Slashdot Mirror
The Thermochemical Joy of Cooking
daeley writes "Wired has a feature on Alton Brown, host of FoodNetwork's Good Eats and favorite chef of geek foodies everywhere: The Thermochemical Joy of Cooking. AB has his own website, of course, and his own blog, of course. (If you are familiar with Alton's distinctive delivery, you can hear his voice as you read. My only complaint is that he doesn't write anywhere near often enough.) He's also been interviewed on Slashdot. From the Wired article: 'Brown, 41, is a culinary hacker, the poster boy for a movement that's coming to a boil in kitchens across America. The essence: Cooking is a science, not an art, informed by chemistry, physics, and biology. "Everything in food is science," Brown says. "The only subjective part is when you eat it."'"
finally I can wear a labcoat and a chefs hat in the kitchen and not feel like a dork.
Everything in -life- is a science. Cooks wish they were biologists. Biologists wish they were physicists. Physicists wish they were chemists. Chemists wish they were God.
Then you must be referring to Burger King of McDonalds. Cause it shouldn't be that damn complicated.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
..the arts is science as well. Every really good cook will confirm you it's an art not only(!) science.
and I *hate* alton. yes, there is a lot of chemistry and science in cooking, and it is very interesting, and a lot of it can be boiled down to quantifiable, deterministic values - but ultimately, COOKING IS AN ART. if it wasn't, any regular joe could pick up a copy of the Joy of Cooking and be running a four-star restaurant in a week. i can't count how often something i've tried in the kitchen that chemically and scientifically should have worked fine, but in the end came out curdled, or tasteless, or fallen. maybe "regular" home cooking can be broken down into pure numbers that anybody can grind out, but making truly excellent food will always need that certain artists' touch.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
Understanding the science behind cookery does not eliminate the art. Computers can generate sonnets which are grammatically and syntactically perfect, but they're not worth reading. Painting can be reduced to a science as well, but only if you limit it to paint-by-numbers.
===== Murphy's Law is recursive. =====
"The Endocrinological Joy Of Sex"
From the article: :-P
"What other chef writes a script in which he gets punched in the head by Boxing Nun puppets named Tender and Flaky, as they fight over whether the two textural qualities can coexist in one pie crust?" Truly an American Icon
It is only edible by humans, I've never seen anything else touch my #2. And it never spoils (leave it out and it just gets hard, no mold, no green, no nothing!).
Culinary perfection.
My only complaint with his show is that we're not getting enough new episodes. They should make Food Network the "All-Alton-Brown-All-The-Time network!" Well maybe not that much, but you get the idea :-)
His hour-long salt episode which aired just recently was pretty cool too.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Obviously, there are certain guidelines to follow, or it's not science (or cooking), it's just messing around. But as long as you're within those guidelines--for both disciplines--it's important to be as creative as possible.
But the main difference here with cooking is that you don't really need to know WHY something works, just that it work. If 10 minutes in the fridge makes my pie crust flakier, great! I don't care if it's about the dual-bond lipids remaining in a suspension long enough for the proteins to bond...
The CB App. What's your 20?
food, sex, food, sex, food, sex...
I was stuck with basic cable, but the cable guy accidentally left the Food network on. Nothing much to watch on basic at 3am, so Food network it was.
That's when I met the stylings of AB - he got me to love to cook. Granted, I always liked to cook, but after watching his show I *love* to cook.
For some reason his style just matches what I like - he talks about something and it sticks in your head. And because he shows the science behind the food, when you make a new dish, you can almost tell the outcome before you start - you know how eveything will react!
Plus, I dig the dry humor, how he refers to the ingredient list as "hardware" and soft(wet)ware", the camera angles you don't see on a regular cooking show - even the corny acting I like hehe.
Looking for hardware (Currently need: Large Etch-a-Sketch) Have one? See my journal!
A similar book I have read and enjoyed is How to Read a French Fry (and other intriguing Kitchen Science) by Russ Parsons.
The sending of this message pretty much inconveniences everyone involved.
My favorite part:
I'd apply the same principles to cooking. Alton is a culinary chemist, maybe. A culinary hacker, never.
