Temperature & Safety

Table 1: Cooking Temperature & Safety

The Food Lab by J. Kenji López-Alt 362

Pesticides

How to Remove Pesticides from Fruit

• Mix together 3 cups of cold water with a 1½ teaspoon baking soda.
• Add the fruit. Let the fruit sit for 10 to 15 minutes, then rinse it off, let it dry, and enjoy.

Baking soda helps “loosen” the pesticides if you will. Plain water will get some off but because of how well they adhere to the fruit you need something stronger to break those adhesive bonds

Equipment

Strainer

Fine-Mesh

Can hold small grains such as lentils.

So water flows right through instead of splashing around.

Parchment Paper

To keep from having to scrub clean pans.

Silicone Free, Unbleached, Uncoated

Otherwise they bleed harmful chemicals.

Salad Spinner

To dry salad leaves.

Knives

Chef's Knife 8–10 inch

The curve of the blade allows you to rock back and forth for mincing.

Santoku Knife 6–8 inch

A straight blade is better for slicing and chopping, not mincing.

Pairing Knife Sheep's Foot 3–4 inch

Used to hack, chop, and peel small things.

You don't want to mince with this, so the blade should be straight.

• A straight blade will follow the curve of a peel better than an opposing curve.

Serrated Knife or Bread Knife 10–12 inch

For slicing bread, meat, and some fruits.

Ideal for cutting through thick skins without crushing the fleshy insides.

Honing Steel 10 inch

Used to re-align the edge of the blade so that the sharpened bit is all facing in the right direction.

Diamond Steels Sharpening Steels

Honing steels that have fine diamond powder embedded in them.

• This allows them to sharpen the edge as well as straighten it.

Cleaning

Rinse with warm tap water and dry completely with a cloth.

Ingredients

Vinegar

There are unfiltered vinegars on the market that come with a lot of solids, and it's perfectly normal for those to have all kinds of chunky weirdness if they've sat for a little while.

Wine vinegar has a wide range of normal behavior: it can get cloudy¹ or develop sediment, and that's normal. Even filtered vinegar can develop cloudiness and still be perfectly safe.

If your distilled vinegar gets cloudy, I'd worry. That shouldn't happen. Still, foreign bacteria do NOT grow well in vinegar. If your distilled vinegar is growing something, you probably know why.

Commercially produced vinegar very seldom goes bad, unless you're storing it outside on your deck, or something. If you brew your own, your mileage may vary.

Honey

How to Liquify Crystallized Honey

Put the bottle in slightly hot water and it will liquify again.

Chicken

How to Season a Chicken Breast

1. Pull the chicken out of the fridge 15–30 min before cooking so it can warm up to room temperature.
2. Get out Balsamic Vinegar, Cajun Seasoning, Paprika, Red Chili Pepper Flakes, Tarragon, Salt, and Pepper.
   • A knife is good to have out as well so you can use it to cut out any chicken abnormalities.
3. Mix together the spices in a small bowl. At least 1 teaspoon of spices for each chicken breast.
4. Unseal the chicken, douse with balsamic vinegar. Inspect the chicken for any abnormalities.
5. Sprinkle over the spices, covering both sides. Wash both hands and the spice bowl.

Rice

Rinse your rice before cooking to remove foreign contaminants and surface starch.

Jasmine Long-Grain

High fluffy:sticky starch ratio.

Basmati Long-Grain

High fluffy:sticky starch ratio.

Arborio Short-Grain

High sticky:fluffy starch ratio.

Good for making risottos.

Rice to Water Ratios²

Use a 1:1 rice to water ratio with an extra half-cup of water for evaporation.

Water is Bubbling Over?

For starchy rice, try wiping oil around the walls of the pot to break up the starch bubbles.