I find that DRINKING alcohol first, and THEN eating anything, makes it taste WONDERFUL!

@andrewgregory8170

Жыл бұрын

🤣

@EthanChlebowski

Жыл бұрын

That typically works too lol.

@mummer7337

Жыл бұрын

Try smoking a joint first too!

@TheYoutubeUser69

Жыл бұрын

@@mummer7337 But I am at wortk :( Beer it is ig xDD

@Maplecook

Жыл бұрын

@@EthanChlebowski As a brewer and foodie, I have lots of experience with this. Thanks for the response, Ethan. You rock!

My favorite origin story for the sauce is that it was misheard, originally called alla vacca. Vacca translates to cow, referring to the heavy cream and butter you add to a simple tomato sauce. Italy isn't really known for it's vodka industry after all.

@misspineapple553

8 ай бұрын

i could definitely see that, thats pretty interesting

@krusher181

6 ай бұрын

Well yeah people in Italy drank gin. Vodka wasn’t big anywhere but Poland/Russia/surrounding countries until pretty recently. Cuz it’s got no flavour and modern people don’t wanna taste their alcohol as much (that’s an opinion)

@jamiem.9443

5 ай бұрын

@@krusher181 vodka is the king of mixed drinks... you can mix it with anything and it barely changes the flavor like orange juice, apple juice, etc.. But yeah it has little flavor i think the US just loves all booze.

@spinkboing

5 ай бұрын

that’s really cool actually

@RaffyMaBoi

5 ай бұрын

Lmao, I think the ones who read "vodka" are just coping when they say it taste good

I'm a physical chemist. You did a great job on your explanation of the science of water-ethanol solutions. For anyone who is curious about some real nitty gritty: ethanol and water form what's called an azeotrope at around 91-96% abv. This means at these concentrations the boiling point of the solution is lower than the individual boiling point of either of its components individually. If you are interested in evaporation in general there are two models that are pretty interesting. They are Henry's Law and Raoult's law. Hope this sparks some curiosity!

@robelbelay4065

6 ай бұрын

It did indeed sir, thank you.

@brandonhoffman4712

5 ай бұрын

I like alcohols superior ability to extract flavors from ingredients. As well as the ability to add significant depth of flavor that seems to hold onto your tounge. I typically cook with bourbon if I'm using an alcohol to cook with. I think I even found the best cooking bourbon! Old grand dad bonded bourbon. It's really cheap and tastes like it on the finish when sipping neat (I don't recommend for sipping) but the flavor profile of the whiskey is the baking spices type bourbon flavors. Which I find preferable to the fruity ones that taste like medicinal cherry. It's also bonded, so it's 100proof, which to me means more flavor. And being bonded it's at least 4 years old, so it's carrying in some character, enough to have that lingering thing going on the palate. And its bad aftertaste gets "lost in the sauce" so to speak. The way I use it in my cooking is to cut the acidity of the vinegar, reducing or negating my need to add a pinch or 2 of sugar to compensate. Goes great in a tomato basil sauce balanced with balsamic!

@olenfersoi8887

4 ай бұрын

I would guess that is the reason why the most concentrated commonly affordable ethanol is 190 proof...since that is almost as concentrated as one can get it via ordinary distillation? (I read that the azeotrope forms at just over 191.2 proof.)

@bennyp_thechemist

4 ай бұрын

@@brandonhoffman4712 a fun thing you can do with whisk(e)y is tilt your glass and smell at the top of the rim of the glass and then at the bottom of the rim of the glass. You should get the fruitier smelling esters at the top and the heavier molecules responsible for flavors like vanilla and chocolate at the bottom. Thank you for the cooking recommendation!

@quinnlintott406

4 ай бұрын

Do you know of a similar show to this with more focus on chemistry?

Gin is basically just vodka with juniper berries and sometimes other stuff added to it. I love it for vodka recipes, especially vodka pasta. Also, the longer you cook it for, the more alcohol you can add without it being bitter. I add quite a bit into the sauce and cook it very slowly for an hour or more before adding the cream

@brandonhoffman4712

5 ай бұрын

Baiju is too. Except instead of juniper, it's going down a fruity floral direction with whatever they put in there. Bought some once for the cool ceramic bottle with Chinese vibes. Can't think of a food it would work in? Maybe a ponzu sauce?

@sadmoneysoulja

5 ай бұрын

alcohol can be distilled and rectified, huuuge difference, be it vodka or any other style of strong beverages

@anonymoose2474

5 ай бұрын

@@sadmoneysoulja what does that have to do with my comment. Vodka is always rectified as far as I know, as is gin.

@sadmoneysoulja

5 ай бұрын

@@anonymoose2474 Not always, let me explain to you smth: rectified alcohol causes stomach pain, no matter what you ate prior and how much alcohol you took, distilled alcohol - everything is fine, less hangover. Then i read your comment saying gin is just vodka, wut? there are so many nuances to all of this!!! Why do i have to explain it to you?

