The Activator, Volume 2, Number 1, October 1945 Page: 24
32 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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24M ChMMMNMh THE ACTIVATOR October~hrC hMM MMM
THE CHEMISTS' COOK BOOK
(Reprinted from the DOUBLE BOND of November 1930)
This article is printed in the hope that some of the members will use
the information in their culinary escapades (Don't show it to the wife)Wide flung are the applications of
science. One after another old and estab-
lished industries have succumbed to the
magical and practical touch of the physi-
cist, the chemist. Positively the oldest
industry known to mankind is that of
preparing food; it is also the last to
succumb. The simple act of refection
has been since the memory of man, veiled
in a cloud of ritual, cant, dogma. The
recipes in our cook books, handed down
from grandmother to granddaughter,
through many generations, are couched
in language worthy of Theophrastus, the
alchemist. There is a popular superstition
that if one follows the cook book too
closely, the broth will be spoiled. No
wonder. The scientific man's supreme
expression of contempt is "He uses cook-
book methods."
It is true that every cook-book starts
with a brief preamble, about carbohy-
drates, proteins, and fats, and in recent
years such words as "calories", and vita-
mines" are popularly bandied about. One
may even go into a beanery and order
by the calorie, oni the theory that one
glass of milk = one sauce-dish of spin-
ach, that one lettuce salad = 2 Irish
potatoes. One may even remark that
cooking is taught in high school. But, I
ask you, have you ever eaten any of the
products turned out in a domestic science
class, and lived to tell the tale?
This, then, is our excuse for presenting
to the world for the first time, a rigidly
scientific "Laboratory Manual for the
Preparation of Edible Food." The fun-
damental data has been culled from the
Irrational Cryptical Tables. The appara-
tus described has been tested and ap-
proved by the National Board of Under-
takers, the recipes have been endorsed
by the National Research Council, The
International Commission for the Reduc-
tion of Naval Aritaments and Gilda Grey.New Units of Measure for the
Would-Be Scientific Cook
Raw materials may be measured either
by volume or weight. For volume we
recommend a nest of Pyrex beakers cali-
brated in the following sizes:
Buckwheat
Pea
Nut
Egg
Stove
For measurements by weight the fol-
lowing table of equivalents will be found
useful:
3.168 gr. = 1 carat
5 carats = 1 gram
6/5 grams = 1 scruple
6/5 scruples = 1 pennyweight
2-2/5 pennywt. = 1 dram
8 drams - 1 ounce av.
1.097 ounce av. = 1 ounce troy
15 ounce troy = 1 lb. av.
2.2 lb. av. = 1 kg.
6.35 kg. = 1 stone
2 stones = 1 quarter
4 quarters = 1 short hundred wt.
20 short cwt. = 1 short ton
1.1 short ton - 1 regular ton
It is here suggested that sugar be
weighed by the grain, vegetables by the
carat, wine by the scruple, prevention
by the ounce, cure by the pound, brides'
biscuits by the stone, beef by the quar-
ter, ice by the short hundred weight, coal
by the short ton.
It is further recommended that olives
be dispensed by the gross, and that the
thickness of bread slices should be meas-
ured in Angstrom units. Inasmuch as it
takes 3 billion Angstrom units to make a
foot, the average loaf of bread could be
made to serve quite a large number of
people, and very etiquetically at that.
Temperature is of course expressed on
(Continued on Page 28)24
THE ACTIVATOR
October
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American Chemical Society. Dallas/Fort Worth Section. The Activator, Volume 2, Number 1, October 1945, periodical, October 1945; [Dallas, Texas]. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc67673/m1/24/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .