supertasters vs. nontasters

This week I thought it would be interesting to switch to a topic that affects our taste: supertasters vs. nontasters:

Image credit: Leite’s Culinaria

According to leitesculinaria.com, supertasters have strong bitter taste in their mouth: “Testing proceeded without incident until a horribly bitter solution called 6-n-propylthiouracil, PROP for short, was washed on my tongue. It was so bitter, I had to lean over the sink, nauseated.

Pacific Seafood chowder

The following recipe used two different thickeners—cornstarch (original recipe) and the brown rice flour (substitution). As you can see above from the first picture. The recipe with cornstarch on the right is thicker, and brighter in color than the left one with brown rice flour. The brown rice flour is less thick and dull in color. I noticed the brown rice flour had a lingering taste in my mouth for at least 30 minutes. The cornstarch tastes thicker and better, not bland. The brown rice flour has a light taste, and stronger flavor not bland as well. Also, as you can see from the second picture the brown rice flour is not a good thickener because two layers formed after they were put in the fridge. I think I made a mistake in the cooking time with the different ingredients in the recipe. There are a lot of variables that are not constant, which made my recipe not as controlled as I wanted it to be. The only variable that needs to be changed is the cornstarch to see the difference in viscosity, and flavor.

Mirepoix with beef or without

This week I cooked a white Mirepoix as I am trying to improve my cooking skills. I found this recipe delicious from a cookbook that I’ve been using for a little bit now. The recipe has a little twist with Okra and kale to give it a middle eastern twist. I tried cooking an egg benedict, but the poached egg is tricky. Basically, the egg yolk was just a lump of liquid floating on my plate with all the ingredients. I’m going to try it again and practice until I get it right.

Back to this yummy recipe 🙂

Hydrocolloids and food

Basic overview of Hydrocolloids

What is a hydrocolloid?

As Journal of food science and technology suggests: ” Hydrocolloids are a heterogeneous group of long chain polymers (polysaccharides and proteins) characterized by their property of forming viscous dispersions and/or gels when dispersed in water. Presence of a large number of hydroxyl (-OH) groups markedly increases their affinity for binding water molecules rendering them hydrophilic compounds. Further, they produce a dispersion, which is intermediate between a true solution and a suspension, and exhibits the properties of a colloid. Considering these two properties, they are aptly termed as ‘hydrophilic colloids’ or ‘hydrocolloids’.”