Cooking For Geeks Part 9

- Try adding lemon juice, olive oil, or b.u.t.ter and sauteed, crushed garlic to the asparagus.

Make Your Own PectinPectin is a polysaccharide found in the cell walls of land plants that provides structure to the plant tissue. It breaks down over time, which is why riper fruits become softer. is a polysaccharide found in the cell walls of land plants that provides structure to the plant tissue. It breaks down over time, which is why riper fruits become softer.Cooking also breaks down pectin, and as a kitchen chemistry experiment, you can capture the pectin from cooked fruits. It's an easy way to see that some food additives aren't so industrial after all, at least not in their sources.The pectin we use in cooking-primarily in jams and jellies, as a thickener-is divided into two broad types: low- and high-methoxyl. High-methoxyl pectin requires a high concentration of sugar in order to gel; low-methoxyl pectin will gel in the presence of calcium. (The difference between the two types has to do with the number of linkages in the molecular structure.)If you're making jams or jellies, using a low-methoxyl pectin (such as Pomona's Pectin) removes the variable of sugar concentration. See Tim O'Reilly's tips for making jam in Chapter5 Chapter5 in in Tim O'Reilly's Scones and Jam Tim O'Reilly's Scones and Jam.Making your own pectin is similar to making your own gelatin: start with a couple of pounds of tissue, boil away, and then filter it out. Instead of animal bones, pectin comes from the "bones" of cell walls in plant tissue.Start with a few pounds of crisp apples. (The firmer the better! They don't need to be ripe.) Chop them into quarters and place the pieces in a stockpot. Cover with water and simmer on low for several hours, stirring occasionally. (This is exactly the way stock is made.) After several hours, you should have a slushy sauce. Filter this through a strainer. (See the section on filtration in Chapter7 Chapter7 for tips.) The slimy liquid that you filter out is the pectin. for tips.) The slimy liquid that you filter out is the pectin.Using homemade pectin will be a bit trickier than Pomona's Pectin, for two reasons. First, it's high-methoxyl pectin, so you'll need to have a proper balance of sugar in whatever you're attempting to gel. And secondly, the concentration of pectin to water will be unknown, so you will have to experiment some. Add a small quant.i.ty and test if it gels; if not, add more. If the liquid pectin seems too thin, you can boil it down further to create a more concentrated pectin.For more ideas and tips on testing homemade pectin, see http://www.wildflowers-and-weeds.com/The_Forager/pectin.htm.[image]Sauteed GreensIn a saute or nonstick pan preheated over medium heat, add: 1. 1 bunch Swiss chard, collard greens, or other hardy leafy green vegetable; stems and thick veins removed, and sliced into 1 strips 2. 2 tablespoons (26g) olive oil (enough to coat the pan) Using tongs, quickly toss the greens to coat them with oil. Your pan should be reasonably hot so that the greens quickly heat, but not so hot that the oil burns. Continue tossing while cooking so that the greens wilt evenly. Add salt and pepper to taste.Notes - Depending upon your tastes, extend this by adding one of these combinations: - - 5 cloves garlic, minced; juice from half a small lemon (about a teaspoon) - - 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar, and possibly a pinch of sugar - - 1 teaspoon sherry vinegar, teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, 1 can cannellini beans, 3 cloves garlic - - red onion, sliced thin and sauteed to cook; apple sliced into bite-sized pieces and cooked; handful of chopped walnuts, toasted - The same technique can be applied to spinach (it's great with sesame seeds). Or try cooking some strips of bacon, removing the bacon, and then sauteing the spinach in the rendered bacon fat, adding a teaspoon or so of balsamic vinegar. Dice the bacon and combine the two, and optionally add some blue (or other) cheese. Quant.i.ty of ingredients is really down to personal preference, so experiment!

- You can strip the stem and thicker veins from hardy greens such as Swiss chard by grabbing the stalk with one hand and the green leaf portion with the other hand, and pulling the stalk out.

[image][image]Poached Pears in Red WinePoached pears are easy, tasty, and quick. And, at least compared to most desserts, they're relatively healthy, or at least until the vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce are added. Much of our enjoyment of fruit comes from not just their flavor but also their texture. Consider an apple that's lacking in crispiness or a banana that's been bruised and become mushy: without their customary texture, their appeal is lost. But this isn't always the case. Poaching fruits such as pears causes similar changes in the structure of the fruit's flesh, breaking down cell walls and affecting the bonds between neighboring cells to create a softer texture that's infused with the flavor of the poaching liquid.[image]In a shallow saucepan or frying pan, place: - 2 medium (350g) pears, sliced lengthwise (longitudinally) into eighths or twelfths, and core removed - 1 cup (240ml) red wine - teaspoon ground pepper teaspoon ground pepper Set the pan over low to medium heat, bringing the wine to a simmer and then poaching the pears for 5 to 10 minutes, until soft. Flip them halfway through, so that both sides of the slices spend some time facedown in the liquid. Remove the pears and discard the liquid. (You can also reduce the liquid down into a syrup.)Notes - Fun chemistry fact: the boiling point of wine is lower than that of water. The exact temperature depends upon the sugar and alcohol levels, and as the wine simmers, the ratios s.h.i.+ft. It'll start somewhere around 194F / 90C. It's doubtful that this will actually help you avoid overcooking the pears, though.

- Pears are one of those fruits that are underripe until you look away and then go rotten before you can look back. To encourage them to ripen, you can keep underripe pears in a paper bag so the plant tissue will be exposed to the ethylene gas they give off. I find I can get away with poaching pears that are a little more underripe than I might want to eat fresh, but your pears should be at least a little soft.

- Try serving this with caramel sauce (see Caramel Sauce Caramel Sauce) and vanilla ice cream. Or try poaching other fruits, like fresh figs, and using other liquids. Figs poached in port or a honey/water syrup with a small amount of lemon juice and lemon zest added after poaching are sweet and tasty.

- You don't need to actually measure out the ingredients. As long as the pears have enough liquid to poach in, they'll turn out great. Add freshly ground pepper to suit your tastes.

