Over this past week alone, I've found myself in conversations with four different people on the topic of induction burners and why they're superior to other methods of heating. I've taken this as a sign that either A: now would be an ideal time to introduce readers of my blog to the science and benefits of induction cooking or B: that I really need to make some new, non food-centric friends.
Since making friends takes a lot of time, AND I already have a food blog running I opted for the former.
I started cooking with induction about 6 years ago after receiving a
small, portable Viking unit as a gift. This little workhorse
has since taken up permanent residence next to my once dependable, gas range and I use it almost exclusively in its place. There are a number of induction manufacturers on the market with units available in large, counter top models that replace your current stove as well as small, portable units like the one I own.
As I told my curious friends, there are several, significant advantages to induction cooking over other methods, all of them a result of the details in how an induction system works. Unlike gas or electric cooktops, which work by transferring heat from a flame or coil to the cookware via conduction, induction cooktops create heat directly within the cooking vessel itself. This difference in delivery provides significant advantages to the chef, but more about that later. First let's understand how they do it.
When turned on, coils inside an induction burner are powered with an alternating, electric current. This current creates an electromagnetic field that rises slightly above the unit's surface. When a "conductor", such as a metal pot or pan, is placed within this electromagnetic field, it receives a very small current (about 1 volt), and in doing so, develops its own electromagnetic field.
The cookware's own electromagnetic field now creates more, smaller electric currents called "eddy currents" within the cookware itself. Once again, these eddy currents have their own electromagnetic field which then agitates the individual metal molecules within the cookware and finally it is this molecular agitation which creates friction, causing the cookware to heat up.
As I attempted to describe this process to my friends last week, and once again while writing this blog post, I realized just how complicated this relatively simple process can be to explain with words. The following therefor is a short video I put together to hopefully help present this concept with a little more clarity.
Okay, so now we're all on the same page of HOW induction cooking works but I bet a lot of people are still wondering WHY?
Speed
First, induction cooktops are fast. Because they create heat within the cookware itself rather than transferring heat to it such as a gas, or electric range would, induction cooktops are capable of bringing a pot of water to a boil or a pan to a searing heat in a
fraction of the time. More importantly, the heat that is generated is uniform throughout the cookware, devoid of the hot and dead spots irritatingly common when using many traditional ranges.
Control
The heat produced by an induction burner is directly relative to the frequency of the molecular friction produced in the cookware. This means that a 'High' setting on an induction range will agitate the molecules in your cookware a lot and a "Low" setting will agitate them a little. This change is immediate and depending on the accuracy of the burner being used, can be tweaked and varied with great precision. For this reason I prefer models with a rotary temperature dial over the ones with preset buttons.
Safety
With no open flames or glowing hot coils, induction burners are a much safer option than other types of cooktops. As I continue the process of scouting locations for a restaurant I'm opening here in Seattle, the induction option has allowed me to consider many locations that would otherwise be off limits. Fire and safety codes stipulate that any cookware with an open flame must be placed beneath a Type I Hood, the most costly and pain-in-the-assedly type of hood known to man.
In addition to requiring fire suppression equipment, Type I Hoods need to be in a space that can be vented directly to a roof (not practical for many buildings with residences located above) and will run you about $1500 per linear foot! By using small, portable induction burners, I'm able bypass many of the fire and safety rules, their ridiculously high installation costs and can even consider locations that were not originally designed and built out as a restaurant. Even though the 'kitchen police' aren't going to fine home chefs for cooking with whatever they fancy in their own house, the safety benefits of induction burners aren't lost on them either.
The only thing left to consider before scrapping your current stovetop and moving to an all induction kitchen is the cookware. Because induction burners employ electromagnets to achieve their effect, cookware must have a high ferrous, metal content at its base*; or in layman's terms, a magnet has to stick to it. All cast iron, some grades of stainless steel, and any other metals with a high ferrous core will work. Glass, solid copper and solid aluminum pans won't so chefs who've heavily invested in these might want to think twice.
For anyone without a $5000 copper cookware collection however, and considering a kitchen upgrade, or simply in 'need' of another awesome gadget to round out their cooking arsenal, I can't sing to the praises of induction enough.
