Understanding flour

Gluten comes from protein and enables it to stretch.

High gluten flour is good for  yeast raised products like pizza dough, bread and bagles.  This is called bread flour and has up to 15% protein.
Low gluten flour good for piecrust, cookies, pastry. This called pastry or cake flour and has 7% protein levels.

keep drains flowing

kitchen

• hot water 
• liquid dish detergent and a large volume of boiling water
• Once a month, pour a cup of baking soda down each drain in your home, followed by a cup of white vinegar. Let the solution sit for about an hour, and then flush with warm water. The baking soda reacts with the vinegar to create a foam that will remove most residue from tubs, showers, and sinks.
• First, pour about ¾ of a cup of baking soda into the drain.
• Follow this up with about ½ cup of vinegar poured down the drain; immediately cover the drain with either a plug or a plate- whatever you need to do to keep everything inside the drain.
• Allow this mixture to sit inside the drain for approximately 30 minutes; don’t use the drain while you wait for the mixture to work its magic.
• When 30 minutes is up, remove the cover (or plug) and let hot water run through the pipes for a few minutes.
  
  
• bathroom

• hot water 
• 1 tablespoon table salt 1⁄4 cup of plain white vinegar, and let it sit for an hour. Then, run HOT water to clear out the all of the loosened substances from the drain. For best results do this a second time
• bleach 
• drain stick
• Once a month, pour a cup of baking soda down each drain in your home, followed by a cup of white vinegar. Let the solution sit for about an hour, and then flush with warm water. The baking soda reacts with the vinegar to create a foam that will remove most residue from tubs, showers, and sinks.
• First, pour about ¾ of a cup of baking soda into the drain.
• Follow this up with about ½ cup of vinegar poured down the drain; immediately cover the drain with either a plug or a plate- whatever you need to do to keep everything inside the drain.
• Allow this mixture to sit inside the drain for approximately 30 minutes; don’t use the drain while you wait for the mixture to work its magic.
• When 30 minutes is up, remove the cover (or plug) and let hot water run through the pipes for a few minutes.

Ratios and Temperature for Sphere Magic molecular gastronomy sphereification

122 Degrees F
10% to water

Taste in Food and Drink

A fantastic cookbook is out there called "Elements of Taste" by Gray Kunz and Peter Kaminsky. They go far beyond the 4 or 5 elements we all use to think of when cooking: salty, savory, sweet, sour and recently umami.  

After reading the book and starting to cook through it I found I needed some notes I can refer to and/or hang on my refrigerator so when going shopping (opening the fridge door and pantry) I can quickly reference for ideas of taste combinations and layers.

Which brings me to a question I had of Chef Ryan of Nick's Next Door in Los Gatos, California.  Having gone there for several years several times a month they dropped my favorite crab salad from the menu so I asked Ryan how they go about creating a new dish.  He said he starts with the tastes they wish to impart and then select the ingredients.  He seemed startled when he saw the expression on my face and asked "how do you do it".  I said "I open the refrigerator door..."

So I am hoping with these notes on my fridge door and using Chef Watson to whom I have just been invited to test and comment on their beta...I can use up my fridge's contents before they convert to another green sauce collection.

Taste:

1. Aroma, Mouth Taste, 
2. Texture
1. Crunch
2. Smoothness
3. Pushes Forward
1. Salty
2. Picante: Peppery
3. Sweet
4. Pull other flavors and enhance
1. Tangy
2. Vinted
3. Bulby
4. Spiced Aromatic
5. Floral Herbal
6. Funky
5. Punctuate
1. Sharp/Bitter: Stops taste
1. Watercress, almonds, spinach, beer, campari, cranberries
6. Platforms: Foundations
1. Garden
2. Meaty
3. Oceanic
4. Starchy
7. Cuisines
1. Breadings
2. Glazes
3. Spice Mixes
4. Toppings
5. Broths
6. Sauces
7. Brines
8. Pickels

Make Tofu

1. Soak 300g soybeans overnite and soaked up about 400g of water need 2400 water in total
2. Add about 2000 g water
3. Blend in blender, it is called namago
4. Put in pot, heat till bubbles come up and keep stirring
5. Bubble for 15 minutes, then heats to low for 10 minutes, stirring all the time
6. stain 
7. Squeezed between two bowls and pour off liquid and its called okara, liquid is fresh soy milk
8. Use nagari as the coagulant.  It is magnesium chloride. Use 12.5 ml and 50 ml hot water
9. Heat soy milk to 163F/73C
10. Add Nagari but don't stir a lot
11. Let sit for 10 mins
12. Prepare tofu mold with lined cheesecloth and in pan to get the runoff
13. add curds, cover with cheesecloth
14. add weight like a can for firmer tofu
15. soak tofu in water for 30 mins to get rid of bitterness

The Elements of Taste

Recently I bought "The Art of Blending" by Lior Lev Sercarz based upon a mention in a New York Times article.  I thought I might learn something about pairing specific spices with different foods.  But not.  It's a book about Lior's blends and using those blends on specific recipes.  I complained.  Lior offered a refund. I said no since one day I will put together a database showing what goes with what based on the book.

I also bought his $150 global spice collection and Bloody Mary master collection and have been happily using since.

Having been born in Detroit from a father that burned boiling water learning about taste has been a challenge.  Not enough info is in cookbooks about this until I discovered "The Elements of Taste" and am now reading it.

When I got Grant Ashatz's Alinea cookbook I was first introduced to the elements of taste.  Someplace in the front pages he mentioned salty, sweet, savory, bitter, something else and later I learned of umami.   I can find the 5th thing in Grant's book anymore, but that doesn't matter.

"The Elements of Taste" goes much further.  It classifies different taste as:

Tastes that Push

• Salty
• Sweet
• Picante: Like pepper

Tastes that Pull

• Tangy
• Vinted: Wine/Complex
• Bulby: Fried onions
• Floral Herbal
• Spiced Aromatic: Cinnamon, cloves, allspice, mace, coriander, cumin, saffron, star anise
• Funky: cabbage, truffles, aged meat/cheese

Taste Platforms

• Garden
• Meaty
• Oceanic
• Starchy

Tastes that Punctuate

• Sharp bitter
• Texture

David Kinch of fire burned Manressa in Los Gatoes rattled off the 5 to me once when I was chatting with him.

Still can't remember.

Then  a few weeks ago I was talking with Chef Ryan of Nick's Next Door about new items that might show up on their several years old, but very delicious menu. He he said a chef starts with the tastes he/she wants for the eater.  That was a remarkable thing for me.  And I told him so.

He asked how I started.  I said, I opened the refrigerator.

I'll make my notes here as I work (read and cook) thru the book and understand taste.

Nearly Free Teeth Whitening Tip

Want to have whiter teeth.  Drink coffee?

It's easy.  Just swish some hydrogen peroxide around your front teeth for about 30 seconds each day.  You can get hydrogen peroxide at the grocery or drug store.