NoteDon't use preground pepper. Preground pepper quickly loses its complex aromatic flavors-well before it makes it into your hands-leaving it with just a hot spicy kick but none of the subtlety of peppercorns.Grilled VegetablesGrilling is as American as apple pie, which is to say that while it's part of our culture, its roots can be traced back to somewhere on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Grilling became an American tradition after World War II, when one of the owners of Weber Brothers Metal Works came up with the Weber Grill and ignited a backyard pastime. What self-respecting geek wouldn't have a good time playing with fire?Whether a propane or charcoal grill is "better" depends on your usage. Propane grills are easier to fire up if you just want to cook a quick burger or roast a few veggies. Charcoal grills, on the other hand, take a bit more work to get going but create a hotter cooking environment that can lead to better flavor development (more Maillard reactions). Regardless of what you go for, grilling is a great way to cook relatively thin items such as skirt steaks, burgers, or sliced vegetables. You can also slow-cook larger items on a grill-I've enjoyed a few summertime afternoons drinking with friends while waiting for an entire hog to cook.The second major difference between propane and charcoal grills is temperature. While propane itself burns at somewhere around 3100F / 1700C, by the time the heat dissipates around the grill, it cools down to about 650F / 340C. Using a generous but reasonable amount of wood or charcoal generates a heat source with a much higher amount of thermal radiation. When I've metered wood and charcoal grills, I've gotten temperatures around 850F / 450C.Grilled Summer Vegetables[image]Grilled veggies are a fantastic treat, and easy, too. While someone might yet find a way to make cuc.u.mber/lettuce kabobs work, it's easier to stick with the cla.s.sics: choose st.u.r.dy vegetables low in water content (e.g., asparagus, squash, bell peppers, onions).Slice your vegetables into large pieces and toss them into a bowl with a small quant.i.ty of olive oil and a few pinches of salt. You can get fancy with marinades and sauces, but if you're working with great produce, it seems like a shame to mask the flavor.I generally grill my burgers or whatever meat I'm cooking first, and grill the vegetables while the meat rests. Grill the veggies for a few minutes, flipping halfway through.Grilled Sweet Potato "Fries"[image]Slice a sweet potato into wedges. (Can't find sweet potatoes? Look for yams. Americans use the word yam yam when they really mean when they really mean Ipomoea batatas Ipomoea batatas.)Coat the outside with olive oil and sprinkle with coa.r.s.e sea salt. Place on the grill for 10 minutes, flip, and grill until tender, about another 10 minutes. Serve while hot.Instead of the olive oil/salt coating, you can make a sweet coating by brus.h.i.+ng the wedges with a mixture of roughly equal parts of b.u.t.ter and honey melted together. Or try sprinkling red pepper flakes on the cooked wedges for a spicy version.Rosemary Mashed PotatoesThis simple mashed potato recipe uses the microwave for cooking the potatoes. If you're in the anti-microwave category, consider this: cooking a potato-or any other starchy root vegetable-requires gelatinizing the starches in the vegetable. For this to occur, two things need to happen: the starch granules need to get hot enough to literally melt, and they need to be exposed to water so that the granules absorb and swell up, which causes the texture of the tissue to change. Luckily, the temperature at which most starches undergo the gelatinization process is below the boiling point of water, and there's enough water naturally present in potatoes for this to happen without any intervention needed. Try popping a sweet potato in your microwave for a few minutes-fast, easy, and healthy!Microwave until cooked, about six minutes: - 3 to 4 medium (600g) red potatoes After cooking, cut the potatoes into small pieces that can be mashed with the back of a fork. Add and mash together: - cup (120g) sour cream - cup (85g) milk - 4 teaspoons (20g) b.u.t.ter - 2 teaspoons (2g) finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves - teaspoon (1g) salt (2 large pinches) teaspoon (1g) salt (2 large pinches) - teaspoon (1g) ground pepper teaspoon (1g) ground pepper

Notes.

- For a tangy version, trying subst.i.tuting plain yogurt for a portion of the sour cream.

- Different types of potatoes have different amounts of starch. Varieties with high starch content (e.g., russets, the brown ones with rough skin) turn out lighter and fluffier when baked and are generally better for baked or mashed potatoes. Lower-starch varieties (red or yellow potatoes, typically smaller and smooth-skinned) hold their shape better and are better suited for applications in which you want the potato to stay intact, such as potato salad. Of course, there's still a lot of room for personal preference. When it comes to mashed potatoes, I prefer a coa.r.s.e texture to the creamy, perfectly smooth potatoes so often seen in movie scenes a.s.sociated with Thanksgiving, so I tend to use red potatoes.

