In the cuisine મ more fun sunshine than the spice of science

- Eyesight-Hershal Pushkarna

- September 25, on the occasion of National Cooking Day, learn the science of cooking that makes the kitchen a scientific laboratory.

- Chemistry and physics are deeply intertwined in cuisine. It is this science that makes the raw material a dish, the kitchen a laboratory and the housewife working in it a scientist even without a degree.

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This article or section needs sources or references that appear in credible, third-party publications. September 25th is celebrated as National Cooking Day. Who knows who decided this kind of day, when and especially why, as cooking, eating and feeding is a perennial festival of India. Therefore, a special day like National Cooking Day has no special significance in our country. However, it is worth mentioning here for the sake of National Cooking Day to illustrate the point of this article. After this brief note, let us come to the main point.

If life gives you C6H8O7 then make H2O + C12H22O11 + C6H8O7 out of it!

Got it? If you don't have enough knowledge of chemistry, you may get bumped, but with the three chemical formulas, our relationship (close relationship of housewives) is morning and evening. In this way: Sour fruit like lemon contains C6H8O7 i.e. citric acid and C12H22O11 means nothing but sugars. The cooking of Gujaratis is incomplete without these two sour-sweet elements, while cooking is not possible without water / H2O.

Now if you read the above Hindi sentence again, you will understand the meaning of what the poet is trying to say. Bypass the problem with a smile and move on.

The combination of science in every field does not look good, but the problem is that there is no field without science. Chemistry is mixed in common things like lemonade, while in philosophy the intellectual capacity to liken lemonade is due to the chemical as well as biological processes that take place in the brain. The body needs chemicals such as sodium and potassium in order for this process to alert the brain. From the time we open our eyes in the morning to the time we go to bed at night, we are constantly falling in love with science. Cooking is one of them. Most of the time that work is taken as a grant for grant, but to be honest, cuisine is a complex subject. Science is so deeply ingrained in it that the home kitchen should be given the honorary title of scientist and the housewife working there (albeit unknowingly) with subjects like physics as well as chemistry should be given the honorary title of scientist.

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It is like understanding why science comes step by step in the creation of average cuisine — and the example of Amritsar Pindi Chhole is enough to understand. It is a kind of chemical engineering to give the form of a fragrant, soft pindi chhole sticking to hard raw chickpeas like solid thaliya in a thick gravy. At different stages of cooking this dish, chemistry plays a big role.

Chickpeas (or kidney beans) are extremely hard crushed beans, which are rich in protein, fiber, iron, starch and cellulose. Chickpeas (or kidney beans) cannot be cooked without softening the outer shell, so they have to be soaked in warm water for eight to ten hours. During this long period of reverse osmosis, the water molecule under the action of gravity penetrates the outer layer of the chickpea, where the molecules of the starch break down and the chickpeas soften slightly and swell to normal. However, since such chickpeas are not suitable for cooking or eating, they have to be softened under pressure steam in a pressure cooker.

For this, the housewife puts the soaked chickpeas in the cooker after straining them overnight. In addition to a little water, add baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). Baking soda is an essential chemical for softening the volatile cellulose called pectin in chickpeas. The final dish, Pindi Chhole, cannot be fluffy or elastic. But there is also a disgusting side effect of sodium bicarbonate that gives chickpeas a softness effect. Slightly higher doses of this soda play into the stomach with hydrochloric acid (gastric acid) secreted into the stomach. The result? Gas ... a lot of carbon dioxide gas! Now without asking the result of that state. Remember the word 'disgusting' written above and understand a lot in a few words.

Of course, good luck with the kitchen lab scientist housewife, who inadvertently saves us from the windstorm. Here's how: To give the pindi chhole a dark reddish-brown color, cooks add distilled tea leaf water to the raw chickpeas before boiling them in a cooker. Even if the intention is to brighten the color, chemistry shows its color here again. Tea leaves have slightly acidic properties. It neutralizes excess sodium bicarbonate after mixing with chlorinated water, so it does not become a mini-factory producing our stomach gas after cholesterol. Lemon juice, vinegar and mango juice also neutralize excess baking soda.

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Now let's understand a little (really a little) physics of cooking. Boiling stubborn material like chickpeas in an open container placed on the stove is a waste of time and fuel. The pressure cooker does the same thing in a matter of minutes; but why?

