The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 149

Mushrooms

Herbs

Slicethinand
sautéinbutter
untilthe
moisturehas
evaporatedand
themushrooms
arewell
browned.
Adddirectlyto
theraweggs.

Some of my favorite omelet combinations are
spinach with feta, asparagus and shallots with
Gruyère, and onions, peppers, and ham with
cheddarcheese.Allclassics,alldelicious.


BACON
Ifthere’sonesurewaytoguaranteearelapseinanonthe-fencevegetarian,it’stodangleastripofcrisplyfried
baconinfrontofhim.
I sometimes think that the only thing keeping my marriage
harmoniousistheundulylargenumberofmake-uppointsI
get every time I bring my wife bacon in bed.These days,
I’mprettygoodatcookingit,ifIdosaysomyself,butthis
was not always the case. My bacon used to have a severe
case of bipolar disorder: crispy and burnt in some spots,
flaccid,rubbery,andundercookedinothers.

Achieving perfectly crisp, evenly cooked bacon is all
about patience.You see, bacon is made up of two distinct
elements—the fat (which is actually a mixture of fat and
connectivetissue)andthelean—andeachcooksdifferently.
Fattendstoshrinkquicklywhenheated,butaftertheinitial
shrinkingstage,ittakesquiteabitoftimetofinishcooking
astheconnectivetissuethatremainsisslowlybrokendown
(undercooked connective tissue is what causes rubbery
bacon).The lean, on the other hand, shrinks less than the
fat, and because of this differential, your bacon twists and
buckles(justlikethebimetalstripinsideathermostat).This
twisting in turn exacerbates the situation, because not only
are your fat and lean shrinking at different rates, but entire
sections of the strip are now cooking at different rates,
dependingonwhetherornottheyareindirectcontactwith
thepan.