I’ve joined blogspot today. I’m hoping the interface is more user-friendly. Don’t worry about any major changes to the style of my blogging (can I have a style yet after only a handful of posts? are there even any loyal readers to worry about it?) Everything should remain the same except for the graphics. I hope to be able to include pictures more easily on blogspot. That was the main motivation for the transition. Sorry to anyone who has to change the address in their Google Readers. :-/ The new address is: http://chemtotaste.blogspot.com/ Cheers!
Recipe Monday – Chicken Piccata
Monday is tried and true recipe day! Today’s recipe is my chicken piccata (an Italian word from the French piqué, which means “larded” – today it typically means sliced thin, sautéed, and served with a sauce) with lemon, capers, and artichoke hearts. Unfortunately, I haven’t figured out how to put pictures on here yet, so you’ll just have to take my word for it; it looks delicious! Summer’s starting to wind down, but there’s still time for this perfect summery dish. It’s light, lemony, and super quick to make so you don’t have to spend too much time standing over a hot stove!
Ingredients:
* 4 (4-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
* Salt and ground black pepper
* 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
* 1/2 teaspoon paprika
* 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
* 1/2 cup dry white wine
* 1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
* 1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, quartered
* 1/4 cup drained capers
* 1 cup uncooked angel hair pasta (enough for 4 people)
Directions:
1. Boil the pasta.
2. Place each chicken breast in a large ziploc bag or between two sheets of plastic wrap. Use a heavy bottomed pan, a heavy rolling pin, or a meat mallet to pound the breasts out into 1/4″ thick paillards. Sprinkle each paillard with salt and pepper.
3. Dredge the paillards in a combination of the flour, lemon zest, paprika, and garlic powder. Shake off excess flour.
4. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté the chicken on each side for about two minutes or until they start to turn golden brown.
5. Add the lemon juice, white wine, and chicken broth, and bring the mixture to a simmer. Simmer for five minutes.
6. Add the artichoke hearts and the capers. Simmer for an additional minute.
7. Serve over the drained pasta. Enjoy! 
Food Science – The Miracle Berry
Tonight I went to a dinner party of sorts at COSI in downtown Columbus. For an hour or so I feasted on unsweetened bakers chocolate, lemon wedges, lime wedges, salt & vinegar potato chips, and jalapeños. What did I drink to wash it all down? I had Guinness, cheap tequila, dark coffee, and white vinegar. Doesn’t sound like much of a dinner party? That’s because I haven’t told you about the main ingredient. Before having any of these things, I mashed a miracle berry around my tongue for a minute.
The miracle berry is a small, virtually tasteless berry from West Africa. It’s not likely to become to become the next “it” berry popping up in your lemonade. It’s nutritional value is irrelevant. The true beauty of the miracle berry lies in the miraculous glycoprotein found in its pulp – miraculin. Miraculin itself is tasteless, but possesses the ability to make sour and bitter foods taste sweet. One berry is enough for effects lasting up to an hour. Miraculin was first isolated over forty years ago in Japan, but has since been denied approval by the FDA as an artificial sweetener.
Its exact mechanism isn’t fully understood yet. Taste buds and flavor molecules interact like a lock and key system. Only certain flavor molecules can bond to certain to taste buds. Once a molecule binds to a taste bud, that bud sends an electrical signal to the brain indicating the sense of whichever taste it corresponds to. There are known unique exceptions to this rule, though. Capsaicin, the protein found in members of the capsicum family (chili peppers), can bond to multiple types of taste buds and activates ion channel depolarization similar to the response to extreme heat. The taste buds aren’t actually burned, but the indiscriminate, rapid signals sent to the brain confuse it into thinking the tongue is actually being burned, hence the sensation. Some scientists think that miraculin may operate by modifying the conformation of the sweet taste buds themselves, so that they can bind to acids, which are commonly associated with sour and bitter flavors. If this is indeed the actual mechanism, then the coffee may not have been a wise choice. The temperature of the coffee could have denatured the miraculin, or at least changed its solubility making it release its bonds to the tongue.
A number of other flavor-changing glycoproteins are known, and interestingly, most of them come from West Africa as well. Curculin is a sweet-tasting glycoprotein that makes water and sour things taste sweet.
Also interesting is the degree to which it affects individual tasters. I was quite concerned tonight when I could still taste sour foods. I was afraid the berry hadn’t worked and my money was wasted (one berry costs between $2 and $3, and the event at COSI cost $22.20). I was reassured when bitter foods tasted sweet to me. I heard from others I wasn’t the only one with this experience. I’m not quite sure what causes it. In the end, if I can only change the way I perceive one flavor, I’m glad it was bitter. I would rather taste sweet and sour for an evening, than sweet and bitter. It just meant that I ended up hanging out around the chocolate/coffee table for 45 minutes of my hour of experimentation. Unfortunately, the shot of white vinegar that everyone else was enjoying as Kool-Aid tasted like a shot of white vinegar to me. :-/ They say the only known risk of the berry comes from such tasting parties. Foods may not taste sour, but they’re still acidic, and oral ulcers can develop if you overdo it on the acid.
It seems at this point the FDA isn’t interested in lifting its ban on miraculin as an artificial sweetener anytime soon. I wonder if anyone has considered it for other applications though. About 50% of chemotherapy patients complain of taste changes while on medication. The most common changes are a decrease in the threshold for bitter flavors and an increase in the threshold for sweet flavors. This often results in a disinterest in food at a time when healthy eating is essential. Miraculin could help those patients stomach their meals better. Can you think of other applications for this miracle fruit?
In the Neighborhood – The Brown Bag Delicatessen
I’m toying around with the idea of themed posts for each day of the week. Today will be the start of my “In the Neighborhood” series where I’ll highlight local neighborhood eateries. Because it’s a Columbus neighborhood I’m fairly familiar with, the first part of the series will focus on the German Village. Today’s German Village spot is The Brown Bag Delicatessen.
The Brown Bag, a staple of the German Village, specializes in panini-style sandwiches. I think the Mohawk Stroller sounds amazing – smoked turkey, roasted red pepper, basil pesto, and sprouts on a cheddar herb roll!
For a quick lunch, you can bypass the line and pick up ready-made sandwiches or microwaveable dinners. The Brown Bag also offers a full bar and al fresco seating. The shop recently expanded, and they’re now serving locally made Johnson’s Ice Cream. Be sure to check it out!
Hello world!
Welcome to my latest blog, “chemtotaste”. My only blogging experience in the past has been dumping emotional drivel into irregular posts. No more, I say! From now on, I’m blogging with purpose and with regularity. The name of this blog is a reference to two of my passions that I hope to marry in a career someday.
For the longest time I have been fascinated by food and chemistry. Part of the appeal of each is their universality. Everyone can relate to food. Everyone eats. Likewise, chemistry is everywhere. Chemicals are everywhere. Ingredients and cooking techniques (chemical reactions) vary around the world, but the concept of food is something that transcends borders.
My goal in life, after earning my degree in chemical engineering and food processing, is to apply my studies and my passion to creating new foods, both at work and at home. In the meantime, I’d like to use this blog to share some of my interests with you. Readers of chemtotaste can expect to find recipes, interesting food facts, novel applications of food technology, updates on my studies, and much, much more. Please subscribe so that you don’t miss a thing, and be sure to let me know what kind of content you want to see here. Cheers!
