Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Week 7: Characteristics of Fats and Oils
This week we made a move from colorful and fibrous fruits and vegetables to fats and oils.
Chef Kristi taught us all about a variety of oils and what it means for an oil to hit its smoking point. We also got to taste some peanut butter alternatives. Who knew almond, cashew, and sunflower butter could be so delicious! We also tasted differences between whipped butter, margarine, and smart balance spread.
Fats and oils are a little more complicated than most people realize. You can have solid fats with straight chain fatty acids or liquid fats that have higher amounts of kinked chain fatty acids. When we refer to the state (solid, liquid, or in between) of fats, it is what they are like at room temperature. Straight chain fats are your saturated or trans fats and kinked chain fats are mono and polyunsaturated fats. Fats have a smoke point, at which they begin to break down and the glycerol section of the triglyceride turns into acrolein, which is very irritating to the eyes and nose.
Frying isn't very simple either. There are several things you need to consider when frying, including the temperature of the fat/oil (can't be above the smoke point, but can't be too cold or it will encourage fat absorption), the kind of food you're frying, the temperature of the food (if it's too cold it will reduce the temperature of the oil), and how much food needs to be fried. We saw this when we tasted our delicious vegetable tempura. Thanks Unit 1!!
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Today we my group made scones, which I had a good time making because I prefer to bake. We tatsed alot of different dishes today. I enjoyed the green smoothies which I was surprised about because it did not look very tasty. I also really liked the scones and biscuts. I love gaucamole, but I did not like this gauc as much because of the chunks.
ReplyDeleteKayleigh Palmer
We definitely came to the conclusion this week that our labs just keep getting better and better as the weeks go by! My group made the biscuits today, which were surprisingly rather easy to make and also had a tasty outcome. I also had never tried a green smoothie before but found the one made in class to be quite delicious despite its intimidating green appearance and will definitely make it on my own time. I was also very happy we got a decent recipe for salmon and dill because salmon is one of my favorite foods (I just never found an easy but satisfying way to make it before)and I plan to use it next year to give my future roommates an alternative to the chicken they always seem to eat!
ReplyDelete-Lindsey Shuler
Each week I'm surprised by how many delicious recipes we make in class. Today my group made the guacamole and tortillas which were surprisingly not that difficult to make. I think my favorite would have to have been the green drink and the salmon. I also found the information about the smoke point interesting because I didn't realize it existed for fats or what occurred when the fat reached such a point. Overall it was a very interesting and delicious class and I can't wait to make these recipes again!
ReplyDelete-Lindsey O'Neill
This week was my favorite week so far! I really enjoyed all of the things made too. It was nervous to try the green kale drink made because I had never tried anything like that before, so I was really surprised with how good I thought it was. I think if it was cold it would have been even better. I will definitely be making that for all of my friends to try. I also really enjoyed the baba ghanoush and would love to try making the homemade pita bread. A lot of the recipes today I could see myself making in the future.
ReplyDeleteSamantha Albert
I always love fine tuning my skills and trying new techniques in lab, and this week was definitely something new! My unit made apple cider doughnuts with a cinnamon and sugar coating. I was nervous about the deep-frying process since I did not have a lot of experience with it, but I had so much fun! I liked trying all of the recipes (as usual), but my favorites were the guacamole and (surprisingly) the green smoothie. I will absolutely try some of these again at home!
ReplyDeleteMorgan Cooper
When I saw today's lab was on fats and oils, I have to admit I wasn't really looking forward to it like I normally do. I expected us to be sauteing the same thing in a few different kinds of oil or comparing salad dressing made with different oils. I was very surprised by the variety of what we did and how good everything was! My group made guacamole and tortillas and while I usually prefer my guacamole a little more mashed, this recipe was simple and great. Everything today was delicious, but my favorite was probably the vegetable tempura and the baba ghanoush. I would say I was most surprised by the smoothie, since I had never really thought of using avocado is a smoothie. It was tasty and something to keep in mind the next time I buy avocados. I will definitely make many of these recipes on my own!
ReplyDeleteLooking at the topic for today's lab, I was definitely not looking forward to it because I was expecting frying/sauteing/deep frying but that was not the case for this week at all. We had so many baked goods that it just made me think that each week keeps getting better. My group made the salmon and dill sauce. It was my first time dealing with dill and I was really liking the scent of it. My group members and I were really intrigued by the scent and decided to double the amount required for the sauce and it turned out really well. Needless to say, I smelled like raw salmon all the way till 6pm (For once, I smelled worse than E.Coli bacteria in my biotech lab)!! I really enjoyed the baba ghanoush which was my first time trying it and the green smoothie was delicious although it may not sound very appealing.
