Chris Hennes

Interesting. I wonder what the actual temperature exposure would be on my hypothetical road trip. Let's say, for example, you drove from New York City to Los Angeles and back, with various stops along the way, and you did that drive in May and June. There are a bunch of times when major heat is not an issue: nighttime on most of the route should be in the 70s F or lower, any time the vehicle is in motion (because the air conditioning is on), colder days, cloudier days, days when you're parked in a covered or indoor lot. The big temperature shocks are going to be when you park during the day in direct sunlight. The car can easily exceed 50 C (122 F) in that situation. But it's not going to be all day every day for a month. It's more likely to be a few hours at a time, on some percentage of the days. There's also the fact that it takes the milk time to heat up. So if you started the day out at 65 F, and you parked in a lot where the car went up to 122 F and stayed at that temperature for 3 hours, at least some of that 3-hour interval would be taken up by the liquid rising from 65 F to 122 F. I haven't got a clue how the totals would work out. ← Like most interesting questions, the answer is not straightforward . My guess is that occasional heating and cooling will not substantially harm the milk over such short timespans (hours), but who knows? For some things it is the cycling that does the harm, not the remaining at a fixed temperature. Faced with the same situation, I'd be inclined to bring some along and rotate it out with a fresh supply after a couple of those hot afternoons (assuming you are traveling the somewhat-beaten path and there are stores that sell UHT milk nearby). Or a cooler filled with ice (or even just water, to minimize the temperature fluctuations).

Regarding UHT milk: there seem to be quite a few papers on this topic, but a quick look at a few indicates that, as expected, storage at elevated temperatures causes the milk to degrade at a higher rate. It depends on how high and how long, but 100 F is pretty high. From [1]: "Enzymatic and oxidation reactions appeared to increase at higher storage temperature (25 deg. C) of UHT milk, resulting in the development of off-flavours during prolonged storage." They were looking at milk stored at up to 25C for up to a year: their tasting panelists detected a "very slight rancidity" after 5-6 months at those temperatures. More relevant to your case is [2]: they were considering higher temperatures and shorter times (two weeks at up to 50 degrees C) -- at these temperatures it is like you are continuing to heat-treat the milk, with the expected degradation effects (mostly Maillard-reaction, it seems). Of course, they weren't evaluating taste, just chemical structure... Sources: [1] Celestino et al., "Reconstituted UHT-treated Milk: Effects of Raw Milk, Powder Quality and Storage Conditions of UHT Milk on its Physico-Chemical Attributes and Flavour", International Dairy Journal, Volume 7, Number 2, February 1997 , pp. 129-140 [2] Romero et al., "Effect of storage temperature on galactose formation in UHT milk," Food Research International, Volume 34, Number 5, 2001 , pp. 389-392

I use Pyrex (or Anchor Hocking) glass bowls (the 1 cup variety). You all must have harder floors than mine or something: I beat the heck out of mine and have never broken one yet.

I'm in the "I hope not" camp... I think you can tell a heck of a lot about the chef in five courses, but I don't think gender is one of them. I'm not even sure what the signs would be... "more intuitive" this and "delicate touch" that just seems like B.S. to me.

When I was about ten I took it into my head to make a pie for my parent's anniversary. I made one of those "french silk"-style chocolate pies with the whipped cream topping. Seemed like a good idea at the time: problem was, I made it a day ahead and stored it in the basement refrigerator. Naturally, the whipped cream dissolved and absorbed the nasty basement flavors. I don't think I've eaten that kind of pie since -- basement does not taste good.

I don't mind the meaning of the word "foodie," I just don't like the word itself... someone come up with a new one! For me "foodie" falls right in with "veggie" etc. - it sounds childish.

This is my first post here, so I apologize if it would be better form to start a new thread for this topic... The biggest thing stopping me from making my own bitters is the intimidating ingredient list, but I'm inspired by what appears to be an upsurge in homemade bitters at high-end cocktail bars. For those of you who have made your own, where have you been ordering the various barks, flowers, etc.? I wanted to have a go at replicating Abbott's Bitters.