I was preparing a tomato sauce with seafood and linguine this week.  Once the water was boiling and I tossed the pasta into the pot, I turned to my last step in the preparation, adding the seafood to the simmering sauce, now fragrant with garlic and fresh herbs from my garden and even half a fennel bulb I’d sliced and sauted with the onions.  I had a small pile of bay scallops, some rings of calamari and about half a dozen shrimp.  Once they hit the sauce and I stirred them in, I covered the pot and waited.  What was I waiting for?  For the shrimp to turn from steel gray to peachy pink, and for the calamari and scallops to transition from opaque to a pure white.

Food preparation is all about science, and science is something I sadly know little about.  But, fortunately for most of us, science camouflages itself in a variety of guises when it comes to cooking.  Flavor, for instance.  Scent.  And, of course, color.  Those of us who cook rely on these guises to help us along, keep us safe and please our palates.  But, we really can’t forget that the chemistry behind the creation of a meal is what determines its outcome.

How else does color serve as a virtual timer?  Immediately I think of recipe instructions like “Beat eggs until light”.  Or “beat butter until it turns a soft yellow”.  We know meat is rare because it’s got a red interior.  If chicken is pink inside we know it needs more time to cook.  We brown meat and vegetables.  We saute onions until translucent or they start to brown.  But, we don’t want butter to brown.  Or garlic.  If we pay attention to color while we cook, we learn all about timing.  And, it makes us better cooks.

Some of the best examples of color as an automatic timer have to do with produce.  Let’s look at green vegetables, like beans or asparagus or Swiss chard.

Blanche, steam or saute greens briefly and they put on a vibrant show.  It’s all that heat that causes the gases around vegetable cells to expand and escape, according to a piece I once read in Sunset magazine.  It allows you to see the beans’ green pigment—the chlorophyll—in its clearest state.  But, it’s only that first blast of heat that does it.  Keep on cooking the green veggies or cook them covered or in just a little water and you'll find that gorgeous, brilliant color fade and turn to a grayish olive tint.  What’s happening?  That unstable chlorophyll is being attacked and the cells begin to escape.  The whole chemical structure has shifted.  And, they aren’t going to taste very good either.  If you don’t pay attention to color, you’ll have overcooked greens.

The heat/color relationship is especially dramatic when it comes to one of my favorite farmers market beans, Dragon Tongues.

These gorgeous swirls of purple and cream are just so sexy and appealing.  But the uninitiated are bound to be disappointed when they take them home and put them in the pot.  Cooking Dragon Tongues causes their color to fade away to a shadow of their sexy selves.  The good news is that they are delicious raw, so make a nice yogurt- or buttermilk-based dipping sauce or slice them into a salad for the visual wow! factor.

Another strange color phenomenon that surprises home cooks is the transition red cabbage makes to blue when it’s cooked.  The red needs acids like lemon juice or vinegar to maintain the color.  Neglect to add it and you’ll wind up with a very weird looking blue veggie.

In fact, acid is a must for peeled and sliced potatoes, artichokes and apples that aren’t going to be cooked right away.  It keeps them from turning brown when the air hits them.  On the other hand, acid can destroy green vegetable color, turning them an unappetizing yellowy gray-green.  More chemistry, of course, but to avoid a clash of atoms, simply wait to add dressing to vegetables until you’re about to serve them.

Finally, there’s blackening veggies with a skin, like peppers.  I adore roasted red or yellow or orange peppers marinated in olive oil, garlic, herbs, salt and pepper.

Or peppers tossed in olive oil, garlic and balsamic vinegar.  They make a lovely appetizer on their own or add a magnificent dimension to a grilled sandwich filled with roasted eggplant, a fat Portobello mushroom, some fresh greens, thinly sliced red onions and provolone.

And, how do you prepare these peppers for a marinade?  If you have a gas stove top, grill the peppers over the flame until the skin turns black.  If not, simply put them on a sheet of foil stabilized by a flat pan and run them under the broiler, turning them periodically until they blacken.  Then put the peppers in a plastic or paper bag, seal the bag and let them steam for about 15 minutes.  At that point, you can easily peel that burnt skin and find racy red, but now softened peppers that you can slice into strips and layer with olive oil, garlic and other ingredients.  From red to black to an even more dazzling red.

