scott123

When I briefly corresponded with you a few months ago about an article I was writing, you mentioned that you were in the "midst of getting a couple thousand pages organized for a fall book." Taking a look at the specs on Amazon, it lists the new book as having 896 pages. Maybe I've been spoiled by watching too many deleted scenes on my favorite DVDs, but is there any chance that, we, your greatest fans, can get a glimpse of what ended up on the cutting room floor?

Are there any areas in food science that are controversial? Any topic that could bring two arguing scientists to exchanging blows? Are there any topics that arise that cause you such angst that you simply have to walk away from the discussion?

What would you consider to be the greatest food science discoveries of the last thirty years? Including your own, of course.

Wendy, maybe I'm hearing JFLinLA incorrectly, but what it sounds like is another effort to equate 'diabetic' with 'sugar free.' Since there appears to be a wide variety of approaches to diabetic desserts, wouldn't it ruffle a lot less feathers just to remove the word 'diabetic' from the equation? Instead of a thread on diabetic desserts, why not one thread on 'sugar-free' desserts, another thread on 'reduced sugar desserts' and even a thread on 'low glycemic desserts?' If a quorum is your goal, a slight shift in terminology might help to move things in a more productive direction.

I had some good old school chinese BBQ ribs this evening from a local place and my mind wandered toward the brand of soy sauce to use. From the threads I've read here, it appears that Kikkoman is the brand of choice for NY Chinese restauranteurs. Is that what I should be seeking for this? Dark Kikkoman Soy? Or would you recommend another brand?

Very interesting indeed. I wish the pictures were bigger though. It's a little difficult to distinguish the differences between the cuts.

Brining denatures (cooks) meat. That's a fact. Whether or not this 'cooking' makes the meat tough is up for debate. My experience has shown it to be true. ← Mr. Harold Mcgee will be in the egullet spotlight next week. I suggest posing this question to him, surely he has some excellent insight. I however respectively disagree with the statement that brining "cooks" the meat, but not a scientist am I. woodburner ←

Married... Cooking together... Perfect Harmony?!?! That is not a common occurance for the couples I know, that's for sure. Sure, everything looks good on the outside, but on the inside - utter turmoil. Here's some sample inner dialogue: *gritting teeth* "Grrrrrr... she's cutting the onions wrong" *glancing furtively over the shoulder* "Oh my word, he's cooking the meat too much- Cooking the MEAT too much!"

Those are phenomenal bagels. Number two on my list for best bagels West of the Hudson.

Brining denatures (cooks) meat. That's a fact. Whether or not this 'cooking' makes the meat tough is up for debate. My experience has shown it to be true. ← there is a saying among toxicologists: "the dose makes the poison". what is true in an extreme case is not necessarily true uniformly. In this case, that's the difference between salting meat (as in making jerky) and brining it ... a much lower concentration of sodium. ← I believe the environmentalists have a saying as well "dilution is not the solution to pollution" :) Yes, the 'cooking' that's going on is fairly neglible, but I can still detect it. That same translucency that you get with deli turkey breast shows up in even very lightly brined birds. Same thing with fresh ham/deli ham. Translucency. I prefer my meat opaque.

with all due respect, i would love to see this assertion backed up. i'm not aware of any evidence for it. even more, i'm not aware that there is any tenderness added by brining that could not be attributed to increased moisture (as opposed to, say, adding papaya enzyme or something foul like that). ← Here are two relevant quotes from an article on brining by Joe O'Connell, past president of the California Barbecue Association: Brining denatures (cooks) meat. That's a fact. Whether or not this 'cooking' makes the meat tough is up for debate. My experience has shown it to be true.

Can anyone tell me why the price of Ethiopian food almost doubles when you cross the Hudson? There's another place in New Brunswick that's equally as overpriced. When I lived in New York, Ethiopian food was one of the best bargains around. Not here.

I am curious as well. As an Indian restaurant food fanatic, I have labored for years attempting to recreate my favorite dishes at home. Cookbooks/online recipes have been very little help. Thanks to intelligent members in forums like this, I've been able to accelerate my learning curve a bit. I have been meaning to ask you how you became the keeper of the sacred spare rib knowledge Did you do it by tasting/trial and error or did you hire a short order Chinese chef for one of your restaurants?

Brining for me is one step towards deli turkey breast. Any steps towards deli turkey breast are a very bad thing. Salt denatures protein. In other words, you're starting to cook the bird before it reaches the oven. More water content, yes, more salt content as well. But tougher meat. Think about it, if deli turkey breast wasn't sliced thin, you'd be chewing the stuff for hours. With brined meat, it's not that extreme, but it is in that general direction. "Ah, but my brined meat is very tender, you may say" My response? It would have been even more tender without the pre-cooking from the salt. Why mess with something so wonderfully scrumptious as poultry meat? Why improve upon perfection? I have two theories about the current popularity of brining 1. It attracts a great number of people who aren't that comfortable roasting poultry and live in constant fear of dry overcooked meat. 2. Celebrity chefs endorse it wholeheartedly since their taste buds are impaired from smoking and thus crave extra salt. These statements apply to the general public, mind you, and not the wise members of this forum. I'm sure that the members here are very comfortable roasting meat as well as being immune to celebrity endorsement. I do feel, though, that a large portion of the less educated public brines because Alton Brown does it and not necessarily because they prefer the way it tastes.

