Justin Dunham

's journal about making things

Ben’s Chili Bowl

Filed under: Cooking Journal — Tags: , — Justin Dunham on May 23, 2010

A snippet of audio from my visit. This will probably not work in Internet Explorer, but should work in other browsers.

Went to Ben’s Chili Bowl about a week ago, a place I’ve been meaning to go to for a long time.

Let’s leave the food aside, to start. Ben’s was loud and full of energy. I liked that. It seemed like everyone was having fun, talking, and sharing good food. What else do we have, really?

I also find local institutions like Ben’s fun just because they’re very different from my normal experience. For example, scrapple, grits, and “half-smokes” are on the menu. I rarely, or never, have the chance to eat these things. It’s nice to be able to sample an entirely new set of dishes, and it makes me feel reassured, generally, that I am making some effort to try new things.

It’s fun to see places like Ben’s run, too. The food’s the center of the experience. It’s good, and cheap. It’s consistent. It’s served quickly.

I ordered the plain chili (I missed their breakfast platters, unfortunately). It was good, though it’s not the best chili I’ve ever had. I also had the potato salad, which I usually don’t like but which was really good.

For this entry, I’m posting a snippet of the audio from my visit instead of a picture. I think that will convey the atmosphere better, and there are plenty of pictures on the Internet already, see e.g. the Wikipedia entry for Ben’s. I will also write a later post about putting audio into a blog entry, and how easy / difficult that is nowadays. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to make this audio work in Internet Explorer yet, but it should work in most other browsers.

Julia Child’s Kitchen

Filed under: Cooking Journal — Tags: , — Justin Dunham on May 15, 2010

Left counter. Note in the background the blue KitchenAid mixer, which she endorsed enthusiastically in an accompanying video.

Right counter and kitchen table. The outlines are places where particular pots and pans go (you are looking through that wall). To the right of this is a bookshelf.

I think kitchen organization is a fairly interesting topic.

For example, I was recently able to sit right in front of the griddle at a diner the other day. Here is a space about six feet square where a smart cook, together with an assistant and a well-thought-out mise-en-place, can quickly and efficiently assemble food for an entire diner.

The cook had places on the griddle for different types of foods (eggs, pancakes, sausages, burgers) and fully understood the timing of the various recipes, with the result that he could deliver many high-quality meals in very short periods of time.

As a simple example, he would put a bunch of sausages down, then start some toast, then at the last minute crack six eggs. As soon as the sausages had developed a nice burn, the toast popped out of the toaster and the eggs finished cooking through. Everything could be immediately transferred to a clean plate and brought out into the dining room. And, by the way, everything went in a place with particular heat levels suited to the task at hand (long cooking, quick searing, etc.)

This is a very simple example of the multitasking that chefs everywhere do constantly – up to the level of a table of many guests, where each has a complex and unique order – so that the chef doesn’t waste any time and so that food comes out at the optimal temperature, and not overcooked or undercooked. In general, this creates a lot of complex logistical problems, many of which we solve without noticing.

So, on this theme, I enjoyed seeing Julia Child’s kitchen at the Smithsonian today. Here’s somebody who cooked all the time and therefore had to deal with a lot of small logistical challenges (and also organizational challenges, given the variety of dishes Child likely prepared). But – she had a surprisingly modestly appointed kitchen.

Here are some specific things that I noticed. First of all, Child had lots of different surfaces. This is really important. She had space next to the stove for hot pans, a butcher block for cutting meat, space next to the sink for dirty dishes and probably other purposes, and plenty of additional space elsewhere for things like cutting vegetables, rolling dough, etc.

Child stored many of her cooking implements – and she had a lot – directly above her stove. Many of her other tools, as well as pots and pans, were stored on pegboards, which reminded me of the way tools are often stored in garages. There were also outlines on the wall of the various pots and pans, to make it easy to put everything back in its proper place.

One thing that really surprised me, as I mentioned briefly above, was how modest the kitchen was. It had no props. The shiniest thing was the blue KitchenAid stand mixer, which Child discussed in some detail in the videos accompanying the exhibit. She said that she saved up for this particular mixer because of its quality. She recommended that until you are ready to buy a mixer like this, you use a hand mixer and keep saving your pennies. This sounds right to me.

