BistroPaul

Dave The Cook- I've been wrong about things before but I'm fairly confident that the addition of sweeteners to the brine will increase the osmotic pressure of the brine and alter the rate of brine uptake. Because carbohydrates are not ionic compounds they won't change this as much as adding more salt would, but they will certainly have some effect. Howsmatt- I can see no reason that wouldn't be fine, this is effectively what is done with the pre-marinated packages you can get at grocery stores. I would be cautious of going more than 2-3 days after repackaging because of possible bacterial contamination. Paul

Try with salt pepper and a little bit of a spicy chile powder ( i like chipotle for this) and use as a dry rub on pork loin.

Exactly. The sheets have to be rolled in pairs because they are too thin and would tear in the machine.

There is no practical difference in the thermal reflective characteristics of either side of foil. On technical level there is a difference, especially if the heat energy is coming from a light source but for any cooking purposes it is so small as to be completely irrelevant. The only reason that there is a shiny and dull side is because of the way they are rolled in the factory. Paul

Any fats (lipids) in any food will oxidize over time, this is commonly referred to as going "rancid". This is most notable in pure fats and oils as there are relatively few other flavors to cover up the rancidity. Poly-unsaturated oils are the most prone to these oxidation reactions, this is why things like fish oil and canola oil go rancid relatively quickly. Exposure to heat, light, oxygen and many (most?) metals will accelerate this process. Pine nuts, like any "nut", have a fairly substantial fat (lipid) content (probably high in polyunsaturates as well, though I'm not certain of that) and will oxidize given enough time. If you are interested I have pages and pages on the topic around here somewhere.

So I just got my shipment of stuff for spherification and have come to realize that I forgot to order any calcium chloride. I have calcium gluconate and calcium lactate for use with reverse specification after getting used to the method and so on. What I was wondering is can I substitute either of them in place of the calcium chloride in the setting bath for normal spherification?