I ♥ Progress.

Madison.

I had the good fortune to catch a lecture by Harold McGee, the author of On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of The Kitchen, last night. Essentially a history of science in cooking, and hitting just a few of the highlights, he made a point that we can all perform science experiments in the kitchen, at home, and improve our understanding of the ways we cook and eat. As an example, one he undertook with a bunch of willing friends: will a silver spoon in the neck of a bottle of Champagne keep it good until the next day? There may be better excuses for a party, but not many.

The experiment goes like this:

1. Decide on how many different variations you want to try. Silver spoon? Why not stainless steel, or plastic, or even wood? What about just leaving the neck open? Or re-sealing it with a cork, or a wine vacuum-sealer? Or pouring it into some other container you've got handy? One variation, at least, ought to be at least one freshly-opened bottle to act as a control against all of the other test cases.

2. Pick up a case or more of sparkling wine, as needed for all of those variations and the size of the party crowd. If you can afford real Champagne, then, hey, go for it. McGee's experiment used California sparkling wine, and that's probably what I'd use. Whatever you choose, make sure all of your bottles are of the same wine.

3. The night before the party, open up all of the test bottles. Pour out, say, half of each. (Don't waste it, though. This is another fine excuse for a party.) Add spoons, corks, whatever, and let 'em sit until the next night.

4. Do a blind tasting at the party, so no one's biased by any preconceived ideas. Ask everyone to rate each wine on a couple of key characteristics. Use whatever you like. Bubbliness is probably crucial (since that's mostly what the experiment's about), but it's probably worth including aroma, taste, aftertaste, appearance, and other sort of basic stuff. Rating things on a number scale (1-3 or 1-10) may be simplest to tally up at the end, but it's probably worth including a spot for any notes or comments. If some appear to have lost (or gained) certain tastes and aromas, that's well worth noting.

5. Tally it all up and see what trends you find. In McGee's experiment, they actually found that the silver spoon bottle and the open neck bottle were rated highest, even higher than the freshly-opened bottle. That suggests that there's something a little unpleasant in that wine that dissipates when it's allowed to sit a while. Not what you might expect, but a great little discovery.

Another food-related party experiment I like (conceived by my friend Michelle's aunts Beth & Margie): when it's asparagus season, have a dinner party and serve plenty of it. Keep everyone around for a good, long time and serves plenty to drink, so people will need to head to the bathroom at some point. Keep a checklist in the bathroom for people to note if their urine smells like asparagus or not. Classy.

The options are, more or less, endless, limited only by your imagination, budget, and the willingness of your friends to try something a little unusual for the sake of science.

Another good source for mixing cooking and science: Alton Brown of Good Eats. Technologically savvy, good at jury-rigging, and keen on pop culture. His books, I'm Just Here For The Food and I'm Just Here For More Food are some of the handiest cookbooks available.