean-Robert Pitte, translated by
Jody Gladding
Pasta: The Story of a Universal Food, Silvano Serventi and Françoise Sabban, translated by Antony
Shugar
Slow Food: The Case for Taste, Carlo Petrini, translated by William McCuaig
Italian Cuisine: A Cultural History, Alberto Capatti and Massimo Montanari, translated by Áine
O’Healy
British Food: An Extraordinary Thousand Years of History, Colin Spencer
A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America, James E. McWilliams
Sacred Cow, Mad Cow: A History of Food Fears, Madeleine Ferrières, translated by Jody
Gladding
Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavor, Hervé This, translated by M. B.
DeBevoise
Food Is Culture, Massimo Montanari, translated by Albert Sonnenfeld
Kitchen Mysteries: Revealing the Science of Cooking, Hervé This, translated by Jody Gladding
Hog and Hominy: Soul Food from Africa to America, Frederick Douglass Opie
Gastropolis: Food and New York City, edited by Annie Hauck-Lawson and Jonathan Deutsch
Building a Meal: From Molecular Gastronomy to Culinary Constructivism, Hervé This, translated
by M. B. DeBevoise
Eating History: Thirty Turning Points in the Making of American Cuisine, Andrew F. Smith
The Science of the Oven, Hervé This, translated by Jody Gladding
Pomodoro! A History of the Tomato in Italy, David Gentilcore
Cheese, Pears, and History in a Proverb, Massimo Montanari, translated by Beth Archer Brombert
Food and Faith in Christian Culture, edited by Ken Albala and Trudy Eden
The Kitchen as Laboratory: Reflections on the Science of Food and Cooking, edited by César
Vega, Job Ubbink, and Erik van der Linden
Creamy and Crunchy: An Informal History of Peanut Butter, the All-American Food, Jon
Krampner
Let the Meatballs Rest: And Other Stories About Food and Culture, Massimo Montanari,
translated by Beth Archer Brombert
The Secret Financial Life of Food: From Commodities Markets to Supermarkets, Kara Newman
Drinking History: Fifteen Turning Points in the Making of American Beverages, Andrew F. Smith
Italian Identity in the Kitchen, or Food and the Nation, Massimo Montanari, translated by Beth
Archer Brombert
Fashioning Appetite: Restaurants and the Making of Modern Identity, Joanne Finkelstein
The Land of the Five Flavors: A Cultural History of Chinese Cuisine, Thomas O. Höllmann,
translated by Karen Margolis
The Insect Cookbook: Food for a Sustainable Planet, Arnold van Huis, Henk van Gurp, and
Marcel Dicke, translated by Françoise Takken-Kaminker and Diane Blumenfeld-Schaap
Religion, Food, and Eating in North America, edited by Benjamin E. Zeller, Marie W. Dallam,
Reid L. Neilson, and Nora L. Rubel
Umami: Unlocking the Secrets of the Fifth Taste, Ole G. Mouritsen and Klavs Styrbæk, translated
by Mariela Johansen and designed by Jonas Drotner Mouritsen
The Winemaker’s Hand: Conversations on Talent, Technique, and Terroir, Natalie Berkowitz
Chop Suey, USA: The Story of Chinese Food in America, Yong Chen
Note-by-Note Cooking: The Future of Food, Hervé This, translated by M. B. DeBevoise
Medieval Flavors: Food, Cooking, and the Table, Massimo Montanari, translated by Beth Archer
Brombert
Another Person’s Poison: A History of Food Allergy, Matthew Smith
Taste as Experience: The Philosophy and Aesthetics of Food, Nicola Perullo
Kosher USA: How Coke Became Kosher and Other Tales of Modern Food, Roger Horowitz
Chow Chop Suey: Food and the Chinese American Journey, Anne Mendelson
Mouthfeel: How Texture Makes Taste, Ole G. Mouritsen and Klavs Styrbæk, translated by
Mariela Johansen
Garden Variety: The American Tomato from Corporate to Heirloom, John Hoenig

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How the Evolution of Science Transformed the Art of Cooking

Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent

Cover design: Milenda Nan Ok Lee

1 The Evolution of Cooking (2 Million–12,000 Years Ago) 1

Fire, cooking, and the evolution of humans 1

How many basic tastes are there? 4

The impact of cooking on the human brain 8

The microscopic world of starch in food 9

Early methods of cooking food 14

2 The Dawn of Agriculture Revolutionizes Cooking

The dawn of agriculture changes everything 19

The greatest technological advance of all time 25

What is so special about water in food? 28

The ﬁrst scientiﬁc theories evolve 36

3 Early Science Inspires Creativity in Cooking (1500–1799) 41

Science is reborn during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries 41

The difference between waxy and mealy potatoes 43

The rebirth of science—now we’re really cooking! 46

Making stock of things 48

The scientiﬁc method illuminates a new path 56

Thomas Keller and the science of butter-poached lobster 60

4 The Art of Cooking Embraces the Science of Atoms

The atomic theory changes science forever 67

Numbers both large and small 69

Science enters the realm of cooking 71

Recipe: Baked haddock with special breadcrumb topping 77

The art of cooking embraces the science of cooking 78

Does braising meat really make it juicier? 81

5 Modern Science Transforms the Art of Cooking

Terroir—A taste of place 98

Modern methods of cooking 103

Soft Matter—the science of gels 107

Cooking is the perfect embodiment of art and science 112

6 Cooking Science Catches Fire! 115

Cooking science goes viral 115

Fighting cancer with cruciferous vegetables 122

Good carbohydrates and bad carbohydrates 139

Recipe: White bean and roasted chicken chili 141

Good fats and bad fats 147

Fats and oils—when structure dictates function 149

Are there good proteins and bad proteins? 159

Diffusion confusion 162

The future of cooking science 165

To see a World in a Grain of Sand

Fire, Cooking, and the Evolution of Humans

The Taste, Smell, and Flavor of Food

The Impact of Cooking on the Human Brain

(continued on page 14)

the type of starch and the ratio of amylose to amylopec-

absorb water and swell when heated. At 140°F (60°C),

Early Methods of Cooking Food

tough connective tissue makes the meat easier to chew

The Dawn of Agriculture Changes Everything

Fertile Crescent Wheat, barley, goats, sheep, cattle 10,000–8,000

The development of new foods and methods of

(a) (b) (c)

The Greatest Technological Advance of All Time

The Emergence of Agriculture Catalyzes Advances in Cooking

The First Scientiﬁc Theories Evolve

Science Is Reborn During the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries