Wednesday, November 21, 2007

The Science of Brining Your Turkey

In honor of Thanksgiving, I thought I would share this link from one of my new favorite sites, Cooking for Engineers. Michael takes readers through the science behind turkey (and other meat) brining, which is soaking in a salt solution. It is a good refresher on osmosis if you haven't taken biology in a while and a fun amount of trivia for the T-day table. FYI, brining was popular long ago as a way to make imperfect cuts of meat more tender, and it has come back into fashion as we try to be more health-conscious by eating leaner meats. (I learned that at a brining demonstration at the Culinary Institute of America.)

As it relates to work, I think it would be great to have more "science of food/cooking" programs for youth. The only afterschool product that I have found is part of the 4-H Youth Experiences in Science materials. There are several other sites, though, including this one from the Exploratorium. If you know of other ones, please share!

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