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Taste, technique and where food comes from

Tongue and Tine

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Everything published here, newest first.

One piece, on a kitchen that grows its own produce indoors, is dated years before the rest. Each piece carries the day it was finished, and the list runs from the newest down.

To browse by subject instead, go to Flavor, Kitchen lab or Food and place.

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  1. How miracle fruit turns sour into sweet

    A small red berry from West Africa makes a lemon taste like candy for an hour or so. The trick lives in one protein and one receptor, and regulators on both sides of the Atlantic have kept it on a short leash.

    Flavor

  2. Rooftop and indoor growing for restaurants

    A shelf of microgreens by the pass is cheap and quick to pay back. A farm meant to supply the whole menu is another business, and several well-funded ones have gone under.

    Food and place

  3. Sous-vide at home: the time and temperature behind a safe low-heat cook

    A water bath set to 140°F (60°C) can make chicken as safe as a pan taken to 165°F (74°C). It only works if the clock starts at the right moment and the bag is handled properly afterwards.

    Kitchen lab

  4. Spherification at home: alginate, calcium and the gel skin

    Two powders from the modernist pantry turn a spoonful of juice into a bead that bursts on the tongue. One comes from seaweed, the other is a salt, and the order in which they meet decides how the bead behaves.

    Kitchen lab

  5. What food miles measure and what they miss

    The distance a tomato traveled is easy to picture and hard to use. Two decades of research say it matters a lot for some foods and very little for others.

    Food and place

  6. What the tongue actually detects

    The tongue reports only a handful of things, and it reports all of them from everywhere it has taste buds. Most of what people call taste arrives by another route.

    Flavor

  7. When the fridge dies: borrow the quote, not the limit

    A kitchen runs on a few machines, and when one of them breaks, the price on the quote should set the size of any loan.

    Kitchen lab

  8. The path to zero-food-mile cooking

    A few kitchens now grow part of what they serve within sight of the stove. The idea holds up well for herbs and young greens and runs out of room long before the rest of the menu.

    Food and place