On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1146

solid,orgel.Thisbehaviorcanbe
undesirable,forexamplewhenitcausessome
saucetocongealontheplate.Butcooksalso
exploitittomakedelightfuljellies,asortof
solidsauce.Agelformswhenthegelatin
concentrationissufficientlyhigh,around1%
ormoreofthestock’stotalweight.Atthese
concentrations,thereareenoughgelatin
moleculesinthestockthattheirlongchains
canoverlapwitheachothertoforma
continuousnetworkthroughoutthestock.As
thehotstockcoolsdowntothemelting
temperatureofgelatin,around100ºF/40ºC,the
extendedgelatinchainsbegintoassumethe
coiledshapethattheyhadintheoriginal
triplehelixofthecollagenfibers(p.597).
Andwhencoilsondifferentmolecules
approacheachother,theynestclosely
alongsideeachotherandbondtoformnew
doubleandtriplehelixes.Thesereassembled
collagenjunctionsgivesomerigiditytothe
networkofgelatinmolecules,andtheyand


thewatermoleculestheysurroundcanno
longerflowfreely:sotheliquidturnsintoa
solid.A1%gelatingelisfragileandquivery
andbreakseasilywhenhandled;themore
familiarandrobustdessertjelliesmadewith
commercialgelatinareusually3%gelatinor
more.Thehighertheproportionofgelatin,the

morefirmandrubberythegelis.
Jelliesareremarkableintwoways.At
theirbesttheyaretranslucent,glistening,
beautifulontheirownorassettingsforthe
foodsembeddedinthem.Andthetemperature
atwhichthegelatinjunctionsareshakenapart
isrightaroundbodytemperature:sogelatin
gelsmelteffortlesslyinthemouthtoafullbodiedfluid.Theybathethemouthinsauce.
Nootherthickenerhasthisquality.
Protein-ThickenedSaucesandHealth
Sauces thickened with proteins are very
nutritious, and microbes can multiply
rapidly in them. They’re best held either