Showing posts with label Questions on food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Questions on food. Show all posts
The 13 Christmas desserts of Provence
In Provence, region in the South-East of France, you will find this very interesting tradition of the 13 desserts of Christmas: "les treizes dessert de Noel". It is said that there are 13 of them, in reference to Jesus and the 12 apostles sitting at the last supper. Their composition varies greatly from village to village. But they all have in common that they will be served all in the same time, on the same table and in good numbers, after the midnight mass.
As I said the composition of the 13 desserts de Noel varies a lot but they all will traditionally start by the 4 mythical ones, named : "les 4 mendiants" (literally the 4 beggars) followed by "la pompe a huile" (the olive oil pump) and the 2 nougats.
So there is a list of the Provencal 13 desserts of Christmas:
- Les 4 mendiants (the 4 beggars):
- Hazelnuts or walnuts (symbolizing the order of St Augustin )
- Dry figs (symbolizing the Franciscan order)
- Almonds (symbolizing the Carmelite order)
- Raisins (symbolizing the Dominican order)
- Dry figs (symbolizing the Franciscan order)
- Almonds (symbolizing the Carmelite order)
- Raisins (symbolizing the Dominican order)
- La pompe a huile (the olive oil pump):
- Flat yeast bread made with olive oil such as a Gibassié, fougasse. (This bread should be broken like Jesus did at the last supper and not cut to prevent bankruptcy in the new year)
- les 2 nougats
- White nougat (made with pine nuts, pistachio and hazelnuts)
- Black nougat (made with caramelized honey cooked with almonds)
This give us 7 desserts. There is a lists of desserts that would be commonly used locally :
- Black nougat (made with caramelized honey cooked with almonds)
This give us 7 desserts. There is a lists of desserts that would be commonly used locally :
- Dattes (that could be stuffed with marzipan)
- Calisson d'aix en Provence
- Quince fruit paste (or jam)
- Fresh white grapes
- Christmas melon (called verdau), called green espiran in English due to its colour.
- Fresh oranges (sign of wealth)
- Candied melons
- Winter pear and apples
- Plums
In some place children are not allowed to start digging into them unless they named them all first.
As you can see it makes a healthy option in these times of reach, festive dinners.
My be a cause of allergies. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten free (except the bread), suitable for pregnant women.
As you can see it makes a healthy option in these times of reach, festive dinners.
My be a cause of allergies. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten free (except the bread), suitable for pregnant women.Zakouski
Zakoutzki is the russian equivalent to the spanish tapas, and are close to the Scandinave smorgasbord and to a certain extend to the greek and lebanese mezze. It always consists of :
- caviar and smoked fish eggs dressed on buttered brown bread,
- crispy slices of rye bread stuffed with sauerkraut,
- pirojki of various filling,
- smoked and marinated fish : eel, sturgeon, salmon,
- meat bowls,
- herring paté,
- stuffed eggs,
- salads made of fish or chicken with potatoes or beetroot and mixed herbs,
- large pickled gherkins,
- marinated plums, mushrooms and beetroots,
- some rye bread sented with cumin (caraway), onion or poppy seeds.
All that served with a good bottle of russian vodka.
Suitable for coeliacs (excepted the breads and piriojki), Vegetarian (all the vegetable dishes), nut free.
Commercial Stocks
Now, just a quick word about commercial powdered stocks, bouillon paste and other meat extracts. The father of these mass-produced meat extracts was Justus Von Liebig famous inventor of the theory that searing meat seals in the juices, which is, now, proved to be false. Anyway, back to the powdered stuff, these meats extracts are made by simmering meat scraps and bones in water. Then this stock is clarified and reduced to about 10% of its initial volume. The finished extract is a viscous mixture made of 20% water; 50% amino-acids, peptides, gelatin and other related molecules; 5% salt and 20% minerals. Most of these products are less concentrated and are supplemented with various artificial flavours.
Has these mass-produced meat extracts are mainly meat based they need to be improved by briefly cooking them with some vegetables, wine and herbs before using them as part of a sauce.
Has these mass-produced meat extracts are mainly meat based they need to be improved by briefly cooking them with some vegetables, wine and herbs before using them as part of a sauce.
Justus Von Liebig (1803-1873)
German analytical chemist who collaborated with Wöhler in organic chemistry investigations. They discovered the benzoyl radical (C7H5O) in the 1830s, providing seeming support for Berzelius's radical theory. He measured the composition of silver fulminate to be 77.53% silver oxide and 22.47% cyanic acid, which was the same ratio as Wohler had found for cyanic acid. At first, Liebig thought Wohler was wrong, but he was eventually forced to agree that the compounds had the same chemical formula.
Liebig promoted chemistry as the central science, trying to underscore its direct benefit to mankind in the form of pharmaceuticals. He developed a technique for determining the carbon and hydrogen contained in a sample from the carbon dioxide and water given off when a compound was burned. He also attempted to derive physiological phenomena from physical and chemical laws.