It’s all in the timing, and color can be your guide.

Caron Golden is an award-winning freelance writer who has enjoyed years of travel writing, with visits to Australia, Canada (both coasts), England, France, Amsterdam, Baja California and lots of U.S. cities.  Caron is also a passionate foodie and first-class gourmet shopper.

She shares her food finds daily on www.SanDiegoFoodstuff.com and on Gourmet Club Friday afternoons at 1:00 PST (www.signonradio.com ), where she is a regular guest host.

Recently I was giving a workshop and talking about the importance of colour to a meal.  One of the participants sniggered and asked if I was suggesting that she add food colouring to her food.  Actually, I was referring, in part, to the revised Canada Food Guide.

The cover of the Canada Food Guide is designed to resemble a rainbow instead of the traditional pyramid.  Colour is used to provide variety to your diet and they recommend that you should eat at least one dark green and one orange vegetable every day.

There are plenty of dark greens, like spinach, broccoli, kale and a variety of lettuces but when it comes to orange vegetables it is a little more difficult to think beyond carrots.

However, peppers come in orange and pumpkins also jump to mind.  At another workshop last week at Boularderie Elementary School, the students added yams or sweet potatoes and winter squash to the list.

There are other reasons to paint the plate, so to speak.  When a meal is colourful it increases the appetite which is beneficial to people who are recovering from an illness and have lost their appetite.  Children also respond better to a colourful dinner plate.

Colour combinations can also be created by adding fresh fruit to your vegetable choices.  Although many people still think that it is odd to serve fruit with meat, fish or poultry dishes, slices of melon, berries, citrus, pears, and other fruit actually enhances the flavours of the meat, poultry or fish.  And it supplies a healthy boost of fiber.

Using fruit juices when cooking is another way to enrich the flavours.  After frying chicken breasts in olive oil try adding mango juice over the meat and cover the pan with a lid.  Allow the chicken to simmer for fifteen minutes.  It is very tasty.

Stews and broths should always be prepared with a variety of colourful vegetables that maintain their colours and consistency after cooking.

Dark stews, chili, french onion soup or borscht can be made more colourful by adding chopped chives, parsley, shredded cheese, yogurt or a dollop of sour cream with a bright green blade of basil on top.

Many restaurants prefer to plate their food on white porcelain.  Darker coloured plates, pastels or patterned china has a tendency to bleed away the colour of food and remove some of its distinctness which is part of its appeal.  The plate should never compete with what is on it or make the food appear pale in colour.

Another tip is balance which is provided by contrasting the food on the plate.  White fish likes a touch of parsley or a dab of red bell pepper paste.  Roast or grilled meats brighten with a serving of chutney beside or on top of it.  A slice of goat cheese or cream cheese on top of a well-done steak makes it look less brown.

Or serve the serving of roast or other dark meats on a bed of tomato slices.  Pasta dishes served with cheese sauces really deserve grapes, cut in half and placed as a rim around the plate.

Always be careful serving fresh fruits or vegetables that have a tendency to darken.  Slices of avocado or eggplant are best prepared just before serving and if they must be prepared ahead of time, bathe them in lemon juice and salt.  Horseradish also has a tendency to turn black after it is shredded.

Just before Easter one of my Ukranian friends gave me a jar of homemade horseradish and red beets.  The sweetness from the beets and the rough peppery taste from the horseradish was delicious and I served it with hard-boiled eggs.

Another way to brighten the table is to serve a mixed salad.  I prefer a large bowl set on the middle of the table.  Often, I will fill small dishes with a variety of different vegetables so that guests can add the veggies they like to their salad.  Again, it provides a colourful table topped off with a basket containing a variety of breads in various textures and colours.

Lars Willum is the host and producer of the popular television cooking program Be My Guest.

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