Culinary Reactions: The Everyday Chemistry of Cooking

Description

Exploring the scientific principles behind everyday recipes, this informative blend of lab book and cookbook reveals that cooks are actually chemists. Following or modifying recipes is shown to be an experiment with acids and bases, emulsions and suspensions, gels and foams. This easy-to-follow primer includes recipes that demonstrate the scientific concepts, such as Whipped Creamsicle Topping (a foam), Cherry Dream Cheese (a protein gel), and Lemonade with Chameleon Eggs (an acid indicator). Also included in this fun, fact-filled companion are answers to various culinary curiosities, such as *How does altering the ratio of flour, sugar, yeast, salt, butter, and water affect how high bread rises?* and *Why is whipped cream made with nitrous oxide rather than the more common carbon dioxide?** * *recommended here: "[Good book on the chemistry of cooking?](https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/114782/42013)"ref:17.3:> Heating starches changes crystallized starch molecules into gels. Bread becomes stale when the starches crystallize, and warming the bread returns them to their soft gel state, making the bread taste and feel fresh. Stale bread is not dry; it just feels that way because of the crystallized starches. In raw potatoes, the starch is compact, but heating makes the starch granules swell and absorb water, becoming soft and easier to digest.[Freeze or refrigerate bread?](https://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/104589/42013)