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Tag fats & oils
What Happens When Making Brown Butter?
Sometimes it’s amazing how a small process step can make such a big change in a food. Merely heating some butter, until it turns brown transform a yellow/white solid fat into a flavor bomb. It’s promoted from being just another…
The Chemistry of Olive Oil (And Why It’s Stored in Green Bottles!)
Ever stood in front of the shelf spaces full of olive oil bottles and cans and wondered why there are so many different types of packaging? Non-transparent plastic bottles, slim and tall transparent plastic bottles, oils in greenish plastic, some…
Swiss Meringue Buttercream Science – On Dissolving, Phase Transitions, Aeration & Denaturation
Up to not too long ago, I’d consider myself a muffin fan over a cupcake lover. I never really understood the craze around cupcakes with their (too) sweet toppings. But, that changed after seeing yet another season of Sugar Rush…
How to Make Trinidad Paratha Roti (Super Flaky Flatbread)
Most flatbreads are daily staple foods. They’re easy and quick to make, often without the need for an oven. This of an Indian chapati or a Greek pita bread. But just like you can make complicated breads such as croissants…
Why Do Some Peanut Butters Split? – Science of Peanut Oil
Have you ever noticed in stores that some peanut butters have a layer of clear liquid on top of the peanut butter? It doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s chunky or not, some brands just do. Other brands though do…
The Science of Ghee & How It’s Made
After kneading the chapati dough, rolling it into circles and baking it on our tawa, we never skip one essential last step. Adding a thin layer of ghee on top. Whereas the ghee is hard when it comes from the…
How to Choose Fats: Comparing Butter, Ghee, Lard, Etc.
We eat our freshly baked bread with a spread of butter (or margarine). Use lard (or shortening) in a pie crust. Can’t make a decent paratha or chapati without a good dollop of ghee. Yet they’re all fats and even…
Why not all butters are the same
If you’ve ever switched butter brands, and most of us probably have, you’ve probably noticed that one butter isn’t necessarily the same as another. Your new butter might be paler or yellower, harder or softer, more or less flavorful. So,…
Making Perfect Puff Pastry – Science of Flaky Layers
Making puff pastry sounds very daunting to a lot of home bakers. Folding and folding of doughs, butter sticking out, hours and hours of work. You might have seen contestants struggling with it on tv baking shows or you’ve read…
Why and When You Should Use Orange Zest Instead of Juice
If you want to bake something with an orange flavour, recipes will more often than not, not use orange juice. Instead, you will use orange zest (or both). But why is that the case? That orange zest is actually packed…
Hydrophilicity vs. Hydrophobicity – Importance of Water in Food
Sometimes a term might be so familiar to you that you use it all the time, whereas another person, who doesn’t know that term, has no idea what you’re talking about. When talking about science that can be quite a…
Food spoilage – Rancidity and food chemistry
Ever found back an old bag of peanuts that just didn’t taste or smell good anymore? A little sour maybe but otherwise just not as good as a fresh peanut? Or have you had a similar experience, but with butter? It’s…