I saw an interesting idea about putting bags of ice on top of lids of
simmering stuff to prevent the volatile flavors from running away with
the steam:

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Is...enchMonkey.asp

Does anyone do this? I've never considered it before, but I think I
will try it the next time it's relevant. I also would have been afraid
to put ice on a glass lid over steaming contents, but that's another
thing altogether.

June

> wrote:

> I saw an interesting idea about putting bags of ice on top of lids of
> simmering stuff to prevent the volatile flavors from running away with
> the steam:

Another such flavour-preserving idea, advocated by Heston Blumenthal, is
to use a pressure cooker. I've once posted his article. See
<http://groups.google.com/group/rec.food.cooking/msg/9c132dc93b02da67>.

Victor

On 6 Apr 2007 13:43:44 -0700, " >
wrote:

>I saw an interesting idea about putting bags of ice on top of lids of
>simmering stuff to prevent the volatile flavors from running away with
>the steam:

It's my impression reflux is the basis for tagine cooking. The shape
is not only decorative, but refluxes the juices into the food
efficiently. Plus, the unglazed ones concentrate flavors by absorbing
water.

But don't quote me on this

Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

> wrote:
>I saw an interesting idea about putting bags of ice on top of lids of
> simmering stuff to prevent the volatile flavors from running away with
> the steam:
>
> http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Is...enchMonkey.asp
>
> Does anyone do this? I've never considered it before, but I think I
> will try it the next time it's relevant. I also would have been afraid
> to put ice on a glass lid over steaming contents, but that's another
> thing altogether.

I think the concept has been around for at least 50 years in a commercially
made product. It's called a doufeu oven. Take a look at this one from
LeCreuset:

http://www.lecreuset.com/usa/product...ategory_id=140

I've seen ones surely made in the 1950s every so often on eBay. There are
three recent ones there right now.

--
wff_ng_7 (at) verizon (dot) net

In article <WSARh.80$vo2.49@trnddc01>,
"wff_ng_7" > wrote:

> > wrote:
> >I saw an interesting idea about putting bags of ice on top of lids of
> > simmering stuff to prevent the volatile flavors from running away with
> > the steam:
> >
> > http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Is...enchMonkey.asp
> >
> > Does anyone do this? I've never considered it before, but I think I
> > will try it the next time it's relevant. I also would have been afraid
> > to put ice on a glass lid over steaming contents, but that's another
> > thing altogether.
>
> I think the concept has been around for at least 50 years in a commercially
> made product. It's called a doufeu oven.

I have one and it seems to work quite well, though I must admit I
have never cooked the same dish with and without ice to determine
exactly what effect the reflux condensation has. Yeah, the
scientific method is a little deficient here :-)

sd

> > I think the concept has been around for at least 50 years in a commercially
> > made product. It's called a doufeu oven.

No kidding - never heard of that before. Guess everything old is new
again! Here I was thinking that this guy was onto something novel.

Sue, I've seen the tagine cookers at Williams Sonoma but wasn't sure
what they were used for. I kept thinking, how do you store those? Must
be for people with larger kitchens than mine, heh.

Victor, thanks for the link. I love my pressure cooker, but I don't
haul it out for everyday cooking. I only use it for stock or tough
cuts of meat or beans that otherwise would take hours to cook.

Steve, if you run the control experiment, do let me know how it turns
out.

Thanks to all who replied.

June

On Apr 7, 12:01�pm, sd > wrote:
> In article <WSARh.80$vo2.49@trnddc01>,
>
> *"wff_ng_7" > wrote:
> > > wrote:
> > >I saw an interesting idea about putting bags of ice on top of lids of
> > > simmering stuff to prevent the volatile flavors from running away with
> > > the steam:
>
> > >http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Is...pinionBenchMon....
>
> > > Does anyone do this? I've never considered it before, but I think I
> > > will try it the next time it's relevant. I also would have been afraid
> > > to put ice on a glass lid over steaming contents, but that's another
> > > thing altogether.
>
> > I think the concept has been around for at least 50 years in a commercially
> > made product. It's called a doufeu oven.
>
> I have one and it seems to work quite well, though I must admit I
> have never cooked the same dish with and without ice to determine
> exactly what effect the reflux condensation has. Yeah, the
> scientific method is a little deficient here :-)
>
> sd

Total BS, there's no scientific basis that cooling the lid of a
*covered* cooking vessel makes any improvement to braising other than
it lowers the internal (and external) temperature to some very small
degree... you can accomplish the very same thing by lowering the oven
temperature by some small amount. Placing ice on the lid of a braiser
is tantamount to heating your house and having the AC on at the same
time... just wastes energy is all. The morons that promote such
idiocy need to soak their heads in a bucket of ice... they gotta be
the very same morons who drive with one foot on the gas and the other
on the brake. The only thing these jerks accomplish is to
unnecessarily melt ice cubes... iffn ya got an ice melting fetish at
least do something worthwhile, like shake, shake, shake yer 2ni!. LOL

Sheldon