I don’t know if you’ve seen the TV version of the best-selling book, Lessons in Chemistry. The plot deals with a young research chemist who is denied the opportunity to work in a laboratory because of his gender. She then becomes a successful TV chef. But while most TV chefs of the time (the show takes place in the late 1950s and early 1960s) resembled Julia Child, our heroine is an early prototype of Heston Blumenthal and Ferran Adrià. He applied this idea by saying things like “Cooking is chemistry.” She incorporated scientific principles into her work at TV Kitchen.
I don’t know if you’re into food science, but there’s one thing I found interesting. When a TV executive trying to convince her to start her show tries the pie she baked, she discovers that it tastes better the next day than the first time she baked it. Ta.
On an intuitive and anecdotal level, this should surprise no one. We all know that curry often tastes better the next day. This is said to be because the spices had a chance to mix. The same goes for biryani. I don’t keep biryani for very long, but many of us have found that raiding the fridge with a pot of biryani left over from the previous day can be surprisingly fun. Even if it’s cold, your biryani may taste better than when it’s freshly cooked.
In chemistry class, a scientific explanation of starch molecules is provided to explain the enhancement of pie flavor. Being an art student, I have to admit that I didn’t fully understand it.
But I think the writers and producers looked into the science. If so, they could have explained to us why leftovers taste so good the next day.
What this show doesn’t tell us is that leftovers, especially those containing starches, may actually be healthier than some fresh foods.
But that’s exactly what some studies are now suggesting. Because the study was featured in the New York Times and was not part of a television show, I was able to read the article over and over again until I finally understood what the researchers had discovered.
Doctors always tell us not to eat too many starchy foods like pasta and rice. There’s a reason for this. Starch increases blood sugar levels. This isn’t good for anyone, but especially for people with diabetes or pre-diabetes. This is why as we get older, we are told to eat less starch and more fiber.
Except scientists discovered the hack. They claim that putting biryani (or rice or pasta) in the fridge overnight does wonders for its starch content.
Much of it turns into something called resistant starch. There are some starches that do not break down in the body and do not release sugar. Instead, they travel seamlessly to the end of your intestines, where they can become food for your body’s beneficial bacteria.
Even if you reheat leftover biryani/rice/pasta etc., it won’t make much of a difference as the newly formed resistant starch retains its shape and does not release sugar.
How does this work? Cooking first and then cooling makes the starch molecules in the food more densely packed, making it more difficult to digest. When starch becomes more “resistant” in this way, the sugar molecules in it are no longer broken down and can no longer enter the bloodstream as easily as they would, for example, if you were eating freshly cooked rice.
But it gets better. Cooking and cooling starch also increases its fiber content. Any doctor will tell you that dietary fiber is good for you. People are usually told to eat fruits, vegetables, oats, etc. to increase their fiber intake. These are still valid prescriptions. But what if you could get the fiber you need by simply leaving your biryani in the fridge overnight?
If you’re skeptical about incredible medical discoveries, join the club. I’m notoriously skeptical of so-called discoveries, but these discoveries often explode as the next round of research occurs.
So, I imagine, the New York Times reported on this discovery and noted that it was “just another health hack on the Internet.” But after examining the evidence, the Times took the discovery seriously enough to feature it in its print.
That’s when I started paying attention to it. Variations of this paper have been circulating on YouTube and the web for several months now, and I’ve always been wary of claims about reheated starch.
But for now, I’m willing to give it a try. First, a chemistry class. And now this. It is clear that food left overnight has taste and health benefits and should be considered.
Take the leftover biryani with you!
