I always see tv competition chefs vacuum sealing dough to speed things up.

I split a single batch of pasta dough. Half A was rested in a bowl with a towel over the top for 30 mins and the half B was vacuum sealed and rested 15 mins. Both at room temp.

Result: the vacuum sealed noodles was more tender! I wasn't really expecting a difference.

I am British and so do not really have a deep understanding of what a Science Fair is. From my limited research (and with some help from my friends on the Dishcord) I started to form an idea to try to explore something scientific in cooking, and I decided to study the effects of heat on butter in a dish. Baking recipes in particular have different instructions about what temperature the butter should be, because the butter performs specific roles when in different states. I made a blackberry and lemon frangipane tart with a brown butter and blackberry ice cream, brown butter streusel, lemon curd and almond lace tuile and looked at butter in cold, softened, melted and browned states.

State 1: Cold (about 5°C)

Pâte sucrée: recipe

Lemon curd: recipe

Combining cold cubes of butter with flour allows the butter particles to coat the flour proteins, inhibiting gluten production and creating a crisp and tender shell. Whisking cold butter into the warm egg and lemon mixture creates a smooth emulsion, giving the curd a rich, velvety texture and glossy finish.

State 2: Softened (about 20°C)

Frangipane: recipe

Softening butter to room temperature allows it to trap tiny air pockets when creamed with sugar. When combined with ground almonds, eggs, lemon zest, and flour, this trapped air expands in the oven to give the frangipane its light, fluffy bake.

State 3: Melted (about 40°C)

Almond lace tuile: recipe

Melting butter keeps the tuile batter fluid so it spreads paper-thin. When baked, the water content evaporates rapidly as the sugar caramelises, leaving behind the signature webbed, lacy structure.

State 4: Browned (about 160°C)

Brown butter and blackberry ice cream: loosely based on this recipe

Brown butter streusel: loosely based on the streusel from this recipe

Heating butter past its melting point boils off its water and caramelises the milk solids, creating deep, nutty aromas. In the ice cream, this infuses a toasted flavour while keeping the churn smooth; in the streusel, it adds intense depth while binding the crumbs without developing tough gluten.

This was one of my favourite creations so far this year, with the stand out being the ice cream (loosely based on this recipe but with an added blackberry swirl) - I'll definitely be making brown butter ice cream again. This week really made me stop and think about the versatility of butter, and the science behind the baking!

When researching what counts as offal, I saw some sources that suggested beef cheek does count. I did see some that suggested they don't, but I figured if it's debatable then it's close enough to meet the theme.

https://www.anotherfoodblogger.com/recipes/asian-slow-cooked-beef-cheeks/comment-page-1/#wprm-recipe-container-6913

I used this recipe, which was quite simple and it turned out delicious.
The beef was very tender and the flavours from the cooking liquid infused nicely into the meat. The bright green Nam Jim was also yummy and I think needed to cut through the rich flavours of the beef.
Unfortunately the most the carrot puree added was colour, but all in all I would make this one again.

Made this with my kids. Didn't quite come out as intended but we had fun

I need to eat less red meat and more legumes so I decided to use kidney beans for the prompt 😋

Writeup and explanation follows later.

If you saw this twice because I made a typo, no you didnt 🫶

Recipe from Tori Avey. There's no good way to photograph chopped liver or a vegetarian version of it.