Introducing The Kitchen Scientist

FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK

Culinary aficionados may enjoy a new column being distributed by Oasis Newsfeatures. The column is called "The Kitchen Scientist."

• Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a brown egg and a white egg? A jumbo, medium, or grade A egg?
  
• Have you ever tried to make an apple pie, only to be rocked to the core by which kind of apple to use: Jonanthan, McIntonish, transparent, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Winesap, Newtown-Pippin, Tydeman's Red, Paula Red, Prima, Priscilla, Surprize , Empire and Red Rome and Washington?
  
• Ever tried to make a grilled cheese on that George Foreman grill, but can't decide which cheese makes the best, tastiest, gooiest melt-in-your-mouth sandwich?
  Cooking is full of split second decisions. Making the wrong choice can spell the difference between meal and mess.

Enter, The Kitchen Scientist. Cooking is part art, part science. Natchez, Mississippi resident Tara Hayes masterfully steers the novice and expert cook alike through not only the brushstrokes of kitchen artistry, but also through the science of its canvas. Most food columns offer only a recipe and an anecdote and then throw their readers to the wolves, leaving the many decisions of cooking to luck.

The Kitchen Scientist, in lieu of merely listing garlic in a recipe, informs readers how to control the strength, flavor, and aroma of garlic. A recipe is occasionally included in her column if it illustrates a mentioned technique, focuses on a particular ingredient chronicled, and if space permits. She'll devote a column just to which apples make the tastiest pie, cobblers, and tarts and how to play upon each one's strengths and weaknesses. Or Tara will discuss what the scientific difference is between white meat and dark, and which one fits best into a healthier diet. There are plenty of recipe columns on the market, but very few cooking columns. The Kitchen Scientist is that rare exception.

Tara Hayes's column appears weekly in Jackson, Mississippi's Clarion-Ledger, and also in daily newspapers in Alexandria and Monroe, Louisiana. The Kitchen Scientist also appears in the Andalusia, Alabama paper and the Natchez and Senatobia, Mississippi newspapers. It's a column with a growing following.

Tara's work experience as an assistant pastry chef and in test kitchen research development gives her the credentials to be The Kitchen Scientist. Tara also has a degree in culinary arts and a bachelor's in biology. This blend of science and cooking expertise enables her to explain nutritional and food information to readers in a non-threatening, user-friendly jargon-free way.

At "The Kitchen Scientist" web-site, you'll be able to learn new cooking techniques, ask Tara questions, learn about food safety and much, much more. The site will be constantly evolving. For a peek, CLICK HERE.

Kevin Williams
Executive Editor
Oasis Newsfeatures