Domestic science

摘要

WHEN did you last conduct a complex chemical experiment? For most of us, the answer is probably whenever you last spent any time in a kitchen. Cookery boils down to applied organic chemistry, with a sprinkling of combustion physics and a dollop of materials science thrown in (see page 32). But the feats of chemical engineering that cooks perform every mealtime - whether in a billycan over a fire, or a sous vide in a fancy restaurant -are more often appreciated with the senses rather than the mind.