Earn your cooking pH-D

Cooking is just as much a science as an art, if not more so. Practically speaking, there is no way to cook that doesn’t involve science: physical and chemical changes to food affect its flavor, color, and texture. An important chemical reaction that occurs during cooking relates to changes to the pH (acidity / alkalinity) of the food. Serious Eats’ Tim Chin explains how a handful of pantry staples can make a huge impact on cooking vegetables just by altering the pH.

Chin breaks down the effects of pH on flavor, appearance, and texture of vegetables, with two basic principles applying to the results. Lowering the pH (making food more acidic) allows foods to remain crisp and hold their shape. It changes the color as well: green vegetables get dull and yellow, while Anthocyanin-rich (think red/purple) vegetables turn pink. Raising the pH (making food more alkaline) results in softer foods that retain a more vibrant color. Anthocyanin-rich veg gets more purple.

With a series of photographs illustrating these concepts, the article provides practical information on when to add alkaline ingredients like baking soda, sodium carbonate, potassium carbonate, ammonium bicarbonate (baker’s ammonia), and when to use acidic ingredients such as vinegar, citric acid, or lemon juice. Armed with just a few pantry staples, you can manipulate the color, texture, and flavor of just about any food. Although the article focuses on the effect of these ingredients on vegetables, they also affect meats.

While this article provides a succinct synopsis of the affects of pH, many cookbooks also explore the scientific side of cooking. Ones that immediately come to mind are The Food Lab by J. Kenji López-Alt, On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee, The Flavor Equation by Nik Sharma, Cookwise by Shirley Corriher, and of course Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking by Nathan Myrhvold and Chris Young and Maxime Bilet. You can see these and 1,118 more with a tag of Food Science & Education in the EYB Library. While not technically in that category, I would add Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat to the list of great cookbooks with a science bent. There are also hundreds of books on fermenting, pickling and preserving, and smoking and curing in the Library that also dive into the science of these techniques. Do you have a favorite “scientific” cookbook or reference book? One of my favorites (although I adore ALL of the above-referenced books) is Hello, My Name Is Ice Cream: The Art and Science of the Scoop by Dana Cree. That book has elevated my frozen desserts game.