Harold McGee again wrote the article I read for this journal entry. I am really growing fond of this man, and his work. The science and passion that he brings into his writings is what I am enjoying. The article was called “On Food and Zapping.” As it may be guessed the title is in reference to food and cooking with a microwave oven.
When I think of microwave ovens the first think I think of is leftover pizza. After 20 seconds there’s perfection, or at least as close as you can get while sleepwalking.
The second thing is metals and the misnomer of their microwave oven use. As Harold McGee discussed in the article it is actually okay to use metal in a microwave oven.
As with anything in life there are rules. When it comes to microwave ovens and metals a major rule is to check and make sure the metals are not magnetized. Due to how the infrared microwaves travel the magnetism causes sparking. Sparking is what most people immediately think of when associating the two items together.
Secondly people must remember to not allow any sides of the metal to touch the walls to the microwave oven. This helps allow the microwaves to travel through the inside of the oven and dissipate. If there is a connection on any of the four sides the metal will burn the oven due to the microwaves being trapped at that point of connection.
In the article Harold McGee also discussed proper cooking within a microwave oven. The real key is based upon understanding the occurring action within the walls of the oven as you are cooking. With traditional cooking methods the air around the product is heated and the food is cooked from the outside in.
On the opposite, upside world of cooking with the microwave oven you are not. The microwave oven heats food with radio energy. This cooking process actually cooks the food from the inside out. With radio energy the food actually cooks by exciting the moist unbound water molecules. These molecules of water start to vibrate and move faster than others in the food. The excited fast moving water molecules crash into other molecules such as proteins and give them a jolt. These jolts end up causing the food product to rapidly heat up and cook.
All food products seize up and toughen when over cooked, and that’s why microwave oven cooking is often made fun of. Due to the way it is hard to control the temperature with in a microwave oven people often over cook their food. The key according to Harold McGee is to cook on lower power levels. The lower power level actually pulses the food with short and long radio energy. This causes the operator the opportunity of producing a better end product, along with more control.
Due to how the food’s water molecules become hot fast a lot of steam is released while cooking in a microwave oven. Hence why food cooked in a microwave oven tends to become dry. The trick to preventing as much moisture loss is to cook foods within a container that has a lid. Although sealing the container all the way seems right, it is not. Due to the steam releasing there is a buildup of pressure that could cause the container to explode.
Safety is key, and knowledge is the biggest key of all…
With the vibrating water and the steam pressure you may ask yourself “What else don’t I know about?” EXPLODING WATER!!! Water within a container with smooth surfaces can cause this. A cup of water can super heat to a temperature past boiling without releasing air bubbles. This causes the water to super heat and let out one massive bubble once agitated.
Another problem could be butter, plain old butter. Butter when heated in a microwave oven actually will heat and separate in to layers. These layers have a base of water, a middle layer of butter fat and finally a top layer of salt and impurities. As with plain water the water on the bottom can explode. Butter has harsher consequences; the water will explode with hot insulating fat on top of it. If this fat gets on your skin it will sit there holding its heat and burning you worse due to its coating attributes.
My goal is not to scare down microwave sales. It is actually to educate those who do not know and lets them see the light. Microwave ovens are great tools if used properly with a little education.
Until later with a fun food based entry,
This is Jason Soko CC signing out,
Goodbye and Happy Cooking!
Part ii:
Microwave Homework By: Jason Sokolowski
For Food Technology & Design as Taught By: Chef John R. Dion, MS, Associate Professor, College of Culinary Arts, Johnson & Wales University
Discovered 1940s accident American Percy Spencer self-taught engineer from Howland, Maine. He was building magnetrons for radar sets with Raytheon. Spencer was working on an active radar set when he noticed that a peanut chocolate bar he had in his pocket started to melt. The radar had melted his chocolate bar with microwaves. The first food to be deliberately cooked with microwave was popcorn, 2nd an egg.
To confirm findings Spencer formed a high density electromagnetic field by feeding microwave power into a metal box from which it had no way to escape. Once food was placed in the box with the microwave energy, the temperature of the food rose promptly.
In 1947, the world was introduced to “The Radarange.” The first microwave oven clocked in at 6 ft tall and weighed 750 lb and also sold for $5000. At the time it consumed a whopping 3 kilowatts (that is three times much as today’s) and was water-cooled. With energy a large issue the company fought to reduce the usage down to 1.6 kilowatts by 1954 and sold the updated models for $2-3000. By 1955 microwaves sold for $1295. With in twelve years (1967) microwaves were sold for less then half ($495). Microwave popularity took off by 1986, roughly 25% households owned a microwave, up from only about 1% in 1971. Currently 90% of the United States population owns at least one microwave oven.
Harold McGee wrote an article called “On Food and Zapping.” As it may be guessed the title is in reference to food and cooking with a microwave oven. When I think of microwave ovens the first think I think of is leftover pizza. After 20 seconds there’s perfection, or at least as close as you can get while sleepwalking.
