As luck would have it, a friend recently replaced their microwave and lent us their old 1100W microwave for sciencing, before proper disposal. Until now, the focus of our ongoing series on understanding the power output of a new 1250W microwave has been based on estimating the output of an 1100W microwave. In this installment we can see how accurate those estimates were.
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In our ongoing series attempting to determine which power level on a new 1250W microwave is closest to 1100W, we now take a closer look at the oddities of power levels P1 and P2.
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While attempting to determine which power level on a new 1250W microwave corresponds to 1100W, some of the data collected was a bit odd. So we needed to take a closer look to see what was going on. Here we examine power levels P9 and P10.
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After over two decades of faithful service, our trusty 1100W microwave recently failed, giving us the opportunity to upgrade to a more modern 1250W microwave with an inverter. Unfortunately the extra power has caused some problems in estimating power levels and cook times, as most instructions are based on an 1100W model.
The passing of labor day may mean the end of grilling season for some, but that doesn’t have to mean an end to delicious steaks. Cooking an excellent steak comes down to three simple things: 1) a high quality piece of meat, 2) getting the correct internal temperature, 3) getting a good sear on the outside. We find that a good rib-eye steak passes the quality test, and sous vide solves the correct internal temperature problem. But what is the best way to get a perfect sear?
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Low and slow vs a pressure cooker – which will win a taste test? which will use fewer electrons in the effort to turn pork ribs into tasty noms?
The Gastropod podcast “looks at food through the lens of science and history”, so it’s only natural that they’ll cover stuff relevant to our interests here at Doing Science to Stuff. The May episode The Cocktail Hour provides a fascinating look at not only the history and craft of cocktail making, but also some modern techniques for enhancing the cocktail experience.
Initial observation:
Toward the end of the episode, they discuss a technique called boozewashing. The fundamental idea, expanded upon in Dave Arnold’s Liquid Intelligence
Question:
How big an impact does boozewashing have on the flavor of tea-infused vodka? Does it impact mouth-feel at all? What about the overall appearance of the vodka?
King Arthur Flour had a very intriguing blog post recently about the steps necessary to create brownies with a shiny and flakey crust. They had some outstanding follow-up questions which we decided to investigate. Keep reading for more brownie science!
Here at the primary testing facility we are always looking for ways to improve how we cook delicious meats. So, when vacuum sealable zip-top bags recently appeared on the market we wanted to see how well they work for sous vide cooking. In this post these bags are put up against the older style bag while cooking rib-eyes steaks.
Pi-day, the perfect day for pie. While this post is pretty belated, we did celebrate on the appropriate day – for science, of course! This time, how does pie plate material impact the finished pie?
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