As another example, some of the exhibition notes talked about her stove, which was manufactured sometime in the first half of the 20th century if I recall correctly. It apparently never needed repairs despite heavy and constant use. Child said she wanted to be buried with it, if a plot could be found big enough for her and the stove, and she apparently brought it from house to house and – at least once – across the Atlantic.

This was Child’s ninth kitchen, which means, I assume, that she arrived at its organizational scheme after developing a deep understanding of how she could work most efficiently. I should also note Child was 6’2″, which probably meant she faced unique ergonomic challenges as well.

Vinegar’s Mom

Filed under: Cooking Journal — Tags: , — Justin Dunham on May 12, 2010

Mother of vinegar.

Recently I used apple cider vinegar to create a brine that I could soak some carrots in (more on that later). When I picked up the bottle, I noticed some weird floating strands in it. Vinegar manufacturers must get this question a lot, because my thought at the time, “what are these floating strands in my vinegar?”, was printed verbatim on the side of the bottle. These, the bottle went on to explain, are called “mother of vinegar”. I will now repeat the bottle’s vague explanation, together with some additional information.

As far as I can tell, vinegar is basically acetic acid in some of kind of alcoholic solution. For example, cider vinegar is cider, with ~5% acetic acid. Just as alcoholic beverages, such as beer, are produced through the action of microorganisms that convert sugar to alcohol, vinegars are produced through the action of microorganisms that convert alcohol to acetic acid. As a result, all vinegars are produced from alcoholic liquids (wine, cider, beer, etc.).

Making vinegar is apparently straightforward, and you may have done it accidentally by not drinking wine quickly enough. Once a bottle is uncorked, the appropriate bacteria – Acetobacter – float in. (Alternatively, you can apparently buy vinegar cultures to be sure that the appropriate bacteria are being used.) In the presence of oxygen, these bacteria create acetic acid.

That’s the basic process, though here is a more detailed set of instructions.

As these bacteria create acetic acid, they also create cellulose. The wispy “mother of vinegar” strands are just cellulose and bacteria. They can be left in, or filtered out, with no ill effects. Here, by the way, is the Wikipedia article on mother of vinegar, and here is the Vinegar Institute’s Vinegar FAQ; both of these were helpful in learning how this works.

By the way, French speakers will recognize the “vin” in vinegar as meaning wine (some English speakers will recognize “vine”, which is etymologically related).

“Egar” comes from an old French word, “aigre”, meaning “sour”, and which shows up in English as “eager”. “Aigre” is ultimately derived from Latin “acer”, meaning “sharp” (“acerbic”, “acrimonious”). So vinegar is literally “sour wine”.

Pork with Mango Chutney

Filed under: Cooking Journal — Tags: , , , , , , — Justin Dunham on May 11, 2010
Cooking the chutney.

Making the chutney.

The completed dish.

Recently I made this mango chutney, together with some pork and this recipe for broiled zucchini and potatoes.

It didn’t turn out that well. The chutney was OK, but I found that the mango flavor got pretty heavily overpowered by the raisins and peppers. In general, I find the presence of raisins in a chutney or curry distracting – they have a unique flavor and texture that really stands out, which makes it easy for them to overwhelm other flavors.

The broiled zucchini and potato recipe also didn’t work at all for me. Because my stove and oven heat relatively unevenly, some zucchini and potatoes were relatively undercooked, while others were blackened. This isn’t the fault of the recipe; it just didn’t work that well for my cooking situation (the reviews seem to indicate it worked well for others, however).

Also, parmesan doesn’t really seem to work under a broiler. Instead of melting, it seemed to char and it immediately took up a distinct and unpleasant burned / oily flavor which really detracted from the vegetables.

Anyway, I probably won’t make this again, though I would really like to learn how to make a good chutney – it seems that a very wide variety of ingredients can be used, which opens up a broad range of possibilities.

Baking Soda vs. Baking Powder

Filed under: Cooking Journal — Tags: , — Justin Dunham on May 7, 2010

Baking soda and baking powder are both leavening agents for baked goods. They make dough rise, which is important for cakes, muffins, etc. There are lots of ways to leaven baked goods, by the way, including mechanical (creaming) and biological (yeast), which I’ll maybe write about some day in the future.

