Wendy the Food Scientist

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šŸ‘©šŸ»ā€šŸ³Food scientist teaching you from scratch cooking
šŸŒ±Master tofu, seitan, fermentation & more
šŸ“šTOFU MASTERY & EVERYDAY TOFU available! šŸ‘‡www.wendythefoodscientist.com

I bought a camera for my food videos.Fell in love with food photography instead.By I didn't plan to become my own photog...
06/04/2026

I bought a camera for my food videos.
Fell in love with food photography instead.

By

I didn't plan to become my own photographer.
I just needed better quality for my videos
because I was filming with my phone.

Then I started shooting my cookbook photos too.
Styling the plate, playing with the light,
watching the scene slowly turn into the shot.
I would lose entire afternoons to a single bowl
and not even notice the time.

I've always known I love learning new skills
and this turned out to be one of my favorites.

Swipe through to see what the scene looks like
before it becomes the shot.

If something's been quietly calling you
to learn a new skill, try it!
You don't need to be good at it yet.
You just need to start. šŸŒ±

How to Turn Tofu Into Balls, Burgers, and Tenders (One Technique) By Did you know that you can transform tofu's texture ...
06/02/2026

How to Turn Tofu Into Balls, Burgers, and Tenders (One Technique)
By

Did you know that you can transform tofu's texture into balls, burgers, tenders, nuggets? It's all possible!

It starts with one move: pressing and crumbling firm tofu. From there you can shape it into almost anything, then cook it however you like, pan-fried, baked, air-fried.

The food science is fascinating: firm tofu holds water inside a tight protein network, which is why a plain block stays like a block. Break that network by crumbling, and you release the trapped water, turning the tofu into a workable, bindable material. Now it holds together, so it keeps its shape. And by controlling the moisture and the thickness, you decide whether it ends up tender, chewy, or crisp. You can even achieve a meaty texture with a seitan/tofu tender.

Try it and you will be able to make any ball, patty, tender in any flavor.

Comment 'recipe' and I will share my Vietnamese tofu ball recipe with you in dm ā˜ŗļø

05/31/2026

The Hack for Crispier Fries (Without Frying)
By

Crispy fries start before they hit the heat.

Potatoes are full of starch and sugar. Cut them and cook them right away, and the surface browns before the inside is done. You get fries that look crispy but are not.

The fix is cold water.

Soak your cut fries for at least 30 minutes. The water pulls surface starch and sugar out of the potato. You'll see it go cloudy. Less surface sugar means the outside won't brown too fast. Less surface starch means a cleaner, crisper crust.

Drain and pat fully dry. Toss with a spoon of oil, spread in a single layer, and bake at 425Ā°F / 220Ā°C for 25ā€“30 minutes, flipping once. Air fryer: 380Ā°F / 190Ā°C for 15ā€“20 minutes.
Crackling crust. Fluffy inside. No deep-frying needed.

The same trick works for deep-frying as well if you donā€™t mind the oil.

05/28/2026

Storytime: I was afraid to eat my own science project.

By

For years I put off making tempe at homeā€¦ even with a food science degree. Funny enough, knowing so much about fermentation made me overthink it.

When I finally made it, I checked the tempeh ten times before I tasted it. Turns out, I'd built it up in my head. The fungus did exactly what it's supposed to do. It grew into something nutty, firm, and genuinely delicious.

Here's what I learned: tempe is very beginner friendly. The mold does the work. You just give it warmth and time, and trust your senses along the way.

The hardest part was starting.

So if you've been curious about fermenting but kept telling yourself it's too complicatedā€¦ it truly really isn't. Start with one fermentation project and you'll surprise yourself.

What have you been wanting to ferment but haven't tried yet?

05/26/2026

Why your tempe isn't crispy. It's not the recipe, it's the order.

By .

If your pan-fried tempe keeps coming out soft, soggy, or with a burnt sauce stuck to the pan, the problem isn't the heat or the oil. It's when you add the marinade.

Most people marinate tempe before they pan-fry it. That is making your tempe work harder to crisp.

Marinade is mostly water and sugar. Water blocks the crust from forming. It has to evaporate before the tempe can brown. And sugar burns long before the tempe crisps.

