Complete index · 26 pieces
All pieces
The whole roster, section by section. Every piece names its mechanism, the variable that controls it, and the fault that variable produces when it is wrong.
Section 01 — Coagulation6 pieces
- 01.1The setting pointSoy milk is a suspension of protein and oil. Add the right salt at the right temperature and the protein cross-links into a curd — too cool and it never sets, too hot and it seizes into something coarse.
- 01.2Nigari against gypsumMagnesium chloride works fast and tastes of the sea; calcium sulphate works slowly and gives a smoother, softer set.
- 01.3Temperature windowA narrow band either side of which the same coagulant does the wrong thing.
- 01.4PressingWeight and time decide water content, and water content decides everything else.
- 01.5Silken and firmSet in the container or pressed in a mould — the same protein, two foods.
- 01.6The wheyWhat is left behind, and what it tells you about the set.
Section 02 — Washing5 pieces
- 02.1Washing out the starchKnead a flour dough under water and the starch clouds away, leaving an elastic mass of gluten behind. The water runs clear when you are finished.
- 02.2Gluten developmentTwo proteins linking into a network, and why kneading is required first.
- 02.3RestingLetting the network relax so it stops fighting back.
- 02.4Simmer, not boilA rolling boil makes the texture spongy and open. Bare movement does not.
- 02.5Flavour goes in the liquidThe mass is bland and porous, so seasoning happens around it.
Section 03 — Culture5 pieces
- 03.1A mould that knitsRhizopus grows through cooked beans and binds them into a sliceable cake. It is a controlled fermentation with a narrow temperature range.
- 03.2Hulling and acidifyingTwo preparation steps that decide whether the culture takes at all.
- 03.3The incubation windowWarm enough to grow, cool enough not to cook itself as it does.
- 03.4White then greySporulation as a clock: past a point the cake changes colour and character.
- 03.5PerforationThe mould needs air, so the wrapping is holed on purpose.
Section 04 — Foam5 pieces
- 04.1Air in bean waterThe liquid from cooked chickpeas holds air because of the proteins and saponins dissolved in it, and behaves remarkably like egg white.
- 04.2What is actually in itDissolved protein and soap-like molecules, and the role each plays.
- 04.3StabilisingAcid and sugar, and what each does to the bubble walls.
- 04.4Over-whippingThe point past which the foam breaks and cannot be brought back.
- 04.5Baking a foamDrying it slowly so the structure sets before the water leaves.
Section 05 — Faults5 pieces
- 05.1Reading a failed batchEach process fails in a characteristic way, and the fault names the variable that was wrong.
- 05.2The curd that never cameToo cool, too dilute, or the coagulant added too fast.
- 05.3Rubbery or crumblyTwo opposite gluten faults with two opposite causes.
- 05.4The cake that greyedLeft too long, too warm, or wrapped too tightly.
- 05.5The foam that weptLiquid pooling under the peak, and the sugar that would have held it.