INGREDIENT FUNCTIONALITY
MASTER EXAM QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS
What are some ingredients/techniques that can confer texture modification in classical
cooking? - Correct Answers -Gelatin (stock, panna cotta) flour, starch, bread crumbs,
egg yolks (creme anglaise, creme caramel), pectin (preserves), blood, removing water,
butter (emulsion)
What is the structure and composition of sauces? - Correct Answers -Liquid (body of
sauce, aqueous phase), thickening agent, additional flavoring
What is the thought process when choosing a thickening ingredient? - Correct Answers
-Which ingredient do you choose and why? How do you use the chosen ingredient?
Things to consider: How appearance, heating profile, mouthfeel, cost, and flavor profile
affect final product.
Which one?
Why?
How?
Consider how flour can affect a sauce? think about composition, how it thickens,
heating profile, final solution, preparation, integration - Correct Answers -Composition:
protein, ash, fat, carbs (has water soluble and insoluble ingredients
Thickening agent: starch (amylose and amylopectin)
Heating profile: needs to boil to gelatinize starch and cause an increase in viscosity
Final solution: opaque
preparation: roux, beurre manie, whitewash
Integration: cook roux, add to liquid, prepare roux, add to liquid, cook, etc.
What are the five techniques/ingredients used to thicken foods? - Correct Answers -1.
Adding or removing heat (freezing, cooling, reduction)
2. Emulsifying (addition of fat)
3. Proteins (blood, egg yolks)
4. Addition of physical solids (bread crumbs, nuts)
5. Hydrocolloids (starch, agar, pectin, gelatin)
What are five places that thickening ingredients are sourced from? Think of how they
are initially produced. - Correct Answers -1. Marine (agar, alginates, carrageenan)
2. Terrestrial plants (guar, tragacanth, locust bean, pectin, starch)
3. Microbial polysaccharides (gellan gum, xanthan gum)
,4. Animals (gelatin from collagen)
5. Cellulose (cellulose gum, cellulose gel, methyl cellulose)
What thickening ingredients usually only viscosify and not gel? - Correct Answers -
Cellulose gel
Cellulose gum
Guar
Locust bean hum
Propylene glycol alginate
Xanthan gum
What ingredients are typically used to gel instead of simply viscosify? - Correct Answers
-Agar
Alginate
Carrageenan (can also provide viscosity)
Gelatin
Gellan
Methyl cellulose
Pectin
What ingredient is commonly used to both viscosify and gel foods? - Correct Answers -
Starch
What is the composition of flour? - Correct Answers -Starch, protein, lipids,
minerals/vitamins
What is the function of starch in flour? - Correct Answers -Viscosification, browning,
network formation, etc.
What is the function of protein in flour? - Correct Answers -Browning, network formation,
etc
What is starch? - Correct Answers -Broad general term that describes some constituent
molecules that physically orient themselves in a specific way that allows and facilitates
physical and sensory attributes
What two polysaccharides is starch made of - Correct Answers -Amylose and
amylopectin
What is the difference between amylose and amylopectin? - Correct Answers -Amylose
only has alpha 1-4 bond, where amylopectin has alpha 1-6 bond along with alpha 1-4.
Alpha 1-6 bond causes branching.
What is the monomeric subunit of amylose and amylopectin - Correct Answers -glucose
,What is glucose - Correct Answers -A six carbon sugar polymerized in a ring
confirmation
What does Alpha (α) mean when describing bonds - Correct Answers -Alpha (α)
designates that this is digestible
Can amylose or amylopectin stack more efficiently? - Correct Answers -Amylose due to
only alpha 1-4 bonds
What is the structure of starch granules? - Correct Answers -Concentric rings of
crystalline and amorphous starch. Lines that are more organized (crystalline), and lines
that are not organized (amorphous)
What happens when starch gelatinizes? macro scale - Correct Answers -Granules
imbibe water and swell. The order in the granule is lost, and amylose leaches out. This
affects the viscosity of the medium in which they are found
How much can a starch molecule swell when gelatinized? - Correct Answers -up to
100x
What is required to gelatinize starch? - Correct Answers -Water and heat
What happens when starch is gelatinized? (molecular scale) - Correct Answers -The
starch molecules become less organized and less efficiently packed, increase in
physical diameter of molecule, loss of crystalline structure
What is the correlation between viscosity and temperature of a starch molecule when
gelatinizing? - Correct Answers -Starch granule starts to swell as temperature
increases, reaches peak. Then as the starch continues to heat, the starch physically
breaks down and there is a loss of viscosity.
