I am a chemist, so cooking is very enjoyable to me b/c it is basically chemical reactions that I can eat.  I like simple, revealing rules.  I have twice today stumbled across the following set of 10 rules by Herve This, the man who first applied chemical study to cooking and food systematically.  They seem almost pointless and certainly aniseptic, but if you read his description of why they are important, they indeed seem more revealing.  very. cool.

Hervé This’s

10 elements of basic kitchen knowledge

1. Salt dissolves in water.

2. Salt does not dissolve in oil.

3. Oil does not dissolve in water.

4. Water boils at 100 C (212 F).

5. Generally foods contain mostly water (or another fluid).

6. Foods without water or fluid are tough.

7. Some proteins (in eggs, meat, fish) coagulate.

8. Collagen dissolves in water at temperatures higher than 55 C (131 F).

9. Dishes are dispersed systems (combinations of gas, liquid or solid ingredients transformed by cooking).

10. Some chemical processes – such as the Maillard Reaction (browning or caramelizing) – generate new flavours.

Climbing

Originally uploaded by chris brandow

About 1 month ago, Bess, fygo (front yard garden offspring) #1, just
discovered climbing trees. Her joy is so evident, it makes me smile
on the inside and the outside!

Added benefit is that she now picks tangerines from the top of the
tree for me. Tangerines make me smile on the inside!

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Ollallie-licious!!

Originally uploaded by chris brandow

I did it! I controlled my foraging impulses and waited for 4 days to
pick berries, and this pile of berries was part of my reward. I
cooked them into a mini-”cobbler” (cake mix and butter dumped on top
of berries in casserole dish at 350 for 40 minutes). It was very good
and interestingly they turned red like raspberries upon cooking.

Sad but interesting: after the intense 95+ heat today, lots of the
berries were red on top and tastes like they had been cooked. Not
cool, thou unseasonably hot weather!

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why 2008 probably won’t be like 2004:

Note: I am sorry for the occasional foray into politics.  It won’t happen often, and although my politics are painfully obvious, this is a safe haven for gardeners of all political stripes.  Back me up on this, Aaron!

Malisa sent this lovely picture of her garden:

things that I mentally note when I see this picture that I think are great:

1. raised beds

2. drip system

3. an adherent to square foot gardening, it seems

Yeah for Malisa!  That’s three points for you.  Plus, I discovered today (from her blog) that she is a teacher, so that is another point!

People often ask (meaning I have been asked this once or twice) what they should grow. The simple answer is to grow what you like to eat. Of course, I really like to eat Lobster. But seriously, you should start by growing what you most like to eat AND that is easy and productive. But I will simplify this further by ignoring what you like to grow and focus on me. I like tomatoes and they are easy to grow. It’s true in this case that lots of people agree with me and that is why the are by far the number one home grown crop. (Oddly some people, Steve Scheidler for example, don’t like tomatoes. Weird.)

So let me add the next thing that you should try that you probably haven’t tried much of.

Herbs.

Nothing will make your cooking better, faster, than growing your own fresh herbs. Basil is easy and goes very well with tomatoes in a number of different ways that I will be blogging about this summer.

Seriously, dried herbs barely resemble their fresh counterpart. I remember hearing a cooking show on the radio and a cook was asked what is the one thing that people could do to immediately improve their cooking. He said, throw out all your dried herbs on the shelf and buy new jars. They only should last 6 months to one year. Yikes, that’s expensive and ineffective. I say, don’t throw them out or do, whatever. Just go out and grow the following herbs:

sage, rosemary, marjoram, thyme, basil. Now your food will taste good.

For now, let me give a good example that I used last night:

This is a dry rub that I prepared from the following ingredients: rosemary, marjoram, garlic and salt:

This was all from the garden except garlic and salt.  (I should have used some green garlic growing right now and perhaps I will harvest my own salt soon enough)

What does one do with the dry rub? Rub it onto meats of all sorts, dry, without marinade and let it draw out the juices and infuse the meat with crazy flavor overnight and then broil or grill said meat.

Side note: marjoram is the best herb that you are probably not using. I had always found it flavorless, UNTIL I GREW IT IN MY GARDEN. Now I use it to make the best vinaigrette ever.

This is why I garden. I like food. I like food that tastes really good!

Is it a problem when your wife says to you, “So, I guess raspberries don’t grow well here, huh?”

You say, “No, they grow fine, why?”

She says, “Well, I just figured since we weren’t growing any…”

Clearly, if it can be eaten and it can’t walk, swim or fly, I am attempting to grow it.  hmmmm.

Ollali-mentum

Originally uploaded by chris brandow

I’ve been following politics too closely, but unlike the dem
nomination battle, theollaliberrues are going to come to fruition this
week. I have had precisely two perfectly ripe dark black berries and
oh my they are good!

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2 apples!!

Originally uploaded by chris brandow

There are probably Manu reasons why the “small, highly productive,non-
stressful organic farm” pipe dream should remain a dream instead of
being transated into reality, but my prospective yield of 2 apples
(which I am TOTALLY stoked about) from 4 trees is a leading one. Or
at the very least it’s a leadng indicator.

In all seriousness, I am happy to have the two considering that I
planted these trees just as they were flowering and then proceeded to
stress them terribly by not covering their roots well as the beds were
modified in anticipation of the pathway construction.

So I will take my 1/2 apple/tree yield. Since the trees cost $10 each,
I guess that my apples will cost $20 each for this year anyway!

[update]
make that THREE apples. Consider all the laments about low yields null and void!
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Blueberries

Originally uploaded by chris brandow

That (small) handful of blueberries came from my frontyard. I have
been wanting a blueberry bush for a couple of years after reading an
article in the LA Times about growing them in So. Cal. Sure enough
they aste great. It will be at least a year until I get them in
sufficient quantities to do anything with them beyond an occasional
handful. But I can live with that. Foraging for serendipitous fruit
is a chief characteristic of my life.

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