CHEMISTRY OF FOOD AND COOKING:
"NEW ORLEANS BEIGNETS"
reflection:
How does the ingredient you experimented with affect the food's overall characteristics?
When changing the main ingredient to making a beignet pastry, flour is a huge part in both baking and cooking. Four affects the overall taste and fluffiness to any baked good or pastry. For my experiment, I tested the taste and fluffiness of a beignet. Using different types of flour. All flours have different components and properties, in this experiment I tested using: Cake Flour, Whole Wheat Flour, and All-Purpose Flour. The research prior to making the beignets showed me how the properties in each flour affect the fluffiness of any baked good. The percentage of protein in each type of flour reacting to the yeast or even water makes a bond with those ingredients. Affecting the overall fluffiness of the beignets.
The overall taste of the beignets is created from the properties such as gluten being carried in the types of flour. However, I do believe that the oil I used to make the beignets affected the taste causing the beignets to lack of the flavors of the flour, sugar, and vanilla. If I used the corrected oil then it would have helped preserve the taste of all the ingredients. Giving a much better taste test. From my experiment with the different types of flours, the flours containing a higher percentage of gluten produced more chewy/ fluffy beignets. In my research it was the complete opposite, I found this information very interesting.
In what way(s) are cooking and doing science similar and in what way(s) are they different? How are a cook and a food scientist similar or different?
Seeing the connection between science and cooking, to see that every recipe has science behind it. Understanding that science can create new techniques in creating or improving the recipe. From my experience, starting this project we had to research, hypothesize and collect data. Those are the same process, that students have to go through when starting a lab or any science project. We go through with that mindset when cooking, we just don't know it. That for each ingredient we use, we are creating a chemical formula resulting in a full-course meal. Whether we add a little less or too much of an ingredient could affect the overall taste of the food.
Even though we may see a connection between the two, there is a difference with the professions of a cook and a food scientist. Food scientists mainly study microbiology and chemical properties of the food securing its safety for consumers. Cooks, on the other hand, don't focus on the chemistry behind the food. They prioritize the time by cooking food for the consumers.
When changing the main ingredient to making a beignet pastry, flour is a huge part in both baking and cooking. Four affects the overall taste and fluffiness to any baked good or pastry. For my experiment, I tested the taste and fluffiness of a beignet. Using different types of flour. All flours have different components and properties, in this experiment I tested using: Cake Flour, Whole Wheat Flour, and All-Purpose Flour. The research prior to making the beignets showed me how the properties in each flour affect the fluffiness of any baked good. The percentage of protein in each type of flour reacting to the yeast or even water makes a bond with those ingredients. Affecting the overall fluffiness of the beignets.
The overall taste of the beignets is created from the properties such as gluten being carried in the types of flour. However, I do believe that the oil I used to make the beignets affected the taste causing the beignets to lack of the flavors of the flour, sugar, and vanilla. If I used the corrected oil then it would have helped preserve the taste of all the ingredients. Giving a much better taste test. From my experiment with the different types of flours, the flours containing a higher percentage of gluten produced more chewy/ fluffy beignets. In my research it was the complete opposite, I found this information very interesting.
In what way(s) are cooking and doing science similar and in what way(s) are they different? How are a cook and a food scientist similar or different?
Seeing the connection between science and cooking, to see that every recipe has science behind it. Understanding that science can create new techniques in creating or improving the recipe. From my experience, starting this project we had to research, hypothesize and collect data. Those are the same process, that students have to go through when starting a lab or any science project. We go through with that mindset when cooking, we just don't know it. That for each ingredient we use, we are creating a chemical formula resulting in a full-course meal. Whether we add a little less or too much of an ingredient could affect the overall taste of the food.
Even though we may see a connection between the two, there is a difference with the professions of a cook and a food scientist. Food scientists mainly study microbiology and chemical properties of the food securing its safety for consumers. Cooks, on the other hand, don't focus on the chemistry behind the food. They prioritize the time by cooking food for the consumers.