美国国家公共电台 NPR TV Chef Alton Brown Shares Tips On The Science Of Thanksgiving Dinner

TV Chef Alton Brown Shares Tips On The Science Of Thanksgiving Dinner

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We could give you some tips on how to properly cook your Thanksgiving meal, but frankly², it may be too late for that at this point in the day. So we're going to talk about the science behind cooking those traditional dishes with our friend Alton Brown. Welcome to the program.

ALTON BROWN: Thank you, Ari, for having me. Nice to talk to you again.

SHAPIRO: So you are currently on tour with a show called "Eat Your Science," which is on Broadway this week. Congratulations.

BROWN: Thank you very much. We're dark today. There's no show today, so I'm just sitting around thinking about turkey.

SHAPIRO: So we're going to work our way through the science of this meal, beginning with the centerpiece, the turkey itself.

BROWN: Excellent. The turkey - my number one thing that people don't get is take that sucker out of the refrigerator about three hours before you plan on cooking it. You know, my thing is I want to bring things up to room temperature, especially poultry³, before I cook it because I want it to cook faster so that there's less moisture loss.

SHAPIRO: But I think a lot of people have been told that's dangerous, that'll promote bacterial⁴ growth, that's the way to make people sick.

BROWN: Well, you know what? Sure, it would if I took my turkey out of the refrigerator and, like, threw it in a dumpster or drug it down the street in New York for a while, yeah.

SHAPIRO: (Laughter).

BROWN: I would have bacteria and, yeah, it would grow in what we call the danger zone, which is typically between 40 and 140. But if I'm getting something out of my refrigerator where it's been, you know, basically pretty clean and I'm putting it on my counter, what exactly is going to happen in that amount of time that going into a hot oven isn't going to kill? Nothing. I have been doing this for years. No one's ever gotten sick.

SHAPIRO: Well, we've got a lot of the meal left to go. Should we move on from the turkey?

BROWN: I'm following you.

SHAPIRO: I've got a question about cranberries⁵.

BROWN: Yes.

SHAPIRO: If I want to make - I don't know - strawberry jam, I'm going to have to add something to strawberries to make it gelatinous and thick, right? I'm going to have to add pectin or something like that.

BROWN: That's right.

SHAPIRO: But if I want to make cranberry⁶ sauce, all I have to do is pop some cranberries in a little saucepan and when it cools off, it'll be thick and gelatinous. So what's up with cranberries?

BROWN: Cranberries contain a massive amount of natural pectins. They will gel all on their own, which is why you can basically make cranberry sauce out of filling, a pan with a little bit of water - I add honey to mine or sometimes maple⁷ syrup⁸ - a little bit of citrus zest⁹ and cook it till the berries kind of pop and start to fall apart. Stop, and that stuff will set up like Jell-O.

SHAPIRO: Yeah, it's amazing. Are there other fruits that do that?

BROWN: There are a few, but none that are as common at this time of year. There are other members...

SHAPIRO: Like quinces? Would quinces do that?

BROWN: Quinces do it - very good. And that's probably the only other one and kind of the classic American cannon¹⁰. And it's funny, when you look back in history books or American cookery books, one of the reasons that the quinces and cranberries are used so often is because of their natural jelling properties.

SHAPIRO: All right, let's move on to gravy¹¹, which is persistently¹² plagued by two problems. And I'd like you to tell us how science can solve either or both of them.

BROWN: Go.

SHAPIRO: Problem number one - skin. And problem number two - lumps. Give us some wisdom.

BROWN: OK, lumps are caused by one thing and one thing alone - the improper¹³ addition of a starch¹⁴.

SHAPIRO: Like flour or something.

BROWN: Like flour. And what tends to happen is that people will go - they've got hot broth¹⁵, you know, they've added some liquid to their drippings, they've brought that up to heat. And then they try to add in a big clump¹⁶ of just kind of a handful of flour, and of course, it turns into library paste. What happens is that in each clump you've got the gelatinization of starches¹⁷, which happens very quickly at the surface of the clump and it kind of forms a protective skin around this dry hunk of flour.

So what you've got to do is you need to either create a slurry in a cold liquid, which also works with cornstarch, or you've got to do your gravy in a very wide pan and kind of scatter¹⁸ the flour over the top and then very quickly whisk it in.

SHAPIRO: Skin on gravy.

BROWN: The skin is forming because of proteins, just like if you cook milk or anything else that's got a coagulant¹⁹ protein in it. That's going to - nice, I hate using the word coagulant...

SHAPIRO: (Laughter).

BROWN: ...On Thanksgiving. I'm sorry, everybody. You know, this happens at the gravy boat stage - right? - or this happens when you're trying to keep it warm. So the way that I avoid this is I keep my gravy - the second it's done, I put it in a thermos²⁰, which will keep it hot and will prevent air from getting to the surface. And I keep it there till the last moment. The last thing that goes out to the table is the gravy, and I pour it out of the thermos and immediately move it in. And at that point...

SHAPIRO: You don't bring your "ThunderCats" thermos to the Thanksgiving table?

BROWN: I do not. Well, I keep the "ThunderCats" thermos safely in the kitchen.

SHAPIRO: All right. Let's go to dessert, and let's talk about pie crust.

BROWN: Yum, pie crust.

SHAPIRO: And there have been long family feuds²¹ over butter, Crisco, lard, what to use in the pie crust.

BROWN: I am firmly in the lard camp. It must be what we call leaf lard, which is a specific kind of lard that resides around certain internal organs in the pig.

SHAPIRO: Like around the kidneys.

BROWN: Yeah, that's considered the jewel box of the fat...

