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Notes on Baking at the South Pole

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Re: Notes on Baking at the South Pole

#11

Post by joshvm »

0xbadcafebee wrote: post #6
joshvm wrote: post #5

The few times I've baked there, it's been a pretty good experience. There's a full height proving cabinet, yeast works really well at altitude, the ovens have steam injectors, there are good mixers, a commercial fryer. In many ways much easier than baking at home, but probably not a patch on a good bakery. We almost ran out of sugar in 2021 and Rothera sent us a bag of Tate and Lyle in break-glass-in-emerhency box on…

Do they not do soaked beans? Leave them in water for 2 days and they shouldn't need a full boil I wouldn't think? Bonus: chickpea water as an egg substitute in recipes (powdered egg is nasty!). Re: coffee, mixing concentrated cold brew with hot water makes a pretty smooth cup

> Do they not do soaked beans? Leave them in water for 2 days and they shouldn't need a full boil I wouldn't think?

We'd definitely have kidney beans in chili and some other dishes, but I got the impression it was a hassle otherwise.

> Re: coffee, mixing concentrated cold brew with hot water makes a pretty smooth cup

Friend and I ran a weekly pop-up espresso bar and did a lot of experimenting over the winter. The USAP "house" beans are quite dark, but at least they're roasted within a year or two because coffee is always available and we go through a lot of beans every season. Except the decaf. That stuff is decades old.

People often bring down a big bag from one of the roasters in Christchurch. We personally shipped down a lot of specialty coffee, mostly made V60 and aeropress. The outbuilding where our telescopes live also has a Chemex and an automatic.

Re: Notes on Baking at the South Pole

#12

Post by is_true »

aziaziazi wrote: post #10
ufo wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if soaked, beans still take hours to cook without a pressure cooker.

I depends the beans and their freshness. If soaked and not 2yo+, it’s less than 1 hour for most of them. 30 min is enough for azuki and chickpeas if soaked 48h. There’s other tricks: various beans can be found in the form of instant powder or flaskes (1 min watering - no cooking) semolina (5 min watering - no cooking) and pre steamed (no watering - 10/20 min cooking). I bring those to hike on the mountain and use gaz…

What's your recipe that uses semolina? I do a lot of outdoor activities and I'm always trying to find new foods to try

Re: Notes on Baking at the South Pole

#13

Post by cozzyd »

jcranmer wrote: post #8
jmclnx wrote: post #3

>At roughly nine thousand three hundred feet above sea level (~2800M) I heard Antarctica on average very high above sea level. So I would think just the thinness of the air would make baking rather hard compared to sea level. Sadly I will not be able go there. 40 years ago, when I when was at around 6000 feet above sea level on a trip, I was getting dizzy when moving around :) Sea level is were I was born and were I…

It should be noted that because of the effect of the poles on the atmosphere (the atmosphere is intrinsically thinner near the poles), the surface pressure is even lower, so that it feels like about 11k feet in altitude rather than 9k feet in altitude. (See, e.g. https://brr.fyi/posts/pressure-altitude .)

Yes, the pressure altitude varies significantly and you can feel the higher altitude days pretty easily...

Re: Notes on Baking at the South Pole

#14

Post by cozzyd »

joshvm wrote: post #11
0xbadcafebee wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do they not do soaked beans? Leave them in water for 2 days and they shouldn't need a full boil I wouldn't think? Bonus: chickpea water as an egg substitute in recipes (powdered egg is nasty!). Re: coffee, mixing concentrated cold brew with hot water makes a pretty smooth cup

> Do they not do soaked beans? Leave them in water for 2 days and they shouldn't need a full boil I wouldn't think? We'd definitely have kidney beans in chili and some other dishes, but I got the impression it was a hassle otherwise. > Re: coffee, mixing concentrated cold brew with hot water makes a pretty smooth cup Friend and I ran a weekly pop-up espresso bar and did a lot of experimenting over the winter. The USA…

At McMurdo this season the espresso machine at the coffee house broke. Fortunately we had two espresso machines out at LDB, and plenty of C1 and C4 beans

Re: Notes on Baking at the South Pole

#15

Post by unselect5917 »

socalgal2 wrote: post #4

If you've never seen it I highly recommend "A Place Further than the Universe". It's an anime, serious (not a wacky comedy) about 4 high school students who manage to take a trip to Antartica by joining an expedition. One of the best things I've seen in a while. Only 13 episodes so under 4hrs total. Super inspiring and I learned several interesting facts about not just Antartica but what it takes to get there as well…

Nice! I'm gonna check it out.

