Emergent Chaos » food and cooking

Chocolate Waffles

arthur — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:46:27 +0000

Too good not to share (inspired by: Chocolate-Hazelnut Waffles with Frangelico-Brown-Butter Syrup)

Ingredients :
6 oz. (1-1/3 cups) fresh ground whole-wheat flour
2 oz. (2/3 cup) natural cocoa powder
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. kosher salt
3/4 cup granulated palm sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3 oz. (6 Tbs.) unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup yogurt
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup warm water

Directions:
Pre-heat waffle maker.

Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium sized bowl and mix thoroughly.

In a large bowl, whisk the sugar and eggs until smooth. Stir in the butter, yogurt, and vanilla until smooth. Mix in the warm water until smooth. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and fold until just mixed. It should still have some lumps.

Cook in waffle maker and serve warm.

Sedgwick, Maine versus the Feds

adam — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:16:16 +0000

“Maine Town Declares Food Sovereignty, Nullifies Conflicting Laws.” So reads the headline at the 10th Amendment center blog:

The Maine town of Sedgwick took an interesting step that brings a new dynamic to the movement to maintain sovereignty: Town-level nullification. Last Friday, the town passed a proposed ordinance that would empower the local level to grow and sell food amongst themselves without interference from unconstitutional State or Federal regulations. Beyond that, the passed ordinance would make it unlawful for agents of either the State or Federal government to execute laws that interfere with the ordinance.

Under the new ordinance, producers and processors are protected from licensure or inspection in sales that are sold for home consumption between them and a patron, at farmer’s market, or at a roadside stand. The ordinance specifically notes the right of the people to food freedom, as well as citing the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Maine Constitution in defending the rights of the people.

Andy Ellis pointed out on Twitter that Wickard v. Filburn disagrees, but it’s fascinating to watch the frustration with the political system. Think of it as a Tea Party for foodies, with hand-harvested ~~Darjeeling~~ milk.

Repeal Day Rant

arthur — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 14:12:27 +0000

Rachel Tayse over at Hounds In The Kitchen, has an awesome Repeal Day Rant on why repeal day isn’t as good as it sounds. Yet again I feel a lot less free.

Saturday Corn Baking

adam — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 16:58:28 +0000

Well, following on Arthur’s post on baking bread, I wanted to follow up with “how to bake corn:”

Please go read “Baked Buttered Corn”

A way to bring some happiness to the end of summer is to take this corn and simply bake it with butter. It’s fabulous. The starchy corn juices create a virtual custard and the long high heat transforms the flavors in a way that a quick boiling of the starchy corn can’t.

Fast, easy and yum. Works great in a toaster oven while you’re cooking other stuff.

Friday Bread Baking

arthur — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:02:48 +0000

A few folks have asked, so here’s my general bread recipe in bakers percentages. In bakers percentages everything is based on a ratio compared to the weight of the flour. The formula for my bread is:

100% Whole wheat flour (I’m a geek, I grind my own)
72% Water (or whey)
2% Salt
1% Yeast

So if I’m using 1000 grams of flour, I need 720 grams of liquid, 20 grams of salt and 10 grams of yeast.

Mix everything together in a bowl. I highly recommend putting the liquid in first; it makes it much easier to do the mixing. Knead the dough until it is elastic and the window pane test works. Cover and let rise until the dough doubles in volume.

Degas the dough, cut and preshape into rough loaves. Be very gentle here. Let rise again. Degas and shape into loaves. Let rise one more time. Preheat oven to between 400 and 450^F (lower temperature for larger loaves) with a cast iron skillet or metal pie plate on the floor of the oven. When the loaves are doubled in volume place them in the oven then pour a 1/4 cup of water into the cast iron skillet. Bake until the interior temperature of the bread is 195F or sounds hollow when you thump the bottom. This will take between 20 and 45 minutes depending on how large your loaves are.

This is what science is for

adam — Thu, 13 May 2010 15:00:43 +0000

In “The Quest for French Fry Supremacy 2: Blanching Armageddon,” Dave Arnold of the French Culinary Institute writes:

Blanching fries does a lot for you – such as:

killing the enzymes that make the potatoes turn purpley-brown. Blanching is always necessary if the potatoes will be air-dried before frying.

gelatinizing the starch. During frying, pre-cooked fries form a crust faster than raw ones, and they can be cooked at higher oil temperatures than raw fries – which is easier for workflow.

pre-salting the interior of the fries. We blanched two batches of fries, one in boiling 3% salt water, one in boiling plain water. The plain-water fries tasted like crap next to the salt-water ones. All subsequent tests fries were blanched in a 3% salt solution.

