Tin Foil Soldier

blog.khymos.org

The tagline to Martin’s blog is “dedicated to molecular gastronomy” and I find it fascinating. I think I love this blog for the same reason I love Alton Brown’s Good Eats. If you know why you cook something a certain way, or what a particular ingredient does, then you can change recipes to become your own without. Cooking is part science and part art, and I think the more science you have, the more artsy you can get.

Did you know that broccoli turns bright green when you steam it because the hot water in the air is forcing the oxygen bubbles out of the plant? The oxygen blocks the full vibrancy of the chlorophyll, but if you steam it quick, you can have intensely green broccoli. If you put the broccoli in an ice bath after steaming, you lock in the green color for when you use it in a stir fry. Alton taught me that.

Did you know that if you are going to add olive oil to a pizza dough, you should add it after you knead because otherwise the oil coats the glutenin and gliadin proteins and stops the production of gluten and makes the dough less elastic? I learned that from Khymos’s Pizza with blue cheese and pineapple post.