Science of Cooking

The theoretically best technique (IMO) is to dump the rice in a tub of water and let it sit for 30+ min. That starts the hydration without wasting heat (thus a faster cook). Then I grab a handfuls and rub the grains together to wash mechanically. I know it’s working because the water gets quite cloudy on every cycle. After dumping and repeating 3—4 times, the water is still a dirty color.

How many times does it take?

If you don’t wash brown rice at all, there is a nasty ring of mud around the pot at the level the rice expands to. If you wash ~4 cycles, there is still a faint ring of mud (or so it seems).

I’m way too lazy to do 10 wash cycles, or whatever is needed. I used to put the rice in a strainer and run it under the faucet for a while. But I think that wastes water and you cannot readily see any indication of when the washing is done.

The other problem: people wash their rice not just to get the mud out but also to get the starches out. I want the starches. I’m not afraid of getting fat.

I’m making savory waffles based on corn and very coarse cornmeal. Of course corn kernals and veg (like peppers) make it tricky because batter doesn’t stick well to smooth non-porous surfaces.

The standard combination of milk, eggs, and wheat flour works well enough as a binder, but only if added in a high enough ratio. If I cut back on the flour, the waffles lose their mechanical integrity and fall apart.

I’m looking for ideas for other binders. This is my speculative brainstorm:

• cheese
• honey
• bees wax
• maple syrup
• molassas
• agave?
• gluten (wheat flour, beer? (wheat beer or any beer?), glutinous rice?)
• cornstarch, wheat starch, tapioca starch
• chicken eggs (the whites thereof)
• vegan “eggs” like VegEgg powder (is that psyllium husk?)
• Aquafaba (chickpea water)
• baking soda (if fried?)
• PVA (polyvinylacetate aka wood glue)

For the gluten intolerant:

• Psyllium husk
• Agar-Agar
• Chia seeds, flax seeds
• Linseed (Flaxseed)
• Guar gum
• Xanthan gum
• Arrowroot
• Carrageenan
• Nonfat milk powder

Chicken eggs seem to be the most common additive that does the heavy lifting for binding -- used in cakes and even hamburgers not for flavor but just as an effective binder. I’m not vegan but I try to gravitate in that direction. I’ve switched to VegEgg -- a pricey powder that replaces animal eggs. I’m not sure VegEgg is as effective as animal eggs. I doubled the VegEgg dosage and it seems good enough but it would be nice to eliminate VegEgg as well just because it’s obscure and pricey compared to eggs. It’s likely a proprietary cocktail of other ingredients in bio shops. Aquafaba is perhaps what I should be considering.

Belgians separate the egg yolks from the whites and beat the whites into a foam for waffles. Is that just to get air into the batter? I don’t want fluffy airy waffles, so I guess I should skip the whipping if I use eggs.

I have no problem with gluten but gluten intolerant people need to use non-wheat flour (like coconut flour or almond flour), so they need to add something else to get the binding effect of gluten. Does anyone add the gluten-free binders to wheat flour just to amplify the binding?

Cheese has a special protein that gives it the sticky melting characteristic. There is an effort underway in the UK to synthesize that so a more convincing vegan cheese can be made (IIRC). But I don’t think we are there yet.

Beer is sometimes used in batter. I’m not sure if that’s for the bubbles, the flavor, or if the gluten in the beer helps as a binder. I have been using almond milk but I am tempted to try a flat beer instead (flat to get dense not airy waffles).

Waffle recipes often include confectioner’s sugar, apparently just as a sweetener. But if I need better binding, should I use honey, syrup, or molassas instead?

Baking soda increases browning, so I wonder if the crispy exteriour helps keep things together.

I mentioned PVA for completeness. Wood glue is strangely used on the heels of some cheeses (WTF?). But I am not seriously considering putting wood glue in my waffles. It might even be toxic in its liquid state.

Was going to title this edible glues but it turns out they exist with a different meaning- as a sugar paste to stick ornaments onto decorated cakes.

I think this is on topic for Science of Cooking - he makes specific adjustments to the standard cookie recipe to accommodate the added moisture from the sourdough discard. These are also the best cookies I've ever eaten, one of the few recipes I follow exactly, and we make them all the time, a double batch.

One adjustment, actually - I use slightly less chocolate chips, but no adjustments to the dough, it's perfect. Browning the butter always results in the same reduction in weight that is calculated in the recipe, even. Every time, I am amazed.

I have actually asked this in a few countries, in China the most common answer I got was Peking duck or thousand year egg, every interesting processes.

I love to challenge myself in the kitchen, in fact its the only place I like to challenge myself.

Anyone who has worked in a kitchen commercially, what is your hardest dish, or one you just remember having the toughest time with? What specifically didn't go right?

In my area, cooking wine does not exist. I can only easily find Sherry (for drinking) at 15% alcohol. I was told it should have 20% to be shelf-stable for ~6—24 months.

