| January
21, 2008:
Fascinating Food Facts
Interview
with Harold McGee, author of the book On
Food & Cooking |
Mike
Carruthers:
When you cut an onion and it makes you cry, that's the onion practicing self-preservation.
Harold McGee:
The onion is trying to convince
us not to eat it. They're trying to ward us off with what amounts to chemical
warfare. Food scientist
Harold McGee, author of the book On
Food And Cooking… And
human beings being interestingly perverse in that way, we actually find pleasure
in that kind of weapon. Onions and also chili peppers, it's exactly the same thing
- those hot substances are there to tell us not to eat. Ever
wonder why Swiss cheese has holes in it? There
are holes in Swiss cheese because the particular bacteria that grow in Swiss cheese
generate a lot of gas and most cheese bacteria don't do that. But these particular
bacteria, which also give the Swiss cheese's their very specific flavor, generate
gas and because the curd in the cheese is solid those develop into pockets. And
I'm sure you've noticed that fish kept in the refrigerator goes bad much faster
than meat kept in the refrigerator. Because
the enzymes in the fish that cause it slowly to deteriorate are actually going
to town at refrigerator temperatures. Fish keeps much, much better if you keep
it in the refrigerator but in ice and those few degrees between refrigerator temperature
and ice temperature make all the difference. At
somethingyoushouldknow.net I'm
Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.
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