Jennifer and daughter Ingrid brought the lamb, I did the cooking, and Amy’s mom flew in from Vegas. Another Thursday night in Manhattan (Kansas).
What better occasion to try out alleged perfect gravy that scientists with the U.K. Royal Society of Chemistry have determined contains drippings from a roast on a bed of halved onions, carrots and celery and the left-over water from boiled cabbage.
Add salt, pepper and a sprinkling of flour to thicken and … a touch of soy sauce.
Dr John Emsley, a chemical scientist, says soy sauce should be used in place of traditional gravy browning because monosodium glutamate from the soy sauce brings out the meaty flavour.
A spokesman for the society said:
“Chemistry and cooking are basically the same thing. Both need to have the correct formula, equipment and procedures. Just think of Heston Blumenthal.”
Eww. Blumenthal makes me think norovirus and barf.
And I didn’t take pictures of Thursday’s dinner, but Top Chef on Wed. night also struggled with lamb, and none of the hot-shot chefs could agree on how to define medium-rare lamb.
Chef Kevin (left):
“We’re having temperature issues with the lamb. What I think of as medium-rare, is apparently what she thinks of as rare. I don’t know who’s right or wrong, I don’t know if there is anyone who is right or wrong.”
The judges knew:
“This was seared raw lamb that was horrible.”
“Severely underdone.”
“Center was like jello.”
“A little too bloody.”
The lamb shoulder roast we had last night was cooked to 140F. There’s even a chart on the Internet that says medium-rare lamb is 140F. I have no idea where the numbers on the chart came from, but it seems about right.
Genius chefs and judges: use a tip-sensitive digital thermometer and stick it in.
The gravy was delicious.
There was no way Tom Colicchio was going to let the brash Stefan take home the Top Chef honors; he made that apparent with the verbal dressing down of the Finn a few weeks ago..jpg)
The football metaphors used in the show were as corny as the ones in a recent press release — 
But rarely is a thermometer found in the top chef kitchens. Last night, someone’s lamb looked raw and someone’s scallops were swimming, but the judges said they were perfectly cooked. How would they know? Sure, it’s a lot more fun to guess – and the new judge uses more pop culture references than I do – but I’d rather stick it in. And the cross-contamination was rampant in the kitchens last night..jpg)
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• who knew what when;.jpg)
But give credit when deserved. Two weeks ago some of the chefs served lamb and used a food thermometer – they just didn’t say anything about proper temp or whether the thermometer helped decide whether the lamb was done.
Dave Grohl, right, said, “Did someone offend the smores guy cause I think he spit on mine.”.jpg)
The dramatic music. The looks. And then, Collect Your Knives. Bye-bye..jpg)
I asked Amy if she wanted to blog weekly about the food safety mistakes that occur on Top Chef as I attempted to feign interest in the show. She looked at me like I had just been cut from the family. After all, she’s pretty pregnant (that’s a double entendre, one of those fancy words I learned to use in my school).
I was awestruck as the host revealed to observers watching nationwide her absurd method for determining whether the chicken strips had reached a safe endpoint temperature. The only reliable way to check the doneness of the chicken product would have been to use a food thermometer. Not color. Not the squeeze method. Just temperature. .jpg)
Many individuals underestimate the importance of using a food thermometer, especially with small meat products. Most individuals associate using a food thermometer with larger meats, such as .jpg)
