Hot answers tagged temperature
31
Essentially, the exterior crust and the interior evenness are both side effects of the distribution of water.
The Maillard Reaction - the chemical reaction responsible for the brown crust - happens at about 150° C. Generally you're baking at a much higher temperature than this - say 200° C.
The first question one might ask is, why is the crust only on the ...
22
Straight after it comes out of the pan it will usually be too hot to eat. Regardless of resting or not, you can't fully taste things which are too hot, they need to come down to a comfortable temperature before you eat them.
Some things you can do to stop the meat being too cold when you serve it:
You can rest the meat wrapped in foil, this will stop it ...
21
Normally a domestic freezer is best set to −18 °C (0 °F) or colder, as that's what the expiration dates for many food items are based on. It's also a requirement for freezers in restaurants, supermarkets & other places that sell food (at least here in Europe) to maintain a temperature of at most -18 °C.
A general purpose domestic fridge should be at ...
18
One fundamental error in this question: 400 degrees is not twice as hot as 200 degrees. Temperature is a measure of the kinetic energy of the particles involved. The only scale on which you can do the kind of ratio you are imagining is Kelvins - you have to measure from absolute zero.
400 F = 477.59 K
200 F = 366.48 K
so the kinetic energy of the air in ...
17
roux is spot-on with his answer. I'll elaborate on it a bit here.
As indicated by his bottled water in the freezer trick, a full freezer is a happy freezer. The same applies to the refrigerator too. While I wouldn't put random bottles of water throughout my refrigerator, it's important to know that the fuller your refrigerator is, the more it holds it's ...
15
This question is a little vague, but probably your temperature probe is lying to you, or you're not accounting for resting your meat. I would suggest a legit thermometer rather than one that gives you hints about the meat -- you'll have more control over the final product.
Temperature Guide:
Medium Rare Beef has an internal temp of 145F
Medium Beef has an ...
15
Many "things" happen in cooking a particular dish. These physical and chemical (even biological) processes require a certain optimal range of temperature (and humidity) and take a certain amount of time to be completed.
For example, when you bake bread, the yeast in the dough remains alive until the temperature rises high enough to kill it. It continues to ...
14
Hotter water leads to more caffeine release and a more bitter flavor as it cooks the leaves. If you're serious about the taste of tea, set up four cups and pour water into them: The first boiling, the next after 30 seconds, and on down. Use a cracker between each sip; the later teas should taste slightly lighter and sweeter, and the middle two especially ...
13
Flick water on the pan. If it just sits there, it's not hot enough. If it combines into balls and skates around on the pan, it's either too hot or just right for a wok or blackening something. If it sizzles and evaporates within a couple of seconds, it should be good for a normal sautee or sweat.
12
Yes, it is normal for pulses to develop froth when soaked. I've seen it at lower temperatures and shorter soaking times. They can feel slimy too. This isn't a sign of bacteria development in itself. Chickpeas, as well as other legumes, contain lots of saponins. Saponins are a type of detergent, and they form a foam when dissolved in water. An example is ...
11
If we had a magical (or 4d) oven that could heat up the inside of the food all at once and uniformly, the baking rule would be simple:
bake batters and doughs at 100°C / 212°F until dough expands and dries, and
then increase to 150°C / 302°F to brown.
Any recipe that followed it would take way longer (several hours) than regular recipes, ...
11
As a rule of thumb- you can comfortably hold your finger in warm water.
100°F (38°C). Yeast wake up well at this temperature.
http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/bread/yeast_temp.html
This time of year my house is 80°F (27°C). but I heat my water a little past that (~120°F or 50°C) to compensate for cooler ingredients- you really want the dough to be ...
11
The fridge itself does storing, cooling, and dehydrating. But the last part is rather slow, you don't see the effect all that much. It is more prominent at low temperatures (manifests as freezer burn). But try leaving unwrapped bacon slices in the regular fridge and you'll see what I mean. But anyway, it isn't all that interesting what the fridge does, ...