Aki Kamozawa and Alex Talbot's Sweet Corn and Miso SoupAki Kamozawa and Alex Talbot write about their experiences with food on their blog ( (http://www.ideasinfood.com). A husband-and-wife team, they met while working at one of Boston's premier restaurants, Clio, in 1997, and in recent years have run their own consulting business, educating chefs in new techniques and creative ideas.[image]How has having the blog changed your cooking?It made us more meticulous about paying attention to what we were doing and recording recipes. People would constantly ask us questions, so we needed to have a good answer. Just throwing things in a pan and trying to explain that to someone else really didn't work. Also, we get questions about a lot of different techniques, I think because we work with a lot of chefs. They're more interested in how things work than they are with specific recipes.Where does the inspiration for some of the more unusual approaches you blog about come from, such as using liquid nitrogen to freeze and shatter beets?When you have stuff in your kitchen and you're working with it, you just try. You try to figure out what you can do with it and what's possible. With liquid nitrogen, back in science cla.s.s they did the demonstration where they put the ball in the liquid nitrogen and then smashed it. So when you have it in your own kitchen, you try to break everything with it.What advice would you give somebody who wants to learn to cook?Really just to get in there and start cooking and not be afraid to fail. You probably learn more from failure than you do from success because when something goes right you don't really think about how you did it or why it worked. But when something goes wrong and you have to fix it, then you learn a lot more about what's happening.Why do you think people have a fear of failure in the kitchen?Because they have a fear of failure in life. n.o.body wants to fail. Most people who are cooking at home and trying a new recipe are usually cooking for someone else. And if you screw up in the kitchen, it's expensive-to ruin a whole thing of food and then you don't have anything to eat? You have to have a sense of humor in the kitchen. You have to be able to laugh at yourself. You can always order a pizza.[image]Sweet Corn and Miso SoupCleaned squid - 3 pounds (1360g) whole squid Separate the heads and bodies of the squid. Rinse the bodies under cold water to clean the interior and exterior. Remove the cartilage piece from inside each squid body. When the bodies are clean, pat dry and reserve in the refrigerator. Rinse the squid heads under cold water to remove any gritty material. Lay each head on a cutting board with the tentacles extending to the left. Cut the eyes and interior beak off the righthand side of the head. Discard the beak and eyes. Reserve the tentacles in the refrigerator.Calamari crackling - [image]cup (145g) cleaned squid tentacles - [image]cup (80g) cleaned squid bodies - 1 teaspoon (5g) squid ink - 2 cups (260g) tapioca flour - 6 cups (1.5 liters) canola oil for frying - Salt Puree the squid tentacles, bodies, and ink in a food processor until it forms a smooth paste. Add the tapioca flour and pulse the mixture to evenly combine the tapioca into the squid paste. Turn the machine on and puree the mixture to form a sticky dough. Divide the dough between two large vacuum bags and seal on high pressure.Use a rolling pin to spread the dough to the inside edges of the bag so that a uniform thickness is achieved. The dough should be about[image] / 2 mm thick. Place both bags in a steamer large enough to hold them and gently steam the dough for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, remove the bags and cut them open. Carefully pull the dough out of the bags and lay it on dehydrator trays. / 2 mm thick. Place both bags in a steamer large enough to hold them and gently steam the dough for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, remove the bags and cut them open. Carefully pull the dough out of the bags and lay it on dehydrator trays.Dehydrate the sheets for several hours until the dough is completely dry and brittle. The dough will take on a s.h.i.+ny matte appearance. When the dough is dry, remove it from the dehydrator and break the sheet into pieces roughly 1 / 4 cm wide and 3 / 8 cm long. This recipe makes more calamari crackers than are needed for the dish. You can reserve the dried cracker base in its dry form in a zip-top bag for several weeks.In a medium-sized pot, heat 6 cups (1.5 liters) of canola oil to 350F / 177C. Slide the crackers two at a time into the oil. The crackers will sink to the bottom of the oil and then begin to puff and expand. Fry the crackling until it is completely puffed and there are no dark spots of unexpanded cracker dough. Remove the puffed cracklings from the oil and drain on a paper-towel-lined tray. Sprinkle with salt while still hot from the fryer.Calamari couscous - [image]cups (725g) cleaned squid bodies - 5 cloves (20g) fresh garlic Use a microplane grater to zest the garlic. Place the zested garlic and the cleaned squid bodies in a food processor. Puree the mixture into a coa.r.s.e paste. When the mixture takes on a creamy texture and is almost h.o.m.ogenous, stop processing.Heat a large, nonstick pan on medium heat. When the pan is heated, add the squid mixture. Stir the squid paste in the pan and continue to cook. The mixture will begin to stick to the pan. Use a heatproof rubber spatula to sc.r.a.pe the bottom of the pan and keep the mixture from sticking.Continue to cook and stir the mixture. The squid will begin to lose its creamy texture and begin to firm up and form small squid pieces, which will resemble cooked sausage. As the squid continues to cook, it will exude liquid. Continue to cook the squid, allowing the moisture to evaporate until the mixture is dry.Remove from heat. Place the squid in a shallow pan sitting on an ice bath to cool it quickly. When the cooked squid is cold, place it a food processor. Pulse the food processor to chop the squid nuggets into fine granules resembling couscous. Reserve the calamari couscous in the refrigerator.Broiled corn planks - 8 ears of corn, with husks Lay the corn out on a sheet tray and broil on high heat for five minutes on each side. The husks will blacken. Keep watch over the corn to make sure that they do not catch on fire. Let the corn cool on top of the stove for 10 minutes.Peel the husks and the silk from the corn. Cut each piece of corn in half. Stand each piece up vertically on the cut end and, using a sharp knife, slice the kernels away from the cobs. They will come away in large pieces and loose kernels. Set aside the 16 largest chunks.Cut the large pieces of corn into planks / 2 cm wide and 2 / 5 cm long. The width may be adjusted so that the planks are three kernels wide. Place on a small plate or tray, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator. Reserve the trim with the rest of the corn kernels in a covered bowl in the refrigerator. Reserve the cobs for corn stock.Corn stock - 8 corncobs - cup (150g) white miso paste - ~2 cups (250g) sliced onion - 6 cups (1.5 liters) water Cut the top tip and bottom end off each corncob and discard. Cut each corncob in half. Combine the corncobs, miso, onion, and water in a 6-quart pressure cooker. Cook at high pressure for 25 minutes. Allow the pressure to dissipate naturally.Alternatively, combine all ingredients in a heavy-bottomed pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook for one hour, skimming as needed. Remove from the heat, cover, and let steep for 30 minutes. Strain the finished stock through a fine mesh conical strainer. Chill and reserve until needed.[image]Prepare the corn soup: - 5 cups (1150g) corn stock - ~7 cups (975g) broiled corn - [image](200g) white miso paste Combine the cold corn stock and miso in a bowl and whisk gently to blend. Add the broiled corn. Transfer batches of this mixture to the blender. Puree each batch until it is completely smooth. Strain the soup through a fine mesh conical strainer. Refrigerate the soup in a covered container until needed.Sliced chives - 1 cup (50g) chives Slice the chives into very thin (1 mm) rounds. Reserve.a.s.semblyPlace the soup in a large pot and gently bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Place the corn planks in a saute pan over low heat and spoon several spoonfuls of warm soup over the planks. Gently cook until the planks are heated through, flipping once to make sure the top and bottom are both hot. In a small pot, heat the calamari couscous. Stir occasionally to prevent the couscous from sticking. When the couscous is hot, fold in the sliced chives.In each bowl, stack two of the corn planks at the nine o'clock position extending into the center of the bowl. Spoon two spoonfuls of the calamari couscous on the inside edge of the bowl at the five o'clock position. Pour the soup into the bowls, leaving the second half of the top corn plank exposed. Place a calamari crackling on the edge of the bowl and the corn planks so that the corn planks are partially exposed and the crackling rests between the edge of the bowl and the corn planks. Serve immediately.

310F / 154C: Maillard Reactions Become Noticeable The Maillard reaction turns foods brown and generates mostly pleasant volatile aromatic compounds. You can thank Maillard reactions for the nice golden-brown color and rich aromas of a Thanksgiving turkey, Fourth of July hamburger, and Sunday brunch bacon. If you're still not able to conjure up the tastes brought about by Maillard reactions, take two slices of white bread and toast them-one until just before it begins to turn brown, the second until it has a golden-brown color-and taste the difference.

The nutty, toasted, complex flavors generated by the Maillard reaction are created by the hundreds of compounds formed when amino acids and certain types of sugars combine and then break down. Named after the French chemist Louis Camille Maillard, who first described it in the 1910s, the Maillard reaction is specifically a reaction between amino acids (from proteins) and reducing sugars, which are sugars that form aldehydes or ketone-based organic compounds in an alkaline solution (which allows them to react with the amines). Glucose, the primary sugar in muscle tissue, is a reducing sugar; sucrose (common table sugar) is not.

Maillard reactions aren't solely dependent on temperature. Besides temperature, there are a number of other variables that affect the reaction rate. More alkaline foods undergo Maillard reactions more easily. Egg whites, for example, can undergo Maillard reactions at the lower temperatures and higher pressure found in a pressure cooker. The amount of water and the types and availability of reactants in the food also determine the rate at which Maillard reactions will occur. It's even possible for Maillard reactions to happen at room temperature, given sufficient time and reagents: self-tanning products work via the same chemical reaction!

All things considered, though, in culinary applications-cooking at moderately hot temperatures for short periods of time-the 310F / 154C temperature given here serves as a good marker of when Maillard reactions begin to occur at a noticeable rate, whether you're looking through your oven door or sauteing on the stovetop.

