The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 77

dressing). These days, I keep a couple of different
vinaigrettes ready to go in 12-ounce squeeze bottles in the
fridge.Stickyourfingeroverthetop,giveitagoodshake,
squirt it onto your greens in a mixing bowl, and boom:
lunch is served. (In order to make sure that chunky items
like shallots or crushed nuts won’t get caught in the tip,
sometimesyou’vegottosnipoffthetipofthebottlewitha
paringknifeoragoodpairofkitchenshears.)
As far as condiments go, squeeze bottles are another
lifesaver.Sure,youcanfill’emwiththestandards:mustard,
ketchup, and mayo, and, of course, you save money by
buyingthosethingsinbulkinsteadofinindividualsqueezy
containers. They are also great for saving money on all
kinds of sauces and oils: I buy olive oil, sesame oil, soy
sauce, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, tonkatsu sauce, and
Chinkiang vinegar (to name a few) in big cans.Then I just
storethecansoutofthewayunderthesinkorinthecloset
andrefillmysqueezebottlesasneeded.It’llmaketheinside
of your refrigerator look all cool, organized, and cheffy as
well.
Wanttothrowafancycocktailparty?Squeezebottlesare
your friend. Fill a big one with simple syrup, smaller ones
with fresh-squeezed citrus juices or flavored syrups.You’ll
be cleaner, neater, and more efficient, cutting the time it
takes to make each cocktail by a not-insignificant degree,
andyourguestswillmarvelathowproyoulook.
As far as buying them goes, no need to get fancy. I
picked up a couple dozen at a Chinese restaurant supply
store.Amazonsellsthemforafewbucksapiece.Buyahalf
dozenandseeiftheydon’tchangeyourlifeforthebetter.

And, yeah, like Tony says, you can use them to make
yourplatesallfrou-frouifyoudesire.

WEIGHTVERSUSVOLUME

Y

ou may notice that in most cases, the baking

recipes in this book are given with weight
measurements—ounces and pounds—as opposed to
volume measurements—cups and spoons. Why is
that?
•
First and foremost, accuracy . Volume
measurements are simply not accurate. To prove
this, I asked ten friends of mine to measure out a
cup of flour from a bowl. Each person used the
same measuring cup dipped into the same bowl of
flour. I even had each of them use the same
method: dipping the cup into the bowl, then
levelingofftheexcesswithaknife.ThenIweighed
each batch. The difference was astounding: the
cupsofflourrangedfromaslowas4ouncestoas
highas6ounces,dependingontheforceusedwhile
scooping.Thatmeansthatonepersoninthisgroup
would end up using afull 50 percentmore flour
than the person with the lightest cup for the same
recipe.If,ontheotherhand,I’daskedeachperson

to weigh out 5 ounces of flour (my standard