The secret “ingredient” every big cook swears

In the kitchen, a few minutes can mean the difference between clear, golden potatoes and burnt rubble. Several hours of dense dough can turn into an airy, bubbling, pillow -like bread loaf. In a few weeks of hardening meat, it can develop complex Umami aromas. Time is really one of the most important elements of cooking.

Keep a timer nearby Helps with cooking, but really great chefs know that sensory information – aroma, color, sound, texture and taste – are often more important than counting the minutes when they judge the kitchen of the food. Discovery is still a matter of time, but the exact timing can vary depending on the ingredients, tools and environmental conditions.

A cook can be for a lifetime to improve the understanding of the time in connection with the preparation of dishes.

Note from the publisher: This is the third in a series of articles that share essential tips and techniques that have changed the way I, our readers and the other serious EAT editors cook. Researched the first rate Play-related preparation tips And the second episode Key uses for salt. This series is by no means an ultimate collection of essential techniques – just some of the more important ones that separate good chefs from really great.

The longer marinating is better – the longer you let your meat hang in an aroma bath, the better you get. Right? Well, not really. Marinades and salt can do a lot for meat, including the improvement of taste, texture and juiciness, but – surprise, surprise! – Most foods do not have to be marinated as long as many think.

First let’s talk about salt solutions that describe the salt meat and then let it hang out while salt causes its magic. Salt can penetrate deeply into meat, cheat both deeper and also help him get juices that are once cooked. Just how long Salzlake depends on the meat. In our article about Dry salters (The salt method that we prefer), steaks and chops can be pulled out for only 45 minutes, while larger roasts can remain for a few days, with many other options in between.

Marinades, on the other hand, are best viewed as salt with the taste. Apart from the fact that the aroma part of a marinade is only a surface treatment and does not penetrate deeply into the meat, how salt becomes. This means that marination times can be much shorter than many recognize, with the meat a clear advantage in just 30 minutes. The sweet spot for most meat Tim ChinThe tests are one to eight hours. However, the ideal time varies depending on the type of meat, marinade and how strongly you prefer your food.

There are no abbreviations for deep caramelized onions. If someone tells you something else, be careful! Instead, patience and attention are the keys to unlock the mild sweetness of onions. First, the onions release moisture while boiling. Only then will caramelization and the Maillard reaction If there is a torture raw onions and other alliums, such as: B. shallots, in an incredibly soft, sweet and deep aromatic ingredient that is great Tartabove pastalike A Burger Toperand evenly over chicken over chicken. There are some tricks to speed up things, including the covering of the pot in the early cooking phase to help the onions, to dampen faster and faster too softer, but it will usually still take at least an hour, if not.

Stewing and smorging are with low and long cooking processes, in which hard, collagen -rich meat cuts are completely or partially submerged in liquid, such as: B. wine or rails, and then carefully cooked until the collagen melts in delicate gelatin. This gelatin also thickens the aromatic blood fluid and gives it a rich mouthfeel.

How long the process takes depends on the meat that you cook and the temperature in which it is cooked. In our Tests with different pieces of beef for stewsWe found that the time was in a gentle oven to the train of 2 to 3 hours. Compare that over the hour for Wine tap Made with a modern hen (no hard old rooster). Or cut a pressure cooker that uses the sealed environment to use Increase the cooking temperature considerablyAnd a three -hour stew can be an affair a week under an hour.

Proof your dough

Brotbäcker know that Appropriate evidence of the dough Makes the difference between dense, flat breads and bubbling, crispy. Kneading and judging the dough gives gluten the opportunity to develop and create a robust structure to support the rise of the loaf in the oven. This rest period is also of crucial importance for fermentation when yeast consumes simple sugar, produces carbon dioxide and develops the complex aromas that give bread its characteristic aroma and taste.

Here is the key: there is a proofing sweet spot. Both underproodes and overtaking the dough can lead to a emptied loaf. Examined breads did not have enough time to develop enough carbon dioxide and structure, while above -average bread have a weakened gluten network and slow, potentially inactive fermentation.

Some Bread recipesLike Jim Lahey’s famous no-knead method, the longer rest instead of physical kneading to develop gluten. When flour and water connect, two proteins, Glutenin and Gliadin, combine to gluten, the elastic network, which gives bread its structure. Kneading accelerates this process by physically aligning and strengthening the gluten strands. In view of enough time, the same proteins will do everything yourself. Therefore, nobody usually rests for 12 hours or more: the long fermentation not only builds up structure, but also deepens the taste.

Algae beef often shines its fresh counterparts. In our own TestsThe button preferred steaks 30 to 45 days compared to fresh beef and estimated the complex combination of hearty, cheese -like flavors.

While the complete dry season can appear like a trouble at home. The big cuts of beef and precise temperature conditions require one, we offer one few tips To make the slow, methodical process a little smoother. The aging steak requires a refined setup: buy a large, non-cut, bone-in-prime rib with the fat cap intact; Use a fan to set up a dedicated mini fridge that runs between 36 and 40 ° F (2 and 4 ° C); And wait between four and eight weeks so that the meat develops a hard outer layer that has to be cut away before cooking.

At carefully controlled temperature conditions, the natural enzymes of the meat will reduce the muscle and fat, concentrate the taste and generate intensely, nutty and almost cheese -like flavors, define beef with dry age. In addition, the protein and connective tissue collapse with increasing meat, delicates the meat and enables it if it holds more juices when cooking.

Many of the most popular ferments in the world take time to develop top aromas. Take wine: Fermented grape juice learns various chemical reactions while resting, astringent tannins softer and develop complex flavors. While you may not be ready to make wine at home, it is possible to create a cabinet of other aromatic ferments, including Lacto-fermented cucumberPresent WaterpirePresent KombuchaAnd yogurtWith a few simple ingredients. How long it takes, however, the payment is clear: microbes transform sugar and proteins into deliciously spicy acids, bubbling breweries and other aromatic connections.