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b.u.t.terflied Chicken, Broiled and RoastedYou might be the type who prefers to let the butcher do the butchering, but it's worth learning how to b.u.t.terfly a chicken (this is also known as spatchc.o.c.king), spatchc.o.c.king), even if you're squeamish about raw meat. A b.u.t.terflied chicken is easy to cook, and the crispy brown skin of a well-cooked chicken has a very satisfying flavor from the Maillard reactions. It's economical, too, yielding four to six meals for not much money and a few minutes of surgery. even if you're squeamish about raw meat. A b.u.t.terflied chicken is easy to cook, and the crispy brown skin of a well-cooked chicken has a very satisfying flavor from the Maillard reactions. It's economical, too, yielding four to six meals for not much money and a few minutes of surgery.A chicken that's been cleaned and gutted is topologically a cylinder. It's basically a big, round piece of skin and fat (outer layer), meat (middle layer), and bone (inner layer). Cooking a whole bird intact is harder than a b.u.t.terflied bird, because invariably that cylinder is going to get heated from different directions at different rates. That is, unless you have a rotisserie grill, which heats the outside uniformly, cooks it uniformly, and makes it uniformly yummy.By snipping the spine out of the chicken, you transform that cylinder into a plane of chicken-skin on top, meat in the middle, bone on the bottom. And the topology of such a surface is well suited to heat coming from a single direction (i.e., broiling), meaning it's much much easier to cook to develop a nice, brown, crispy skin. easier to cook to develop a nice, brown, crispy skin.

1. Prepare your working s.p.a.ce. I do this in a roasting pan, because it's going to get dirty anyway. Unwrap the chicken, removing the organ meats (discard or save for something else), and fetch a pair of heavy-duty kitchen scissors. The chicken should be dry; if it's not, pat dry with paper towels.[image]

2. Flip the bird around so that the neck flap is facing you. With the scissors, cut down to the right side of the spine (or left side, if you're left-handed). You shouldn't have to apply that much force. Make sure you're not cutting the spine itself, just to the side of it.[image]

3. Once you've made the first cut, flip the bird around again-it's easier to cut on the outer side of the spine-and cut down the second side.[image]

4. Once the spine is removed (trash it, or save it in the freezer for making stock), flip the bird over, skin side up, and using both hands-left hand on left breast, right hand on right breast-press down to break the sternum so that the chicken lies flat. Formally speaking, you should remove the keel bone as well, but it's not necessary. (The keel bone is what connects the two halves of the b.u.t.terflied chicken together.)[image]

Now that you have a b.u.t.terflied chicken, cooking it is straightforward. Because the skin is on one side and the bone on the other, you can use two different heat sources to cook the two sides to their correct level of doneness. That is, you can effectively cook the skin side until it's brown from Maillard reactions, and then flip the bird over and finish cooking until a probe thermometer or manual inspection indicates that it is done.Rub the outside of the b.u.t.terflied chicken with olive oil and sprinkle it with salt. (The oil will prevent the skin from drying out while cooking.) Place the bird on top of a wire roasting tray in a roasting pan, skin side up. (The wire tray raises the bird up off the pan so that it doesn't stew in the drippings that come out.) Tuck the wings up, over and under the b.r.e.a.s.t.s so that they're not exposed to the broiler.Broil at medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until the skin develops a nice level of brownness. Keep a good 6 / 15 cm between the bird and the heating element of your oven. If your broiler is particularly strong and parts of it begin to burn, you can create a "mini-heat s.h.i.+eld" with aluminum foil.Once the skin side has browned, flip the bird over (I use folded-over paper towels instead of tongs to avoid tearing the skin). Switch the oven to bake mode, at around 350F / 177C. Ideally, use a probe thermometer set to beep at 160F / 71C (carryover will take it up to 165F / 74C). If you don't have a probe thermometer, check for doneness after around 25 minutes by cutting off one leg and checking that the juices run clear and the flesh looks cooked. If it's not done, set the two halves back together and return it to the oven, checking periodically.Notes - Some people like to brine their chickens. At the very least, it adds salt into the meat, changing the flavor. Try brining the chicken in a salt solution for half an hour or so ( cup / 150g salt, 2 liters ice water-but really, you can just dump salt in water until it's saturated). If you're going to brine it for longer than an hour or so-longer times yield saltier chicken-use cold water (add ice!) and store it in the fridge to keep the chicken below 40F / 4C while it brines.

- Alton Brown's TV show Good Eats Good Eats has an episode on b.u.t.terflying a chicken. He creates a garlic/ pepper/lemon zest paste to stuff under the skin, and roasts the chicken above a bed of cellar veggies (carrots, beets, potatoes). It's a great recipe, as the paste brings a lot of flavor to the bird and the cellar roots pick up the chicken drippings. For another variation, try putting chopped garlic and aromatic herbs such as rosemary under the skin. has an episode on b.u.t.terflying a chicken. He creates a garlic/ pepper/lemon zest paste to stuff under the skin, and roasts the chicken above a bed of cellar veggies (carrots, beets, potatoes). It's a great recipe, as the paste brings a lot of flavor to the bird and the cellar roots pick up the chicken drippings. For another variation, try putting chopped garlic and aromatic herbs such as rosemary under the skin.

- For further inspiration, look at Julia Child et al.'s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2 Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2 (Knopf), which has an excellent description of (Knopf), which has an excellent description of Volaille Demi-Desossee Volaille Demi-Desossee-half-boned chicken-starting on page 269. She removes the breastbone (leaving the spine intact), stuffs the bird (foie gras, (foie gras, truffles, chicken livers, and rice), sews it back up, and roasts it. As discussed in truffles, chicken livers, and rice), sews it back up, and roasts it. As discussed in Chapter3 Chapter3, looking at historical recipes-both recent and older-is a great way to understand food better.[image]

Seared ScallopsScallops are one of those surprisingly easy but often-overlooked items. Sure, fresh scallops can be expensive, but you only need a few for a quick appetizer or part of a meal.Prepare the scallops for cooking by patting them dry with a paper towel and placing them on a plate or cutting board. If your scallops still have their bases attached, peel them off using your fingers and save them for some other purpose.NoteNot sure what to do with those little side muscles attached to the main body of the scallop (scallop bases)? Pan fry them after you cook the scallop bodies and nibble on them when no one is looking.Place a frying pan over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, melt about 15g / 1 tablespoon of b.u.t.ter-enough to create a thick coating-in the pan. Using a pair of tongs, place the scallops, flat side down, into the b.u.t.ter. They should sizzle when they hit the pan; if they don't, turn the heat up.Let them sear until the bottoms begin to turn golden brown, about two minutes. Don't poke or prod the scallops while they're cooking; otherwise, you'll interfere with the heat transfer between the b.u.t.ter and scallop flesh. Once the first side is done cooking (you can use the tongs to pick one up and inspect its cooked side), flip the scallops to cook on the second flat side, again waiting until golden brown, about two minutes. When you flip them, place the scallops on areas of the pan that didn't have scallops on them before. These areas will be hotter and have more b.u.t.ter; you can take advantage of this to cook the scallops more readily.Once cooked, transfer the scallops to a clean plate for serving.Notes - Try serving these scallops on top of a small simple salad-say, some arugula/rocket tossed with a light balsamic vinegar dressing and some diced shallots and radishes.

- If you're not sure if the scallops are done, transfer one to a cutting board and cut it in half. You can hide the fact that you checked for doneness by slicing all of the pieces in half and serving them this way. This lets you check that they're all done as well.

