Gin, Tonic, and Temperature

The weather is getting warmer. You'd like to sit outside in the sun, enjoying a cold beverage. However, while you're sipping your gin and tonic on the rocks, your ice is slowly melting. A drink without ice gets warm quickly, but a drink with ice becomes watered down while you're drinking. Oh cruel fate!

What's the solution? Science!

The good folks at Kaiser Penguin have tested (and graphed!) several possible solutions to the problem of how to make a temperature-controlled drink. So, go get your geek on and check out the way to make an optimized gin and tonic!

(via BoingBoing)
(Image:  Gin and Tonic, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from Global Jet's photostream)

The Perfect Bloody Mary

Here at Food/Science, we love us some brunch cocktails. Luckily, some folks with Ph.D.'s spent time and effort to determine, scientifically, the best way to make one such libation: that brunch classic, the Bloody Mary. At a recent meeting of the American Chemical Society, scientists presented research showing that, basically, it boils down to using fresh, quality ingredients and cheap vodka. Hooray for thriftiness, and science!

Personally, I like mine garnished to the hilt, with pickles and olives a must.

Check out the full story here, (via The Kitchn).

Also, as a bonus, why not pair your scientifically-proven Bloody Mary with a Mobius Bagel? So much geekery, in one brunch!

(also via The Kitchn)

The Science of Cooking with Beer

Via BoingBoing, there is an interesting article about why beer batter makes fried food delicious at Scientific American. In short, beer contains three things that make it a great batter ingredient: foaming agents, carbonation (a.k.a. dissolved carbon dioxide), and alcohol. Carbon dioxide is more soluble in water at cold temperatures, so when beer batter is heated it releases bubbles of carbon dioxide that are trapped by the foaming agents (in most beers this is carbohydrates and proteins from the barley malt), making a light crispy crust. The pockets of air in the crust insulate the delicate food inside, allowing it to gently steam and keeping it moist. The alcohol in beer batter boils at a lower temperature than water, meaning that, when cooked, this batter releases moisture faster than batter made with just water, allowing it to cook faster. Only after all of the water and alcohol have evaporated will the Maillard reaction* take place, making starches and proteins in the batter golden brown and delicious.

*Note: The article says that the Maillard reaction takes place above 130 degrees Fahrenheit, but this is incorrect. It actually takes place above 130 degrees Celsius, which is about 265 degrees Fahrenheit.

Another good reason to cook with beer, and not necessarily just in beer batter, is that beer adds great flavor to dishes. Beer contains its own flavors - smoky, sweet, bitter, or acidic, or a combination of these, depending on the variety. Beer also contains alcohol, which helps amp up other flavors in a dish. Alcohol is able to dissolve many flavors that are not very soluble in water, like essential oils and other organic compounds. These compounds are key flavor components of foods like black pepper, chili peppers and tomatoes, among many, many others. This means that adding any alcohol-containing liquid to a dish can dissolve these flavor compounds, making them more available to your taste buds and increasing their flavor.

In case all of this had put you in the mood to cook with some beer, I've included a recipe below for Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili, which I whipped up for the Superbowl last Sunday. It's delicious, cheap, and healthy, and the dark beer included in the recipe adds a little smoky flavor as well as some alcohol to dissolve the spicy and tomato flavors in the chili.