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Alton Brown Answers, At Last
1) My question
by mofolotopo
Something I've found as a newbie chef is that a good 75.32% of good cooking is good shopping. What tips do you have for finding good, fresh ingredients? Where the heck do you get fresh herbs etc. in a smallish town?
Alton: First off, you need to decentralize your shopping. Don't try to get everything in one place. Even if you don't have a farmers market in the area, I'm willing to bet there's a co-op or health food store that will open up your options. Ditto a butcher. As for fresh herbs, if they're really a problem to find in your area, try growing your own when and where climate allows. The rest of the time, buy dry herbs and spices over the internet from someone like Penzeys or The Spice House. Above all, do not drive yourself crazy. Learn to work with what you have. Oh, and don't forget ethnic markets; they often have the best produce as well as meat.
2) Why are some people better Cooks?
by kallistiblue
I've noticed that some people seem to be naturally better cooks than others. I've know several people that follow a recipe very exactly. The food they create just doesn't turn out very good. Personally, I'll use a recipe as a guideline and use rough estimates. Most of the time, my meals turn out pretty well. It's as if an intuitive sense is needed.
How does someone learn/teach this skill?
Alton: First, you need to become a good recipe follower. Most people who think they can't cook aren't really taking time to properly read the recipes they're working from or they don't really understand what they're being asked to do. For instance, there are plenty of recipes out there that call for "searing" a piece of meat. If you don't know what "searing" really is, you're doomed. Unfortunately most recipes are written for people that already know how to cook. So start by really paying attention to a recipe and make sure you understand it. Then cook it a few times keeping detailed notes about the process and your feelings about the final dish. Keep notebooks?write down as much as you can and slowly you'll begin to learn what you're doing. As long as you're willing to think and taste as you go, you can become a cook?I promise.
3) Vegetarians
by sammy.lost-angel.com
As a vegetarian, I'm compelled to ask this: Have you seen a trend in recent years of more vegetarians, or more dishes made without meat? Time magazine had a recent cover story about this, and my feeling is it's becoming a more important part of everyone's lives, yet whenever I catch a cooking show on TV it lacks making many vegetarian dishes.
Alton: Americans don't eat near enough vegetables. I'm not a vegetarian, though I do respect anyone who makes a hard and fast decision about what he or she is going to live on. All you have to do is look at the health statistics from countries whose cuisines are lighter on meat and heavy on veggies and fish?They live, longer. It's as simple as that. What I would hate to see is a radical swing away from meat. I think we evolved as omnivores for a reason. And that's all I have to say about that.
4) Lower Fat and Cholesterol?
by cporter
Mr. Brown, I love your recipes. In the last few weeks, I've prepared
Chocolate Mousse, Party Mayonnaise, Chimney Tuna, and Baba Ganoush from
"Good Eats" and Chicken Piccata from "I'm Just Here for the Food." Not all at one meal, of course.
I applaud episodes like "Good Milk Gone Bad" and "The Other Red Meat" that focus on lower fat and cholesterol foods. But many of your recipes call for butter, oil, cream, and other less than healthful foods (even bacon grease!). What do you think about some of the substitutes out there, or using ingredients like applesauce to replace butter?
Alton: There are no bad foods, only bad food habits. I eat cream, butter, and bacon; I just don't eat pounds of it at a time. I use these things when they are needed in recipes and leave them out when they're not needed. As for substitutes, I only agree with them if they really don't change a person's response to a dish. Take mashed potatoes for instance. I recently saw a recipe that suggested that the fat we all know that mashers need could be replaced with vegetable broth. Hogwash. All that does is lead to dissatisfaction and I think that dissatisfaction results in overeating. We like fats because fats satisfy. They break down in the digestive track very slowly so they keep us fuller longer. Now if I find a way to replace a fatty ingredient without missing it (I do this a lot with yogurt) then you bet I'm going to do it. But I repeat: there are no bad foods
5) Art vs. Science
by Susskins
A lot of your show is dedicated to the Science of cooking, and to the underlying physics of food. Your Grandmother (in a really cool episode about biscuits) demonstrated a wicked amount of Artistic Skill, the "look and feel" of food preparation. Do you have any thoughts about the balance of Art and Science in cooking?