The second thing is metals and the misnomer of their microwave oven use. As Harold McGee discussed in the article it is actually okay to use metal in a microwave oven.
As with anything in life there are rules. When it comes to microwave ovens and metals a major rule is to check and make sure the metals are not magnetized. Due to how the microwaves travel the magnetism causes sparking. Sparking is what most people immediately think of when associating the two items together.
Secondly people must remember to not allow any sides of the metal to touch the walls to the microwave oven. This helps allow the microwaves to travel through the inside of the oven and dissipate. If there is a connection on any of the four sides the metal will burn the oven due to the microwaves being trapped at that point of connection.
In the article Harold McGee also discussed proper cooking within a microwave oven. The real key is based upon understanding the occurring action within the walls of the oven as you are cooking. With traditional cooking methods the air around the product is heated and the food is cooked from the outside in.
On the opposite, upside world of cooking with the microwave oven you are not. The microwave oven heats food with radio energy. This cooking process actually cooks the food from the inside out. With radio energy the food actually cooks by exciting the moist unbound water molecules. These molecules of water start to vibrate and move faster than others in the food. The excited fast moving water molecules crash into other molecules such as proteins and give them a jolt. These jolts end up causing the food product to rapidly heat up and cook.
All food products seize up and toughen when over cooked, and that’s why microwave oven cooking is often made fun of. Due to the way it is hard to control the temperature with in a microwave oven people often over cook their food. The key is to cook on lower power levels. The lower power level actually pulses the food with short and long radio energy. Almost like the rapid cook system produced by the “Turbo Chef” company. This causes the operator the opportunity of producing a better end product, along with more control.
Due to how the food’s water molecules become hot fast a lot of steam is released while cooking in a microwave oven. Hence why food cooked in a microwave oven tends to become dry. The trick to preventing as much moisture loss is to cook foods within a container that has a lid. Although sealing the container all the way seems right, it is not. Due to the steam releasing there is a buildup of pressure that could cause the container to explode.
Safety is key, and knowledge is the biggest key of all…
With the vibrating water and the steam pressure you may ask yourself “What else don’t I know about?” EXPLODING WATER!!! Water within a container with smooth surfaces can cause this. A cup of water can super heat to a temperature past boiling without releasing air bubbles. This causes the water to super heat and let out one massive bubble once agitated.
Another problem could be butter, plain old butter. Butter when heated in a microwave oven actually will heat and separate in to layers. These layers have a base of water, a middle layer of butter fat and finally a top layer of salt and impurities. As with plain water the water on the bottom can explode. Butter has harsher consequences; the water will explode with hot insulating fat on top of it. If this fat gets on your skin it will sit there holding its heat and burning you worse due to its coating attributes.
A microwave oven, or a microwave, is a kitchen appliance that cooks or heats food by dielectric heating. This is accomplished by using microwave radiation to heat water and other polarized molecules within the food. This excitation is fairly uniform, leading to food being adequately heated throughout (except in thick objects), a feature not seen in any other heating technique.
Basicly microwave ovens heat food quickly and efficiently, but do not brown or bake food in the way conventional ovens do. This makes them unsuitable for cooking certain foods, or to achieve certain effects. Additional kinds of heat sources can be added to microwave packaging, or into combination microwave ovens, to add these additional effects.
A common misconception is that microwave ovens cook food from the "inside out". In reality, microwaves are absorbed in the outer layers of food in a manner somewhat similar to heat from other methods. The misconception arises because microwaves penetrate dry non-conductive substances at the surfaces of many common foods, and thus often induce initial heat more deeply than other methods. Depending on water content, the depth of initial heat deposition may be several centimetres or more with microwave ovens, in contrast to broiling or convection heating, which deposit heat thinly at the food surface. Penetration depth of microwaves is dependent on food composition and the frequency, with lower microwave frequencies (longer wavelengths) penetrating better.
A microwave oven converts only part of its electrical input into microwave energy. A typical consumer microwave oven consumes 1100 W of electricity in producing 700 W of microwave power, an efficiency of 64%. The other 400 W are dissipated as heat, mostly in the magnetron tube.
A variant of the conventional microwave is the convection microwave. A convection microwave is a combination of a standard microwave and a convection oven. It allows food to be cooked quickly, yet come out browned or crisped, as from a convection oven. Convection microwaves are more expensive than a conventional microwave and are not considered cost-effective if primarily used just to heat drinks or frozen food. They are usually used for cooking prepared dishes. Convection microwaves also suffer from smoke and burning odors when microwaved foods spatter grease and food particles. This spatter collects on the heating elements and does not do anything when used solely for microwaving, but it all burns off when later used for convection.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Out of season berries cost too much, how do I cut the cost???
As I read the links on Harold McGee’s newest articles the one titled “THE CURIOUS COOK, Prolonging the Life of Berries” REALLY stood out. Being the leader in my kitchen at work, I am always looking to cut my food costs with out sacrificing quality or my employees’ well being.
