Given: culinary lifhak. If the bacon before the preparation is held under cold water, when frying, it will “shrink” by 50% less. The maximum taste is achieved by preparing the bacon in the oven for 10 minutes at t 185ºС.
Question: is it true?
This task was recently undertaken by the guys from Instructables (one of the largest DIY-sites, where there are many cool master classes).
They approached the “problem” seriously (they studied the theory, stocked up the product, tools) and conducted a scientific experiment in the best traditions of the “Destroyers of Legends”.
What happened, read on.
Step 1: Putting Hypotheses
A hypothesis is a thesis that presupposes proof. The hypothesis is scientific, if it can be checked by experiment (Popper’s criterion).
As a basis, the researchers took the lifhak described in this article.
The main hypothesis: if the bacon before the preparation is held under cold water, when frying, it will “shrink” by 50% less.
Additional hypothesis: The maximum taste is achieved by preparing the bacon in the oven for 10 minutes at t 185ºС.
The first hypothesis will be proved, relying on objective factors; the second – on the subjective. In addition, for completeness of the experiment, it was decided to try not one but two ways of preparing bacon – in the oven and gas.
Step 2: Preparation
Tools:
- Frying pan – 2 pieces;
- A tray – 2 pieces;
- Colander – 1 piece;
- Plate – 4 pieces;
- Cooker – 1 piece;
- Oven – 1 piece;
- Notepad (for fixing the course of the experiment);
- Ruler (metal);
- Foil;
- Beaker.
Consumables – 1.4 kg of first-class smoked bacon.
Step 3: Instructions
To take into account both objective and subjective moments, samples (pieces of bacon) were first divided into two groups – bacon in the oven (group A) and bacon in a frying pan (group B).
Instructions for frying bacon in a frying pan:
Lay the slices of bacon on a non-heated frying pan. Fry the bacon until cooked over medium heat, 8-10 minutes, periodically turning over. Before serving, put bacon on a paper towel to remove excess fat.
The instruction for the preparation of bacon in the oven is set forth in an additional hypothesis.
Both rules were followed strictly.
Step 4: the course of the experiment
Each group was divided into two subgroups: experimental (bacon soaked before frying in water) and control (bacon, fried without soaking in water). Each subgroup consisted of 7 equal in size pieces of bacon.
Then the samples from the experimental subgroups were held under cold running water.
Both baking trays (experimental and control subgroups) were sent to the oven simultaneously.
Group A – oven
The foil was lined with foil, bacon laid on them and sent to the oven, heated to 185 ° C, for 10 minutes.
Note: After 10 minutes it was found that bacon is not ready. Therefore, we decided to extend the cooking time to 30 minutes.
Group B – frying pan
Bacon pieces were laid in one layer on cold frying pans. Bacon was cooked for 10 minutes on medium heat. Periodically, the pieces were turned over (no one was hurt).
After roasting the bacon was laid out on a paper towel.
Then all the samples were measured again.
Step 5: Results
Presenting the obtained data in the form of graphs and analyzing them, the researchers came to the conclusion that the main hypothesis is NOT proved.
As can be seen from the graph, the goal – to reduce the “compression” of bacon by 50% – has not been achieved in any of the groups.
This is confirmed by metric indicators. From the graph it can be seen that when frying in a frying pan the pieces of bacon have decreased by an average of 0.6 cm, and when cooking in the oven it’s only 0.05 cm. However, in neither case the soaking in the water reduced ” compression “of bacon by 50%.
Step 6: Conclusions
Group B
Between the samples from the experimental and control subgroups, the visual differences are insignificant. Differences in taste were also noticed. When tasting the researchers used such epithets as “Very tasty!”, “Crunches”.
Group A
Samples of the control and experimental subgroups are very different from each other. According to the researchers, bacon from the experimental subgroup looks more appetizing and more crispy in taste. While bacon from the control group looks a little “dryish”. It should be expected that while it will be more crispy, but it is not.
Summary
The hypothesis is not proved. Culinary lifhak (if you hold the bacon before cooking under cold water, when frying, it will “shrink” by 50% less) was false.
However, the fact that fried bacon is fantastically delicious, whether it is compressed or not, is an indisputable fact.
