Kitchen Mysteries by Hervé This

Kitchen Mysteries: Revealing the Science of Food is one of two books by Herve This that have been translated into English. This book reads very much as a continuation of Molecular Gastronomy but more general phenomena/topics like bread and sauces. Additionally, This goes into more detail explaining the science and logical thinking behind his investigations. One of the more interesting and enlightening chapters of the book was on osmosis.

Almost everyone has studied osmosis at some point in their lives (I remember studying it in junior high). Osmosis is, very generally, the process of equalizing the distribution of a substance. For example, place a drop of food coloring in hot water and it eventually will spread throughout. Osmosis is discussed in terms of salt and sugar in This’ book. In a braised dish, the salt and flavorful molecules within the meat will seep into the water, increasing the salt concentration of the water and decreasing that of the meat, equalizing the two. If we salt the dish at the outset, less salt is taken from the meat because less needs to be added to the water. So salting a dish like this depends on what you want to achieve. If you want a rich broth/sauce, salt at the end of cooking. If you want flavorful meat, salt at the beginning. If you want both, add a little salt near the end of cooking to give the flavorful juices time to evenly distribute. The same process is at play when cooking fruit. This explains that to prevent fruit from bloating/shrinking when you cook them, make the sugar concentration in the water close to that in the fruit.

Overall the book is a very good addition to Molecular Gastronomy. Both books encourage scientific thinking in the kitchen and give valuable bits of knowledge to improve cooking on all levels. Kitchen Mysteries ends with a chapter listing unanswered questions and untested kitchen myths, encouraging you to take the next step.

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