There is more to cooking than just science. Think about it - how many variations of 'proteins, acids, amino acids, fats, carbohydrates' are out there? It's not in how those ingredients are being mixed, the magic lies in which ones you mix together. Of course discard the word 'magic' in the context of British recipes ;-)
See the movie "Mostly Martha" which is not only a fantastic movie, but shows what passionless cooking is like when someone views their job as a technical issue and does not feel for what they do.
-- "You can lead a yak to water, but you can't teach an old dog to make a silk purse out of a pig in a poke" - Opus
I have been cooking great foods for several years now, and it isn't just science. Geek or not, anyone should be able to follow a recipe and prepare a decent meal. Skill definately plays a part though.
This isn't mixing concrete. No science will tell you what flavors and spices are compatible. Understanding the thermodynamics of your boiling pot of water won't save you from burning your kraft dinner, if you don't have the patience and care to attend to your cooking.
Cooking is really common sense. Follow the recipe, and it should turn out good every time.
IMHO, there is more science in getting the proper balance of vitamins and nutrients from your food, rather than in preparing it.
I wish there were more explanations of WHY certain ingredients go well together.
eg: tuna & cheese, beef & tomatoes, carrots, onions & celery (aka "mirepoix"), etc.
Is it the balance between bitter & sweet? Or is it just "magic"
(ps: you should all try root beer & orange juice...now that's a mix that tastes great but looks awful)
TDz.
You're talking about cooking as a creative and expressive medium, and that's perfectly valid. If you're trying to create something new, something you haven't tried before, then yes, you're absolutely spot on.
On the other hand, if you're cooking because you're hungry and you want to eat, then it's a bit of a different story.
Cooking is the act of preparing something (as food), usually by the application of heat. Beyond that, any definition you read into it is your own. Cooking as art and cooking as a way to get rid of hunger are both acceptable uses of the word.
Cooking as art is creative. Cooking as hunger-elimination is usually not. Day in and day out, I gotta eat, and I usually use the second definition. Once I know how to prepare a thing, I can prepare that thing the same way virtually every time (hey, I'm only human, I screw it up sometimes). If I want to create something different though, then I can do that as well. But I don't often have that kind of time.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
you should check out What Einstein Told His Cook, a interesting, informed and somewhat scientific approach to cooking in the kitchen. To quote a two line review: " Science in the kitchen. Wolke, a columnist for the Washington Post, offers explanations, humour and some pretty engaging recipes. Unlike many other books of this nature, Wolke wields a lively and light pen."
That's such a useless generalization. That's like saying everything in art is science which is about as good as saying everything in science is art. All these are true to a degree and useful in certain contexts, but generally ambiguous enough to be meaningless.
Myth: Washing mushrooms causes them to soak up excess water.
Truth: Even when soaked for 5 minutes, standard button mushrooms retain less than 3 percent of their weight in water. Washing affects them even less.
After about 10 shots of vodka i decided to do some food hacking myself and made souptea. I had a cup of noodles and my girlfreind made some tea and i poered half of cup into my soup and taseted it curiusly it wasnt bad. First i tasted the soup then the tea with sugar. Perhaps lipton should make this stuff? a patent is in order!
Things like presentation or even knowing how to choose the right ingredients is not an exact science. Then there is variety. Do you want your food made the exact same way with no variety every time and everywhere, because someone is following a set script? Makes me think about food replicators with dread!
It would be great if Alton went over and smacked Bobby Flay upside the head with a meat tenderizer. Repeatedly. Hard.
a thermodynamically challenged cook
- cooking rice, pasta or potatoes in an uncovered recipient while the water is boiling feverishly and huge quantities of steam are generated;
- adding enormous amounts of water to a preparation, only to boil it off later on;
- baking meat in overheated and burnt oil that splatters all around;
- continuously shifting pans on and off the heat source instead of it adjusting to a proper power level;
- not turning down a slowly reacting heat source (like an electric plate) when the wanted temperature is nearly reached;
- dumping french^H^H^H^edom fries from the freezer straight into the oil, generating explosions of steam and oil (hint: thaw and warm the fries in a microwave first).
Flourescent (adj): smelling like ground wheat.
If you are a fan Alton Brown, then you have already seen everything there is in the article - so save your money. About 30% of it is practically a transcript of the "I Pie" episode anyway.
If you aren't already a fan, check it out. In the two minutes it takes to read it, you'll know if it's your cup of tea or not.
