Kevin Mcdonald

  • Top Chef: Medium-rare lamb is 140F and soy sauce is the secret ingredient in perfect gravy

    Posted: October 23rd, 2009 - 12:57pm by Doug Powell

    Jennifer and daughter Ingrid brought the lamb, I did the cooking, and Amy’s mom flew in from Vegas. Another Thursday night in Manhattan (Kansas).

    What better occasion to try out alleged perfect gravy that scientists with the U.K. Royal Society of Chemistry have determined contains drippings from a roast on a bed of halved onions, carrots and celery and the left-over water from boiled cabbage.

    Add salt, pepper and a sprinkling of flour to thicken and …  a touch of soy sauce.

    Dr John Emsley, a chemical scientist, says soy sauce should be used in place of traditional gravy browning because monosodium glutamate from the soy sauce brings out the meaty flavour.

    A spokesman for the society said:

    “Chemistry and cooking are basically the same thing. Both need to have the correct formula, equipment and procedures. Just think of Heston Blumenthal.”

    Eww. Blumenthal makes me think norovirus and barf.

    And I didn’t take pictures of Thursday’s dinner, but Top Chef on Wed. night also struggled with lamb, and none of the hot-shot chefs could agree on how to define medium-rare lamb.

    Chef Kevin (left):

    “We’re having temperature issues with the lamb. What I think of as medium-rare, is apparently what she thinks of as rare. I don’t know who’s right or wrong, I don’t know if there is anyone who is right or wrong.”

    The judges knew:

    “This was seared raw lamb that was horrible.”

    “Severely underdone.”

    “Center was like jello.”

    “A little too bloody.”

    The lamb shoulder roast we had last night was cooked to 140F. There’s even a chart on the Internet that says medium-rare lamb is 140F. I have no idea where the numbers on the chart came from, but it seems about right.

    Genius chefs and judges: use a tip-sensitive digital thermometer and stick it in.

    The gravy was delicious.

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    Thermometers  |  0 Comments
    bonsoy soy milk, Gravy, Kevin Mcdonald, Lamb, Medium Rare, Sauce, Temperature, Top Chef
  • Nestle says Peanut Corp. sucked; Kellogg's says, how the hell could we know?

    Posted: March 19th, 2009 - 6:14pm by Doug Powell

    David Mackay doesn’t look like Kevin McDonald of Kids in the Hall fame.

    But Kellogg’s CEO Mackay did an outstanding impersonation of McDonald’s, “How the hell should I know” skit (below) in front of a U.S. Congressional committee today.

    “When you look at Kellogg, we have 3,000 ingredients and 1,000 suppliers, I think it’s common industry practice to use a third party.”

    Not common enough for Nestle North America, which rejected Peanut Corporation of America’s Blakely plant as a supplier in 2002 after it found the plant had no plans to address hazards like salmonella.

    The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that in January 2006, Nestle also rejected the company’s Plainview, Texas, plant after finding dozens of dead mice rotting in and around the plant, dead pigeons near a peanut receiving door and live birds roosting inside the plant.

    Congressional types also heard today that auditors AIB -- also known as the American Institute of Baking based in Manhattan (sigh, Kansas) -- were hired and paid by Peanut Corp. of America, notified the company in advance when they were coming, how to prepare for inspections and then gave its plants glowing reviews.

    An inspector with AIB wrote to the manager of Peanut Corp.’s Blakely, Ga., in a December 2008 e-mail produced today by the committee that,

    “You lucky guy. I am your AIB auditor. So we need to get your plant set up for any audit.”

    Mackay told the committee a version of, “how the hell could we know?” and that AIB is the most commonly used inspector by food companies in America.

    Not for long. And for a company to say it meets industry standards ain’t so great when 700 are sick and nine dead.
     

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    Food Safety Policy, Salmonella  |  1 Comment
    Aib, Auditors, David Mackay, Kellogg's, Kevin Mcdonald, Kids In The Hall