Kitchen Chemistry (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

From the Introduction by Heston Blumenthal, Chef and proprietor of The Fat Duck ...

"One of the most exciting things that has happened at my restaurant, The Fat Duck, recently is the Royal Society of Chemistry producing this resource for schools - Kitchen chemistry. It is based on taking a scientific approach to cooking - an activity that has traditionally been regarded as an art, rather than a science. Topics range from the simple (what is the role of salt in cooking vegetables?) to the complex (separating volatile flavour components in foods by gas chromatography mass spectrometry), to the 'just for fun' (breaking the world record for ice cream making by using liquid nitrogen as a coolant). What the RSC has done is to provide flexible material that teachers can 'dip into' that relates the chemistry that goes on in the home or restaurant kitchen to that which students learn about in the school curriculum.

Kitchen chemistry makes chemistry more accessible because it brings together scientific theory and everyday practicality. After all, we all know something about cooking even though we may not do it very often, and children are no different. When I left school I had no scientific background whatsoever. I have taught myself slowly and with much difficulty, so this new initiative is music to my ears. I just wish it had happened a few years earlier."

Heston Blumenthal, Chef and proprietor of The Fat Duck, from the introduction to Kitchen Chemistry

From the reviews ...

"Snail porridge and bacon and egg ice cream might not sound like the makings of a normal chemistry class, but the creator of such dishes, Heston Blumenthal, is planning to use his unique brand of molecular gastronomy to get children interested in chemistry.

Mr Blumenthal, whose Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, Berkshire, was named the best in the world last week, has put together a series of lesson plans and resources for teachers who want to add some spice to their chemistry lessons.

The lessons look at how you find common chemistry experiments, of levels suitable for seven to 18-year-olds, in the kitchen.

The experiments including examining the difference between between taste and smell, between sweet and sour flavours and how the cooking processes affect the molecules in food.

A book is accompanied by a CD Rom and website containing video clips of Mr Blumenthal cooking, talking about how he came up with the idea of molecular gastronomy and chatting to scientists about whether salt in boiling water changes the cooking process of vegetables.

Ted Lister, who wrote the materials on behalf of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), which produced the materials, said: "The key is familiar chemistry in a non-laboratory context.

"In one session he cooks chocolat coulant - which translates to running chocolate, a dessert. It's a pudding with a chocolate and cream cheese filling. You'd think they don't go together, but his knack is to find unlikely things that do go together like garlic and coffee. Underlying this is the theory or molecular gastronomy - examining flavour on a molecular level.

"Heston looks at the flavour component of a number of foods. If they have a significant number of molecules in common, they work better together. This is where he gets his odd combinations together. He doesn't work on a try it and see basis, it's molecular theory."

Polly Curtis, The Guardian, UK, April 2005

 

From the reviews ... Heston Blumenthal's restaurant, The Fat Duck, was named best retaurant in the world by Restaurant magazine:

"For years Britain has been cast as the poor relation when it comes to food, but last night Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant the Fat Duck, in Bray, Berkshire was crowned the best in the world.

A panel of 600 international chefs and critics voted for the man whose dishes sound like a mistake — smoked bacon and egg ice cream or green tea and lime mousse dipped in liquid nitrogen."

The Times, UK, April 2005

"There is no doubt Heston Blumenthal is the most original and remarkable chef this country has ever produced. The Fat Duck, the pioneering British restaurant that introduced the world to delicacies such as sardine on toast sorbet and bacon and egg ice cream, has been declared the world’s best place to eat.

Chef Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant in the Berkshire village of Bray topped a list of the world’s 50 best restaurants which was unveiled in London last night."

The Guardian, UK, April 2005

Product Description

All food is, of course, made of chemicals, and cooking can be thought of as a series of chemical reactions in which changes occur to some of these chemicals. The aims of cooking are several:

• to kill microorganisms and denature enzymes that might bring about undesirable changes in food
• to maintain or enhance the nutritional value of the food
• to improve the texture of the food
• to improve the appearance of the food
• to improve the flavour of the food
• to improve the aroma of the food.

The material presented here looks at various aspects of the chemistry of food and the cooking process. It consists of activities of a variety of types — class practical, demonstration experiments, reading comprehension and paper-based activities — at a variety of levels. The index table will allow users to select an activity of an appropriate topic, type and level. Each activity deals with an aspect of the chemistry of food and/or cooking. Although the chemistry of food and cooking is not directly part of most curricula, it can often be used to show familiar chemistry in a context that may be stimulating for many students. The material also allows teachers to reinforce the idea that everything is made of chemicals and that there is no difference between ‘man-made’ and ‘natural’ chemicals. In particular there are a number of activities on which experimental investigations can be based. Some of the paper-based or comprehension activities could be used as revision lessons or in the case of teacher absence.

The material is presented as teacher’s notes and student worksheets. The worksheets are available on the CDROM accompanying this book or may be downloaded free from the website for this book as colour or black and white pdf files, or as Microsoft® Office Word documents (which can be edited by the teacher if required). Also included on the CDROM and website are video clips related to some of the material. These may be played to start off a lesson or stimulate discussion. However, all the lessons can be tackled without the use of the video clips for those who prefer not to use them. In every case, material is given that the teacher can use to start the lesson by discussion.

The video clips are taken from the Discovery Channel TV series, Kitchen Chemistry, featuring Heston Blumenthal. Heston is a chef and proprietor of The Fat Duck, a Michelin three-star restaurant in Bray, Berkshire, UK. He is noted for his scientific approach to food and cooking and for the fact that he will not take for granted the accepted wisdom without scientifically investigating it for himself. He also makes use of scientific equipment in the kitchens of the Fat Duck — temperature probes, desiccators and reflux apparatus, for example.

Product Details

• Paperback: 125 pages
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry; 1 edition (October 3, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0854043896
• ISBN-13: 978-0854043897
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 8.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #72,903 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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