Tools in Biology

[anamikariya]

The scientific method is central to all work that a scientist does. Can this method be used in the ordinary activities of life ?

[jonmoulton]

This group creates recipes. They do it by reading the existing literature for a particular dish, initially testing some recipes by cooking them and having a set of tasters rate the outcome, developing hypotheses about what will improve the taste, testing the hypotheses by making the modified dishes and assessing the taste with the tasting panel, repeating the hypothesis & test cycle as needed, and then eventually writing up and publishing the results.

http://www.americastestkitchen.com/

I subscribe to their magazine and and very pleased by their writeups describing the experimental process and their outcomes when I cook the recipes (though I don't cook as often as I would like).

http://www.cooksillustrated.com/

I do, however, like to crank up the spice a bit.

I have no connection with the company besides my subscription to their magazine. I am providing this as an example of the scientific method applied in ordinary activities of life.

[JorgeLobo]

What kind of hypotheses do they formulate?

[jonmoulton]

Their goals are to make dishes with the most pleasing taste and the least process effort, so their hypotheses involve altering ingredients and procedures to optimize taste and processing. A hypothesis produces a recipe. They test the hypotheses by making the dish according to the recipe and assessing the dish using their tasting panel, gathering feedback and reformulating hypotheses.

A specific hypothesis might be, for instance, that replacing half of the refined sugar with molasses in a cookie recipe will improve the tasting panel's reaction.

The final writeup includes the recipe as well as a brief history of the recipe development and testing process.