Week 1 - Background knowledge: History of Kitchen science and the basic chemistry of our products 

During the first tutorial, we will get to know each other in the group and map the backgrounds of the participants. After we introduce ourselves, we break up in groups to discuss what we understand when we say the “science of cooking”.

In this course, we will have to become familiar with some principles of chemistry and physics important in cooking. Peter Barham provides a nice introduction into these principles in the second chapter of his book “the science of cooking”. Talk about what you expect to read in this chapter, and what you already know about this. Then find common themes you would like to know more about, which will be discussed in the next session.

To make a start with achieving our second aim let us talk about the history of bringing science into the kitchen. Our hero here is Brillat-Savarin, a political scientist who wrote the seminal work “treatise on the physiology of taste”. Reading this should also make people who are not particularly apt in the-natural sciences comfortable with thinking about science in relation to cooking and taste.

Reading

Peter Barham Chapter 1 and 2 available at:
http://books.google.nl/books?id=oGq4v4e7rG8C&dq=Barham+science+of+cooking&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=nl&ei=1iJkS7rRGo7b4gb01LznBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Brillat Savarin:

Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Anthelme_Brillat-Savarin
Please read more about Brillat-Savarin and add to the Wikipedia entry.

Original text of ‘treatise on the physiology of taste”. http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/5434

(still have to find the right passages)

On taste: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taste

Week 2 - Standard Concepts in the Science of cooking

There are a number of concepts that seem to come back in most writings on molecular gastronomy, the science of cooking, and the like. To be able to navigate through these readings and add to the body of literature on the subject, we will first explore 1) what these concepts are, and 2) how the science behind it works.

The main question we want to answer in this week is the one that runs though Hervé This 1993 book “Kitchen Mysteries: ‘how do various culinary operations transform foodstuffs?’ and what has been written about it. According to Hervé This, there are in principle three reasons why people cook their food. Cooking must 1) kill microorganisms, 2) make hard to digest foods assimilable and 3) make food taste good.(1993) All these different functions have different cooking practices at their basis.

So what we want to find is

1. What culinary operations can we use to kill microorganisms, and how do these different ways work biochemically?
2. What culinary operations do we perform to transform previously indigestible products, or to alter their texture for sensory purposes, and how does this work chemically or physically ?
3. What can we say about the chemistry behind different culinary operations in making food taste good?

These are a lot of questions to answer. The idea for the assignment is that we brainstorm on the discussion board on the important processes in cooking,  using these three questions as a guidline for our thinking. Then we go out individually to find good readings that explain the science in those processes, and construct a week preliminary 2 literature list. As we do not want too much reading material in 1 week, we will vote at the end of the week on which reading are vital for an understanding of the science behind cooking and which are not.  

Readings

To be added after the week.

Flavour: http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/features/capsaicin.shtml

Week 3 - MIT Kitchen Chemistry: Bread

After reading up on our history, scientific principles, and core concepts, we will discuss the outcomes of our individual studies. We can either split the group into a couple of breakout groups which report back, or we can talk in the complete group. We will see what is technologically feasible and what would method would help us get the best results.

Starting MIT Kitchen Chemistry

For next week, we will start doing experiments ourselves. These are effectively 2 experiments: baking bread and a salt tasting. For baking bread see the recipe in the below. For the salt tasting it is important that you first read the research article. Then, mimic the experiment with 3 salts you choose, but rather than using potatoes as a carrier, use unsalted butter on pieces of toast from the same bread. Make sure you invite some people over, to get a decent n. Is there a significant difference between salts?

Recipe: Challah (Braided Bread) (PDF)

Research Articles on Bread:

A Kansas State researcher has identified what makes gluten: Tilley, K. A., R. E. Benjamin, K. E. Bagorogoza, B. M. Okot-Kotber, O. Prakash, and H. Kwen. "Tyrosine Cross-Links: Molecular Basis of Gluten Structure and Function." J Agric Food Chem 49 (2001): 2627-32.
A good review article on gluten: Shewry, P. R., A. S. Thatham, F. Barro, P. Barcelo, and P. Lazzeri. "Biotechnology of Breadmaking: Unraveling and Manipulating the Multi-Protein Gluten Complex." Biotechnology 13 (1995): 1185-90. Available at:
http://web.mit.edu/annakot/OldFiles/MacData/afs.course/other/kitchen-che...

Research Article on Salt:

Condrasky, M. D. "Preference for Salts in Cooking as Perceived by Sensory Panelists." J of Foodservice 17 (2006): 166-72.
Additional Readings

Assignments

http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/Special-Programs/SP-287Spring-2009/Assig...

Week 4 - MIT Kitchen Chemistry: Guacamole, salsa, and quesadillas

This week, we discuss the results from our experiments last week.

In the second half of our meeting, we pre-discuss our experiments for this week, where we are going to make guacamole and our own salsa.
Recipes: Guacamole (PDF), Salsa (PDF)

Research Articles: The first two were picked as examples of current research on avocados and peppers. For your perspective, the introductions and the discussions are the most interesting part of the papers, so focus on those two sections. The third paper describes how a mouse without the capsicum receptor was made. And the fourth is the original paper that describes the Scoville test.