Essentially, leavening agents make dough rise by introducing carbon dioxide into it. Yeast produces carbon dioxide as a byproduct of digesting sugar, if I remember correctly. Creaming causes sugar crystals to punch tiny air-filled holes in the butter, which is then used in the batter. Baking soda produces carbon dioxide as it breaks down. One way this can happen is according to the following reaction (thanks, Wikipedia!).

2NaHCO3 → CO2 + H2O + Na2CO3

This means that 2 molecules of baking soda (NaHCO3) will break down into one molecule of one molecule of carbon dioxide, one molecule of water, and one molecule of sodium carbonate. Relatively simple, right? Baking soda is simply a homogenous chemical that, when heated, releases bubbles of carbon dioxide, which creates an airy texture in the completed dish. I should note that sodium carbonate has a slightly alkaline (i.e. basic) taste.

Baking powder, on the other hand, is somewhat more complex. It includes baking soda, together with what’s known as an “acid salt”, such as cream of tartar. It also includes a starch, such as cornstarch, which has a number of helpful effects. (None of these have to do with leavening, so I refer you to the Wikipedia baking powder article for more information).

Since baking powder includes baking soda, I would think that the leavening reaction is basically the same as above – the baking soda in the baking powder will break down at a high temperature, creating carbon dioxide, etc. This is probably true. But in the presence of an acid salt baking soda seems to “prefer” to produce carbon dioxide according to the following reaction:

NaHCO3 + H+ → CO2 + H2O + Na+

This means that 1 molecule of baking soda (NaHCO3), when combined with a free proton (coming from an acid such as the cream of tartar that is also part of baking powder), will break down into one molecule of carbon dioxide, one molecule of water, and one sodium ion. In recipes that use baking soda alone, without cream of tartar, this reaction will take place if there is an acid somewhere else in the recipe, such as vinegar or buttermilk.

So the next question is, why do some recipes call for baking powder and some for baking soda, and can you ever substitute one for the other? Not everyone seems to have a clear idea. At http://chemistry.about.com/cs/foodchemistry/f/blbaking.htm, they say that “you can substitute baking powder in place of baking soda”. But at http://kitchensavvy.typepad.com/journal/2005/01/baking_soda_vs_.html, they say that “baking powder cannot… be used to replace baking soda.” Which is it?

It seems to me from the above that you can use baking powder in place of baking soda, but some acid will be left over since baking powder comes with its own acid, and no sodium carbonate is generated. Also, you’ll need to use more baking powder than you would use baking soda, since baking soda is only a component of baking powder.

So: to substitute baking powder in place of baking soda, use more baking powder, and reduce the acid somewhere else in the recipe. (After writing this, I wondered, “what if there is no acid in the recipe?” If there’s no acid in the recipe that you can reduce, you have to add an anti-acid, i.e. a  base).

If you use baking soda in place of baking powder, you will have extra basicness in the dish, since the baking soda doesn’t come with acid and therefore it will not be neutralized.

So: to substitute baking soda in place of baking powder, use less baking soda, and add acid to the recipe (for example, use buttermilk instead of water).

This page seems to confirm what I’m saying, but obviously that doesn’t mean I’m right: http://www.joyofbaking.com/IngredientSubstitution.html. You can also read more at http://kitchensavvy.typepad.com/journal/2005/01/baking_soda_vs_.html, and I’m going to link to http://users.rcn.com/sue.interport/food/bakgsoda.html, which largely recapitulates what I’ve written here.

Update 8/15/10 – I’m not sure the substitution formula I worked out above makes sense. It implies that the two differing reaction paths (1) and (2) will generate similar amounts of carbon dioxide. But, for example, reaction (2) only uses 1 molecule of NaHCO3 to produce one molecule of CO2. I’m not sure what to make of this, other than to give up and advise never substituting one for the other.

I am writing this note in response to a failed banana bread recipe, so it’s also possible that something else caused the bread not to rise other than making the baking powder for baking soda substitution described here.

http://users.rcn.com/sue.interport/food/bakgsoda.htmlhttp://users.rcn.com/sue.interport/food/bakgsoda.html
Older Posts »

Creative Commons License
.