I'm Just Here For The Food Part 71

Water conversion

Wax beans, in Marinated Vegetable

Salad

Weber grills

modification of

Websites, food-related

Weight equivalents

Welding gloves

Well water

Whisks

White Clam Sauce

White Lily Foods Co.

Wine:

Champagne, in Mignonette Sauce/Vinaigrette

deglazing with

poaching in

Wontons, Artichoke and Feta

Wood:

burning

chips or chunks, smoking and

Z.

Zip-top freezer bags, marinating and brining in

Zucchini and Carrots with Garlic and Ginger

Epilogue.

Unless you're one of those folks who check out the ending of a book first, you've probably plowed through almost three pounds of paper to reach this spot. Thanks for sticking with it. I hope it didn't take as much work to read as it did to write it.

In the end, I certainly don't expect you to remember every manic message contained herein, but there are a few things I hope you take away for the long term.

Although the act of cooking involves a great many things, at its core it's about the marriage of food and heat. Being a good cook means understanding the food enough to know how to apply that heat. Do you deliver a ma.s.sive dose via cast iron or do you dole it out slowly via water in a warm oven? Therein lies the core question of cooking. Everything else is secondary.

Just as voltage is but one factor in determining the potential of an electrical current, temperature is but one factor in determining the potential of heat. The mode of transmission, radiation, conduction, and convection are as crucial to the equation as the temperature itself. That's why you can stick your hand inside a 500 F oven but not into a pot of 200 F water.

Searing is, in the residential milieu at least, the fastest way to get heat into food. The primary goal: browning via the Maillard reaction (for meat) and caramelization (fruits and vegetables). Depending on their size and shape, target foods may be seared until done or finished by another method. Since searing takes place in a dry pan, no flour or other coatings should be employed. Certain spice rubs, however, are definitely allowed.

Don't fear the fryer. Since it takes a lot less energy to bring a pound of oil to 350 F than it does to boil a pound of water, fat is an amazingly efficient cooking medium. What's more, frying adds flavor because it delivers enough of a thermal punch to create browning, something water just can't do. And remember, when done correctly, most of the cooking fat stays in the pan. What const.i.tutes correctness?

* The temperature of the cooking fat must be kept high enough so that the water under the surface of the food boils. Miss this mark, and fat will invade the food with a vengeance.* Don't crowd the fryer.* All excess dredge or batter should be removed prior to frying.* Once cooked, fried foods must be thoroughly drained.

Buy yourself a grill that can be controlled. Better to load it up with burning charcoal and choke it back via air control than not to have enough heat to begin with. Lubricate grillables with only enough oil to give the seasoning something to hold on to. This is less than you think. If the grill grates are dirty, the grill is useless. Grill by zone. Most foods, be they animal or vegetable, fare best when moved between areas of direct and indirect heat. Buy good charcoal and use a chimney starter so that you can add burning coals to your fire. I've never believed in adding cold charcoal to an existing fire.

When pan frying, you'll rarely need as much oil as you think. What looks like a pitiful puddle in an empty pan will rise considerably once the food moves in.

A successful saute depends on high heat, a small amount of oil, and constant movement. Pan crowding is the number-one problem facing the saute. Work in batches if you're in doubt. Remember, if you see liquid bubbling in the bottom of the pan, you're not sauteing, you're boiling. And since water-type liquids can't move past 212 F, your food won't brown no matter how hot the pan was when you started.

Water is tricky stuff. Don't turn your back on it.

Despite new "smart" appliance designs, it's still darned difficult to maintain a constant and gentle simmer on a cook top. So whenever possible, I move my simmerables off the stove and into the oven. Evaporation is inevitable, so keep hot liquid nearby to maintain the liquid level.

Braising is nothing more than simmering something that's been seared in as little liquid as possible. Maintain food-liquid contact by cooking in the smallest vessel possible or (my favorite) an aluminum foil enclosure set inside another pan. Cooking in aluminum is perfectly safe (yes, even when acidic foods are concerned), though foods cooked in foil should be removed from the foil as soon after cooking as possible.

Due to the way in which collagen converts into gelatin, meat braises and stews are always better the next day. I know of no exceptions.

Buy a pressure cooker, read the instructions, and then use it often.

Homemade stock makes sense-and sense is what I like making best.

If there's something left in the pot when the cooking is done, there's a sauce waiting to happen. The same goes for leftover marinades-just make sure you always bring them to a boil before serving.

If you're using flour to thicken a sauce, remember that it won't thicken until the liquid in question reaches a boil. Cornstarch thickens at much lower temperatures, as do arrowroot and potato starch.

Give your microwave oven another chance.

Buy the biggest cutting board your sink can accommodate.

Unless it's got a rapid-cool section, your refrigerator was designed to keep things cold, not make them cold. So don't expect it to chill a pot of hot soup and keep everything else in it out of the danger zone.

Buy a pair of spring-loaded tongs and don't pay more than ten bucks for them.

Thermometers are tools, as are your tongue, nose, and fingers. Your brain is also a tool, so don't run with scissors (or knives), and think before you cook.

Now you know, and knowin's half the battle.-GI JOE

Acknowledgments.