No, not that CIA.  This is a food blog.  The only CIA that matters here is the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.  I have dreamed about going there and becoming a bona fide chef, but money, time, family, work, and life all have kept that as just a dream.  No worries, though.  I’ve found many ways to educate myself in the ways of the culinary arts, especially by surrounding myself with other people passionate about food.

Some of my education has come from the web.  I know how to use Google to search for recipe ideas, which helps a lot.  I also read a lot of food blogs.  You can see a long list of sites that I regularly follow, from authors near and far, on the right side of this blog.  The web has made food knowledge very available, but people at home still need to have a large base of knowledge to know how to find what they’re really looking for and how to execute what they want.

Many cooking websites and TV shows will tell you that one of the most important things you can do to help you cook better is to get a good knife (and keep it sharp).  I was blessed some years ago with a beautiful 8″ Shun Kershaw knife, which I continue to use and love, but it’s grown slightly dull.  I know that I can send it in to Shun for a free sharpening any time, but then I’d be left with one of a handful of less-than-stellar knives.  Not any more.

I got a package today in response to a Twitter trivia contest I won.  It was held by the Culinary Institute of America (@CIACulinary) presumably as a promotion for their official CIA line of products.  You can see their Cook’s Tools Twitter feed and their official web store to find out more information about their products.  These products and more from the CIA (including many books they publish) are also available on Amazon.

The question was:

What is the name of the reaction that is responsible for the browning of meats? Spelling counts!

I saw it and I knew.  I probably learned it from an old episode of Good Eats, like the Season 4 classic “A Chuck for Chuck” wherein we learn that proteins and sugars undergo an interesting chemical reaction at high heat that creates brown color and hundreds of tasty compounds (different from caramelization).  This is the “maillard reaction“.  It’s what makes grilled food taste good, it’s why you brown meat before making stew, it’s why you sear steaks.  It is, quite possibly, one of the most important reactions you will ever need to create when cooking.

I was the first to respond, and for my trouble I won a brand new 10-inch chef’s knife from their Hyde Park collection (NB: It’s on sale right now for 50% off, so if you’re in the market for a 10″).  It came in a beautiful black box with CIA logos all around.  I opened it up and saw a gleaming piece of German steel.  It is quite a different knife from my current Japanese-style Shun Classic.  I picked it up and felt its weight–very heavy in the hand, but fitting in the classic German style of knives.  If you have a Henckls or Wusthof knife, you know the feel I’m talking about.  Japanese knives are thinner than most, and so they weigh far less.  If you’ve been working with cheap knives, then the difference in weight when moving to a real professional-quality knife can be unsettling.

I haven’t gotten to use it yet, but I’m looking forward to taking advantage of its size when preparing my Thanksgiving feast.  Maybe I’ll go brunoise two quarts of mirepoix to really start getting the culinary school experience.  I’ll have to get used to the size and weight of it, but I think in the end it will help me be more productive.  It’s surprising what you could do if you had a couple more inches.

Oh, the inside of the box, if you can’t read it, says “Experience the difference.  Savor the results.”

Thank you to the Culinary Institute of America for holding this contest.  I am looking forward to using this knife for years to come.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this knife from the contest I mentioned, and was in no way asked to promote the CIA, their products, or their Twitter feeds.  If you buy the knife from them during their sale, I get no portion of the sales, but you will get a great knife.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 2:57 PM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.