Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science - Week 1

As I posted in my October 13th blog entry, I've enrolled in an on-line course about the relationship between science and cooking. Here's what went down on the first week. I'm liking the course so far, I just wish I could manage my time better to get through all the labwork. Just like back at Algonquin - some things never change.

• The course starts with a welcome and an overview from some of the instructors Michael Brenne, Pia Sorensen, and Dave Weitz, an applied mathematician, a chemist, and a physicist, respectively. They talk about learning about the underlying scientific principles of food and cooking, and about some of the cooking labs we'll get a chance to do in the course.
• Ferran Adrià introduces himself in the next video, and talk about his background in cooking, and his new project, the El Bulli Foundation.
• The author of the textbook we're using, Harold McGee  talks for a bit about the place he did most of his research for the book, the Schlesinger Library for the study of women in history at Harvard. I was surprised to learn that people where interested in the science of cooking since the 17th century, and that the pressure cooker has existed since 1681 (thanks Denis Papin).
• In between the videos are a series of short-answer questions about what we've watch so far. Participation in the online exercises do not contribute to my grade, what counts are the homework assignments, the lab exercises, and the final project. I'm still not sure if I'm going to complete the course for the certificate, or if I'm just learning for the sake of learning yet...
• Next we see an example of spherification, a form of gelation first pioneered by Adria. 
• Lecture 2 get right into the science part of the course with a decision about the molecules that make the food we eat. We are then asked to calculate the number of molecules in a 250mL glass of water. Terms like grams per mole, atomic mass unit, and Avogadro's number are being thrown around. I now see why a knowledge of high school physics and chemistry was considered a useful prerequisite for this course. So if you thought this was going to be a bird course, you're either sadly mistaken, or a lot smarter than I am.
• I'm introduced to the practice of clapping when the Equation of the Week is introduced during the lectures as a way to get people excited about the science...sure. I'll just say I clapped while I watch the lectures.
• One of the tasks in the week 1 lab is calibrating your oven using sugar. Sugar melts at 366 F (186˚C). If sugar melts at 350 F (177˚C), your oven is running hot. I preheated my oven at 350 F for 10 minutes and placed in it half a teaspoon of sugar in an aluminum pan.
  
  Here's the result 15 minutes later.
  
  Looks like I'm running hot, I may choose to calibrate it better using a oven thermometer.
• The homework portion finally gets to some cooking, but I didn't get a chance to buy the required groceries. I'll keep you posted my efforts.

The Perfect Cup of Tea

Want to make a spot-on cup every time and learn a bit about what's in the cup you're drinking? Check out this handy guide from Life Made Simple.

Class is in session

If you're a foodie like me, you're as interested in the science of cooking as much as you are in the art of cooking - you've read "Cooking for Geeks" numerous times, and Marcel Vigneron hasn't turned you off of molecular gastronomy completely. This is why I enrolled in the online course Harvard is offering on edX, Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science. The idea of expanding my cooking knowledge from world-renowned chefs all from the comfort of my own home, and for free was too tempting an offer to pass up.

Developed as a way to teach science to non-science majors at Harvard, this course has been four years in the making. The course textbook is "On Food and Cooking", by Harold McGee, one of the lecturers, and some of the instructors include cooking superstars such as Ferran Adrià, David Chang, and Wylie Dufresne. Through interactive lectures, each week will focus on a single scientific topic related to cooking. In order to complete the course, I will have to complete homework assignments, problem sets and labs as I would in a brick-and-mortar classroom. The labs range from calibrating your oven to making molten chocolate cake. There is a final project where I get to conduct my own scientific study of a recipe or aspect of cooking. While earning a certificate at the end of the course is not my goal,  I will attempt to complete as many of the course activities as possible, and chronicle my efforts here on the blog. I believe there is still time left to enroll in the course, so for those who are interested, maybe I'll see you in the Discussion Forums. Until then, I got to finish the requirements for week 1.

Quick and Dirty Chicken Marinade

Has this ever happened to you - you see a recipe in your favorite cookbook that you want to make, you go to your pantry, and you discover that don't have some of the necessary ingredients? When this happens, you can do one of two things - head to the grocery store, or improvise with what you got. I chose the latter when I made a chicken marinade from a recipe in The "Joy of Cooking", and all things considered, I think it turned out fine.