Me looking in same fridge 10 sec later: "Eggs cheese, muchrooms and a chunk of left over ham. Omlettes coming right up."
Wife=happy.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I agree, but isn't that what he is saying by the statement "The only subjective part is when you eat it."? I mean, taste is subjective, and that is where the chef really puts the paint to the canvas, so to speak. I mean, if you have art, but you don't know the science, then you are producing pretty stuff that doesn't taste good. Well, I guess technically you don't need to know the science, but if something works well, it is based on science.
I love Alton's shows, because he tells the WHYs. I also love the book Cookwise for the same reasons. If you know why certain things work and why others don't, it gives you a building block for making better food. The chef really needs to be the gauge and the creator. They need to know their audience. They have to put all the "stuff" together in creative (or simple) ways. If you know why things work the way they do, even on a simple level, it helps. A lot. Sure, it may suffice to know things without knowing the science, but learning the WHYs is fun and interesting.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Well, Alton's certainly not training master artists that you'd find in a 4 star restaurant last I checked, but he knows what he's talking about in terms of food. To be a chef, from my experience.. I'm an amateur ... you first need to be a scientist. The art of cooking comes afterwards. If your bread doesn't rise, that's a piece of garbage, not your distinctive style of bread.
Also, Alton knows a whole lot about how to make the cooking experience more enjoyable so you can worry about the art more than the science. The best way to thaw a chicken.. put it in a bowl with barely running cold water spilling into it, rather than having it sit in the oven. See, now I can worry more about what seasoning to choose instead!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Heston Blumenthal, the improbably named chef of the two-Michelin-star rated Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, England. He has a show on the Discovery Channel in the UK called Kitchen Chemistry where he discusses "the science behind cooking and how it affects the way that we perceive taste and flavour."
I've only eaten at his brasserie, but the food was superb. This chap knows what he's doing.
that's my problem, i'm always way too wordy when i'm trying to get a simple point across (see my post above for a perfect example).
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
Chances are, you'll also like "What Einstien Told His Cook" by Robert Wolke. It's a very scientific view of cooking, telling you exactly why things happen the way they do in cooking and going over the chemical process. It's a very fun read, and is not only informative but humorous as well.
Great book. You can read reviwes and stuff about it here.
What is appropriate for the master is not appropriate for the student. Once the building is complete, we tear down the scaffolding.
I think the show discourages everyone getting the same results. Alton shows you what can be varied in a few recipes, but lets you know why it turned out well in the first place. Those are the variables you don't have leeway with. Makes sense to me because I'm a programmer, and I work well with variables. The cooking/mixing is just compiling, and sometimes you need an accelrator or something. Cooking, just like any art, is only an art because someone has a high level of mastery of the fundamentals. This show displays the why of the fundamentals, so we don't have to go through 30 flopped souffles, and continue to do a dance to the souffle goddess for the ones after the good one.
My only complaint to that was the floor reporter is a complete idiot. He had no idea what was going on, and didn't even seem to pay attention. There was more than one occasion that AB answered his own questions (on stuff like "what went into that blender?" Isn't that the whole point of the floor announcers job???).
:-)
Oh, and that salt episode was pretty good. He finally explains his obsession with salt
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
I always watch Good Eats, I think someone has all the episodes on Suprnova.
3dinfo@maficstudios.com
eGullet hosted a great Q&A with Alton Brown recently.
If all his show does is make people think about their equipment and help them get over their fear of getting that ol' wok extra-freaky-hot, he's done more than any other TV chef I've ever seen.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
another food hack -
chocolate bacon
when cooking bacon put 2 or 3 chocolate chips on it. The sugar burns off and leaves the bacon sort of like maple smoked bacon but coacoa.
so, can I call it "magneto-thermo-nuclear" cooking?
Actually, I like the choice of chefs... There's a chef to love (Batali), a chef to hate (Flay), and a chef that just floors you on how he can make any ingredients into something amazing (Puck).
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
The octopus or this guy?
1: The confidence to let meat/poultry SIT there on the grill cooking, and not keep flipping it. As a result, my grilled foods are still properly cooked, but there's less tendancy to dry them out.
