Toast
#16
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Left
Programs: FT
Posts: 7,281
Ummm... Some sharks are endangered. Not all sharks. Nets, however are not selective but you ought to be more fair.
#17
FlyerTalk Evangelist




Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: BOS/UTH
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#18
FlyerTalk Evangelist



Join Date: Dec 2004
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#19
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: HKG
Programs: CX DM, SQ, BA, TG, Sheba, VN, MPO since 1980
Posts: 1,058
but since you asked here is a scientific reply I saw before: enjoy, as they say ....
Retrograde toasters.
Breads are essentially networks of wheat flour protein molecules (called gluten) and starch molecules. Suspended in this network of molecules is carbon dioxide that is produced by the fermentation of yeast inside the dough. This gives bread its fluffy foam-like texture. Begin to play around with the amounts of these ingredients and other fancy tasting additives and you can get many different types of textures and tastes.
The starch inside of this mixture has its own characteristics. Starch molecules are made of two base components, both are long chain sugar molecules. Glucose (sugar) is classified as a monosaccharide, meaning one glucose unit. But if you link these units together, they can become a polysaccharide or complex carbohydrate. The two units are Amylose and Amylopectin. Amylose, which usually consists of about 10,000 sugar units, is built like a narrow bundle of reeds with all its glucose units arranged in straight parallel lines. Amylopectin, which usually consists of about 20,000 glucose units, has a more tree-shrub like appearance with its glucose units clumped together going in all directions. Plant starch is typically 20-30% amylose and 70-80% amylopectin. When heated up in the presence of moisture or water molecules, for instance placing the bread dough in the oven, the starch molecules weaken and allow water molecules to enter, or get in between the chains of the sugar molecules and join with them. This swells the starch granule and begins to soften it up, making it so warm and squishy! In the case of bread dough, the moisture can come from two sources, either the wheat protein in the bread itself or the water added to the mixture that makes up the dough. Once cooling begins, aka; the moment you take it out of the oven, the process begins to reverse itself and the starch molecules begin to dry out or crystallize and harden again, a process known as retrogradation. There is more water in the bread than the air. Once it evaporates to reach parity (in the dry environment of an aircraft or a fridge) the loss of water makes it dry. Toasting it accelerates the dryness. In a nutshell they should keep the still moist uncut bread in a ziplock bag until time to use it.
#20
Original Poster



Join Date: Aug 2006
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#21


Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 4,525
#22
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Here there and everywhere
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Posts: 1,648
#23
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2012
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Posts: 1,648
Yes, that was indeed my yardstick.
I think CX are the only scheduled airline to offer a toaster?
Also, agreed with an earlier poster that they probably need to use different bread, thicker sliced. Or, <salivates> crumpets... Mmmm
It could just be the way the bread is handled: if it's been sitting drying out as individual slices on the food carts rather than a sealed sliced loaf it's hardly surprising it tastes like cardboard. I almost feel it's another excuse for a weekend away again purely for investigative purposes of course. Wouldn't take much convincing. The number of times a food idea works great on the ground when tested and then fails miserably at 35,000', where it hasn't been tested, is astonishing.
Two other really small things came to mind (apols for going a little OT).
I noticed CX don't have dessert wine: so I brought a small 200ml bottle of icewine from duty free on board for the last segment, but they politely refused my request to open it and serve it for me. I did not press the point, ask once is enough IMHO, anything more and you're a difficult pax. No problem, I understand they have rules, although this is the first time my request for the crew to serve me from my own selection has been turned down, having had repeated success with this on both SQ and AA. I would love to see dessert wine on CX.
They could do with larger wine glasses too, the current ones are verging on thimbles. I brought my own stemless glassware on board as a result (I do the same on other airlines too, it's not only CX).
These are small points in the big scheme of things, but when you're searching for perfection, it's worth mentioning it.
Cheers, Howard
I think CX are the only scheduled airline to offer a toaster?
Also, agreed with an earlier poster that they probably need to use different bread, thicker sliced. Or, <salivates> crumpets... Mmmm
It could just be the way the bread is handled: if it's been sitting drying out as individual slices on the food carts rather than a sealed sliced loaf it's hardly surprising it tastes like cardboard. I almost feel it's another excuse for a weekend away again purely for investigative purposes of course. Wouldn't take much convincing. The number of times a food idea works great on the ground when tested and then fails miserably at 35,000', where it hasn't been tested, is astonishing.
Two other really small things came to mind (apols for going a little OT).
I noticed CX don't have dessert wine: so I brought a small 200ml bottle of icewine from duty free on board for the last segment, but they politely refused my request to open it and serve it for me. I did not press the point, ask once is enough IMHO, anything more and you're a difficult pax. No problem, I understand they have rules, although this is the first time my request for the crew to serve me from my own selection has been turned down, having had repeated success with this on both SQ and AA. I would love to see dessert wine on CX.
They could do with larger wine glasses too, the current ones are verging on thimbles. I brought my own stemless glassware on board as a result (I do the same on other airlines too, it's not only CX).
These are small points in the big scheme of things, but when you're searching for perfection, it's worth mentioning it.
Cheers, Howard
They had a spell earlier this year of serving dessert wines and they were truly awful
#24
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2012
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#25
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2012
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