You also miss the best part of pan-frying. Dry tempe in hot oil browns and that browning is where tempe's nutty, toasty flavor comes from.

Do this instead: Fry the tempe dry first. Hot pan, enough oil to coat the surface, don't move it until it is crispy. Let the crust form. Then add your marinade and toss it in the hot pan.

A hot, browned surface holds sauce better than raw tempe ever could. The sauce sits right where you taste it, on the outside on every bite.

Comment recipe and I'll send you my crispy sticky tempe recipe in your DM ā—”Ģˆ

05/24/2026

Tempeh made from different beans.

By

In most stores, tempeh is only available as soybeans, but there is so much more! It is not the soybean that makes it tempeh, itā€™s the process. And once you understand the process, you can make it from almost any legume (and even grains)!

For this video I made: soybeans, black soybeans, chickpea and red beans.

Here's what's actually happening: you take a cooked legume, lower the pH with a little vinegar, and add a fungus called Rhizopus oligosporus. Then you let it ferment at 32Ā°C / 90Ā°F for 36 to 48 hours. The mycelium grows through the beans, binds them into a firm cake, and breaks down the proteins into, more digestible pieces.

That's tempeh.

Soybean is well known but the same process works with chickpeas (creamier), black beans (deeper, almost smoky), and black soybeans (the most striking to look at).

Once it's done fermenting, it can go in any dish.

For fresh tempeh, pan-fried with just a bit of salt is already super tasty, but you can also use a marinade.

Crispy sticks on a salad. Crumbled onto a pasta. Pan-fried on a rice bowl. Stacked in a sandwich. The fermentation does the flavor work, you just choose your favorite dish.

Would you give this a try?

Comment ā€˜recipeā€™ and I'll send you a dm!

05/24/2026

Smoky Silken Tofu Sauce

By

Creamy sauce without cream, eggs, or cottage cheese.

Hello Silken Tofu!

Silken tofu makes the creamiest sauce and the food science behind it is fascinating.
Silken tofu is 85-90% water held together by a delicate protein network.

Blend it and it becomes a perfectly smooth gel.

The soy proteins bond with both water and fat, trapping tiny oil droplets in place: giving you thickness, creaminess, and stability.
This roasted red pepper version is smoky, bright, and pairs with almost everything.

But the base works with any flavor you want.

Just add your favorite fresh spices and herbs šŸ¤©

05/24/2026

Welcome to my from-scratch kitchen


ONLY PLANTS šŸŒ±
the most nourishing, flavorful, and exciting foods are the ones you make yourself.
So I started cooking everything from scratch. And now Iā€™m here to share not just the what, but the how and why.

Get ready for:
šŸ§  Mind-blowing cooking hacks that will transform how you use everyday ingredients
šŸ”¬ Creative experiments that turn simple pantry staples into something magical
šŸ„¢ Tofu techniques you never knew existed (my viral tofu videos have converted millions!)
šŸ– Seitan so realistic it fools even devoted meat-lovers
šŸ«™ Probiotic foods and fermented drinks for your healthiest gut
šŸž The softest, freshest bread youā€™ve ever tasted
šŸ° Bakery-quality desserts made entirely from plants
Follow along, and Iā€™ll show you how food science makes everything possible in your kitchen.
Itā€™s time to take back control of what you eat, ingredient by ingredient.
Ready to start your from-scratch journey?

Inside a food scientistā€™s test kitchenBy .People ask what I do all day. I cook things, mess them up, write down why they...
05/21/2026

Inside a food scientistā€™s test kitchen

By .

People ask what I do all day. I cook things, mess them up, write down why they didn't work, then do it again until they work.
Then shoot a 30 second video and take some pictures for you all šŸ™Œ

This is my job and I love it!

05/21/2026

This is the silkiest tofu you can make at home.
By

Fresh silken tofu is one of my all-time favorites.
I eat it sweet and savory.

It is just soy milk, heat and a little food science šŸŒ±

You can use different types of coagulants like nigari, gypsum, vinegar, but my favorite to use is GDL - glucono delta lactone because it is most forgiving. It is an acid, that gently and gradually sets hot soy milk into the softest, custard-like texture.

Itā€™s smooth, scoopable, and so satisfying.

Once you try it, you donā€™t want to go back to store-bought.

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Los Angeles, CA

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