Wendy the Food Scientist

The Hack for Crispier Fries (Without Frying)
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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 425°F / 220°C for 25–30 minutes, flipping once. Air fryer: 380°F / 190°C for 15–20 minutes.
Crackling crust. Fluffy inside. No deep-frying needed.

The same trick works for deep-frying as well if you don’t mind the oil.

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

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For years I put off making tempe at home… 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 complicated… 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?

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

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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 ◡̈

Tempeh made from different beans.

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In most stores, tempeh is only available as soybeans, but there is so much more! It is not the soybean that makes it tempeh, it’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 32°C / 90°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 ‘recipe’ and I'll send you a dm!

Smoky Silken Tofu Sauce

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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 🤩

Welcome to my from-scratch kitchen


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

Get ready for:
🧠 Mind-blowing cooking hacks that will transform how you use everyday ingredients
🔬 Creative experiments that turn simple pantry staples into something magical
🥢 Tofu techniques you never knew existed (my viral tofu videos have converted millions!)
🍖 Seitan so realistic it fools even devoted meat-lovers
🫙 Probiotic foods and fermented drinks for your healthiest gut
🍞 The softest, freshest bread you’ve ever tasted
🍰 Bakery-quality desserts made entirely from plants
Follow along, and I’ll show you how food science makes everything possible in your kitchen.
It’s time to take back control of what you eat, ingredient by ingredient.
Ready to start your from-scratch journey?

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

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.

It’s smooth, scoopable, and so satisfying.

Once you try it, you don’t want to go back to store-bought.