Table of Contents
cooking info
temps to cook meat to
| pork | 145 |
| ground meat | 160 |
| poultry | 165 |
| beef | 145 |
| fish | 145 |
| brisket | 205+-5 |
| pork shoulder | 200+-5 |
smoke point of oils
| fat | smoke point | neutral |
|---|---|---|
| avocado oil | 520 | n |
| ghee | 485 | n |
| peanut oil | 450 | y |
| sesame oil | 410 | |
| vegetable oil | 400-450 | y |
| beef tallow | 400 | y |
| grapeseed oil | 390 | y |
| coconut oil | 350 | n |
| e-v olive oil | 325-375 | n |
| butter | 275 | n |
red meat done-ness
| rare | 120 |
| medium rare | 130 |
| medium | 140 |
| medium well | 150 |
| well done | 160 |
bases by cuisine
| french | cajun | spanish | italian |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 onion | onion | onion | onion |
| carrot | bell pepper | bell pepper | carrot |
| celery | celery | tomato | celery |
| mirepoix | holy trinity | soffritto | soff/battuto |
- all include garlic at a later stage
rice/water ratio
| grain | water |
|---|---|
| brown rice | 2 |
| couscous | 1.25 |
| farro | 2.5 |
| forbidden rice | 1.75 |
| freekeh | 2.5 |
| kamut | 3 |
| quinoa | 2 |
| white rice | 1.75 |
| wild rice | 2 |
baking temperatures
| corn bread | 425 |
vegetable roasting temperatures
| asparagus | 425 |
| brussel sprouts | 425 |
| green beans | 425 |
chilis by scoville
| chili | scovilles |
|---|---|
| bell | 0 |
| shishito | 50-200 |
| texas petes | 747 |
| anahein | 500-2500 |
| poblano | 1000-2000 |
| sriracha | 2200 |
| crystal | 2000-4000 |
| tobasco | 2000-5000 |
| jalapeno | 2500-8k |
| serrano | 10k-23k |
| cayenne | 30k-50k |
| thai | 50k-100k |
| habanero | 100k-350k |
| ghost | 1M |
fresh vs dry chilis
| fresh | dry |
|---|---|
| jalapeno | chipotle |
| poblano | ancho |
| chilaca | pisilla |
| anahein | colorado |
| mirasol | guajillo |
| serrano | chile seco |
| bola | cascabel |
tips
- browning meat should be loud
- preheat anything with a high thermal mass (cast iron, carbon steel, enameled cast iron)
- mirepoix vegetables need intense heat up front to bring out flavor
- add lemon late, bitter if cooked too long
- salt meat well before cooking
- leaving meat out before cooking is about drying the surface, not temperature
- let meat rest for 10 minutes after cooking
- equal parts butter and flour can be added to thicken a sauce
- garlic cooks in 1-2 minutes. It will become fragrant suddenly
- tomatos contain flavors soluble in alcohol only
spice rack loadout
standbys
- allspice (ground)
- basil leaves
- bay leaves
- black peppercorns
- black pepper (ground)
- caraway seed
- cardamom
- cayenne pepper
- celery salt
- celery seed
- chipotle
- cinammon (ground)
- cinammon (sticks)
- cloves (ground)
- cloves (whole)
- coriander
- cream of tartar
- cumin (ground)
- cumin (seed)
- curry powder
- dill
- dill weed
- fennel (seed)
- fennel seed
- garam masala
- garlic powder
- ginger (ground)
- mustard (powder)
- mustard (seed)
- nutmeg (ground)
- onion powder
- oregano
- paprika
- parsley (flakes)
- red pepper flakes
- saffron
- thyme (ground)
- turmeric
- white peppercorns
- white pepper (ground)
maybe?
- za'atar
- chili powder
- italian seasoning
- lemon and pepper
missing
- rosemary
- sage
- tarragon
- vanilla beans