What Einstein Told His Cook
Read What Einstein Told His Cook Online
Authors: Robert L. Wolke
What Einstein Told His Cook
“I have enjoyed Bob Wolke’s column in the
Post
for years, and his book is as good a read on the science of cooking as there is. Bob is not only well educated, he is a wit and a wonderful, gifted writer who can make anyone understand what’s behind the ‘magic’ that happens in the kitchen. His sound, clever recipes are a welcome bonus.”
—Mark Bittman, author of
How to Cook Everything
“The best book on food (not a cookbook) of 2002. Robert Wolke’s book is so full of useful information that you’ll find yourself referring to it again and again…. Not only does he have the penetrating mind of a chemistry professor, but Robert Wolke also has a tremendous sense of humor. Besides being packed with all kinds of interesting food science tidbits, this book is just plain funny.”
—SauteWednesday.com
“Robert Wolke’s terrific book will be invaluable and accessible to every cook. The style is clear, the text is honest, and perhaps best of all the book is fun to read, filled with the ‘why’s and ‘how’s of the kitchen.”
—Paula Wolfert, author of
Mediterranean Cooking
and
Mediterranean Grains and Greens
“The occasional recipe adds diversity but facts are the book’s strong point.
What Einstein Told His Cook
is a scientifically accurate but witty and entertaining study of the chemistry of food and cooking.”
—Elliot Ketley,
Restaurant
(UK)
“This book should be on the shelf of any serious cook’s library. By demystifying the fundamentals of the kitchen, it empowers the cook to navigate recipes with confidence and control.”
—Lidia Matticchio Bastianich, author of
Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen
and
Lidia’s Italian Table
“Wolke [is] a chemist with a preternatural ability to explain complex chemical reactions in simple terms. Whatever the magnitude of the topic, Wolke addresses it with the same understated intelligence and paternal humor.”
—Tim Carman,
Washington City Paper
“If you read Bob Wolke’s
What Einstein Told His Cook
, you may have to kick some old wives’ tales right out of the kitchen…. One of the book’s joys is that some quirks of the kitchen may never have occurred to us. That’s what makes Bob Wolke the science teacher we wished we had when we were stuck with Big Bad Science Snob. He’s not afraid to lunge at a joke to explain a concept when Big Bad would have bored us silly with irrelevant detail.”
—Suzanne Martinson,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Robert L. Wolke’s recipes are lab experiments you can eat. That’s what makes reading
What Einstein Told His Cook
so much fun for the avid home chef who derives as much pleasure from understanding food as eating it.”
—
New York City Record
“For the kitchen nerd with a sense of humor. An absorbing read.”
—
Food & Wine
(Ireland)
“Good science only adds to the enjoyment of the culinary arts. With a sauce of wit and panache, Wolke serves up commonsense answers to every question that a curious cook could ask.”
—Roald Hoffman, 1981 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
TEXTBOOKS
Impact: Science on Society
Chemistry Explained
TRADE BOOKS
What Einstein Didn’t Know:
Scientific Answers to Everyday Questions
What Einstein Told His Barber:
More Scientific Answers to Everyday Questions
What Einstein Told His Cook 2:
The Sequel; Further Adventures in Kitchen Science
Kitchen Science Explained
with recipes by Marlene Parrish
W. W. NORTON & COMPANY
New York London
Copyright © 2002 by Robert L. Wolke
Copyright © 2002 by Marlene Parrish
All rights reserved
First published as a Norton 2008
Recipe for Chocolate Velvet Mousse adapted from Chocolate Mousse with Olive Oil, published in
The Best American Recipes 2000
, Houghton Mifflin, 2000. Adaptation printed by permission of Teresa Barrenechea. Recipe for Champagne Jelly in
The Best American Recipes 1999
, Houghton Mifflin, 1999. Recipe copyright 1998 by Lindsey Shere. Reprinted by permission of Lindsey Shere.
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
Illustrations by Alan Witschonke
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wolke, Robert L.