2: The basic roux. Making gravy has evaded my wife for years. A few iterations and adaptations of AB's basic roux recipe, and I can make gravy that the family enjoys.
I really need to try making meringues, again. I was never happy with my results, years ago. Outer shell a bit hard, inside overcooked, airgap in between.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
"Makes me think about food replicators with dread!"
eh. We'll just throw a genetic algorithem in there and everything will be fine. And the food will gradually get better! Who could predict that a little ketchup makes the coffee better? A bit of grape jelly in the pasta sauce? not bad! Rasberries in stew...? I'm telling you - genetic algorithem food!
If you watched the show they did on the making of Iron Chef America, It's not just AB and the floor reporter. There are 2 spotters and at least one director who are putting information straight into AB's earpiece.
--You will rephrase your request for me to go to hell. Goto statements are not acceptable programming constructs
It's fatherland, not motherland, you stupid prick.
Of course, in Soviet Russia, that would be different...
All art is perception. All perception is biology. All biology is science. All science (except math) is empiricism. All empiricism is creative. All creativity is art.
When Alfredo di Lelio made fettucine Alfredo in the 1920s, it was art (bordering on genius). When I make it today, it's science (bordering on worship).
Seeing bad movies only encourages them. Watch responsibly
Cooks wish they were biologists. Biologists wish they were chemists. Chemists wish they were physicists. Physicists wish they were mathematicians. Mathematicians want to be Gauss. Gauss was God.
If food preparation was just a science, then everyone's dishes would taste the same, and we'd all eat the same things. Part of the art of cooking is when you're making something new. Part of the art of cooking is the act itself of cooking. Of course, if you compare the definitions of art and science you'll probably find that, in some ways, they are the same thing! Cooking involves both. There's no way around it. And anyone who claims one or the other is missing is just talking out of their butt.
If you want to learn to cook food you like better, learn what the different spices taste like.
If you are in a restaurant and you like your meal. Tell the waiter and ask what the ingredients are. Most chefs lover the compliments and I have had several come out and talk to me about their secrets.
Everyone loves honest compliments.
Oh yeah, and salt the food before you cook it. Pepper will burn if you cook it, but salt seems to meld with the food better during the cooking process.
Laugh at my ignorance while I learn Rails - a Real ne
I know how to cook. Somewhat. But when I watch Alton do what he does, it puts "another tool in the toolbox." I learn a new trick, or a reason why, or something that'll make my next attempt better. Hopefully.
It's a lot like watching Bob Vila. He won't make anyone into a DIY guru. You won't be able to build a palace in your backyard just by watching him. But he'll show you a few new tricks, or how to use a tool properly, or something useful that you'll someday use.
Having more tools won't make you an artist, true. But it might make a budding artist more able to express himself.
Weaselmancer
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
That was where i first learned the limits of chemistry as applied to food. it was making a mock beurre blanc. after the vinegar, lemon juice and wine were reduced i was told to whisk in a quart of heavy cream. now, as you yourself pointed out, tossing cream on top of hot, concentrated citric and acetic acids (reduced lemon and vinegar) would result in an instant hideous clumpy mess. oh wait...look, it's really rather smooth...add a bit of butter and beat it well, and it turns into a nice, thick, almost perfect approximation of beurre blanc that can be cooled, frozen, reheated and boiled without breaking! as near as i can tell, the acid-induced protein polymerization (curdling) was distributed evenly throughout the sauce, thickening it, while the added fat from the butter stabilized and emulsified the sauce. Dunno though. Quite a nasty shock, i literally didn't believe it even after i saw it. it tempered my scientific arrogance quite a bit, and was the first in many lessons that taught me that to truly master cooking, one must embrace both the hard science and the soft artsy side of it.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
Infinium Labs is way ahead of Bill and Schwartz. But as we, all know the Phantom was built "By Gamers, For Gamers(c)", so this is not wholly unexpected. :)
Rachel Ray is hot!
it's the same thing as a hollandaise, but you use 50-50 orange and lemon juices, and you accent it with a little orange zest. slap some of that over barely steamed tips (only eat the top 2.5" of the stem, use the rest in a nice cream soup or something) and i guarantee you will get laid. Well, maybe if you include some nice sautéed new potatoes, ya gotta have starch...
