Baking Soda + Potatoes = ???

Above are the potatoes used within this experiment (Home Fries)!

Welcome back to my last and final experiment for the semester! :) While skimming through The Science of Good Cooking, I found something that caught my interest. I read about baking soda and potatoes. I always thought baking soda would just be for baking but in this case, it works for hearty cooking as well! I wanted to try one of their recipes and see if it actually worked. They claimed if you add baking soda to boiling water to blanch the potatoes, it will make them crispier!

What’s the science?

Adding just ½ a teaspoon to 10 cups of boiling water helps make the outside of the potato very crisp and brown because “alkaline baking soda triggers a chain reaction that literally unzips the backbone of the pectin molecules (holds the potato cells together) and causes them to fall apart. This requires only enough alkali to raise the pH of the water high enough to start the reaction, after which it becomes self-sustaining” (Science of Good Cooking 247). Once you boil these potato pieces with baking soda, the pectin molecules are broken apart or unzipped and when you put them in the oven, they will start to crisp because that reaction has started already! Interesting right?

My hypothesis: If I add baking soda to boiling water, then it will make the outside of the potato cube crunchier and browner than if I don’t add baking soda to boiling water.

Independent Variable: Baking Soda

Dependent Variable: Crunchiness and Brownness (Scale of 1-10)

How did I keep this controlled?

I baked both batches in the same oven, used all of the same cooking tools, pans, etc., followed the recipe exactly the same way for both batches minus the baking soda for one batch, baked each for the same amount of time, and used the same type of potato.

In an ideal world…

I would have a more scientific way to measure the crunchiness and the brownness. I didn’t have any tools to determine how crunchy or brown the potato cubes were and that is one thing I would change. Also, I would have had someone help me so I could have put both batches in at the exact same time. To further my experiment, I would have doubled the amount of baking soda to see if it would make the potato cubes even crunchier and browner.

Ingredients Used:

3 ½ pounds of russet potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes

½ tsp baking soda

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Steps To Make Home Fries:

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F and place rimmed baking sheet on lowest rack

2. Bring 10 cups of water to boil

3. Add potatoes and baking soda

4. Return to boil and cook for 1 minute

5. Drain potatoes and return potatoes to low heat in pot

6.  Shake pot frequently for 2 minutes and until the surface moisture is evaporated

7.   Add butter and 1 ½ tsp of salt after removing from heat

8.   Stir with spatula until there is a thick starchy paste coating (about 30 seconds)

9.   Remove preheated baking sheet from oven and drizzle with 2 Tbsp. of oil

10.   Transfer the potatoes from the pot to the pan (even layer)

11.   Roast for 15 minutes

12.   Remove from oven and flip over the cubes

13.   Place back in oven for 15 minutes

14.   Remove and let cool

15.   Enjoy!

(Ingredients and steps were used from The Science of Good Cooking book.

What happened?!

Below shows a picture of the finished product. The pan on the right are the potatoes without baking soda water and the pan on the left are the potatoes with baking soda water. They look similar in this picture, but in person they did have a difference!

Below is a picture of the 10 pieces I used! the ones on the left are the potatoes without baking soda water and the ones on the right are the potatoes with the baking soda water. Here you can see quite a difference! 

                                                    

Potato Cube	Baking Soda (crunchiness)	No Baking Soda (crunchiness)	Baking Soda (brownness)	No Baking Soda (brownness)
1	10	2	10	3
2	8	5	8	6
3	10	10	10	10
4	3	4	4	4
5	3	6	5	7
6	4	2	5	3
7	7	2	8	3
8	9	4	9	5
9	8	5	9	6
10	8	4	9	5

The average crunchiness for the baking soda cubes was 7. The average brownness for the baking soda cubes was 7.7. The average crunchiness for the non-baking soda cubes was 4.4 The average brownness for the non-baking soda cubes was 5.2. Overall, the baking soda cubes were crunchier and browner. My hypothesis was supported. Yet, as you could see in the picture above, the non-baking soda cubes did get a good brown around them! They were not nearly as crunchy as the baking soda cubes though. This makes complete sense because the alkaline within the baking soda broke down the pectin, allowing the outside of the cubes to get more heat and turn crunchy while the potato cubes without the baking soda had a harder time of getting that heat! 

