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.
Dough and Batter part I
I admit it now, but the discussion that will follow might be a bit too technical and boring for some. But I think it is important to know how ingredients in a dough or batter interact with each other and contribute to the final result. So, there is a list of the most common pastry ingredients and their components, and how they contribute to the structure of a dough or a batter.
Flour
- Glutenin: this is a type of protein that forms the interconnected gluten network and makes the dough elastic.
- Gliadin: this is another kind of protein component of the flour that bonds weakly to the glutenin network to make the dough plastic.
- Starch: It is a form of complex carbohydrate that will fill the gaps in the gluten network and absorb water during cooking. This will have for effect to tenderize the dough and set its structure during cooking.
Water
- It will allow the the gluten network to form and dilute it. Depending on its quantity the final product will be more or less tender.
Yeast and Leavening Agents
- Composed of live cells in the case of the yeasts or purified chemicals in the case of the baking powder, these ingredients have the role of producing carbon dioxide gas (CO2) in the dough or batter. This has for effect to lighten and tenderize the final products.
The Salt
- It is a purified mineral that has for effect to tighten the gluten network, thus bringing stability to the dough or batter. It make the dough more elastic.
Fats, Oils, Shortenings
- These ingredients are mainly made of lipids. They weaken the gluten network, tenderizing the final products.
Sugar
- Sugar is purely made of carbohydrates. They will have for effect to weaken the gluten network and absorb moisture, making the final products tender and moist.
Eggs
- The egg is essentially made of proteins, fats, natural emulsifiers (like the lecithin) and water. These various components of the egg will have very different, but complementary effects on the dough or batter. The first one, comes from the proteins. As the dough or batter cooks they coagulate and supplement the gluten structure with tender protein coagulum. The fats and emulsifiers weaken the gluten network, tenderizing the final products and slowing down the staling process. The other role taken by the natural emulsifier agents that are contained by the egg yolk, is to stabilize the bubbles of CO2 and the starch during the cooking process.
Milk and Buttermilk
- Essentially made of proteins, fats, natural emulsifiers and hydrogen based molecules (acids) milk or buttermilk weakens the gluten network and stabilizes the Co2 bubbles. The final products will, in effect, be tenderized and stale at slower rate.
To finish this little explanation, I would like to precise what I meant when I used the words plastic and elastic in relation to a dough.
Elastic, or elasticity and plastic, or plasticity are two qualities that are brought to a dough through the presence of gluten in the flour. It is characterized by the capacity of a dough to change shape under pressure, but still resist it and move back towards its original shape when the pressure is removed. This is why kneading bread by hand is not an easy job. I think everybody will agree with me on this! Thanks to this combination of properties, wheat dough can expand to incorporate the carbon dioxide gas produced by yeast or leavening agent, and yet resists enough that its bubble wall will not thin to the breaking point.
If you are interested in the elastic and plastic properties of wheat dough, I recommend you this study made by Dr Salme Taagepera, Lecturer and Academic Coordinator at the
Department of Developmental and Cell Biology at the University of California, Irvine, US. (Copy and paste this link in your browser) http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:DW4Ft0VszEMJ:https://eee.uci.edu/clients/staagepe/bio%25209b/powerpoints/lec15_16%2520dough%2520batter%2520c.ppt+gluten+plasticity+and+elasticity&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=ie
What is the healthier way to cook meat?
Nowadays, eating healthily has become a very important issue. Meat has taken a very important part in our diet, but as well as being a great source of proteins and minerals it is also, rich in saturated fat.A common idea is that boiled meat contains less fat than grilled or roasted ones. But is it true?
In fact, it is a wrong idea. This is why.
While cooking, a cut of meat is exposed to different heat intensity depending on the way it is cooked: roasted, boiled, grilled, steamed, etc.
Kitchen scientists have measured the minimum heat level needed to melt the fat away from the meat. It takes a temperature of 150 degrees Centigrade to melt fat in red meats and 240 degrees Centigrade for white meats.
The maximum temperature reached while boiling meat is 100 degrees Centigrade, the boiling point of the liquid the meat is plunged into.
Now you can see where the problem is. The temperature of boiling water is not high enough to melt the fat hidden in meat. You could argue with me that in a stew for example, the meat is cooked for a longer period of time than a pan fried one, thus the fat will have more time to leave the cut. Unfortunately, this is not a matter of time but a matter of temperature.
Another bad point for the boiling method is that through osmosis, the meat looses some of its proteins, and most of its aromatic compounds and minerals to the liquid surrounding it. This will not happen with the other cooking methods which are classified by chefs as a way of cooking by concentration.
In conclusion, it is healthier to roast, grill or pan fry a cut of meat, as soon as the fat that as melted away from it, is kept aside or if you take the excess fat surrounding the meat away with a bit of kitchen paper at the end of the cooking process. And it will be tastier too!
Le Salon du Chocolat de Paris
On the 19th of October, starts the 13th Paris international chocolate show. It will open its world of chocolate wonders at the hall 5/2 & 5/3 of the Paris expo grounds, Porte de Versaille for three days only.
You will find everything imaginable about chocolate. From the cocoa bean production to the chocolate making, chocolate sculptures, even a fashion show with designer clothe made of chocolate and of course chocolate tasting. This year, over 130 chocolate maker from all over the World will be present at the show as well as 400 participants. It will be open every day from 10h until 19h and late night Friday and Saturday, when it will be open until 20h. You will be able to find :
- Live cooking classes entertained by some of the best pastry chefs and "chocolatiers" in the World.
- Exhibitions about the chocolate through history and cultures, chocolate and ethics and a display of photos on Jorge Amado by Italian photographers Luca Renaldini and Catia Zuchetti.
- The chocolate awards in the "espace cacao", where some of the best chocolate makers in the World will be competing live.
- In the "Chocoland" area, different animations will make children (age 4 to 10 registrations needed) discover the world of chocolate.
- The cacao show area will offer different discussions such as chocolate and your health, is chocolate good for my heart, etc.
- And lots more.
It has everything chocolate lover could ever dream of. Beware of indigestion!
The fashion show 
Loads of chocolate! 
Sculptures
The show will also travel around the World. These are the dates and venues :
- New York, Metropolitan Pavilion and Altman Building, 9-11 November 2007.
- Moscow, Gostini Dvor, 30 Nov- 2 Dec 2007.
- Shanghai, Shanghai International Convention and Exhibitions Center, 18-21 January 2008.
- Tokyo, Isetan Tokyo, 23-28 January 2008.
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