Alton: No matter how much creativity goes into it, cooking is an art?or perhaps I should say a craft. It abides by absolute rules, physics, chemistry, etc. and that means that unless you understand the science you cannot reach the art. We're not talking about painting here?cooking's more like engineering. I happen to think that there is great beauty in great engineering (the wing of a Boeing 777, a suspension bridge) but they are not works of art, they are works of science. To my mind art is a matter of personal expression and the exchange of ideas; food is in the end, fuel?a means to an end. Sorry for rambling.
6) Iron Chef
by FortKnox
Seeing that all geeks love Iron Chef, I have to ask, would you be willing to go against an Iron Chef? If so, which would you pick??
Alton: I don't care about the chefs I want a shot at the goofball in the Palomino Jacket. He needs to be taken down. And the judges, oh please let me at them!
7) Elements of cooking
by SWroclawski
Mr. Brown,
I think that the most interesting part of your show to this audience is your emphasis on the science of cooking, from discussion of protein (such as in your angel food cake episode and your recent soufflé episode).
But the other difference in Good Eats is the great emphasis you place on the parts of cooking, that is the elements at a more abstract level, such as use of heat, individual ingredients (which is the topic of many of the shows) and methods of cooking (such as the right way to mix and fold). This all makes Good Eats interesting for us geeks out there who want to understand the science, but also helps us non-cooking geeks become literate in the supermarket and kitchen.
What gave you the idea to present cooking in this way and do you have any suggestions for other resources that present food and food preparation in the same way?
Alton: I approach cooking from a science angle because I need to understand how things work. If I understand the egg, I can scramble it better?it's a simple as that. There are some great food science texts out there?well, a few. Check out the bibliography in my book. (If you don't want to buy it you can just copy stuff out at the bookstore.)
8) Technical questions
by TheJerkstoreCalled
Hello! I actually watched your very first show about steak here on PBS; it was the first thing in my life that made me interested in cooking. Every time I watch an episode of Good Eats, I always end it wanting to go cook something.
I had a technical question; we always see these shots coming out of refrigerators and ovens. Do you actually have little windows in the back of your appliances or are those props built up for the shows? I always assumed they were props but you never know. Also, is that really your house you shoot in? I love the Magritte hat with chicken painting.
Alton: No windows... We actually have cameras now that are small enough to rig inside appliances. It's not easy mind you, but it's doable. That is not my house, but it is a real house. The Magritte rip was commissioned especially for Good Eats.
9) Cooking In Lava
by MrIcee
Mr. Brown. First, thank you for a wonderful television show and an excellent book. I enjoy both continually and look forward to all your new work.
Now... on to, perhaps, one of the more unusual questions you might receive. This question deals directly with how heat affects food.
Specifically... I live on the slopes of an active volcano. One of the things we like to do for fun is cook game hen and pork loins in the hot lava itself. First, let me describe our process, and then our question.
To cook a game hen we first season and then wrap the hen in about 10 Ti (or banana) leaves. These protect the hen from actually burning.
Next we find an active surface breakout of lava. We use a shovel (we also are wearing kevlar gloves that can withstand 2000 degrees of heat) and get a good shovel full of red lava. We place this on the ground a distance from the flow. We then position the Ti-wrapped hen in the middle of the blob of lava and cover it with another shovel full of lava. We try to leave a small opening to the Ti leaves, for steam to escape (or we can potentially have a steam explosion).