What Einstein told his cook: kitchen science explained / Robert L. Wolke; with recipes by Marlene Parrish.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN: 978-0-393-33987-1
1. Cookery. 2. Science—Miscellanea. I. Parrish, Marlene. II. Title.
TX652.W643 2002
641.5—dc21 2002001708
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110
www.wwnorton.com
W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., Castle House, 75/76 Wells Street, London W1T 3QT
This book is dedicated to my wife, partner,
colleague, and motivator, Marlene Parrish.
What is raw sugar? • Is refined white sugar unhealthful? • How can you soften hardened brown sugar? • What are treacle, sorghum, and sulphured molasses? • What’s the difference between cane sugar and beet sugar? • How do you dissolve two cups of sugar in one cup of water? • What does “caramelize” mean? • How are starches and sugars related? • How do they get corn syrup from corn? • What is Dutch process cocoa? • Why does chocolate melt in the mouth? • How do they make white chocolate?…and more.
Chapter Two • THE SALT OF THE EARTH
What are all those special salts and tenderizers in the supermarket? • What are salt substitutes? • Why do we add salt to the water for boiling pasta? • What’s so special about sea salt? • Kosher salt? • Freshly ground salt? • Can a potato remove the excess salt from over-salted soup? • Why do recipes tell you to use unsalted butter and then add salt?…and more.
Chapter Three • THE FAT OF THE LAND
What’s the difference between a fat and a fatty acid? • Why are oils only partially hydrogenated? • Why do we clarify butter? • How do they make corn oil? • How do the various cooking oils compare? • What can you do with used cooking oil? • How do nonstick cooking sprays work? • What noodles contain fat? • Is heavy cream really lighter than light cream?…and more.
Chapter Four • CHEMICALS IN THE KITCHEN
What do home water filters do? • What’s the difference between baking powder and baking soda? • Is aluminum dangerous? • What is baking ammonia? • Sour salt? • Cream of tartar? • Artificial vanilla? • MSG? • Why is there “no calcium” in cream cheese? • Why does lasagne dissolve metal? • How is vinegar made? • Are green potatoes poisonous? • How is lye used in our foods?…and more.
Is a rare steak bloody? • What makes ground beef brown? • Is prime rib prime beef? • Why is the meat near the bone “sweetest?” • What do bones contribute to a stock? • What’s the best way to skim fat from a stock? • How do they make all those different hams? • How does brining work? • How long is “overnight”? • What makes gravy lumpy and greasy? • Why does fish cook so quickly? • Why does fish smell fishy? • What is surimi? • Are oysters on the half-shell alive? • Should lobsters be boiled or steamed?…and more.
What is a calorie? • How is cooking different at high altitudes? • Why does water boil? • Why does it take so long to reduce a stock? • What do the Btu ratings of ranges mean? • Does the alcohol boil off when you cook with wine? • Can you really fry an egg on the sidewalk? • Is charcoal or gas better for grilling? • What’s the best way to defrost foods? • Why do bakers roll out their dough on marble? • Can hot water freeze faster than cold water? • Can eggs be frozen? • What is freezer burn? • Why does blowing on hot food cool it?…and more.
Chapter Seven • LIQUID REFRESHMENT
Is coffee acid? • Does espresso contain more caffeine than American coffee? • How is coffee decaffeinated? • What’s the difference between a tea and a tisane? • What makes soft drinks so acidic? • Does belching contribute to global warming? • Can soda go flat in an unopened bottle? • How can you open a bottle of Champagne with aplomb? • Why do some wines have plastic “corks”? • What do you do with the wine cork when the waiter gives it to you? • How much alcohol is there in various beverages?…and more.