As I sat and began to read the first few lines of his article on berry preservation I was intrigued. Then my curiosity made me hop out of my seat and go grab a pack of berries out of my walk-in. “Does it really work?” I was consistently asking myself during my 45 sec trip to the walk-in.
Once I arrived to the walk-in I began to forage through every pack of berries. I had thought “WOW how ironic! This is the only time in my career where I am doing the complete opposite of what I normally do.” For once I had to look for the worst looking pack, not the best. A standard in the foodservice industry is to take the best-looking berries and use them in raw states. Then usually you take the overripe ones and turn them into compote, or bake them into pastries or make them into a batch of berry coulis.
In Harold McGee’s article he discussed such a simple yet logical solution to my question. Cutting cost sometimes doesn’t require ordering different product, sometimes its just how you apply what you have. I tend to order 1.5 times as much as I need for work. This in the culinary world is known as ordering by “edible yield percent.”
When ordering you traditionally tally what you need and order more due to non-edible waste. So in turn your food cost goes up. An example of this is if your recipe calls for eight ounces of romaine lettuce and a head of it weights ten ounces you will have just enough. So once you remove the inedible high cellulose core and the bruised outer three to four leaves you are left with 80 percent of the starting weight.
When dealing with highly perishable foods chefs tend to be able to use 100 percent of a berry but not 100 percent of the ordered product. In turn they end up with a mass of overripe berries.
These overripe berries end up leading to the chef searching for ways to use them up, practically giving them away. Utilizing McGee’s process I can order less, stop handing out as much and waste less. The whole problem with raw berries is two basic well-known issues.
The first one is the most obvious one to many chefs and it is taught at the base of many culinary programs, acetylene gas.
As some fruits sit they release their own reserve of acetylene gas. This gas will speed up their ripening process if in high concentration. If you leave a banana in a bag the acetylene gas builds up and will ripen the banana at an extremely accelerated rate. This is true with the berries in our experiment.
Second half to the problem is lead by the surface area’s bacterium and molds. The cause of decay and rot and can happen at an accelerated rate due to bacterium and mold. Mold spores are easily found everywhere, and the moisture exhaling fruits create a breading ground for them.
Along with the thin skin of many fruits it tends to lead to the rapid and easy penetration of the molds into the nutrient rich inner-flesh.
Mcgee’s preservation process is called Thermotherapy, which basically a very hot fruit bath.
This bath allows the gentle berries and fruit to maintain their raw unprocessed states with out sacrificing much. The minimal sacrifice is some nutrient loss in the thermotherapy bath.
In my experiment I took three pints of blueberries and poured them out on to a sheet pan and separated the molded or bruised ones.
Then I evenly divided the healthy ones into three groups. Then I heated one batch in 140°F water for 30 seconds. After I emptied the sample onto towels to cool down and dry, just as McGee had done. Then I took the second group of berries and “washed” them under plan cold tap water. Finally, I left the third batch of berries alone, as my control group. I did this just as i was taught by Dr. Eaton while doing scientific food based experiments in Food Science.
Once all three were processed I took three brand new airtight deli containers and placed the samples in them. The containers were clearly marked with their lids and all . Then stored on the counter top to accelerate the results. I came to realize at that point my patience would have to hold me over until the next day.
Twenty-four hours later I came back to discover that the project did result in the same out come that I had predicted. The thermotherapy treated batch had zero moldy blueberries. Meanwhile the washed batch had only three moldy berries. Finally the controlled unprocessed blueberries only had eight moldy berries.
McGee’s Blueberry experiment concluded with these results…
Out of a batch of 150 thermotherapy treated berries 2 moldy berries resulted.
Out of a batch of 150 non-thermotherapy treated berries 20 moldy berries resulted.
McGee also asked, “Why is it that delicate berries can survive heat high enough to kill mold and injure fingers? Probably because they have to do so in the field. One study of tomatoes found that intense sunlight raised their interiors to 122 degrees.”
I would like to know if that one is also true. I guess I will have to wait until my tomato plans have some maters on them this summer to find out. So, until the next page enjoy your food and CHEERS!
Jason Sokolowski C.C.
Chefsoko@aim.com
As I sat and began to read the first few lines of his article on berry preservation I was intrigued. Then my curiosity made me hop out of my seat and go grab a pack of berries out of my walk-in. “Does it really work?” I was consistently asking myself during my 45 sec trip to the walk-in.
Once I arrived to the walk-in I began to forage through every pack of berries. I had thought “WOW how ironic! This is the only time in my career where I am doing the complete opposite of what I normally do.” For once I had to look for the worst looking pack, not the best. A standard in the foodservice industry is to take the best-looking berries and use them in raw states. Then usually you take the overripe ones and turn them into compote, or bake them into pastries or make them into a batch of berry coulis.
In Harold McGee’s article he discussed such a simple yet logical solution to my question. Cutting cost sometimes doesn’t require ordering different product, sometimes its just how you apply what you have. I tend to order 1.5 times as much as I need for work. This in the culinary world is known as ordering by “edible yield percent.”