There is white port at 19½% alc. Not sure if that differs much from sherry in taste, but I suppose 19½% is close enough for shelf-stability.

Should I add table salt to the sherry to make it shelf stable? Or add brandy? Or switch to white port? Or even just brandy?

My main use: less than ~½—¾ shot mixed with corn starch as the thickening basis for stir-fries. I don’t really use sherry for anything else. I don’t even drink it because I so commonly use it in stir-fries that as a straight drink it’s like drinking Kung Pao Chicken because I can’t mentally dissociate it.

I also wonder if I should be looking for dry sherry, or simple sherry. I want the stir-fries to have the sweetness of strong sherry, so I guess dry variants would be contrary to that.

I've heard searing ingredients before pressure cooking them will help enhance flavour but I'm wondering if I should because searing will result in water loss in ingredients and I'm wondering if that will effect the tenderness of the ingredients after pressure cooking

Will the ingredients regain water whike being pressure cooked or will they be stuck with reduced water and reduce the tenderness?

I am aware fat also plays a part in tenderness

Tea drinkers:

Most people use water kettles, either stovetop or electric. Some of us use realtime hot water dispensors, which are sometimes a function of coffee machines but in some rare cases they are dedicated stand-alone units.

Pros and cons to each:

stovetop water kettle on ⌁electric stove:
— slow to boil and brew
— wasteful/lossy, esp. if not induction (fuel→heat energy→steam→turbine→AC power→grid transmission→conversion back to heat energy)
— no temp control (green tea drinkers must wait for water to drop to 80°C)
+ BifL: never breaks down and generally outlives you

stovetop water kettle on 🔥gas stove:
— slow to boil and brew
+ energy efficient (fuel→transmission→heat energy); more heat loss on the stove than with electric, but still much less loss than all the electric stages
— …but all city gas pipelines are inherently leaky and unburnt gas is 25× worse for climate than CO₂ (OTOH, this leakage happens wheter you consume gas or not)
— no temp control (green tea drinkers must wait for water to drop to 80°C)
+ BifL: never breaks down and generally outlives you

⌁electric water kettle:
+ fast to boil (1m 20s to boil 25cl in my kitchen)
— …but slow to brew (brewing cannot start until all water is boiled)
— wasteful/lossy (same chain of energy losses as stovetop electric but less waste between the wall and the water)
± /some/ kettles have temp ”control”, but you have to watch it. Some exceptional units can be set to shutoff at 80°C.
+ BifL: never breaks down?

hot water dispensor (⌁electric):
— slow to boil (1m 50s according to YT video X2VdGK2t5vo)
+ …but overall faster to brew because the infusion begins instantly, and this is what matters. So what if it takes 30s longer for hot water if brewing is 1m 20s ahead of the kettle method?
— wasteful/lossy (same chain of energy losses as stovetop electric but has the least energy waste between the wall and the water as the water passes through a small heated pipe; OTOH some energy is used on the pump)
+ all appliances have true temp control, so green tea can be instantly infused with 80°C water automatically and without excessive heat
— non-BifL; it breaks! The usual electro appliance shitshow: complex design; no service manuals; no wiring diagrams; undocumented commands; booby-trapped; spring-loaded… self-destructs when disassembled; spare parts cost more than a new unit [if you can find them] because they bundle several parts together instead of selling individual components… the market seems to have abandoned the dedicated (water only) hot water dispensors

My question: after boiling water in an electric water kettle, I poured it into a glass with a meat thermometer, which went up to ~88°C. Where did the other 12 degrees go? Is it normal for water to fall so rapidly in temp, or is my thermometer dodgy?

I know aluminum pans are super common in professional kitchens, but for at home cooking since they’re apparently not good for cooking eggs or anything acidic like tomato’s, what are the best things to cook with them?

I’m guessing it’s good at searing meats and making sauces, but so is my cast iron.

Can you make corn tortillas on them or would they stick?

cross-posted from: https://gregtech.eu/post/6538495

this is the final product, really the best pasta I ever had.

Since sauerkraut is fermented it contains probiotics to add to your beneficial gut bacteria (#microflora). I grew up eating the stuff, but never got that benefit because it was always cooked at high temps in an oven. That classic pork roast in sauerkraut is a typical New Year’s dish.

Cooked sauerkraut is prebiotic (with an E), which feeds the microflora.

So what I am tempted to conclude is that the pork roast should cook in some sauerkraut (for flavor and for the prebiotics. But before serving some cold or room temp uncooked sauerkraut should be mixed in to increase gut bacteria.

Do folks agree or disagree with this?

Unlike kimchi, sauerkraut is much better cooked because uncooked is strong and acidic. So I’m trying to get the best of both worlds. There must be a temp at which sauerkraut can brought to without compromising the microflora. What temp is it, though?