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See the original image at nytimes.com

The Invisible Ingredient in Every Kitchen

nytimes.com — OF all the ingredients in the kitchen, the most common is also the most mysterious. It ’s hard to measure and hard to control. It’s not a material like water or flour, to be added by the cup. In fact, it’s invisible.It’s heat.

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  • vroom101, on 01/04/2008, -4/+6Very good article! I wonder if the pre-cook pasta-soaking technique can be applied to off-the-grocery-store-shelf, boxed, dried spaghetti?
    • strictnein, on 01/04/2008, -5/+1comment abuse - this link shouldn't require a login, assuming you haven't already go to the ny times recently:
      http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/dining/02curi.ht ...
      If it does... kick me in the nuts
    • sockpuppets, on 01/04/2008, -0/+4Try my dark matter brownies, guests always gravitate towards them.
    • diggzoid, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1Yes that is the kind of pasta he is talking about, as fresh pastas will cook in 3 minutes anyway. However even though there were many great things in the article I would never soak pasta first as it won't cook "al dente" though I do soak lasagna sometimes.
  • jake8689, on 01/04/2008, -3/+51my mysterious ingredient is love
    • Fragmatic, on 01/04/2008, -1/+37I find too much can turn food salty.
    • chicken101, on 01/04/2008, -2/+4awww
    • xsquirrel378x, on 01/04/2008, -2/+11whoever says that just adds more butter and sugar and calls it love
      • nobodyfresh, on 01/04/2008, -1/+2be careful though, butterface plus sugar does not equal love
    • captainwalter, on 01/04/2008, -3/+0tip for cooking with love: i extract my love into a sauce form and allow it to ferment for a few weeks before cooking. the extra protein is great for pregnant women!
      • sanotaan, on 01/05/2008, -1/+4will you ***** quit pretending semen is "love" like some 12 year old.
    • 28dayslater, on 01/04/2008, -0/+6My mysterious ingredient is sea monkeys.
    • KingGorilla, on 01/05/2008, -0/+4Mine is a small glass bottle of water laced with LSD
    • Tetraca, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1...dammit!
  • xsquirrel378x, on 01/04/2008, -10/+53a great article for all women to read
    • penguinshome, on 01/04/2008, -13/+4Misogynistic pig. Let's join the 21st century.
      • martynda, on 01/04/2008, -4/+2I think he just forgot the /sarcasm tag. Get over it.
      • strictnein, on 01/04/2008, -6/+3digg comments calling all digg users fat lazy men: awesome funniness to the max!
        digg comments making sexist anti-female comment: oh noes!
    • klazik, on 01/04/2008, -7/+4Sexist Much?
    • madbosun, on 01/04/2008, -5/+1I cook 99% of the time in the family, and Im male.. care to rephrase?
      • cdahlkvist, on 01/10/2008, -0/+1You may be male...but you're still a woman and it has nothing to do with cooking.
    • Arkz, on 01/04/2008, -1/+7You two women quit yer whining and make me some dinner!
  • halobender, on 01/04/2008, -7/+2Fatness
  • rojano17, on 01/04/2008, -7/+27Why is this on Digg, everyone knows there are no women here.
    • penguinshome, on 01/04/2008, -9/+2Yeah, well that must mean I'm a transvestite.

      /sarcasm
      • qber, on 01/04/2008, -1/+10Lighten up. I'm a woman, and even I like to acknowledge that there are no women on Digg.
        Sheesh. Women. They always have to take things personally.
        • muniak, on 01/05/2008, -2/+1Liar, there are NO women on the internet.
      • sanotaan, on 01/05/2008, -2/+1i buy it
    • klazik, on 01/04/2008, -7/+1Sexist Much?
  • pheedback, on 01/04/2008, -5/+4Many people cook with love too.
  • jimripper, on 01/04/2008, -20/+5Buried as inaccurate. Heat is not energy; it is not an ingredient; in fact, it is not a physical entity at all. It is a process (the transfer of energy). In other words, if you were to say "I added heat to a bowl of water" you would be talking complete nonsense, just like the author of the article is.
    • mattyoi, on 01/04/2008, -1/+7ohhh shuuut up
    • strictnein, on 01/04/2008, -1/+11You must be fun at parties.
    • thebellmaster1x, on 01/04/2008, -1/+6*facepalm*
      Sorry, is this a scientific lecture on heat processes? Is this a dissertation on the uses of entropy in industry?
      It's about cooking.
      Shut up.
  • strictnein, on 01/04/2008, -2/+12Best way to control heat: quality cookware.
    That $99 cookware set from Walmart just doesn't cut it. And skip the nonstick garbage.
    • wonderchemist, on 01/04/2008, -5/+5Chef: You are a really good photographer, you must have a nice camera.
      Photographer: You are a really good chef, you must have a nice set of pots and pans.
      • strictnein, on 01/04/2008, -1/+12No, quality equipment does not prove your skill, but those with skill generally prefer quality equipment. See how that works?
        • chownrus, on 01/04/2008, -1/+4Agreed. And quality cookware need not be expensive. Avoid the designer kitchen stores (i.e. Williams-Sonoma) and seek out a restaurant supply house. You can usually get great cookware at a fraction of the price.
      • thebellmaster1x, on 01/04/2008, -7/+2Cooking and photography are not the same. A professional photographer can at least make do with a bad camera because there's still so much technique that depends on the photographer himself. If a professional cook has good cookware, yes, there is still a lot of technique involved; if he has bad cookware, it doesn't matter how much technique he uses—the food is not going to turn out very good.
        • acceptab1euname, on 01/05/2008, -1/+2If you've got good technique, you'll figure out how to make it work, regardless of the conditions you're working in. If you don't know what the hell you're doing, no amount of top-of-the-line equipment will help you make good food.
    • Error601, on 01/04/2008, -1/+4Definitely but it doesn't have to be the expensive stuff either. Just learn your materials, thicknesses, and how they conduct heat. Aluminum core stainless steel is what I usually buy just because it's the most versatile and reasonably priced.
  • kitaljevich, on 01/04/2008, -3/+14I somehow read: "The Invisible Ingredient in Every Kitten" which left me throughly confused.
    • xsquirrel378x, on 01/04/2008, -6/+4im in ur kitchenz mysteriousing ur ingredientz
  • cindya, on 01/04/2008, -8/+0This was in Wednesday's print issue...
  • warrenterr, on 01/04/2008, -4/+1hard to measure? thermometers are pretty accurate. The article also needs to be organized a bit, it has like 50 paragraphs, it could use some titles and subtitles as well. Good info nonetheless, I'm gonna try the soaking pasta method.
    • stalefries, on 01/04/2008, -1/+1That's today's newspaper for you. Muddled-up sentences, passed off as paragraphs.
  • mal1964, on 01/04/2008, -4/+3That story has a lot of nothing you need to know, believe me!
  • Ramble, on 01/04/2008, -5/+1What are they talking about. it is easy to control heat, as long as you have the heat given off in watts and the losses in the oven then presicely controling the heat going to the food is pretty simple.
  • digitallysick, on 01/04/2008, -3/+2The Invisible Ingredient in the kitchen is = a woman that cooks
    • warrenterr, on 01/04/2008, -2/+5your invisible girlfriend?
    • mal1964, on 01/04/2008, -0/+1that's fine with me, I just need to see her in bed for about two minutes.
  • MuletTheGreat, on 01/04/2008, -13/+5Iphone ron paul digg is better than reddit digg me down ninjas pirates global warming == bad new house somewhere goes 110% green scientific breakthrough cures cancer, aging and stupididydyty no more sleep as well lolcatz rulez.

