Рецепт Are you ready yet? Tips to Help
The following tips were found in FisherSci Magazine “LabReport”.
The Turkey:
Brine or No Brine – You decide
You want cooked but moist meat.
Brining is letting the raw bird sit in a salt solution so the chemical reaction between the salt and the proteins in the meat will enable those proteins to absorb more water. The result is that during cooking, the turkey will lose about 15 % of its moisture as opposed to a possible 30% when you don’t brine.
The Bread:
Bread depends on chemical reactions between flour, water, and leaveners (baking soda, baking powder, or yeast).
Yeast will help to develop the gluten in wheat based flours which contribute to the texture and flavor of yeast based breads.
Kneading the yeast based bread is essential to develop the proteins. The proteins will form strong and stretchy gluten strands which hold the CO2 given off by the yeast to enable the bread to rise.
Non gluten flours cannot be used alone in a yeast based bread.
Eat Your Vegetables:
There are chemical reactions that happen to our veggies as well.
If you want a citrus flavor added to vegetables without a loss of color, instead of adding lemon juice, simply add lemon zest.
Ah… COOKIES!!!!
It’s all about the Maillard Reaction. From Wikipedia….
The Maillard reaction is responsible for many colors and flavors in foods:
Choose high protein flour to make cookies darker. Corn syrup and baking soda also causes darkening of the cookie (promotes the Maillard reaction).
Use baking powder to speed up baking time, create less spread, and a LESS brown cookie.
No more tips, just a question: Did you buy yourself a gift while shopping for others this year? I did:
The Nutcracker Ballet Music Box. It plays three different tunes and offers three different scenes. Yay Me!
More favorites than don the tree every year:
I’d love to see your favorite ornament. Send me a link in the comments so we all can share.
Happy Holidays!
Joanne