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
i can't count how often something i've tried in the kitchen that chemically and scientifically should have worked fine, but in the end came out curdled, or tasteless, or fallen.
Don't blame science for your shortcomings in the kitchen. Watching Good Eats will eventually give you a better idea of what went wrong. If you really want to learn to cook, read a book on Cordon Bleu techniques
By far the best part of Good Eats is the entertainment value - AB has a background in film, and it shows. If you really want to learn about food science, come to Cornell. Also check out the IFT.
Well, the "floor reporter" is the host of Fine Living's _Thirsty Traveler_ which probably had a lot more to do with his placement than his food knowledge. While I like Traveler a LOT, it isn't a show about food and he seems to have only a moderate grasp of the cooking which IS done on the show.
I thought he was a scientific chef? The recipes are in oz, cups, and 'seconds' is abbreviated as 'sec' rather than the S.I. standard 's'. I call shenanigans!
Note to moderators: this is not off-topic, Alton Brown talks about this on his blog, and I'm talking about his views on the subject.
Alton Brown, I love your show, but you need to revise your thoughts on food politics just a tad. You share a flaw in your worldview that most libertarians have which is the idea that all people are equal, and apparently that we are all 100% responsible for our own education. Is it OK that shysters and con artists are able to trick people out of their money, to make people believe they need more than they can afford, to teach people to eat too much bad food? Is it always 100% the fault of the consumer that they have not been educated in these aspects? Is it not partly the responsibility of society to educate ourselves to protect against such opportunists?
When corporations know so much more about marketing and communication and public relations that they can hide health facts from the public and work hard to convince people that the slop they sell is OK to eat - when corporations go to a lot of effort to allow such beliefs to flourish for their own profits - is this really all the fault of the consumer? There are powerful, wealthy forces working for people to spend their money every day at McDonalds, and very few, weak, poor forces working at the opposite. And yet you suggest that fat consumers are just stupid and that's OK? Man, that's not just harsh, that's naive in and of itself.
I'm not sure lawsuits are the best way to go about this, and if they're not the courts will eventually throw them out. But these corporations that profit from taking advantage of people, whose interests lie in the public being largely uneducated, and who therefore invest greatly in misinformation and marketing to the poor - these corporations need to be checked somehow, and as of yet there is no force in society willing to bitch-slap them.
I agree with your sentiment that there are no bad foods, only bad food habits. Heck, I could probably eat a small amount of toxic sludge (if I wanted to) without much harm. It's the amounts, not the foods themselves, that are bad. But it is incredibly naive of you to ignore the political and economic interests at work in the food industry, and to say straight out that it's all the result of people being stupid.
Here's a great read from a great chef Kitchen Confidential
pronoblem
"The only subjective part is when you eat it."
There's plenty of science in cooking, but there's plenty of art, too. You can't create a great bronze statue without knowing (or working with someone who knows) a hell of a lot about the casting process, and about how bronze flows and how it cools and like that. But you also can't create a great bronze statue without an appreciation for form and design.
Cooking is just the same. To cook well, you need to know what's going on, what happens when you do something, and what you need to do in order to achieve the desired effect. That's the science and the technology of cooking. But to cook well you also need to have an appreciation of where you want to go, what you're trying to create. You need to have an appreciation for food. You need to understand what's "good" and what's "bad." The science really doesn't speak to that. And it's not just flavors and textures... food is a visual thing, so a good cook makes food that looks good.
I'm a big fan of Good Eats, and I think AB has done a huge service to the world by demystifying cooking for zillions of people. The important thrust of Good Eats is that cooking is something that you can learn and understand and control. It's rational, not magical or mysterious.
If you can manage to have a dish that has all of those tastes, in equal proportion, you'll actually eat less since it will be more satisfying.
I'd have to agree with the salt comment. Too many people leave salt for the table, where it only adds flavor to the finished product. If you season (salt) your food while you cook (i.e. sweating onions? add some salt to flavor and draw out the water) you develope layers of flavor that are stacked on top of one another. Overall, your food will taste better, and you won't have to salt it at the table (which may be a hard habit to break at first).
There are 01 types of people in this world. Those that understand binary, and me.
