I'm Just Here for the Food_ Version 2.0 - Alton Brown [136]
Due to the way in which collagen converts into gelatin, meat braises and stews are always better the next day. I know of no exceptions.
Buy a pressure cooker, read the instructions, and then use it often.
Homemade stock makes sense—and sense is what I like making best.
If there’s something left in the pot when the cooking is done, there’s a sauce waiting to happen. The same goes for leftover marinades—just make sure you always bring them to a boil before serving.
If you’re using flour to thicken a sauce, remember that it won’t thicken until the liquid in question reaches a boil. Cornstarch thickens at much lower temperatures, as do arrowroot and potato starch.
Give your microwave oven another chance.
Buy the biggest cutting board your sink can accommodate.
Unless it’s got a rapid-cool section, your refrigerator was designed to keep things cold, not make them cold. So don’t expect it to chill a pot of hot soup and keep everything else in it out of the danger zone.
Buy a pair of spring-loaded tongs and don’t pay more than ten bucks for them.
Thermometers are tools, as are your tongue, nose, and fingers. Your brain is also a tool, so don’t run with scissors (or knives), and think before you cook.
Now you know, and knowin’s half the battle.
—GI JOE
Acknowledgments
The author wishes to acknowledge the works of those who inspired this one—as well as those the author just couldn’t have done it without.
Professional
John and Matte Thorne: food writers (Outlaw Cook provided the spark for just about everything I’ve done); Shirley O. Corriher: food teacher and writer (her book Cookwise is the best of the last decade); Harold McGee: food-science deity (every time I thought I was breaking new ground, I found his footprints); Patrick Matecat: chef and darned fine teacher; New England Culinary Institute: darned fine culinary school; Sother Teague: chef and brother in arms; Stacey Geary: editor (on my end); Marisa Bulzone: editor (Stewart, Tabori & Chang); Michael Kann: chef and writer; Athalie White: marketing manager; Paul Nuesslein: recipe tester; Eileen Opatut: Food Network program director—a wonderful client; Dana Popoff: producer of Good Eats; Tamie Cook, culinary director of BeSquare Productions.
Personal
DeAnna Brown: wife (behind every writer there’s...)/executive producer of Good Eats; Zoey Brown: daughter/beacon of light; Matilda: dog; Steve Markey: friend since forever; Phyllis Sauls: Mom and recipe tester.
Random
W. Shakespeare: dead but good writer; Coffee: beverage; Knob Creek Bourbon: ditto; Little Debbie Nutty Bars: delicious treat; Beef; Apple Computer: manufacturers of the Macintosh G4 powerbook on which book was written; Steely Dan: band/source of good vocabulary words; Airstream: makers of fine travel trailers and my office; All Clad Cookware: who have given me free stuff and lots of it; Lodge Manufacturing: sole keepers of the American cast-iron flame; Weber: makers of the best charcoal grill known to man; General Electric: most of the recipes herein were tested in and on their Profile gas range, a very reliable piece of ordnance indeed. Thanks to BMW and Triumph motorcycles for saving my life.
Alton Brown’s interest in the kitchen developed along with his more pronounced interest in eating, a skill that Brown, now 44, pretty much has down pat. Although he worked in restaurants through high school and college, he never considered pursuing the dark arts professionally. Noooo, he wanted to be a big-time film director who made millions and got to boss a bunch of people around. Although he never actually made it to the movies, he did work as a cinematographer and commercial director for the better part of a decade. Then one fateful day he got it in his head to make a cooking show—a show that would blend wit with wisdom, history