The take home lesson is this: use baking soda when trying to make potatoes crispy! It really works! :)

My First Attempt at Home-Made Vanilla Pudding!

 Above is a picture of all the ingredients I used. :)

Welcome back to Nina’s Kitchen! :) For this experiment I was curious to see if Almond Milk would affect home-made pudding! Being somewhat sensitive to milk, I always drink Almond Milk. I figured since regular 2% milk has 8% total fat, 8% cholesterol, 16% protein, and 18% saturated fat, then the regular 2% milk would make the pudding richer and condense. It is also less pasteurized than Almond Milk which would help thicken the pudding. Almond Milk has 3% total fat and no % of saturated fat. It has 0% cholesterol and less than one gram of protein. Since there is no saturated fat in Almond Milk, there are no fatty acid chains packing together tightly, unlike in 2% milk. This is why I believe Almond Milk will make the pudding less rich and maybe a bit watery!

Hypothesis: If I use Almond Milk instead of 2% milk in home-made pudding, then the pudding will be less thick and more watery than the pudding with 2% milk.

Independent Variable: Using Almond Milk instead of 2% milk

Dependent Variable: consistency of the pudding (thickness)

How did I keep this controlled??

I used the same exact recipe from The Science of Good Cooking book by America’s Test Kitchen, I cooked the mixture for the exact same amount of time, I cooked both at the same time with the same stove top oven, and I put both puddings in the same fridge at the same temperature for the same amount of time.

How did I measure this?

I took a cup of the pudding and turned the measuring cup over and timed how long it took for the pudding to leave the cup and reach the bowl. I waited until all of the pudding was out of the cup.

In an ideal world…

I would have used the exact same sauce pans to make the pudding in. I wanted to cook them both at the same time to get them in the fridge at the same time and did not have two of the same sauce pans. I would also have used two of the same bowls to put them in in the fridge. Since pudding takes so long to set, I had to get both in at the same time. I did not have two similar bowls to use which may alter the results. Also, I could not find whole milk at the grocery store and had to use 2% milk, this may alter the cooking process a little bit. I would have also found a different way to measure the thickness because timing the seconds to pour out the pudding was not the most accurate way! 

Ingredients Used!

·         3 tsp vanilla extract

·         ½ cup sugar

·         2 Tbsp. cornstarch

·         ¼ tsp salt

·         3 large egg yolks

·         ½ cup heavy cream

·         2.5 cups whole milk

·         5 Tbsp. butter

·         Silk PureAlmond Light Milk (replace with whole milk in other mixture)

What to do with these ingredients?

1.      Whisk the sugar, cornstarch and salt together in a large saucepan.

2.      Add the egg yolks and cream and whisk those in the same large saucepan as well.

3.      Finally add the milk and whisk.

4.      Put saucepan over medium heat and cook while whisking constantly for 5-8 minutes.

Below is a picture of the 2% milk pudding mixture in the saucepan.

Below is a picture of the Almond Milk pudding mixture in the saucepan.

5.      Remove from heat and add butter and whisk.

6.      When butter is fully melted then add vanilla extract.

7.      Strain the pudding into a bowl and place in fridge for at least four hours.

8.      Take out when done and serve!

What happened?!

Unfortunately, the pudding did not ever set. I’m not sure if I messed something up during the cooking portion or if it was the ingredient portion. Either way, both of the puddings were still liquid after hours of setting! Here were my results of how many seconds it took to pour the pudding:

Seconds	Almond Milk	2% Milk
Try 1	3.8	4.4
Try 2	3.7	4.6
Try 3	3.9	4.3
Try 4	3.6	4.3
Try 5	3.7	4.5

The average amount of time it took for the Almond Milk to pour out was 3.74 seconds and the 2% milk average was 4.42. My hypothesis was rejected. The Almond Milk seemed much smoother than the regular milk, although both were liquid basically. The taste was phenomenal! Both were very sweet and had a great vanilla flavor. The Almond Milk pudding actually tasted better than the regular milk which was an interesting surprise! 

