Sunday 29 June 2014

Chemistry of Food - Take Action.







Student Reflection - Livvy
Looking back on everything, I think Team Buddha did pretty well! We are a good team as we work together effectively and that resulted in a delicious outcome. Our planning got very excitable at some points, especially when the decision was made to do a have a theme to our chemistry cooking. Our final recipes were decided pretty early and we all did our fair share in researching and defining the chemistry involved. 
It was so exciting planning our recipe and I really enjoyed working with the rest of my team, and although our secret keeping abilities could be improved, it was a lot of fun.

My chemistry understanding was okay, I think, and the rest of my team were pretty clear on it as well, as far as I can see. We could all define what recipes were homogenous/heterogeneous and we all had a pretty clear understanding on the state changes in our dishes and the particle movements.
Responsibilities weren’t hard to decide, it was pretty much a matter of who wanted to do what and it seemed to work out well, especially as there were necessary numbers of team members on each dish.

Our theme of Indian resulted in a delicious meal of Samosas for an entree, followed by tikka masala, roti and rice, with a mango lassi on the side. The mango lassi was the perfect milky sweet substance to calm your mouth from the spice of samosa, and the tikka masala could only be eaten smothered in roti and topped with rice. It was overall very enjoyable as you can probably tell.
I did some of the preparation for the tikka masala and made the roti, which I hope was a success :)
I made roti because it was a homogenous mixture and had several state changes in it. The rice has a chemical change when you cook it, the tikka masala is a homogenous and heterogeneous mixture that has a chemical change in the chicken, the samosas were similar, with state changes and the mango lassi had some interesting particle movements.

I think one of the hardest working people in our group was Emma, as she was basically the only reason that everyone remembered the ingredients, ( woe betide any unfortunate soul who forgot! ) she was organising everyone and helping with everything.

I think it was a very valuable experience because being a hands on activity, everyone learnt not just about chemistry, but cooking skills, organisation, time management and leadership. I personally really enjoyed it, although for next time I think better organisation of time and space would have been valuable and maybe a little more cooking experience for some of our group members!


For more reflections click on the comments below

11 comments:

  1. We planned well as a team. My chemistry understanding was good and I understood the chemistry in my cocktail. My cocktail is a homogenous and heterogenous mixture and hade compression and decompression. We worked well and we made our food very well. We made a fruit cocktail, crumbed prawn sushi and trifle with banana, custard and jelly. It tasted very good and came out fine. Isabelle worked the best and helped everyone.

    I really enjoyed working as a team and making and understanding the chemistry in science.

    We could have made the jelly set better.

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  2. Our team planning was phenomenal, we worked almost like clockwork! Everyone knew about the chemistry involved and could explain clearly how it worked. The way we distributed responsibility was quite straightforward. If you already had the food than you brought it in and with who makes what dish, the boys made the main because Tavish had made it before and no one else had a clue about what it looks like or let alone tastes like, so the boys made the main and the girls made the drink and the dessert! I personally think that we performed admirably and we were surprisingly the first group finished and if I may say so the best! Our main meal was an Indian curry called aloo gobi and for our dessert we made a very yummy chocolate mousse and our drink was a pink panther. It tasted delicious!!! Not counting me I think Tavish did the most work as he did make most of the main and wash all the dishes, how ever I think that we all did our work to our best ability and really that's all that counts! This was a very fun, enjoyable and yummy experience and I would do it all again in a heartbeat!!!

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  3. I think our team was organised both before and during the cooking, and planned out everything that we needed to. We spent quite a lot of time researching to have the chemical understanding that we needed, if it's a chemical or physical change, if it’s heterogeneous or homogeneous, and the particle make up of the food. Our responsibilities were spread out evenly and we all did an equal amount of work, and it all worked out really well due to our teamwork, which was great. We enjoyed what we did and performed well together. The outcome was great and we made a tasty dish of Aloo Gobi, also a great drink of Pink Panther and a yummy dessert of mousse. Our food tasted absolutely delicious. The Aloo Gobi had a mixture of great flavours, the chocolate mousse was sweet and delicious, and the Pink Panther was also a great mixture of flavours, and it was quite out of the ordinary for a drink. Our team all worked to best abilities and standards, and we aspired to achieve our chemistry and cooking goals and tasks, and that made it too hard to pick a best. We all really enjoyed both the chemistry and cooking aspects.