ReplyDelete- Jessica Ng
I could not be happier that the lab was changed from french fries and cheese to all of the yummy things we got to make and taste. I was in group 5 so I made Baba Ganoush. I have never heard of it before, but I like eggplant in general so I was excited to learn. Making the home made pita chips was just as exciting and was a great way to keep my group members and I busy while the eggplants were in the oven. We ended up adding some more salt into the mixture because the salt that we baked the eggplant with stayed on the skin when we scooped out the eggplant into the food processor.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite dish was the guacamole. I loved the chunky tomatoes in it, it gave the dish more flavor other than just the avacado. I will definitely be making it on my own.
Also, I am in section 1, group 5
DeleteCassandra Raugh - Nutr 120 - Section 002
ReplyDeleteToday I learned that I love baba ghanoush, guacamole, and pita chips even if they're made from lard. The guacamole was probably my favorite food made today.
The green smoothie tasted great too. I've made the traditional berry smoothies and strawberry banana smoothies before, but this green one with different fruits and vegetables was a great change of pace. I realize I need to invest in a blender so that I can make top notch smoothies like this one from class. Right now my blended from home stinkss!
My group made biscuits which was new. Then everything we do in lab is new for me. I always thought baking biscuits was more time consuming than the process actually is. My group was the first one finished in lab yesterday which rarely happens. It was interesting learning the process of baking biscuits, kneading the dough, and then cutting them out into individual biscuit shapes. Could be a potential recipe for the upcoming holiday. Actually many of these recipes could very well find themsevles on the table to be served for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner!
Talon Fogal Nutr 119 Unit 6
ReplyDeleteToday was a lot of fun, our group finally got to make something sweet, apple cider donuts! I have never deep-fried anything before, so it was a new experience for me. The only downside was the amount of oil that is thrown around the frying area; it takes a while to clean up.
But I really enjoyed the other foods too; the salmon, scones, and especially the guacamole dip! They were all delicious, and I will definitely be cooking up some of these recipes in my own kitchen.
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ReplyDeleteToday was a fairytale, I made some scones
ReplyDeleteI used to be a baker in distress
I ate them with my mouth, and they made me feel okay
Today was a fairytale
today was a fairytale
Today was a fairytale, scones were a success
They had a nice light brown top
I said they looked pretty, even though they made a mess
Today was a fairytale
A scone goes down whenever one's around
But can you taste this sugar in the dough?
It must have been the way I baked them
Fell in love when the scones were baking over there
It must have been the way
Today was a fairytale
It must have been the way
Today was a fairytale
Today was a fairytale
My scones have a crunch I want all of them for lunch
Every taste I taste, everything I make I bake
Today was a fairytale
Today was a fairytale
All that I can say is now it's getting so much clearer
Scones weren't made until I mixed the things to make
Today was a fairytale
Time slows down whenever scones turn brown
Yeah yeah
But can you feel this moisture in the air?
It must have been the way I baked them
Made a scone OMG, time to pull my hair
It must have been the way
Today was a fairytale
It must have been the way
Today was a fairytale
Time slows down while there are scones around
I can feel my heart, it must've had a scone
Did you taste it? I can't put these down
But can you feel this sweetness in the air?
I think I added just enough sugar
Had a scone, now I couldn't give a care
It must have been the way
But can you taste this topping in the air?
I can't believe it's so damn tasty
took a risk in the kitch' and now I swear
It must have been the way
Today was a fairytale
Scones must have been tastay
Today was a fairytale
Today was a fairytale
-Taylor S.CONE
NUTR 119
Section: Thursday Afternoon
As wonderful as I think this is, I can't give you credit because you didn't include your actual name! Please reply with your name and I will give you credit.
DeleteSusan
Today was filled with lots of delicious food! My group made homemade tortillas and guacamole. The guacamole was the best I ever had! It was so fresh and refreshing, and I will definitely be following that recipe whenever I make it from now on! The tortillas were a little disappointing, however. For some reason, ours would not flatten out, so they were a little thicker than we had hoped. That prolonged the cooking time and didn't allow them to become as crispy as we anticipated. This incident did not negatively affect the lab, though, because there were so many other foods to try. These foods ranged from a green smoothie (which was surprisingly tasty) to donuts (which were obviously amazing). The varieties of fat that we cook with on a daily basis surprised me, especially considering some were healthy types of fat; and I usually associate fat with unhealthy foods.
