This course introduces a number of basic scientific principles underpinning the methodology of cooking, food preparation and the enjoyment of food. All topics covered have a strong basis in biology, chemistry, and physics application. Among others, they include the consumption of cooked food, the physiological and evolutionary implication of the senses, geographic and cultural influences on food, and the rationale behind food preparation. We will also discuss issues such as coupling of senses to improve sense stimulation; altering flavor by chemical means; and modification of the coloration to improve the appearance of dishes. Following the video demonstrations of the scientific principles of cooking, you will learn to recognize the key ingredients and their combinations for preparing good healthy food. At the end of this course, you will be able to: - appreciate the scientific basis of various recipes; - develop your own recipes by integrating some of the scientific principles into new dishes; - recognize the influence of the material world on human perception from the different senses; - appreciate the art of integrating science into cooking and dining. Important Note: This course is not designed for people with special dietary needs such as vegetarian, diabetic, and gluten-free diets. If you feel uncomfortable with any part of the assignments or activities of this course, you can substitute some of the ingredients or ask friends and family members to help with the tasting of your assignments. Alternatively, you may skip that specific assignment provided that you have fulfilled all other qualifying requirement to pass the course. Course Overview video: https://youtu.be/H5vlaR0_X2I
5.4: Making it looks good, and it tastes good!
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Del curso dictado por The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
The Science of Gastronomy
206 calificaciones
De la lección
Module 5 and Module 6
This week, we will talk about how color and texture of food affects our perception of taste of food.
Conoce a los instructores
King L. ChowProfessor
Division of Life Science
Lam Lung YeungAssociate Professor
Department of Chemistry
So obviously, if you want to present a dish at the best quality it can be,
what we will do is that we can modify the color.
To modify the color, in fact we can add color additive.
And this can be in form of either dye or pigment or
so, that is going to change the way how a dish is being presented.
And somehow it can affect the flavor.
Now, the kind of dye or pigment we use, in fact, there are two types.
One is called dyes and the other one is called lakes.
And dyes and lakes the only difference is one is water soluble and
the other one is water insoluble.
So think about what kind of food that you are going to make,
whether is liquid rich or is made of simply water as a medium,
then you need to add a different kind of pigment otherwise the color would go away.
Now, we find that why do we want to get at all these additives,
because usually the color is much better under your control.
It is not that they're coming as whatever product that you buy in the market.
You can modify it, so they give you a much more intense coloring.
Also they are usually very stable.
So that you can put them into the food, and the food will be in that color for
quite a long time.
The most important part is that they don't carry any flavor with them,
because otherwise it will ruin your dish.
And finally, if you have a good coloring that match the kind of taste,
it will give you a more favorable perception of the food.
Now so having that, in fact, experiments have been done to show that
how color is going to affect our perception of flavor.
In this case what we want to show you is an example of having a test
with multiple panelists.
They were given to try some yogurt or jelly with different flavor.
In this case, the flavor is raspberry.
So what happen is that if you color it in red,
the sensory of majority of the panelists they would be able to tell them apart and
tell you that this is the raspberry.
However, if you change the color to yellow or
green which normally does not match the kind of food that you would taste or
the flavor you anticipate, a majority of them they can't even identify raspberry.
So what I mean is that the matching of the color with the flavor is very important.
Now, how about, if that's the case, if you don't see the color of the food,
how is it going to change the way that it's being perceived?
Now, experiment has also been done, and again,
another group of panelists, they were given a particular yogurt, in this case.
And we asked them, actually, what kind of yogurt they are and
we simply tell them we kind of tricked them to say, well, these are strawberry.
And if they're eating it totally in the dark, you'll find that, well,
more than half of them they would recognize it as strawberry.
And in fact what are they tasting?
In fact, what they're tasting is chocolate yogurt.
But in the dark, because they don't see the color, and
you tell them that it's strawberry, they think that it's strawberry.