In order to get maximum thickening out of starch, it is precise? and why - Correct
Answers -Yes, because in order to create the thickest solution, we have to heat to
gelatinize but preserve the starch molecule by not overheating. Delicate dance!
Does gelatinization temperature depend on the source of the starch? - Correct Answers
-Yes due to natural variability of plants, plant to plant variation, and variation within the
same plant.
How does variability in starch manifest itself in cooking? - Correct Answers -Varying
size, level of order/disorder in granules
What are the four factors that gelatinization temperature is affected by? - Correct
Answers -1. Amylose ratio
2. Granule size
3. Industrial pretreatments
, 4. Random variations in quality
How does amylose to amylopectin ratio affect starch when gelatinizing? - Correct
Answers -More amylose equals higher temperature to gelatinize due to higher structure
in amylose due to alpha 1-4 bond
How does granule size affect starch when gelatinizing? - Correct Answers -Bigger
granule size equals lower temperatures. More potential for water to seep into larger
granules, therefore greater probability that a chef could disrupt the granule
What is starch retrogradation - Correct Answers -When removing heat or water from the
system, it allows the amylose and amylopectin molecules to reorient themselves in a
way that they find each other once again, to a certain extent.
What does starch retrogradation manifest itself as? - Correct Answers -Staling
Is retrogradation easier in amylose or amylopectin? Or are they the same - Correct
Answers -Amylose is more prone to retrogradation
Why does retrogradation happen? - Correct Answers -Because the energy and moisture
is not present to drive the molecules apart from one another, so the starch molecule
starts to rebuild itself
How do you reverse staling of bread? - Correct Answers -Add heat and moisture
When you heat and cool bread to reverse staling, will it be the same amount of stale as
before? why - Correct Answers -because when more heat and moisture is added and
removed to starch again and again, we are allowing the amylose and amylopectin to
become densely compact and organized. called "super-staling"
What are some limitations of native starches? - Correct Answers -Survive very long
periods of heating
Highly acidic conditions
High shear environments
Retrograde much more quickly
Swelling makes overly viscous textures
Granules over-swell and break, causing loss of viscosity and gumminess
What is a native starch - Correct Answers -minimally processed starches.
Not highly chemically/physically modified.
Extracted through aqueous means
What are the four ways that starch is modified? - Correct Answers -Crosslinking,
Stabilization, converted, lipophilic substitution
MASTER EXAM QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS
What are some ingredients/techniques that can confer texture modification in classical
cooking? - Correct Answers -Gelatin (stock, panna cotta) flour, starch, bread crumbs,
egg yolks (creme anglaise, creme caramel), pectin (preserves), blood, removing water,
butter (emulsion)
What is the structure and composition of sauces? - Correct Answers -Liquid (body of
sauce, aqueous phase), thickening agent, additional flavoring
What is the thought process when choosing a thickening ingredient? - Correct Answers
-Which ingredient do you choose and why? How do you use the chosen ingredient?
Things to consider: How appearance, heating profile, mouthfeel, cost, and flavor profile
affect final product.
Which one?
Why?
How?
Consider how flour can affect a sauce? think about composition, how it thickens,
heating profile, final solution, preparation, integration - Correct Answers -Composition:
protein, ash, fat, carbs (has water soluble and insoluble ingredients
Thickening agent: starch (amylose and amylopectin)
Heating profile: needs to boil to gelatinize starch and cause an increase in viscosity
Final solution: opaque
preparation: roux, beurre manie, whitewash
Integration: cook roux, add to liquid, prepare roux, add to liquid, cook, etc.
What are the five techniques/ingredients used to thicken foods? - Correct Answers -1.
Adding or removing heat (freezing, cooling, reduction)
2. Emulsifying (addition of fat)
3. Proteins (blood, egg yolks)
4. Addition of physical solids (bread crumbs, nuts)
5. Hydrocolloids (starch, agar, pectin, gelatin)
What are five places that thickening ingredients are sourced from? Think of how they
are initially produced. - Correct Answers -1. Marine (agar, alginates, carrageenan)
2. Terrestrial plants (guar, tragacanth, locust bean, pectin, starch)
3. Microbial polysaccharides (gellan gum, xanthan gum)
,4. Animals (gelatin from collagen)
5. Cellulose (cellulose gum, cellulose gel, methyl cellulose)
What thickening ingredients usually only viscosify and not gel? - Correct Answers -
Cellulose gel
Cellulose gum
Guar
Locust bean hum
Propylene glycol alginate
Xanthan gum
What ingredients are typically used to gel instead of simply viscosify? - Correct Answers
-Agar
Alginate
Carrageenan (can also provide viscosity)
Gelatin
Gellan
Methyl cellulose
Pectin
What ingredient is commonly used to both viscosify and gel foods? - Correct Answers -
Starch
What is the composition of flour? - Correct Answers -Starch, protein, lipids,
minerals/vitamins
What is the function of starch in flour? - Correct Answers -Viscosification, browning,
network formation, etc.