As you can see, the Almond Milk bar on the left was greater in seconds of the poor than the 2% milk bar on the right. 

Below is a picture of the 2% milk final pudding.

Below is a picture of the Almond Milk final pudding.

I guess my home-made pudding didn't turn out as I wanted it to, but I went out of my comfort level and tried something I have never done before! 

How To Make A Juicy Burger....

 For this experiment, I wanted to see which way of cooking would make the juiciest burger! I was interested in pan frying, grilling, and cooking in the oven. After discussions in class, I figured the burgers cooked in the oven would be the juiciest because of the radiation and convection heating. The oven uses radiation and convection heat by transferring heat in the air to the burger as well as transferring the heat from the pan to the burger. It also uses conduction because the outside of the burger transfers heat to the inside of the burger. The pan fry uses convection heat because the burger is touching the pan and the oil that’s on the pan. The grill uses convection heat as well because the two sides of the George Foreman are touching the burger, transferring heat that way. My theory was that broiling the burger would make it the juiciest because broiling keeps the juices in by using the radiant and convection heat.

What Did I Think Would Happen?

My hypothesis was: If I grill, pan fry, and broil a burger, then the broiled burger would be the juiciest.

Independent Variable: The Cooking Method (Grill, Pan Fry, and Broil)

Dependent Variable: Juiciness (Weight of the burger before and after cooked)

How Did I Control This Experiment?

            I used all of the same burgers for each cooking method. I followed the instructions on the Great Value Beef Burgers package for each cooking method to make sure every burger was cooked medium well.

In an ideal world…

            I would have had a thermometer to make sure the burgers were all cooked to the exact same temperature. I would have used a more precise scale than the scale that I had. I would have made sure all of the burgers were cooked medium-well. Also, I would have retrieved all the juices from the burgers to see how much liquid was lost, which may help further this experiment. The last thing I would change is use an oven that has a broil setting. My gas oven has no settings and just heats up. In an ideal world, I would use an electric oven that has a broil setting.

What I Used:

            Great Value 100% Pure Beef Burgers (80% lean, 20% fat)

How I Cooked These Burgers:

George Foreman Grilling:

1.      Preheat grill

2.      Spray with pam

3.      Place burgers on grill

4.      Let cook for 6-8 minutes flipping halfway through the grill time

5.      Take off and let sit for 5-10 minutes

Below is a picture of the patty on the George Foreman

Below is a picture of the grilled patties.

Broil:

1.      Preheat oven to 325 deg F

2.      Place burgers on pan 2 inches away from each other

3.      Cook in oven for approximately 18 minutes flipping halfway through

4.      Take out and let sit for 5-10 minutes

Below is a picture of the two patties in the oven.

Below is a picture of the patties that were cooked in the oven.

Pan Fry:

1.      Preheat skillet to 325 deg F or medium temperature

2.      Fry burgers for 5-8 minutes flipping frequently

3.      Take off and let sit for 5-10 minutes

Below is a picture of uncooked the patty on the pan. 

Below is a picture of the pan fried patties. 

What Did I Find Out?

	Uncooked Burgers	Cooked Burgers
Oven 1	.45 lbs	.5 lbs
Oven 2	.45 lbs	.5 lbs
Grill 1	.45 lbs	.48 lbs
Grill 2	.45 lbs	.49 lbs
Pan Fry 1	.45 lbs	.48 lbs
Pan Fry2	.45 lbs	.5 lbs

Above is a graph of my experiment. The blue represents the uncooked burgers and their weight and the red represents the cooked burgers and their weight. 

My hypothesis was supported with this experiment. The burgers that were in the oven weighed heavier compared to their uncooked weight than the rest of the other burgers. I believe this happened because the pan fry fries off a lot of the liquid and the grill squeezes the juices out by the top of the grill compressing on the burger. Although putting a burger in the oven creates juiciness, the burger itself did not look pleasant and was falling apart. The grilled burgers came out intact and still were pretty juicy. There wasn't much different within the juiciness of the burgers with the varying methods so although my hypothesis was supported, grilling burgers may be the way to go just as most have done and continue to do!