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The Food Lab: Why Does Pepperoni Curl?

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Re: The Food Lab: Why Does Pepperoni Curl?

#41

Post by russell_h »

pimeys wrote: post #26
jsankey wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chilies are pretty simple to grow yourself, even just by using the seeds from a dried one. A happy plant produces lots of chilies and the freeze fine for most uses. They don't like the cold, though, so depending which part of Germany you're in you might need to keep it indoors (but still with access to a few hours of sun a day).

Planning to do that chili con carne next Sunday, so no time to grow the plants... Also electricity is super expensive in Berlin, so any artificial growing lights will break my monthly budget.

I did a huge batch of Kenji's chili con carne yesterday, probably my fourth time. You won't regret it.

Edit: this place looks promising in Berlin: https://potandpepper.de

Re: The Food Lab: Why Does Pepperoni Curl?

#42

Post by fefifofu »

His articles and book don't suit my tastes, they're a bit too wordy for me and his "science" is more from experiments, less on the chemistry (proteins, salts, molecules etc).

For a more layman's chemistry view on food science, take a look at Harold McGee's book called "On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen". It really gave me a good foundation to actually understand what is going on when I cook. When my cooking is a disaster, I don't need to experiment as much because now I can think through what went wrong.

Re: The Food Lab: Why Does Pepperoni Curl?

#43

Post by roflchoppa »

gomox wrote: post #16

If you have any beyond-superficial interest in food, Serious Eats columns by Lopez-Alt are a guaranteed treat. A personal favorite is the article on getting perfect french fries in McDonalds style, including managing to get a bag of still-frozen fries for in-depth analysis. A true food hack. http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/05/the-burger-lab-h...

yeah but thats wrong, in-n-out makes the best fries. :p

Re: The Food Lab: Why Does Pepperoni Curl?

#44

Post by iopq »

Pepperoni is a disgusting low quality topping. I mean "cheese pizza" is basically a pizza without toppings. But when the cheapest possible pizza is being made, the topping is always pepperoni. It makes sense - it's cut paper thin and sparsely arranged around the pizza to save on costs.

The next cheapest topping is Canadian bacon, which is not even bacon, but a type of ham. That's basically false advertisement, since bacon is awesome, but Hawaiian-style pizzas are not. Again, arranged in thin small slices around the pizza.

And if your pizza has sausage on it, it usually has too many spices and tastes disgusting like pizza bagel bites.

I guess I forgot to mention "vegetarian" pizzas which have the cheapest toppings yet cost the same. Avoid at all costs.

When I get pizza it usually contains chicken, but I wouldn't mind bacon, pulled pork, shrimp, etc. I just avoid most of the above cheap ingredients since they make pizza taste the same as the $3.50 frozen kind.

Re: The Food Lab: Why Does Pepperoni Curl?

#45

Post by dreamsofdragons »

iopq wrote: post #44

Pepperoni is a disgusting low quality topping. I mean "cheese pizza" is basically a pizza without toppings. But when the cheapest possible pizza is being made, the topping is always pepperoni. It makes sense - it's cut paper thin and sparsely arranged around the pizza to save on costs. The next cheapest topping is Canadian bacon, which is not even bacon, but a type of ham. That's basically false advertisement, since…

Why exactly did you feel the need to share any of that drivel?

Re: The Food Lab: Why Does Pepperoni Curl?

#46

Post by cyphar »

fefifofu wrote: post #42

His articles and book don't suit my tastes, they're a bit too wordy for me and his "science" is more from experiments, less on the chemistry (proteins, salts, molecules etc). For a more layman's chemistry view on food science, take a look at Harold McGee's book called "On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen". It really gave me a good foundation to actually understand what is going on when I cook. Wh…

> His articles and book don't suit my tastes, they're a bit too wordy for me and his "science" is more from experiments, less on the chemistry (proteins, salts, molecules etc).

Not sure I understand the scare quotes. Experimentation and hypothesis testing are the bedrocks of science. Okay, he didn't use chemstry theories to create his hypothesis, but that's not a crime. In particular, the fact that he figured out that the curling was caused by the density of the sausage is very interesting and wouldn't have been possible to figure out if you just used chemistry.

Re: The Food Lab: Why Does Pepperoni Curl?

#47

Post by bobf »

gomox wrote: post #16

If you have any beyond-superficial interest in food, Serious Eats columns by Lopez-Alt are a guaranteed treat. A personal favorite is the article on getting perfect french fries in McDonalds style, including managing to get a bag of still-frozen fries for in-depth analysis. A true food hack. http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/05/the-burger-lab-h...

Definitely! My own favorites are the tonkotsu ramen broth and chocolate chip cookies. (And yes, there are massive, in-depth posts about making the noodles and the cha siu pork belly to accompany the ramen too).

http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/02/how-to-make-tonkotsu-rame...

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/12/the-food-lab-best...

Re: The Food Lab: Why Does Pepperoni Curl?

#49

Post by kenjilopezalt »

gomox wrote: post #16

If you have any beyond-superficial interest in food, Serious Eats columns by Lopez-Alt are a guaranteed treat. A personal favorite is the article on getting perfect french fries in McDonalds style, including managing to get a bag of still-frozen fries for in-depth analysis. A true food hack. http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/05/the-burger-lab-h...

That was an old one but really fun to do. The french fry recipe is a little out of hand in terms of the time and effort it takes to make them. Works better if you batch them and keep them in the freezer.

Re: The Food Lab: Why Does Pepperoni Curl?

#50

Post by kenjilopezalt »

mpetrovich wrote: post #18

This needs a [NSWH], aka Not Safe When Hungry. In all sicilianness, the author just wanted an excuse to binge on home-baked pizza. Ugh. Disgusting. I'd do the same. Next article in the series: "Why does bacon make everything taste better?"

> In all sicilianness, the author just wanted an excuse to binge on home-baked pizza.

Fact.

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