4 ms·
Getting somewhat off-topic and maybe it's more evident to other people, but for me understanding this energy transfer was eye-opening for my cooking abilities!
by williamdclt 1y ago
Getting somewhat off-topic and maybe it's more evident to other people, but for me understanding this energy transfer was eye-opening for my cooking abilities!
Like, my mushrooms aren't going to actually cook as I want as long as they render water because the water is cooling the pan down. Obvious in retrospect, never really fully realised it. Also means I can blast the heat up to get rid of this water faster, it's not going to make the pan hotter than 100C while there's a layer of water.
- bluGill 1y ago> Also means I can blast the heat up to get rid of this water faster, it's not going to make the pan hotter than 100C while there's a layer of water. Eventually you boil water off the surface faster than heat can penetrate inside the mushroom and so you can burn the outside while the inside is still wet. How much heat the mushroom can handle before this happens is left as an exercise to the reader.
- germinalphrase 1y agoI’ve heard it said by a very science oriented chef that ‘all cooking is moisture management’.
- morsch 1y agoDave Arnold?
- germinalphrase 1y agoCan’t find it now - but might have been!
- rurban 1y agoThere are several good cooking books for scientists, like https://books.google.com/books/about/Physics_in_the_Kitchen.html?id=3K3YEAAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y https://books.google.com/books/about/Physics_in_the_Kitchen....
- jghn 1y agothis is also why cooking advice shifted from "don't wash mushrooms" to "wash mushrooms". If you're cooking your mushrooms properly you'll boil off all the water anyways, so it doesn't matter. It's only if you *don't* cook your mushrooms properly that washing mushrooms makes everything more watery than you'd like.
- williamdclt 1y agoI don’t wash mushroom because that makes them slimy, making them much more annoying to cut (and also it takes more time than not doing it). I can take a little dirt!
- collingreen 1y agoHopefully it's just dirt!
- jghn 1y agoI was an avid non-washer until experts like Kenji [1] started weighing in. You definitely have to hold off washing them until the last moment to avoid sliminess. Although I don't find the time added to be all that consequential in the grand scheme of things. Obviously you're correct that it'd be *more* time, however. [1] https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-clean-and-chop-mushrooms https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-clean-and-chop-mushrooms
- sfn42 1y agoIt's a common mistake. Just this weekend I followed a recipe from a well known cooking website for beef stroganoff that said to brown the beef in batches together with batches of onion. That's not a good idea, the onion will release liquid which prevents the beef from browning and once that cooks off the heat required to brown the meat will burn the onion. So I cooked the beef and onion separately instead. The onion can easily be cooked in one big batch, and if you take care not to burn the fond built up by the beef you can deglaze it with the onion. It's a good way to add extra flavor to the finished dish. I also had a discussion with a roommate once, he criticized my way of cooking pasta. I keep it just barely boiling, but he insisted I should crank it up to max. I explained that it doesn't matter, the water won't get any hotter. I'll just waste electricity making steam. He didn't believe me so I got a thermometer and proved it. If you want liquid water to go above 100C you need a pressure cooker.
- SoftTalker 1y agoI cook pasta at a rolling boil not because it cooks faster but the agitation of the boiling makes it less likely to form sticky clumps.
- sfn42 1y agoI've thought about that but it's not a problem for me. I throw the pasta in, give it a stir, then leave it until the timer rings. Never have any sticky clumps.
- williamdclt 1y agoA single good stir at 1-2min of cooking is enough to avoid all sticking (although I still do it a couple more time just in case tbh, the stirring feel tells me how close to cooked they are anyway)
- pests 1y agoI’ve always used the rolling boil for stirring when making macaroni or other noodles. Maybe a minute of agitation in the beginning to get it going but it lets me set and forget. Maybe add a teaspoon or two of an oil to knock any bubbles out to avoid spill over / foam.
- somenameforme 1y agoSpeaking of layer of water, the liedenfrost effect creates some rather spectacular demonstrations, to say the least. [1] That video is real. [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h7dt0bG8XU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h7dt0bG8XU
- 0cf8612b2e1e 1y agoThat was upsetting. Huge difference between theory and practice when it comes to keeping a usable hand.