    The only two things that we could have done better is cut the potatoes smaller and let them cook for a bit longer, and leave the mousse in the fridge for a little bit longer for it to set properly.

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  4. Our awesome planning helped our team throughout the session we all had a good understanding of the chemistry involved in our food. We worked well as a team and helped each other out to make a good chemistry cooking session for our group. everyone had even responsibility in our group so everyone had stuff to do. We preformed well as a group and we made sushi,trifle and a mocktail. The outcome was a well deserved meal and it was exceptionally yummy. Although everyone worked hard Isabelle worked exceptionally well by helping to make sushi and the trifle. I really enjoyed the experience and the think we could have improved the trifle by leaving the jelly to set for longer so it wouldn't be a liquid.

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  5. Marina and Mirella30 June 2014 at 16:20

    We had a very thorough thought out plan, which made the afternoon easier.
    We understood the chemistry in the meals, and could tell which things were compounds, and which were homogenous and heterogenous.
    Our team worked well together, and when a problem faced us, we came up with a quick solution.
    Every single person had something to do and when we didn’t we helped each other.
    We rushed the Aloo Gobi a little bit, but overall we prepared everything before hand so it was easier to make. We made Chocolate mousse, it didn’t set completely but it was good enough to eat. For our drink we made Pink Panther, which worked out really well.
    Our outcome was really good, the food tasted really good especially the chocolate mousse. We had fun cooking and we worked well as a team.
    It was amazing, the chocolate mousse was rich, velvety and creamy, the aloo gobi was good but we could have cooked it a bit longer. Our drink was really nice, the whipped cream made it even better.
    Tavish, worked well because he made sure everyone had a job, and he was helpful.
    It was really fun, we should do it again.
    We would cook the aloo gobi for a bit longer, and leave the chocolate mousse in the fridge longer or just make it earlier.

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  6. Looking back on everything, I think Team Buddha did pretty well! We are a good team as we work together effectively and that resulted in a delicious outcome. Our planning got very excitable at some points, especially when the decision was made to do a have a theme to our chemistry cooking. Our final recipes were decided pretty early and we all did our fair share in researching and defining the chemistry involved.
    It was so exciting planning our recipe and I really enjoyed working with the rest of my team, and although our secret keeping abilities could be improved, it was a lot of fun.

    My chemistry understanding was okay, I think, and the rest of my team were pretty clear on it as well, as far as I can see. We could all define what recipes were homogenous/heterogeneous and we all had a pretty clear understanding on the state changes in our dishes and the particle movements.
    Responsibilities weren’t hard to decide, it was pretty much a matter of who wanted to do what and it seemed to work out well, especially as there were necessary numbers of team members on each dish.

    Our theme of Indian resulted in a delicious meal of Samosas for an entree, followed by tikka masala, roti and rice, with a mango lassi on the side. The mango lassi was the perfect milky sweet substance to calm your mouth from the spice of samosa, and the tikka masala could only be eaten smothered in roti and topped with rice. It was overall very enjoyable as you can probably tell.
    I did some of the preparation for the tikka masala and made the roti, which I hope was a success :)
    I made roti because it was a homogenous mixture and had several state changes in it. The rice has a chemical change when you cook it, the tikka masala is a homogenous and heterogeneous mixture that has a chemical change in the chicken, the samosas were similar, with state changes and the mango lassi had some interesting particle movements.

    I think one of the hardest working people in our group was Emma, as she was basically the only reason that everyone remembered the ingredients, ( woe betide any unfortunate soul who forgot! ) she was organising everyone and helping with everything.

    I think it was a very valuable experience because being a hands on activity, everyone learnt not just about chemistry, but cooking skills, organisation, time management and leadership. I personally really enjoyed it, although for next time I think better organisation of time and space would have been valuable and maybe a little more cooking experience for some of our group members!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Planning: The planning was thought out and correct, during planning we all did our fair share of filling out the table.We had fully planned out what we had to do on the day and the decisions have been made that take consideration of our Indian banquet. Our document is completely filled out with the information that shows what each team member is doing.
    Chemistry understanding: We have a chemistry understanding and can tell the difference between homogeneous and heterogeneous. We used technical terms like evaporate, evaporation, dissolved, condensate. We can see particle changes and our chemistry understanding is pretty good.
    Teamwork/Organisation: Our Teamwork was good because because we evened out the tasks between ourselves. We had all our food organised and every knew what they were responsible for.
    Delivery / Execution: Our team had lots of lovely dishes I thought our samosas could've been presented nicer but they came out of the oven well cooked and crispy . The Tikka Masala was well presented on our plates and it looked, tasted and smelt delicious .
    Reflection / Evaluation: We thought our samosas were well planned out, they were homogeneous because you could see each component like the coriander, peas, green chilli and potato. When we were boiling the potatoes the hot water produced gas (water vapour).