In Agricultural Chemistry (1842), he presented organic chemistry in its application to physiology and pathology. Another of Liebig's major accomplishments was in the field of applied chemistry. Two books, Organic Chemistry an its Application to Agriculture and Physiology, and Organic Chemistry in its Application to Physiology and Pathology, published in 1840 and 1842 respectively, revolutionized food production. Even though some of Liebig's ideas were later proved to be incorrect, he set in motion an application of chemical principles that had a profound effect on the future welfare of mankind. For the first time it was possible to produce enough food stuffs to feed the growing population.
He was influenced by Helmholtz in attempting to demonstrate that body heat and muscular action could be derived from the oxidation of foodstuffs. He also sought to establish an elemental balance between ingesta, excreta, and respiratory gases.
Sauces
In my next few articles, I will be looking at what makes the difference between a good cook and a not so good one: sauces. Hundreds of thousands of them exist; they represent the gastronomic culture of a continent, of a country. Henry Babinsky, French mining engineer and writer of "gastromie pratique" defined sauces as a flavourful liquid of various consistency that enhance the main ingredient of a dish. August Escoffier, define the making of sauces as an art, and emphasize about the importance of getting the texture of a sauce right. So, as the precepts of these two, one a famous "gastronome" , the other a famous chef always pointed at the word: texture. So, I decided to focus my research about sauces, on the science of thickening, the influence of texture on flavour, the importance of salt, the different thickening agents and how they work. These subjects are going to be at the centre of my next few posts. But, first of all, let's have a closer look at what a sauce is and how they have evolved through history.
The Oxford dictionary of English defines a sauce as a liquid or semi-liquid substance served with food to add moistness and flavour.
The Larousse Gastronomic definition of a sauce is a form of seasoning, more or less liquid which complements or is used to cook a dish.
So, if I got it right a sauce is a concentrate of flavour in a liquid or semi-liquid form that complements a dish. The word sauce comes from the Latin word salsus which means salted. No surprise, there, as salt has been, since the beginning of time, the main source of seasoning in cooking (not to mention salt has been the only means of preservation of food). We are even born with some nerve endings at the tip of our tongue that are especially designed to taste salt.
Europe is only one of the parts of the world that have evolved sauces with large appeal in modern times. Nowadays, many sauces are popular far from their region of origin: Chinese soy-based sauces, thick and spiced Indian sauces, fiery Mexican salsas and chilli-thickened moles. But it was on the old continent more precisely in France that generations of chefs developed and codified sauces to what became a systematic art and an international standard.
Our first knowledge of a sauce-type of preparation comes from the Romans. A Latin poem from 25 BC, Moretum, describes a peasant farmer making a spread of pounded herbs, cheese, olive oil and vinegar, an ancestor of Pesto, that gave a pungent, salty, aromatic savour to his flatbread. A few centuries later, the Latin cook book, De Re Coquinaria, attributed to Apicius makes it clear that sauces played a major role in the dining of the Roman elite. A quarter of the recipes in this book (more than 500) are sauces recipes. It is in this book, also, that the word ius the ancestor of juice or the French jus appears for the first time. Apicius also sets the thickening precepts that are still in use to thickened our modern sauces.: vegetable and fruit purees, nuts, egg yolks - both raw and cooked, bread even pure starch. Flavouring was provided by about half a dozen herbs and spices, vinegar and honey are common ingredients too. Saltiness and savouriness were supplied by a type of fermented fish: the Garum.
Between Apicius time and the Middle Ages not much is known about cooking. The oldest cooking manuscripts that survived were dated from the 14th century. They describe major changes in the techniques used to prepare sauces. Medieval sauces tend to use many spices. They were thickened with bread and vegetable purees, but meat started to be used as a thickening agent. Pure starch was no longer in use, cream and butter still weren't. If the texture agents haven't change much since the ancient time, the flavouring agents have. Fish sauce disappeared and was replaced by vinegar and unripe grape juice: verjus. Thanks to the discovery of new worlds in the East and the Middle-East new spices made their ways into European sauces: cinnamon, ginger or grain of paradise. The introduction of almonds from the Middle-East made it the main nut used as a thickening agent.
The Middle Ages is the starting point of the era of the stock - meat or fish - as the main flavouring agent. By using stocks, chefs have discovered the technique of thickening sauces by concentration, as a result they discovered that gelatin could be a peculiar but quite efficient thickening agent. It is the beginning of the savoury jellies, aspics.
The 15th century, brought another evolution in the use of stock. Chefs started to perfect their techniques of stock clarification: it was the birth of consommés. This century saw changes in the terminology of sauces too. The words sauce, coulis, soup, salsa, gravy, Jus or bouillon started to appear on cookery manuscripts.
It was in three centuries between 1400 and 1700, that the sauces of our time found their roots. Recipes of those time, call for fewer spices. Vinegar and verjus gave their place to lemon juice. The use of bread and almonds as thickening agents were replace by flour, butter and egg emulsions.
Around 1750, Chef Francois Marin incorporated his knowledge of the Chinese flavour harmony concept into his own cooking. Both Marin and a chef I Yin from ancient China, spoke of balance and harmony. I Yin would bind together sour, sweet, bitter, salty and pungent ingredients while the French chef pots would contain meat juices which would generate complexity and harmony. Francois Marin introduced the concept of the sauce as a complement that deepens and integrates the flavour of the main ingredient with the rest of the other dish. The preparation of sauce in those times required a huge amount of flesh that would not appear in the final dish. With Marin started the glorious time of rich bouillons, stocks, consommés, jus and "restaurants" that will last until the years of the "Nouvelle Cuisine" and "Fusion Cooking".
