On Apr 7, 12:01�pm, sd > wrote:
> In article <WSARh.80$vo2.49@trnddc01>,
>
> *"wff_ng_7" > wrote:
> > > wrote:
> > >I saw an interesting idea about putting bags of ice on top of lids of
> > > simmering stuff to prevent the volatile flavors from running away with
> > > the steam:
>
> > >http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Is...pinionBenchMon....
>
> > > Does anyone do this? I've never considered it before, but I think I
> > > will try it the next time it's relevant. I also would have been afraid
> > > to put ice on a glass lid over steaming contents, but that's another
> > > thing altogether.
>
> > I think the concept has been around for at least 50 years in a commercially
> > made product. It's called a doufeu oven.
>
> I have one and it seems to work quite well, though I must admit I
> have never cooked the same dish with and without ice to determine
> exactly what effect the reflux condensation has. Yeah, the
> scientific method is a little deficient here :-)
>
> sd

Total BS, there's no scientific basis that cooling the lid of a
*covered* cooking vessel makes any improvement to braising other than
it lowers the internal (and external) temperature to some very small
degree... you can accomplish the very same thing by lowering the oven
temperature by some small amount. Placing ice on the lid of a braiser
is tantamount to heating your house and having the AC on at the same
time... just wastes energy is all. The morons that promote such
idiocy need to soak their heads in a bucket of ice... they gotta be
the very same morons who drive with one foot on the gas and the other
on the brake. The only thing these jerks accomplish is to
unnecessarily melt ice cubes... iffn ya got an ice melting fetish at
least do something worthwhile, like shake, shake, shake yer 2ni!. LOL

Sheldon