I hear a lot about tempering when it comes to metal, glass and cooking (tempering chocolate or tempering custard)
What exactly is tempering? How do you do it? How does it work scientifically?
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Since others have covered tempering as it pertains to material science, I’ll cover the cooking part.
Many ingredients (eggs in particular, along with anything made with eggs) tend to ‘curdle’ when heated. This is caused by changes in the proteins that make up the material, and it’s what happens when you scramble eggs. Tempering is the act of very slowly mixing a hotter liquid like boiling water into the ingredient so as to gradually raise its temperature. This is done so that the ingredient stays smooth and fluid without hardening or curdling.
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