Ashton, O. B. O., M. Wong, T. K. McGhie, R. Vather, Y. Wang, C. Requejo-Jackman, P. Ramankutt, and A. B. Woolf. "Pigments in Avocado Tissue and Oil." J Agric Food Chem 54 (2006): 10151-8.
Garcés-Claver, A., M. S. Arnedo-Andrés, J. Abadía, R. Gil-Ortega, and A. Alvarez-Fernández. "Determination of Capsaicin and Dihydrocapsaicin in Capsicum Fruits by Liquid Chromatography-Electrospray/Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry." J Agric Food Chem 54 (2006): 9303-11.
Caterina, M. J., et al. "Impaired Nociception and Pain Sensation in Mice Lacking the Capsaicin Receptor." Science 288 (2000): 306-13.
Scoville, W. L. "A Note on Capsicums." J Am Pharmacists Assoc 1 (1912): 453-4. (find substitute)
Additional Readings

Assignments

http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/Special-Programs/SP-287Spring-2009/Assignments/MITSP_287s09_assn01_Week01_HW.pdf

Week 4 - Research project

The research project runs parallel with the rest of week 4 and 5.

There are a number of ways in which we can take up the science of cooking. One example is presented in a lecture by Malcolm Gladwell, who introduces us to the science of factory pasta sauces.
http://www.ted.com/talks/malcolm_gladwell_on_spaghetti_sauce.html

This lecture provides for a good example of what kind of research one can do without a chemistry of physics background. In this week, you are asked to write an outline for your research project: how can your disciplinary background, or any other field you are interested in, contribute to the ‘science of gastronomy’? Ideally, we would write something that either cooks, large-scale food manufacturers, academic journals, or cooking blogs would find interesting.

Steps in setting up a paper

Psychologists from Leiden Universiteit (2008) distinguish seven phases in the paper writing process.
1. Orientation. Determine what exactly the assignment is, what are the objectives and the conditions. Choose the subject.
2. Information. Gather information about the subject. Describe the subject more pre-cisely.
3. Setting up research questions. Formulate the Main Question and related sub-questions. Set up a provisionary annotated table of contents, make a workplan.
4. Research. Study literature and other available sources. Carry out surveys, inter-views, modeling, experiments, etc. Analyze the results.
5. Writing. Write a first draft.
Institute 2 for Environmental Studies
6. Rewriting. Rewrite, reorganize the first draft into a final draft version.
7. Finalization. Write the conclusions, the foreword; final edit, layout.
If you encounter any problems in this process, your peers will probably be happy to help.
The size of the paper should be somewhere around 3000 words. It is due in week 6, or if the schedule is too tight we could schedule a meeting in week 7. Week 6 will not have any other assignments or classes, so you will have time to work on your research paper then.

Week 5 - MIT Kitchen Chemistry: Chocolate, Scones and Coffee

Recipe: Scottish Raisin Scones (PDF)

Research Articles:

Looking at the flavor profile of coffee beans, two papers – one that looks at identifying over 65 volatile compounds, and another which develops model to test for the presence of these volatile compounds. The third paper looks at the identification of the compound which causes coffee to become stale.
Mondello, L., et al. "Reliable Characterization of Coffee Bean Aroma Profiles by Automated Headspace Solid Phase Microextraction-gas Chromatography-mass Spectrometry with the Support of a Dual-filter Mass Spectra Library." J Sep Sci 28 (2005): 1101-9.
Müller, C., R. Land, and T. Hofmann. "Quantitative Precursor Studies on Di- and Trihydroxybenzene Formation During Coffee Roasting Using 'In Bean' Model Experiments and Stable Isotope Dilution Analysis." J Agric Food Chem 54 (2006): 10086-91  .
Müller, C., S. Hemmersbach, G. van't Slot, and T. Hofmann. "Synthesis and Structure Determination of Covalent Conjugates Formed from the Sulfury-Roasty-Smelling 2-Furfurylthiol and Di- or Trihydroxybenzenes and Their Identification in Coffee Brew." J Agric Food Chem 54 (2006): 10076-85.

Additional Readings

Asssignment

http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/Special-Programs/SP-287Spring-2009/Assig...

Recipe: "Death by Chocolate" Cookies (PDF)

Research Articles:
- Matsui, N., et al. "Ingested Cocoa can Prevent High-fat Diet-induced Obesity by Regulating the Expression of Genes for Fatty Acid Metabolism." Nutrition 21 (2005): 594-601.
- Rezzi, S., et al. "Human Metabolic Phenotypes Link Directly to Specific Dietary Preferences in Healthy Individuals." J Proteome Res 6 (2007): 4469-77.
Additional Readings

Assignment

http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/Special-Programs/SP-287Spring-2009/Assig...

Week 6

Presentation  of the research projects.

On the side - Alcohol

This week is optional as people will have to spend their time on their research projects. However, a kitchen science course would not be complete without going into the beverages that are used in dishes or accompany these dishes: notably wine and liquor.

What chemical processes, or chemicals, make a wine good or bad? Research online and post articles that can teach us something. If you are not getting anywhere, try “phenolic substances”. If you are able to get your hands on any of these phenols, do an experiment where you try to improve your low-quality wines. Report back to the group.

And what about the aging of good whiskey? Are there any ways we can improve the whiskey while skipping the ageing process?
Compounds like vanilla are present in aged alcohols in contact with wood. What happens if you add a few drops of vanilla to a young whiskey? What is the ideal whiskey to essence ratio?

Recipe: Mackarel in Vodka

For 8 people
Ingredients:
1 Mackarel filet
1 dl Wodka
16 parts of tomato preserves
1 tblsp soy sauce
pepper

Preparation

1. Dice the mackerel
2. Drown the mackerel in the Wodka and put in the refrigerator for 1 hour
3.  Wash the tomato preserves
4. Put 2 parts of tomato preserves on 2 dice of mackerel. Garnish with with gardencress

Alcohol is used as a disinfectant so we know it kills microorganisms, but can it also perform any of the other functions of cooking?