Book Review: Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

Have you seen the TV series - No Reservations. The guy who hosts that series is Anthony Bourdain. "No Reservations" is a travel show in which Bourdain moves around different cities/continents in search for an original culinary experience. What impresses me is that this guy is just not afraid. He is not prejudiced and is ready to try any food in the world given that it is adventures and authentic. You can see him killing a pig with a spear in Malaysia, consume a soup prepared from private parts of a mule in Indonesia, stand in icy cold water stream wearing just a thin robe in Japan, learning trapeze in New York City, getting twisted and turned all over in a traditional bathing house in Uzbekistan while savoring cuisines every where. Once he also got trapped in the middle east crisis while visiting Beirut, but they didn't stop and made an episode out of that as well. He has travelled across Europe, Russia, China, India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Korea, Japan, North America, South America and Africa. Anyone who respects good food will accept that it can come from any part of the world. Good food, if prepared properly will taste good and it happens only occasionally that you don't appreciate a well prepared meal. I guess that's the philosophy behind the show.

Well well, he has not always been a celebrity traveling first class around the world, enjoying five star life and tasting good food prepared especially for him. He was not picked up randomly. He has made it so far in the restaurant business right from the very bottom. He has washed dishes, shredded vegetables, sweat all day at the saute station, burnt his hands and cut his fingers for nearly 30 years and he has loved it. "Kitchen Confidential" is Anthony Bourdain's story. He tells you about his experience in the restaurant business and as he has seen a lot, he has a lot to tell. He has worked in numerous restaurants throughout New York City with both the big and the small and probably performed all the roles in the kitchen.

When I bought the book, I thought it will be more about cuisines and love of food etc. but this guy surprised me. The book should be rated R or rather NC-17 for its sexual content, drugs, violence and foul language. Well whatever the rating, its an original way of telling the story and that's what you like. He talks more about running of a restaurant, different people in the kitchen and their roles. He talks about his life and how he got into cooking and how he got inspired at various stages of life and moved forward. He has inserted a chapter on his trip to Tokyo, where he got influenced by the eastern culture and life. I guess many people who love food and know a celebrity chef like Bourdain would like to read this book. Bourdain will tell you exactly what kind of people will fail in the restaurant business. Its not just about love of food but also a lot about logistics, people management, making right decisions and probably love of food will come last in the list. I would say, if you ever wished to open a restaurant or wanted to know what goes on behind the scenes in a restaurant then pick up this book and read. Probably it wont stop you from eating out but it will surely change the way you look at waiters, chefs and the food that you order. 

So go ahead, read and enjoy the meal.

Upside Down Pineapple Cake

Today I learnt to make the Upside Down Pineapple Cake. Well its pretty simple to make - all you need is the cake mix, some eggs, vegetable oil, brown sugar, grated coconut and a can of crushed pineapple.

First the Cake Mix - We used the Betty Crocker Super Moist Cake Mix (Lemon Flavor- 517 gms) - it basically contains everything a cake mix should contain like flour, baking powder, sugar, corn starch, oil etc, etc in the right quantity. All you need to do is follow the instructions on the box and create the cake mix. You need to add 3 eggs and 1/3 cup of oil and stir it well. Once done leave it aside.

For the Top View - Get a small glass bowl and other ingredients - 1/2 cup of oil, 1 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of grated coconut, and 1 can (20 ounce) of crushed pineapple. If the glass bowl is a big rectangular bowl it will be better. The cake should be around 4-5 inches tall. In the glass bowl first put a butter paper, then spread 1/2 cup of oil on it, then spread 1 cup of brown sugar, then 1/2 cup of grated coconut and graciously spread the full can of crushed pineapple over it.

Now over it just pour the cake mix evenly and its done.

Oh wait you need to bake it as well. So first pre-heat the oven at 350 degree Fahrenheit (i.e. 175 degree celsius) then put the unbaked cake inside for around 40 - 50 mins. Keep checking the cake after every 10-15 mins. You will see it getting brown and rising slowly. Once you feel its done, put a toothpick in and see if it is uncooked. Or if you don't give a damn then just trust the oven and take the cake out after 45 mins. Last but not the least turn the cake upside down, so the pineapple that was the last layer, will become the top layer. (Now you know why the name is Upside Down Pineapple Cake). Tan-ta-na its ready - its time to take a bite of your creation.

Statutory Warning - The one I made was quite tasty, if you are trying it at home then just wish that I wasn't lucky. Good Luck!

Credits - I made the cake under expert supervision of my Aunt - Pali Massi, its her recipe. She is a great chef, I will try and steal as many recipes i can from her just for the benefit of hunger stricken, malnourished people like me, who just want to eat good food made at home.

