Test Kitchen - March

Or in the words of Katie, "an exercise in deliciousness"

Test kitchen invite

Today was the first in a series of Test Kitchen events.  The whole thing started because I was given a waffle iron as a joke.  I made waffles last weekend and kept fiddling with the temperature settings and time to cook trying to get the best outcome.  I needed to do more testing, so invited a few friends over for brunch this weekend.  But the idea of testing waffles took on a life of its own, and before I knew it I had Test Kitchen plans for March, April, and May. 

For the March Test Kitchen we tested the following breakfast items (copied from the invitation):

1. waffles.  how do you make perfect waffles?  what temperature and time duration does it take to get the right color and crispiness?  and what is the ultimate waffle topping?  I'll have several toppings on hand for testing, but feel free to bring your favorite and we'll test that too.

2. bacon.  in the search for the One Bacon to Rule Them All, we will have a bacon tasting.  Several types, all cooked in the oven.  If you think you are a more refined bacon connoisseur than I am, feel feel free to bring your favorite type and we'll test it along with the varieties I pick up this week.

3. bloody mary.  that's right, this Test Kitchen will have a Chemistry Lab component.  

Plus we had scrambled eggs, bangers, smoothies, fresh fruit, Jaq brought supplies and made blueberry sauce from scratch for the waffles as well as fresh strawberries, Amy & Bryan brought a blueberry bundt cake and turkey breakfast sausage, Erika & Adrian brought croissants & danishes, both Divide and Ellen & Matty brought Mimosa fixins, and Chad brought the supplies and made biscuits & gravy.

PARTICIPANTS: Brian, Amy, Matty, Ellen, Adrian, Erika, Bill, Chad, Divide, Jacqueline, Katie, Paul

OBSERVERS: Ella

TEST RESULTS:

Test One: Waffles

Methodology: All waffles were cooked on maximum heat.  The first batch, at four minutes, had good color and external crispiness, but the inside was too chewy to score high marks from testers.  The second batch, at five minutes, was eaten before I could document the results.  The third batch, at four and a half minutes, had good color and external crispiness, and the internal texture was much improved over the first batch.  A fourth batch, cooked again for five minutes, was then logged with good color and external crispiness, and good internal crispiness as well. 

Conclusion: ideal waffles at 4.5-5 minutes on maximum heat.

Additionally, three maple syrups were tested, Stonewall Kitchens, Spring Tree, and Shady Maple.  There was no strong preference by testers for any one of the three in terms of taste or consistency.

Test Two: Bacon

Methodology: We tested four types of bacon, using the oven baked approach outlined on Tony Chor's blog. 

Materials: The bacons tested, were:

1. Larry's Market Meat Counter Bulk Bacon

2. Fletcher's Thick Cut Maple Bacon

3. Hempler's Peppered Bacon

4. Nueske's Applewood Smoked Bacon

 

Tester Comments:

Bacon #2 - crunchy and spice

Bacon #4 has notable maple flavor that enhances the flavor over #1 which is relatively standard.* 

Bacon #1 has a nice crisp to it.

Bacon #3 has the best flavor, due to the pepper.  Excellent zip and zing on #3.

Porktastic

Bacon #4 super yummy, good texture, crispy

Bacon #3 great crisp and flavor, pepper isn't overpowering

Bacon #1 is great classic bacon

Bacon #2 maple is good but not as good as #1*

 

*hm.  looks like bacon might have gotten mixed up on the serving trays between batches if people thought both #2 and #4 were both maple flavored.

Conlcusion: bacon is good.  Seriously.  No one bacon stood out as a favorite among testers.  It was all devoured.  Everyone was happy.  But in my oven the bake times are longer than on Tony's blog, it takes about 20 minutes to get two cookie sheets worth of perfectly cooked bacon.

Test Three: Bloody Marys

Formulae: I printed three different bloody mary recipes found on the internet and set them out with all the necessary materials prior to the start of the Test Kitchen.

Conclusion: you have to really want a bloody mary to go to the trouble to make them - six ingredients minimum, with specific tools and measurements...  On the other hand, Orange Juice + Champagne = Mimosa.  Easy and readily available.  So those who chose to imbibe liquor had those.  We'll put bloody mary's back in the Chem Lab in May, since Katie has agreed to be the smoothie mixmaster in the April Chem Lab. 

TEST KITCHEN SUMMARY:

Very fun, everyone left with full bellies, we are definitely doing this again in April.

Special thanks:

Lab Assistants Amy and Bryan for coming over an hour early to help prep.  They were awesome helpers.  I sent Bryan off to the store to pick up a few things I'd forgotten the night before while Amy washed fruit and chopped herbs, garlic, and mushrooms for the scrambled eggs.  Bryan also assembled 2 of my still boxed ikea chairs I hadn't gotten around to building yet so there would be more seating available.  :)  Throughout the Test Kitchen experiment they were both total rock stars, helping with bacon, cooking sausage, mixing waffle batter...  this morning would not have been a success without their help, I couldn't have pulled it off without them.

Divide & Jacqueline not only brought mimosa fixins, they brought me a gift.  Divide knew i was trying to make time to go to the Science and Art store in Seattle to get test tubes, beakers, and flasks for the Chem Lab but didn't get a chance...  coolest. barware. ever. 

Lab set

Chad made biscuits and gravy, but also was the last one to leave as he helped me clean up the kitchen.  Lots of folks helped with cleanup throughout the morning and I appreciate them all, he just stayed longest.  And he washed the stovetop.  I hate washing the stovetop more than any other kitchen task - which he didn't know when he did it.  :) 

I had a great time and can't thank everyone enough for coming over and participating in the Test Kitchen Experiment.  You are all awesome.