Red Thai curried popcorn

*Three quart Magnalite pot

* splash screen

* one half cup popcorn kernels

* one tablespoon vegetable oil

* two tablespoons unsalted butter

* small pile grated Parmigiano Reggiano or some other hard cheese

* teaspoon red Thai curry

* 1/2 teaspoon coriander

* 1/4 teaspoon sea salt.

McGee page 480. As the temperature inside the corn kernel reaches and passes the boiling point, the protein matrix and starch granules soften, and moisture in the granules turns into steam. The steam softens the starch even more, and the many thousands of little steam pockets exert a growing pressure against the hull. The softening of starch and protein continues until the internal pressure approaches seven times the external pressure of the atmosphere, at which point the hull breaks open. The sudden pressure drop inside the kernal causes the pockets of steam to expand, and with them expands the soft protein-starch mixture, which puffs up and then stiffens as it cools off, becoming light and crisp. (If the popping is done in a tightly covered pan that offers no escape for the water vapor, the endosperm will retain it and be tough and chewy; the pan lid should be left slightly ajar.)

Salmon fillets

Late night snack. 12:30 in the morning and I'm overcome with the strangest urge. Should have known that bowl of popcorn for dinner wouldn't hold me.

Seared in butter and olive oil. Rasped ginger, lime, and garlic. Finished with white wine and lime juice. Capers. S/P

Smooch smooch smooch smooch * kisses back of hands * Hit the spot.

Beef sausages

Beef sausages? Sounds weird.

These were pressure cooked for speed. I put enough water in the pressure pot to drown a narwhal, if that narwhal had breathing problems to begin with and was small enough to fit into an eight quart pressure cooker -- and where are you going to find one of those? -- but the water evaporated which isn't supposed to happen in a pressure pot, or possibly absorbed, so fat from the sausages formed the crustiest, burniest, most repugnant smelling fond on the bottom of the pot. Shirley, they're ruined! I removed the sausages and added more water and boldly turned the burner to high because that's the way I roll in my lab kitchen. The fond lifted off nearly instantly and dissolved immediately into the water, diffusing the whole stench and forming what appeared to be a salvagable liquid. For a minute there I thought I was in for a Brillo® pad scrapy-scrape afternoon.

I used that burned-sausage-bits pot-cleaning water to cook chickpeas. Is that daring or what? The chickkpeas were only partially hydrated. I relied on the pressure cooker to shove that flavored water into the beans fully hydrating them as they cooked. That was the idea, anyway. It's all pure guessing. Who knows, they might be awful. Dried chickpeas are fun. I like watching them swell.  

Doesn't it ↓ make you want to eat 'em right out of the package? They're already cooked, you know.

Pressure cooked ↓

See? They got plumpier. How they managed not to explode open is beyond me. I've been eating these chunks throughout the afternoon like dog treats. In fact, if I had a dog, I'd give 'em some because I'm nice that way when it comes to dogs.

* beef sausages pressure cooked on a steam table over too little water. That is all.

* chickpeas cooked in the water used to lift off the burnt oil and residue from steaming the sausages. + yellow bell pepper, onion, garlic with a trace of vindaloo curry in olive oil / butter

* carrots and tiny mixed fingerling potatoes also pressure cooked together in orange juice, buttter, maple syrup, and cinnamon with mango added at the end, and dayumn are they ever delicious.