The Art and Science of Food

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The Fourth of July commemorates the day in 1776 when the colonists decided to declare themselves independent of Britain. Today, we celebrate it by chilling in the sun with hotdogs, burgers, ice-cold lemonade, and red, white and blue desserts. By why not spice it up this year?

Instead of hosting a traditional barbeque celebration, organize a molecular gastronomy cookoff!

It’s not as fancy as it sounds. The phrase simply means applying scientific techniques to cooking. If you’ve ever made popcorn, you already know something about it.

Take it from Alton Brown, author of multiple cookbooks and host of the popular Food Network show Good Eats. His recipes often come with a dash of chemistry or physics that is understandable to average Joes. For inspiration, check out I’m Just Here for the Food, Brown’s book series that explores the science behind sweets, or his DVD Let Them Eat Foam, which suggests other edible experiments.

In a show on his favorite popcorn recipe, for example, Brown explains the effect that intense heat has on corn kernels. Even simple steps, such as why to keep shaking the pot, are explained (to distribute heat equally and ensure unpopped kernels don’t burn).

Get Creative

If you’re looking for something different, one molecular gastronomist has some ideas. No one gets creative in the kitchen like chef Homaro Cantu, of Moto restaurant in Chicago, who became world famous for such inventions as edible, sushi-flavored menus. He also knows some cool cooking tricks you can try at home, like making Rice Krispie treats without the cereal. All you need is vegetable oil, rice and a stove.

“What makes this interesting is inside the rice grains, there’s a small amount of moisture present,” Cantu says. Just like popcorn, when that moisture turns to steam, it expands and the grains explode.

Materials

• 2 tbsp rice
• 3 cups of oil

Directions

1. To begin, heat about three cups of oil to 425 degrees.
2. Then add two tablespoons of dehydrated rice. Within minutes, they’ll start making popping noises as they burst into puffed rice.
3. Using a strainer, remove the puffed rice and place them on a paper towel until they cool, and then start over.

Caution: cooking can be risky. “You’ve got to be careful of handling hot oil, and let the rice cool and drain before you eat it,” Cantu says.

This experiment can go in a few different directions. Combine marshmallows with the puffed rice for homemade Rice Krispie treats. Or, add salt and seasoning for a party snack. Experiment with different flavors for a melting pot theme: Parmesan for Mediterranean, paprika for South American.

Cantu likes chocolate rice pudding, made by pouring warm chocolate milk over the rice.

“Dancing Spaghetti”
To really get your geek on, check out North Carolina State University’s Web site that offers food experiments using use chemicals found at grocery and hardware stores. One explains how to make “dancing spaghetti” by placing raw pieces of spaghetti in a solution of baking soda and vinegar.

As carbon dioxide gas adheres to the spaghetti, you can watch it rise to the surface, then sink back down as the gas is released.

Another explains the speed of light through melted spots on marshmallows after they’ve been zapped in a microwave.

Ice-Cream in a Bag
The dead of summer is the perfect time to cool off with “ice cream in a bag,” an experiment recommended by food scientist Suraya Gabel.

Materials

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla or vanilla flavoring
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup sodium chloride (NaCl) as table salt or rock salt
• 2 cups ice
• 1-quart Ziploc bag
• 1-gallon Ziploc bag
• thermometer
• measuring cups and spoons
• cups and spoons for eating your treat

Directions

1. Add the sugar, milk, whipping cream and vanilla to the quart Ziploc bag. Seal the bag securely.
2. Put the ice into the gallon Ziploc bag.
3. Use a thermometer to measure and record the temperature of the ice in the gallon bag.
4. Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of salt to the bag of ice. Then place the sealed quart bag inside the gallon bag of ice and salt. Seal the gallon bag securely.
5. Gently rock the gallon bag from side to side. It's best to hold it by the top seal or to have gloves or a cloth between the bag and your hands because the bag will be cold enough to damage your skin.
6. Continue to rock the bag for 10 to15 minutes or until the contents of the quart bag have solidified into ice cream.
7. Open the gallon bag and use the thermometer to measure and record the temperature of the ice and salt mixture.
8. Remove the quart bag, open it, serve the contents into cups with spoons and enjoy!

Explanation

Ice has to absorb energy in order to melt and change the phase of water from a solid to a liquid. When you use ice to cool the ingredients for ice cream, the energy is absorbed from the ingredients and from the outside environment (like your hands, if you are holding the baggie of ice).

When you add salt to the ice, it lowers the freezing point of the ice, so even more energy has to be absorbed from the environment to melt the ice. This makes the ice colder than it was before, which is how your ice cream freezes.

Ideally, you would make your ice cream using ice cream salt, which is just salt sold as large crystals instead of the small crystals you see in table salt. The larger crystals take more time to dissolve in the water around the ice, which allows for even cooling of the ice cream.

You could use other types of salt instead of sodium chloride, but you shouldn't substitute sugar for the salt because, first, sugar doesn't dissolve well in cold water and, secondly, it doesn't dissolve into multiple particles, like an ionic material such as salt.

Nothing says the Fourth of July like grilling outdoors. But experimental ice cream? Now that’s patriotic. For more food experiments, check out the Recommended Resources section below.

Recommended Resources:

I’m Just Here for the Food series
By Alton Brown

The Science Chef: 100 Fun Food Experiments and Recipes for Kids
By Joan D’Amico and Karen Eich Drummond

Science Experiments You Can Eat: Revised Edition
By Vicki Cobb

Food Science (Cool Science)
By Jeanne Miller

What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science
By Marlene Parrish