Chemical Education Today
Book & Media Reviews The Science of Cooking by Peter Barham Springer-Verlag: New York, 2001. 244 pp. ISBN 3540674667. $34.95. reviewed by Cheryl Baldwin Frech
Peter Barham is a reader of physics at Bristol University. He is well known in Britain as a popularizer of science and makes frequent radio, television, and public appearances. As a physicist interested in bringing science to the masses, he is somewhat reminiscent of the late Carl Sagan. Indeed, Barham recently was described on National Public Radio in the U.S. as a “gastrophysicist”. The Science of Cooking is organized into two distinct sections, with an introduction and ancillary material. The first section, spanning Chapters 2 through 5, is designed as an introduction to the chemical and physical changes that occur in foods as they are cooked. Barham states in his introductory chapter that he “has tried to set a level that should be sufficient to enable readers to gain some useful understanding, while not attempting to go into such detail that the important principles would be lost”. For the most part, he succeeds, with chapters on Molecular Gastronomy, Taste and Flavour, and Cooking Methods and Utensils. However, Chapter 4, Heating and Eating—Physical Gastronomy, is a treatise on the heat transfer reactions that occur in cooking. Only a physicist could appreciate the mathematics and equations derived for convection, thermal diffusivity, and even the time required to cook an egg: 2(Twater − To ) t = 0.0015d 2 (Twater − T yolk )
One technical note: several times in these chapters, the author refers to “metal ions at the surface of cooking pans”. While this might be true for copper mixing bowls and pans, for the most part these metal ions are almost certainly metal oxides. In Chapters 6 through 13, Barham elaborates on a variety of cooking types, including meat, fish, bread, sauces, cakes, pasty, soufflés, and chocolate. Each chapter contains a description of the main scientific ideas involved, supplemented with a few line drawings and tables. Key points for each cooking procedure are explained in great detail. Several tables are included that list problems that cooks may encounter in this area, as well as explanations, remedies, and solutions. Sample, illustrative recipes are included in each chapter. However, the recipes are rather bland and not very compelling. Many chapters conclude with unusual experiments that
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may be more fun to try than the recipes. In various chapters, there are suggestions to place a light bulb in your microwave oven, use a blowtorch to cook fish, roll out layers of plastic wrap, and heat plastic chip bags in the oven. The text is interspersed with informational gray boxes. Some of these provide details about a particular ingredient such as baking powder or types of yeast; others relate the author’s personal cooking anecdotes, which range from a lengthy story about lutefisk to demonstration disasters. This book has not been edited for American readers. Those who have not lived in Britain will need a British– English dictionary to translate numerous Brit-isms including: airing cupboard, spotted dick, mains, pips, hob, and plasticine. Having lived in Scotland recently, I know from experience that British self-raising flour is not the same as American self-rising flour and that a grill is what we call a broiler. Thus, without translation for these exclusively British terms, some recipes may fail spectacularly. In addition, there are numerous editing errors that are simply sloppy. A section on Weights and Measurements is included, but is not likely to help most American cooks. The first table converts grams to ounces and pounds; however, most American cooks do not utilize masses, but volumes. The volume table contains some really weird measurements—such as 1/5 cup—that are absent on most U.S. measuring cups. The helpful Glossary provides basic definitions of chemical terms that many cooks may not have encountered. The Science of Cooking is an expensive trade title that has the feel of a textbook, rather than a book about cooking or a cookbook that would appeal to a wide audience. Don’t buy this book for the recipes, which have been selected and developed by an English physicist. Who should buy The Science of Cooking? “Foodies”, chemists who are interested in food, and serious cooks will enjoy the spirit of this book. As “all of the above”, I value this book alongside several related titles. Barham’s book is less technical than the classic On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee,1 which remains my ultimate authority on culinary science. Chemist Robert Wolke’s amusing What Einstein Told His Cook2 is another book in this category, although it is not as comprehensive or thorough as the other titles. Notes 1. McGee, Harold J. On Food and Cooking; Simon and Schuster: New York, 1997. This book has been reviewed by Addison Ault: J. Chem. Educ. 2003, 80, 880. 2. Wolke, Robert L. What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained; W. W. Norton: New York, 2002.
Cheryl Baldwin Frech is in the Department of Chemistry, University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, OK 73034-5209;
[email protected].
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