What is the function of protein in flour? - Correct Answers -Browning, network formation,
etc
What is starch? - Correct Answers -Broad general term that describes some constituent
molecules that physically orient themselves in a specific way that allows and facilitates
physical and sensory attributes
What two polysaccharides is starch made of - Correct Answers -Amylose and
amylopectin
What is the difference between amylose and amylopectin? - Correct Answers -Amylose
only has alpha 1-4 bond, where amylopectin has alpha 1-6 bond along with alpha 1-4.
Alpha 1-6 bond causes branching.
What is the monomeric subunit of amylose and amylopectin - Correct Answers -glucose
,What is glucose - Correct Answers -A six carbon sugar polymerized in a ring
confirmation
What does Alpha (α) mean when describing bonds - Correct Answers -Alpha (α)
designates that this is digestible
Can amylose or amylopectin stack more efficiently? - Correct Answers -Amylose due to
only alpha 1-4 bonds
What is the structure of starch granules? - Correct Answers -Concentric rings of
crystalline and amorphous starch. Lines that are more organized (crystalline), and lines
that are not organized (amorphous)
What happens when starch gelatinizes? macro scale - Correct Answers -Granules
imbibe water and swell. The order in the granule is lost, and amylose leaches out. This
affects the viscosity of the medium in which they are found
How much can a starch molecule swell when gelatinized? - Correct Answers -up to
100x
What is required to gelatinize starch? - Correct Answers -Water and heat
What happens when starch is gelatinized? (molecular scale) - Correct Answers -The
starch molecules become less organized and less efficiently packed, increase in
physical diameter of molecule, loss of crystalline structure
What is the correlation between viscosity and temperature of a starch molecule when
gelatinizing? - Correct Answers -Starch granule starts to swell as temperature
increases, reaches peak. Then as the starch continues to heat, the starch physically
breaks down and there is a loss of viscosity.
In order to get maximum thickening out of starch, it is precise? and why - Correct
Answers -Yes, because in order to create the thickest solution, we have to heat to
gelatinize but preserve the starch molecule by not overheating. Delicate dance!
Does gelatinization temperature depend on the source of the starch? - Correct Answers
-Yes due to natural variability of plants, plant to plant variation, and variation within the
same plant.
How does variability in starch manifest itself in cooking? - Correct Answers -Varying
size, level of order/disorder in granules
What are the four factors that gelatinization temperature is affected by? - Correct
Answers -1. Amylose ratio
2. Granule size
3. Industrial pretreatments
, 4. Random variations in quality
How does amylose to amylopectin ratio affect starch when gelatinizing? - Correct
Answers -More amylose equals higher temperature to gelatinize due to higher structure
in amylose due to alpha 1-4 bond
How does granule size affect starch when gelatinizing? - Correct Answers -Bigger
granule size equals lower temperatures. More potential for water to seep into larger
granules, therefore greater probability that a chef could disrupt the granule
What is starch retrogradation - Correct Answers -When removing heat or water from the
system, it allows the amylose and amylopectin molecules to reorient themselves in a
way that they find each other once again, to a certain extent.
What does starch retrogradation manifest itself as? - Correct Answers -Staling
Is retrogradation easier in amylose or amylopectin? Or are they the same - Correct
Answers -Amylose is more prone to retrogradation
Why does retrogradation happen? - Correct Answers -Because the energy and moisture
is not present to drive the molecules apart from one another, so the starch molecule
starts to rebuild itself
How do you reverse staling of bread? - Correct Answers -Add heat and moisture
When you heat and cool bread to reverse staling, will it be the same amount of stale as
before? why - Correct Answers -because when more heat and moisture is added and
removed to starch again and again, we are allowing the amylose and amylopectin to
become densely compact and organized. called "super-staling"
What are some limitations of native starches? - Correct Answers -Survive very long
periods of heating
Highly acidic conditions
High shear environments
Retrograde much more quickly
Swelling makes overly viscous textures
Granules over-swell and break, causing loss of viscosity and gumminess
What is a native starch - Correct Answers -minimally processed starches.
Not highly chemically/physically modified.
Extracted through aqueous means
What are the four ways that starch is modified? - Correct Answers -Crosslinking,
Stabilization, converted, lipophilic substitution
