EXPERIMENTAL KITCHEN | Create a lab in your own kitchen
Fancy trying your hand at a bit of kitchen science? If so, you've come to the right place. Here in the Experimental Kitchen you'll find articles, experiments and recipes that will stretch your knowledge and test your wit - and improve your cooking. Read more about the highly respected food scientists who wrote these experiments.
Professor Charles Spence explains how our senses of touch, hearing and sight affect the way we taste. Plus - prove it for yourself and listen to the sound of the sea while you're eating fish pie.
Jon Prinz provides two simple experiments which demonstrate the effect of the conductivity of heat on fat and what happens when you mix fats; plus he explains other factors that affect the mouth-feel of fat.
The French reckon waxy varieties of potato are better for mash - producing a thick and smooth mash - while we generally use floury varieties to make a light and fluffy mash. These differences are all down to the amount of starch granules per cell in each potato. Professor Tony Blake explains all.
Professor Tony Blake explains why it's not always necessary to brown your meat at a high temperature before cooking it through. It's a myth that meat has first to be browned to 'seal' in the meat juices.
Professor Peter Barham explains how microwave ovens work, how and in what way they heat certain materials - and answers that old question, why does food cooked in a microwave often lack flavour and colour?
Professor Tony Blake reveals why without CO2 we wouldn't have certain breads and cakes - it's released while cakes and breads are baking, creating bubbles within the batter, giving them lightness and texture.
Professor Charles Spence explains how our senses of touch, hearing and sight affect the way we taste. Plus - prove it for yourself and listen to the sound of the sea while you're eating fish pie. 
Jon Prinz provides two simple experiments which demonstrate the effect of the conductivity of heat on fat and what happens when you mix fats; plus he explains other factors that affect the mouth-feel of fat. 
The French reckon waxy varieties of potato are better for mash - producing a thick and smooth mash - while we generally use floury varieties to make a light and fluffy mash. These differences are all down to the amount of starch granules per cell in each potato. Professor Tony Blake explains all. 
Professor Tony Blake explains why it's not always necessary to brown your meat at a high temperature before cooking it through. It's a myth that meat has first to be browned to 'seal' in the meat juices. 
Professor Peter Barham explains how microwave ovens work, how and in what way they heat certain materials - and answers that old question, why does food cooked in a microwave often lack flavour and colour? 
Professor Tony Blake reveals why without CO2 we wouldn't have certain breads and cakes - it's released while cakes and breads are baking, creating bubbles within the batter, giving them lightness and texture. 
