A Scientist Speaks

[DianaMoon]

I discovered this on LinkedIn, believe it or not.

http://ethesis.nitrkl.ac.in/5371/1/109CH0476.pdf

"When the solution is being run into the oil, the mixture must be stirred in only one direction."

An interesting read.

This is what you do during a storm.

 

[earlene]

I have read that advice as well about stirring in only one direction. I don't recall where, though.

 

[Saffron]

Thanks for that. Not so sure about some of his statements though.

 

[SaltedFig]

It looks like a Student Paper from India.

What do you mean, this is what you do in a storm? Stir the one way?

I discovered this on LinkedIn, believe it or not.

http://ethesis.nitrkl.ac.in/5371/1/109CH0476.pdf

"When the solution is being run into the oil, the mixture must be stirred in only one direction."

An interesting read.

This is what you do during a storm.

 

[DianaMoon]

It looks like a Student Paper from India.

What do you mean, this is what you do in a storm? Stir the one way?

We had an ugly snowstorm in NYC today. I was inside looking up soapy stuff. I found several things on LinkedIn, of all places. That was one. Here is another:

http://www.garyolds.com/files/ColonialSoapMaking--HistoryTechniques.pdf

I was interested in how they did things in the good old days before you could buy lye flakes in a can. No thank you!

 

[Kamahido]

I tend to take anything I read online with a grain of salt. Unless there is a way to verify the writer's credentials, I would err on the side of caution.

 

[DeeAnna]

http://ethesis.nitrkl.ac.in/5371/1/109CH0476.pdf

If I was this student's major professor, I would have raked him or her over the coals for plagiarism. I thought some of the language in chapter 2 seemed a little too polished and highbrow compared with the writing chapter 3 which is a summary of the student's own experiments. I was right.

The literature review (chapter 2) contains direct quotes lifted out of at least one of the references cited. (I have one of the books, so I could compare.) That's unacceptable scholarship. That means the information is presented without the student really understanding the material -- I sincerely doubt the student ever questioned the odd advice to only stir in one direction.

And a fellow chemical engineer too.

 

[penelopejane]

This spanish woman stirred soap by hand one way.

http://spanishjourneys.com/olive_me_blog/make-your-own-pure-castile-soap

 

[DeeAnna]

I've wondered if that advice comes from hand stirring, like the Spanish woman's method. If you only stir one way, you're less likely to splash. That's just a guess, however. I really don't know.

 

[penelopejane]

It might be because her mother did it that way. Like this:

The new bride is making her first big dinner for her husband and tries her hand at her mother’s brisket recipe, cutting off the ends of the roast the way her mother always did. Hubby thinks the meat is delicious, but says, “Why do you cut off the ends — that’s the best part!” She answers, “That’s the way my mother always made it.”

The next week, they go to the old bubbie’s house, and she prepares the famous brisket recipe, again cutting off the ends. The young bride is sure she must be missing some vital information, so she askes her grandma why she cut off the ends. Grandma says, “Dahlink, that’s the only way it will fit in the pan!”

 

[earlene]

I think It's something along the lines of 'stirring in one direction decreases the opportunity to splash while changing directions' or avoiding going against the whirlpool. Better to say don't stir vigorously, IMO, or stir gently if one wants to use positive rather than negative instruction.

 

[lmosca]

If I was this student's major professor, I would have raked him or her over the coals for plagiarism. I thought some of the language in chapter 2 seemed a little too polished and highbrow compared with the writing chapter 3 which is a summary of the student's own experiments. I was right.

DeAnna, 90% of chapter 2 scores a 95 similarity score (out of 100) with other sources. I just checked

As for the stirring in one direction, it might be as you say. When hand-stirring, one would avoid splashes due to turbulent flow when the stirring direction is reverted. Any other hypothesis is absolute non-sense, as soap does not contain polymeric substances, and is not "tempered".
There is some scientific evidence (strongly debated) about how turbulent flow influences texture in gluten and starch-containing products and even in the tempering of chocolate.

As for the rest, I remember my Grandma warning me about stirring Bechamel Sauce only in one direction. And I keep up with it.

 

[DeeAnna]

"...DeAnna, 90% of chapter 2 scores a 95 similarity score (out of 100) with other sources. I just checked ..."

Yep, my b*llsh*t meter is finely honed from 10 years of checking term papers.

As far as stirring in one direction and how it affects thickened sauces and emulsions, I gather there might be some subtle textural differences, but not enough to make a hill 'o beans difference, except perhaps to the most finicky of chefs. Here's one interesting discussion on this topic:
https://www.quora.com/Is-stirring-s...ny-directions-can-break-the-structure-of-it-”

 

[DianaMoon]

If I was this student's major professor, I would have raked him or her over the coals for plagiarism. I thought some of the language in chapter 2 seemed a little too polished and highbrow compared with the writing chapter 3 which is a summary of the student's own experiments. I was right.

The literature review (chapter 2) contains direct quotes lifted out of at least one of the references cited. (I have one of the books, so I could compare.) That's unacceptable scholarship. That means the information is presented without the student really understanding the material -- I sincerely doubt the student ever questioned the odd advice to only stir in one direction.

And a fellow chemical engineer too.

Plagiarism and bad peer review are rampant nowadays, I hear. Nevertheless I thought it was interesting simply because of some of the facts in it regardless of whether he "lifted" them. I had never heard of semi-boiled, full-boiled, etc. I wondered what a scientist would say about the various properties of oils.

(See the movie "Three Idiots" for a terrific take on pressure in the Indian academic environment.)

The other article I cited was interesting because of the older books cited in the bibliography, which I would like to look up just to see what folks were saying about soap making before everything got glitzed up in publishing.

 

[BattleGnome]

As far as stirring in one direction and how it affects thickened sauces and emulsions

What if it’s simpler than that? If you are hand stirring and expecting to do so for upwards of an hour... what would tire you more? I imagine stirring in one direction takes less energy than multiple directions. I’d bet it’s more about physical energy reversing the vortex and getting the batter to move than how the emulsion forms.

 

[DeeAnna]

We're not machines, so it's not just about simple energy consumption. I usually stir or sand or do other repetitive tasks like that in several different directions and with both hands to avoid over-tiring one set of muscles. It's good to be ambidextrous.

Soap batter doesn't need to be stirred hard enough to create a vortex if you're making it without a stick blender. We've gotten a whole different set of expectations about making soap with the help of that little tool. If you're making soap the old fashioned way, however, slow and easy is the key.

 

[Pjclark1]

Complete rubbish, stirring in 1 direction makes no difference to any experiment.

As for splashing, I use a foodmixer and hold a bit of paper or card over the top to stop splashing.