In 1789, came the French revolution, and with it came the diminishment in the standards of kitchens of the French great houses as less wealth meant less staff. It is then that the first fine restaurants appeared, opened by the former chefs of the bourgeois households. The impact of the French revolution was assessed by Chef Antonin Careme (1784-1833) in his book "Preliminary Discourse" to his Maitre d'hotel francais. Careme made a summary of the old, costly traditional cooking. His input to in the progression of cooking and sauce making was to organize and simplify and classify what Marin foresaw.
About 200 years later, French Chef August Escoffier (1846-1935) in its Guide Culinaire attributed the eminence of French cuisine in the rest of the world directly to its sauces. In the hands of Careme and Escoffier the new way of thinking that came out of Marin's kitchen, became Classic French cooking and the cornerstone of fine dining throughout the western world. But for 40 years, Chefs just kept going in round in circles in the rigid classic cooking system. They just kept on reproducing over and over the same recipe.
In the 1960's came Nouvelle Cuisine, led by Paul Bocuse, Alain Chapel, Michel Guérard and the Troisgros Family and later on, Joel Robuchon. This new concept allow chefs' imaginations to flourish and asserted the virtues of freshness, economy and simplicity. The main aspect of the Nouvelle Cuisine was that the food was to served intact instead of the old ways of the food's total dissection. With the Nouvelle Cuisine came a more rational use of the sauce Espagnole that was the cornerstone of Escoffier's era. Lighter sauces, now had a place in cooking, the use of flour and butter thickening agents were to be replaced by light emulsions, dressings, flavoured oils and cooked vegetable or fruits purée.
Nowadays, Escoffier's Guide Culinaire is considered by most chefs as the cooking "Old Testament". Chefs around the world, including myself, consider Le Grand Livre de Cuisine by French Chef named Alain Ducasse as the cooking "New Testament". His cooking represents the next step in the evolution of cooking and sauce making. He has been able to refine even more the old precepts and integrate, flavours from the global village we leave in as well as the new dietary needs of our modern world. I think that he has reached what Francois Marin and I Yin were striving for, many centuries ago: subtleness and delicacy, balance and harmony.
But, it is history in the making, so it is up to you to find who is going to write the next chapter in the history of sauces.
What means: Bleached Flour?
Unbleached flour has become a quite common description on baking recipes. Whether it is in cookery books or blogs, it always sounds healthier. Isn't it? So, what is the antagonist of unbleached flour made of and why is it, that bleached flour sounds like the bad guy of the baking world.
First I will start to explain why, bleaching (whitning agent to be more precise) agent are used during the milling process of wheat flour. Experienced bakers will all, tell you the same thing: freshly milled flour makes a weak gluten, a slack dough and a dense loaf. In fact, wheat flour as to be aged, naturaly or chemicaly*, to allow the gluten development and improve its baking properties. The natural process of oxydation of the flour helps freeing the glutenin protein's end sulfur groups to react with each other and form even longer gluten chains that give the dough greater elasticity.
The down side of this process is that the yellowish flour becomes progressively paler as the xanthophyll pigments are oxydized to a colorless form.
The second explaination is of a cultural aspect. Our western society has become used to immaculate white bread. The demand of white bread has progressively overthrone the old traditional greyish, yellowish bread from my childhood.
Now, once the phenomenon of the color changes in air aged flour was understood, millers started to use bleaching agents, "I'll give their little name later," to whiten flours. Then, our consumptions habits changing and the increase in the demand of white bread (in opposition the the old traditional bread) as made its use the norm.
What are these bleaching agent? The first that was used is called azodicarbonamide. When it reacts with flour, it behaves as a hydrogen acceptor, and is quickly and completely converted to biurea, which is stable even during baking. The reaction occurs only during wetting of the dough. Acceptable doses for flour treatment range between 0-45 ppm. It is also used in the production of foamed plastics and the manufacture of gaskets. In the UK, the H.S.E has identified azodicarbonamide as a respiratory sensitiser (a possible cause of asthma) and determined that products should be labeled with "May cause sensitisation by inhalation." The use of azodicarbonamide as a food additive is banned in Australiaand in Europe. The others are:
- Organic peroxides: named benzoyl peroxide, it is a radical initiator. Homolytic cleavage of the weak oxygen-oxygen bond forms free radicals which trigger further reactions. It is also used in treatment of acne and in tooth whitening and hair dye. It is potential cancerogene and may act as a mutagen. It is also banned in Europe.
- Calcium peroxide: (CaO2) is a solid peroxide with a white or yellowish color. For all practical purposes calcium peroxide is insoluble in water but will dissolve in acid to form hydrogen peroxide . When in contact with water it will immediately begin to decompose releasing oxygen. In agriculture it is used as a fertilizer, and is also used in the presowing treatments of rice seeds. Also, calcium peroxide has found use in the aquaculture industry as it is used to oxygenate and disinfect water, and in the ecological restoration industry as it is used in the treatment of soils. It is banned in Europe as a food additive. Its E number is E930.
