Flame is bad. Flame does nasty things to food. It makes soot and it makes deposits of various chemicals that are not too good for us. The last thing you really want to see licking at your food while it's on a grill is an actual flame. Alton Brown More Quotes by Alton Brown More Quotes From Alton Brown Molecular gastronomy is not bad... but without sound, basic culinary technique, it is useless. Alton Brown technique useless sound If my wife made childhood obesity her mission and I signed a law making 1/8 cup of tomato paste a vegetable, I'd be sleeping on the sofa. Alton Brown vegetables law sleep I'm an absolute connoisseur of cheeseburgers and like to think that I can detect even mere percentages of shift in fat content in ground meat in a burger and can actually name the temperature to which it was actually cooked to the degree if I'm, you know, really on my game. Alton Brown names games thinking I'm a filmmaker who decided to go to culinary school. All I picked up was the fact if I didn't understand what was going on with every single ingredient, I could be qualifying for, like, the lunch food job at my daughter's school. Alton Brown daughter mother jobs Stuffing is evil. Stuffing adds mass, so it slows the cooking. That's evil because the longer the bird cooks, the drier it will be. Alton Brown cooking evil bird Laughing brains are more absorbent. Alton Brown brain laughing Remember, America: organization will set you free. Alton Brown organization remember america I say grace. I'm a big believer in grace. I happen to believe in a God that made all the food and so I'm pretty grateful for that and I thank him for that. But I'm also thankful for the people that put the food on the table. Alton Brown grateful believe people What tends to happen is that people will go - they've got hot broth, 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 clump of just kind of a handful of flour, and of course, it turns into library paste. Alton Brown library trying people Now my wife may think she's locked me out of the kitchen but MacGyver's not my patron saint for nothing. Alton Brown kitchen wife thinking Basting is evil. Basting does nothing for the meat. Why? Skin. Skin is designed to keep stuff out of the bird, so basting just lets heat out of the oven. That means the turkey will take longer to cook... so don't touch that door! Alton Brown turkeys doors mean The stubby French painter Toulouse-Lautrec supposedly invented chocolate mousse - I find that rather hard to believe, but there you have it. Alton Brown toulouse chocolate believe What happens is that in each clump you've got the gelatinization of starches, which happens very quickly at the surface of the clump and it kind of forms a protective skin around this dry hunk of flour. Alton Brown dry skins kind Everything in food is science. The only subjective part is when you eat it. Alton Brown subjective I do like artfully breaking rules. Alton Brown breaking-rules Good service can save a bad meal, but there is no level of food that can save bad service. Alton Brown good-service levels meals 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 scatter the flour over the top and then very quickly whisk it in. Alton Brown liquid cold needs There are no bad foods, only bad food habits. Alton Brown bad-food habit I like television. I still believe that television is the most powerful form of communication on Earth - I just hate what is being done with it. Alton Brown powerful hate believe I had kicked around the idea for Good Eats when I was directing commercials. Alton Brown good-eats brilliant-ideas ideas