- You can dredge the uncooked scallops in bread-crumbs or another light, starchy coating. If you have wasabi peas, use either a mortar and pestle or blender to grind and transfer them to a plate for dredging the scallops.[image]Try crus.h.i.+ng wasabi-coated peas and dredging the scallops in them before searing.

Sauteed CarrotsSauteing vegetables will bring a pleasant nutty, toasted flavor to dishes such as braised short ribs.In a skillet, cook at medium heat until browned, about 5 minutes:[image]

- Carrots, sliced into thin rounds or wedges no thicker than around / 0.5 cm - Olive oil or b.u.t.ter to coat pan generously

Notes.

- Don't overcrowd the pan. You need the outside of the carrots to get hot enough for the sugars to caramelize. If you put too many in the pan, they'll end up steaming.

- The olive oil or b.u.t.ter helps transfer heat. The oil creates a thin layer between the carrot and the pan surface, convecting heat between the two within that very thin layer.

- You'll probably want to add a pinch of salt as well. Try grinding on a hefty dose of black pepper. Glazed carrots are made by cooking them with sugar (try adding a tablespoon of brown sugar and a tablespoon of water), or by finis.h.i.+ng the carrots with maple syrup. Fresh sage or other aromatic herbs can be julienned and tossed in at the end as well.

Skillet-Fried PotatoesFrying potatoes in a heavy cast iron pan develops rich flavors from the starches breaking down and caramelizing. Try serving these potatoes with the b.u.t.terflied chicken or as part of breakfast accompanied by eggs and bacon.In a medium-sized pot, bring salted water to a boil and cook for 5 minutes: - 34 medium (700g) potatoes, diced into "forkable" bite-sized pieces Drain the potatoes and transfer to a heavy cast iron or enamel pan on a burner set to medium heat. Add: - 24 tablespoons (2550g) olive oil or other fat (leftover chicken, duck, or bacon fat tastes great) - 1 teaspoon (6g) kosher salt Stir every few minutes, flipping the potatoes so that the face-down sides have enough time to brown but not burn. Once most of the potatoes are browned on most sides, about 20 minutes, turn the heat down to low, add more oil or fat if necessary, and add: - 2 teaspoons (4g) paprika - 2 teaspoons (2g) dried oregano - 1 teaspoon (2g) turmeric powder

Notes.

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- If you're cooking this as part of a breakfast or brunch, try adding diced red bell peppers, yellow onions, and small chunks of bacon.

356F / 180C: Sugar Begins to Caramelize Visibly Unlike the Maillard reaction, which requires the presence of both amino acids and sugars and has a number of interdependent variables influencing the particular temperature of reaction, caramelization caramelization (the decomposition via dehydration of sugar molecules such as sucrose) is relatively simple, at least by comparison. Pure sucrose melts at 367F / 186C; decomposition begins at lower temperatures (somewhere in the range of 320340F / 160170C) and continues up until around 390F / 199C. (Melting is not the same thing as decomposition-sucrose has a distinct melting point, which can be used as a clever way of calibrating your oven. For more, see (the decomposition via dehydration of sugar molecules such as sucrose) is relatively simple, at least by comparison. Pure sucrose melts at 367F / 186C; decomposition begins at lower temperatures (somewhere in the range of 320340F / 160170C) and continues up until around 390F / 199C. (Melting is not the same thing as decomposition-sucrose has a distinct melting point, which can be used as a clever way of calibrating your oven. For more, see The Two Things You Should Do to Your Oven RIGHT NOW The Two Things You Should Do to Your Oven RIGHT NOW of of Chapter2 Chapter2.) Like the Maillard reaction, caramelization results in hundreds of compounds being generated as a sugar decomposes, and these new compounds result in both browning and the generation of enjoyable aromas in foods such as baked goods, coffee, and roasted nuts. For some foods, these aromas, as wonderful as they might be, can overpower or interfere with the flavors brought by the ingredients, such as in a light gingersnap cookie or a brownie. For this reason, some baked goods are cooked at 350F / 177C or even 325F / 163C so that they don't see much caramelization, while other foods are cooked at 375F / 191C or higher to facilitate it.

When cooking, ask yourself if what you are cooking is something that you want to have caramelize, and if so, set your oven to at least 375F / 191C. If you're finding that your food isn't coming out browned, it's possible that your oven is running too cold. If items that shouldn't be turning brown are coming out overdone, your oven is probably too hot.

Fructose, a simpler form of sugar found in fruit and honey, caramelizes at a lower temperature than sucrose, starting around 230F / 110C. If you have other constraints on baking temperature (say, water content in the dough prevents it from reaching a higher temperature), you can add honey to the recipe. This will result in a browner product, because the largest chemical component in honey is fructose (~40% by weight; glucose comes in second at ~30%).

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Temperatures related to sucrose caramelization and baking.

Seeing Caramelization with Sugar CookiesHere's an easy experiment to do with kids (or on your own), and regardless of the results, the data is delicious! Since sugar caramelizes in a relatively narrow temperature range, foods cooked below that temperature won't caramelize. Thus, when making sugar cookies, you can determine whether they will come out a light or dark brown.Try cooking four batches of sugar cookies at 325F, 350F, 375F, and 400F (163C, 177C, 190C, and 204C). Those cooked below the 356370F / 180188C range will remain light-colored, and those cooked at a temperature above sucrose's caramelization point will turn a darker brown. It's nice when science and reality line up!This isn't to say hotter cooking temperatures make for better better results than cooler ones. It's a matter of personal preference. If you're like some of my friends, you may think sugar cookies are "supposed" to be light brown and chewy, maybe because that's the way your mom made them when you were growing up. Or maybe you like them a bit browner on the outside, like a rich pound cake. results than cooler ones. It's a matter of personal preference. If you're like some of my friends, you may think sugar cookies are "supposed" to be light brown and chewy, maybe because that's the way your mom made them when you were growing up. Or maybe you like them a bit browner on the outside, like a rich pound cake.Note that the flour used in sugar cookies contains some amount of proteins, and those proteins will undergo Maillard reactions, so cookies baked at 325F / 163C and 350F / 177C will develop some amount of brownness independent of caramelization.[image]Cross-section (top piece) and top-down (bottom piece) views of sugar cookies baked at various temperatures. The cookies baked at 350F / 177C and lower remain lighter in color because sucrose begins to s.h.i.+ft color as it caramelizes at a temperature slightly higher than 350F / 177C.