- Nitrogen dioxide: is the chemical coupound NO2. This reddish-brown gas has a characteristic sharp, biting odor. NO2 is one of the most prominent air pollutants and a poison by inhalation. It is banned in the EU and Australia.
- Chlorine dioxide: is a chemical compound of formula ClO2. This greenish-yellow gas crystallizes as orange crystals at −59 °C. As one of several oxides of chlorine, it is a potent and useful oxidizing agent used in water treatment and in bleaching. Chlorine dioxide is used primarily (>95%) for bleaching of wood pulp, but is also used for the bleaching of flour and for the disinfection of water. It is reported to produce diabetes-causing contaminant alloxan when reacting with the proteins contained in flour. You may have guessed it is banned in Europe and Australia.
As you may have noticed chemical bleaching of flour is banned in the EU and Australia, there flour whitening and improving is done by adding some fava bean flour or soy flour. They act as flour improver as they fast forward the the gluten development as well as whitening wheat flour.
I let you come to your own conclusions and make your choice: bleached or unbleached flour...
* Chemicals used as flour improver. They are used mainly to speed up the development of the gluten. They are: Chlorine gas, bromate (banned since the 80's), Acid ascorbic (vitamin C) and anti caking agents.
Chocolate Cools the Mouth!
Maybe you might have noticed yourself, but well-made chocolate leaves a refreshing sensation in your mouth. It is a quite unusual characteristic for such a rich food: as it melts it cools the mouth. This has been explained by the fact that the stable fat crystals contained in chocolate, melt in a very narrow temperature range, and just below body temperature. The phase change from solid to liquid absorbs much of the mouth's heat energy and leaves little to raise the temperature of the chocolate, which therefore feels persistently cool.
Dough and Batter part II
In dough and batter part one, I tried to describe the most common ingredients found in baked and pastry products and how they interact with each other. In part 2 I short listed some common dough and batter recipes and summarized their representative compositions.This is how it works. The numbers shown will indicate the relative weight of ingredients in doughs and batters with the weight of flour constant at 100. This description is purely based on wheat flour, though other grains and seeds can also be used, most familiar baked goods and pastries are made from wheat. Also, I would like you to keep in mind that it is only a general representation of the proportion of ingredients used in common baked foods; individual recipes vary widely.
Doughs
- Bread = Flour: 100; Total water: 65; Fat or oil: 3; Milk solids: 3; Eggs: 0; Sugar: 5; Salt: 2.
- Biscuits = Flour: 100; Total water: 70; Fat or oil: 15; Milk solids: 6; Eggs: 0; Sugar 1; Salt: 2.
- Pastry = Flour: 100; Total water: 30; Fat or oil: 65; Milk solids: 0; Eggs: 0; Sugar 1; Salt: 1.
- Cookie = Flour: 100; Total water: 20; Fat or oil: 40; Milk solids: 6; Eggs: 6; Sugar 45; Salt: 1.
- Pasta = Flour: 100; Total water: 25; Fat or oil: 0; Milk solids: 0; Eggs: 5; Sugar: 0; Salt: 1.
- Brioche = Flour: 100; Total water: 60; Fat or oil: 45; Milk solids: 2; Eggs: 75; Sugar: 3; Salt: 1.
- Panettone = Flour: 100; Total water: 40; Fat or oil: 27; Milk solids: 1; Eggs: 15*; Sugar: 28; Salt: 1.
Batters
- Pancake, waffle = Flour: 100; Total water: 150-200; Fat or oil: 20; Milk solids: 10; Eggs: 60; Sugar: 10; Salt: 2.
- Crepes, popover** = Flour: 100; Total water: 230; Fat or oil: 0; Milk solids: 15; Eggs: 60; Sugar: 0; Salt: 2.
- Choux = Flour: 100; Total water: 200; Fat or oil: 100; Milk solids: -; Eggs: 130; Sugar: 1; Salt: 2.
- Sponge cake = Flour: 100; Total water: 75; Fat or oil: 0; Milk solids: 0; Eggs: 100; Sugar: 100; Salt: 1.
- Pound cake = Flour: 100; Total water: 80; Fat or oil: 50; Milk solids: 4; Eggs: 50; Sugar: 100; Salt: 2.
- Layer cake = Flour: 100; Total water: 130; Fat or oil: 40; Milk solids: 7; Eggs: 50; Sugar: 130; Salt: 3.
- Chiffon cake = Flour: 100; Total water: 150; Fat or oil: 40; Milk solids: 0; Eggs: 140; Sugar: 130; Salt: 2.
- Angel cake = Flour: 100; Total water: 220; fat or oil: 0; Milk solids: 0; Eggs: 250***; Sugar: 45; Salt: 3.
*Yolks only; ** Known as Yorkshire pudding on this side of the Atlantic; *** Whites only.
Freezing egg yolks
"Is it possible to freeze egg yolk?" Was the very interesting question raised by Karin in her comment on "storing eggs". As the answer is a bit too long to post as a comment there is an add-on to the post on "storing eggs".
