Cooking for Engineers
Eggs
• Which cooks faster, an egg in salt water or an egg
in fresh water?
• Which egg cooks slower, one boiled in Colorado or
one boiled at Carolina Beach, NC?
• Two eggs are placed in boiling water at sea level
and cooked to the identical degree of doneness,
one on a sunny and one on a stormy day. The air
temperature is the same on both days. Which egg
would take longer to cook?
Cooking at high altitudes

If you are a newcomer to the mountain
area of Wyoming, you may wonder why
your potatoes take longer to cook or why
your cakes continually fall. Recipes from
low altitudes usually need to be adjusted
at altitudes above 3,000 feet (even
Boone, NC is at 3266 ft). These
adjustments are made in time,
temperature and/or ingredients.
Here’s Why:

High altitude means lower air
pressure, which decreases water's
boiling temperature from 212oF at
sea level to 203oF at 5,000 feet and
to just 199oF at 7,200 feet.
Lower altitude –
Higher pressure –
Higher boiling point
Higher altitude –
Lower pressure –
Lower boiling point
So what?

This variation (lower boiling point)
affects cooking of vegetables, eggs,
candies, and internal structure of
baked products because water and
liquids evaporate faster and
leavening gases in breads and cakes
expand more.
So what?

If water boils at a lower
temperature, then foods cooked in
water or steam (potatoes, boiled
eggs, chili) take longer to cook. In
general, cooking time must be
increased from 4-11% per 1,000
feet.
Under Pressure

A pressure cooker is great for
cooking meats and vegetables
which require long cooking at high
altitudes. By increasing pressure,
the temperature at which water
boils is raised, and food cooks more
quickly.
Regarding beans…

When making bean soup, the starch
inside the cells swells and softens, so the
beans will be tender. In the presence of
acids, starch within cells can't swell, so
the cells don't ever break down. So don't
add acidic ingredients, such as tomato
sauce, wine, lemon juice, or vinegar, until
the beans are already tender.
You scream, I scream..

Which melts faster, ice cream or
sherbet?
Check out…

www.cookingforengineers.com
http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/

http://www.ochef.com/Science.htm
