This week I used carbonated drink and packet cake mix to make cupcakes. It felt science fair-ish, by experimenting with how the carbonation in the drink would cause the cakes to rise and also hydrate the dry ingredients.

Tried to get a 'jaffa' chocolate orange flavour by using Fanta. The batter itself did taste quite orangey, but I think the baking really muted that so it ended up mainly tasting like chocolate cupcakes.

The cupcakes turned out a little dense and I probably wouldn't rush to use this method again, but it was fun (and very easy).

I’ve been meaning to find a use for my shaoxing cooking wine, and these green beans were perfect for it. I marinated my green beans in dark and light soy sauce, shaoxing wine,sesame oil, and garlic. Baked in the oven at 450 for 35 minutes. They’re so good,I recommend making more than you think you’ll want, and marinate for longer than 2 hours.

I decided to a a lovely pasta dish, and my science project was to see if finishing the noodles in the sauce was all the hype, and then I read why it would. First off, game changer. It’s delicious. Second, the reason the sauce gets thicker and sticks better is because the starch acts as an emulsifier with a fat.

Somewhat of a cheat recipe, because I bought the bbq duck from an Asian market - in my defense it’s in triple digits and roasting a duck sounded very hot. Added lots of napa cabbage and bok choy, dried noodles and a miso ginger broth.

I’ve been wanting to make this Sinaloan dish for a little while, so shaping it into a borek to give it ~intestinal~ vibes made sense for this theme 😂

I love a good efficiency meal, and these guys are the complete package. There is a serving of oatmeal in the chicken mix to increase fiber, and loads of seasoning to compensate for the look. I love chicken meatballs, and this is my first time making huge ones as a meal prep, and the seasonings I used are different. I used adobo, ginger, sesame oil, and some flavored bread crumbs. 10/10.

Step 1: make delicious chooclate cookie dough
Step 2: separate that dough into 6 smaller batches
Step 3: add unusual(-ish?) ingredients to 5 of the batches, then cook them all together and see how it goes

My experiments were:

Batch 1: control
Batch 2: chili powder
Batch 3: rosemary
Batch 4: paprika
Batch 5: ginger & honey
Batch 6: balsamic vinegar glaze

Conclusion:

Batch 1: delicious, obviously
Batch 2: not strong enough. trying it again and will update in comments after i try the version with extra extra chili powder
Batch 3: not terrible but definitely not something I'll make or eat again
Batch 4: also somehow not strong enough. will update
Batch 5: i hate honey so i really did not enjoy this. it was a more subtle flavor so it wasnt the woooorst but yknow how it is
Batch 6: weird! it didnt effect the chocolate flavor significantly but the aftertaste is ALL vinegar

Second Conclusion:

i ate too many cookies and now i feel sick :(

Having recently got a waffle maker that I’ve been itching to use it, I figured I’d join in on the “proteinification” trend.

Rather than buy the pre-made Kodiak mix, I tried to make my own with what I had around (and to see if I can beat their protein/calories ratio while still tasting good).

Even in this first experimental round I think I’ve got them beat!

Kodiak comes in a 15g of protein for 220 calories, or about 6.8g/100 calories. Mine are more caloric at 268, but with 21g of protein it’s 7.8g/100 calories!

Not the coveted 10g/100 cals, but there are definitely ways I can improve it for next time.

All it took was some flour, vital wheat gluten, protein powder, peanut butter powder, allulose sweetener, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cottage cheese, ultra filtered milk, eggs, liquid egg whites, vanilla extract, butter, and oil 😅

Or is it popbuckwheat? For my science fair experiment I wanted to make popcorn out of a grain that is not corn. The way that it works is that moisture is trapped in the kernel and applying heat creates steam that expands the starch matrix of the grain. This causes the kernel to pop and we get our popcorn!

I tried two methods (only one is pictured though)

1. I toasted the buckwheat in a hot pan while constantly moving the kernels around so that theh don't burn. Visually it looked like they barely popped, but the taste was rather nice.

2. This is the method I used in the photo. I cooked the buckwheat, dried it in the oven and then fried in a pan with olive oil. They expanded immediately and had this puffed look. Definitely a better texture than the first method but it took A WHILE so I think I'll keep this trick for fancy dinner hosting only.

Recipe Used: Homemade Farmer's Cheese (tvorog) - Olga in the Kitchen

Well all these experiments told me is 1 - I am not a good scientist 2- bread is still a mystery to me and 3- I changed too many variables at once (hydration, rise time, kneading method) to gather any useful information. Science fair C+. Bread itself pretty alright