Goods baked at 325350F / 163177C Goods baked at 375F / 191C and higher Brownies Sugar cookies Chocolate chip cookies (chewy) Peanut b.u.t.ter cookies Sugary breads: banana bread, pumpkin bread, zucchini bread Chocolate chip cookiesFlour and corn breads Cakes: carrot cake, chocolate cake m.u.f.fins

Temperatures of common baked goods, divided into those below and above the temperature at which sucrose begins to visibly brown.Caramel SauceCaramel sauce is one of those components that seems complicated and mysterious until you make it, at which point you're left wondering, "Really, that's it?" Next time you're eating a bowl of ice cream, serving poached pears, or looking for a topping for brownies or cheesecake, try making your own.[image]Traditional methods for making caramel sauce involve starting with water, sugar, and sometimes corn syrup as a way of preventing sugar crystal formation. This method is necessary if you are making a sugar syrup below the melting point of pure sucrose, but if you are making a medium-brown caramel sauce-above the melting point of sucrose-you can entirely skip the candy thermometer, water, and corn syrup and take a shortcut by just melting the sugar by itself.In a skillet or large pan over medium-high heat, heat: - 1 cup (240g) granulated sugar Keep an eye on the sugar until it begins to melt, at which point turn your burner down to low heat. Once the outer portions have melted and begin to turn brown, use a wooden spoon to stir the unmelted and melted portions together to distribute the heat more evenly and to avoid burning the hotter portions.Once all the sugar is melted, slowly add while stirring or whisking to combine: - 1 cup (240g) heavy cream

Notes.

- This thing is a calorie bomb: 1,589 calories between the cup of heavy cream and cup of sugar. It's good, though!

- Some recipes call for adding corn syrup to the sugar as you heat it. This is because the sucrose molecules, which have a crystalline structure, can form large crystals and chunk up in the process of heating. The corn syrup inhibits this. If you heat the plain sugar with a watchful eye and don't stir it until it gets hot enough, the corn syrup isn't necessary. (It would be necessary, however, if you were only heating the sugar to lower temperatures-temperatures below the melting point-for other kinds of candy making.) - Try adding a pinch of salt or a dash of vanilla extract or lemon juice to the resulting caramel sauce.

- Different temperature points in the decomposition range yield different flavor compounds. For a more complex flavor, try making two batches of caramel sauce, one in which the sugar has just barely melted and a second where the caramel sauce is allowed to brown a bit more. The two batches will have distinctly different flavors; mixing them together (once cooled) will result in a fuller, more complex flavor.

- Sucrose has a high latent heat-that is, the sugar molecule is able to move and wiggle in many different directions. Because of this, sucrose gives off much more energy when going through the phase transition from liquid to a solid, so it will burn you much, much worse than many other things in the kitchen at the same temperature range. There's a reason pastry chefs call this stuff "liquid Napalm."

