November 23: Thanksgiving!

For the first time this year, I was able to participate in the cooking on Thanksgiving! Due to my incompetence in the kitchen, in the past, I've been sent out to play football with the men in my family while everyone else, including my twin sister, got to stay inside and make dinner. And while I could attribute my mom's change of heart to the fact that my grandmother was not able to attend this year, I prefer to think that she'd seen my improvement over the past few weeks and no longer believes I would be a danger to myself or others in the crowded space 👍. Nonetheless, I was able to help cook some pretty awesome dishes this year and gain lots of experience! I helped make green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and homemade chicken nuggets for the people in my family that don't like turkey (pictures can be found in the media tab).  With the help of my family, I think they came out great! Overall, it was amazing to reach a milestone so early in the project. 

Baseline Tests: Apple Pie Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup water

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

Baseline Tests: Salmon Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 pound salmon fillets
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 5 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon dried dill weed

• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• sea salt to taste
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a medium baking dish.
2. Place salmon in the baking dish. Mix the butter and lemon juice in a small bowl, and drizzle over the salmon. Season with dill, garlic powder, sea salt, and pepper.
3. Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until salmon is easily flaked with a fork.

Baseline Tests: Madeleine Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup white sugar

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar for decoration

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Butter and flour 12 (3 inch) madeleine molds; set aside.
2. Melt butter and let cool to room temperature.
3. In a small mixing bowl, beat eggs, vanilla and salt at high speed until light.
4. Beating constantly, gradually add sugar; and continue beating at high speed until mixture is thick and pale and ribbons form in bowl when beaters are lifted, 5 to 10 minutes.
5. Sift flour into egg mixture 1/3 at a time, gently folding after each addition.
6. Add lemon zest and pour melted butter around edge of batter. Quickly but gently fold butter into batter. Spoon batter into molds; it will mound slightly above tops.
7. Bake 14 to 17 minutes, or until cakes are golden and the tops spring back when gently pressed with your fingertip.
8. Use the tip of the knife to loosen madeleines from pan; invert onto rack. Immediately sprinkle warm cookies with granulated sugar. Madeleines are best eaten the day they're baked. Leftover madeleines are wonderful when dunked into coffee or tea.
9. Variation: Chocolate Madeleines: Omit lemon zest. Increase sugar to 1/2 cup. Substitute 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder for 2 tablespoons of the flour; sift into batter with flour.

Apple Pie

Salmon, Bell Peppers, and Rice

Madeleines

My Scale

After doing some research and consulting various cooking and baking contests, I have developed a scale for grading all of the food I create throughout the quarter. My friends, family, and neighbors have thankfully agreed to use the scale to critique my work after eating it. The scale has 5 categories, each with a possible score of 1 to 5 (or in the worst cases, a 0). Accuracy refers to how well I follow the recipe, texture is included as a category, proportions refers to the balance of flavors and components, presentation refers to how nice the dish looks when plated.

Scale:

Accuracy: 1 2 3 4 5

Texture: 1 2 3 4 5

Proportions: 1 2 3 4 5

Presentation: 1 2 3 4 5

Overall Taste: 1 2 3 4 5

Total: _/25

The Science Behind Apple Pie

"Science Builds a Better Pie"

In the New York Times article, "Science Builds a Better Pie," biophysicist Amy Rowat details how science can help improve the classic apple pie. One heavy influencer on the pie's success is its crust's gluten structure, while it is necessary to form the pie, a gluten structure that is too extensive may toughen the crust, and no baker wants a rock-hard crust. Additionally, serving the pie at too high a temperature is a mistake, as molecules resting at a higher temps flow more rapidly; this causes a runny filling. Rowat also mention the importance or "pie geometry" and implementing "thickening molecules" to counteract any leaking liquids from the apples. When I make an apple pie again, I will consider all of Rowat's advice on building a better pie. 

November 18-19: Baseline Tests Part 3

Apple Pie

This apple pie was incredibly difficult to bake; it took a lot of effort and a lot of time out of the day. I think this pie looked surprisingly pretty (the picture doesn't do it much justice), but I missed the mark on just about every other category. The pie does not resemble what the recipe suggested it should look like, and therefore scores low on accuracy. Additionally the proportion of crust to filling was incredibly off balance, which was a big problem. My family, friends, and neighbors scored the pie like this: Accuracy- 2; Texture- 2; Proportions- 0; Presentation- 4; and Overall Taste- 3; leaving this pie with a score of 11/25. Apple pie is my favorite desert, thus I hope I can learn to get the proportions done correctly and learn how to easily make the crust.  

November 18-19: Baseline Tests Part 2

Salmon, Bell Peppers, and Rice

I will start by admitting that although this dish was far more successful than I ever imagined it would be, there were still many faults. The salmon, while it was cooking well, was more bland than I had planned it to be. The rice was strangely soft and undefined, and the peppers also did not have a great texture. Myself and others have scored this as follows: Accuracy- 3; Texture- 2; Proportions- 3; Presentation- 2; Overall Taste- 3; giving it a total score of 13/25. I believe I can definitely improve upon this score and in the future I will find more ways to add flavor and make sure that I am also paying attention to secondary parts of a meal, in this case, the rice and peppers.

November 18-19: Baseline Tests Part 1

To start the project, I thought it would be wise to begin with a few baseline tests. These are important because they will show where my skill sets currently lie. This way, I can focus on improvement. When I look back, I should be able to easily compare these dishes to ones from the future, which will hopefully be more successful. 

Madeleines

I began this process with madeleines, as they are one of my favorite deserts. The making of these cookies, however, was not very enjoyable. The madeleines lacked decent flavor, and tasted rather rubbery, to be honest. The Madeleines have been rated using the scale I have developed and been given the following scores by my friends and family: Accuracy- 2; Texture- 1; Proportions- 3; Presentation- 3; and Overall Taste- 2. This gives the Madeleines a total score of 11 out of a possible 25, definitely not the results I would be looking for. In the future, I will try to follow directions more carefully and avoid overbaking and burning.

About Me/ Introduction

Hi! I'm Lucy Milligan, a student involved in East Brunswick High School's Independent Learning: Choose Your Own Adventure work shop. For my quarter project, I've decided to focus on cooking, baking, and the science behind all things culinary! In the past, I have not been the best chef, in fact, I have struggled in even the simplest of home economics classes. However, I have often excelled in science and lab-based courses. My theory is that by combining science and cooking, it should make it easier for me to understand how to properly make food. Throughout the next eight weeks, I will be taking online cooking courses, researching ways science and cooking coincide, and (hopefully) improving my skills. To see how I'm doing in this process, look for the "My Progress" page and follow along with me as I work to "independently learn" how to succeed in the kitchen!