When ordering you traditionally tally what you need and order more due to non-edible waste. So in turn your food cost goes up. An example of this is if your recipe calls for eight ounces of romaine lettuce and a head of it weights ten ounces you will have just enough. So once you remove the inedible high cellulose core and the bruised outer three to four leaves you are left with 80 percent of the starting weight.
When dealing with highly perishable foods chefs tend to be able to use 100 percent of a berry but not 100 percent of the ordered product. In turn they end up with a mass of overripe berries.
These overripe berries end up leading to the chef searching for ways to use them up, practically giving them away. Utilizing McGee’s process I can order less, stop handing out as much and waste less. The whole problem with raw berries is two basic well-known issues.
The first one is the most obvious one to many chefs and it is taught at the base of many culinary programs, acetylene gas.
As some fruits sit they release their own reserve of acetylene gas. This gas will speed up their ripening process if in high concentration. If you leave a banana in a bag the acetylene gas builds up and will ripen the banana at an extremely accelerated rate. This is true with the berries in our experiment.
Second half to the problem is lead by the surface area’s bacterium and molds. The cause of decay and rot and can happen at an accelerated rate due to bacterium and mold. Mold spores are easily found everywhere, and the moisture exhaling fruits create a breading ground for them.
Along with the thin skin of many fruits it tends to lead to the rapid and easy penetration of the molds into the nutrient rich inner-flesh.
Mcgee’s preservation process is called Thermotherapy, which basically a very hot fruit bath.
This bath allows the gentle berries and fruit to maintain their raw unprocessed states with out sacrificing much. The minimal sacrifice is some nutrient loss in the thermotherapy bath.
In my experiment I took three pints of blueberries and poured them out on to a sheet pan and separated the molded or bruised ones.
Then I evenly divided the healthy ones into three groups. Then I heated one batch in 140°F water for 30 seconds. After I emptied the sample onto towels to cool down and dry, just as McGee had done. Then I took the second group of berries and “washed” them under plan cold tap water. Finally, I left the third batch of berries alone, as my control group. I did this just as i was taught by Dr. Eaton while doing scientific food based experiments in Food Science.
Once all three were processed I took three brand new airtight deli containers and placed the samples in them. The containers were clearly marked with their lids and all . Then stored on the counter top to accelerate the results. I came to realize at that point my patience would have to hold me over until the next day.
Twenty-four hours later I came back to discover that the project did result in the same out come that I had predicted. The thermotherapy treated batch had zero moldy blueberries. Meanwhile the washed batch had only three moldy berries. Finally the controlled unprocessed blueberries only had eight moldy berries.
McGee’s Blueberry experiment concluded with these results…
Out of a batch of 150 thermotherapy treated berries 2 moldy berries resulted.
Out of a batch of 150 non-thermotherapy treated berries 20 moldy berries resulted.
McGee also asked, “Why is it that delicate berries can survive heat high enough to kill mold and injure fingers? Probably because they have to do so in the field. One study of tomatoes found that intense sunlight raised their interiors to 122 degrees.”
I would like to know if that one is also true. I guess I will have to wait until my tomato plans have some maters on them this summer to find out. So, until the next page enjoy your food and CHEERS!
Jason Sokolowski C.C.
Chefsoko@aim.com
Friday, April 8, 2011
"How Much Water Does Pasta Really Need???"
According to my pre-knowledge of this article I was taught to boil water to a rolling boil before adding pasta. I was also told at least two galloons of water per each pound of pasta. According to the article by McGee my grandmother was off by a long shot.
Harold McGee stated traditionally four to six quarts should be brought to a full rolling boil, then well salt the water The reasoning is “the usual rationales are that abundant water quickly recovers the boil when the pasta is added, gives the noodles room so that they don’t stick to one another, and dilutes the starch they release, so they don’t end up with a ‘gluey’ surface.”
McGee believes that it is possible to cook pasta successfully with less water then the traditional. The rough figures McGee stated says if we all cut our pasta water, it would be between 250,000-500,000 barrels of oil, or $10 million to $20 million at current prices.
To break down pasta cooking…
Traditional Cooking Experimental cooking
4 to 6 qts of water 2 qts of water
Rolling boil cold temp
Salted 2 teaspoons salt
1# pasta 1 #Pasta
My Detective Work…
I tested this theory on my slowest day at the JWU Radisson I took two identical pots and heated four quarts of water in one then six quarts in another, both received two tablespoons of salt and two pounds of dry pasta instead of going with a subjective analysis like McGee, I decided to go along with a more scientific approach. I cooked the pasta until equally done (al denté). From there I decided to weight the pasta, granted I could not accurately determine the starch less versus water absorbed. In turn this was more for personal curiosity, but the two pounds of pasta did not vary in weight. What varied was the clearness or viscosity of the boiling liquid.
