No Accessories Needed
Another example of a visually striking reporter compound. This one is based on the popular purple pigment violacein.
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Korean-American Fusion
My mind has been thinking about coming up with a simple fusion recipe that is easy, scalable, and delicious. So I decided to make Korean BBQ sliders in brioche buns. It’s kind of funny how the lab’s Christmas parties have become a test bed to bring out everyone’s culinary A-game. I settled on spicy pork and marinated bulgogi (thinly sliced beef) for the two kinds of meat. The miniature brioche buns were from a wonderful and easy no-knead recipe from <https://pinchandswirl.com/brioche-slider-buns/>.
Mini-brioche buns recipe: https://pinchandswirl.com/brioche-slider-buns/
Recipes
Mini-Brioche Buns
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons milk
1 cup lukewarm water
2 large eggs (one for the egg wash)
* Makes 18 buns total (scale as necessary)
Korean BBQ Sliders
1 mini-brioche bun (sliced)
Spicy pork or bulgogi (cooked, variable amounts)
Sliced Napa cabbage
1/2 teaspoon ssamjang (fermented soybean paste)
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Bacterial Rainbow
One of my side projects utilizes colorful proteins, or chromoproteins. While I often employ fluorescent reporters like GFP, there’s something just physically striking about being able to see the fruits of your work in such vivid detail without the use of specialized equipment. When I taught organic chemistry lab back in grad school, I remember that the most exciting experiment for the students was synthesizing luminol. I guess we are all very visual creatures by nature.
Just Keep Swimming
During the pandemic, I really started getting back in touch with my Korean roots. With the holidays coming up, I wanted to try my hand at making bungeoppang (fish-shaped bread), a traditional dessert staple. Working in a chemistry lab, I was always curious about trying my hand at cooking and baking. But being a graduate student in NYC on a graduate student’s salary isn’t the most conducive way to gain access to a proper kitchen of my own. Now that I’m a postdoc, I am making infinite money (/s) and have my own kitchen! I wanted to challenge myself a bit, so I decided to make the dough and custard from scratch. For filling choices, I was debating Nutella, red bean, and Korean choux (custard) cream. In the end, I settled on red bean paste (Amazon) and the custard cream (homemade).
Bungeoppang dough recipe source: https://www.justonecookbook.com/taiyaki/
Korean choux cream recipe source: https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/cream-ppang
Recipes
Bungeoppang Dough
1 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup whole milk
1 tbsp neutral or cooking oil
* Makes 8 pieces total
Korean Custard Cream
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup whole milk
Pinch of kosher salt
4 egg yolks, beaten and strained
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
* I doubled the amounts just in case
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A Little Taste of Home
This was my first real attempt at making any kind of Korean food. All those late nights spent watching random youtube and mukbang (Korean eating shows) just whetted my appetite for something nostalgic. Having lived with roommates for most of my adult life, I’ve tended to stay away from the kitchen and cook only the simplest meals or meal prep to reduce conflict and cleanup. Our lab’s holiday potluck was coming, and it was my first. I wanted to make something that I often ate at home. So I decided to make some kimchi jeon (pancakes). A spicy, sour, and savory dish. I was honestly surprised by the results and other people’s reactions to it. People have often told me that chemists make good cooks, so maybe I have a nice fallback plan just in case.
Kimchi jeon recipe: https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kimchijeon
Recipe
Kimchi Jeon
1/2 lb well-fermented kimchi (I just used about an entire tub, store-bought, chopped)
3 scallions, chopped
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup water
4 tbsps vegetable oil
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Snowflakes in a Flask
Another example of giddy delirium during late nights in lab. Took my flask off the rotovap and thought Christmas had come early this year!
Reaction: Deprotection of a t-butyl protecting off the ester of a vinyl sulfonamide using trifluoroacetic acid
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The Blue Bowling Ball Reaction
Early on in grad school, this was one of the first reactions I ever set up. Looking back on it now, I realized how rare it was for me see such a vivid outcome. Reminded me of a bowling ball (it was a particularly late night and right in the middle of quals season). True to form for grad school, I believe my yields were…lower than expected.
Reaction: CuSO4 for Cu(I)-catalyzed alkyne-azide click chemistry
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