It is possible to store egg yolk or whole eggs in the freezer. But they require a special treatment before being stored in the freezer. If the yolk of the egg is frozen as is, it will become pasty when thawing and it won't be possible to combine it into a future preparation.
Now, you will have to make sure to follow these simple hygiene rules.
- Make sure that the eggs come from a refrigerated shelf in the store.
- Make sure that the eggs are extra fresh.
- When breaking them, use gloves and disinfected containers.
- Make sure to use perfectly clean recipient to store them.
Thoroughly mixing the yolk with some either salt, sugar or an acid will prevent the yolk proteins from aggregating, and leave the thawed mixture fluid enough to mix.
To freeze egg yolks add a teaspoon (5 g) salt, a tablespoon (15 g) sugar or 4 tablespoon (60 ml) lemon juice per pint (1/2 l). Blend well then freeze.
To freeze whole eggs, add 1/2 a teaspoon salt (2.5 g), 1/2 tablespoon (7.5 g) sugar or 2 tablespoon (30 ml) lemon juice per pint (1/2 l). Blend well then freeze.
Finally I would like to give you a piece of advice. I have to use frozen eggs in pastry making due to health and safety regulations in place . Don't expect the same results using frozen eggs whether it is egg whites, egg yolks or whole eggs ; they lose some of their foaming agents as well as some of their water and their proteins are also affected by the cold.
Storing Eggs
What is the best way to keep your eggs? Well, everybody seems to know the optimum way to store its eggs, in the fridge or at room temperature, on their side, blunt end up or down or I even heard of people washing their eggs before putting them in the fridge. But even myself, using an average of 900 eggs a week in my kitchen, was surprised when I read about storing recommendations about the safe keeping of fresh eggs. So I decided to summarise all this information here in these few commandments.
First commandment, only buy eggs that stored on a refrigerated shelving and bring them back as quickly as possible in your own fridge. This will have for effect to minimise the risk of spoilage of your eggs with salmonella and listeria, which can have devastating effects on children, pregnant women, elderly people and immuno-depressed people.
The second commandment is to avoid shaking your eggs during transportation. Then DO NOT use the egg rack that nearly all home fridges have on their doors as it is the place of your fridge that get most of the shocks and vibrations. Instead, place them on an egg rack on one of the fridge shelf. Why these precautionary measures? Well, it is not to avoid to break your eggs, agitation thins the whites of the eggs therefore decreasing its nutritional values as well their cooking qualities especially in pastry making.
Third commandment, keep your eggs in an airtight container and not the carton they come in. These carton boxes are quite handy, I agree, but they do not protect the eggs from losing moisture, CO2 alike and absorb odours from other food in the fridge. Also, they cannot slow down the inevitable development of the stale flavour into the eggs. I remind you that an egg shell is porous, so that the future chick can breathe through during its development.
The fourth one is to keep your eggs on their side as it seems, after numerous studies done in the 50's, 60's and 70's, that it give a better centered yolk when hard cooked. There are no real answers to why this happen. Harold McGee thinks that perhaps the fact that both yolk cords fight equally against gravity.
And finally the fifth commandment, but maybe the most important of all DO NOT WASH the shell of raw eggs of any kind. As I said earlier, the shell of an egg isn't smooth or airtight or waterproof. In doing so you will dramatically increase the risk of bacteria that is on the shell, going through the shell and spoiling the inside of the egg. This applies too when you're cooking hard boiled eggs, do not start cooking your eggs in cold water, as the same process can happen.
In conclusion, bought fresh and handled with care, eggs should keep for several weeks in the shell.
To finish this post I would like to give some information on EU regulations about what should appear on boxes of eggs and grading. Awareness is knowledge.
Egg labelling
Eggs have separate rules. They are graded according to their class; A, B or C. Grading is done by an automated process known as 'candling' - looking through the egg against a bright background light. Grade A is the one you'll see in the shops; Grade B is 2nd quality or preserved eggs; and Grade C is for the food industry use only. Then they're weight graded into one of four sizes; very large or XL: large or L; medium or M; and Small or S. If they're sold in boxes the following information must appear:
- Packer's name and address
- Packing centre number
- Quality (A or A class)
- Weight (XL etc)
- Number
- Best before date
- Advice to keep refrigerated after purchase
- Optional information includes a 'sell by' date and the method of production.
Egg freshness
Under EU law eggs must carry a 'best before' date of no more than 28 days after laying and they must be sold within 21 days of being laid, so they've got at least a week to be eaten before their 'best before' date expires.
If they're marked as 'extra fresh' they must be sold within nine days of being laid. 'Sell by' dates are permitted as optional extras.
Do chillies and pepper make holes in our stomach?
A few years ago my Mum was diagnosed with a stomach ulcer. At the time her practitioner advised her to avoid the consumption of spicy food and avoid seasoning her food with pepper, telling her that they would increase the irritation of her stomach lining therefore exacerbate her ulcer. About five years later, I started catering college and started studying all food related conditions and conditions that affect the digestive system. I decided then to ask my lecturer about the relation between chillies, pepper and stomach ulcer. His answer was vague : "it is not recommended to eat chillies or use too much pepper as seasoning but there are some studies about it on the way but it is too early to know if it is true or not".