ReplyDelete^^I can't write a song, but I definitely sang it out loud to my boyfriend. He just doesn't understand.
ReplyDeleteLike the person above me, I made scones today. I don't think I love them as much as her, but they were good. Too sweet for me. Something I did like though, was the biscuits and the biscuit things with the pears. My boyfriend always eats biscuits and I've tried my hand at a few different recipes and he's never seemed to love any of them, I'm sure he'll love these though.
And I've never those pear biscuits before, but I think I'll introduce those to my family this over the holidays.
Todays class with filled with baked goods and I enjoyed it all. All of the recipes were fantastic but my favorite recipe had to be the donuts. They were all so flavorful and so different from each other but had one thing in common, oil. The one recipe I was surprised about was the smoothie. By the color of it I thought it wouldn't be that good but surprisingly I enjoyed it.
ReplyDelete*Section 2 Unit 9
Lauren Hochreiter-section 1-unit 9
ReplyDeleteToday's class was so much fun! My group had the opportunity to make puff pastries. I have never made anything like these before however, we found them very simple to prepare. The dough was already pre-made so all we needed to do was make the apple and cheese topping and cook the dough in the cupcake pans.
This demonstrated how the layers are formed in a puff pastry. During the cooking process, steam evaporates in butter and creates airpockets. This is what causes the fluffy and light texture of these pastries.
I will definitely try to make these on my own at home. However, these should only be for special occasions because they are the most healthy dessert!
A lots of baking is going in the Lab and I really enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteMy group is making Guagamole which is one of my favourite dip. I'll definitely make it again!
Wing Yin Rachel Chow
Section 003 Unit 11
Once again I thoroughly enjoyed this week's lab. My group made fresh guacamole and tortillas. The guacamole was super easy recipe that tasted delicious and fresh. The tortillas did not come out the way they were supposed to. We were not able to wait long enough for the dough to settle, due to time constraints of the class. Once we put the dough in the compressor the edges would not stay flat. In addition, when they were put on the griddle, the middle of the tortilla was not cooking. It was still too doughy. Other dishes that I enjoyed were the apple cider donuts and the green smoothie!
ReplyDeleteThis week was my favorite lab to date. Each week has progressively been better as my unit makes more complex recipes. I made buttermilk scones today which were really good. I love baking but don't do too much of it and I was surprised by how well they turned out. We tried so many different foods today but the guacamole was by far my favorite. I love guacamole, but this one was the best i've tried. And the homemade tortillas with it were also amazing even though they were made from lard. I was also surprised by the green shake. It didn't look too appetizing and I was surprised by how good it tasted. Learning about cooking pastries is interesting learning about the air pockets and that fried vegetables are actually pretty easy to make.
ReplyDeleteSection 1 unit 3
This week my unit made puff pastries. They were delicious and I would like to make them again on my own. I tried something that I've never had today and that was baba ganoush, and guacamole. I really liked the baba ganoush and I'd like to try making that on my own too. Each week lab gets more and more interesting.
ReplyDeleteYvonne DeLancett
While we made plenty of healthy recipes involving fats this week, I love that we're also not avoiding the unhealthy recipes. Just because we're all technically studying to teach people to eat right doesn't mean we shouldn't have full exposure to the different styles and means of cooking, and making pastries and fried yams is a fun way to explore all of the options, healthy or not. I loved telling my friends that we made and ate doughnuts in my nutrition lab! This course is really teaching me everything I wanted to know about cooking and baking, and not just the most proper knowledge for a nutrition major.
ReplyDeleteI think that I definitely learned the most from this weeks lab. I learned a lot about the different oils we use in cooking. For example, I alway use coconut oil to cook and I never noticed how high it was in saturated fat. I realized that makes so much sense because it is the only oil that is solid at room temperature. My unit made little yummy biscuits today. It was a really simple recipe and I enjoyed kneading the dough! I love being hands on. Our biscuits came out perfect and were delicious! I also loved the salmon and even though I was reluctant to try the green smoothie, it turned out to be tasty.
