Emulsifiers 101

Have you ever tried to mix oil and vinegar? No matter how hard you shake or how vigorously you whisk, it doesn't really work. And if you put it on your salad, the oil will stick to the lettuce and the veggies, and you'll have a puddle of balsamic vinegar at the bottom of the bowl.

Here's what's happening:
For the purposes of emulsions, there are three kinds of molecules or substances.

- The first kind are the water-loving kind of molecules. In this category are things like vinegar and lemon juice—basically anything that water would mix into easily. For those of you that remember chemistry, these are generally polar molecules, attracted to the polarity of the water molecule. (Think of polarity kind of like a magnet--it can only stick to other things that can be magnetized.)

- The second kind are the fat-loving kind of molecules, like oil. These are things that don't mix with water. These are generally non-polar molecules, that don't have an interaction with the polar water molecule. The oils, however, generally do like to group with themselves (This is completely inaccurate, but think of these like a bunch of little velcro pieces. It'll help with the next part.)

- The third kind of molecule is one that has properties of both the water-loving and oil-loving molecules. In fact, it's got one end that's polar and one end that's non-polar. Think of it like a magnet with some velcro glued onto it. These are called emulsifiers.
[Cool side note: this is very similar to what soap is made out of--one end velcroes onto the grease on your hands or your pots, and the other end gets pulled away by the magnetic forces of the water.]


When you add an emulsifier to a mixture of oil and water, they magically combine with only mildly vigorous whisking. This is used in things like mayonnaise, in which oil and usually vinegar and/or lemon juice are combined. To make a stable emulsion (one that won't separate over time), you need all three things--water, oil, and emulsifier.

In common food applications, there are three prevalent food emulsifiers:
1. Egg yolk
2. Honey
3. Mustard
In processed foods, lecithin (often derived from soy) is added to many products (like chocolate) to help with emulsification.

Next time you make a salad dressing, try this instead, and you'll get a super creamy vinaigrette that doesn't separate on your lettuce.

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Creamy Balsamic Vinaigrette

Ingredients:
1T balsamic vinegar
salt
2T olive oil
1t Dijon mustard (the yellow stuff doesn't taste right, and it doesn't have enough emulsifiers in it)

Directions:
1. Dissolve the salt in the balsamic vinegar. (Salt will only dissolve in the water-loving liquids, so you should do this now, before you add the olive oil.)
2. Add the olive oil and the mustard. Whisk to combine. The vinegar and oil should combine together into a homogenous dressing.
3. If there's still uncombined oil and vinegar, add more mustard and whisk. If there's uncombined oil, add vinegar, whisk, and then add more mustard if necessary. If there uncombined vinegar, add oil, whisk, and then add more mustard if necessary.
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How to cook like a college student

aka 6 things you never thought to cook in a microwave...

Like any good college student, I have a microwave, a slow cooker, and no stove or oven in my dorm room. I resort to making a lot of things in the microwave. Over the past two years, here are a few of the things I've learned to make:

1. Rice - I always use this post as my guiding recipe.
2. Yogurt - see my earlier post about this.
3. Cupcakes - I like this recipe because you can do it all in the mug, which makes for easy cleanup. You don't get the nice chewy crust, but it's as close to a cupcake as I've seen without an oven! Delicious.
4. Polenta - see below for a simple 'recipe'
5. Spinach - see below
6. Eggs - see below

How to make dinner in the microwave:
1. Place 0.5 cup of polenta into a 4 cup microwave safe dish. Add 1.25 cups of water and two pinches of salt. Stir and microwave covered for 2.5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, rinse two cups of spinach. When the polenta has finished, uncover it, place the spinach on top, and microwave for an additional 3 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, crack two eggs into a flat bottomed microwave safe dish. Add salt, pepper and seasonings. You can also add a tablespoon of milk. (I like to add some pecorino romano, too)
4. When the spinach/polenta is done, take it out of the microwave, stir the spinach into the polenta and put the cover back on.
5. Place the egg in the microwave for 1.5 minutes. Check for liquid. If there's still liquid, microwave it for an additional 30 seconds.
6. Grate some good cheese (parmesan, romano...) onto the polenta/spinach, add pepper and any seasoning you want, slide the egg on top.
7. Wait a minute or two for it to cool down before eating.. it's hot!

Warning: this is quite a bit of food. If you're not super hungry, I'd scale down the amount of polenta. Microwave for less time in step one, but keep the same amount of time in step 2.

Playing with Food

In honor of our new props, D and I had a photo shoot. The subject: a banana. The new gear: a rectangular plate and a square plate.

This was our original shot. It was ok, but it was a little bit lackluster. It didn't really pop.

The original shot.

So we tried something new. We played with our light, bringing it more to the side to make the shot a bit more dramatic. We also rotated the shot, zoomed in, and left more of the banana trailing out of focus. There was still something missing, though. It needed an accent of some sort.

We tried adding a cookie and then a pear to the shot. The pear was simply too big. The cookie was close, but just not quite right... or relevant.

Food Photography Props!

D and I have been taking pictures of our food ever since he got a DSLR last Christmas. In fact, one of the walls in our room is dedicated to food pictures. Up until now, we've been making do with the backs of baking sheets and plastic plates and bowls for our photographs.

For my birthday this year, we invested in some good props for food photography! Whoohoo! Our mini studio now includes:
- several ceramic bowls and mugs
- glass glasses (I know, classy!)
- several ceramic plates of various sizes
- lots of little ceramic and wooden bowls
- six flour sack towels in various colors
- a piece of foam board to hold up backdrops
- two lamps (pilfered from elsewhere in the room)
- a large white sheet (for extra light)
- various types of silverware ($0.50 each at a Black Friday sale)
- other fabric and scarves I had lying around at home (and brought back from Thanksgiving)

Some of our new props

I'm looking forwarding to staging and having D take some shots just for fun!! I think our mini-studio is going to be pretty magnificent.

A delicious sandwich

I went to the dining hall and was supremely uninspired by seafood salad and french fries, so I reverted to my old standby: the sandwich.

My normal whole grain bread was, sadly, missing, so I opted for two dense slices of rye bread, toasted until warm and just crispy.

While the bread was toasting, I altered the dining hall's egg salad, adding kidney beans, cubes of turkey, and some lemon juice (about equal volumes egg salad and beans+turkey).

After the bread came out of the toaster, I put spring mix on one slice, drizzled in olive oil and lemon juice, and sliced carrots on the other slice. The egg salad went into the middle of the bed of spring mix. I cracked some fresh pepper on top, too.

Delicious! (and really pretty!) The eggs and bright spring mix popped off of the dark rye bread, the carrots added some crunch, the eggs/mayo/beans/turkey/olive oil added richness, the lemon and spring mix added acidity and freshness, and the pepper added some zing. I wish I'd taken a picture, but unfortunately it was in the middle of a crowded dining hall.

Try it next time you need an interesting sandwich.