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When I was in high school, I had a love-hate relationship with science classes. Geology was fine, biology was okay, and chemistry...well, chemistry was hell. Mrs. Olech, the troll who taught the class, regularly flunked half her students and had a teaching manner that made Alan Greenspan seem bouncy and exciting. Ironically, while I flunked chem, I aced my cooking classes. Even at the time, I thought that this was a little weird; after all, what is cooking if not a chemical process? The subtle adjustment of flavors, the cultivation of certain bacteria, the measured combination of leavening chemicals are all, basically, a mix of applied chemistry and biology. However, cooking class captured my imagination and attention in a way that chemistry didn't.
Reading a recent profile of Alton Brown, I realize that the problem lay with Mrs. Olech and her ilk. The simple fact is that science can be a lot of fun, if it is applied in a way that is relevant and exciting. I was surprised to learn that, like me, Brown found his science classes "boring beyond words." Even now, as he has built his own store of scientific knowledge, he admits to having discarded academic journals and scholarly papers because of their inability to engage his interest.
One of Brown's biggest gripes is the fact that he hasn't had "A brilliant teacher to turn to or a really great academic library." I can attest to this, as well. The summer after my unfortunate run-in with Mrs. Olech, I took chemistry again with Mrs. Raphael, an outstanding teacher. I managed a B+ and found that the class had a lot to teach me.
Many cooks seems to approach food preparation as if it's magic: mix a potion, draw a pentagram, pray to Ashtaroth, and your cornbread will be perfect. However, as Alton Brown consistently shows, the perfect cornbread, or fries, or yogurt isn't a matter of sorcery or magic, but rather the result of a carefully controlled chemical process. The coolest thing is that, in the process of teaching the science behind cooking, Brown might have put the magic back into science.
I wonder if Mrs. Olech ever watches him...
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