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  8. Comment on the follow from the assessment schedule.
    How well did you plan as a team? Our planning was probably one of the best parts of our group. We had all brought our ingredients in before the cooking day (except the ones we couldn’t!) and our organising of the responsibilities was particularly even, so our planning was overall great.
    What was your chemistry understanding like? It was also really good, we all knew which physical and chemical changes all the food went through and we knew what phase and what type of mixtures the foods were. So it was good.
    How well did you cook as a team? Our cooking was almost definitely the best, we had finished first and had lots of time to eat and the teamwork within the group was brilliant, so it was probably the best.
    How did you distribute responsibility? Well. We had puck Mirella, Marina and may on the mousse and the drinks, and Abel Zac and I were on the Aloo Gobi, due to the time the different foods took.
    How did you perform, what did you make? Together we had made Aloo Gobi as our main, Mousse as our dessert, and Pink Panthers as our drink, We could have let the potato cook longer, and the drink was a tiny bit chunky, but otherwise perfect.
    How did it taste? I said above.
    Not counting you, who in your team worked really hard? Marina
    Did you enjoy the experience? YES. It would definitely be something that I would like to try again. The food was great and we got all we could out of it.

    What would you do differently if you were to do it again. Maybe try to remember to bring all the ingredients before the day.

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  9. How well did you plan as a team? I think we planned really well because our food was well presented and we knew what to do when we were cooking.
    What was your chemistry understanding like? I think my chemistry understanding was very good because I knew how the chemical and physical changes in my food and how it worked.
    How well did you work as a team? I think we worked very well as a team because if someone had already finished their task they would go and help someone else out. The tidy up was also really efficient and quick because we all put in some work.
    How did you perform, what did you make? I think I performed very well and I fried the prawns for the sushi, I whipped the cream for the trifle and helped with William's cocktail.
    Not counting you, who in your team worked really hard? I think Michael worked very well because he made all the sushimi chow and he worked very hard at it.
    Did you enjoy the experience? I think that I definitely enjoyed the experience and would do it again if I got the chance

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  10. Chemistry Cooking Reflection

    When my team first started our planning, we had a debate about what to cook. But as we progressed we started to work together and get things done. I think that there was a variety of understanding between us, but we knew the state changes, homogeneous and heterogeneous mixtures, and particle arrangement. I think we gave everyone an even amount of things to buy and make, and we helped each other out with the things that took longer. We made sushi, trifle, and William made his own cocktail. The sushi did keep falling apart, but it looked good in the end. The trifle… it looked good at the start, but the jelly hadn’t set properly and as soon as we cut into it it turned to mush, or “cat vomit” as Ela described it. The drink looked pretty good in its jug, and tasted better than I thought it would. We were pretty efficient in making our food, and had plenty of time to eat and clean up. I think that Michael worked the hardest in our group. He made basically all of the sushi, and he was always doing something, not standing around. I really enjoyed the experience, and it made me realise that there is chemistry in nearly everything you cook. If I did it again, I think I would choose something that didn’t take so long to set. But other than that, I think our group did really well.

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  11. Chemistry Cooking Reflection:

    I think our team did really well with planning because in the end of they we knew what to bring and what are we going to do at cooking. My understanding was ok but for our team we understood good with chemistry. We involved all the chemistry tasks to our cooking and we understood some of the chemistry with how it works. Eg. Tikka masala changing heterogeneous to homogeneous mixture. I think we worked amazing as a team with cooking like everyone was helping each other and we were busy for the whole time. Our team, Team Buddha had Indian theme and made Tikka Masala / Rice for the main, Samosas / Roti for the entree, Mango lassi for the drink. It was the best idea and It was so good. I think that Emma worked hard this time because she knew what's going with everything. She helped us a lot and she gave us directions a lot as well. I really enjoyed cooking and I was glad that I was in this team. I think we can work on researching more next time. It was so much fun and can learn chemistry at the same time so I really loved the chemistry cooking!

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