How about a little fire?
At WD-50 I saw something done to the potatoes that makes a cook scream, “yes!” A method of cooking the potatoes with an explanation using true understanding of the molecules inside the potatoes and the effects of heat on them.
The potatoes are peeled, sliced, and cooked in a water bath at 65 degrees celsius for 30 minutes. The potatoes are transferred to an ice bath to cool completely. At this point the potatoes are still crisp, seemingly unchanged. Once cooled, the potatoes are cooked just as you would have had you just peeled them. If the potatoes are seemingly unchanged, you might ask what on earth did they just do?
For the answer, you’ll have to read Today’s Secret Ingredient…Heat [link to http://www.tastingmenu.com/2008/01/02/todays-secret-ingredient-heat/ no longer works] at TastingMenu.
And the McGee article she refers to is “The Invisible Ingredient in Every Kitchen.”
There are few things more chaotic than fire, and few emergent results more yummy than a nice pizza cooked in a brick and wood oven.
Photo: January 6th by Lili’s One-a-Day.
OOOoooo. Gotta try that. Thanks Adam.