COOKING BETWEEN BIOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY

I am a fool. I'm not smart. I'm not a crystal ball wizard. I have to understand the why and how in detail and this makes me aware of what I do. Maybe I don't enjoy it; I may seem boring and in subjects that already seem boring, but I try to achieve better results and make more informed decisions.

 

I think this is important for several reasons:

1. Complete understanding

2. Troubleshooting

3. Improvement and optimization

4. Control and management

5. Quality and safety

 

The culinary science may not be as practical as some of us try to be in our work, but I'll try to score a few points in my favor with some practical examples.

 

The first amino acid was discovered in 1806, when French chemists Louis-Nicolas Vauquelin and Pierre Jean Robiquet isolated a compound from asparagus: asparagine.

One of the most famous chefs in the world, Heston Blumenthal, studied for example the umami taste through glutamic acid and 5'-adenosine monophosphate together with scientists, publishing the results in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Some proteins, substances I'm talking about, are in the foods we use every day, including albumin, casein, lactoglobulin, glutenin and gliadin, lectin. That is science of cooking.

 

When we cook we don't use, for example, butter, we actually use chemicals and we're being chemists. Even a turned egg is a question of molecules and therefore we could perhaps say that we are doing molecular cuisine.

 

So trying to explain to myself amino acids, proteins, chemical reactions that take place for example with heat and transformation in the tissues we cook, helped me make fewer mistakes. And so I ve studied chemical and biological sciences, as much as I could.

 

Amino acids, proteins, tissue and molecular structures, perhaps in the end they will interest you more and will open up new paths for you, such as molecular cuisine.

 

It is also important to understand the that are in some foods and some cooking systems, which are part of the culinary technology so often and more and more.

I am well aware that you have done certain things a thousand times, that they have taught you, but what I am explaining to you is why you do it. What actually happens even if you can't see it. And without falling into overly specific details. I promise you. I will be synthetic.

 

Science and cooking always intersect  and you probably need food science and technology education more than you want or think is necessary. I also need it because as I said at the beginning I am a fool and I'm not smart.

Of course, I don't cover all of the subject here. The subject as a whole is divided into several parts and handouts.

Below you can download a free booklet, saving or printing it.