At sea level, the air pressure is 12.5 pounds per square inch. At this pressure, the water starts to boil at 100 degrees Celsius and in total it starts evaporating. Boil the chickpeas in an open cauldron filled with water so that the water in the cauldron, which reaches the boiling point under constant heat, continues to evaporate. The wasted water has to be supplied by adding fresh water to the cauldron. Otherwise the chickpeas start sticking to the surface of the cauldron. The newly added water takes time to warm up and reach the boiling point. After a while it evaporates, so add another drop of water! Not only does this not end soon, but the big disadvantage is that the chickpeas do not thrive evenly.

The case of pressure cooker is different. The vapor formed in the air-tight closed cylinder does not have a special scope to escape outside like an open container. The steam that gradually accumulates inside produces an immense pressure of 30 pounds per square inch in a short time. Under this pressure, the boiling point of the water in the pressure cooker reaches 121 degrees Celsius instead of 100. It is natural that food like chickpeas, kidney beans, potatoes should be boiled quickly at such a high water temperature. Saves at least 50% of time. This is the physics of a pressure cooker with which the average housewife falls in love almost on a daily basis.

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The talk doesn't stop there. Rather, the real advancement of science in cuisine is just beginning. Once the chickpeas for pindi chhole are boiled, they have to be seasoned with oil and spices. The first step is to fry the onion-garlic. In a pan, fry both the ingredients on a low flame with oil or ghee till it takes on a sneezing color. In the terminology of science, that self-transformation is called the Maillard reaction. Is. As discovered by a French chemist in 180, when fried foods containing protein and carbohydrates are fermented, their taste buds thrive and they take less time to digest. The process of self-transformation, which begins only when the substance on the stove reaches 110 degrees Celsius and the moisture in it evaporates, is known as a malard reaction over time.

The onion-garlic fried in a pan takes on a more palatable self under the influence of the Mallard reaction. (Onions contain 4% water, 4% carbohydrates and 4% protein. Since garlic contains only 56% water, it should be fried not with onions but a little later.) Released and brings a heavy bitterness to the taste. Be good again Pakshastri-cum-scientist housewife that she does not allow such a phase to come.

Onion-garlic water, which is left over after evaporation, has a negligible sweetness of carbohydrates and protein. Tomato gravy was used to balance this sweetness. Tomatoes are slightly acidic, slightly sour in taste. The English word acid is derived from the original Latin acid. Acids = sour, acidic. Tomato gravy is not the answer in balancing the slightly bitter taste of baking soda soaked in chickpeas and the slightly sweet taste of onion-garlic. The equalizer amplifies the sound of different frequencies of musical instruments like drums, tabla, flute, dagger, violin to a certain extent. Understand that tomato gravy is a culinary equalizer. It acts as a stimulant in enhancing the taste of various spices and spices. Paneer Butter Masala and Panubhaji are some of the prominent sodas due to the tomatoes in them.

After mixing various spices in the gravy prepared with onion-garlic-tomato, it is the turn of the most important ingredient: water! The cauldron on the stove and the gravy inside it absorbs most of the heat absorbed by the water and then transfers the spices back and forth. (See, here comes physics again.) Because of this slow process the spices do not ‘burn’. On the contrary, their original flavor remains intact. Amritsar Pindi Chhole is ready by adding boiled chickpeas at the end in fragrant, juicy gravy!

Finally, let's finish the discussion with Puri's science. The temperature of the oil should be at least 180 degrees Celsius for frying puri made from lamb and wheat flour. This temperature releases the moisture in the flour, hardening the outer layer under the sugar-sugar and protein malard reaction, while the inner moisture swells like a whole ball of steam under the influence of heat. The hardened starch of the flour is softened by steaming under steam.

If the oil temperature is low, the moisture content of the flour is not eliminated immediately. Due to the lack of a Maillard reaction, some of the oil in the cauldron is poured into the pure chips. This means that the whole oil is drunk. If the oil in the cauldron is too hot, the moisture of the puri evaporates so fast that the outer hiss becomes jaggery under the Maillard orientation, while the flour is still raw inside.

Here is just one example of Pindi Chhole-Puri. The rest of the recipes are a combination of chemistry and physics. It is this science that makes the kitchen a laboratory and the housewife working in it a scientist even without a degree.