Michael Laiskonis on Pastry Chefs[image]PHOTO USED BY PERMISSION OF MICHAEL LAISKONISMichael Laiskonis is the executive pastry chef at Le Bernardin, Le Bernardin, one of only four three-star Michelin restaurants in New York City. A self-proclaimed "accidental pastry chef," he traveled around the United States extensively before working in a bakery, where he had his first big "aha" moment working with bread and discovered a pa.s.sion for cooking. one of only four three-star Michelin restaurants in New York City. A self-proclaimed "accidental pastry chef," he traveled around the United States extensively before working in a bakery, where he had his first big "aha" moment working with bread and discovered a pa.s.sion for cooking.What turned out to matter more than you expected? Just in the process of actually learning to cook.I guess that when I started cooking it was just something to do and once I developed a pa.s.sion for it, I realized that-and I don't want to overromanticize it or attach some sort of Anthony Bourdain sort of thing to it, but you kind of enter a culture and it's a completely different culture. I'm sure other professions have it. I'm sure software guys have it. It's just a weird subculture and once you kind of enter that it becomes a lifestyle, not really a job.That's truly how I feel. With other professional cooks there are obviously colloquialisms and certain physical characteristics that they could have. And then there's also the reality of long hours, bad hours. You're working when everyone is playing; I've come to embrace it and now it's just ingrained in the fabric of my being that it's just-I'm a cook before anything else. It kind of informs everything I do and everything I see. I see through that lens of food. For an outsider that might sound a little creepy, but it's the truth. So when I started cooking, I had no idea that it would take over my life or present so many opportunities to experience other things. I can't imagine giving anything up.Being from a software background-from one weird subculture to another weird subculture-I hear you. I would be curious how you would describe your weird subculture.And actually I've spent time thinking about this: what is it about the actual craft of cooking or the act of cooking that does it, and a lot of it is the stress. Granted, it's a self-imposed stress, meaning we're not brain surgeons. We're making people dinner, but dinner is important to a lot of people and especially at the highest ends there is a constant quest for perfection. You're never going to attain perfect, but you can always push further. So I think it's more of the environment of restaurant worlds that kind of informs a lot of that.I think there is a lot to be said for the power of almost the meditative state that you get, even if you're cooking alone, because you're connecting with nature. You're connecting with things.You're making something with your hands. You're hopefully making something greater than the sum of its parts. It's something that you can't fully describe in words.It's just what I do. My wife works in a different restaurant. She runs the front of the house, so my work and home life-there's really no separation. We have the same schedule, we come home, and we talk about the business. We wake up and we talk about the business. So it's a lifestyle.As a pastry chef, are you more of a "by the recipe, exact measurements" type of cook or one who adds an ingredient and tastes, and makes course corrections as you go?Both. I started in bread and kind of worked in pastry, but I bounced back and forth between each side of the kitchen, between sweet and savory, for a little over five years before I decided to stick with the pastry thing. There is a cliche that pastry chefs are the calm, measured, exacting, precise kind of person and the line cook or the savory chef is the spontaneous one. There is some truth to that. I think the lines are blurring a little bit, but it's really cross-training that gave me a solid foot in both, being spontaneous and being precise. Too much spontaneity, and it's just cook-and-see and you're ultimately lucky if you get the results that you want, but there is that joy in being spontaneous or even taking it further and taking an att.i.tude of well, if it's not broken, let's break it and see what happens. That curiosity and spontaneity are not quite the same thing, but to me, they're of the same spirit.So if someone is learning how to cook, it's not really a question of them thinking about their own temperament and trying to match it up with baking or cooking; they should really do a bit of both to balance things out?Yes. It almost sounds like I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth. Because I rely on a recipe, especially in a restaurant situation, consistency is king. Everything has to be the same from batch to batch, day to day. Recipes are useful.I actually just finished reading The Craftsman The Craftsman, by a sociologist, Richard Sennett, who wrote a whole chapter on how-to manuals in the form of recipe writing. I think recipe writing is ultimately flawed. Compare your recipe with "how to set up a computer" or "how to build a shelf" or whatever: you have to tailor the instruction to the experience, to the emotional state, to the personality of the person who is going to be reading and following your recipe.Recipes are important, but they're also just guidelines or can serve as inspiration. I think it's a natural evolution for a cook-whether it's a professional cook obviously or a home cook-that with confidence, the recipe means less and less, that it can be used as simple inspiration. I still pull books off the shelf all the time, but rarely do I actually write it down. I'll try to wrap my head around what somebody was trying to do, but that really can only come with confidence and experience.What are your favorite books that you go to?I would have to say that the Internet is probably my "go to" source right now. It almost feels like I'm being lazy, but I think the Internet has changed everything. It has certainly changed professional cooking-the evolution of it and the speed at which things have progressed. Granted, there is a lot of static you have to sift through to find something of use, increasingly so. But in terms of instant access and comparing and asking different things, I've almost come to favor just an Internet search.What would you tell somebody who is just learning to bake to keep in mind?First and foremost: cleanliness and organization are key, and they're always going to save you. Pay attention, especially with baking, which is firmly dictated by the chemical and physical realms that you can't always undo. Also, have that sense of fun and that sense of play and learn from mistakes rather than stressing out about them. It sounds kind of mystical, but I do have this belief that happy people make better-tasting food. I also tell young people: just absorb as much information as you can. It doesn't feel like it's sinking in or you're comprehending it all. Cleanliness, organization, a sense of fun, a sense of play, and always reminding yourself that there is more to learn.There are certain ways of doing things that ultimately find their way into the dish, whether they're perceivable or not. Sometimes it's about things like cleanliness and organization. When you're eating a dish in a dining room, you're not going to know whether the cook who made it has a dirty ap.r.o.n, but I like to think that that does work its way into it.Can you give me an example of how you go about thinking about a recipe and putting a dish together?I have two. They both go toward understanding your ingredients and composition.We used to make brown b.u.t.ter ice cream, but to give it enough brown b.u.t.ter flavor, we would have to add a ton of fat to the ice cream, which makes the ice cream really texturally challenging. Then I learned about the reaction and the composition of different kinds of dairy products. It's actually just the milk solids in the b.u.t.ter that give us the flavor, but the b.u.t.ter by weight is only 2% solids. We stepped back and looked at heavy cream, which we produce b.u.t.ter from. That heavy cream has three times the milk solids that give us the flavor of b.u.t.ter. So if we take heavy cream and reduce it down to the point where we're left with milk solids and clarified b.u.t.ter, we actually produce more extractable and arguably better-tasting brown b.u.t.ter solids than we could from b.u.t.ter. Then we separate it from the fat and add that to the ice cream.We also do a lot with caramelized white chocolate. Sometimes I describe it as "roasted chocolate." It sounds kind of counterintuitive, that you'd never want to scorch your chocolate. But if you do it in a controlled way you get an almost dolce de leche dolce de lechelike flavor. Dolce de leche Dolce de leche is usually made by cooking condensed milk; usually, people just boil the can for three or four hours. This gives you more complex flavors, because the proteins and the sugars in the milk and the added sugar are cooking together. If you look at the composition of white chocolate, it's about 40% sugar and 23% milk solids. I researched the composition of condensed milk; the proportion of milk solids and the proportion of sugar are nearly identical. This was a huge connection for me to make personally in terms of subst.i.tuting ingredients. From there, we've gone on to do all kinds of stuff with caramelized chocolate. is usually made by cooking condensed milk; usually, people just boil the can for three or four hours. This gives you more complex flavors, because the proteins and the sugars in the milk and the added sugar are cooking together. If you look at the composition of white chocolate, it's about 40% sugar and 23% milk solids. I researched the composition of condensed milk; the proportion of milk solids and the proportion of sugar are nearly identical. This was a huge connection for me to make personally in terms of subst.i.tuting ingredients. From there, we've gone on to do all kinds of stuff with caramelized chocolate.Caramelized White ChocolateInspired by Valrhona's L'Ecole du Grand ChocolatThe extent to which the white chocolate is "roasted" will determine the color and flavor of the finished cream. Also, depending on the final application, the amount of gelatin needed will vary. Add more gelatin for a freestanding component, less for a cream that will be put into a sh.e.l.l or gla.s.s. Like many similar preparations, the blending phase is vital for achieving the ideal texture.Caramelize 1 cup (170g) of white chocolate by placing the white chocolate in a saute pan and heating it over medium-low heat, keeping a watchful eye on it. Stir occasionally, taking care to prevent any bits from turning darker than medium brown. Remove from heat. Add 1.5 teaspoons (10g) of glucose (or corn syrup).In a separate pan, bring cup (125g) whole milk to a boil. Stir in 2 to 3 sheets of bloomed gelatin (i.e., presoaked in cold water; you can use 2 teaspoons of powdered gelatin, although sheet gelatin is of higher quality). Remove from heat and slowly incorporate into the white chocolate mixture.Add cup (175g) of heavy cream (36% fat) to the white chocolate mixture. Emulsify for a few minutes with an immersion blender. Transfer to a container and chill, allowing to crystallize, or dispense into desired forms.[image]Beurre Noisette Ice CreamCreate a batch of browned milk solids by reducing a quart of heavy cream in a saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally. After a while-possibly as long as an hour-the heavy cream will separate into clarified b.u.t.ter and the milk solids. Save the clarified b.u.t.ter for some other purpose.In a clean saucepan, measure out, whisk together to rehydrate the dry milk, and bring to a boil: - 1 quart (1000g) skim milk - 50g browned milk solids - cup (60g) nonfat dry milk - cup (150g) granulated sugar - 60g glucose powder - 40g trimoline (inverted sugar syrup) In a separate bowl, measure out and whisk together: - cup (50g) granulated sugar - 8g ice cream stabilizer - 200g egg yolks (yolks of about 3 large eggs) Temper the hot milk into the yolk mixture by pouring a quarter of the hot liquid into the yolk mixture and whisking to combine. Add another quarter and whisk to combine. Pour the yolk mixture back into the saucepan, mix thoroughly, and return to low heat and cook, stirring, until slightly thickened (184F / 84C).Remove from heat and whisk in: - cup (150g) heavy cream Chill the ice cream base in an ice-water bath, and then transfer to your fridge and allow to mature for at least 12 hours. Transfer the base to an ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions.RECIPES USED BY PERMISSION OF MICHAEL LAISKONIS

Chapter5.Air: Baking's Key Variable.

IF TIME AND TEMPERATURE ARE THE KEY VARIABLES IN COOKING, AIR IS THE KEY VARIABLE IN BAKING. While few of us would list air as an ingredient, it's critical to many foods. Most baked goods rely on air for their texture, flavor, and appearance. Baking powder and baking soda generate carbon dioxide, giving rise to cakes and quick breads. Air bubbles trapped in whisked egg whites lift souffles, lighten meringues, and elevate angel food cakes. And yeast provides texture and adds complex flavors to bread and beer alike. While few of us would list air as an ingredient, it's critical to many foods. Most baked goods rely on air for their texture, flavor, and appearance. Baking powder and baking soda generate carbon dioxide, giving rise to cakes and quick breads. Air bubbles trapped in whisked egg whites lift souffles, lighten meringues, and elevate angel food cakes. And yeast provides texture and adds complex flavors to bread and beer alike.

Unlike cooking, in which the chemical reactions are almost always in balance from the start-a chef rarely needs to tinker with ratios to get a protein to set-baking requires a well-balanced ratio of ingredients from the get-go to trigger the chemical reactions that create and trap air. Achieving this balance is often about precise measurements at the beginning, and unlike most meat and potato dishes, it's virtually impossible to adjust the composition of baked goods as they cook. And as a further challenge, the error tolerances involved in baking are generally much tighter than those in cooking.

