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Monday, May 24, 2010
Smorgasbord / Priscilla Tsai / Kitchen Chemistry Kitchen Chemistry
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Mon, May 24, 2010 at 4:19 PM
MIT offers OpenCourseWare online for their undergraduate class Kitchen Chemistry. That means you can follow along on your own using the the posted syllabus, readings and assignments for free. You don't get any credits or assignment grades, but it's a great way to educate yourself.
I've just received my textbook for the class "On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen," and the first few pages are pretty intriguing. The first class covers avocados and peppers. As you go through the assignments and reading, you learn stuff like what makes a pepper hot and why avocados brown. Did you know capsaicin (what makes peppers hot), an alkaline, is actually an oil? So drinking water to quell the fire in your mouth actually won't work well. Try milk (a base), bread or rice instead.
Take the class with me by visiting MIT's site for their class Kitchen Chemistry. Assigned recipes for the week include guacamole and salsa.
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