Josh Smith
CHEM 1010
Terry F. Roylance
Term PaperChemical Reactions in the Cooking Process
Chemical reactions are not simply a bunch of liquid chemicals in beakers with
Bunsen burners in a secret, underground laboratory. Chemical reactions are honestly
seen every day in everyday things; from cooking some eggs for breakfast, baking a cake
for dessert to reheating leftover Chinese for a midnight snack. Having studied the
culinary art for many years, I have had the opportunity to work with many chemical
reactions in the kitchen. The art of cooking is a plethora of chemical reactions. I will
discuss why this is so. I will begin by explaining what a chemical reaction is then give
examples of where and how one can find chemical reactions with cooking.
It is important; nay it is vital to understand a few culinary basics in order to
prepare something tasty.
In order to properly prepare a specific dish, one must
understand the cooking methods involved in the dish’s preparation. The various methods
of cooking deal with different chemical reactions.
Each different cooking method has a different reaction used to cook the desired
product. The reactions, generally, deal with three parts. These three parts are:
1. Heating element
2. Heat transfer medium or reagent
3. The food itself
One must determine what finished product is desired in order to find which method of
cooking is best. Each method has a different source and amount of each of the three
parts.
The heat in cooking is produced by conduction (movement of heat from one item
or another through direct contact), convection (transfer of heat through a fluid, which
may be liquid or gas), and radiation (waves of heat or light striking the food). From the
effects of heat, proteins coagulate and starches gelatinize; sugars caramelize, water
evaporates, and fats melt.
Examples of each component are as follows: 1) Heating element- this most often
includes fire or electricity. 2) Reagent- this can be oil, air, a pan, etc. 3) Food- this is
obvious- meat, vegetables, fruits, etc. Now that this is, to some extent, understood, one
can, to a degree, depending on learning abilities, comprehend a few various cooking
methods.
There are two different types of cooking methods. The first method type is dryheat cooking methods.
Grilling is a dry-heat method. It is heat produced naturally with flames,
electrically or through a flammable gas below. The reagent in this case is air. The
best example of grilling is found with meats, specifically steaks, burgers and
poultry.
Broiling is very similar to grilling, but the radiant heat source comes from
above, rather than below. Examples are with items toasted.
Roasting and baking are the same things.
This is the process of
surrounding a food with dry, heated air in a closed environment. Air is the heat
medium. Examples are baked potatoes, pastries, cakes, and roasted meats (primerib, pork loin roasts, etc.)
Sautéing is the use of small fat with high amounts of heat. This process
takes advantage of conduction from flame or electrically burners to a pan which
heats the fat, the reactant. This is often used with vegetables and poultry.
Pan-frying is about the same thing as sautéing but with higher amounts of
fat and lower amounts of heat.
Deep-frying uses conduction and convection to transfer heat to food
submerged in hot fat. Things deep-fried are as common as fries, chicken nuggets,
and potato chips.
[This, as well as pan-frying and sautéing are all dry-heat methods
because the liquid fat contains no water.]
The second type of cooking method is moist-heat. Moist-heat methods all
use the practice of convectional heat transferring heat from water to cook, either
by submerging it directly into a hot liquid or exposing it to steam. The liquid can
be a variety of things to give the food a specific taste, such as simply water, stock,
broth, juices of sorts, etc.
Poaching mostly uses water or stock as the heat medium.
The
medium is hot, but not boiling to protect the delicate food from being
destroyed. The product, usually eggs, fruit or fish are poached for times
that are not lengthy to tenderize the product.
Simmering is exactly that, using simmering liquid, water or stock, to
slowly cook less tender items. If water by itself is the only medium being
used, many choice flavors and nutrients will seep out of the product and
into the water. For this reason, simmering with water is ideal for making
stocks and broths.
Boiling is similar to simmering, except the water is much hotter, to
the point of a using rapid bubbling liquid to cook foods. Boiling is the best
for cooking pastas. Boiling is ok for cooking vegetables, but definitely not
ideal for the chance of leaving them in too long and boiling them to death
leaving them with no color and no nutritional value. When boiling, make
sure the water is boiling before adding the product or all the nutrients will,
also, be gone by the time it even starts to boil, depending on the product.
Steaming uses steam to cook the food. One encloses the product in
an area filled with steam in order to get the desired effect. Steaming, or
even a type of poaching is best for vegetables. Steaming, unlike boiling,
cooks the vegetables, like broccoli or asparagus, to the point of being done,
but also having a beautiful, bright fluorescent color about them.
There are two cooking method that uses both moist- and dry-cooking
methods. These are called braising and stewing, both of which are the same
process. One sautés the product, usually meat, only to give some color on the
item(s).
Then stock is usually added to finish the cooking process with a long,
slow simmering process.
In conclusion, after reviewing a basic chemical reaction and the various
cooking processes, it is clear to see that cooking is simply a wide network of
chemistry. This fact is not to be taken lightly or misunderstood. To perfect these
processes requires a great deal of skill and talent. Those who work their lives to
perfect these chemical reactions, my hat is off to you.
Works Cited:
R., Sarah, Alan M., and Steven Labensky. On cooking: a textbook of culinary
fundamentals. 4. Prentice Hall, 2007. Print.
Gisslen, Wayne. Professional cooking. 6. Wiley, 2006. Print.
Berkoff, Nancy. Nutrition for the Culinary Arts. Prentice Hall, 2004. Print.
Zimmerman, Burr. "Heat Transfer and Cooking."Cooking for Engineers (2007): n.
pag. Web. 13 Jun 2011. <http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article/224/HeatTransfer-and-Cooking>.
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., Web.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page>.