Now, the question. The lava is initially at 2000 degrees when we start cooking. After about 15 minutes it has cooled to around 850 degrees (outside of the rock - we read this using an infrared pyrometer). After about 45 minutes the outside is about 450 degrees. At that point we hit the rock with the shovel to open it. Only a few of the Ti leaves will remain uncharred. We remove those and the hen is then very moist and delicious.
How is it possible, using a heat source at 2000 degrees (that granted, gets cooler over time) that it still takes 45 minutes to cook the game hen? We would have thought that the cooking would have been near instantaneous - but repeated experiments at various lengths of time reveal that it takes exactly as long in the lava, as in an oven.
Alton: It's not possible. I can cook a game hen under a broiler in 15 minutes. Tell me, are there any small brown mushrooms growing around your property, and if so have you been using them in salads or pasta dishes?
10) Safe Cooking Temps
by dmaxwell
The wife and I are huge fans of your show but there is one thing we notice from time to time that we've always wondered about. For instance, your country ham recipe specifies that the ham is done when the interior temp hits 140 degrees.
Alton: I do not always agree with the government and in this case I think they're way off base. For one thing, Trichinella spiralis die at 137 degrees. Of course in this case they would have had to survive the curing process which is highly doubtful. The water activity level of a country ham is simply too low to support that kind of life. Also, T spriralis have been nearly eradicated from the American hog population through the use of better feeds. As far as I know, the only instances of trichinosis in recent years involved wild game such as bear and puma.
Shame about the answer to the volcano question - the original poster should have sent the link to their site which has pictures showing this. I couldn't find the original site I have seen which describes this, but here's another which shows that it is indeed possible to cook a chicken atop molten lava!
n g.html
http://juggle5.50megs.com/travel/Hawaii2000/Cooki
A little planning goes a long way...
http://www.dolphinbayhilo.com/cook.html
That was the one!
A little planning goes a long way...
Maybe it was the questions, but I was really looking forward to a good, long read....
I'm being selfish, but damnit, I wanted PAGES of answers!!!! =)
Department of Homeland Security: Removing the rights real patriots fought and died for since 2001
Hog feed has little to do with it. Cooking the hog feed does. Societies where hogs are fed uncooked slop experience higher rates of trichinosis, while those that boil hog slop do not see trichinosis at all. Break a link in the parasite's path to a host and incidence of the parasite diminishes. Pretty simple and exactly what cooking the pork to at least 137F does.
Comparing it to Windows will be a moot point, since El Dorado is going to have a 40% larger code base than XP.
Alton Brown vs. Chairman Kaga?
It'll be the battle of the century! STUFF THAT YELLOW PEPPER DOWN HIS THROAT!
LOL! Thanks for the reply Alton!
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
When reading this, I couldn't help but hear the voice of AB in my head, reciting the answers in the same way he delivers the little tidbits of info on "Good Eats"... weird.
Ben
I thought this guy's claim to cooking fame was that he used a scientific approach? What's wrong with this picture?
/.'ers respect this guy, but I'm not too impressed with this answer.
Scientist 1: I have a phenomenon I don't understand and I want your opinion on it.
Scientist 2: Your data doesn't match up with mine. Therefore I will discredit you by suggesting you take drugs.
Scientist 1: But I have reproducible results!
Scientist 2: Nope, sorry. Talk to the hand, crack smoker.
I understand a lot of
"...you can steal my woman, but you ain't done nuthin' smart."
Very wise words. I remember hearing Julia Child saying that the reason obesity is becoming such a problem is because of fat has become taboo in cooking. It's the fat in foods that make us feel full and keep us full longer. Generally, people who eat excusively low fat foods at their main meals are those who have the most trouble keeping from snacking between meals.
I've gone from eating low fat meals and snacks to eating "sensibly", and I really am a lot less hungry, even though I'm eating less.
My rules to live by... if you're hungry, drink a glass of water, avoid eating after dinner, and never, ever eat before bed.
Your reality is lies and balderdash and I'm delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever. - Baron Munchausen
Alton: There are no bad foods, only bad food habits. I eat cream, butter, and bacon; I just don't eat pounds of it at a time...We like fats because fats satisfy.
Hmmm... reminds me of someone...
Next morning, the family tries to pry the bucket off Homer's noggin.
Bart: [tries to pull the bucket off, but fails] Sorry Dad, it just won't budge.
Marge: I tried greasing the bucket with bacon fat, but your father kept eating it.
Homer: Couldn't you try a non-delicious fat? [breaks down] Oh, there's no such thing!
Simpsons: Faith Off
If you are a vegetarian and participating in a potluck/buffet with non-vegetarians (this particularly if you are one of one or two) plan for more. As much as I've got a few views on eating animals, it's been exasperating to bring the only vegetarian dish and have non-veg people suddenly decide to try them and take all before you get a chance (or just keep a private stash in a container for yourself to guarrantee you eat!)
If you want to sell people on virtues of vegetarian dining, make good dishes to share. Beats the heck out of getting into debates. :o)
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Use the timings on the instructions as a guide only.
THE PERFORMANCE OF MICROWAVE OVENS REALLY DOES VARY.
Learn how your equipment compares to the average. I have a 750 WATT microwave oven, but I know that it packs a punch like an 850 WATT microwave oven, so I follow the instructions for category "E", even though my oven is a category "D".
To many cooks, bless them, will cook something at gas mark whatever it says, for as long as it says, and not a minute less, not a minute more. They will not learn (accumulate over time / through experience) how the performance of their oven compares to the "average" (i.e. that on which the recipient was based).
Mmmm.... Puma
all geeks love Iron Chef
/dev/senseofhumor )
Are you talking about Alton, or FortKnox?
I *hate* Iron Chef. Next to Emeril, it's the worst show on Food Network.
Seems to me that speaking on behalf of "all geeks" would be MUCH more arrogant than Alton making a joke of the answer (and it was a joke - perhaps you need to check the permissions on your
"Unfortunately most recipes are written for people that already know how to cook."
A good resource to deal with this is to keep a copy of "The Joy of Cooking" handy. I think the recipes in there are just okay, but it's the Rosetta Stone for cooking recipes.
Unfortunately, his statement is true of a lot of computer "recipes" as well. I always try to identify a "Rosetta Stone" book for every technology I dive into. For example, I was lost in the Linux Documentation Project until after I read Mark Sobell's A Practical Guide to Linux.
** The opinions expressed here are my own, and do not reflect those of my employers - past, present, or future**
From Alton's response, I think that he thought the poster was completely immersing the chicken in the Lava. Pouring hot lava over a leaf-coated chicken should work since:
;-) The original poster explained that it cooled to 850degF, still too hot for chicken.
a) The lava cools off fairly quickly, meaning that the bird isn't exposed to 2000degF for 45 minutes
b) All those leaves release a lot of steam which both moderates the temperature and steams the chicken. Boiling water to make steam, as any high-school chemist knows, takes a lot of extra heat energy.
The above link also explains that the lava cools to 450degF within a reasonable amount of time, which is a great temperature for cooking chicken.
So, in short, the poster presented an impossible situation, and Alton, like any good literalist, told them so. What he could have done was ask some counter-questions to get a better idea of what was going on before answering.
Amounts that small will do no harm if taken daily. (Assuming you get a decent amount of exercise.) Alcohol is an industrial solvent and attacks almost every system in the body if overindulged in. Does that mean it should be completely avoided? (Well, yes if you're alcoholic.)
I bet you cook with dihydrogen monoxide, which has been found to be used by everyone who has ever developed cancer.
Best Slashdot Co
I am really surprised at Alton's response to this question. Although IANAP I would think this is really a simple matter of the thermodynamics of state changes of matter.
