when math is chemistry
[email protected]
In a message dated 5/2/02 11:03:52 AM, dcannon@... writes:
<< Actually I like cookbook math - doubling a cookie recipe or
converting a cheesecake recipe from a 9" springform pan to a 10"
volume - covers a myriad of traditional math phobia inducing
topics deliciously. I also commend quilted math; there is
nothing about angles that doesn't become intuitive when piecing a
complex quilt.
Friends of ours were cooking for 150 or so once, and they were making a cream
soup or something. I wasn't the cook, I was in the kitchen early playing
music for them. I needed to practice recorder anyway, and the people in the
dorms at the camp where we were for the weekend were all alseep.
So I was there when they were opening half-pint after half-pint carton of
cream, and a couple had been poured in and someone else was still opening the
sixteen or twenty so little cartons they had there. A friend of ours who had
done dinner the night before and was not on kitchen duty, but who happens to
be a trained-in-New-Orleans real live chef, passed through the kitchen on a
shortcut. (It was an SCA event; he was partially in armor, so it was damned
picturesque. <g>)
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" he said with as much control as he could muster.
The explanation came, but he said "Show me the recipe!" and the milk wasn't
the only thing he talked them into adjusting. He was explaining the
processes and the purpose of the milk, and the differences in the distance
from the heat and the mass of the other ingredients and size and shape of
pan. It mostly went right over my head (and theirs too), but I was impressed
with his knowledge, and the complexity of it, and that you can't just
multiply some recipes by ten or fifteen or whatever and have it work right!
Sandra
<< Actually I like cookbook math - doubling a cookie recipe or
converting a cheesecake recipe from a 9" springform pan to a 10"
volume - covers a myriad of traditional math phobia inducing
topics deliciously. I also commend quilted math; there is
nothing about angles that doesn't become intuitive when piecing a
complex quilt.
>>Past doubling, it become chemistry, though, sometimes!
Friends of ours were cooking for 150 or so once, and they were making a cream
soup or something. I wasn't the cook, I was in the kitchen early playing
music for them. I needed to practice recorder anyway, and the people in the
dorms at the camp where we were for the weekend were all alseep.
So I was there when they were opening half-pint after half-pint carton of
cream, and a couple had been poured in and someone else was still opening the
sixteen or twenty so little cartons they had there. A friend of ours who had
done dinner the night before and was not on kitchen duty, but who happens to
be a trained-in-New-Orleans real live chef, passed through the kitchen on a
shortcut. (It was an SCA event; he was partially in armor, so it was damned
picturesque. <g>)
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" he said with as much control as he could muster.
The explanation came, but he said "Show me the recipe!" and the milk wasn't
the only thing he talked them into adjusting. He was explaining the
processes and the purpose of the milk, and the differences in the distance
from the heat and the mass of the other ingredients and size and shape of
pan. It mostly went right over my head (and theirs too), but I was impressed
with his knowledge, and the complexity of it, and that you can't just
multiply some recipes by ten or fifteen or whatever and have it work right!
Sandra
Nora or Devereaux Cannon
Large quantity is indeed chemistry and frequently biology to the
discomfort of those poisoned, LOL. Even more quantity cooking is
all about physics and BTU transfer. When we cook for several
hundred, I get a chance to challenge understandings about radiant
heat, density and so forth. And pectin is great stuff for making
fruit rollups, colloidal suspensions and examples of the magic
point of phase change, which is why you can't even double a jelly
recipe confidently.
You are all set to enjoy "How to Read a French Fry."
discomfort of those poisoned, LOL. Even more quantity cooking is
all about physics and BTU transfer. When we cook for several
hundred, I get a chance to challenge understandings about radiant
heat, density and so forth. And pectin is great stuff for making
fruit rollups, colloidal suspensions and examples of the magic
point of phase change, which is why you can't even double a jelly
recipe confidently.
You are all set to enjoy "How to Read a French Fry."
----- Original Message -----
From: <SandraDodd@...>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, May 02, 2002 12:37 PM
Subject: [Unschooling-dotcom] when math is chemistry
|
| In a message dated 5/2/02 11:03:52 AM, dcannon@... writes:
|
| << Actually I like cookbook math - doubling a cookie recipe or
| converting a cheesecake recipe from a 9" springform pan to a
10"
| volume - covers a myriad of traditional math phobia inducing
| topics deliciously. I also commend quilted math; there is
| nothing about angles that doesn't become intuitive when piecing
a
| complex quilt.
| >>
|
| Past doubling, it become chemistry, though, sometimes!
|
| Friends of ours were cooking for 150 or so once, and they were
making a cream
| soup or something. I wasn't the cook, I was in the kitchen
early playing
| music for them. I needed to practice recorder anyway, and the
people in the
| dorms at the camp where we were for the weekend were all
alseep.
|
| So I was there when they were opening half-pint after half-pint
carton of
| cream, and a couple had been poured in and someone else was
still opening the
| sixteen or twenty so little cartons they had there. A friend
of ours who had
| done dinner the night before and was not on kitchen duty, but
who happens to
| be a trained-in-New-Orleans real live chef, passed through the
kitchen on a
| shortcut. (It was an SCA event; he was partially in armor, so
it was damned
| picturesque. <g>)
|
| "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" he said with as much control as he could
muster.
|
| The explanation came, but he said "Show me the recipe!" and
the milk wasn't
| the only thing he talked them into adjusting. He was
explaining the
| processes and the purpose of the milk, and the differences in
the distance
| from the heat and the mass of the other ingredients and size
and shape of
| pan. It mostly went right over my head (and theirs too), but I
was impressed
| with his knowledge, and the complexity of it, and that you
can't just
| multiply some recipes by ten or fifteen or whatever and have it
work right!
|
| Sandra
|
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