Food & Cooking

One of my hobbies is cooking. I’ve collected some techniques and recipes that I find useful to refer to, along with some other resources that are specific to my kitchen.

Resources

Recipes

Techniques

Cooking apples without them getting mushy

This is a technique I learned from Kenji. When pectin reaches 183ºF, it begins to break down, resulting in mush. However, there are two things that can be done to prevent this from happening. First, you can provide an acidic environment to strengthen the pectin, which is one reason why you often see lemon juice in apple pie filling recipes.

Alternately, if pectin is held between 140ºF and 160ºF for about 10 minutes, an enzyme present in the apples will convert the pectin to a heat stable form. This can be accomplished in various ways, but I typically use a sous-vide setup for about an hour.

Pasteurizing Eggs

Eggs can be made safe to eat raw by holding them at 135ºF for two hours. Applications include dressings, cookie dough, etc.