Irwin, Welcome back! New York, huh? Did'ja get to eat any old school spare ribs while you were there? So no basting, huh? I can see that. The sauce would just cook off during the prolonged cooking. Spare ribs definitely have the appearance of slow roasted unbasted pork. Any idea of how long the meat is marinated for? Is it possible that the meat isn't marinated at all? Are the ribs hung raw in the oven? Btw, the roasting 'oven' is usually where you see the glowing red ducks hanging in, right? Or is that more of a drying area? I spent a few hours doing web searches for char siu, Chinese bbq pork, Chinese spare ribs, red cooked pork and not one of the tens of recipes I came across mentioned apricots. Hoisin seemed a popular ingredient, as did ketchup. From an aesthetic perspective alone, these just can NOT be. The tomatoes in the ketchup would lend an opacity to the sauce, as I think, would hoisin. Both from an appearance and a flavor perspective, strained apricots/soy are a clear winner.

I add salt to my buttercream :) A tiny amount of salt enhances sweetness in confections.

Char siu pork. Talk to Irwin

And what is this 'lack of salt control' issue? One Tablespoon of salted butter has about 1/30 of a teaspoon of salt. If I'm worried about that extra 1/30th of a teaspoon, I'll subtract it from the recipe. I don't have any recipe, be it savory or sweet, that doesn't have at least a 30th of a teaspoon of salt for each tablespoon of butter being used. Other than a little math, I don't see a great deal of effort or loss of control in this scenario. Do you know how many times I've ended up with too much salt in my food due to the additional salt from butter? Never.

Here here!!! It's all about turnover. Fresh butter is always better. I don't know where the rest of you guys shop, but the places I go have some pretty dusty looking unsalted butter, even Trader Joes. If I lived on a farm, sure, unsalted butter 24/7. But here in the burbs, you buy the butter with the best turnaround, or pay the culinary consequences. Not to mention that most of the commercial unsalted butter you buy isn't even pure butter. It's cream plus culture (sometimes called 'flavor'). The butter industry may call it a natural way of preserving butter. I call it an abomination. The likelihood of walking in to a supermarket, any supermarket, and walking out with real fresh pure butter is about a million to one. The mystique of unsalted butter harks back to an earlier agrarian age when butter and milk were fresh, pure and local. The times they have a changed. It's time to wake up and smell the lipid.

Thanks to Irwin's(wesza) brilliant insider information, light is beginning to shed on the 'old school' Chinese BBQ rib mystery. I don't know about everyone else, but I've been looking for this recipe for many years. Although I could have tacked this onto the previous thread, I believe that the occasion is momentous enough to merit a new topic. I made spare ribs!!! They were ridden with flaws (dry, stringy, weak tasting) but the taste, that taste of my childhood, was there. Barely there, but there, none the less. OH BOY THIS IS EXCITING STUFF! And now that the celebration has died down... I've got questions. 1. Duck sauce is apricot and sugar, and the less expensive peaches. Since Duck Sauce has been around for ages wouldn't it make sense that it might at some point have replaced the apricot puree? 2. How hot is the Chinese roasting oven that spare ribs hang in? 3. Are the ribs basted as they roast? 4. How long are they marinated for? 5. Might they be boiled before roasting? 6. Ratio of apricot jam to soy sauce? (I used 1:1 but found it too salty, not enough fruit notes) 7. Final char occurs on a grill? What kind of grill? 8. Length of final char My recipe is only in it's preliminary stages, but for those interested, here's what I have so far 16 parts apricot jam, strained (may try duck sauce) 8 parts soy sauce 1 part grated ginger (not sure about ginger - may try without) Red Food Coloring until dark red Marinate in this overnight, remove, bring marinade to a boil, set aside. Bake ribs for about 6 hours in a 225 degree oven, basting with liquid (watered down marinade?), then glazing heavily and finishing for 5 minutes/side on a searing hot grill.

Thanks!

The four most common uses I've seen for baking soda are 1. Leavening 2. Mitigating acidic flavors 3. Creating conditions favorable to browning. 4. Keeping the color of green veggies green during cooking (not recommended) Without having the recipe in front of me, my best guess would be 3. Creating conditions favorable to browning, as browning occurs faster in an alkaline environment.

Yvegeny, from the responses to this thread, it sounds like there are a few different nutritional approaches to diabetes. I personally know quite a few people that have had success treating diabetes by following low carb ways of eating. I'm sure, though, that other approaches to diabetes work wonderfully as well. Regardless of the diverse opinions on diabetes and sugar intake, it sounds like your sugar free dessert parameters are pretty well set, not by you, but by someone else. With that in mind, here is my recommendation for a simple tried and true, crowd pleasing dessert: Sugar free cheesecake. Cheesecake is one of the few desserts where the textural impact of the lost sugar is not as glaringly evident. I have a handful of widely popular splenda based recipes if you're interested. And, when the topic of alternative sweeteners and diabetes arises, whey low is usually mentioned, because of its superior baking qualities. I am a very staunch critic of fructose and fructose based products being marketed to diabetics, who, I feel, are at the highest risk for health problems linked to their consumption.

Are you really 'thirding' what docsconz says about the sugar myth? From what I hear him say, sugar is okay but only within the context of a mitigating protein, fat or fiber rich environment. The angel food cake you mention is none of the above.

And yes, I too, like Toliver's idea I actually did some spritzing of my ribs today. I got a little paranoid and went with 275 which I think might be a little high. The texture was not as succulent as I would have liked. My biggest error, though was cooking them too long after the final glazing. I lost a lot of the sweetness/fruity note in my sauce. Next time, though, thanks to you guys, I think I'll be ready.