tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post1932399001123322872..comments2024-03-27T21:23:40.339-04:00Comments on Chemjobber: #foodchem: Secret ingredients, secret recipesChemjobberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15932113680515602275noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-35419264435683648512012-11-16T10:47:54.847-05:002012-11-16T10:47:54.847-05:00@CE - I've never heard of a turkey fryer being...@CE - I've never heard of a turkey fryer being used for these before. Thanks for the education. I'll have to look into it!Matthttp://sciencegeist.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-57981686885995029582012-11-16T08:56:46.825-05:002012-11-16T08:56:46.825-05:00"intellectual property both protects patent h..."intellectual property both protects patent holders from infringement, yet forces them to reveal the contents of their drugs"<br /><br />You have a very positive spin on patents. Few patents written in the last thirty years reveal much of anything. The lawyers have mastered the art of saying nothing with a whole bunch of near-meaningless words and absurdly broad ranges. Key details are always left out, and the examiners aren't informed enough about the particulars to know what is critical and what isn't. Good luck reproducing anything your competitor did based on information in their patent. You will need it.Ogemaniachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02396797613368443908noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-67625224968959687232012-11-15T22:16:37.247-05:002012-11-15T22:16:37.247-05:00@Matt
It's true that a typical home stove doe...@Matt<br /><br />It's true that a typical home stove doesn't provide the prerequisite BTUs for proper wok-cooking. However, a home cook can use his/her wok properly. I recall Alton Brown cooking with a wok over a turkey fryer. That takes some monetary commitment on the part of the home cook, but to borrow further from AB, it's hardly a "uni-tasker". Besides their intended use as a turkey fryer, those burners are also favorites in the home-brewing community to sustain boils on full 5-gallon batches.CoulombicExplosionhttps://twitter.com/CoulombicExpnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-28229318877079764972012-11-15T12:28:58.413-05:002012-11-15T12:28:58.413-05:00All right -- the BTU explanation makes the most se...All right -- the BTU explanation makes the most sense, and is the first mechanistic explanation I've heard. Thanks, Matt. Chemjobberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15932113680515602275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-61853992246794184612012-11-15T12:17:04.561-05:002012-11-15T12:17:04.561-05:00But why is that baloney? No home cook can properly...But why is that baloney? No home cook can properly cook with a wok. You don't have the btus on your home stove. In Asian restaurants, those burners get the pans over 1000 degrees. (That may be an exaggeration, but only a slight one.) The same goes for general browning (Maillard) reactions. The hotter the pan, the faster the reaction. (The chemist in you inherently understands those kinetics.) You can get a completely different product with that kind of heat. Matthttp://sciencegeist.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-2930371207296556222012-11-15T11:40:41.078-05:002012-11-15T11:40:41.078-05:00Thank you. I am reminded of a favorite Mario Batal...Thank you. I am reminded of a favorite Mario Batali quote (from Bill Buford's Heat):<br /><br />"At home, you rarely get the depth of flavor that you find in a restaurant,’ Mario said on his first show, browning mushrooms in a ferociously hot pan, ‘because home cooks are not prepared to take the risks of professional chefs, who push their pans right to the edge. They want it browner than you’ll ever do at home, darker, hotter.’"<br /><br />I suspect that's mostly baloney (the scientist in me speaking), but I'll never know. Chemjobberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15932113680515602275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8964719845369935777.post-78712225781863437602012-11-15T11:36:02.679-05:002012-11-15T11:36:02.679-05:00This is great, CJ. I love the "wonder" t...This is great, CJ. I love the "wonder" that a good meal can inspire. And, sometimes we are happier not knowing. I would argue, also, that even when given the recipe, many of us would be incapable of reproducing a master chef's creation. And, that's OK too. This happens all the time in chemistry. I see lots of syntheses in the literature that I will not ever be able to run efficiently (or haven't ever been able to). It doesn't mean that the authors have necessarily published junk. Sometimes it just means that their synthetic capabilities are uniquely suited to making a synthesis work. Personally, I enjoy this sort of "awe" as well.Matthttp://sciencegeist.netnoreply@blogger.com