Category Archives: Food
Doctor Obvious, Cleanup on Aisle Six!
Aisle placements affect grocery sales, research shows
Using the cross-category items of chips and soda, the researchers found that stores placing the items facing each other in the same aisle increased weekly sales of those items by more than 9 percent. In contrast, moving the chips and soda one aisle away from each other resulted in a decrease in sales of nearly 1.5 percent.
I think the stores are already aware of this. They make you walk past impulse items to get to things typically on your list. When they rearrange things every so often, you don’t really think that’s for your convenience (regardless of what the sign says), do you?
Trick or Trout
What the crappy treats you give out on Halloween say about you
Part of the harm is that they’re not the victim, really–you are. You, your house, your cars, your trees, your pets. But mostly, your reputation. What you dole out speaks for you, for better or worse, so here’s what some legendarily crappy Halloween treats are screaming for you, at the top of their lame-ass lungs.
These are pretty much the bottom tier of the candy kingdom. Just don’t go there. Man up and give out Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Jackpot.
Pastapedia
Pasta: Edible Geometry and Italian Genius
In the world of cooking there are around 350 different types of pasta, and probably approximately four times as many names for them. They can be divided into few groups: long shape, flat pasta strands, short shaped and tubular pasta, small pasta for soup, stuffed shape, Asian type. Certain shapes of pasta and sizes are used for specific purposes, while others can be used in several different manners. New shapes are also being designed and named every day.
Better than Bacon?
When bacon isn’t enough, add butter and blue cheese
Why use plain butter when it’s so easy to make your own compound butter? My latest combination is real bacon and blue cheese, perfect for topping a fresh-off-the grill steak. The butter keeps in the refrigerator for about a week. If you’re not a fan of bacon and blue cheese, just pick your favorite spices and/or herbs to mix with the butter.
I suspect this will seem more appetizing to me once I’m over the flu.
No Waffling
Pancake sorter
The Finger Test
No, no, not that finger.
The Finger Test to Check the Doneness of Meat
Can’t personally vouch for the veracity, but it’s neat if it’s true.
The Nougat has Cleared the Tower
There’s a fairly well-known science question which asks
How does the amount of energy per gram of TNT compare with the energy per gram of a chocolate chip cookie?
I’ve discussed before why I think the answer should be, “About the same,” if you’re doing a first-order approximation, and depending on what options you give for an answer.
We’ve also visited the energy content of a candy bar. So along that vein (or clogged artery) we have
which tests sugar as an ingredient in rocket propellant, in the form of pixy sticks, creme from an oreo cookie, and a Snickers bar.
Creme filling from one Double Stuff Oreo weighed out at 5.7 grams. Mixed with 11.4 grams finely powdered KNO3 (FireFox) with mortar and pestle.
Result: Burns very sluggishly, requires some assistance from torch flame
Adjustment: Added 0.2 grams red iron oxide (Fe2O3) to catalyze the burn. Works much better.
Yummy, Tasty, Packingfraction-Ohs
Volume Packing of Breakfast Cereal
With Raisin Bran, I tend to fill the bowl with cereal, then add milk, and when I finish the cereal, there’s only a small amount of milk left. With Cheerios, on the other hand, after I finish all the cereal from a full bowl plus milk, there’s still rather a lot of milk left. I generally put in another half-bowl (maybe two-thirds) worth of cereal, and finish that, too.
Being a physicist (and, as noted earlier, a gigantic dork), it occurs to me that this can probably be explained by the different volume packing factors for the different shapes. Raisin Bran is mostly flat flakes, which Cheerios are little toroids. Those two shapes will fill space very differently.
Hey, You Got Peanut Butter in my Burger!
The AHT Guide to Hamburger and Cheeseburger Styles
This is styles, rather than recipes. It includes the guberburger
Burgers with a generous dollop of melted peanut butter ladeled on.
and the cheese-stuffed burger
If you’ve ever tried to duplicate one at home, it’s trickier than it would seem. You’ve got to seal in the cheese securely so you don’t have a blow-out, and, as the cheese melts and puffs up the patty, you’ve got to prick it quickly with a toothpick right after you flip it to let the steam escape. It’s better to leave it to the experts.