An example might be in order here to explain for those who never took chemistry. Take an ice cube with a thermometer frozen within. The temperature of the ice cube will rise 0 degrees C is reached. At this point the state of the ice changes to water. However the temperature of both the water and ice remains at 0 degrees C untils ALL the ice is melted. The same holds true at the boiling point, only if the steam is allowed to maintain constant pressure. When the water boils it remains at 100 degrees C until all the water has turned to steam. If the steam had been collected at constant pressure, once the water is all gone the temperature of the steam will begin to rise.
Now how does this apply to cooking chincken in lava?
"...wrap the hen in about 10 Ti (or banana) leaves. These protect the hen from actually burning" The banana leaves im sure are rather large and contain signicant amounts of water.
"...wrapped hen in the middle of the blob of lava and cover it with another shovel full of lava. We try to leave a small opening to the Ti leaves, for steam to escape..." The water in the leaves is boiling off. The opening maintains constant pressure which results in a fairly constant temperature. As long as the steam is escaping the temperature of the hen is being regulated at a level way below the lava temperature.
If Alton would wrap his hen in banana leaves ( or even wet paper towels ) before placing it under that broiler I will gaurentee it will take longer than 15 minutes to cook.
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Erm, I think that's what he was saying, echoing Brown's comments about there being no bad food. Portions are too big, but what's in them isn't necessarily bad in moderation.
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
No. These folks are more likely OD'ing on simple carbs late in the day or at night. Plus, they probably have to break out mutliplication tables to figure out how many calories/serving sizes their shoveling down their craws.
. . . how much Mr. Brown looks like Thomas Dolby?
I REALLY wanted to ask if he really WAS Thomas Dolby and, if so, who the hell it was that blinded him with science back in the '80s, but alas . . . too stupid to post before the topic was locked.
Darn my lethargic self.
\i{I bet you cook with dihydrogen monoxide, which has been found to be used by everyone who has ever developed cancer.}
I used either oxygen dihydride or hydrogen hydroxide. I think those are much safer.
Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
Or Germany. (Or perhaps a nice ham hock, with sauerkraut and mashed peas and a beer that takes two hands to lift.)
Or Greece. (Olive oil, with a side of feta cheese and leg of lamb...)
Or England. (Fish, chips, and--oh, what the heck! Another pint! And that quivering blob soaking in grease, please!)
Or Spain. (Tapas! Tapas! Tapas! Perhaps...more tapas? Yes--It's only 4:30 AM!)
Or France. (Please, enjoy this perfectly reasonably-sized entree. It will be followed by a perfectly reasonably-sized plat, which will be followed in turn by a perfectly reasonably-sized salad, which will be followed in turn by a perfectly reasonably-sized cheese plate, which will be followed in turn by a perfectly reasonably-sized dessert. Kir, Wine, Wine, Congac, and Wine will be served.)
Or Italy. (As with France, but with first and second main courses! In your face, France!)
Or the Czech Republic. (Dumplings, meat, and beer that flows like the Vltava!)
Now, it's perfectly true that my fellow Merrikins eat out waaaay too often, far more frequently than your average European. It's also true that the average American gets a lot less exercise than the average European. I'd also wager that the average American eats far more processed/pre-prepared food than the average European; since most pre-fab food is both high in fat and far less tasty and satisfying than a properly-prepared meal, we get the double-whammy of high-fat diets and snacking desires. That, and we drink way too much [pop|soda|Coke] here.
But to claim that restaurant portions in Europe are smaller? I don't buy it, not for a second.
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
The important part of the question was that he let's the steam escape (to prevent explosions).
Water boils at 212F (sea level, but I suspect if he's on a volcano, he may be cooking way above sea level).
Water is also one hell of a coolant. As long as steam is escaping, and the lava doesn't directly come in contact with the bird (conduction), then the chicken is only being steamed. Max temperature (for most any place but the Dead Sea) 212F.
Broiling is a dry heat cooking method. And temperatures GREATLY exceed 212F.