It’s easy to think of science as just being good for building computers and the internet, extending average lifespans, giving us goretex, nylon and vulcanized rubber. Some people may worry that it’s in the weeds when worrying about string theory. But science is an approach to problems. The testing of ideas to see how well they work, rather than loving the idea.

And Dave Arnold, along with Harold McGee and others, and driving the intersection of science and cooking. And while they’re likely to skewer quite a few cows along the way, the results are worth it.

76% Organic

adam — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 16:58:53 +0000

The back does explain that it’s 76% organic petite sirah, and 24% non-organic grapes. I just thought it was a pretty funny thing to put on the front label, and wonder which consumers are going to be more likely to buy it, knowing that it’s 76% organic.

St. Cajetan’s Revenge

arthur — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 02:05:49 +0000

For some time, I’ve watched the War on Bottled Water with amusement. I don’t disagree with figuring out how to reduce waste, and so on and so forth, but the railing against bottled water per se struck me as not thought out very well.

The major reason for my thinking is that I never heard any of the venomous railing against water extending to any other drinks that come in bottles. To my mind, it seemed that a Coke, hey, that’s okay, but if you start with one and take out the sugar, the caffeine, the artificial flavors, and CO₂ you end up with water. Coke okay, water evil.

Me, sometimes all I want is a cool drink of water. More often, I want something a little more. I’m very fond of those fizzy waters with a bit of essential oils in them, as well as iced tea. But I don’t want the sugar. I want an artificial sweetener even less, and often when faced with decisions, water is what’s available. When I’m traveling nearly anywhere, I think I’d rather have it in a bottle, thanks.

The prejudice against water comes from thinking that it’s just water. Rarely is there such a thing as just water. The only just water there is is distilled (or in a pinch deionized) water, and that is itself special because it is unusual for something to be just water.

And now, I can’t help but think, “Uh huh” as I read, “Millions in U.S. Drink Dirty Water, Records Show.”

The summary is that more than 20% of US water treatment systems have violated key provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act over the last five years. The violations include sewage bacteria, known poisons and carcinogens, parasites, and so on. Mid-level EPA investigators say that the government has been interested in other things and just not enforcing things, and they don’t think change will happen.

Security isn’t just going after terrorists, it’s basic thing. Like water.

Tabletop Science

adam — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:53:26 +0000

Mordaxus emailed some of us and said “I hope this doesn’t mean MG has jumped the shark.” What was he talking about?

Apparently, ThinkGeek now has a “Molecular Gastronomy Starter Kit.” For those of you who’ve been hiding in a Cheesecake Factory for the past few years, molecular gastronomy is the art of using science to do things to food beyond your typical applications of heat with fire or its close analogs, acids baths beyond marinades, combinations harder to achieve than hollandaise, and whipping things without egg whites. See, it’s really a continuum and continuation of what chefs have been doing for years. Really, poaching eggs and poaching jolt cola are all about understanding and using the chemicals available in your kitchen in new and interesting ways. Ten years ago, not a lot of people brined their chicken, and twenty years ago everyone but the Japanese overcooked their tuna. Wasabi wasn’t a normal ingredient. Kitchens change. There’s chaos and experimentation. Some of what emerges is good, and some of it’s embarrassing. Some of it’s the home Sous Vide kits, and some of it’s the starter kit.

The real question is what’s going to emerge next in the market, and what’s going to emerge in your kitchen?

Make the Smart Choice: Ignore This Label

adam — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:41:13 +0000

He said the criteria used by the Smart Choices™ Program™ were seriously flawed, allowing less healthy products, like sweet cereals and heavily salted packaged meals, to win its seal of approval. “It’s a blatant failure of this system and it makes it, I’m afraid, not credible,” Mr. Willett said.

[...]
Eileen T. Kennedy, president of the Smart Choices™ board and the dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, said the program’s criteria were based on government dietary guidelines and widely accepted nutritional standards.

She said the program was also influenced by research into consumer behavior. That research showed that, while shoppers wanted more information, they did not want to hear negative messages or feel their choices were being dictated to them.
“The checkmark means the food item is a ‘better for you’ product, as opposed to having an x on it saying ‘Don’t eat this,’ ” Dr. Kennedy said. “Consumers are smart enough to deduce that if it doesn’t have the checkmark, by implication it’s not a ‘better for you’ product. They want to have a choice. They don’t want to be told ‘You must do this.’ ” (“For Your Health, Froot Loops™“)

Yes, every single one of these is a better choice than a petri dish full of salmonella. Guaranteed, or your money back.

I’ve added ™ marks where I think the New York Times™ should have included them.

Via JWZ.