In analysis of food and its responsive behaviors we used a variety of equipment to determine differences in scientific experiments. In turn the pasta cooked with in the two quarts less of water (four quarts all day) had a Brix Refractometer reading of dark blue number four which means there was a high concentration of sugars. Where the pasta cooked in six quarts had a lighter blue reading of +2. In turn there were more sugars in the four quarts versus six quarts sample.
You may be saying that’s obvious there is less water so the particles pulled off less liquid to float around in. So as any scientific analyzing chef would do, I rebalanced the water contents. I did so by taking one cup of four-quart solution and added ½ cup water and blended it with an emersion (or stick) blender. Finally I reanalyzed the solution to find a dark blue reading of +3. In turn both pastas really aren’t the same although they tasted the same and were cooked to the same point.
Until later with a fun food based entry,
This is Jason Soko CC signing out,
Goodbye and Happy Cooking!
Harold McGee stated traditionally four to six quarts should be brought to a full rolling boil, then well salt the water The reasoning is “the usual rationales are that abundant water quickly recovers the boil when the pasta is added, gives the noodles room so that they don’t stick to one another, and dilutes the starch they release, so they don’t end up with a ‘gluey’ surface.”
McGee believes that it is possible to cook pasta successfully with less water then the traditional. The rough figures McGee stated says if we all cut our pasta water, it would be between 250,000-500,000 barrels of oil, or $10 million to $20 million at current prices.
To break down pasta cooking…
Traditional Cooking Experimental cooking
4 to 6 qts of water 2 qts of water
Rolling boil cold temp
Salted 2 teaspoons salt
1# pasta 1 #Pasta
My Detective Work…
I tested this theory on my slowest day at the JWU Radisson I took two identical pots and heated four quarts of water in one then six quarts in another, both received two tablespoons of salt and two pounds of dry pasta instead of going with a subjective analysis like McGee, I decided to go along with a more scientific approach. I cooked the pasta until equally done (al denté). From there I decided to weight the pasta, granted I could not accurately determine the starch less versus water absorbed. In turn this was more for personal curiosity, but the two pounds of pasta did not vary in weight. What varied was the clearness or viscosity of the boiling liquid.
In analysis of food and its responsive behaviors we used a variety of equipment to determine differences in scientific experiments. In turn the pasta cooked with in the two quarts less of water (four quarts all day) had a Brix Refractometer reading of dark blue number four which means there was a high concentration of sugars. Where the pasta cooked in six quarts had a lighter blue reading of +2. In turn there were more sugars in the four quarts versus six quarts sample.
You may be saying that’s obvious there is less water so the particles pulled off less liquid to float around in. So as any scientific analyzing chef would do, I rebalanced the water contents. I did so by taking one cup of four-quart solution and added ½ cup water and blended it with an emersion (or stick) blender. Finally I reanalyzed the solution to find a dark blue reading of +3. In turn both pastas really aren’t the same although they tasted the same and were cooked to the same point.
Until later with a fun food based entry,
This is Jason Soko CC signing out,
Goodbye and Happy Cooking!
Monday, April 4, 2011
"Fruit as Caviar"
Today I looked up an author for the New York Times; his name is Harold McGee writes about a variety of topics. He also has a lot of food based discussions too. One article that stood out as interesting was his article “Fruit Gets Dressed Up as Caviar.” The original article was written on March 22, 2006.
The article discussed the combination of food with three chemicals: Sodium Alginate, Sodium Citrate, and Calcium Chloride. The three chemicals combined in the right ratio can cause a sphere of yummieyness. The Sodium Citrate is also used as an anti-coagulant in the ice cream making industry. As for the Sodium Alginate it is used as a gelling agent when making preservatives.
The Breakdown:
The food product (weather it’s a fruit or vegetable) gets pureed down and sifted through a chinois to remove any sort of fibrous impurities. From there the process requires the bright white powder Sodium Citrate to be sifted together with the off white slightly tan powder, Sodium Alginate; and then mixed with puree.
Then the calcium chloride is blended into a solution with water. From there, you take a marinade injector or an eye drop applicator and fill it with the food puree, Sodium Alginate, and Sodium Citrate. Slowly one drop at a time drop the blend into the Calcium Chloride water. As it hits the substance will create a tear size ball.
The Reaction Breakdown:
The article “Fruit Gets dress UP as Caviar” did not talk about what causes the reaction, so I did further research. Since Chef Chemist Ferran Adria was the first to discover and apply this chemical reaction, I started with google.com and his name. That really didn’t supply much information. So the next search I looked up as “the science behind fruit Caviar” What I discovered is, the anti-coagulant (Sodium Citrate) creates heat as the solution hits and reacts with the Calcium Chloride. So in the right balance, the Calcium Chloride will cook the Sodium Alginate into a barrier around the remainder of the droplet, and at the same time the center will remain liquid, so as McGee described it as ”itsy-bitsy bursts of intensified flavor in your mouth, simulating a slightly tingly effervesce.”
