Posted by Daniel on 3/31/2010 to
Product Knowledge
It has become apparent that the digital revolution has become a factor in the new era of cooking in the home kitchen. With that in mind I have decided to do at least a 3 part blog on these gadgets. (may go to 4 if I find a new "toy" not in my kitchen repertoire).
First thing to establish is do I need these in my kitchen? Yes, the need for correct and accurate measurements in cooking and baking is essential. A recipe for cooking should be regarded as a guideline to follow to achieve the end result. This means that substitution in recipes is at the discretion of the cook. As I tried to get across to the people in my cooking classes, build your flavors with your ingredients. If you are, let's say making a Chicken Curry dish traditionally serve with rice, and the rice instructions say 3 cups of rice to 1 cup of water, IT'S A CHICKEN DISH, why not use chicken stock to replace the water.
I say all this to bring out a point, cooking and baking differ in that baking recipes should be viewed as formulas and just like in the chem lab, you must follow that formula to get the correct result. This is so much a factor in cheffing that Pro Cooking and Pro Baking are offered as individual curriculum in culinary schools.
So with all this in mind let's look at our first digital need, SCALES. The correct weight is important in cooking and baking to get the right proportions for all of the ingredients in the recipe. Actually, in baking they do not call it weighing, it is referred to as scaling, again an inference to the exactness needed.
A good digital scale, like this one from Avery Berkel, will have a large display area (some have a removable display so you can see around large items that block the display window). It will measure ounces or pounds and with the press of a button convert to grams or kilograms for your European recipes. It should have a capacity high enough to weigh large items like whole chickens, beef roasts etc. the one I use at home will go to 11 pounds.
Ideally it would have a removable container to hold the item being weighed, this is especially helpful in cleaning. There will be a button on the unit that will let you "zero out" the reading to allow for the weight of what ever container you are using to hold your items. As far as calibration goes, not to worry, it will reset each time it is turned on. If you question the weight you can check it by using the old method used in resetting the old spring type by putting a 1 pound block of butter on the scale and it should read 16 ounces.
These units are powered by a battery and has a self-monitoring method to tell you when the battery needs to be replaced, ah the magic of the digital world.
If you have any questions about the digital scales just call one of the staff at JES Restaurant Equipment and they will be more than happy to answer your questions.
Next we will look at the digital thermometers that are available on the market today, once you get it scaled, you do not want to over cook it.
-Chef Phil
