On Food and Cooking

molecules by causing increased enzyme activity, mixing of cell contents, and general chemical reactivity. ...

perception of astringency, while sugar reduces it. Adding milk, gelatin, or other proteins to a dish wi ...

uncontrolled enzyme activity, and exposure to oxygen and to light. They and minerals can also be ...

makes them easier to eat in significant quantities. And it actually improves the availability of s ...

There are many different ways of cooking vegetables and fruits. What follows is a brief outline of the ...

steam are excellent carriers of heat, these are efficient methods as well, ideal for the rapid cooking of gr ...

about the concentration of seawater (3%, or 2 tablespoons/30 gm per quart/liter) will speed softening (p. ...

softening of the vulnerable exterior. Nor is it necessarily best to cook them at the boiling point: 180–190ºF ...

cooking vegetables at the boiling point, but without the necessity of heating a whole pot of water, exposi ...

250ºF/120ºC rather than 212ºF/100ºC. (Enclosing the water in an airtight container traps the water vapor, whic ...

medium as water or oil, so air molecules collide with the food less often, and take longer to ...

browning reactions, which generate hundreds of new taste and aroma molecules and so a greater depth of flavo ...

with the characteristic notes contributed by the oil itself. A food may be fried partly or ...

Stir-Frying and Sweating Two important variations on frying exploit opposite ends of the temperature s ...

other ingredients. Often the cook wants to avoid browning, or to minimize it; here the low he ...

give some protection to the surface and essentially steam the food in its own moisture, while allowing ...

the water molecules then heat up the cell wall, starch, and other plant molecules (p. 786). Because radiatio ...

can seem strong and odd. The inclusion of other aromatics can help mask this effect. Cooks can exploit t ...

others, we separate the food’s flavor or color from its flavorless, colorless cell-wall fibers or abundant wat ...

vegetables are a major exception: starch granules in the cells absorb all the free moisture in ...