Slightly Off KIlter

We went to a talk yesterday by Harold McGee, Author of The Curious Cook and the recently revised and updated, On Food and Cooking

The kitchen is a laboratory of applied science. Food preparation has played a role in the development of science, and scientists have influenced everyday cooking for better and for worse, from the invention of the pressure cooker to modern-day "molecular gastronomy." Harold McGee will recount some of this little-known history, and report on his own research into such questions as: Why do French cooks insist on whipping egg whites in copper bowls? How many liters of mayonnaise can you make with one egg yolk? Can thermocouples and computers help you cook a better hamburger? And why does the spatter from a frying pan end up on the inside of a cook's eyeglasses?

Answers:

• Because copper (and also silver!) really does cause the egg whites to whip up smoother and fluffier (it had something to do with metal ions)
• 25 quarts! (so much for the 1 cup of oil to 1 egg yolk "rule")
• Yes (as does flipping it every 15 seconds 😉
• Because the cook is tilting his head to look down at the pan and simple geometry causes the rain of droplets to fall down onto his head (and onto the backs of his glasses)

Did you know…

… that people have been whipping egg whites in copper bowls for centuries?

… that the pressure cooker was invented in 1679 by Denis Papin? It was a scary looking device. Papin presented his "digester", as he called it, to the Royal Society, complete with a dinner cooked in it, and Samuel Pepys recorded the results in his diary.

… that the history of the modern kitchen oven dates back to Count Rumford's experiments with cooking meat in a "potato dryer" in 1800?

… that Saran™ wrap has the lowest oxygen permeation of the various plastic wraps? (To keep your guacamole dip green in the fridge, be sure to use real Saran wrap; the "avocado pit" myth is really a myth).

… that people (still) believe searing meat seals in the juices, even though it's provably not true, because a booklet was written on the theory two hundred years ago?

… that early "home economists" were trying to rationalize and make scientific the preparation of food and that early Home Ec recipes were often unusual, for example, the all white "boiled chicken, covered in white sauce and nestled in a bed of popcorn" or "white bread, cream cheese, and marshmallows". I was happy that by the time I took Home Ec in Jr. High, "all white food" was no longer considered a good thing!

… that in 1969, Nicholas Kurti made a "vacuum meringue" in his laboratory and described it as better than any cooked meringue and like "biting into hard nothing"

… that modern chefs are experimenting with "foams", jellies that remain jelled even when heated (raviolis made from jelled consomme), unusual combinations of flavors (sardine & toast sorbet), "Paella rice krispies", and the one I thought sounded the most fun — a liquid-centered chocolate cake spiked with pop rocks that 'popped" at the back of your throat instead of on the tongue

… that one of those chefs (Heston Blumenthal) has invented the "perfect" palate cleanser — comprised of egg white, vodka, lime juice, and green tea, it is sprayed into liquid nitrogen, frozen, scooped, formed and eaten! Whoa!

As you might guess, it was an enjoyable and entertaining talk.