Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food (9 page)
Read Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food Online
Authors: Jeff Potter
Tags: #COOKING / Methods / General
You can whisk up whipped cream by hand in less time than it takes to get an electric mixer out. Start with a cold bowl (chill it in the freezer for a few minutes, ideally), add either heavy cream or whipping cream, and whisk until the cream holds its shape. Add a spoonful of sugar and a little vanilla extract for a sweeter-tasting version. For more on what happens to cream during whisking, see
Stirring and Whisking
in
Chapter 5
.
30 seconds: still liquid; light bubbles.
60 seconds: still liquid; light bubbles.
90 seconds: thin cream, would be great on berries.
120 seconds: whipped, soft peaks. Add some vanilla and sugar, and you’re good to go.
150 seconds: overbeaten, a little buttery flavored.
180 seconds: whipped butter.
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“Right” answer: use the chocolate to polish the bottom of the can to a mirror-like finish, and then use the can as a parabolic reflector to focus sunlight onto a dry twig. My answer: trade the can of soda for a light from the nearest smoker; eat the bar of chocolate.
FIGURING OUT WHICH TOOLS TO HAVE IN THE KITCHEN CAN BE A DAUNTING TASK, ESPECIALLY IF YOU’RE JUST STARTING OUT.
With so many products on the market, the number of decisions to be made can overwhelm anyone, especially overly analytical perfectionists (you know who you are). What type of knife should I buy? Which pan is right for me? Where should I store my cherry pitter?
Take a deep breath and relax. To a newbie, kitchen equipment probably seems like the key to success in the kitchen, but in all honesty, kitchen equipment isn’t
that
important. Two sharp knives, two pots, two pans, a spoon to stir and a spatula to flip, and you’re covered for 90% of the recipes out there and have a better kitchen setup than 90% of the world. Heck, in some parts of the world it’s just one pot and a spatula that’s been sharpened on one side to double as a knife. I know one culinary pro who backpacked through New Zealand for a year; she narrowed it down to a paring knife, vegetable peeler, heatproof spatula, and cutting board. Still, while having great kitchen equipment won’t make or break you, having the right tool for the job, and one that you’re comfortable with, does make the experience more enjoyable.
Back to the list of questions. The right answer to any question on which piece of kitchen equipment to use is:
whatever works for you, is comfortable, and is safe
. This chapter will cover the basic must-haves, but ultimately it is up to you to experiment and to adapt and modify these suggestions to fit your needs and tastes. The one consistent piece of advice I can give is
use common sense
.
In addition to the basic essentials, this chapter also provides some common sense tips on storage, kitchen organization, and other things to keep in mind if you’re new to cooking, and maybe a few new ideas for the already initiated.
So you’ve picked out a recipe to start with and you’re raring to go. Now what? Beyond the grocery shopping list, there are a few things you can do before putting the knife to the cutting board to avoid mishaps while cooking.
A scientist can only run experiments and make observations up to the level of accuracy that his equipment allows. This isn’t to say that you need to approach the kitchen with the same rigor that a scientist shows at the lab bench, but if you’re trying to bake cookies or roast a chicken and your oven is off by 50°F / 28°C, your results will be less than desirable. The largest variance in most kitchen equipment is usually the oven, and it can be hard to tell if your oven is running cold or hot just by feel. (Dull knives are also a common misdemeanor; more on that later.) Check and calibrate your oven using an oven thermometer. On the road visiting someone and don’t trust their oven? See
The Two Things You Should Do to Your Oven RIGHT NOW
, below, for instructions on calibrating an oven using sugar.
One piece of equipment that you’re probably stuck with is your oven. What makes an oven “good” is its ability to accurately measure and regulate heat. Since so many reactions in cooking are about controlling the rate of chemical reactions, an oven that keeps a steady temperature and isn’t too cold or too hot can make a huge difference in your cooking and baking.
Improve your oven’s recovery time and even out the heat: keep a pizza stone in the oven
. Say you’re baking cookies: oven set to 350°F / 180°C, cookies on pan, ready to go. In an empty oven, the only thing hot is the air and the oven walls, and opening the door to pop the cookies in leaves you with just hot oven walls. I find I get much better results by keeping a pizza stone on the very bottom rack in my oven, with a rack directly above it. (Don’t place the cookie sheet directly on the pizza stone!)
The pizza stone does two things. First, it acts as a thermal mass, meaning faster recovery times for the hot air lost when you open the door to put your cookies in. Second, if you have an electric oven, the pizza stone serves as a diffuser between the heating element and the bottom of your baking tray. The heating element emits a hefty kick of thermal radiation, which normally hits the bottom side of whatever pan or bakeware you put in the oven. By interposing between the heating element and the tray, the pizza stone blocks the direct thermal radiation and evens out the temperature, leading to a more uniform heat. For this reason, you should go for a thick, heavy pizza stone; they’re less likely to crack, too. I’ve turned crappy ovens that burned everything into perfectly serviceable ones capable of turning out even “picky” dishes like soufflés just by adding a pizza stone. Just remember that like any thermal mass, a pizza stone will add lag to heating up the oven, so make sure to allow extra time to preheat your oven.
Calibrate your oven using sugar.
I know this sounds crazy, and yes, you should get an oven thermometer. But how do you know that the oven thermometer is right? My three thermometers — an IR thermometer, a probe thermometer, and the oven’s digital thermometer — have registered temperatures of 325°F / 163°C, 350°F / 177°C, and 380°F / 193°C, all at the same time. (They’re all designed for accurate readings in different temperature ranges.)
It’s common practice to calibrate thermometers with ice water and boiling water because the temperatures are based on physical properties. Sugar has a similar property and can be used for checking the accuracy of your oven thermometer. Sucrose (table sugar) melts at 367°F / 186°C. It turns from a powdered, granulated substance to something resembling glass. (Caramelization is different from melting; caramelization is due to the sugar molecules decomposing — literally losing their composition — and happens over a range of temperatures coincidentally near the melting point.)
Pour a spoonful of sugar into an oven-safe glass bowl or onto some foil on a cookie sheet and place in your oven, set to 350°F / 177°C. Even after an hour, it should still be powdered. It might turn slightly brown due to decomposition, but it shouldn’t melt. If it does, your oven is too hot. Next, turn your oven up to 375°F / 190°C. The sugar should completely melt within 15 minutes or so. If it doesn’t, your oven is calibrated too cold. Check to see if your oven has either an adjustment knob or a calibration offset setting; otherwise, just keep in mind the offset when setting the temperature. Note that your oven will cycle a bit above and below the target temperature: the oven will overshoot its target temperature, then turn off, cool down, turn back on, etc. It’s possible that your oven could be “correctly” calibrated but still melt the sugar when set to 350°F / 177°C due to this overshooting, but it would have to overshoot by about 15°F / 8°C.
Sugar at 350°F / 177°C.
Sugar at 375°F / 190°C.