The most important point that everyone seems to have missed. IF I leave work at 5:00 and arrive home at 5:35, will my wife have enough time to prepare it, cook it, and for it to cool down to the right temp if she gets home at 5:00? For bonus points, does it take into account the delayed time factor that kids cause? You know having to stop to find out why the kids are fighting, screaming, or the worst being too quiet. Cooking is an art in time management. Does he take into consideration kids snacking on it while it is being made?
Of course science is involved in cooking. I don't think anyone has argued against that in the last century. Certainly not modern cooking periodicals like Cook's Illustrated.
He's wrong, though. Most of cooking is art. Many of the techniques are scientific. However, ingredient selection and presentation are artistic.
mbbac
No way -- no fscking way -- should Flay have handed Sakai his first-ever defeat with fish as the feature ingredient.
Flay's presentation was no better than Sakai's, yet Flay got extra points for it.
I blame the Americentric tastes of the judges.
www.kitchengeek.com -- Nosh for
I never saw the show, but the article was overall pretty insipid - the author doesn't understand the nature of either cooking or science. Take this paragraph:
Brown's hyperrational approach defies conventional wisdom about food preparation. Cooks typically regard their culinary traditions as gospel, whether they learned them at the Sorbonne or from their great aunt Sibby. Tampering with recipes only leads to trouble.
All the serious cooks I've ever met (I've been cooking professionally for several years, by the way) tamper with recipes every day. That's what serious cooks DO. Who wants to have a "perfect" chocolate mousse if it's indistinguishable from the one they're serving across the street? (Although chefs HAVE been known to get offended if I mess with their old family recipies.)
By the way, the Sorbonne is a liberal arts university - just because they're French doesn't mean they teach cooking.
The "art or science" question misses the point. Cooking is a synthesis of technical knowledge and aesthetic knowledge. The two are mutually dependent - if you ignore the first one, your food will be ruined half the time, if you ignore the second one, you'll wind up with mass-produced McFood.
I have had the same experience with cooking and women. However, for me, what got my wife interested, was my ability to program an electronic readerboard sign at her work. I.E., she was impressed with my brains. Yes, it was easy (for me), but she was impressed anyway. Impressed enough to go out with me again. And again...
Veritas patesco per quaestio questio. Truth is revealed through questions.
Ever since I saw an episode where Alton was teaching how to grill I have hated that show.
...
His method of cooking a steak involved
- turn on your gas grill
- use a thermometer to set it to exactly 325
- close the lid and relax in the sun for exactly 7 minutes
Talk about destroying the art and joy of grilling! Why even use a grill? Why even cook?
Greg Whalin
greg@whalin.com
-Loyal AB Groupie
An explanation of my choices for friends
He's a Mac user. I guess that kinda makes up for Rush using a Mac.
I'm in the hole of the broadband donut.
Art, science...bleh, I watch AP simply for the knowledge transfer high. When I was a kid watching Sesame Street I would drool every time the clip which shows how crayons are made came on. I love knowing how things work. AB does so much prep work to explain exactly why things are the way they are that I really don't even care what he is making half the time. I want to know why adding corn syrup to melted sugar prevents it from binding. I love to hear the ancient history of teas, how/where they are grown, selected and refined. On top of all that, he presents the information in a humerous and easy to digest manor. (Nothing like a bunch of human sized molecules doing the cooking dance of love to teach you some basic chemistry.)
AB is about entertaining information, food and cooking just happen to be the subject. I would like to see more spinoffs with this style on discovery or TLC (Which should change its name to THRDC - The Home Repair and Decoration Chanel).
I also highly recommend "Unwrapped" for those like me with the crayon making fetish.
Apple free since 1990!
So program food replicators with slight variances! Not enough to make it something different, and not too little to make it unnoticable.
It's a Bagel.
Next I started using Alton's tricks for handling lettuce. He soaks it and dries it in a spinner. He then wraps it in paper towels and puts it in a Ziploc bag which has the air removed with a straw. It keeps great for a week in the refrigerator.
My most recent attempt is my most ambitious. I made a brisket. I had seen his chuck roast show and learned about braising. I attempted a chuck roast and screwed it up. The roast was larger than the recipe called for. I did not cook it long enough. When I made the brisket I did not even have an AB recipe, but I knew that I just had to keep cooking low until it was tender. My family was quite impressed.
