Chef Question:

Nope. Prior to Publish 6 (the big chef revamp), component experimentation did make a difference (although this was small with low-level components). Now, most components aren't even experimentable (carbosyrup, alcohol, containers, etc) and those that are have their own effects, and do not pass that experimentation on to the final item. So your best bet for components is to use cheap, crap quality resources, saving your good stuff for the final item.