Dunk (biscuit)
Encyclopedia
To dunk is to dip a biscuit
(or cookie
), bread
, buttered toast, cake
, or doughnut
into a beverage, especially tea
, coffee, or cold milk. Dunking releases more flavour from confections by dissolving the sugars, while also softening their texture. Dunking can be used to melt chocolate on biscuits to create new rich flavours not tasted before.
Dunking is a popular way of enjoying biscuits in many countries, in particular, the UK
. A popular form of dunking in Australia
is the "Tim Tam Slam", also known as 'tea sucking'.
The physics
of dunking is driven by the porosity of the biscuit and the surface tension
of the beverage. A biscuit is porous and, when dunked, capillary action
draws the liquid into the interstices between the crumbs.
The most popular biscuit to dunk in the UK is the chocolate digestive, although it is unclear whether this refers to milk or dark chocolate, or both.
In South Africa
, rusk
s are a popular food for dunking in both tea and coffee.
Dunking is also used as a slang term for intinction
: the Eucharistic practice of partly dipping the consecrated bread, or host, into the consecrated wine, by the officiant before distributing.
presented some light-hearted discussion of dunking on "National Biscuit Dunking Day", as part of an attempt to make physics accessible. Fisher appeared to be somewhat taken aback by the large amount of media attention, ascribing it to a "hunger for accessible science". Fisher also described his astonishment at journalists' interest in one equation used in the field: Washburn's equation
, which describes capillary flow in porous materials. Writing in Nature
, he says "the equation was published in almost every major UK
newspaper
. The journalists who published it took great care to get it right, some telephoning several times to check".
's novel In Search of Lost Time
one of the narrator's childhood memories sets in while tasting a madeleine dunked in tea. The soft, spongy consistency of the madeleine could seem like an odd choice as dunking is more common with crisp baked products, such as biscuits. In fact, draft versions of Proust's manuscript reveal that the author initially had the narrator dunk a piece of toasted bread
.
Biscuit
A biscuit is a baked, edible, and commonly flour-based product. The term is used to apply to two distinctly different products in North America and the Commonwealth Nations....
(or cookie
Cookie
In the United States and Canada, a cookie is a small, flat, baked treat, usually containing fat, flour, eggs and sugar. In most English-speaking countries outside North America, the most common word for this is biscuit; in many regions both terms are used, while in others the two words have...
), bread
Bread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...
, buttered toast, cake
Cake
Cake is a form of bread or bread-like food. In its modern forms, it is typically a sweet and enriched baked dessert. In its oldest forms, cakes were normally fried breads or cheesecakes, and normally had a disk shape...
, or doughnut
Doughnut
A doughnut or donut is a fried dough food and is popular in many countries and prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franchised specialty outlets...
into a beverage, especially tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
, coffee, or cold milk. Dunking releases more flavour from confections by dissolving the sugars, while also softening their texture. Dunking can be used to melt chocolate on biscuits to create new rich flavours not tasted before.
Dunking is a popular way of enjoying biscuits in many countries, in particular, the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. A popular form of dunking in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
is the "Tim Tam Slam", also known as 'tea sucking'.
The physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
of dunking is driven by the porosity of the biscuit and the surface tension
Surface tension
Surface tension is a property of the surface of a liquid that allows it to resist an external force. It is revealed, for example, in floating of some objects on the surface of water, even though they are denser than water, and in the ability of some insects to run on the water surface...
of the beverage. A biscuit is porous and, when dunked, capillary action
Capillary action
Capillary action, or capilarity, is the ability of a liquid to flow against gravity where liquid spontanously rise in a narrow space such as between the hair of a paint-brush, in a thin tube, or in porous material such as paper or in some non-porous material such as liquified carbon fiber, or in a...
draws the liquid into the interstices between the crumbs.
The most popular biscuit to dunk in the UK is the chocolate digestive, although it is unclear whether this refers to milk or dark chocolate, or both.
In South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, rusk
Rusk
A rusk is a hard, dry biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a baby teething food. In the United Kingdom, the name also refers to a wheat-based food additive.- Germany :The zwieback A rusk is a hard, dry biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a baby teething food....
s are a popular food for dunking in both tea and coffee.
Dunking is also used as a slang term for intinction
Intinction
Intinction is the Eucharistic practice of partly dipping the consecrated bread, or host, into the consecrated wine before consumption by the communicant.-Western Christianity:...
: the Eucharistic practice of partly dipping the consecrated bread, or host, into the consecrated wine, by the officiant before distributing.
Biscuit dunking, etiquette and style
Different cultures have different attitudes to biscuit dunking. In British high society, dunking has traditionally been frowned upon in public, but widely practiced in private. The etiquette of non-dunking has spread to tea-rooms throughout Britain.Biscuit dunking and science
Physicist Len Fisher of the University of BristolUniversity of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...
presented some light-hearted discussion of dunking on "National Biscuit Dunking Day", as part of an attempt to make physics accessible. Fisher appeared to be somewhat taken aback by the large amount of media attention, ascribing it to a "hunger for accessible science". Fisher also described his astonishment at journalists' interest in one equation used in the field: Washburn's equation
Washburn's equation
In physics, the Washburn's equation describes capillary flow in a bundle of parallel cylindrical tubes; it is extended with some issues also to imbibition into porous materials...
, which describes capillary flow in porous materials. Writing in Nature
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
, he says "the equation was published in almost every major UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
. The journalists who published it took great care to get it right, some telephoning several times to check".
Dunk, Nibble, Rotate technique
Sometimes, a biscuit may be slightly wider than the cup of tea of coffee into which it is intended to be dunked. A common method of overcoming this problem is to dunk the edge of the biscuit into the hot beverage, then nibble the part of the biscuit that was submerged. It should now be possible to rotate the biscuit in such a way that it can be dunked wholly.Erosion technique
Inevitably, some biscuits have a diameter that exceeds that of the rim of a tankard. An alternative to the technique above is the erosion technique. This consists of scraping the edge of the biscuit on the rim to erode the biscuit and therefore diminish its diameter to allow comfortable passage into the beverage below. A bonus to this technique is the residue left by the erosion of the biscuit. This is often nutritious and packs extra taste due to its spending a sizeable amount of time being saturated at the base of the mug.Cultural references
In Marcel ProustMarcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu...
's novel In Search of Lost Time
In Search of Lost Time
In Search of Lost Time or Remembrance of Things Past is a novel in seven volumes by Marcel Proust. His most prominent work, it is popularly known for its considerable length and the notion of involuntary memory, the most famous example being the "episode of the madeleine." The novel is widely...
one of the narrator's childhood memories sets in while tasting a madeleine dunked in tea. The soft, spongy consistency of the madeleine could seem like an odd choice as dunking is more common with crisp baked products, such as biscuits. In fact, draft versions of Proust's manuscript reveal that the author initially had the narrator dunk a piece of toasted bread
Toast
Toast is bread that has been browned by exposure to radiant heat. This browning reaction is known as the Maillard reaction. Toasting warms the bread and makes it firmer, so it holds toppings more securely...
.