    I love america bring the troops home george bush is an idiot whats an australia? HD better than blu ray or is it? top ten _______. RIAA, MPAA, DRM suck balls, man wins rights battle. Men > Women, kid defeats AK47 wielding terrist with mac truck, more geek habits and signs your awesome.

    How to be a great romantic, lover, programmer, etc... Ron paul, sales tax increase, americas economy and position as global power == *****. Facebook steals info and tells user to get *****. *Porn related article*

    I just summarized digg.
    • haterrade, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1you just summarized the internet
    • bjornski, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1PLAY IT LIKE A PONZI SCHEME!

      I can see the pixels.
  • mal1964, on 01/04/2008, -2/+2Cooking is Art, Baking is Science.
  • arizonagroove, on 01/04/2008, -1/+8"No matter how efficient an appliance is, the cook can help simply by covering pots and pans with their lids. "

    This is one of those 'well duh' things which in my experience a surprising number of people don't get. I've had plenty of housemates over the years who wouldn't put a lid on and complain about how long things took to get to the boil.
    • mal1964, on 01/04/2008, -1/+1LOL
    • mal1964, on 01/05/2008, -2/+3I use them rarely , lids and most foods don't get along very well.
      • acceptab1euname, on 01/05/2008, -0/+3Agreed. I rather like it when the green things I cook remain green, so I leave the lid off. Using it to bring liquids to the boil is just common sense, though.
      • mal1964, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1Yep and I try my best to save here and there. but food cost money and to ruin it saving money to cook it, sounds like bad math. just like my grammar.
  • androo002345, on 01/05/2008, -6/+1Boring.
    I only buy things I can make in the microwave.
    • bjornski, on 01/05/2008, -0/+2Women love a man who can cook.

      And if you can do it WELL? You don't need to do it as often.
  • keveStyles, on 01/05/2008, -3/+3bacteria
  • sanotaan, on 01/05/2008, -3/+2you might as well include "love" or "hunger" or "obligation"

    and fecal coliform bacteria
  • jgiesinger, on 01/05/2008, -5/+0What's the article say? I saw the word kitchen and figured it was for women only.....
  • libhatefulhead, on 01/05/2008, -6/+0People shouldn't cook anything because of the Carbon produced. Do you know that you are killing people, trees and innocent animals by cooking meats and other foods????? Try to cut out the meat and eat raw veggies. DO NOT USE YOUR STOVE FOR ANYTHING!!! You will save the planet and help millions of people to live at least past the age of 20 in many parts of the world. Let's show Bush and american corporations that we don't need their appliances or their fuel or their control! VICTORY IN 2008!
  • sabertooth, on 01/05/2008, -0/+2As Alton Brown says, "Food+Heat=Cooking".
  • smrekar, on 01/05/2008, -1/+1my invisible ingredient is only invisible to the naked eye. E-Coli... It really changes the flavors and helps with weightloss.
  • shortmilton, on 01/05/2008, -0/+2So, now I know why Momma always said''You boys get in here and eat yer supper while it's hot.''
  • the6thReplicant, on 01/05/2008, -0/+2Harold McGee is to cooking what Donald Knuth is to programming. He's the chef's chef. Nice to see it on the front page. Though it looks like most of digg is full of people who still get meals cooked by their mom!
  • mikekirk, on 01/05/2008, -0/+0The soaking thing is absolutely correct. I was taught by an Asian lady I work with, to achieve perfect steamed Basmati rice you need to rinse and soak it for at least eight hours. Do that and you get perfect fluffy rice, that isn't over-cooked or stuck together.
  • DrHelpU, on 01/13/2008, -0/+0I live in NYC, really do not have time to cook. But if you do, here's a list of all kitchen items in new york
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