Readings

Through the readings, I learnt about the two different basic methods of cooking:

1) Dry heat cooking:

Some examples of dry-heat techniques involve roasting, stir-frying, and deep-frying. This method involves the circulation of hot air (radiation) or direct contact to fat (conduction) to transfer heat. Radiation is the transfer of energy with the help of electromagnetic waves, whereas conduction is thermal energy exchanged from one particle to another through collision.

2) Moist heat cooking

Some examples of moist-heat techniques involve braising, boiling and steaming. This method uses water, liquid or steam to transfer heat to food via convection, which involves the movement of fluids.

Another two important concepts I have learnt is Caramelization and Maillard Reaction. Caramelisation is a type of non-enzymatic browning reaction, which involves pyrolysis of certain sugars at high temperature. It is also known as the oxidation of sugars, which results in nutty flavour (initially sweet to some bitterness and acidity flavour) and brown colour.

On the other hand, Maillard reaction is also a form of non-enzymatic browning, but it is a chemical reaction which involves an amino acid and reducing sugar. Although Maillard reaction may be desirable as it gives browned food its distinctive flavour such as bread, it often results in a loss of protein nutritional value due to reaction of essential amino acids and sugar. Hence, to minimize Maillard reaction, temperature can be lowered as high temperature leads to more significant Maillard browning. Also, a reduction in the concentration of sugar can be used to slow down Maillard reaction.

Let’s get cooking!

This week, I attended a self-directed Pancake workshop. My group was tasked to make Japanese Souffle Pancakes. Compared to traditional Western pancakes, Japanese Souffle pancakes are lighter and fluffier in texture. You may be wondering, why is this so? Read on to find out! 😊

Figure 1. List of ingredients used

Through this workshop, I was able to further appreciate the role of certain ingredients after having read the readings.

An important ingredient in making pancakes is the use of baking powder. Baking powder is a leavening agent, which is often used to increase the volume and lighten the texture of food. It works by releasing carbon dioxide gas into the batter through an acid-base reaction, which causes bubbles in it to expand and hence, leavens the mixture.

But what makes Japanese souffle pancakes fluffier than Western pancakes? It is the use of egg whites and sugar to make meringue!! Fascinating enough, whipping egg white forms foam. Foam is produced by trapping millions of gas bubbles in the whipped egg white, which allows the final Japanese souffle pancakes to have a lighter mouthfeel.

Figure 2. How an actual Japanese souffle pancake should look like (left) vs the actual product made by my group (right)

However, our Japanese souffle pancake did not turn out the way it should be ☹. As we were not provided with a hand mixer to whisk the egg whites, we had to do it manually. Thus, we were unable to form a nice stiff peak of foam while whisking the egg white, resulting in a much less fluffy pancake. Additionally, it can be seen that the pancake made has a slight brown colour, which is attributed by Maillard Reaction (as explained earlier on).

Figure 3. Group shot!

Despite the failed attempt in making fluffy Japanese souffle pancake, it  still tasted good! I would definitely try out this recipe again at home, but this time ensuring that a good meringue is formed to give that desired fluffy and light texture pancake.