Book Review: The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan

I just completed reading a book called The Dragons of Eden by an eminent scientific writer Carl Sagan. I picked up this book randomly from a book store. I have read Carl Sagan before, Cosmos - the book which opens up windows to scientific thinking, mathematics and of course astronomy, was very exciting and i would say my first scientific novel. I have also seen the movie Contact, which is based on a book by the same name, and its good.
So Dragons of Eden also promised a lot. Many times i have had discussions with my friends on topics like the difference between creativity and the clockwork attitude, comparison of artificial intelligence (computers) with human brain, evolution of human beings, what are dreams, why do we need to sleep, reproduction and many others. All these topics deal with biology and the way we perceive things around us. You can come up with so many different hypothesis to explain the above mentioned questions. What Carl Sagan does in this book is that he comes up with various scientific experiments that have been conducted and based on these he has discussed various hypothesis. These experiments seem to fit right in and corroborate these hypothesis.
The book is well written and is easy to understand. The reader can ignore the technical terms and look at the underlying logic or may be understand some terms from the appendix given at the end of the book.
This book was written some time around 1975 and i was amazed by the level of knowledge that Carl Sagan was able to extract at that time. A lot of new experiments have been conducted after 1975, but still the content of this book is very refreshing and by no means out dated. Carl Sagan prophecies that in future the level of understanding of human brain will be much greater and hence can provide answers to some ethical questions facing mankind like the definition of death, the legal issues of abortion, understanding of various cultures - including extra terrestrial life forms and animals. He also discusses computer gaming (imagine in 1975) and the way it can help spread an interest in science.
The price of the book in India is Rs. 250 and the book is published by The Ballantine Publishing Group.
Recommendation: Don't miss it if you have scientific bend of mind - it may answer a lot of questions.

Cooking and Thermodynamics

The zeroth law of Themodynamics states that When two systems are put in contact with each other, there will be a net exchange of energy between them unless or until they are in thermal equilibrium, that is they contain the same amount of thermal energy for a given volume (say, 1 cubic centimetre, or 1 cubic inch.) - wikipedia.

Well the above law was cited to appear a little nerdy and later half of this blog will prove that when it comes to practicals my mother knows more about thermodynamics than me... and of course she cooks better.

Cooking is a great art but art is more subjective than objective. I say this because the complexities and factors involved in making tea or boiling an egg are far more than any thermodynamics experiment i have conducted. Don't ask me the complexity of making Mutton Rogan Josh. In this post i would like to give cooking a little objective look, so nerds like me can obtain the pleasure of live demostration of laws of thermodynamics and if they have any fears of cooking, they can extirpate them.

Cooking involves not just heating raw food, but also mixing of n number of substances like salt, water, meat, vegetables, spices, juices etc. Lets first take up heating and learn some basic thermodynamics. The outcome of zeroth law of thermodynamics can be that heat flows from a hotter to a cooler body, if they are brought in contact. This heat transfer will stop when temperatures of both bodies are in equilibrium. Heat Transfer can occur in 3 different ways - Conduction, Convection and Radiation. Out of these the most common way is Conduction, which involves two bodies (generally solid) coming in direct contact to transfer heat. Convection, which is made common by some Microwave ovens, involves transfer of heat through and with the help of fluids (air, liquid). Radiation, doesn't require any medium, this is the way used by Sun to heat up the earth.

Now let us look at the Fourier's law (nerdy for Law of Heat Conduction) which says that the rate of heat transfer through a body in contact with a heat source will depend on Heat Resistivity (good/bad conductor of heat), Surface Area of the body in contact with the heat source, temperature difference between the bodies and the thickness of the body.
So what does it mean in the cooking language -

• Heat Resistivity - Why does it take more time to cook mutton than to cook chicken, because the resistivity of mutton is less than that of chicken. A more direct example will be that of wood and metal. Metal has greater resistivity than wood. So wood will take much more time to heat up than metals. Next time you are cooking keep in mind the resistivity of your raw material.

• Surface Area in contact with Heat Source - The greater the area in contact the more the time it will take to transfer heat. So if you use a flat bottom utensil to heat, you know its going to take more time, but remember your food will be more evenly cooked. Thats why it is said that if you cut the meat/vegetable in proper shape, they will cook well. As the transfer of heat is even through them.

• Temperature Difference - Well this one is quite intuitive isn't it. But don't forget Newtons Law of Cooling (Newton seems to be everywhere from gravity to thermodynamics...i wonder if he was a good chef as well) - it says that the greater the temperature difference between two bodies the faster heat transfer will take place, so if the temperature difference was 30 degrees initially - Newton says that it is going to take lesser time to bring the temperature difference to 20 degrees than from 20 degrees to 10 degrees. It means if you took something out the refrigerator then it will not exactly take twice as much time to heat up...but it will take around 1.5 as much time or so.

• Thickness - Now when heat will exactly reach a point on your vegetable depends on how far is it from the heat source. The farther the distance the more time it is going to take.

Okay much of thermodynamics - now lets come to serious cooking. When you are cooking something you want it to be evenly cooked, you wont like your vegetables to be left raw from inside. It is important to understand that if your cooking something at a very high temperature, then its resistivity is going to decrease with time (this is what is called burning) and this will further slow down the flow of heat inside. Your outer surface will burn and will not transfer any heat inside and hence your food wont get cooked from inside. In general if you want to cook, then initially cook it up on slow heat (low temperature) so that resistivity of the substance doesn't breaks down and heat will get time to reach deep inside. And if you want to make it crispier (i.e. burn it from outside) then just turn up the heat (increase the temperature) for a short period of time.

Well as i said cooking is a great art and it involves not just heating but also mixing up so many other things, and doing them at the right time. The best way to train your mind to such a complex art it go out and explore and experiment. Science is good but taste is heavenly :)
Here is some Dilbert for you...trying to cook like an engineer :)