I have to agree. I still love Batali and I still think Flay is a tool. The thing that surprised me was just how cool Puck is. I never paid much attention to him and had just written him off as a California phoney who knew some movie stars. After watching this I now know that I'm wrong and that he brings some serious talent to the table. So yea very cool
Cypherpunks: Civil Liberty Through Complex Mathematics. Those who live by the sword die by the arrow.
Alton Brown may be the quintessential hacker-chef, but he's a newcomer to the world of Western cuisine, and definitely not the pioneer when it comes to applying practical chemistry and microbiology to the culinary arts.
For example, James Peterson (chef, author, and recipient of numerous James Beard awards) studied chemistry at Berkeley before engaging in culinary studies at Le Cordon Bleu, and that was more than thirty years ago. In his books and classes, he applies and encourages such topics as understanding of emulsification, the importance of pH balance, how to adjust yoghurt with microbes, the chemistry of caramelization, and so on. His cookbooks are a revelation for those serious about the culinary arts.
I'm a fan of Alton Brown's emphasis on kitchen science, but in its portrayal of his work Wired demonstrates its typically superficial take on science and technology as seen through the pop-culture lens, and fails to put Brown's contribution into a relevant context.
As well you should, you incompetent fuck.
Mod Parent up, how is talking about Good Eats in an article about Good Eats redundant?
Smells like a moder with an ax to grind.
Cooking is not an art, it's not a science, it's a craft. LIke all crafts you have to know what you are doing (that's where science can help), but ultimately, it's all practice.
In psychology, there is a concept of two types of memory: declarative and procedural. The declarative memory would be perfect for science - it is a list of facts, easy to communicate. The procedural memory is impossible to communicate precisely, and must be learned through trial and error. Learning to ride a bike, drive a stick shift, etc are all procedural. So is cooking. I can write a recipe down of how to create a pizza from scratch, but you can't cook it successfully until you get a feel for rolling dough, knowing what it should look like, how it responds to pressure, etc.
That is why cooking is not a science. It's a craft.
It's too bad that was overhyped and possibly rigged by the judges. There's no way Bobby Flay could have won fairly. As my boss said of him, "anyone can make a fucking taco".
You had me at "dicks fuck assholes".
It would certainly beat the All-Emeril-All-The-Time penchant they were on about a year ago. He was on twenty times a day. All-Alton-Brown would ROCK.
(By the way, Alton - if you happen to be a slashdotter - don't lose hope, I like your books MUCH better than Dr. Phil's).
He's the Mr. Wizard of the kitchen...Though his delivery strikes me as more Beakman's World at times. Not that there's anything wrong with that...
All he needs is a hot babe and a Harvard-educated guy in a rat suit...
--Storm
For me it's engineering, I follow the recipe books and my own experience (not that I'm any good).
Powered by onion juice.
This thread and another one on processed food begs the question as to why there is not a 'Geek food wiki', or just a food wiki. There is a raw food wiki but I can't find anything else.
Seeing as how many geeks like cooking and how many like convenience food, there should be plenty to discuss. I do not have the facilities to host this, but if some one does and is interested in doing it, keep us posted.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
His chemistry degree is from Caltech, and his literature doctorate is from Yale (not to gratuitously throw fancy names around like they mean everything in the world... but he knows his stuff and can also write about it).
It has really helped improve my cooking.
Wonder if Alton is a fan of so-called molecular gastronomy? My favourite molecular gastronomic fact so far: the best way to cook a perfect three-minute egg is to cook it for one hour at 140F.
How about stainless steel pan(s), stock pot, good chef's knife, etc before we move on to gadgetry, huh?
Iron Chef America was a lot of fun but I was extremely disappointed with the tasters. If you can't eat food of all shapes, sizes, textures and flavors, you shouldn't be a taster. The chefs created amazing food, with an extrodinary amount of creativity but the tasters were afraid of it.
The guy from the Sopranos (Bug Pussy?) was ridiculous. He had no business being on the show. They need to get tasters with some taste.
AB was great though. Choosing him to be the commentator was wise.