So in turn, the “caviar” has an eggshell around a soft embryo of puree that stayed uncooked. The wrong solution can create a fun different response. Too much Calcium Chloride will cause too much heat and cook the droplet straight though into a firm solid bead of gelatinized puree. Too little can create a “pasta-less ravioli puree.” The sack of puree would not hold a defined shape it would roll and plop around a like a stop and shop bag filled and tied half full of water.
While I was reading about the fruit caviar the thought of application popped into my head. “What if…” was my main thought pattern. An example is”What if I could make a tear drop Tabasco caviar for oysters on the half shell.” Or “What if I could make chocolate caviar into a bite size S’more with a custom gram cracker shell the size of a dime,” but these are for another journal on another day after another session of cruising the internet. Until then I will wait for my Sodium Alginate, Sodium Citrate, and Calcium Chloride to come.
Until later with a fun food based entry,
This is Jason Soko CC signing out,
Goodbye and Happy Cooking!
The article discussed the combination of food with three chemicals: Sodium Alginate, Sodium Citrate, and Calcium Chloride. The three chemicals combined in the right ratio can cause a sphere of yummieyness. The Sodium Citrate is also used as an anti-coagulant in the ice cream making industry. As for the Sodium Alginate it is used as a gelling agent when making preservatives.
The Breakdown:
The food product (weather it’s a fruit or vegetable) gets pureed down and sifted through a chinois to remove any sort of fibrous impurities. From there the process requires the bright white powder Sodium Citrate to be sifted together with the off white slightly tan powder, Sodium Alginate; and then mixed with puree.
Then the calcium chloride is blended into a solution with water. From there, you take a marinade injector or an eye drop applicator and fill it with the food puree, Sodium Alginate, and Sodium Citrate. Slowly one drop at a time drop the blend into the Calcium Chloride water. As it hits the substance will create a tear size ball.
The Reaction Breakdown:
The article “Fruit Gets dress UP as Caviar” did not talk about what causes the reaction, so I did further research. Since Chef Chemist Ferran Adria was the first to discover and apply this chemical reaction, I started with google.com and his name. That really didn’t supply much information. So the next search I looked up as “the science behind fruit Caviar” What I discovered is, the anti-coagulant (Sodium Citrate) creates heat as the solution hits and reacts with the Calcium Chloride. So in the right balance, the Calcium Chloride will cook the Sodium Alginate into a barrier around the remainder of the droplet, and at the same time the center will remain liquid, so as McGee described it as ”itsy-bitsy bursts of intensified flavor in your mouth, simulating a slightly tingly effervesce.”
So in turn, the “caviar” has an eggshell around a soft embryo of puree that stayed uncooked. The wrong solution can create a fun different response. Too much Calcium Chloride will cause too much heat and cook the droplet straight though into a firm solid bead of gelatinized puree. Too little can create a “pasta-less ravioli puree.” The sack of puree would not hold a defined shape it would roll and plop around a like a stop and shop bag filled and tied half full of water.
While I was reading about the fruit caviar the thought of application popped into my head. “What if…” was my main thought pattern. An example is”What if I could make a tear drop Tabasco caviar for oysters on the half shell.” Or “What if I could make chocolate caviar into a bite size S’more with a custom gram cracker shell the size of a dime,” but these are for another journal on another day after another session of cruising the internet. Until then I will wait for my Sodium Alginate, Sodium Citrate, and Calcium Chloride to come.
Until later with a fun food based entry,
This is Jason Soko CC signing out,
Goodbye and Happy Cooking!
Friday, April 1, 2011
Getting Started
As anyone who knows me knows I hold education in high regards. The term EDUCATION dose not need to be formal high school or college education but more like just the self-fulfillment of learning new things. When I say things I mean new facts or well anything. I everyday attempt to cruise through out the Internet for new knowledge in food.
Here on my blog I will post weekly recipes, articles of interest to me based upon food, proper cooking tid-bits & whatever else i damn well please, i guess.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Hey everyone!!!!
I Will Be Writing much more now that my personal life has fallen apart, stay tunned friends, email me at SOKOandCo@gmail.co with requests for things to place here!!!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Lemongrass
One Spicy Night in Heaven, But This Heaven You Can Comeback to..
As I approached the restaurant during another frosty Syracuse spring night, I thought I saw a small snowflake fall upon my nose. I suddenly had my attention snapped back into control, as I could lightly smell a sweet yet tangy scent in the air…
As I opened the door for my date, the gentle wisp transformed into a swift kick in the back side. The production of that kick was partially thanks to the scent of pounds of spicy Thai chilies in the air. This restaurant, which I gladly placed under my meticulous review, had been called Lemongrass.
Lemongrass has been located at 238 West Jefferson Street, Syracuse, New York for thirteen years. For the previous four years the owners husband and wife Max and Pook Chutinthranond owned the then called, “Authentic Thai restaurant of Syracuse” in Mattydale, NY. Max stated, “Initially following the first few days after the move into downtown I was getting four or five phone calls an hour asking why we closed our doors. Many of our customers were worried that something had happened due to till the end of our residence in Mattydale how we had only high volume nights.” Since the start of the restaurant Max has been the head chef and Pook has managed and run the business side.