Mix in a bowl until well blended the following:

1/4 cup beer
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons oregano
2 tablespoon lemon juice or Italian salad dressing
1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons soy sauce
4 to 6 garlic cloves, minced
3 dashes hot sauce

Back to School Special - Shelf Life of Food

Now that school is back in session, with all the things you now have to worry about - where you're going to live, your class schedule, your teachers, midterms - you don't have time to worry about how long your leftovers are going to last. Refer to this handy chart from the good people at Visual.ly.

Easy baking

I don't bake. Like some of the contestants on "Chopped", I freeze up at the thought of having to bake a cake. It's not like I don't like baked goods, it's just that I would rather not try to make any. My wife does the baking in our house, and she does a good job making cookies, muffins, and pies for me and our son. But for whatever reason (not a big dessert guy, still foolishly equating baking as a girlie activity), I've never felt the need to give baking a try until recently. I came across a recipe on Instructables that was so easy and pain-free that even a novice like myself could bake someone happy. And since I needed to bring something to a pot-luck brunch I was invited to over this past long weekend, it was the perfect time to try it out.

Ingredients for Ice Cream Bread

3 cups self-rising flour (Or make your own using this simple equation: for each 1 cup of flour add 1½ teaspoons baking powder, and ½ teaspoon salt)
3 cups of your favorite ice cream (REAL ice cream, no low-fat or lite stuff)

1. Preheat oven to 350℉ (180℃). Grease and flour bread pan, or line with parchment paper.
2. Mix melted ice cream and flour until well combined. Pour into prepared bread pan.
3. Bake for 45-90 minutes; the bread is done when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. If the top starts to brown too much, cover it with aluminum foil and continue to bake.

Foodie fail

I wish I could say I'm one of those foodie home cooks who master any recipe they tackle but I'm not. Since the time I've decided to take my approach to cooking a bit more seriously, I've had some dishes that haunt me for their failure to come out as I had expected. The first was a Beef Wellington, a classic dish that I felt would satisfy my craving for meat and crusty bread at dinnertime. But while the beef tenderloin was cooked well, my puff pastry was not as light and flaky as I had hoped, the bottom had a mushy texture that didn't sit well with me. I quickly realized that I didn't roll the puff pastry thin enough, and I may have been a bit too enthusiastic with the egg wash. My wife thought it was fine regardless, but wives are like that, happy that their husbands made the effort to make dinner, or at the very least, are happy that they didn't have to cook dinner. Another cooking misstep was with making Eggs Benedict, and oddly enough, the mishap occurred on my second attempt. While I managed to poach the eggs without any problems, my attempt at making a Hollandaise sauce became a runny scrambled egg soup of a disaster. I don't know why I thought I could make the sauce on the stovetop; the only other time I tried making Eggs Benedict I used the blender method below. I couldn't use that sauce for my breakfast special, as it was part of a Mother's Day breakfast, so I poured the sauce down the drain, and threw a few drabs of Tabasco sauce on instead. Again, Dawn was happy with the meal, but I was annoyed with my results. I know I shouldn't have been, as mistakes are a part of the learning process, and in the Food Network/Martha Stewart world we live in, the bar is set to such ridiculously high heights, it's hard to not feel like you failed. There's no need for me to put extra pressure on myself. At this stage of my culinary travels, I should be striving to be just "good enough", and focus on learning better techniques and approaches to cooking than striving for perfection. And for the most part, I've been happy with the majority of the dishes I've made. I will overcome these food missteps, as I'm sure there will be others in the future. And if I mess up another meal, I'll use that stack of take-out menus on the top of the fridge as my backup plan. Expanding my cooking knowledge is one thing, but if I'm going to beat myself up for my kitchen nightmares, I might as well do it over a well-cooked meal...and the Eggs Benny at Stoneface Dolly's  is the best in Ottawa, IMHO.

