So I recently bought Alton Brown's Gear for Your Kitchen and it has a lot of interesting tips about tools and how to use them and which sorts are best for which jobs.
One thing I didn't know, and that I thought might be helpful goes like so:
Whipping egg whites can be a pain in the ass, right? It's easy to overdo it, and hard to get them to the consistency that's suggested by the recipe. Well, if you use a plastic mixing bowl, you're practically screwed. The chemical structure of plastic is too close to the fat cells of the egg whites and the egg whites will bind to the bowl instead of each other (not to mention the fact that you'll be stuck with an irremovable film on your bowl). On the other hand, egg whites absorb copper ions and help keep them from bonding with other proteins to make for less coagulation and fluffier more voluminous egg whites.
Not to mention the fact that copper conducts heat more efficiently than any other metal, thus making it great for improvised use as a double boiler (just make sure you get one with a handle).
Keep in mind that copper requires extra work to maintain. They should be cleaned and polished before and after each use with a mixture of salt and white vinegar. Otherwise the residue of past foods will cling and cause your egg white whipping (and possibly other tasks) to backfire. Also, make sure you get a big one. Egg whites tend to expand by up to four times.
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1 comment:
way too much work to keep those copper bowls clean. a nice glass or stainless bowl and a pinch of tartar will get the job done every time. I'm sure most people are aware that plastic has no place in the kitchen outside of non-stick safe utensils.
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