Flip Food Frequently p48

The
more often you flip the food, the less time it
spends against the griddle, and the less time the
heat has to build up below the surface of the food.
The result is that the overcooked layer is minimized,
and more of the center is done just right.

In essence, constant flipping reduces the size of
the swings that the surface temperature takes as
the food surface alternates between cooking and
cooling. It also lowers the average temperature of
the surface, which means that, edge to edge, the
food ends up more evenly cooked.

Repeated flipping also speeds the cooking a bit
because, in much the same way that it minimizes
how much excessive heat builds up on the cooking
side, it also reduces the amount of cooling that
occurs on the resting side.

FLIP -  every 15-30 seconds..

Griddle p47

Foods that are a bit too large to be cooked
quickly by the conductive heat of a griddle can be
tamed with a simple trick: squirt a bit of water
around the food on the griddle, then promptly
cover it with a lid. The puddle of boiling water
under the lid surrounds the food with steam,
accelerating cooking.

Too big? just sear before or after meat is cooked....rest done in the oven

for crispy duck breast...freeze the skin + subsequent layer of fat underneath....this provides insulation so meat can catch up in temp when its being cooked + enough time for fat from skin to get rendered to crisp

Saute p54

Roasting (rotisserie) p38

Goal:  balance of heat reaching the surface of the food so it matches the rate at which heat seeps into the interior...
- too close and too much heat on surface and burns + raw...
- too far and beat cooked by no color on skin
- parameters is the distance from heat source and the speed in which to spin the food


 Bigger roasts cooked farther from fire, smaller ones closer to fire

Time it  takes for  heat to penetrate to the  center  of a  piece of food varies  in proportion  to the  square  of the food 's  thickness.

-- double the size of food = 4x the amount of time needed (not 2x) -- example: 25 cm diameter turkey takes 4x more time to cook as a 12.5 cm diameter bird


Intensity of heat from a  blazing fire  varies  by the  inverse  square  of the  food's  distance  from the  fire
-- double the distance to the food and the heat on the food is 1/4 (not 1/2) 

**parts of meat overcooking? cover it with reflective foil (reflective side out)

Gidaret Method (Broil + Poach) p34

Worked with fish (and will work with other delicate foods)

- raw filet of fish submerged in cold white wine with only skin remaining dry
- shallots under the fish so that it does not touch the super hot pan...
- REMOVE fish if see wine boiling..if boiling, wine got too hot to cook the fish properly...

- because wine evaporates fast, liquid will stay cool enough to cook fillet before the time the liquid evaporate and skin is crisp
- wine mostly transparent to infrared light therefore it does not head the wine, but instead heats the pan underneath which then heats the wine

Broiler p28

To use  an electric broiler effectively,  you  thus
must find its sweet  zone.  A  simple approach is  to
use  this  rule of thumb:  the  center  of the  sweet
z one, where  the  heat is  most even,  is  about  S  mm  I
0.2  in below  the  heating element  plus just  a  bit less
than half ( 44%)  of the  distance  between  the
heating rods.


- sweet spot for an electric broiler = 5mm + 1/2 the distance between the rods
 therefore, usually quite close...about 1-2 inches away only

- too close, burns too fast...
- too far, shadows from rods cause uneven cooking

*tip is to use vertical reflectors near the edges

Grilling p17

Briquette BETTER than hardwood - more consistent heat because briquettes contain more ash...

Neither briquette or hardwood gives off flavorful smells...myth because both kinds of charcoal are too burned to release nice odors...

Flavor from charcoal is from the burning drippings

Grilled food not cooked from hot heat (ovens), but by the radiant heat from the charcoals...heat is not the initial hit (like the hot gas ovens), its in the "glowing" heat that radiates off the coals, producing very hot heat for a long time...

temperature control is in the amount of air that goes through the goals...not in adding more coals or moving the level of grates...
- moving height of grate helps but much smaller change than is useful...airflow is most important...
- little air and choke the fire so small heat...

Gas burners cannot reach cooking temperture (radiant heat) anywhere near charcoal

BEST GRILL 
- reflective walls because radiant heat acts similar to lightwaves, black is worst reflector...it absorbs..
- straight sides...kettle, curved sides makes the reflection of heat less consistant than straight sides
- big, wide grill - bigger sweet spot (sweet spot = part of grill that heats food consistently within 10%)
- tall grill not important (distance form coals not important as with lightwaves, intensity of heat is similar unless very long distances...instead, what matters more is the amount of coals thats visible...meat sees less goals (because small amount of coals), then less heat...
THEREFORE, in grilling, more important for width, not depth in terms of amount of coals...

SWEET SPOT = area of grill where heat varies less than 10% from 1 point to another
- closer to heat, the bigger the sweet spot...farther from heat, smaller the sweet spot (calculated from p26)