Chef Zakro's Culinary Resources

Food Science

Article: Do Students Need to Be Taught Food Science?

Article: Science Culinary Students Need to Know

Article: The Rest of The Science

How Does Baking Powder Affect My Cookies?Baking powder is a two-in-one chemical leavening that combines a powdered alkali (sodium bicarbonate) with a powdered acid (originally, tartaric acid). It helps make cakes and pancakes lighter and can have a serious effect on the texture of your baked goods. Here's everything you need to know about the deep relationship between baking powder and cookies.

How Baking Soda WorksRead just about any cookie recipe, and you'll see baking soda in the list of ingredients. But why is it there, and how does it work? We look at the science of baking soda as it relates to cookies, and how to adjust amounts to get exactly the results you want.

Cookie Science: The Importance of Scraping Your BowlDo some of the cookies in your batch come out looking different from the rest? Here's why, and how to fix it.

Cookie Science: Why Cream Butter and Sugar?Does your cookie recipe call for creaming the butter by beating it with sugar? Just how important is that step, and how do you know if you're doing it right? We break down the science of creaming and explain exactly how to do it.

Cookie Science: The Real Differences Between Brown and White SugarsSugar. It's an integral ingredient in just about every cookie recipe, but don't make the mistake of thinking its job is simply to make them sweet. Oh no—sugar does way more than that, and understanding its real power is the key to becoming a true cookie master.

Cookie Science: How Do Eggs Affect My Cookies?What's the exact role of eggs in a cookie, and how does altering the ratio of yolks and whites and the way you incorporate them affect the result? I decided to find out in a series of controlled experiments. To tackle the entire world of cookies seemed like an exercise in futility, so I limited testing to my Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies, figuring that the information I gleaned could be extrapolated into general rules for other cookies, too.

Why You Should Soak Beans in a Salt and Baking Soda Brine Before CookingSoaking beans in a solution of salt and baking soda yields creamy, cooked beans in less time.

The Science Behind Vegan MeringuesWorking toward a more stable meringue made from the liquid in a can of chickpeas.

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