One day, as I was reading a book by the French physicist and chemist Hervé This "Les secrets de la casserole" Edition Belin 1993, he talked about a study made by American gastroenterologist David Y Graham at the department of Medicine, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Houston, that was looking at the effect of chillies on the stomach lining.
David Graham study consisted of the observation of a panel of 12 volunteers. He started by giving them a "neutral" dinner; a traditional steak and chips. Then they had to eat the same meal, but seasoned with some aspirin. And finally, their third menu consisted of a pizza topped with spicy sausages and different Mexican traditional dishes in which he added as much chillies that it humanely possible to eat. Poor people!
The next step of the study was to subject these volunteers to an endoscopy (basically he made them swallow a very small camera to take pictures of their stomach and intestins). The results were that aspirin effectively attacked their stomach lining but that chillies didn't have any visible corrosive action on their stomach.
The principal ingredient that gives chillies their hot effect in our mouth is capsaicin or 8-methyl-N-vanniyl-6neneamid, for the chemists. It is also found in pepper. David Graham decided, logically, to concentrate his study on this particular molecule and its action on the stomach lining, as it was until then it was said that it had the same effect as aspirin.
Using pure capsaicin, he found no visible effects on the stomach. He even pushed his experience to place some pieces of some of the hottest chillies as well as some crushed pepper directly on the stomach lining, in vivo. The result was still negative. On the other hand, he observed that when he used tabasco, it had a corrosive action on stomach tissues. He explained this, by the fact that the concentration of acetic acid (it constitutes vinegar and is well known to have a aggressive effect on the stomach) was twice that of ordinary vinegar.
So, the results of his study were that even if chillies and pepper generate a pain message from our nerves to the brain, they don't have any particular corrosive action on our stomach nor our intestinal lining. In fact, they have a number of beneficial effects on our digestive system. They stimulate the production of saliva, speed up the intestinal transit and gives us a satisfying feeling
after a spicy meal. In another of his studies he also found out that the capsiacin contained in jalapeno peppers have a positive effect on the treatment of the helicobacter pilori (virus linked to stomach ulcer).
after a spicy meal. In another of his studies he also found out that the capsiacin contained in jalapeno peppers have a positive effect on the treatment of the helicobacter pilori (virus linked to stomach ulcer). In simple words chillies are good for you!
Blueberry or Bilberry?
Blueberry or bilberry? As I was reading a book called “Mc Gee on Food and Cooking” I became puzzled about the true name of what was resting at the bottom of my basket.
Blueberries are the small fruit of a group of flowering plants of the genus Vaccinium. This genus includes the blueberriesV. Cyanococcus, the bilberries V. Myrtillus, the cranberries V. Macrocarpon and the lingonberries or cowberries V. Vitis-idaea.
The blueberries are a native of North America (V. Cyanococcus), Northern Europe and Eastern Asia (V. Myrtillus). The shrubs sizes varies from 10cm to 4m. The smaller species are also known as lowbush blueberries which are mainly the wild species, the larger shrubs are called highbush blueberries which come from the selection and cross breeding of wild species since the beginning of the 19th century.The blueberry shrubs can either be deciduous or evergreen. Its leaves are ovate (oval outline) or lanceolate (shaped like a lance head), from 1 to 8cm long and 0.5 to 3.5cm broad. The shrub favours poor, acidic soil to grow and is a pioneer plant of burned fields. It produces flowers that are bell-shaped, white, pale pink or red.
In Europe, the only true blueberry (genus V. Cyanococcus) that you will be able to find are farmed. The principal producers are France, Austria, Germany, The Netherlands and Italy. The largest producer of blueberries in the World is the U.S but their production is mainly for the U.S and Canadian markets. Farmed blueberries can be found on the market from the mid-June until the end of September.Here in Ireland and in my homeland of Brittany it is the peak of the seasons for the wild bilberries (genus V.Myrtillus). The bilberry shrub looks like a short bush with small oval, evergreen leaves. They grow pale pink flower from mid-June until July and produce small round, dark blue fruits. They can be found in clear wood lands as well as rocky, bushy areas such as the Wicklow mountains or wild areas of Mayo and Donegal.
Bilberries and blueberries are true berries or single fruits derived from the plant’s ovaries. They have a distinctive, spicy aroma due to several terpenes*, phenolic antioxidants*and anthocyanins. They are also rich in anthocyanin pigments, especially in the skin.Terpenes are flavour compounds that provides the citrusy, floral, leaf like and fresh flavour to the blueberry. It is also known to inhibit the growth of cancer cells and tumors. This type of flavour compound is very fragile and would be destroyed when exposed to heat.
Phenolic antioxidants are aromatic compounds that provides a spicy flavour to the overall taste of the blueberry but it is also beneficial the body. Antioxidants of the phenolic types are known to reduce the body’s own production of DNA-damaging chemicals. This type of flavour molecules are more resistant to heat and provide persistence of the flavour in the mouth.
Anthocyanin is a natural pigment. It gives the blue color of the bilberries and blueberries. It is also this pigment that gives red wine its color. Anthocyanin are, in fact, a polyphenolic compound which means that it is made of two or more phenolic flavour molecules linked together, which also gives antioxidant qualities to this pigment. They help in slowing the development of heart disease.