ReplyDeleteThis weeks lab was definitely my favorite lab so far. My group made scones, which was a lot easier than I expected it to be. I do not have much baking experience, so I was happy to have a little introduction to basic baking. After learning how easy baking can be, I am excited to attempt it at home. Our scones turned out to be great. Something that I liked about this lab was that there were a mix of fats- some healthy ones and some not so healthy ones. Surprisingly I really liked the green smoothie which was full of healthy fruits and vegetables. I think that I even liked the healthy fats we made as much as the unhealthy ones.
ReplyDeleteLab section 1 unit 7.
This lab was pretty fantastic! I was a little worried while I was reading the original lab manual, because it seemed to me as though we would be tasting oils and stuff like that! I'm very glad we all got to cook something instead of just tasting different types of fat. I was in a group that made the biscuits, which came out pretty well...I enjoyed it a lot because this was the first time I had ever kneaded dough! And all of the other food was wonderful too, especially the vegetables. The fried sweet potato tasted a lot like a sweet potato fry (except better) and I really liked the fried broccoli too! And of course, the scones were amazing! It had been a long time since I had eaten a scone, and the hint of lemon created the perfect flavor!
ReplyDeleteI always look forward to lab because I know we're going to learn something new (like fats and oils have smoke points) and try tasty recipes in the process! This lab was definitely an eye opener because I never knew how important it was to use different fats and oils for different foods. This week my group made puff pastries, but we substituted the pears for apples. I think they came out great and were by far my favorite! I also enjoyed the guacamole and pita chips. I never tried guacamole before and I didn't think I would like the taste but I'm so glad I gave it a chance because I loved it! The baba ganoush was interesting and also very tasty. I definitely want to keep these recipes for my own future use.
ReplyDeleteJessica Hermanofski
This lab, in my opinion, was very different from labs we have had in the past. During most of our labs we may learn new things but many of the dishes we cook are familiar and standard of a class similar to this. For this lab, I felt like a lot of different things could have been done. We had to balance not only cooking desserts, which is what most people think of when it comes to fat. We were able to have everything from different kinds of butter and guacamole, to salmon, and then dessert. This was great and we got to see fats away from what most people think when they hear the word fats. I loved that we were able to sample the butters because these were all things I've herd of before but could never tell the difference or had the opportunity to taste them all.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this lab because though we are nutrition majors and supposed to be teaching people how to eat properly, this lab gave us different ways to look at a variety of fats..from smoothies to dough nuts! My group made the green smoothie-- which I really enjoyed because I make my own version of it at home a few days a week. This one had a lot more green variety to it than mine usually does but still yummy nonetheless. I love salmon and it was delicious with the dill sauce. Will definitely make it at home sometime!
ReplyDeleteJamie Kurtz
In this weeks lab, my group made pear pastries and they were delicious. We were so excited to finally get a desert to make. We had some trouble making sure we could get enough for the class and getting our pears to cook down. Even though we had them cooking the whole time they were still a little tough. In the end it all came together and turned out great. I also got to try a lot of new recipes. I've always heard people talking about green smoothies they make and was always interested to try one so I was really excited I finally got the chance. With so many ingredients in one drink I was expecting something really strong, but it wasn't at all and was actually pretty tasty. I'll definitely be making my own in the future and maybe try some different options.
ReplyDeleteThis week was really awesome, lots of great foods and different things to try, and lots of sweets! I liked what our group made, which was tartlets topped with pears that were covered with a cinnamon mixture. They were very good, and I also enjoyed trying the green smoothie drink that was actually better than it looked! a very fun week :)
ReplyDeleteI had the best time making doughnuts this week! The process was much easier than I thought it would be, and I learned some tricks for the next time I make them (which I definitely will)!!
ReplyDeleteRachel Benowich (120 section 2)
I thought this was a good lab, some of the foods we made I had never tried like baba ghanoush, but really liked them. I think changing the lab from what was plan in the book was good because it allowed us to cook with many different foods.
ReplyDeleteRyan Ganely 119 sec 001
The food in this week's lab was great! It seems that the food we makes gets better and better (or maybe we're all becoming better cooks). I was a little jealous of other groups that got to make more elaborate things, because my unit made the biscuits.
ReplyDeleteBut it was still a great lab and hopefully I will get to cook something more difficult tomorrow!