If you're the meticulous type-methodical, enjoy precision, prefer a tidy environment-or the type of person who likes to express affection through giving food, you'll probably enjoy baking more than cooking. On the other hand, if you have a wing-it-as-you-go, adapting-on-the-fly style, cooking is more likely to be your thing. But even if baking isn't your thing, the engineering behind it can be fascinating, and plenty of applications in the "winging it" category can benefit from understanding the techniques discussed here.

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In this chapter, we'll start with a brief discussion of gluten and then cover the three primary methods of generating air in both savory and sweet applications. We'll also discuss the ingredients a.s.sociated with each of the three primary methods, giving examples and notes for how to work with them and why they work: - Biological - Yeast - Chemical - Baking powder and baking soda Mechanical - Egg whites, egg yolks, sugar, whipped cream, and steam Gluten Light, fluffy foods need two things: air and something to trap that air. This might seem obvious, but without some way of holding on to air while cooking, baked goods would be flat. This is where gluten comes in.

Gluten is created when two proteins, glutenin and gliadin, come into contact and form what chemists call crosslinks: crosslinks: bonds between two molecules that hold them together. In the kitchen, this crosslinking is done by kneading doughs, and instead of talking about crosslinks, bakers speak of developing the gluten: the two proteins bind and then the resulting gluten molecules begin to stick together to form an elastic, stretchy membrane. The same stretchy, elastic property is also responsible for helping trap air bubbles in bread doughs: the gluten forms a 3D mesh that traps air generated by organisms such as yeast and chemicals like baking powder. bonds between two molecules that hold them together. In the kitchen, this crosslinking is done by kneading doughs, and instead of talking about crosslinks, bakers speak of developing the gluten: the two proteins bind and then the resulting gluten molecules begin to stick together to form an elastic, stretchy membrane. The same stretchy, elastic property is also responsible for helping trap air bubbles in bread doughs: the gluten forms a 3D mesh that traps air generated by organisms such as yeast and chemicals like baking powder.

Regardless of the rising mechanism, understanding how to control gluten formation will vastly improve your baked goods. Do you want air bubbles to be trapped in the food, or do you want them to escape as the food is cooked? Breads and cakes rely heavily on air for texture, while cookies need less.

The easiest way to control the amount of gluten developed is to use ingredients that have more (or less) of the glutenin and gliadin proteins. Wheat, of course, is the most common source of gluten; rye and barley also have these proteins in small quant.i.ties. For practical purposes, though, wheat flour is the primary source of gluten.

NoteWhile rye has both glutenin and gliadin, it also contains substances that interfere with their ability to form gluten.

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Gluten levels of various grains and common flours.

NoteGluten levels will vary by both manufacturer and region. Since growing climate impacts gluten levels-colder weather yields higher-gluten wheat-flour in, say, France, won't be identical to that grown in the U.S. Try working with a couple of different brands.

Here are three important things to keep in mind when working with gluten: - Use the appropriate type of flour - Different types of wheat flours have different levels of gluten. Cake flour is low in gluten; bread flour is high in gluten. (All-purpose flour should really be called "general compromise" flour: it just takes the middle ground, which is fine when gluten levels aren't so important.) If you're baking something that would suffer from the elastic texture brought about by gluten-that should have a crumbly texture such as a chocolate cake-use cake or pastry flours, and definitely avoid bread flour.

- Fat inhibits gluten formation; water aids it - Fats interfere with the formation of gluten. This is why cookies, which have a lot of flour but also a lot of b.u.t.ter, still manage to crumble. And the opposite is true for water, which helps with gluten formation. The more water there is-up to a point, we're not talking soup here-the more likely it is that glutenin and gliadin will bind.

- Mechanical agitation and time develop gluten - Mechanical agitation (a.k.a. kneading)-physically ramming the glutenin and gliadin proteins together-increases the chances for those crosslinks to form and thus increases the amount of gluten in the food. Time, too, develops gluten, by giving the glutenin and gliadin the opportunity to eventually crosslink as the dough subtly moves.

NoteFlaky, crumbly baked goods = low levels of gluten.Stretchy, elastic baked goods = high levels of gluten.Flour = Starch + GlutenEven though gluten is the key variable in wheat flour and baking, it's worth stepping back and looking at what else is hanging out in flour: - Protein: 813% - Starch: 6577% - Fiber: 312% - Water: ~12% - Fat: ~1% - Ash: ~1% The two main compounds in flour are protein (primarily glutenin and gliadin) and starch. Warmer growing climates lead to lower levels of protein and higher levels of starch. Fiber is similar to starch in that both are carbohydrates-saccharides to biochemists-but our bodies don't have a mechanism to digest all forms of saccharides; those that we can't digest get cla.s.sified as fiber (sometimes called nonstarch polysaccharides). As for ash, this is the broad term given to trace elements and minerals such as calcium, iron, and salt.Gluten is the most important reason for using flour in baking. Try this simple experiment to separate out and "see" the gluten made by the proteins in flour.Start with about 1 cup (120g) of bread flour in a bowl and add just enough water so that you can form a ball. Drop the ball of flour into a gla.s.s of water for an hour or so, long enough for it to absorb water and allow the gluten to develop.After the ball has soaked, rinse the starches out by working the ball in your hands, kneading it with your fingers, under slowly running tap water. Keep working the ball until the water runs clear; only about a third of the original ma.s.s will be left. At this point, all the starch has washed away. Notice how the part of the flour that remains has a very elastic, stretchy quality to it: this is the gluten. You can drop the ball of gluten into a gla.s.s of rubbing alcohol to separate out the glutenin and gliadin proteins-the gliadin will form long, thin, sticky strands, and the glutenin will resemble something like tough rubber.For comparison, try doing this with cake flour. You'll find it almost impossible to hold on to the ball under the running tap water-there's just not enough gluten present in cake flour to provide any structure to work with while was.h.i.+ng away the starch molecules.P.S. One food additive, transglutaminase, can be used to increase the gluten strength in baked goods by physically increasing the crosslinks within wheat gluten. See Yeast Waffles Yeast Waffles in in Chapter6 Chapter6 for more. for more.

When making breads, gluten impacts the texture not just with its stretchy, elastic quality, but also with its ability to trap and hold on to air. If you're making a loaf of bread using whole wheat flour or grains low in gluten, adding some bread flour (start with 50% by weight) will result in a lighter loaf. You can also add gluten flour, which is wheat flour that has had bran and starch removed (yielding a 70%+ gluten content). Try making a loaf of whole wheat bread with 10% of the flour (by weight) replaced with gluten flour (sometimes called vital gluten flour).

In addition to managing texture, gluten can also be used directly as an ingredient. Consider the following recipe for seitan, a high-protein vegetarian ingredient often used as a subst.i.tute for chicken or beef in vegetarian cooking. Seitan is like tofu, in that it is a formed block or roll of proteins, in this case from wheat flour instead of soya beans.

SeitanMix together in a large bowl: - cup (175g) water - 2 tablespoons (35g) soy sauce - 1 teaspoon (5g) tomato paste - teas