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Alcohol helps with cooking proteins, right?

Holiday Tips & Tricks

Barton Seaver - Holiday Tips & Tricks

Recorded

This event was on November 16, 2023

Join us for an exciting live event hosted by renowned chef and author, Barton Seaver, as he shares his invaluable holiday cooking tips and tricks. In this interactive culinary experience, Barton will guide participants through the art of creating memorable and stress-free holiday meals. Whether you're looking to perfect the roast turkey, or craft delectable vegetarian/vegan dishes, Barton Seaver's expertise will leave you inspired and well-prepared to make this holiday season a culinary triumph. Don't miss this opportunity to elevate your holiday cooking game with the guidance of a true culinary maestro!

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Question

Melvin Graham

Alcohol helps with cooking proteins, right?

Answer

Your answer to why I drenched my smoked side of smoked salmon in alcohol before trying to dry it. It's because alcohol lowers the evaporation temperature of water. This is why alcohol is particularly good in like fry batters if you're making them, because it evaporates the water faster. And what that does is, instead of like just putting water into your mix or seltzer water, you're putting in, uh, vodka which evaporates faster so you get less steam time and more crisping time. Same is true if you are trying to dry something off by patting it or drenching it with alcohol. It, it sort of forces that issue. It helps to dehydrate the surface of that a little bit faster. So there you go, Melvin. Nice buddy.

Barton Seaver

Chef, Educator, Author

bartonseaver.com

Barton Seaver is one of the world’s leading sustainable seafood experts and educators. He traded his illustrious career as an award-winning chef leading top seafood restaurants, DC, for traveling the world as an Explorer with the National Geographic Society. Barton translated his experiences into leadership in sustainable seafood innovations, garnering him positions with the United States Culinary Ambassador Corp, the University of New England, the New England Aquarium, and the Harvard School of Public Health. Barton works on initiatives to inform consumers and institutions about how our choices for diet and menus can promote healthier people, resillient ecosystems, more secure food supplies, and thriving communities. An internationally recognized speaker, Barton has delivered lectures, seminars, and demos to a multitude of audiences. He has written seven seafood-centric books, including For Cod and Country and American Seafood and has contributed to dozens of publications, including Cooking Light, The New York Times, and Saveur, among many others. He has appeared on 60 Minutes, CNN, NPR, 20/20 and the TED Talk stage. He is the founder of Coastal Culinary Academy, a multi-platform initiative that seeks to increase seafood consumption through seafood-specific culinary education for all levels of cooks.