While waiting for brownies to bake and cool, we decided to do a bonus science to help determine the difference between the orange liqueurs.
Orange Liqueur versus the Sidecar
Purple Potato pH Palette
Frankentini
or, how we changed several wet martinis into dry martinis. If you are a martini purist, please don’t read this. If you do, please don’t judge us harshly.
Vermouthiness
Vermouth. A fortified & aromatized wine that didn’t enter our kitchen (err… Primary Testing Facility) until we became interested in classic cocktails. But, now that it has entered through our doors, which variety is worthy of coveted space in the box-of-cooling? We shall taste test several, “For Great Science!” of course.
Quantitative Analysis of Shaking Time in a Martini
When making a martini, shaking with ice is a common technique to mix the ingredients. This has two easily measurable effects. The first is that the martini is cooled by the melting of ice. The second is that this melting dilutes the martini. The melting of ice seems to occur even if the gin and the ice are the same temperature initially.
Orange Liqueur versus the Brownies
Orange liqueurs are reported to have differing properties, but tend to be similar enough to only require a single bottle per collection. The collection at the Secondary Testing Facility recently had its bottle of Grand Marnier supplemented with a bottle of Cointreau, adding comparative liqueurs to our potential fields of study. For our first foray into the realm of citrusy alcohol science, we consider a simple question: which produces a better brownie, Grand Marnier or Cointreau?
Snow to Boiling
Drip-pan or Reflector? What is the purpose of the under-element pans on the stove? In the spirit of science, and wanting the snow to go away, we will run some tests to see how long it takes to go from snow to boiling with both old and new “drip pans”.
Qualitative assessment of chicken breasts
For some reason, we ended up with a large number of chicken breasts in the house over the weekend. Not to waste the opportunity, we did additional science to them.
Breast Size Measurement via Archimedes’ Principle
Breasts come in a wide variety of sizes, and due to their shape, are difficult to accurately measure to determine their actual sizes. In this study we will use Archimedes’ Principle, which uses the displacement of water, to measure the sizes of both natural breasts and augmented breasts.
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Egg-speriments
’tis the season of hard cooked eggs in the shell, and there seems to be a variety of cooking methods! Now, if the main recognized purpose is festive food coloring, the insides don’t matter too much. However, if anyone other than the resident pet is going to eat them, perhaps there is a “best” method?
Doing Science To Stuff 