Beef Wellington - Ingredients

1 - 1.5 kg beef tenderloin
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup mushrooms (include some wild ones if you like)
3.5 tablespoons butter
1 large sprig fresh thyme
100 ml ounces dry white wine
12 slices prosciutto or 12 slices bacon
1 handful flour, to dust
2 egg yolks beaten with 1 tsp water

1. Heat oven to 350°F Place the beef tenderloin on a roasting tray, brush with 1 tbsp olive oil and season with pepper, then roast for 15 mins for medium-rare or 20 mins for medium. When the beef is cooked to your liking, remove from the oven to cool, then chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes.
2. While the beef is cooling, chop the mushrooms as finely as possible so they have the texture of coarse breadcrumbs. You can use a food processor to do this, but make sure you pulse-chop the mushrooms so they don't turn into mush.
3. Heat 2 tbsp of the oil and all the butter in a large pan and fry the mushrooms on a medium heat, with the thyme sprig, for about 10 mins stirring often, until you have a softened mixture. Season the mushroom mixture, pour over the wine and cook for about 10 mins until all the wine has been absorbed. The mixture should hold its shape when stirred. Remove the mushroom mixture from the pan to cool and discard the thyme.
4. Overlap two pieces of plastic wrap over a large chopping board. Lay the prosciutto on the plastic wrap, slightly overlapping, in a double row. Spread half the mushroom mixture over the prosciutto, then sit the fillet on it and spread the remaining mushroom mixture over it. Use the plastic wrap edges to draw the prosciutto around the fillet, then roll it into a sausage shape, twisting the ends of plastic wrap to tighten it as you go. Chill the fillet while you roll out the pastry.
5. Roll out a third of the pastry to a 17 x 30 cm strip and place on a non-stick baking sheet. Roll out the remaining pastry to about 27 x 35 cm  Unravel the fillet from the plastic wrap and place it in the center of the smaller strip of pastry and brush the pastry's edges, and the top and sides of the wrapped fillet, with beaten egg yolk. Using a rolling pin, carefully lift and drape the larger piece of pastry over the fillet, pressing well into the sides. Trim the edges to about a 4 cm rim. Seal the rim with the edge of a fork or spoon handle. Glaze all over with more egg yolk and, using the back of a knife, mark the beef Wellington with long diagonal lines taking care not to cut into the pastry. Chill for at least 30 mins and up to 24 hours.
6. Heat oven to 350°F Brush the Wellington with a little more egg yolk and cook until golden and crisp - 20-25 mins for medium-rare beef, 30 mins for medium. Allow to stand for 10 mins before serving in thick slices.

Ingredients - Eggs Benedict 

8 pieces of bacon or 4 pieces of Canadian bacon
2 tablespoons chopped parsley, for garnish
4 eggs
2 teaspoons white or rice vinegar
2 English muffins
butter

Blender Hollandaise
10 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 egg yolks
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dash of cayenne or tabasco

1. Heat a large skillet on medium low heat. Add the meat, slowly fry, turning occasionally, until the Canadian bacon is browned on both sides, or if you're using strip bacon, until much of the fat is rendered out (about 10 minutes). Use tongs or a fork to remove the bacon from the pan, set on a paper towel to absorb the excess fat.
2. While the bacon is cooking, bring a large saucepan two-thirds-filled with water to a boil, then add the vinegar. Bring the water to a boil again, then lower the heat to a bare simmer..
3. To make blender Hollandaise, melt 10 Tbsp unsalted butter. Put 3 egg yolks, a tablespoon of lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon salt in a blender, blend on medium to medium high speed for 20-30 seconds, until eggs lighten in color. Turn blender down to lowest setting, slowly dribble in the hot melted butter, while continuing to blend. Taste for salt and acidity and add more salt or lemon juice to taste.Transfer it to a container you can use for pouring and set it on a warm – but not hot – place on or near the stovetop.
4. Poach the eggs. When all four eggs are cooked, turn off the heat, cover the pan, and let sit for 4 minutes. (Remember which egg went in first, you'll want to take it out first.) When it comes time to remove the eggs, gently lift out with a slotted spoon. Note that the timing is a little variable on the eggs, depending on the size of your pan, how much water, how many eggs, and how runny you like them. You might have to experiment a little with your set-up to figure out what you need to do to get the eggs exactly the way you like them.
5. As soon as all the eggs are in the poaching water, begin toasting your English muffins. If you can’t get all the muffins toasted by the time the eggs are ready, gently remove the eggs from the poaching water and set in a bowl.
6. To assemble the breakfast sandwich, butter one side of an English muffin. Top with two slices of bacon or 1 slice of Canadian bacon. You can trim the bacon to fit the muffin if you’d like. Put a poached egg on top of the bacon, then pour some Hollandaise over. Sprinkle some parsley over it all and serve at once.