11
They say to cook until 190F because that's the temperature at which the stuff that actually makes your slow-roasted pork moist, the collagen, fat, etc. is breaking down and coating the meat. Less than that and you'll have all those bits still intact in your shoulder, which you don't want.
ATK explains this in their footnote on the recipe:
LOW OVEN
...
10
Well, you're definitely right. Onions cooked at a high temperature act differently than ones cooked at a low temperature, per "the bible" aka On Food and Cooking. However, it doesn't go in to much of an explanation as to why. Probably the most relevant aspects of what is in there are:
When onions and their relatives are heated, the various sulfur ...
10
Either buy a cheap electric kettle, or if you are really fussed about not re-boiling water then shell out a bit more for one of the single cup hot water dispensers like the Tefal Quick Cup or the Breville Hot Cup.
We have both a cheap kettle and a Breville Hot Cup in our office. The kettle is good for making cups for multiple people at the same time, the ...
9
It's important to distinguish between the two different types of "crisping" that both happen in bread.
The first is the Maillard reaction which is caused by the sugars reacting with proteins; this is facilitated by high heat and low moisture, and is what actually causes the bread to turn brown (and eventually to burn).
The other is simply the evaporation ...
9
The Maillard reaction can occur at a wide range of temperatures, but the lower limit is not well-defined. It can even occur at room temperature, providing some flavoring components (for example) to ripening cheeses and Seranno ham. At high temperatures (over 300F), it will noticeably occur on many foods in a matter of minutes, so you can actually watch ...
9
The book "Cooking for Geeks" has a preview available online which explains how to use sugar to check whether your oven's temperature is above or below 186°C (367°F). It won't tell you whether it's getting up to 250°C, but if you're right that it only gets to 150°C then it will be obvious that it's not fixed.
8
| Rare | 120 to 125 degrees F | center is bright red |
| Medium Rare | 130 to 135 degrees F | center is very pink |
| Medium | 140 to 145 degrees F | center is light pink |
| Medium Well | 150 to 155 degrees F | not pink |
| Well Done | 160 degrees F and above | brown throughout |
8
I don't know the term either. I don't think it is established baking slang, so it is bound to vary between recipes, should you find it in another one at all. But if you got it from a bread recipe, it must be because you need optimal conditions for your yeast. The optimal temperature for yeast rising is 35°C, with rising being too slow below that (but it will ...
8
I suspect the blackness comes from the spices you put on the chicken burning.
Try this technique I learnt from Jamie Oliver: Season your chicken as normal. Put the pan on a high heat until it's hot (not stupid-hot, just hot). Add olive oil and the chicken skin-side down. Cook for about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, take a square of baking parchment or greaseproof ...
8
Speaking as pure theorist here, because I've never compared the saltiness of cooked chicken.
I think that there are two things you will have to think about. The first one is osmosis (water that gets soaked into the meat through cellular membranes), the second one is transport through porous media - like a sponge, the open ends of muscle fibres of your ...
8
Rehydrating dried fruits and vegetables in warm water is fast - mushrooms might take 15-20 minutes, though some varieties take longer, and it of course depends on how hot your water is. It would take a lot longer with cold water. You can still do it, and possibly more of the flavor will remain in the mushrooms (since you're not effectively cooking them ...
8
I'd suggest a digital probe thermometer AND an instant read digital thermometer like the OXO (which is pretty cheap) or the Thermapen (which isn't). A leave-in probe lets you monitor the general progress of the food, giving you a good way to gauge how much cooking time remains without having to open the oven and slow down the process. The instant read ...
8
In the food safety section of Modernist Cuisine (1-138) it says that all wild rabbit must be cooked through:
Wild rabbit must be cooked well done to kill any tularemia bacteria; for rare or medium cooked rabbit dishes, chefs can substitute farm-raised rabbits that have been kept segregated from their wild relatives by trustworthy breeders.
The section ...
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