Chapter Eight • THOSE MYSTERIOUS MICROWAVES
How do microwaves make heat? • Why does microwaved food have to stand for a while? • Why do microwave ovens cook so much faster than conventional ovens? • Why mustn’t one put metal in a microwave oven? • Can the microwaves leak out of the box and cook the cook? • What makes a container “microwave safe”? • Why do some “microwave safe” containers still get hot in the oven? • Is it dangerous to heat water in a microwave oven? • Do microwaves change the molecular structure of food? • Do microwaves destroy the nutrients in food? • Why does microwave-cooked food cool off faster than food cooked in a conventional oven?…and more.
Chapter NINE • TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGY
Why doesn’t anything stick to nonstick cookware? • What’s the “best” kind of frying pan? • Does a magnetic rack affect the sharpness of your knives? • What’s the difference between a pastry brush and a basting brush? • How can you get the most juice out of a lemon or lime? • What’s wrong with washing mushrooms? • Does tarnish affect the properties of a copper frying pan? • What’s the easiest way to clean silverware? • Why are there separate measuring cups for liquids and solids? • How do “instant-read” thermometers work? • How do pressure cookers work? • How do induction-heated ranges and light ovens work? • Why do crackers have those little holes in them? • What are the pros and cons of food irradiation? • What are all those special compartments in your refrigerator?…and more.
A
long with the recent explosion of interest in food and cooking has come a growing desire to understand the chemical and physical principles that determine the properties and behavior of our foods.
This book explains the science behind both the foods themselves and the tools we use to prepare them. Its organization and index have been devised to make it easy to find a particular fact or explanation.
Home cooks and professional chefs not only cook but they must first buy ingredients. Today’s technology produces such a baffling variety of food products that many cooking problems begin in the market. I have therefore included discussions of both natural and prepared foods, where they come from, what they are made of, and what the practical consequences may be for the cook and consumer.
Having taught at universities for more years than I care to count, and having spent ten of those years as the founding director of a Faculty Development Office helping faculty members to improve their teaching, I recognize two possible approaches to explaining kitchen science. I’ll call them the college method and the experience method.
In the college method, I would write what amounts to a textbook on kitchen science and then bid my “students” to go out into the world and apply their acquired knowledge to solve practical problems that arise in the future. That approach presumes that all the “course content” will have been mastered and recalled whenever needed. But both my experience as a teacher and undoubtedly yours as a former student testify to the futility of that approach. (Quick: Who fought in the Battle of Hastings?)
In short, the college method attempts to supply answers before the questions arise, whereas in real life, questions crop up without warning and must be dealt with on the spot.
But what if you didn’t have to plow through a lot of science, yet every time you were mystified by something you could ask a scientist to explain that specific problem, no more and no less? While you can’t have a scientist (much less an Einstein) always at your elbow, the next best thing might be to have at your disposal a compilation of answers to questions that you yourself might be likely to come up with, along with plain, no-nonsense explanations of what’s happening. That’s the experience method. In this book, I have selected well over a hundred questions that have been asked of me by real-life cooks, readers of my Food 101 column in
The Washington Post
and other newspapers.
In addition to explanations of the underlying science, you will find a number of unusual and imaginative recipes developed by my wife, Marlene Parrish, a food professional. The recipes were specifically designed to illustrate the principles being explained. They may be thought of as a lab course that you can eat.
Each question-and-answer unit is designed to stand by itself. Whether prompted by the table of contents, the index, or a question that pops into your head, you can open the book and read the relevant unit without having had to master a series of earlier concepts.
To ensure that each unit is conceptually complete, and because many topics are interconnected, I have often had to repeat very briefly a concept that is explained more completely in another unit. But a bit of repetition now and then only enhances understanding.
While I have been careful never to use a technical word without defining it the first time it is used, you will find a brief glossary at the back of the book to refresh your memory when necessary.
There is of course no limit to the things that people may wonder about, and any book such as this can explain only a small fraction of what’s going on in our kitchens and markets. I therefore invite your questions, along with your name and town, sent via e-mail to [email protected]. While I cannot reply individually, a Question of the Week will be answered on my web site, www.professorscience.com.
May you derive as much pleasure from understanding your food as from eating it.
