Tag temperature

Sourdough work in progress (part I)

Attempt to make a sourdough starter using dried apricots, using my immersion circulator for temperature control. I got some bubbling yeast activity, but the final bread dough never rose properly. Inspired by the Swedish bread blog Pain de Martin which…

A mathematician cooks sous vide

Douglas Baldwin with two immersion circulators and a vacuum chamber sealer. Since I got my immersion circulator in December I’ve discovered that there are two critical questions that always come up as I hold a piece of meat in my…

Sous-vide cooking joy

Having received a real kitchen gadget before the weekend, I certainly had to do some sous-vide experiments. While shopping I looked specifically for meat that was already vacuum packed in plastic bags as I do not have a food saver.…

Speeding up the Maillard reaction

Ever thought about how pretzels and salt sticks get their nice brown color? The products of the Maillard reaction provide tastes, smells and colors that are much desired and lend their charachteristics to a variety of foods. In this post…

Wonders of extraction: Water

Extraction of peppermint leaves with hot water Water is a polar molecule, meaning that one end has a small negative charge and the other a small positive charge. Because of this water is a very good solvent for other polar…

The science of BBQ

Photo by spielzimmer via flickr.com (CC). Eric Devlin over at Home of BBQ interviewed me via email about BBQ and molecular gastronomy. The topic should be of interest to the readers of Khymos as well, so I post the questions…

New perspectives on whisky and water

Among dedicated whisky/whiskey drinkers it is customary to add a little water as this “helps to unlock and release the esters, or flavours, from the fats”. Another site claims that dilution helps “breaking down the ester chains and freeing the…

Practical molecular gastronomy, part 5

5. Learn how to control taste and flavor. When invited over to friends for dinner, even before eating, you judge the food by it’s aroma, handing out compliments such as “It really smells nice”! Thankfully, nature is on the cook’s…

Practical molecular gastronomy, part 4

(Photo by vintage_patrisha at flickr.com) 4. Learn how to control the texture of food Taste and flavour normally get more attention when food is discussed, but the texture of food is equally important and our tongue is very sensitive, not…