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It’s Memorial Day weekend and just about everyone will be out grilling some burgers. But have you ever thought about the science behind the food you’re eating (too much of)? Scientific American and NBC Learn have teamed up to bring you answers to the burning questions behind your holiday grillathon.
As you sear the meat and toast the buns, have you ever wondered why grilling beats boiling? Or why ketchup and mustard tend to separate, but mayonnaise does not? Or why a pickle lasts so long? The videos include a series on the hamburger and its symbiotic accompaniments—all part of the celebration of the International Year of Chemistry 2011.
Click through to watch!
Link | Image: Berkeley.edu
Leave it to science to reveal all of life’s greatest mysteries. Here’s the secret to baking the perfect cookie, by food scientist Shirley Corriher: it’s all about the gluten!
Among the cookie problems bakers face is that the cookies can emerge from the oven soft and intact, but when the cookies travel, they may turn into a box of crumbs.
To beat this problem, Corriher suggests adding a tablespoon of water to a cup of flour that’s going to be used in the cookies. The two proteins in flour — glutenin and gliadin — grip water, Corriher tells NPR’s Melissa Block, and make "springy stretchy, strong elastic sheets of gluten." The gluten will hold the cookies together, she says.