It's the same reason you can put pasta on a red hot stove, and it doesn't burn... untill you run out of water.
Ain't science grand?
I would rather be ashes than dust!
Although Africans die young from a lot of things, getting shot is among the most notable, and I don't think diet is much protection against that (unless you eat a lot of Kevlar.)
This next song is very sad. Please clap along. -- Robin Zander
>>Or Germany. (Or perhaps a nice ham hock, with sauerkraut and mashed peas and a beer that takes two hands to lift.)
If you need to hands to lift your mug you're not old enough to drink.
Simple as that.
If you want to e-mail me, use my PGP Key.
Every where I go I'm inundated with low fat this, low fat that, no fat, no cholesterol, not meat, et al. It's been 20 years since the AMA dropped the bombshell that fat was killing us, and in spite of the absolute lack of information to back it up (and where it exists, lets call a spade a spade and admit that it was junk science at best). Everyone has been pushing this anti-fat nonsense, yet Americans are getting fatter and fatter, heart disease is on the up as is diabetes, and millions of Americans find that they can't control their cholesterol no matter how hard they try - and now they are on dangerous liver-killing drugs to try.
When will America cast of this "fat is bad" myth, and accept that the real evil - the only evil - in our diets is all the processed crap and high sugar/carbs we consume? In 1910, the average American consumed roughly 1.5 lbs of sugar (and it was unrefined cane sugar at that). Heart disease wasn't even something most doctors knew about because people were dying of crap like tuberculosis and influenze far more often then from heart attacks. Fast forward to today: The average American consumes some 118 lbs of refined sugar. Food makers sell prepackaged foods which are highly profitable, chocked full of artificial flavors and colors, and made mostly from fillers. Labels like "low fat" and "no fat" make people salivate like pavlovian dogs when they think that it must be heart healthy, but eveyone is ignoring the obvious. Scientists still can't tell us precisely what roles cholesterol play, they can't agree on what is good, what is bad, and nobody has a clue on how cholesterol goes from lipids in the blood stream to plaque along the artery walls.
And the diet fads: First we're told that vegetarianism is the way to go, but every vegetarian I've ever met has been relatively unremarkable in their health, and never any better off than before they made their "commitment". Then there are 'hollywood' diet plans that offer people the chance to lose gobs of weight in only weeks, but what they don't mention is that you'll gain all that weight back and then some.
The only vegetarians/vegans I respect are the ones who go on the diet because of concerns about the treatment of food animals. There are alternatives: Nuts, vitamins, soy, etc. But outside of that, anyone who foreswears meat for 'health concerns' is a stark raving fool who is willfully depriving themselves of a number of essential amino acids needed to keep the body healthy. And before you go slathering that baby back ribs with gobs of barbecue sauce, look at how much sugar/sucrose/fructrose is in there. In fact, look at all your foods. If it has "ose", "ayse", or anything you can't pronounce you should toss it in the trash. People rave about the evil of sodium, but if you're drinking water and sweating, sodium is the least of your worries. Watch your intake of sugar and simple carbs. Ban yourself from white bread, cornbread, and anythign that isn't 100% whole grain. Walk straight pass the aisle with all the potato chips, pretend you did'nt even see the pastas, and get your ass into the produce section. If you want to be healthy, make sure there is not more than a few steps between you and your food. And for those of us still eating meat - know where your meat comes from. Free range, hormone free, non-corn-fed meat is the only way to go. And if you don't have a concience, consider this: stress causes animals to pump natural hormones out that make meat taste gamy. Make sure your meat comes from animals that lived happy, and died fast.
One more thing (and I dont think anyone can disagree with this): Unplug yourself, put the remote down, and go OUT SIDE! You see that big burning ball of fire in the sky? That's called a sun. Try to expose yourself to it more often, it's a great source of vitamin D (not directly obviously). Here's a concept that works: RUN. Sweat. Give yourself some cramps somewhere besides your wrists for a change. Unless you want your legacy to be that you wrote somethign that got included in an obscure 8 digit release Linux kernal, then you died fat and alone in your one bedroom apartment in front of your computer while wearing only your underwear and clutching a twinkie in your left hand, you should excercise. Believe me, running a 100m dash in 10 seconds is just as satisfying as killing a bug in your source code.
