It surprises me how much of cooking is openly just chemistry, doing weird science in a corner instead of roasting veggies.

For fluffy muffins, you add vinegar to milk and set it aside to curdle.

For pizza, you awaken yeast with lukewarm water and feed it sugar, like microscopic gremlins.

But for muffins, you use baking powder and soda. When do you add biotic loft vs. chemical to your bread? The recipes don’t say. I need a chemistry textbook.

Patent troll Nathan Myhrvold noticed with his industrial sous-vide cookbook.

So does this new Brie Larson series.