Milkbar

This week we made an excursion to Cambridge to attend the Harvard Food Science Lecture presented by Christina Tosi of Milkbar in New York City. The topic of the lecture, Emulsions and Foams, was a perfect follow up to our last class when we made mayonnaise and meringue. Christina first demo-ed her famous cornflake marshmallow cookies. She explained the secret to her cookies was a 10 minute creaming process in which she beat sugar and cold butter in a stand mixer. Only after 2 to 3 minutes did she add an egg to the mixture. In just these two steps, we could already see the creation of foams and emulsions. By beating the butter and sugar together, millions of air bubbles were also becoming incorporated and the mixture became fluffy and lighter in color. The egg (specifically the egg yoke) helps form an emulsion between the sugar and butter. Christina also talked briefly about the leavening agents baking powder and baking soda. Baking soda, sodium bicarbonate, requires interaction with an acidic component in the recipe. Baking powder consists of baking soda and an acid. The baking powder she used in her recipe was double acting. The first rise occurred when the baking powder came into contact with the moisture from the batter and the second rise occurred with its interaction with heat from the oven. This was also helpful information for Annie and I as we are exploring rising agents for our “Solving a Chef’s Problem” project.