The Lemongrass is located in a district that is known to each and every Syracusan as Amory Square. Their friendly staff will answer the phone at 315-475-1111, and are available to take your take-out orders or reservations.
Lemongrass is classified as an AAA three-diamond white tablecloth Thai restaurant. This beautiful and quaint little restaurant is located on the bottom floor of a classic three-story brick building. The building is designed just like many of the classic downtown Syracuse buildings, built of brick and mortar. The view from the street creates the ambiance of a small little bistro. It feels like the restaurant would be a place that serves some sixty people on a busy day, with something like ten seats in the whole house.
On the contrary their large glass windows offer a nice view of the gentle snow flurries while you sit and enjoy your meal. Luckily for my date and I, there were three large green awnings preventing any stray flurries from falling on us as we approached the door. For those worried about parking, the restaurant is very convenient; the owner Max bought the buildings thirty-car parking lot located under the building’s basement.
Although it doesn’t show it from the outside the restaurant has three rooms, that can hold up to fifty, sixty, or ninety people. Overall the restaurant has seating for 250 people. I found that the tables were very evenly and spaciously spread apart. It was nice not to be almost sitting on the strangers’ lap next to me. The waiting area was slightly too small in my opinion. I felt as if I was hovering over the hostess as we waited the brief one to two minutes for of waitress to come seat us.
The atmosphere was extremely friendly and enjoyable. Right down from the aromas to the visuals, to the sweet sound of the background music. The background music was a nice balance of quite and loud. Most restaurants tend to have such loud music that you tend to feel drown out. Also due to the good balance the other guests were talking quite lower than usual, so the background chatter was very low too.
The décor consists of many traditional Thai icons and symbols. Decorations vary from pictures and figurines of elephants, garuda, orchids and stupa; to geckos. Lemongrass’ owner Max considers the beautiful cherry wood and hard maple bar as his prized jewel within the restaurant. The bar contains one of Central New York’s largest wine collections; along with top-level liquors and cordials, such as high priced cognacs to luxurious whiskeys.
Lunch clientele mainly consists of lawyers from the near by law offices and courthouse. Lemongrass’ clientele also includes a variety of businessmen and women from various downtown Syracuse businesses.
Dinnertime for Lemongrass is a whole different story. At dinnertime Lemongrass switches to the hot spot for foodies, yuppies, and drunken college students alike. Nationalities, classes, age groups, and genders vary a great deal. At Lemongrass you can see lower middle class couples sharing an important event, to the rich high-class lawyer on his or her regular dinner run.
The menu at Lemongrass itself is a beauty in its own right; it is a large deep maroon, with gold letter script on the cover. The actual pages are a white, with maroon ink. The menu contains a variety of proteins from duck to chicken and beef to venison. The menu is printed in large legible print. The menu contains sections from appetizers, sushi, soups, entrees and desserts. The choices also offered vary in heat or spice, my date was very appreciative of this factor. The price ranges from eight dollars to twenty-three dollars.
In comparison to other local restaurants Lemongrass is a steal for the experience that is sold alongside the food. The food is extremely elegant; Max Explained to me that he grew up in the industry. In Thailand’s fine dining restaurants of the 1970’s, growing up into his own chef, he was trained with the mindset of “TALL THAI!!!”
The dish that I sampled is a classic dish at any Thai restaurant; actually it’s the national dish of Thailand, Pad Thai. Lemongrass serves a very good rendition of it, a sweet, sour and tangy one at that. It is served as a heaping portion on sautéed rice noodles, egg, garlic chives, house seasoned tofu, mung-bean sprouts, chile tamarind sauce and ground peanuts. The ingredients at the restaurant are very fresh across the board. The dish varied in textures and balanced in flavors very well. The rice noodles were nice and soft and contrasted the firm scrambled eggs and peanuts along with the crisp garlic chives and mung-bean sprouts.
Service was terrific; the timing of the meal was quick. At the same time I didn’t feel to rushed as many cooks call spun through. The wait staff was very friendly, and personable. At the same time they did not hover like most tend to. Drink orders were quickly filled and enjoyed on the stronger side of life.
The Lemongrass has a web page for guests to go on and fill a reservation online. The page is www.lemongrasscny.com/enter.html . The hours of restaurant operation are Monday through Saturday 11:30am -2:30pm for lunch, Monday through Sat 5:00pm -11:00pm Dinner, Sunday 4:30pm -9:30pm dinner. Dress code includes dressy casual. All major credit cards are accepted.
As I approached the restaurant during another frosty Syracuse spring night, I thought I saw a small snowflake fall upon my nose. I suddenly had my attention snapped back into control, as I could lightly smell a sweet yet tangy scent in the air…
As I opened the door for my date, the gentle wisp transformed into a swift kick in the back side. The production of that kick was partially thanks to the scent of pounds of spicy Thai chilies in the air. This restaurant, which I gladly placed under my meticulous review, had been called Lemongrass.
