Apartment Therapy: Food Science

Food Science: Calling All Questions!

It's a new year and we're starting to compile a brand new list of food science mysteries that need some explaining! Is there something in the kitchen that's always confused your sense of logic or made...

Candy-Making Basics: Quick Save for Cooked Sugar

"Candy"-making can get pretty "crazy"-making sometimes. The sugar boils faster than you thought, you forgot to measure out the cream, you can't find the recipe under the chaos on your counter - it hap...

Working with Yeast: Be Not Afraid!

When I talk to people about baking bread, one of the first things I usually hear is "Oh, but I'm afraid of yeast." So if you feel this way, you are definitely not alone! I'm not going to try and convi...

Food Science: What is Cream of Tartar?

This is a question that has bugged us for quite some time! What is cream of tartar? Is it natural? What does it do? And please tell us it has nothing to do with the tartar that dentists talk about......

Quick Tip: Cook with a Clean Slate

When you're building the base for a soup or braise, things can get chaotic pretty quick in that pan. To make sure each new ingredient added gets its own quality time with the hot surface of the pan, c...

Look! Robot Cooking Okonomiyaki

Check this out! At a recent International Next-Generation Robot Fair in Osaka, Japan, Yaskawa Electric demonstrated a robot called the Motoman SDA10 that can cook okonomiyaki, among other things. Yo...

Food Science: The Science Behind Nonstick Cooking Spray

Nonstick cooking sprays like Pam and Mazola are convenient to use and boast fat-free cooking. But these products have also always seemed to us like one of those strange slightly-mystical products akin...

What's the Deal with Blackstrap Molasses?

As the star ingredient in cookies, cakes, and other holiday baking, molasses really gets its heyday this time of year! But not all kinds can be used interchangeably, particularly blackstrap molasses.....

Good Question: Ingredient Substitutions in a Cake Recipe?

We're a little late answering this question from Liz, but it's still a good one for the holiday season ahead! I have discovered David Lieberman's Fresh Ginger Cake recipe on Epicurious and am looking...

Food Science: Why Do Crustaceans Turn Reddish-Orange When Cooked?

Have you ever wondered why lobster, shrimp, crab, crawfish, and other crustaceans turn a bright orange-red when cooked? No, they aren't blushing from embarrassment. It's a simple question answered w...

Holiday Meals: Food Safety Reminder!

As you're basting your turkeys and stressing over pie crusts, don't forget to keep an eye on food safety! Here's a few key food safety issues to be aware of:...

Food Science: Tryptophan and Post-Thanksgiving Sleepiness

For eons upon eons (or at least the past few decades), we've blamed post-Thanksgiving drowsiness tryptophan, an amino acid found in turkey meat. Is this really fair, or should we be pointing our finge...

Technique: How to Make and Use a Bain Marie

A bain marie (ban mah-REE) is the fancy term for a hot water bath. It's used for cooking delicate foods like custards and terrines to create a gentle and uniform heat around the food. Here's how!...

Food Science: The Difference Between White Meat and Dark Meat

It seems like there's a new theory, trick, or technique every year for making sure the white and dark meat on a turkey cook evenly. What's all the fuss about? Let's take a look......

Quick Tip: How to Ripen Green Tomatoes

Though it's getting cold and blustery outside, we've still been seeing plenty of green tomatoes at the farmer's markets! If green tomatoes aren't your thing or you really have your heart set on one la...

Candy-Making Basics: Do You Use Wood or Metal Spoons?

When first learning to work with sugar back in culinary school, we were taught to only use a clean metal spoon to prevent crystallization while the sugar was melting. This and the vision of our chef p...

Recipe Rescue! How to Save a Broken Buttercream

If you've been baking long enough or simply made enough frosting, surely you've had your lovely buttercream break into greasy, grainy clumps of sugary butter at least once. If not, at least tell us yo...

Food Science: How is Instant Coffee Made?

Instant coffee starts off as, well, coffee! But how does it get from freshly-brewed cuppa to powdery flake? Therein lies the science......

Do You Ever Use Egg "Products"?

We've never actually cooked with egg products or liquid eggs like EggBeaters, preferring to stick with whole eggs that we can crack ourselves. But every once in a while we come across a recipe that ca...

Weekend Cooking: What to Cook with Cheap Cuts of Meat

Save money and get a delicious meal? Yes please! Lazy weekend afternoons are the perfect time for cooking something low and slow, filling the house with yummy smells. And even better, the best cuts of...

Last Garden Update: Corking Chili Peppers

We pulled in the last batch of chili peppers from our garden this week and noticed several peppers had funny whitish brown marks on their sides like in the picture above. What's going on? Find out aft...

Food Science: The Anatomy of a Pie Crust

While you're busy dreaming up delicious pies to serve at your holiday dinners - or submit to our Best Pie Bake Off! - we thought we'd give you a tour of the part of the pie that sometimes gives us tro...

Does Putting a Spoon into Champagne Keep it Bubbly?

You may have heard the one about putting the end of a silver spoon down into an open bottle of champagne. The story goes that it keeps a bottle bubbly for days after you pop the cork. We've done it—...

Candy-Making Basics: The Stages of Cooked Sugar

When making candy, we most often just follow the temperatures in the recipe and pay little attention to the actual stage. But it can be interesting to look at the stages side-by-side and realize what ...

Food Science: The Low-Down on High-Fructose Corn Syrup

Corn syrup, and especially high-fructose corn syrup, is our nation's dietary villain du jour - and not without some good reasons. In all the debates surrounding this ingredient, it's usually assumed t...

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Posts tagged “Food Science”