Chemistry of Food and Cooking, Rich and Leaven-ly Muffins
How does cooking transform food and how can these transformations be understood as chemical processes?
Most of what you cook undergoes something called a chemical process, even if you just microwave a quick snack. When you bake pastries, like muffins in my experiment, there is a chemical reaction that occurs to make the dough rise. If you add chocolate chips to the pastry, then the chocolate chips melt and re harden. This completely changes the crystal structure of the chocolate. An egg in its uncooked state, it consists of a liquid with small amounts of protein dispersed through it. When that egg is placed in a boiling pot of water, the proteins break apart and form again denser.
Google defines a chemical process as "a method or means of somehow changing one or more chemicals.... involves a chemical reaction of some sort." Both of the examples above are chemical processes because both examples involve food changing from one state to another through a chemical reaction.
How can we design an experiment and measure the qualities and desirability of a finished recipe both quantitatively and qualitatively in order to determine the success of our recipe experimentation?
I thought we had to do all four questions but I realized halfway through this one.
In basically every experiment, there is at least one way to measure the qualities both qualitatively and quantitatively. Qualitative results consist of information that is not measured mathematically, but instead measured using things like sight and feeling. Seeing the bubbles fizz up from a baking soda and vinegar reaction would be qualitative results. However these results can be openly disputed among scientists, because they all are experiencing the experiment in different ways. On the other hand, quantitative results are made up of mathematical information that can be precisely measured with tools. Measuring the change in the height of muffins in my experiment is an example of quantitative results. Quantitative results are undisputable numerical results that all scientists can agree on.
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?
If you think about it, cooking and doing science are basically the same thing. Everything you cook has ingredients, and those ingredients need to be added in perfect proportion to get a desired result. The same is true in science, specifically in chemical reactions. In a chemical reaction, you need specific amounts of each reactant to get a desired product. The only difference between cooking and science is ingredients are measured in tablespoons and cups, whereas reactants are measured in grams and moles.
Also, there are chemical reactions occuring every time you cook. When you bake pastries, like muffins in my experiment, there is a chemical reaction that occurs to make the dough rise. When you boil an egg, there are amino acids in the yolk break apart and re-form into a denser protein.
However, there are some parts to cooking are slightly different from science. If you are a cook, you are looking for a specific tasting food, like the softest cookies or the creamiest ice cream. However if you are a food scientist, you are not specifically seeking one result, you are experimenting to test a hypothesis and learn about new outcomes.
Most of what you cook undergoes something called a chemical process, even if you just microwave a quick snack. When you bake pastries, like muffins in my experiment, there is a chemical reaction that occurs to make the dough rise. If you add chocolate chips to the pastry, then the chocolate chips melt and re harden. This completely changes the crystal structure of the chocolate. An egg in its uncooked state, it consists of a liquid with small amounts of protein dispersed through it. When that egg is placed in a boiling pot of water, the proteins break apart and form again denser.
Google defines a chemical process as "a method or means of somehow changing one or more chemicals.... involves a chemical reaction of some sort." Both of the examples above are chemical processes because both examples involve food changing from one state to another through a chemical reaction.
How can we design an experiment and measure the qualities and desirability of a finished recipe both quantitatively and qualitatively in order to determine the success of our recipe experimentation?
I thought we had to do all four questions but I realized halfway through this one.
In basically every experiment, there is at least one way to measure the qualities both qualitatively and quantitatively. Qualitative results consist of information that is not measured mathematically, but instead measured using things like sight and feeling. Seeing the bubbles fizz up from a baking soda and vinegar reaction would be qualitative results. However these results can be openly disputed among scientists, because they all are experiencing the experiment in different ways. On the other hand, quantitative results are made up of mathematical information that can be precisely measured with tools. Measuring the change in the height of muffins in my experiment is an example of quantitative results. Quantitative results are undisputable numerical results that all scientists can agree on.
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?
If you think about it, cooking and doing science are basically the same thing. Everything you cook has ingredients, and those ingredients need to be added in perfect proportion to get a desired result. The same is true in science, specifically in chemical reactions. In a chemical reaction, you need specific amounts of each reactant to get a desired product. The only difference between cooking and science is ingredients are measured in tablespoons and cups, whereas reactants are measured in grams and moles.
Also, there are chemical reactions occuring every time you cook. When you bake pastries, like muffins in my experiment, there is a chemical reaction that occurs to make the dough rise. When you boil an egg, there are amino acids in the yolk break apart and re-form into a denser protein.
However, there are some parts to cooking are slightly different from science. If you are a cook, you are looking for a specific tasting food, like the softest cookies or the creamiest ice cream. However if you are a food scientist, you are not specifically seeking one result, you are experimenting to test a hypothesis and learn about new outcomes.