themeatbridge

Salty, sweet, greasy flour and egg mush. Mmmmm

Three things happen during baking that change the flavor of a cookie.

Maillard reaction, caramelization, and the melting of fats. There are more, but those are the three we’re going to talk about.

The maillard reaction takes raw flour and turns it brown. It absorbs some of the sugar in the process, and creates a more complex, nutty flavor. Caramelization also browns some of the sugar, giving it a smoky, bitter flavor. They also give the cookie a firm or crispy texture.

You also melt any fats, like butter, that are in the dough. Melted butter separates and spreads throughout the cookie.

There’s also often an egg that helps build structure for the baked dough, and sometimes baking soda for fluffiness.

This means uncooked dough is sweeter than a baked cookie. It has a soft, dense, and moist texture that disappears when fully baked. It’s butter and sugar held together with flour and egg, and it’s delicious.

This just reminds me that, in any hobby, there are nuanced turf wars and internal politics that superfans are invested in following. This is the sort of thing that I might have really cared about in my days as a gamer, and hearing about it now makes me realize how out of touch I am with the community.

I do miss it sometimes. Makes me nostaligic for riding the bus with friends and arguing about Sega vs Nintendo or what’s going on at Activision.

I expect it to be like every other season, some good and some not. It’s an edgy show that tries to explore weird concepts. I like that it is experimental, but that means sometimes the experiments don’t always succeed.

Unless you were struck by lightning whilst dancing in the rain, in which case this motivational image does not constitute legal, medical, or financial advice. Dance in the rain at your own risk.