Cooking Stack Exchange
Cooking Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [chemistry]

Questions about the chemical composition or properties of ingredients and dishes.

186 questions
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Why don't other grain proteins behave like gluten?

There are many excellent explanations here (and elsewhere) of what gluten "does." What I haven't seen anywhere is an explanation of what makes gluten so special. Where do its marvelous elastic properties come from and why don't any other grain…
shadowtalker
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The name or chemical compound responsible for a specific quality of some spices (numbness)

I'm putting together the results of a kitchen experiment and I'd like to be able to identify a phenomenon that I've noticed when using certain spices. I've felt it in some of what are often called "warm" spices, cinnamon, clove and nutmeg come to…
Jolenealaska
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By what reactions do moisture and light steal away my coffee's freshness?

Typically, the standard advice for prolonging your coffee is to store it in an air-tight, light-tight, dry container. At a chemical level, what happens when coffee is left in humid or sunny conditions that causes it to lose…
mfg
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Is "mintiness" a well-defined thing?

I perceive a similarity in taste and odour between spearmint and peppermint, and I describe both as minty. The smell, taste and cooling sensation of peppermint are reproduced almost perfectly by pure menthol. But spearmint, despite being very…
tea-and-cake
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Why does beating egg whites with cold water increase the volume of incorporated air

From Wikipedia, beating an egg white after adding a small amount of cold water considerably increases the amount of foam produced. Why? What is changed by adding cold water?
user256872
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How to extract mouth numbing effect from Sichuan peppercorn into a syrup?

I tried following the recipe here to try to create a Sichuan peppercorn simple syrup. The recipe is basically to add slightly crushed peppercorn to sugar and water, allow to simmer, take off the heat, and repeat. The end result was tasty, but it did…
qfwfq
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How can I substitute dutch chocolate cocoa for flour and maintain proper recipe PH in this cookie recipe?

I have an old family recipe for Chocolate chip cookies 2 ¼ cups flour 1 cup white sugar ½ cup brown sugar 1 tsp salt 1 tsp baking soda 2 eggs 1 cup shortening 1 tsp vanilla Chocolate Chips as desired. Add dry ingredients then wet ingredients to a…
Sidney
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How are powdered emulsifiers (such as monoglycerides) prepared for use in cooking and baking?

Recently I picked up a few different types of emulsifiers in bulk powder form when I saw them in passing at a catering wholesaler. Having never used powdered emulsifiers before in cooking or baking, I figured I'd find pretty comprehensive…
WackGet
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How acidic does a mixture have to be for milk to curdle?

I am planning on making sausages with both cream and vinegar as ingredients. I suspect the mixture of all the ingredients with the vinegar won't be acidic enough to cause the cream to curdle, but this has raised a question: how acidic does a mixture…
Behacad
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Eggless choux pastry recipe yields paper-thin top, gooey bottom

I'm trying to make eggless choux pastries for an egg-allergic friend (my eventual targets are croques-en-bouche and saint-honorés). I have experience with choux pastry, but I've never made an eggless version. I'm following this recipe at Gretchen's…
Chew
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How can I extract menthol powder from fresh mint/peppermint?

I have peppermint/mint growing in my garden backyard. I want to make Ice Cream for children and they are asking for some flavour paan ice cream in Hindi (mint ice cream) and for that I want Menthol powder to mix into plain ice cream. How can I make…
Deepak Jain
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Why does my LN2 evaporate so quickly?

Just made my first attempt at cooking using liquid nitrogen. Decided to start easy, and make a 0.5L batch of ice cream, along with some powdered peanut-butter and banana for toppings. Overall I'd rate the entire experiment a success, but noticed…
aroth
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Why my meatballs sweated all of their fat?

I have made simple meatballs with red onions, some eggs, drizzle of olive oil and chopped scallions. Put them into the oven at 220c (440f) and this is what came out: They sweated all of their fat and juices. What was left was very dry meat with…
Bar Akiva
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Adding cold water during cooking of beans and cooking time

After soaking dry beans, I place beans on heat, so they boil for couple of hours, and they cook pretty well. But if I add just one cup of cold water (at room temperature) during boiling, temperature of the mixture would drops for some minutes. But…
2i3r
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Why would parsnips make a beef stock not freeze?

I made a beef stock the way I always do, except that I added parnsips. Then I put the stock in the freezer and when I took it out, the stock was not frozen. It was freezing cold, but instead of having the consistency of ice as I would have expected,…
Joshua Frank
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