The secret: It's not the creepy chemical additive you thought. A couple of weekends ago, I caught an episode of the public radio show "The Splendid Table" with soothingly voiced chef Lynne Rossetto Kasper. The topic was BBQ and I was shocked (Shocked!) to hear Lynne* and her guest recommend liquid smoke as the key to great crockpot pulled pork. In fact, Lynne seemed pretty surprised to hear herself suggest it.

But the truth, my friends, is that sometimes there is a little truth in advertising. And liquid smoke is one of those times.

*We're on a first-name basis like that. In my imagination.

You can be forgiven for wrongfully accusing liquid smoke of nefarious fakey toxic chemicalness. Even chemists have been confused on this one. Back in June, Slashfood interviewed NYU chemistry professor Kent Kirshenbaum, who--like you, me, Lynne Rossetto Kasper and everyone we know--had believed the worst about this cheap, sketchy sounding liquid.

Unlike the rest of us, however, Kirshenbaum actually went out and studied liquid smoke. He found that, despite its synthetic 1950's aura, the stuff is perfectly natural.

What is liquid smoke?
Liquid smoke is very simply smoke in water. Smoke usually comes as a vapor, but there are ways to condense it and turn it into liquid and that liquid can then be carried in water.

How is it different from regular smoke?
Regular smoke is a vapor, and it is difficult to store.

Is one healthier than the other?
It seems that the liquid smoke can be substantially healthier because there are carcinogenic compounds that can be removed. A lot of the carcinogenic compounds [found in direct smoke from charcoal or wood] do not dissolve. But by dissolving the compounds into water, they can be removed.

Read the rest: The Secret of Liquid Smoke - Boing Boing

Technorati Tags: starry night, van gogh, cake, food, cooking, recipe

Social media has certainly changed the way we interact and the way we do business, but the way we eat? No really, it’s true: social media is positively affecting virtually all aspects of our lives, including how we find, sell, and eat food. From helping restaurants connect with customers in new and innovative ways to helping consumers locate good eats, social media and the web are making our cities more delicious places to live.

In this post we’ll look at some of the ways that social media is giving small food businesses the power to promote themselves and find new customers, as well as how it is providing city dwellers with the tools to find great (and safe) food. How else is social media making your city tastier? Let us know in the comments.
For Food Providers

Food vendors have put social media to some incredibly innovative uses in order to better locate and connect with their key demographic. The Albion Cafe in London, for example, uses Twitter (Twitter) to automatically alert customers when fresh baked goods have just come out of their ovens. Using a specially built box called BakerTweet, the people at Albion are able to automatically update Twitter any time something new comes out of their ovens. The result is that their customers know exactly when the freshest cookies and scones are available for sale. BakerTweet is a clever way to use social media to connect with customers on a new level and get them more interested in coming into the shop to purchase food.

As part of the American Chemical Society's big meeting last week, they hosted a chemistry-themed barbecue reception. Science News reports on the geek cook-out, including some news-you-can-use from two food chemists. From Science News (photo from Wikimedia Commons):

"Unfortunately, if you ask the [food] safety people they'll tell you to cremate everything," said Shirley Corriher, a food chemist and cookbook author from Atlanta. Meats should be cooked long enough to kill bacteria, she noted, but they don't need to be cooked beyond medium to be truly safe. For one thing, carcinogenic chemicals called heterocyclic amines form when creatine -- a substance found in muscle tissue -- reacts at high temperatures with amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. The amount of HCAs formed in grilled meats typically triples if meats are cooked well done rather than medium well, she noted.

Other research-proven tricks for reducing HCAs, as noted in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, include using marinades, garlic and onion, said Risch. A marinade of red wine, for instance, can reduce the formation of HCAs by 88 percent, she noted. Although scientists aren't sure exactly how these techniques work, moisture from marinades may ensure that the meat directly in contact with the grill remains at a relatively low temperature, she said.

"Better BBQ Through Chemistry"