Recent studies, also shows, that blueberries or bilberries help prevent urinary track infections and have a significant impact in reducing the degradation of brain functions, as in Alzeimer’s Disease or Parkinson’s condition.
The nutritional breakdown for a 140g of blue/bilberries is as follow : 1g fat which no cholesterol nor saturated fats, 27g carbohydrates which 11g sugars and 3g dietery fiber, 1g protein. A 140g serving of fruits brings 15% of the daily needs in vitamin C.
In cooking, blueberries or bilberries are excellent fruits to make jams or tarts (use them raw as a topping) , they also make great mousses and gratins. They are a traditional accompaniment of pancakes and muffins. Try it, too, with creme brulees, it brings a nice acid/spicy cut through the richness of this type of dessert. Now blueberry juice have been introduced on the market. Not all of them are great now, I have to say, it is a good thing to have a good look at the label and check for the total content of pure blueberry juice a lot of them are mixed with apple or grapes juice. Another great way to eat them is, of the bush!Why does fresh fish remind us the smell of sea air?
One of the characteristics of a fresh saltwater fish is its distinctive smell of seacoast air. Why is that?
The Ocean aroma of the seacoast comes from compounds called bromophenols*. These molecules are synthesised by algae and some primitive animals from bromine* ; an abundant sea water element. Present in sea water, bromophenols are propelled into the seacoast air by the actions of the waves and the spray, where we smell them directly.
Wild saltwater fish also store bromophenols either by eating algae or algae eaters. This is how the aroma of fish remind us the seacoast air.
On the other hand, farmed saltwater fish can lack of this aroma because fish feed doesn't contain any bromophenols. Nowadays, some fish farmers supplement the their artificial feed with these compounds, but nothing is worth the "real mac coy".
Bromine
Atomic number : 35
Atomic mass : 79.904 g.mol -1
Electronegativity according to Pauling : 2.8
Density : 3.1 g.cm-3 at 20°C
Melting point : - 7.2 °C
Boiling point : 58.8 °C
Vanderwaals radius : 0.165 nm
Ionic radius : 0.195 nm (-1)
Isotopes : 10
Electronic shell : [ Ar ] 3d10 4s2 4p5
Energy of first ionisation : 1142.7 kJ.mol -1
Standard potential : 1.08 V
Discovered by Anthoine Balard in 1826
Bromophenols
The complete series of 19 bromophenols have been studied by density functional theory (DFT) calculations at the B3LYP/6-311G++(d,p) level. The molecular structures and properties of bromophenols are strongly influenced byintramolecular hydrogen bonding of ortho-bromine, steric and inductive effects of substituted bromine, and other intramolecular electrostatic interactions. Systematic trends in several structural parameters and molecular properties of bromophenols have been found with the increasing number of bromine substitutions, including increase in O-H bond length, decrease in C-O bond length, red shift in O-H stretching frequency, and blue shift in O-H torsional frequency. Correlations among several key molecular parameters as well as those with available aqueous pK[a] values are examined. Comparisons with chlorophenols have indicated that the inductive effect of substituted bromine appears larger and bromophenols are slightly stronger acids than chlorophenols.
Copyright 2006 INIST-CNRS. All rights reserved
Why is there seasons for fish and crustaceans?
We are familiar with seasonality for fruits, vegetables even milk. But Seasons for fish and crustaceans, it is not that obvious. Why can it be considered that a particular fish, shellfish or crustaceans has variations of qualities because of the natural phenomenon of the seasons.
Fishes live out a life ruled by a dual type cycle. During the first phase they grow and mature, accumulating energy reserves and reaching their peak of culinary quality. The second phase is a period in which they expend those reserves to migrate and create masses of eggs or sperm for the next generation. Unlike most land animal, which store their reserves in layers of fat tissues, fishes use the proteins of their muscle mass as their energy pack.During migrations and spawning, they accumulate protein-digesting enzymes in their muscle and literally transform their own flesh into the next generation.
This makes their meat meager and spent, resulting in spongy,mushy dishes.
Crustaceans (crabs, shrimps, lobsters) quality is also, subject to fluctuation due to season cycles.
One typical aspect of crustaceans is their shell. To grow they must periodically cast off the old cuticle and create a larger new one. It is called molting. During this process the animal constructs a new, flexible cuticle under the old one from its body's protein and energy reserves. Then, it squeezes its shrunken body through weakened joints in the old shell, then pumps up itself with water (from 50-100% of its original weight) to stretch the new cuticle to its maximum volume. Finally, the shell hardens and gradually replaces its body water with muscle and other tissues.
Molting means that crustacean flesh quality is highly variable. An actively growing animal has dense, abundant muscle while an animal preparing to molt or newly molted have a poor muscle mass and is mainly filled with water.
Why is fish meat rich in highly unsaturated fats?
There is a very interesting question. Why fish and not the best quality Irish Angus beef contains high levels of unsaturated fats? These fatty acids that are so good for our health.
In fact, this is very simple. It comes from the difference between the environments in which fish and beef or pigs leave. Oceanic waters are colder than pasture or barns. Furthermore, fishes are cold blooded creatures and mammals are hot blooded ones. Throw a thick beefsteak in the sea and it will congeal, its cells are designed to operate at the animal's usual body temperature around 40 degrees Celsius.