I bought Thomas Keller's French Laundry cookbook and although I can't create the exact dish in those exquisite photos, I try to come close. My attempt at his butter poached lobster doesn't taste exactly like his but it's still pretty good and me and my friends don't notice much of a difference (besides the presentation). Considering that I can't afford to go nor are companies willing to take me to the French Laundry post-bubble, their cookbook is a good alternative. And while I'm by no means a great chef, I'm a pretty good cook who has benefitted from the use of a lot of cookbooks. (I worked as a sous chef at Wolfgang Puck Cafe to pay for college.)
Cooking shows, even those as informative as Alton's, don't give you all the details or nuances of preparing a dish, so cookbooks have their place. Alice Water's Chez Panisse, Charlie Trotter's Charlie Trotter, Thomas Keller's French Laundry, and Ferran Adria's El Bulli cookbook all provide detailed instruction on creating great dishes. Those books are the equivalent of 'how to paint like Picasso' but if you do have enough skills already, you can make a pretty good copy. The cookbooks I've listed require a significant skill level and a lot of equipment to be used to their full potential. If you're a beginner, you may want to start with simpler cookbooks that teach you a basic skill set, but you shouldn't condemm advance cookbook authors as money grubbers. For me, those gourmet cookbooks are like a folio of Picasso prints that allow you to enjoy something of the original's genius.
I've watched a lot of Iron Chef episodes (even the Shatner ones). Big Pussy was the most ignorant taster ever. I understand that they want to get an "average" person on the panel that represent the common man's tastes. But putting an Italian guy who talks about his love for Italian food on there was stupid.
I also watch a lot of Good Eats (I like to cook). Alton Brown is a genius. My favorite thing I've learned from him is to soak pork chops in a "brine bag" with water, cider vinegar, salt, and brown sugar. They will be the best pork chops you have ever tasted. FoodTV.com has all of his recipes.
-B
I guess this is as good a place as any to mention that Good Eats, and other foodtv shows are available by Bittorrent, for those of us with cable tv, but no capture card. Get the torrents at digital distractions.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
I'll disagree with you on one point--I dislike Batali intensely. To me, he ranks right up there with Martha Steward when it comes to condescention.
"Max, come over here. French-Canadian bean soup. I want to pay. Let them leave me alone." - Dutch Schultz
Martha Stewart is not even in jail yet and already the vultures are circling to move into her territory. And they're on /.????
I'll stick to Bill the belching gourmet, thank you.
Fuck the system? Nah, you might catch something.
Get the best ingredients you can obtain and then damage them as little as possible.
The game of Go (Igo, Weiqi, Baduk) has the simplest concept and the deepest play.
If only they could combine the paunch of James Beard with the zanyness and sheer talent of Alton Brown than we would have an undefeatable American champion of cooking.
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
There are flavor chemists. Engineers. Thermodynamics experts. Plumbers. Quality control. Cooks are for kitchens, not plants.
The processes are not the ones you see in kitchens, either. Homogenizers, oil-curtain continuous fryers, and encapsulators aren't seen even in hotel kitchens, but they're standard units in food processing plants.
In food manufacturing, as in other manufacturing, recipes have tolerances. Those tolerances were determined in test kitchens and pilot plants, where the process failure points were explored. Temperature, humidity, time, viscosity, and other process parameters can be controlled if necessary. They're routinely controlled to the point that the process works every time.
Face it. Many foods made on an industrial scale, especially cakes, cookies, and candies, are better than those made at home. Most other prepared food is better than the average homemaker can do, and far more consistent. The compromises in industrial food preparation have mostly to do with storage and shelf life, not manufacturing.
You know the drill...
clean the medium sized potato
lightly coat with olive oil
bake til tender
cool, cut in half, & scoop the guts into a bowl taking care to leave a little stuff on the skin.
mix with a little sour cream, a little salt & appropriate spices plus some other goodies
go for something that ads a contrasting color, like chopped green onions. really really finely diced green & red peppers (cook these these first for tenderness) and whatever else you can get. some people like to add cheese, but that may be overkill
put the mass into a pastry bag with a large bore serrated tip and pipe the stuff back into the potato skins. if you''re slick you can get a visually pleasing pattern.
bake the skins + stuffing mixture until headed thru but not so much that the stuffing is burned or dried out. this can happen to thin sectioned parts of the stuffing assembly easily.
this will not help you get laid because she'll say you'e trying to make her fat. she'll probably be right. These are good reheated the second day and eaten over the sink anyway. You know what I'm talking about guys.