email: atram@adinet.com.uy

Arnold also served up water that had been gassed with nitrous oxide, which gave it a smoother, sweeter, creamier taste. A blend of 70% carbon dioxide and 30% nitrous oxide makes the tastiest sparkling water, according to the chef.

In my opinion, berry/fruit liqueurs and aquavits(*) are maybe the alcoholic drinks with greatest potential for making at home. Home-produced beer and wine are commonl, but require lots of specialst skill, experience and knowledge to even come close to the quality of the commercial versions. Extracted spirits, however, are very easy to make and the quality would easily surpass what you buy. Why? I guess that ethanol and sugar are the cheap ingredients, at least for industry, whereas i.e. high quality wild or garden-grown berries are expensive. Hence, according to my taste, these are ofter too sweet and lack flavour and aroma from the berries/fruit.

At home, we produce, almost every year, a batch of lingonberry liqueur or aquavit. The berries are hand-picked in nearby mountaineous areas, and the flavour is packed with berries. Another great spirit is blackberry leaf aquavit:

800 ml blackberry leaves, preferably picked before or during blossoming
700 ml 40% ethanol
4 sugar cubes

Cut the leaves in 2-4 with scissors, leave in the ethanol (closed jar) for two weeks. The recipe says one week in light and one week in the dark (does this make sense?). Filter off the leaves, add sugar cubes and leave for 3-4 months.

Yes, I know - measuring leaves by volume doesn’t seem very reproducible. However, depending on the weather, weight migh be just as inaccurate.

A wonderful golden colour and aroma of blackberries (obviously) and hints of brown spirits.

* Here, I use “aquavits” as a general term for non-sweetened spirits based on extraction. “Dram” is an alternative Norwegian/Danish word. A more proper English term might maybe be schnapps?

Types of meat: fat=flavor, so if you use a very lean cut with no additional seasonings, you will get flavorless meat, regardless of cooking technique. Searing will add a little flavor through caramelization but the center will still be bland. Use a well marbled cut and the fat will melt into the meat very slowly and at a temperature that it won’t just drip out, as it does in grilling. Wagyu would be a perfect type of beef for sous vide because the fats are very sensitive to heat and will cook out too quickly under normal grilling conditions.

Cooking time and temp: if the meat is turning grey, the temp is too high. Since the water temp is constant, the meat can’t get hotter than the water, so it will stay medium-rare if you use medium rare cooking temp. The length of cooking will mean more collagen breakdown, which will mean a more tender steak.

Safety: toxic pathogens are only a concern if you attempt long-term cooking or if you cook at very low temps (such as the 105-115F best for some fish) and then attempt to store the meat. Here’s some guidelines form Nathan Myhrvold: in a water bath at 55C (131F), meat will be sterilized in 112 minutes. The 160F guidelines used by governmental agencies does not really apply to sous vide because of this. A 45mm steak will be done to medium rare in 125 minutes. Of course, some toxic pathogens thrive in anaerobic, warm conditions, but require more time to flourish.

Toxicity of plastic: I’m pretty sure I will die from the consumption of red meat before I die from exposure to toxins in overheated plastic bags during sous vide cooking. Just how much sous vide are you planning on doing?

Regarding the sterilization of jars using dry heat at 120-130 °C I’ve been asked about how long they should stay in the oven. This is a difficult question, for a true sterilization (which can not be achieved with boiling water alone!) you would need pressurized steam for at least 15 minutes at 121 °C (also known as autoclaving). This corresponds to as much as 2 hours at 160 °C or 1 hour at 170 °C when dry heat is used. However, the idea is only to obtain the same degree of “sterilization” that boiling in water for 10-15 minutes would give. My guess would be that if you leave the jars for 1 hour at 120-130 °C it should be fine. And you could of course also turn up the temperature even more, but from practical experience, this doesn’t seem to help since the jars are not the weakest part of the chain (the lids, the filling procedure and the closing of the jars is).

2) This would be to allow a skin to form and to avoid condensation. Less water activity = less mold growth. If you close the jar immediately you have to turn it upside down. But if one for some reason (esthetics?) would like to keep the lid and the surface of the jam “clean”, you should wait a while before closing the jars.

4) Closing the jar immediately + turning upside down will be best to avoid growth of mold (unless you opt to sterilize the whole jar in boiling water using a home canner or simply a large pot with boiling water). I have tried this, but the main drawback is that it really doesn’t look very nice… It probably works better for jelly than for jam.

Alt. 3 (letting a skin form before closing) works fine as long as you wet the lid with alcohol. And if sugar contents is > 50% this will also slow down growth of molds considerably.

1) “Place enough jars in a cold oven and heat to 120-130 °C to sterilize them”:

Is this to avoid the glasses cracking? Are you certain that this is necessary with today’s glass quality? Also: don’t forget to do the same with the lids. Sterile jars won’t help if the lids are infected. The ethanol surely does help, but you can save some ethanol by heating them. I often use those jars with aluminium lids that pop up when you open them the first time (that is: I reuse jars from jam I’ve bought). If the lid draws/pops in when the jam cools and stays so, the vacuum is sufficient. Else, eat the jam right away (surely not a bad suggetion

2) “Leave to cool for 10-15 minutes and then screw on lids”:

Why? Leaving them open will result in (contaminated) air flowing into the jar. Closing immediately would certainly avoid this.

3) Foam:

I guess you’re right as long as the sterilisation is done properly. However, there are probably a large number of culinary presitions going around here as this is an old art (science?), and if one lets the jam cool before closing the lid, the foam will cool even more rapidly and contaminated air entering from the surroundings might infect the foam. The old rule of turning the jars upside down might help this because the hot jam will sterilise the lid and upper parts of the jar (see below). Also, foam might funtion as an insulating lid, both during cooking and storage, whatever effect that might have.

4) Turning the jar upside down:

Why not just store the jar upside down to be sure? I’m not a microbilologist, but after a chat with a biologist friend, we place our bets on alternative 2. Alternative 3 is also tempting, since a more viscous solution should leave the jars less prone to drawing in air, either due to dried and cracked seals (why are wine/champagne bottles stored lying on the side?) or because air/airborne microorganisms diffuse(s) more rapidly through air than a viscous jam. However, the moist atmosphere might be good enough for keeping the seals in good shape anyway (biologist comment: atmosphere above jam will funtion as a “moisture chamber”).

On removing trapped air bubbles:

Don’t use a blender. The alginate can be melted in the water just like gelatin can. We add ours to the water in a pyrex jar, then put it in the autoclave (ie - pressure canner). We cook we cook ours at 250F for about 14 min. It can be stirred afterwards. If you break up remaining clumps while it is still hot, they should melt. You can also strain it.

On storage:
Alginate beads can be stored in refrigeration without ill effects. I would recommend a storage period appropriate for the contents. Also, drying out will occur unless the beads are stored in a sealed container. You can also splash on a little water just to make sure.

I might just have to try some culinary applications myself.

The idea of heating the jars in the oven instead of boiling water is also quite appealing.