* I stand corrected, 2 things to consider. I just discovered a manufacturer's website which states, "regardless of your cookware's composition, induction burners will not work during a power outage" so caveat emptor. Duh
Exploring Unconventional Cuisine
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Monday, April 14, 2014
How Not to Lose Fat In 3 Easy Steps
Today's blog entry isn't so much about discovering a "new" and unusual ingredient worth adding to your pantry as it is about exploring an old one that chances are you've been throwing away for years. Fat.
Regardless of where you buy your meat, the cuts of meat that you pick and what dishes you choose to prepare with it, you will almost certainly produce some quantity of trimmings while prepping your portions. No matter what amount of 'leftover' fat remains, I implore you, don't throw it away.
As an alternative, keep several marked containers in your freezer so that whenever you trim fat from a cut of meat; beef, pork, chicken, duck, etc, simply pop it in its labeled container and freeze it again until you've accumulated enough to justify rendering. Of course you can simply purchase fat for this (in Seattle the side-street groceries in Chinatown by far offer the best deal on trimmings) but what you gain in convenience you lose from the thrill of collecting. Such is life.
There are plenty of 'green earth' reasons for saving the 'scraps', humanitarian ones for utilizing the 'whole beast' and economical ones for 'stretching the dollar' but add to these that rendered beef fat (tallow), pork fat (lard) and poultry fat (schmaltz) all fall in the 'healthy' crowd of oils alongside cold pressed olive, coconut and palm oils AND that cooking with these rendered fats has long been a secret weapon of top restaurants to make everything from vegetables to seared meats taste ultra delicious and you have yourself a no-brainer.
The real reason why cooking with these flavorful, rendered fats has remained the property of fine restaurants is that making them properly has been a time consuming, tedious and somewhat labor intensive process. The traditional process is this:
1- Combine trimmed fat with a small amount of water in a heavy-bottomed pan
2- Place pan over a low flame. If possible, diffuse the heat by stacking a second, cast iron pan below the first. This will help prevent burning.
3- Continue cooking over low heat, periodically skimming the fat of solids.
4- When the fat has mostly melted (about 2 hours), remove any remaining pieces of skin and discard.
5- Continue heating until most of the water has evaporated, about 4 hours
6- Remove rendered fat from the heat and let it cool
7- Use a gravy separator to remove any remaining water.
Total time: Over 6 hours!!
Or.....
There's another, MUCH simpler and surprisingly quick method which incidentally gets to use one of my top 3 'cannot live without' kitchen tools to boot, the pressure cooker! The end product is identical to that of the traditional process, involves less than 10 minutes of 'hands-on' time and takes under 2 hours to complete.
The resulting rendered fat can be stored at room temperature next to your stove for nightly cooking duties for weeks, in an airtight container in the refrigerator for months or in the freezer almost indefinitely. Fats rendered this way will add incredible flavor to the foods cooked with them and they have a very high smoke point making them ideal for searing (finishing sous vide meats), roasting (thick cut potatoes at 350 for 1 hour), sauteing (wild mushrooms and veggies) or any other cooking task that calls for butter or oil. Did I mention it's easy?
Almost 50% monounsaturated fat
May have positive impact on reducing cancer growth
Grassfed beef fat has a high concentration of “conjugated linoleic acid,” or CLA, which is good for cholesterol levels.
Read more at http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/11/10/food-for-thought-lard-and-tallow-healthy-fats/#B2ADT74OXqq0uABc.99
Almost 50% monounsaturated fat
May have positive impact on reducing cancer growth
Grassfed beef fat has a high concentration of “conjugated linoleic acid,” or CLA, which is good for cholesterol levels.
Read more at http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/11/10/food-for-thought-lard-and-tallow-healthy-fats/#B2ADT74OXqq0uABc.99
Grind the fat. If you don't have access to a meat grinder, you can simply chop the fat by hand. If you don't have a knife you can puree it with a small amount of water in a blender and use the resulting slurry or hell, you can even pre-masticate it as if feeding a baby bird (enzymes in your saliva however will effect shelf life). The whole idea is to expose the maximum amount of surface area of the fat so just use whatever means is most convenient for you.
Place ground (chopped, pureed, chewed and spat) fat in a pressure cooker with about 1 inch of water. To make a 'whiter' final product, add baking soda at .4% the weight of ground meat. For example, add 4 grams of baking soda for 1000 grams of ground fat.
