The Perfect Bacon Sarnie
By Hayley Birch
There are scientists, and there are scientists. The first sort spends his day craning over microtitre plates and working up a sweat under a fume hood. The second really has no intention of doing anything but messing about with his mates.
But come on. Which of these two people do you want to be? The man who devotes his life to mapping signal transduction pathways? Or the man who uncovers the secret of the best bacon sandwich?
You want to be Dr Graham Clayton. He’s the man who, along with a bunch of other food scientists at Leeds University, spent 1,000 hours trying out different bread and bacon combinations – all in the interests of “science”.
Don’t snort now. This is important stuff.
Clayton has discovered that it’s not just the taste and smell of the bacon that we find so satisfying. “Our research proves that texture and the crunching sound are just – if not more – important.”
The perfect butty contains two or three rashers, grilled for exactly seven minutes at 240C, for optimum crispiness. These should be placed between two slices of farmhouse bread cut 1-2cm thick.
Drooling yet?
Well, I’m off to grab my own perfect butty. But I’ll be bearing in mind Clayton’s magic (and remarkably complicated looking) formula. Never say scientists don’t do any work.
N = C + {fb (cm) . fb (tc)} + fb (Ts) + fc
N = force in Newtons required to break the cooked bacon
fb = function of the bacon type
fc = function of the condiment/filling effect
Ts = serving temperature
tc = cooking time
ta = time or duration of application of condiment/filling
cm = cooking method
C = Newtons required to break uncooked bacon
More tasty science can be found on Hayley's page.
- News - The only other decent job in science
- Spoof - Galactic-sized sandwich
- Straight - Why tea is good for you
- Spoof - Police avert banger threat
But come on. Which of these two people do you want to be? The man who devotes his life to mapping signal transduction pathways? Or the man who uncovers the secret of the best bacon sandwich?
You want to be Dr Graham Clayton. He’s the man who, along with a bunch of other food scientists at Leeds University, spent 1,000 hours trying out different bread and bacon combinations – all in the interests of “science”.
Don’t snort now. This is important stuff.Clayton has discovered that it’s not just the taste and smell of the bacon that we find so satisfying. “Our research proves that texture and the crunching sound are just – if not more – important.”
The perfect butty contains two or three rashers, grilled for exactly seven minutes at 240C, for optimum crispiness. These should be placed between two slices of farmhouse bread cut 1-2cm thick.
Drooling yet?
Well, I’m off to grab my own perfect butty. But I’ll be bearing in mind Clayton’s magic (and remarkably complicated looking) formula. Never say scientists don’t do any work.
N = C + {fb (cm) . fb (tc)} + fb (Ts) + fc
N = force in Newtons required to break the cooked bacon
fb = function of the bacon type
fc = function of the condiment/filling effect
Ts = serving temperature
tc = cooking time
ta = time or duration of application of condiment/filling
cm = cooking method
C = Newtons required to break uncooked bacon
More tasty science can be found on Hayley's page.
- News - The only other decent job in science
- Spoof - Galactic-sized sandwich
- Straight - Why tea is good for you
- Spoof - Police avert banger threat
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