I was a little skeptical about doing a lab all about fat and oil, but I realized that it is good to have all things in moderation...even moderation! My group made pear pastries, and they turned out great! The pears were a little tough, but with just a few more minutes of cooking I think they would have been perfect. I am definitely going to make the green smoothie at home!!
ReplyDeleteThis week's lab was really fun and also very delicious! My group's task for the day was to make tempura veggies, which was a lot of fun! It was my first time every deep-frying something before, so it was really cool to be able to try my hand at that. My favorite food of the day was definitely the apple pastries, they were amazing. I also really liked the green smoothie!
ReplyDeleteMy group made the scones and what I can see is that they were a lot easier to make then I ever thought they were. The most surprising thing of this lab was the taste of the avocado smoothie, it was a lot more refreshing then I anticipated. I also never had guacamole that had chunks of avocado in it, it's a new way that I will try when I make it on my own.
ReplyDelete-Ashley Martin
I thought it was interesting to try different types of nut butters such as almond butter and cashew butter which is very good especially because I am only used to eating peanut butter. I also really enjoyed making scones since I have never tried them before! I also noticed that you have to be very precise with measurements when making desert.
ReplyDelete-Stephanie Sarra
This weeks lab was probably my favorite lab thus far. I loved learning about how different types of fats and oils can affect how the cooking products turn out. I was pleasantly surprised with the different types of peanut butter that we tasted in the beginning of lab. I really enjoyed the almond butter and will probably add that to my list of groceries. My group made scones which turned out to be delicious. The lemon shavings added zest and (in my opinion) we had the perfect amount of sugar coating. I was a little surprised at how much butter we used to coat the scones, but they turned out perfect!
ReplyDeleteOnce again this lab allowed me to make and try foods that I have never had before! This week my group and I made babaganoush, which I probably just spelled wrong! haha I never really knew what babaganoush was, and I definitely did not know that it was made out of eggplant! We accidentally added a little too much parsley to the batch but it still turned out delicious! We also got to taste different kinds of butter before we even started cooking. The almond butter was scrumptious! I have never had anything except peanut butter before!
ReplyDeleteThis was by far my favorite lab yet! My group and I were beyond impressed with our puff pastry. We learned quite a lot this lab. For an example, we learned how to properly roll out a pastry and how to then fill them with a delicious sauce. I can't wait to find out what we do today.
ReplyDeleteGabrielle Keeley
My favorite dish made was the definitely the green smoothie! I have heard and always wanted to make one of these smoothies but never really had a chance. It was so interesting to see all the different ingredients that went into the blender to make a single consistency of a lime green smoothie! Also the blender we used was amazing! I really want to buy one now, but unfortunately they are extremely expensive! Overall, it was a great day in lab!
ReplyDeleteFallon Bader
This week my unit made puff pastry. We had some difficulties rolling out the nearly frozen pastry stacks but in the end we succeeded. We also made an amazing cream cheese icing to go with it. My favorite items from the other groups were the salmon and the veggie smoothie. Most importantly i learned how to properly use oils while cooking a wide range of foods.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed tasting the differnt types of nut butter. I never knew sunflower butter exisited. In addition, I wasn't aware that salmon was actually extremely healthy. My recipe wasn't exactly my favorite, we made the baba ganoush. The texture and seedy flavoring was not appetizing. But I did love making my own pita chips. I had no idea making pita chips was so simple. I will definitely try making my own chips at home.
ReplyDeleteI loved the fried veggies my group made. I never thought to fry veggies before and who doesn't love a fried healthy food? It's like the best of both worlds. Our batter didn't come out perfect because our scale was old and unfortunately made us measure incorrectly. The rice flour caused the batter to be be very thin. I LOVE SALMON... and I loved the veggie smoothie of course.
ReplyDelete119 sec 3
Being a nutrition major, I never have worked so much with fats! However, after working with different fats and oils, I gained a much better understanding of them and learned which ones are best to cook with and why. Even though it wasn't the healthiest lab so far, it sure was delicious!
ReplyDeleteI think this lab was really fun because it was the first time my unit got to bake a dessert. I also don't have much experience cooking with oil and fats so I think this was a great learning oppurtunity. I loved everything I got to try at the end as well!
ReplyDeleteChandler Ray
Everything in this lab was so good. I liked that we made tasty unhealthy dishes (puff pastry, cinnomin bun) but also made things that had healthy fats in it like the green smoothy and the guacamole. It was a good contrast.
ReplyDelete