Pressure cook on high pressure for 90 minutes
Strain
Bottle and enjoy
Almost 50% monounsaturated fat
May have positive impact on reducing cancer growth
Grassfed beef fat has a high concentration of “conjugated linoleic acid,” or CLA, which is good for cholesterol levels.
Read more at http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/11/10/food-for-thought-lard-and-tallow-healthy-fats/#B2ADT74OXqq0uABc.99
Almost 50% monounsaturated fat
May have positive impact on reducing cancer growth
Grassfed beef fat has a high concentration of “conjugated linoleic acid,” or CLA, which is good for cholesterol levels.
Read more at http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/11/10/food-for-thought-lard-and-tallow-healthy-fats/#B2ADT74OXqq0uABc.99
Regardless of where you buy your meat, the cuts of meat that you pick and what dishes you choose to prepare with it, you will almost certainly produce some quantity of trimmings while prepping your portions. No matter what amount of 'leftover' fat remains, I implore you, don't throw it away.
As an alternative, keep several marked containers in your freezer so that whenever you trim fat from a cut of meat; beef, pork, chicken, duck, etc, simply pop it in its labeled container and freeze it again until you've accumulated enough to justify rendering. Of course you can simply purchase fat for this (in Seattle the side-street groceries in Chinatown by far offer the best deal on trimmings) but what you gain in convenience you lose from the thrill of collecting. Such is life.
There are plenty of 'green earth' reasons for saving the 'scraps', humanitarian ones for utilizing the 'whole beast' and economical ones for 'stretching the dollar' but add to these that rendered beef fat (tallow), pork fat (lard) and poultry fat (schmaltz) all fall in the 'healthy' crowd of oils alongside cold pressed olive, coconut and palm oils AND that cooking with these rendered fats has long been a secret weapon of top restaurants to make everything from vegetables to seared meats taste ultra delicious and you have yourself a no-brainer.
The real reason why cooking with these flavorful, rendered fats has remained the property of fine restaurants is that making them properly has been a time consuming, tedious and somewhat labor intensive process. The traditional process is this:
1- Combine trimmed fat with a small amount of water in a heavy-bottomed pan
2- Place pan over a low flame. If possible, diffuse the heat by stacking a second, cast iron pan below the first. This will help prevent burning.
3- Continue cooking over low heat, periodically skimming the fat of solids.
4- When the fat has mostly melted (about 2 hours), remove any remaining pieces of skin and discard.
5- Continue heating until most of the water has evaporated, about 4 hours
6- Remove rendered fat from the heat and let it cool
7- Use a gravy separator to remove any remaining water.
Total time: Over 6 hours!!
Or.....
There's another, MUCH simpler and surprisingly quick method which incidentally gets to use one of my top 3 'cannot live without' kitchen tools to boot, the pressure cooker! The end product is identical to that of the traditional process, involves less than 10 minutes of 'hands-on' time and takes under 2 hours to complete.
The resulting rendered fat can be stored at room temperature next to your stove for nightly cooking duties for weeks, in an airtight container in the refrigerator for months or in the freezer almost indefinitely. Fats rendered this way will add incredible flavor to the foods cooked with them and they have a very high smoke point making them ideal for searing (finishing sous vide meats), roasting (thick cut potatoes at 350 for 1 hour), sauteing (wild mushrooms and veggies) or any other cooking task that calls for butter or oil. Did I mention it's easy?
 |
Collected Fat |
 |
| Step 1 |
Read more at http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/11/10/food-for-thought-lard-and-tallow-healthy-fats/#B2ADT74OXqq0uABc.99
Read more at http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/11/10/food-for-thought-lard-and-tallow-healthy-fats/#B2ADT74OXqq0uABc.99
 |
| Step 2 |
Pressure cook on high pressure for 90 minutes
 |
| Step3 |
 |
| Rendered Beef Fat - Tallow |
Bottle and enjoy
Read more at http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/11/10/food-for-thought-lard-and-tallow-healthy-fats/#B2ADT74OXqq0uABc.99
Read more at http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/11/10/food-for-thought-lard-and-tallow-healthy-fats/#B2ADT74OXqq0uABc.99
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)