Okay, I'm done now...oh, and if any of you are wondering what inspired this rant, it was spending the first 24 years of my life as a fat out of shape and hypertensive stress ball. Since I saw through the lies, I have lost 130 lbs. I feel great, look great, I'm happy, and I actually get laid on occasion now. Oh yeah, some light reading on the subject from the New York Times (no registration required, put it helps to have Acrobat reader installed).
Translation:
Thank you Mr. Roboto
I think a closer translation is "I am very very gay and I have succesfully ruined what used to be a pretty good rock band".
To ensure perfect aim, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target
AB: You might say that we Americans have forgotten how to enjoy the
... ... well, you know ... [Cut to Paul in the background in a Tye-Dye T-Shirt, being arrested and ... kind of disgusting?
... but ... ... get messed up ... and
... Good Eats.
simple things in life. With our hectic schedules, the constant pressures of
society, and the plethora of fast food options, people tend to forget about
one of the most simple and pleasurable of ingredients -- psychedelic
mushrooms.
Now I know what you're thinking. Psychedelic mushrooms? Wait a second
aren't those
carried away by the police.]
Well, my fine friend, you have never truly applied
science to the equation. Now, this isn't as difficult as it might seem. If
you want difficult, try preparing some crank on a bed of lava
well, that's another show. Now I'm not a nutritional anthropologist, but
fortunately you don't need to be in order to well
enjoy some fine flavors on the way.
So join us as we journey through the world of psychedelic mushroom
preparation, not to mention a journey to some other worlds, as we turn
psychedelic mushrooms into
(Score:-1, Wrong)
You have your own nuclear power plant? Man I'm jealous. Of course, your 1000 degree steam is under pressure, isn't it? Unvented, that is.
In a vented system (like this) with a reservoir of liquid water (the leaves) that is likewise under no pressure (like in this case) the temperature of the water in the leaves cannot exceed 212F/100C. That's why the outer several leaves char-- once all the water is gone, the temperature goes up and the cellulose and lignin convert to charcoal and then burn off, leaving the inorganic ash-- sodium and potassium nitrates & etc. As long as there are a couple of leaves left uncharred, the temperature the meat is exposed to isn't going to exceed 100C. Which is why you'll get a perfectly roasted but not browned piece of meat-- you need to evaporate off all of the water in the outer layer of meat to get some nice browning. I'd rather have it grilled on my Weber.
1984 was supposed to be a warning, not an instruction manual.
Do you seriously believe that steam does not exceed this temperature?
there are two uses for the word water here... one is all H20 in all phases, the other is just the liquid form of H2O. When you talk about water as just the liquid phase -- then the above poster's comment makes sense. Once you raise the temp of water above 212, you no longer have water, you have steam.
Water vapor will not exceed 100 degrees C in an system with constant pressure. Remember there is an opening left to allow steam to vent off, so the system maintains atmospheric pressure. Thermodynamics dictate that if pressure is constant and additional heat is added to the system the volume of the system must increase.
Nuclear plants utilize systems in which the volume of the system is constant. Pressure is maintained at a constant level by regulating the heat source.
GOD HELP US IF YOU WORK AT A NUCLEAR PLANT!
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I am German ;) Believe me, you can do it one handed.
If you want to e-mail me, use my PGP Key.
Actually there was a misunderstanding. I suspect that Alton mistook a cornish game hen with hawaiian game hens. Cornish game hens are small and can be cooked in 15 minutes. Hawaiian game hens are big like chickens (they really are just free range chickens) and cannot be cooked in 15 minutes.
=Sean