Re: Notes on Baking at the South Pole

#17

Post by egl2020 »

socalgal2 wrote: post #4

If you've never seen it I highly recommend "A Place Further than the Universe". It's an anime, serious (not a wacky comedy) about 4 high school students who manage to take a trip to Antartica by joining an expedition. One of the best things I've seen in a while. Only 13 episodes so under 4hrs total. Super inspiring and I learned several interesting facts about not just Antartica but what it takes to get there as well…

I enjoyed Werner Herzog's "Encounters at the End of the World" at many levels, not the least of which was how different it was from "Aguirre, the Wrath of God".

Re: Notes on Baking at the South Pole

#18

Post by rmunn »

scuff3d wrote: post #16

"six-day-week, eleven-hour-day, thirteen-dollars-an-hour" WTF? I figured the only way you'd get someone to go up there (who's not a researcher) would be to pay well. Crazy...

Article says room and board, plus cost of transportation, are covered. So that $13/hr goes quite a bit further than it would if a chunk of it was going towards paying for food and rent. (And if you were paying for the cost of the plane flight, then nobody would take the job). Can't calculate the equivalent compensation without knowing where the author lives normally, but it might (VERY rough guess) be the equivalent of $20 to $25 per hour.

Re: Notes on Baking at the South Pole

#19

Post by aziaziazi »

is_true wrote: post #12
aziaziazi wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I depends the beans and their freshness. If soaked and not 2yo+, it’s less than 1 hour for most of them. 30 min is enough for azuki and chickpeas if soaked 48h. There’s other tricks: various beans can be found in the form of instant powder or flaskes (1 min watering - no cooking) semolina (5 min watering - no cooking) and pre steamed (no watering - 10/20 min cooking). I bring those to hike on the mountain and use gaz…

What's your recipe that uses semolina? I do a lot of outdoor activities and I'm always trying to find new foods to try

I cook more with feeling than recipe and I as I hike for multi days I try to vary the meals to avoid getting bored. My typical bag includes multiples zip bag with ingredients and I pick a few to make a meal:

- semolina of wheat, whole wheat, rye, lentils and chickpeas

- flakes-instant smashed potatoes / adzuki beans. Instant quinoa packed with prots but miss carbs.

- sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds

- dried seasoning algae, yeast, zaatar or thyme. Curry powder or other spice mix.

One of my favorite mix is 1/3 lentil semolina, 2/3 wheat semolina, sesame seeds and yeast. Mix together, add water and cover for a few minutes.

Edit: last year I used a food dehydrator to pack some sauces and cooked vegetables. Works great for the ones in think slices.

Re: Notes on Baking at the South Pole

#20

Post by porker »

joshvm wrote: post #5

The few times I've baked there, it's been a pretty good experience. There's a full height proving cabinet, yeast works really well at altitude, the ovens have steam injectors, there are good mixers, a commercial fryer. In many ways much easier than baking at home, but probably not a patch on a good bakery. We almost ran out of sugar in 2021 and Rothera sent us a bag of Tate and Lyle in break-glass-in-emerhency box on…

> It's also hard to brew coffee if you tend to use off-the-boil. The best you'll get is about 93 C.

That sounds ideal for off-the-boil coffee brewing? At sea level I (and all the speciality coffee shops round here) aim for 91C, and I'll drop that to 88-89C for medium roast and lower if it looks on the dark side. Brew methods: Aeropress and cafetiere.

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