Lemongrass has been located at 238 West Jefferson Street, Syracuse, New York for thirteen years. For the previous four years the owners husband and wife Max and Pook Chutinthranond owned the then called, “Authentic Thai restaurant of Syracuse” in Mattydale, NY. Max stated, “Initially following the first few days after the move into downtown I was getting four or five phone calls an hour asking why we closed our doors. Many of our customers were worried that something had happened due to till the end of our residence in Mattydale how we had only high volume nights.” Since the start of the restaurant Max has been the head chef and Pook has managed and run the business side.
The Lemongrass is located in a district that is known to each and every Syracusan as Amory Square. Their friendly staff will answer the phone at 315-475-1111, and are available to take your take-out orders or reservations.
Lemongrass is classified as an AAA three-diamond white tablecloth Thai restaurant. This beautiful and quaint little restaurant is located on the bottom floor of a classic three-story brick building. The building is designed just like many of the classic downtown Syracuse buildings, built of brick and mortar. The view from the street creates the ambiance of a small little bistro. It feels like the restaurant would be a place that serves some sixty people on a busy day, with something like ten seats in the whole house.
On the contrary their large glass windows offer a nice view of the gentle snow flurries while you sit and enjoy your meal. Luckily for my date and I, there were three large green awnings preventing any stray flurries from falling on us as we approached the door. For those worried about parking, the restaurant is very convenient; the owner Max bought the buildings thirty-car parking lot located under the building’s basement.
Although it doesn’t show it from the outside the restaurant has three rooms, that can hold up to fifty, sixty, or ninety people. Overall the restaurant has seating for 250 people. I found that the tables were very evenly and spaciously spread apart. It was nice not to be almost sitting on the strangers’ lap next to me. The waiting area was slightly too small in my opinion. I felt as if I was hovering over the hostess as we waited the brief one to two minutes for of waitress to come seat us.
The atmosphere was extremely friendly and enjoyable. Right down from the aromas to the visuals, to the sweet sound of the background music. The background music was a nice balance of quite and loud. Most restaurants tend to have such loud music that you tend to feel drown out. Also due to the good balance the other guests were talking quite lower than usual, so the background chatter was very low too.
The décor consists of many traditional Thai icons and symbols. Decorations vary from pictures and figurines of elephants, garuda, orchids and stupa; to geckos. Lemongrass’ owner Max considers the beautiful cherry wood and hard maple bar as his prized jewel within the restaurant. The bar contains one of Central New York’s largest wine collections; along with top-level liquors and cordials, such as high priced cognacs to luxurious whiskeys.
Lunch clientele mainly consists of lawyers from the near by law offices and courthouse. Lemongrass’ clientele also includes a variety of businessmen and women from various downtown Syracuse businesses.
Dinnertime for Lemongrass is a whole different story. At dinnertime Lemongrass switches to the hot spot for foodies, yuppies, and drunken college students alike. Nationalities, classes, age groups, and genders vary a great deal. At Lemongrass you can see lower middle class couples sharing an important event, to the rich high-class lawyer on his or her regular dinner run.
The menu at Lemongrass itself is a beauty in its own right; it is a large deep maroon, with gold letter script on the cover. The actual pages are a white, with maroon ink. The menu contains a variety of proteins from duck to chicken and beef to venison. The menu is printed in large legible print. The menu contains sections from appetizers, sushi, soups, entrees and desserts. The choices also offered vary in heat or spice, my date was very appreciative of this factor. The price ranges from eight dollars to twenty-three dollars.
In comparison to other local restaurants Lemongrass is a steal for the experience that is sold alongside the food. The food is extremely elegant; Max Explained to me that he grew up in the industry. In Thailand’s fine dining restaurants of the 1970’s, growing up into his own chef, he was trained with the mindset of “TALL THAI!!!”
The dish that I sampled is a classic dish at any Thai restaurant; actually it’s the national dish of Thailand, Pad Thai. Lemongrass serves a very good rendition of it, a sweet, sour and tangy one at that. It is served as a heaping portion on sautéed rice noodles, egg, garlic chives, house seasoned tofu, mung-bean sprouts, chile tamarind sauce and ground peanuts. The ingredients at the restaurant are very fresh across the board. The dish varied in textures and balanced in flavors very well. The rice noodles were nice and soft and contrasted the firm scrambled eggs and peanuts along with the crisp garlic chives and mung-bean sprouts.
Service was terrific; the timing of the meal was quick. At the same time I didn’t feel to rushed as many cooks call spun through. The wait staff was very friendly, and personable. At the same time they did not hover like most tend to. Drink orders were quickly filled and enjoyed on the stronger side of life.
The Lemongrass has a web page for guests to go on and fill a reservation online. The page is www.lemongrasscny.com/enter.html . The hours of restaurant operation are Monday through Saturday 11:30am -2:30pm for lunch, Monday through Sat 5:00pm -11:00pm Dinner, Sunday 4:30pm -9:30pm dinner. Dress code includes dressy casual. All major credit cards are accepted.
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