SHAPIRO: The jewel of the lard.

BROWN: Yeah, the jewel of the lard is right around the kidneys. But this is a fat that has a very specific crystalline formation and a high melting point. OK, now butter typically melts around, you know, 90 Fahrenheit²², as opposed to about 20 degrees higher for lard. So what that means is is that when you're working with it, the lard is going to stay more solid, which is great for flakiness. And it also means that it's going to stay in a solid form as it's baking a little bit longer, so that's why you get a much flakier crust.

SHAPIRO: All right, Alton Brown, thank you so much.

BROWN: Thanks, Ari, for having me.

SHAPIRO: That's Alton Brown of the Food Network, who is on Broadway this week with his show "Alton Brown Live: Eat Your Science."

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

3 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

4 bacterial   

a.细菌的

参考例句：

• Bacterial reproduction is accelerated in weightless space. 在失重的空间，细菌繁殖加快了。
• Brain lesions can be caused by bacterial infections. 大脑损伤可能由细菌感染引起。

5 cranberries   

n.越橘( cranberry的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The tart flavour of the cranberries adds piquancy. 越橘的酸味很可口。
• Look at the fresh cranberries. 你看这些新鲜的蔓越橘。 来自无师自通 校园英语会话

6 cranberry   

n.梅果

参考例句：

• Turkey reminds me of cranberry sauce.火鸡让我想起梅果酱。
• Actually I prefer canned cranberry sauce.事实上我更喜欢罐装的梅果酱。

7 maple   

n.槭树，枫树，槭木

参考例句：

• Maple sugar is made from the sap of maple trees.枫糖是由枫树的树液制成的。
• The maple leaves are tinge with autumn red.枫叶染上了秋天的红色。

8 syrup   

n.糖浆，糖水

参考例句：

• I skimmed the foam from the boiling syrup.我撇去了煮沸糖浆上的泡沫。
• Tinned fruit usually has a lot of syrup with it.罐头水果通常都有许多糖浆。

9 zest   

n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣

参考例句：

• He dived into his new job with great zest.他充满热情地投入了新的工作。
• He wrote his novel about his trip to Asia with zest.他兴趣浓厚的写了一本关于他亚洲之行的小说。

10 cannon   

n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮

参考例句：

• The soldiers fired the cannon.士兵们开炮。
• The cannon thundered in the hills.大炮在山间轰鸣。

11 gravy   

n.肉汁；轻易得来的钱，外快

参考例句：

• You have spilled gravy on the tablecloth.你把肉汁泼到台布上了。
• The meat was swimming in gravy.肉泡在浓汁之中。

12 persistently   

ad.坚持地；固执地

参考例句：

• He persistently asserted his right to a share in the heritage. 他始终声称他有分享那笔遗产的权利。
• She persistently asserted her opinions. 她果断地说出了自己的意见。

13 improper   

adj.不适当的，不合适的，不正确的，不合礼仪的

参考例句：

• Short trousers are improper at a dance.舞会上穿短裤不成体统。
• Laughing and joking are improper at a funeral.葬礼时大笑和开玩笑是不合适的。

14 starch   

n.淀粉；vt.给...上浆

参考例句：

• Corn starch is used as a thickener in stews.玉米淀粉在炖煮菜肴中被用作增稠剂。
• I think there's too much starch in their diet.我看是他们的饮食里淀粉太多了。

15 broth   

n.原(汁)汤(鱼汤、肉汤、菜汤等)

参考例句：

• Every cook praises his own broth.厨子总是称赞自己做的汤。
• Just a bit of a mouse's dropping will spoil a whole saucepan of broth.一粒老鼠屎败坏一锅汤。

16 clump   

n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走

参考例句：

• A stream meandered gently through a clump of trees.一条小溪从树丛中蜿蜒穿过。
• It was as if he had hacked with his thick boots at a clump of bluebells.仿佛他用自己的厚靴子无情地践踏了一丛野风信子。

17 starches   

n.淀粉( starch的名词复数 )；含淀粉的食物；浆粉v.把（衣服、床单等）浆一浆( starch的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• You should avoid sugars and starches. 你应避免吃糖和含淀粉的食物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Cotton and rayon yarns are most often sized with water-insoluble starches. 棉和人造丝纱多用不溶于水的淀粉上浆。 来自互联网

18 scatter   

vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散

参考例句：

• You pile everything up and scatter things around.你把东西乱堆乱放。
• Small villages scatter at the foot of the mountain.村庄零零落落地散布在山脚下。

19 coagulant   

n.凝结剂；凝血剂

参考例句：

• Increased coagulant dosage results in greater sludge yield for ultimate disposal.增加凝聚剂用量会增大最后处理的污泥量。
• The ice cream of this brand has too much coagulant.这个牌子的冰淇淋添加了过多的凝固剂。

20 thermos   

n.保湿瓶，热水瓶

参考例句：

• Can I borrow your thermos?我可以借用你的暖水瓶吗？
• It's handy to have the thermos here.暖瓶放在这儿好拿。

21 feuds   

n.长期不和，世仇( feud的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Quarrels and feuds between tribes became incessant. 部落间的争吵、反目成仇的事件接连不断。 来自英汉非文学 - 文明史
• There were feuds in the palace, no one can deny. 宫里也有斗争，这是无可否认的。 来自辞典例句

22 Fahrenheit   

n./adj.华氏温度；华氏温度计(的)

参考例句：

• He was asked for the boiling point of water in Fahrenheit.他被问到水的沸点是华氏多少度。
• The thermometer reads 80 degrees Fahrenheit.寒暑表指出华氏80度。