Dr Hector Perera UK

There are plenty of reasons why the children are reluctant to learn some basic cooking; a major point may be the smell of food that might get deposited on them while cooking. Unfortunately some of the urban children are addicted to takeaway foods than home cooking.

Food smell on you?

These escaping molecules of fats, oils and all essential oils can deposit on anything in the kitchen or it might go all the way to your sitting room and deposit on anything including on the flat screen expensive TV and on other things such as the music centre and the computer. Who would like to see these expensive gadgets get slowly, periodically ruined by tiny molecules escaped from cooking? This is not just one kind of molecules but a whole cocktail of molecules escaped while cooking.

Safety laws

According to safety laws, no plugs are allowed in the bathroom because steam condenses inside the plugs causing short circuit. Have you noticed the state of some kitchens shown in some TV programmes? It appears that they are full of steam and the condition is unbearably hot. I have noticed that the cooks are sweating due to excessive heat in the kitchen. Sometimes I thought this steam and volatile vapours might condense in the plug sockets in the kitchen, making the kitchen quite dangerous. Try and do this simple acid test, run your fingers on the kitchen cupboard or the wall very near the cooker then do the same on things about ten feet away, what did you notice? The oily sticky nature reduces as the distance from the cooker increases; is there a mathematical relationship?

Adding this and that is not cooking

I am sure some of these TV cooks, are not showing correctly how to do a simple thing such as frying an egg, chips, sausages or a piece of bacon. Most of the times the cooks just add this and that so quickly, no clear quantitative measurement of the ingredients, so how would the children learn something out of this kind of cooking demonstrations? I have noticed their cooking pans catch fire or set fire, may be to attract more audience?

What is this smell?

The smell is due to the volatile ingredients of these food and spices. The smells of these ingredients are supposed to be on the food but not on your exposed parts of your body such as, the face, hands, hair then on the clothes, jewellery and on the watch. The smell of onions, garlic, cinnamon, cloves, cardamoms, lemon grass, ginger, coriander seeds and leaves, curry leaves and volatile oils from other spices such as chillies, peppers and a lots to name have lots of different volatile oils of very low boiling points than water. When these cooking smells or in other words, can I say the spice smell or Asian cologne gets mixed with sweat and body sprays and sometimes with make ups, likely to give different odours. Why I called it Asian cologne because itƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s due to Asian spices.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  I think a name to be invented, any suggestions?

Need to be careful in cooking

When you are cooking, if you are not careful these odours deposit on any cold surface such as on your face, hands, clothes and on the hair. This is a scientific fact to be understood. How many would care about these things?

Again according Physics and Chemistry collision theory, if there were enough collisions in the correct order then only some molecules react with each other and some get deposited or condensed. The moving molecules have some kinetic energy and they give it up and condense on cold surfaces. Simply because there was a smell around you, it would not deposit on you unless there was a high intensity or density of molecules. Say for example, when you are cooking a chicken curry with all the necessary spices and ingredients, when it is boiling and steaming, would you not open the lid and stir it? Naturally you have to get near and open and see it while it is cooking, sometimes you taste to check the salt content then open again and add salt , be honest, am I correct so far? To my utter surprise some cooks taste the food and use the same spoon to stir it again, is this hygienic? The distance between the steaming, furiously boiling chicken, mutton or pork curry and your hand with a spoon, is not too far away from these escaping cocktail of molecules. I must say without your knowledge a cocktail of spice vapours and steam escape as soon as you open the lid then by laws of science these vapours tend to condense and deposit on any cold surface, am I correct? If you donƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t believe me, just smell the hand after cooking, howƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s that umpire?

Have I got to rewrite where they might get deposited? Why the cooks wear tall hats, is that to catch these molecules? I said these cocktail of molecules cannot be seen to the naked eye but when you walk about it is possible to smell you, like a mobile kitchen, who would like that? This is another major point to put off the children to learn cooking. I am sure the children or any other adult wouldnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t like the smell of the food to be worn as after-shave or as a scent or cologne? How many chefs in TV cooking programmes or how many Sri Lankan house wives have thought about this kind of scientific ideas? Do you think these dedicated Kussi Amma or Appu has any scientific idea about cooking? If I am not mistaken they just cook, never thought about these escaping cocktail of vapours.

Just look around

If you look around your kitchen, including the surface of the cooker, you might notice how dirty it is due to oil deposits then at least one or two metal cooking pots and pans with black carbon deposits. This blackness is due to deposition of carbon due to incomplete combustion of the cooking gas, this is a wastage of gas.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  If firewood was used, all cooking pots and pans definitely get this carbon deposit on them. This carbon acts as an insulator that means it does not conduct heat efficiently. This wastes energy and if possible must be avoided for efficiency. Please email me your ideas, itƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s open for discussion. My email: perera6@hotmail.co.uk

Staple diet of Asians

Please let me ask another question from these Sri Lankan house wives, how many of you can cook rice without burning? Some might say, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-We use rice cookersƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Can you cook on gas and electric cookers or firewood stoves? You might ask, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Why riceƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, because rice is the staple diet of most Asians and the basic thing. I have noticed very often it goes pear shaped, due to lack of water or too much water or burns at the bottom, forming a black layer called, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-DANKUDAƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ am I correct? Someone told me, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-We get it right by chance, no special technique?ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  I thought cricket is by chance not cooking! So how come the children learn even basic cooking?

Problem and the solution

Before anyone learns any other cooking, Sri Lankans as Asians, I think they must know for sure how to cook some rice without burning. I am finding the problem then trying to give some practical solutions.

Energy saving

One of the most important points is to save energy at the same time. I have demonstrated it in TV how to save about 60% gas. If any scientist could disprove my scientific technique and say my technique does not save gas, then I am prepared to offer Rs 500,000. If I proved it saves energy, do I get a reward? Imagine if millions of people save 60% gas!

Cooking and science

I think that the cooking is a very scientific thing, easy and fun but if this is not shown in a simple scientific manner, the children never learn cooking and the children today would be over weight adults tomorrow, so help the children learn cooking.