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by **Dogfish** » Sat Mar 02, 2013 5:51 pm

Purposes? Doses? Can it replace phosphate? My research is inconclusive.

by **Oddwookiee** » Sat Mar 02, 2013 6:28 pm

I don't use it processing other than as a lubricant for casings. Anything other then that, I haven't a clue. I use a smidgen in marinades at home, but not for the shop.

by **Dogfish** » Sat Mar 02, 2013 6:36 pm

The research I found stated in longer letters that it makes meat more juicy, but I can't find dosage rates or anything.

by **DiggingDogFarm** » Sat Mar 02, 2013 7:25 pm

Source: Handbook of Meat and Meat Processing By Y. H. Hui

~Martin

by **Dogfish** » Sat Mar 02, 2013 7:33 pm

That's the same thing I read except I missed the .075-1.7% numbers. Thanks! I'll just have to try it.

by **DiggingDogFarm** » Sat Mar 02, 2013 7:38 pm

Please report back.

~Martin

by **wheels** » Sat Mar 02, 2013 9:12 pm

I've used it as a tenderiser for beef. I found the details on a (take-away style) Chinese cooking forum.

It worked well.

Phil

by **Snags** » Sun Mar 03, 2013 11:33 am

Its part of most recipes for chevapchichi
Its where I first came across it.
With Chinese I usually velvetted meats with corn flour and rice wine to tenderise them
Have heard of Chinese putting bicarb in the veg to maintain the bright greens ,apparently destroys the vitamins though.

by **onewheeler** » Sun Mar 03, 2013 11:43 am

When I were a lad it was common to add bicarb to veg, especially peas. It kept them a very unnatural shade of green and made them taste odd. Of course then veg were cooked until they fell apart.

Bicarb in cevapcici is said to make the outside crispy.

Martin/

by **Wunderdave** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 5:26 pm

If you do any pressure-cooking you can use bicarb (baking soda) to decrease the temperature at which the maillard reactions occur within (especially root) vegetables.

Modernist Cuisine pioneered this technique and it works GREAT with carrots and with butternut squash. Google around for the Modernist Cuisine pressure-caramelized carrot soup recipe and find out for yourself. The flavor is amazing.

I also use bicarb of soda to increase alkalinity in cooking water. For example, boiling potatoes prior to baking, if you use baking soda in the water it causes the surface to "roughen" up which will crisp much better in the oven afterwards.

The opposite effect, of firming boiled potatoes, can be achieved by adding vinegar to the boiling water. This is useful for, e.g., potato salads.

by **wheels** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 5:50 pm

Thanks Wunderdave - most of that's new to me.

I've used milk powder in chicken stock done in the pressure cooker to get a similar effect. It's a Heston Blumental method.

Phil

by **DiggingDogFarm** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:16 pm

FWIW, sodium bicarbonate is also useful in making hard boiled eggs easier to peel.

From On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen By Harold McGee, Page 88:

"Difficult peeling is characteristic of fresh eggs with a relatively low albumen pH, which somehow causes the albumin to adhere to the inner shell membrane more strongly than it coheres to itself. At the pH typical after several days of refrigeration, around 9.2, the shell peels easily. If you end up with a carton of very fresh eggs and need to cook them right away, you can add a half teaspoon of baking soda to a quart of water to make the cooking water alkaline."

~Martin

by **wheels** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:30 pm

More great info. Thanks.

Phil

by **saucisson** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:46 pm

If you want your fresh frozen petit pois to instantly take on the colour of 20 year old canned peas, forget to empty the citric acid solution out of the kettle after descaling it and use that water to heat the peas in :oops: