The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 961

the fridge It may turn cloudy and solidify, but don’t worry—it’ll return to normal once it warms up to room temperature Cooking with Olive Oil You often hear that extra-virgin olive oil should only be used for flavoring and finishing, never for cooking And this is true to a degree—you don’t want to heat extra-virgin to the point where it starts to break down and develop bitter flavors But cooking at relatively low temperatures with it—say, gently sweating onions or vegetables for the base of a sauce or soup—is totally fine, and, indeed, you can taste the difference in the finished product That said, if you want to save a bit of cash, finishing a dish with extra-virgin oil is definitely the most efficient way to go S o , for best flavor, cook with extra-virgin in gentle situations and finish the dish with some more drizzled on at the end For best value, cook with a more neutral oil (such as canola, vegetable, or light olive oil), saving the extra-virgin until the very end Never heat extra-virgin to shimmering or smoking temperatures The Bitter Blend The food processor may seem like the logical choice for making your vinaigrettes and mayonnaises more stable, and using high-quality extra-virgin olive oil seems like a no-brainer as well, but combine the two, and you’ve got a problem You see, extra-virgin olive oil droplets are composed of many tiny fat fragments, many of which are bound tightly together, preventing our taste buds from picking them up But whip the olive oil with enough vigor, by, using a food processor or blender, and you end up shearing those bitter-tasting fragments apart from each other The result is a vinaigrette or mayonnaise with a markedly bitter taste Not only that, but these tiny fragments actually decrease the efficacy of emulsifiers like mustard or lecithin, making your sauce more likely to break So what if you want to have an ultra stable mayonnaise that’s strongly flavored with extravirgin olive oil but has no bitterness? The key is to use a neutral-flavored oil like canola or vegetable to start your mayonnaise in the food processor Once it’s stable, transfer it to a bowl and whisk in some extra-virgin olive oil by hand You’ll get plenty of flavor but none of the bitterness VINAIGRETTE RATIOS H ere’s the really awesome thing: now that you ... from picking them up But whip the olive oil with enough vigor, by, using a food processor or blender, and you end up shearing those bitter-tasting fragments apart from each other The result is... with extravirgin olive oil but has no bitterness? The key is to use a neutral-flavored oil like canola or vegetable to start your mayonnaise in the food processor Once it’s stable, transfer it to... a vinaigrette or mayonnaise with a markedly bitter taste Not only that, but these tiny fragments actually decrease the efficacy of emulsifiers like mustard or lecithin, making your sauce more likely to break