A Chemistry Lesson

It is not uncommon for cooking – specifically baking – to be likened to chemistry. The way that baking requires the cook to mix together ingredients in specific quantities which then combine and, through the application of heat, turn into a new product, is not dissimilar to what happens in the chemistry experiments we all participated in at school.

In Bonnie Garmus’s novel Lessons in Chemistry the overlap between chemistry and cooking is vital to the whole plot. Garmus’s novel – her first, published in her mid-60s, which should give hope to all aspiring writers – was published in 2022 to great popular and critical acclaim.

The novel opens in November 1961 USA with Elizabeth Zott, a ‘permanently depressed‘ 30 -year old single mother, making her five year-old daughter, Madeline’s, packed lunch, before setting off for the television studio where she presents a programme called ‘Supper at Six‘.

The novel then rewinds ten years to January 1952 to Elizabeth’s previous existence as a research scientist at Hastings Research Institute. A brilliant scientist, Elizabeth nonetheless faces prejudice and discrimination as a woman in what is deemed to be a man’s world. Her male colleagues badmouth her for refusing dates with them, and imply that she only got her Masters in Organic Chemistry from UCLA (University of California Los Angeles) by bestowing sexual favours. And even the man she ends up falling in love with – another brilliant scientist, Calvin Evans – initally assumes she is a secretary. Partly as a result of these experiences Elizabeth is famed for her grudges: ‘her grudges were … reserved for a patriarchal society founded on the idea that women were less. Less capable. Less intelligent. Less inventive.‘

Elizabeth’s resistance to the patriarchal structures of 1950s US society does not extend as far as cooking though. In fact, for Elizabeth ‘cooking wasn’t some preordained feminine duty. As she’d told Calvin, cooking was chemistry. That’s because cooking actually is chemistry.

@200o C/35 min = loss of one H2O per mol. sucrose; total 4 in 55 min = C24H36O18 she wrote in a notebook. “So that’s why the biscuit batter is off”. She tapped her pencil against the countertop. “‘Still too many water molecules”.’

However, when Elizabeth ends up being fired from her post at Hastings, cooking becomes something she is forced to do to make ends meet. When she storms into the office of Walter Pine, a TV producer and single parent, to complain that his daughter, Amanda, eats her daughter, Madeline’s, packed lunch every day, there is an unexpected consequence: Walter invites her to present a TV show – Supper at Six – that will ‘teach the entire nation to make food that matters‘.

Resisting the usual stereotypes of TV chefs who were ‘good-natured‘ and spent time ‘gleefully tipping back the sherry‘, ‘Elizabeth… was serious. She never smiled. She never made jokes. And her dishes were as honest and down-to-earth as she was‘. She begins every show by telling the viewers how difficult cooking is, and then takes them ‘through an elaborate description of chemical breakdowns, which, when induced by combing disparate ingredients in heat-specific ways, would result in a complicated mix of enzymatic interactions that would lead to something good to eat‘.

Not surprisingly the show’s producers are perturbed by her approach and try to make her change… until they realise how popular she is proving with audiences. Elizabeth’s belief in the capability of her audience – through it all she tells the viewers that ‘they were up for this difficult challenge, that she knew they were capable, resourceful people, and that she believed in them‘ – and her empathy for hardworking housewives – ‘”Children, set the table,” she said with extra resolution: “Your mother needs a moment to herself“‘ – make her a surefire hit.

Amongst the chemistry lessons that Elizabeth gives on ‘Supper at Six‘ is one for chocolate brownies, a classic American ‘cake’ that is now ubiquitous in the UK. She gives the method, providing scientific explanations for each step.

Elizabeth’s brownies are made from cocoa – as she explains, ‘”Brownies are best when made from either a high-quality cocoa powder or unsweetened cooking chocolate…. I prefer Dutch cocoa. It contains a high level of polyphenols, which, as you know, are reducing agents that protect the body…’ I usually make brownies with dark chocolate, melted with butter, but making them with cocoa proved a real success – they were much fudgier than usual (so taste as well as health benefits). I also followed Elizabeth’s advice and added walnuts – ‘”Walnuts contain an unusually high level of vitamin E in the form of gamma-tocopherol… Proven to protect the heart“‘ – but you can omit them if you like.

SCIENTIFICALLY PERFECT CHOCOLATE BROWNIES
Ingredients (makes 12-14)
175g unsalted butter
125g caster sugar
125g soft light brown sugar
100g cocoa powder, sieved
3 free-range eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
85g plain flour, sieved
optional: handful chopped walnuts

Method:
Grease and line a 20cm/8″ square tin (you can use a round tin, as I did, but you won’t get consistently even square brownies (though they will still taste delicious!).
Preheat the oven to 170C /150C fan / Gas mark 3.5.
Melt the butter and both sugars in a medium-sized saucepan over a gentle heat, stirring until the butter has melted and the sugars have dissolved.
Allow to cool slightly.
Add the sieved cocoa powder, mixing well so that it is completely incorporated into the mixture.
Break the eggs into a small bowl or jug and stir with a fork to break up the yolks. Then pour into the chocolate mixture, with the vanilla extract, and mix in well.
Add the sieved flour and salt, and stir in until completely blended.
If using the walnuts add those and stir through.
Pour the mixture into the lined tin, using a plastic spatula to scrape out the last remnants.
Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until it it firm on top but still gooey inside – be careful to not overbake.