Chemistry of Food & Cooking
Full project full project write up
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h3elQIChoKczh2G6CRSXzFT14VXBQY5iBPVCOAgzlkI
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h3elQIChoKczh2G6CRSXzFT14VXBQY5iBPVCOAgzlkI
Waffle Madness Reflection
The experiment was successful in helping us understand the characteristics of certain ingredients in the waffle however the larger picture of why consistency of the batter changed so drastically is still a mystery. Were able to find that sugar content allows for a more caramel texture and generally a better taste. Another point of interest we found was that cinnamon can help with taste but it is far more volatile in its results. We believe this comes from its flavor being overshadowed by the sugar. Through this, we learned how to subvert this by prioritizing one or the other allowing the flavor of one to be more pronounced. A few changes that could be made to the experiment would be making more waffles to have more data and to test and testing other variables. Some of the variables we would consider if we were to do this experiment again include milk content and the type of it. An example of different types of milk would be skim, 1%, 2%, etc, butter and whole milk. Another variable is the type of oil used to cook the waffle and the one introduced to ensure semi-liquid consistency. In our tests, we always used vegetable oil and we believe changing this out with another oil or liquid would improve taste or change the consistency.
Some of the ways we could have improved reliability of the results were serving all of the waffles hot. The reasoning behind this is because waffles rapidly lose texture and consistency if they are left out of the iron. This could have had adverse effects on our taste testers as waffles were served at different temperatures because of our need to cook the waffles during the taste tests to ensure flavor. Another correction that could have been made to our testing procedure was having all of the waffles be taste tested closer to each other. The final alteration is having the testers test individually to make sure that their conclusions were not influenced by each other.
In my own experience cooking a recipe for the first time is very similar to the scientific method in you take time to accurately measure as well as heat correctly. Other similarities include taking observations and remember ing them or writing them down. After this people usually cut corners to make the Process Faster or taste better without taking precise measurements or observations. This trend often only gets worse as time goes on because of the memorization of ingredients along with their effect on the food. Another set of differences is that safety is not as closely watched and measurements are often not precise and use imperial units. The safety concerns are different are mostly due to the processes and materials used. However, foods and substances like bacon, sausage, and boiling water run contrary to this. Contamination is often not a concern with cooks or again not as closely watched. The food scientist will, however, take extreme steps to stop contamination. Examples of this include sterilization of equipment as well as clean rooms are which are not uncommon in this field and many others in science. Cooks often use more chemically complex substances at the same time when a food scientist would either isolate the section of the recipe they are curious about or do the recipe on a small scale. Another thing cooks do is they test multiple variables at the same time.
The experiment was successful in helping us understand the characteristics of certain ingredients in the waffle however the larger picture of why consistency of the batter changed so drastically is still a mystery. Were able to find that sugar content allows for a more caramel texture and generally a better taste. Another point of interest we found was that cinnamon can help with taste but it is far more volatile in its results. We believe this comes from its flavor being overshadowed by the sugar. Through this, we learned how to subvert this by prioritizing one or the other allowing the flavor of one to be more pronounced. A few changes that could be made to the experiment would be making more waffles to have more data and to test and testing other variables. Some of the variables we would consider if we were to do this experiment again include milk content and the type of it. An example of different types of milk would be skim, 1%, 2%, etc, butter and whole milk. Another variable is the type of oil used to cook the waffle and the one introduced to ensure semi-liquid consistency. In our tests, we always used vegetable oil and we believe changing this out with another oil or liquid would improve taste or change the consistency.
Some of the ways we could have improved reliability of the results were serving all of the waffles hot. The reasoning behind this is because waffles rapidly lose texture and consistency if they are left out of the iron. This could have had adverse effects on our taste testers as waffles were served at different temperatures because of our need to cook the waffles during the taste tests to ensure flavor. Another correction that could have been made to our testing procedure was having all of the waffles be taste tested closer to each other. The final alteration is having the testers test individually to make sure that their conclusions were not influenced by each other.
In my own experience cooking a recipe for the first time is very similar to the scientific method in you take time to accurately measure as well as heat correctly. Other similarities include taking observations and remember ing them or writing them down. After this people usually cut corners to make the Process Faster or taste better without taking precise measurements or observations. This trend often only gets worse as time goes on because of the memorization of ingredients along with their effect on the food. Another set of differences is that safety is not as closely watched and measurements are often not precise and use imperial units. The safety concerns are different are mostly due to the processes and materials used. However, foods and substances like bacon, sausage, and boiling water run contrary to this. Contamination is often not a concern with cooks or again not as closely watched. The food scientist will, however, take extreme steps to stop contamination. Examples of this include sterilization of equipment as well as clean rooms are which are not uncommon in this field and many others in science. Cooks often use more chemically complex substances at the same time when a food scientist would either isolate the section of the recipe they are curious about or do the recipe on a small scale. Another thing cooks do is they test multiple variables at the same time.