[podcast]https://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2010/06/The-Grills-of-Summer.mp3[/podcast] We’ve had at least one nice day so far this spring, and based on previous years (although, of course, as they say about RRSPs, past performance is no guarantee of future results) we may get at least one more before first frost this fall, so there’s just a possibility a few people may break …
Tag: cooking
A taste for cooked meat
It’s not very often you come across new science related to the history of cooking meat, possibly because it’s such a widespread human activity–especially in the summer–that everyone takes it for granted. Also, we’ve been doing it a very long time. As I wrote in a column four years ago: “Evidence…suggests our hominid ancestors were …
High-tech cooking
If you are my age or older, you still think of microwave ovens as pretty fancy high-tech gadgets. But microwave ovens (like me) have been around for decades. There are many more high-tech gadgets landing in kitchens all the time, and if most of them are currently found in expensive restaurants, that doesn’t mean they …
High-tech cooking
If you are my age or older, you still think of microwave ovens as pretty fancy high-tech gadgets. But microwave ovens (like me) have been around for decades. There are many more high-tech gadgets landing in kitchens all the time, and if most of them are currently found in expensive restaurants, that doesn’t mean they …
Molecular gastronomy
The terms “soft condensed matter physics, biochemistry, and molecular biology” are not usually associated by the average person with “bread, cheese fondue, and the mystery of milky sambuca,’ but as Rachel Ehrenberg recently pointed out in Science News, they should be. That’s because (and if you watch the Food Network, this won’t come as a …
Mrs. Beeton’s Ad of the Day
All the advantages of a gas cooker with none of the disadvantages, this oil cooker promises it “Cooks the Food without Cooking the Cook,” and who could argue with that? I find it interesting how many of these old ads try to connect something that would seem to be merely a matter of simple preference–cooking …
Mrs. Beeton’s Ad of the Day
A public service announcement by the British Commercial Gas Association, telling you in no uncertain terms it is unfair to blame the cook if she is forced to cook on anything other than a gas stove. If she does have a gas stove, of course, you may say what you like about her, since she …
Cooking by numbers
Are you cooking-challenged? Then Philips’s new invention may be for you (if it ever becomes a real product). From New Scientist‘s invention blog: The secret is to measure the amount of water released while the food cooks, whether it is baking, frying or being cooked in a microwave. Apparently, this accurately reveals the food’s dryness …
The spice(s) of life
There are certain spices that just naturally come to mind as we approach the holiday season. Cinnamon, for instance. Cloves. Ginger. And, of course, hot peppers. (Hot peppers? Well, when I was growing up, Christmas dinner sometimes featured my mother’s famous enchilada casserole, which could be made mild, medium–or hot.) And unlike many of the …
French fries
It’s Exhibition week in Regina, and while some may sing the praises of the midway, the craft shows or the agricultural displays, let’s face it: it’s really all about food. And not just any old food. No, the quintessential fair foods are deep-fried, from elephant ears and miniature doughnuts to the famous, fabulous French fry. …
Teflon
The first time I saw a Teflon-covered pan, when I was four or five, I thought it was magic. Now that I cook, I’m even more impressed by non-stick surfaces. Teflon was discovered by accident by Roy J. Plunkett, 27, a DuPont scientist who was trying to develop a new chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) for use as …
Barbecuing II
There are still a few good weeks of summer left, and that means there’s still plenty of time for the ultimate summer activity, barbecuing. Technically, what we call barbecuing around here is not true barbecuing, which involves the long, slow cooking of meat, often over hours, at relatively low temperatures in the presence of lots …
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