Food, Fire and Physics

What is meat made of?

Muscle fibers (proteins like actin and myosin) and connective tissue (collagen)

What kind of proteins are meats?

Fibrous proteins

What happens in a rare steak?

Myosin coagulates which increases firmness and expels water

What happens in a medium steak?

Collagen begins to contract and squeeze out water

What happens in a medium well steak?

Actin denatures, toughens, and dramatically squeezes out water

What happens in a well done steak?

Connective tissue dissolves into gelatin, and muscle fibers are no longer held together.

What is the difference between a tough cut of meat and a tender cut of meat?

A tough cut of meat has a lot of collagen(Chewy) , and a tender cut has less collagen. (easily cooked)

Does myosin or actin denature first?

Myosin, actin denatures last

Why are polysaccrides used to make plant based burgers?

To improve texture, consistency and water binding

Why are lipids used?

To intensify flavor, and improve mouth feel

Why are proteins used?

To create structure and texture of meat

Why is the extrusion process used?

To give veggie burgers meat like texture and to align the proteins.

What proteins are in flour? (forms gluten?)

Glutenin and gliaden

What is the difference between bread, all purpose, and cake flour?

The amount of gluten forming proteins

Where are starch granuels embedded?

in the network

Whats the difference between baking soda and baking powder?

Baking soda needs an acid to activate, but baking powder only needs water to activate

What happens in early baking?

Heat moves through the gluten network via conduction and convection of steam

What happens in mid baking? (Sponge-like texture)

Gluten proteins form crosslink bonds and starch granuels swell with water. Pressure builds up letting steam escape

What happens in late baking?

Dough fully sets, bubbles burst and water escapes

How do we make bread without gluten?

Adding a binder, more leavening, or adding more water

What are the five mother sauces?

Tomato, bechamel, veloute, espagonole, and hollangaise

What are 4 ways to thicken a sauce?

Starch, modernist thickeners, reduction, and emulsions

What is viscosity?

thickness of a fluid

What is reduction?

Takes the water out with heat

What is shear thickening and shear thinning?

Viscosity increases, and viscosity decreases

What does shearing do?

Orients the molecules and allows them to slide past eachother

What is a gel?

a network that traps a liquid

Are scrambled eggs gels?

Yes, they are

What is a sol?

Solid particles dispersed in a liquid

What are 2 carbohydrate-based gelling agents?

starch and pectin

What are protein based agents?

gelatin, egg proteins, milk proteins, and soy proteins

What is a set point and a melting point?

A set point is when gel forms, and a melting point is when gel melts and goes back to a liquid

What is a physical gel?

a network due to physical tangling

What is a chemical gel?

Strong bonds that cant be broken

What is an emulsion?

a liquid trapped inside a liquid

What is a foam?

A gas trapped inside a liquid

Why is a side to side motion more efficient when whipping egg whites?

because it provides more shear force

Why doesnt oil and water mix?

Oil is nonpolar, and water is polar

What does amphiphilic mean?

It attracts water and lipids

What is an emulsifier?

Reduces surface energy which prevents coalescence

What does a thickener/stablizer do?

keeps droplets separated from each other, and prevents creaming

What is a surfactant?

a molecule with a polar head and nonpolar tail

What is a spherical micelle?

polar head, nonpolar tail

What is crystal control?

manipulating temperture, concentration, and molecular structure

What are the stages of making candy?

Soft ball stage, firm ball stage, hard ball stage, soft crack stage, and hard crack stage

How to get the final form of chocolate?

melt everything and cooling enough to form crystals and then heat to get rid of unwanted crystals

Why do we temper chocolate?

To get rid of unwanted crystal structures

What happens when you add kinks to a saturated fatty acid?

It melts them at a lower temperture

What if theres no added kinks to a saturated fatty acid?

It is unsaturated

What is an emulsifier?

a surfactant used to stabilize emulsions