Experimenting with Flavor Profiles

 

Strawberries with Balsamic Vinegar and Basil

Flavor Mixtures

Flavor Categories: Food flavors are broken into a few basic categories based on the taste receptors they bind to! These categories include sweet, fat, sour, bitter, salty, and umami. In order to better understand the characteristics and roles of each flavor categories, I mixed together a variety of ingredients and tasted the differences.

Umami- 

Base: Plain Orzo Pasta
Ingredients: Ham, and
Cheddar Cheese
Notes: In my observations, the savory umami flavor is most similar to sweet, but with more substance and depth to the taste. The cheese and ham complemented each other well in texture and flavor, bringing out the meaty qualities, it was quite tasty.

Salt-

Base: Plain Orzo Pasta
Ingredients: Parmesan,
Soy Sauce
Notes: The parmesan had the strongest flavor, but the soy sauce had a noticeable aftertaste, and seemed to emphasize the saltiness of the parmesan---a characteristic I do not frequently associate with cheese. If I did this again, I would try this one with more soy sauce, as it was a very small amount compared to the cheese and orzo.

Bitter- 

Base: Plain Orzo Pasta
Ingredients: Baking 
Cocoa (unsweetened),
Coconut Milk (unsweet)
Notes: The bitter mixture had a significant amount of flavor, yet it could almost be described as 'flat.' The bitterness was most noticeable after the initial taste, and despite the combination looking sweet, it was not. At all. 

Sour- 

Base: Plain Orzo Pasta
Ingredients: Coconut
Milk (unsweetened),
Lemon Juice
Notes: The tart lemon flavor greatly overpowered the mild coconut milk and bland orzo, and lasted into a long aftertaste. I did not eat much of this one! 

Fat: Orzo with Butter (bland, oily)

Sweet: Strawberries with Balsamic Vinegar and Basil on Bread (very sweet, the sharp vinegar and fresh basil brought out the sweetness and juices of the ripe strawberries)

* The sweet combination had the best flavors by far! *

Making Butter: Water, Taste, and Flavor in Mixtures

 Mixture: A combination of substances that does not change any of the chemical identities.

Butter

 This week, I made butter out of heavy whipping cream, and salt. The process was simple, requiring mixing the ingredients, "churning" them with a hand mixer, and washing, then kneading, the butter. 

It is important to remember that a main component in cream, and butter, is water. Since the particles are not dissolving into each other, but combining without significant chemical change, the molecules must be nonpolar, and responsible for the formation of a solid phase.

As I whisked, the butter began to separate from the buttermilk, which was drained. It formed a soft, clumpy consistency, that tasted fairly sweet and watery, despite the salt. The transition from liquid to solid went very well, I kept the mixture in a smaller container while mixing to ensure most of the energy was put into the solidifying butter. The final substance was a colloid mixture, a combination of ingredients with non-dissolved particles too small and well mixed to be separated. 

Once the butter formed into a smooth, creamy substance, I squeezed out the water I had used to wash and harden it, then molded it into a ball. It did not have much flavor, other than a faint, classically buttery taste. If I were to do this again, I would add a bit more salt, and remove the water wash a bit better. Not wanting to waste it, or eat plain-tasting butter, I split the butter into two batches; in one, I added some fresh garlic and seasoning to make garlic-butter, in the other, I added cinnamon, sugar, and nutmeg.

Once the butters had spent some time stiffening in the refrigerator, I tested them out on pieces of bread (assisted, of course, by everyone else in the house).

  

Food Observations

Baking Brownies

    This morning, I made a batch of brownies using a basic box mix. I combined the ingredients; pre-packed powder (containing carbohydrates), egg (a source of protein), oil (a lipid), and water (a form of macronutrient). Then I baked the batter, adding shredded coconut to the top to further satisfy my extreme sweet tooth. 

    When I pulled the brownies from the oven, the middle was still gooey and undercooked, even though the top was beginning to get crispy. After removing them from heat a second time, a few minutes later, the middle remained soft and melty without being under-done. The coconut was browned---very dark in some places---and quite crunchy when compared to the rest of the brownie.

   I suspect that placing the brownies on a lower shelf would have reduced the contrast (as the heating coils are on the top of my oven) and made the level of radiated heat more even, across the entire brownie surface, and in comparison to the levels of convection and conduction heat acting upon the dessert via the moving warm air and hot pan.

                                                                                                                                                    

                                                                           

   As we proceed with our exploration of science within cooking, I am curious about:

• What are some chemical changes caused by baking/heating?
• Why causes food to turn brown when it burns?
• What is the role of oil? And why do the different types make such a difference?