In fact, I think that's happening very often.
We taste something, it's simply because we think that we're tasting them,
not necessarily because they really taste like what you think.
Okay, so therefore the color a lot of times it plays a very important role
when you're presenting a dish, the correct matching is going to deceive you or
help you to enjoy the quality of the food much better.
And sometimes color is also associated with some of our own experience.
For example, why we like red.
Because red is very commonly associated with fruits that
are in their ripened condition, and when they are ripened usually they are sweet.
So therefore, we like them.
And green, a lot of times is associated with the non-ripeness of the fruit, so
therefore, if that's the case, normally they would taste a little bit sour.
And so you don't see that as favorable.
Now, therefore that matching and
this associated experience is also very important.
So are there other colors that sometimes give you a more favorable appeal?
Yes, there are.
For example, we say that red-orange,
these are the kinds of colors that you want to put on the dish.
Usually they will arouse you to have a better sensation.
And that particular red-orange,
the appeal goes down when it starts going to yellow, and when it goes down to green,
they would be less favorable in that sense if you're talking about food.
And cool green sometimes they're more pleasurable
compared with the yellowish green too.
So therefore, that's what we need to pay attention.
And some color, in fact, they don't have much appeal, for example, purple.
Well, think about what kind of purple food that you have.
How about the color of an olive or grey?
Those are the kind of color that, in fact, they're not very appealing.
So let me give you a taste of what colors are appealing.
In this case, for example, all this bright red, yellow and match with green.
This one bright red, you just look at it and
you'll find that this kind of picture is very commonly found
in restaurants that when they want to show you what kind of dishes they are serving.
And when you see them, you may not like that particular dish, but
seeing that picture, in fact, it already appeals to you and
you would like to order it and have a taste.
How about this kind of like a pancake, the fish with all the sauce,
as well as the broccoli here.
These kind of very bright color, in fact they are very appealing.
But how about some of the colors which are less appealing.
Such as, the purplish-red, violet, lilac, yellowish-green, olive, grey.
All this, such as illustrated here, yam, purplish and grayish.
And this is a cooked eggplant.
What you see is that, well, again, it's very dark.
And all this color, in fact, is not very favorable.
How about yellowish green and even something which is totally dark.
You don't like it.
You remember that, we've shown you.
You can show the same red pepper in a different light.
Sometimes they turn into black.
So make sure that the lighting is right.
So with that, in fact, we'd say that, well, sometimes for certain foods,
before they are cooked, even their color can be somehow misrepresented.
For example, when you have red meat, when you show it under the red light,
depend on how much emission from the red range of light is given onto it.
In fact, you will present it to be much redder or less red.
And so we need to find the right range so
that to give you the best appeal of that particular steak or raw meat.
On the other hand, if you find the same dish meat red in color,
but if you put it under the cool white lamp, which it usually is,
turning more towards the bluish wavelength.
So what I mean is that there's not enough lights coming in the red range.
So therefore, the red color is not as obvious.
So in fact, such a presentation would not give you the kind of
appeal that this particular steak or meat is supposed to achieve.
Now, so the matching of the light and the food color is very important.
Now, when we see something,
you need to focus that we are not just seeing the color.
Color is one thing.
How about the brightness, the shape?
So in this particular diagram, you'll see that we have some orange patches.
So what is it?
You probably you need to have a guess.
But if I show you this particular diagram,
in fact, you can easily tell that is orange.
Why?
Because it's not just about the color.
It's also about the texture.
So when you read it you'll find that while the texture of the peel of the orange
all shows up because they reflect light one way or
the other, it tells you what's the quality of this.
I'm sure that if you're seeing these two pictures and
I should do a comparison, which one give you a better appeal as food.
I'm sure that you'll pick this one.
Simply not because of the color because also of the texture.
So, what we're going to do is, in the following sections,
that we're going to talk about texture and
how it's going to affect the way that you perceive the quality of food.
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