The cells membrane, energy reserves of a fish and everything they eat must remain fluid and workable at all time even if the environment surrounding them approach freezing temperature.
Their fatty acids are therefore very long and irregular and don't solidify into orderly crystals until the temperature gets very low.
Cold Cooking !!!
Throughout my years cooking in Ireland I encountered quite a lot of customers who would send back marinated fish dishes such as the ”mackerel” recipe that I posted on my blog, complaining that it was raw.
I always ask myself why is this. I decided then to go to have a talk with such customers to try to find an answer to my questions. I realised then that for them cooked food meant that the ingredients have been exposed to heat. This is not a misconception of the word cooking but meat, vegetables or fish can also be cooked without heat.
First of all let’s define the action of cooking. The Oxford dictionary says : “prepare by mixing, combining and heating the ingredients” or “be heated so that the state required for heating is reached”. But for the cook, cooking has two objectives, make the food easier to digest and create new flavours. For the scientist/cook, cooking means breaking down of proteins and chemical reactions.
What are the effects of heat on ingredients like fish or meat in a recipe. Heat will tenderise tough molecules and start chemical reactions that will create new aromatic compounds.
The molecule that makes meat or fish tough is called collagen. Women would be quite familiar with this type of protein as it is widely used in cosmetics. This protein constitutes a third of all animal protein. Collagen can be broken down by heat therefore making meat or fish easier to chew and digest.
But protein can also be broken down with acid such as vinegar,lemon juice or acidic compounds in wine. This will happen without heating by just placing the ingredients in a marinade for some time. So a fillet of fish placed in a marinade will be cooked with the acid in the mixture.
I came to the conclusion that the customers were mainly worried about food safety. And there are right to be concerned about it. One of the most important things is the freshness of the produce.
But there is another way of ensuring food is safe without using heat and this is where food science kicks in. The acid in a marinade acts as a preservative and there are very few strains of bacteria that would live or survive in an acidic environment. Pickles are a good example of the preservative effect of acids. Another example is ascorbic acid, more commonly named Vitamin C, is naturally present in lemon juice. The food industry make good use of this preservative, you can find it very often on food packaging under the number E300.
So feel confident, try marinated fish or meat dishes.
I always ask myself why is this. I decided then to go to have a talk with such customers to try to find an answer to my questions. I realised then that for them cooked food meant that the ingredients have been exposed to heat. This is not a misconception of the word cooking but meat, vegetables or fish can also be cooked without heat.
First of all let’s define the action of cooking. The Oxford dictionary says : “prepare by mixing, combining and heating the ingredients” or “be heated so that the state required for heating is reached”. But for the cook, cooking has two objectives, make the food easier to digest and create new flavours. For the scientist/cook, cooking means breaking down of proteins and chemical reactions.
What are the effects of heat on ingredients like fish or meat in a recipe. Heat will tenderise tough molecules and start chemical reactions that will create new aromatic compounds.
The molecule that makes meat or fish tough is called collagen. Women would be quite familiar with this type of protein as it is widely used in cosmetics. This protein constitutes a third of all animal protein. Collagen can be broken down by heat therefore making meat or fish easier to chew and digest.
But protein can also be broken down with acid such as vinegar,lemon juice or acidic compounds in wine. This will happen without heating by just placing the ingredients in a marinade for some time. So a fillet of fish placed in a marinade will be cooked with the acid in the mixture.
I came to the conclusion that the customers were mainly worried about food safety. And there are right to be concerned about it. One of the most important things is the freshness of the produce.
But there is another way of ensuring food is safe without using heat and this is where food science kicks in. The acid in a marinade acts as a preservative and there are very few strains of bacteria that would live or survive in an acidic environment. Pickles are a good example of the preservative effect of acids. Another example is ascorbic acid, more commonly named Vitamin C, is naturally present in lemon juice. The food industry make good use of this preservative, you can find it very often on food packaging under the number E300.
So feel confident, try marinated fish or meat dishes.
How to choose a fish?
Ask the expert!
While I would never go against the judgement of your local fishmonger, here are few tips to choose a fish in the supermarket, . It works in three sensory steps ; appearance, texture and smell.
First of all let’s check a whole/gutted fish.
-APPEARANCE-
Eyes : bright and bulging, a clear cornea and shining black pupil.
Gills : glossy, bright red or pink.
Skin : glossy, scales adhering tightly ; clear mucus if present.
-TEXTURE-
Firm and elastic to touch (ask the sales assistant to do it for you. You will notice that the marks made by his/her finger on the skin are visible for a second or two if the fish is fresh).
-SMELL-
Inoffensive, quite inexistent, slight sea smell.
Now let’s check a fillet of fish. -APPEARANCE-
Skin : glossy.
Flesh : Raw looking, transparent, no bruising or blood spotting.
-TEXTURE-
Firm and elastic to the touch (ask the sales assistant to do it for you. You will notice that the finger marks left by his/her hands on the flesh will only last a second or two if the fish is fresh).
-SMELL-
Inoffensive, slight sea smell.
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