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Custard: Where Eggs and Dairy Meet to Make Your Favourite Dessert
The world of sauces can be pretty intimidating. The French, in particular, have elevated sauce making to such an extraordinary extent that the whole idea of making a sauce can seem overwhelming. They have their mother sauces, their daughter sauces and a whole culinary tradition based specifically around sauces. To the French a good sauce Continue reading
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Pork, another red meat
Fear is a great motivator and, being in the business of motivation, advertising has always been very quick to take advantage of human uncertainty to build demand. An example of this is the famous “The other white meat” campaign for pork that ran in the States in 1987 and was copied here in Australia during Continue reading
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Stewing like a medieval peasant: How to deal with the the tougher cuts
Of all the wonders of the modern world I think that a supermarket would be the thing that would inspire the most awe in a time-travelling medieval peasant. The availability of spices would be one thing. Our vast range of ultra-processed ready-to-eat meals would be another. But the ability to walk into a supermarket and Continue reading
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Milk: Nature’s Beverage and Its Curious Chemistry
I think humans have an interesting relationship with milk. Most of us start our food journey with human breast milk yet many, long after we’ve out grown any biological need for milk, chose to consume the milk and milk products of other species. To support this we have set up a $800 million dollar a Continue reading
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Understanding Emulsions II: Mayonnaise
In my mind mayonnaise has always been kind of a Jekyll and Hyde sauce. We all know what mayonnaise is and we all have a bottle of mayonnaise in the fridge. But we also have homemade mayonnaise, a sauce that can be richer tasting but which can also vary greatly depending on what oil and Continue reading
chemistry, cholesterol, eggs, emulsifier, emulsions, Food, lipid, mayonnaise, micelle, oil, proteins, Science, vinaigrette#cooking, cholesterol, eggs, emulsifier, emulsion, Food, food science, HDL, LDL, lipid, mayonnaise, micelle, recipe, recipes, salads, Science -
Quick bite: A cooks tour of protein chemistry
If you have read any of the posts on this blog you are probably starting to realise that when we are talking about chemistry in cooking a lot of the time we are actually talking about proteins. For this reason it is important that we have a clear idea of what a protein is, how Continue reading
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Quick bite: Osmosis and your next BBQ
My recent post about cooking steak got a bit long. To shorten it I had to cut some things that I still think are pretty important when cooking your steak. One of the things I cut was a discussion about osmosis and how to salt your steak before cooking. Both of these issues are really Continue reading
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Anatomy, heat and the perfect steak
The post explores the challenges of cooking the perfect steak, emphasizing the importance of cut choice, understanding muscle anatomy, and the science behind heat and proteins. It discusses techniques like sous vide and two-zone grilling for achieving optimal tenderness and sear. Finally, it stresses the necessity of resting the steak before serving to retain juiciness. Continue reading
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Flour and water, how hard can pasta be?
Every home cook has been there. You want to make your own pasta, but how? I know – you think, I have at my disposal the single greatest tool for the dissemination of information in the history of man, the internet. I’ll get on that thing and I’ll be an expert in no time. Several Continue reading
The Science of Food 