@anonymoose2474

5 ай бұрын

@@sadmoneysoulja gin is literally vodka with juniper berries. What nuances do you need to explain, cause you havent explained dick so far, and drop the condescending tone

I'd love to see a deep dive into olive oil, it's insane how cheap vs expensive you can go

@MemekingJag

Жыл бұрын

some olive oil is better than none for the same reason vodka is; it allows fat-soluble compounds to be dissolved like ethanol allows alcohol-soluble ones to. other than that though, I can't say, I don't know my olive oils well enough to judge taste.

@JohnnyArtPavlou

Жыл бұрын

Here’s a hint… The cheap stuff is fake. The second hint is probably… Just because it’s expensive doesn’t mean that it’s real, either. But don’t quote me on the second part.

@BeardedDragonMan1997

10 ай бұрын

@@JohnnyArtPavlousource

@joshnoritake3167

10 ай бұрын

@@BeardedDragonMan1997it’s tonight because America has different laws regarding what “extra virgin” olive oil is. A bunch of stuff is added to US olive oil since it isn’t regulated like it is in Italy and stuff.

@Uryendel

10 ай бұрын

for cooking it doesn't make a lot of difference, use the expensive one (ie the aop 15-20€/L) for eating raw and the inexpensive one (regular extra virgin 5-8€/L) for cooking

I think one thing missed in this experiment is that the timing of when you add the vodka to the sauce matters. In vodka sauce you’re adding at after frying off the tomato paste with the onion, which exposes the ethanol more directly to the tomato/onion and cooks off much faster. Also, because I’m weird I use dry vermouth in cooking where you’re not wanting the flavor of the alcohol and you’re just wanting the benefit that the ethanol brings to the party.

@StephenHutchison

Жыл бұрын

vodka basically has NO flavor except the ethanol. Ethanol and alcohol are kind of the same thing, so I can't imagine that vermouth is going to be different. Vermouth is explicitly flavored with herbs and roots. So it's going to confuse things.

@whoseyourchef2160

Жыл бұрын

@@StephenHutchison right, similar to Ethan’s favorite the gin. I was more making the point that timing is more important than how much of what.

@MegaBanne

Жыл бұрын

The alcohol ends the frying prosses and locks in the flavors of the onions, garlics, and for you tomato paste. You naturally go on to boil away the alcohol.

@masuta9192

Жыл бұрын

@@MegaBanne See this would make more sense to me, like the vanilla extract the vodka could simply be used to extract flavour from the aromatics.

@dp1927

Жыл бұрын

@@StephenHutchison Then why do vodkas taste different? is it like... different ethanol? There's gonna be something that makes them taste different.

Very interesting. I think this would NOT be the case for myself. My hypothesis is that San Marzano tomatoes were to blame for the lack of significant change on the sauce taste. I live in Argentina, we grow tomatoes here, and imports are scarce and expensive so I always make tomato sauce with home grown tomates. They are WAY more watery and acidic, so they require a different treatment, I go low and slow until they start to have that sweetness that we all know and love (no sugar nor baking soda btw, that's quite common here but I don't do that). In my experience vodka was an ABSOLUTE GAME CHANGER. Like.. head and shoulders ahead from my regular sauce, particularly the sweetness that it provides. I think for me it's about reason #2. Cooking alcohol to make alcohol molecules bound with something on my tomatoes to make them sweeter, which your San Marzano sauce didn't need. Just a food for thought after a thought for food. I'll definitely execute the experiment at home to really test it. Cheers and great content, thank you.

@wanderingshade8383

11 ай бұрын

Did you do the experiment? If so, what happened?

@atstrollz6875

11 ай бұрын

sounds interesting

@urielchami4556

11 ай бұрын

Wow, many interested in my pending experiment. I didn't, but I definitely will now. Expect an answer in about a month :)

@wanderingshade8383

11 ай бұрын

@@urielchami4556 Lmao, sorry for starting it. One month, woo!

@urielchami4556

11 ай бұрын

@@wanderingshade8383 hahaha sorry, i'm not in Argentina at the moment, so it's hard (impossible actually) to test

I'm using Sake in nearly every cooked dish. I learned this in Japanese recipes that very often use Sake, Soy sauce and Mirin. This also works in other dishes like italian recipes and elevates any flavor. Sake itself has no unpleasant taste of its own and the alcohol content should be minimal due to boiling.

@misterkite

Жыл бұрын

Says you, sake has a very bitter aftertaste.

@christianeherzog298

Жыл бұрын

@@misterkite So my food is bitter every day? I don't think so.

@gl4d10

Жыл бұрын

i love stuff like this, using similar ingredients in different cuisines, like i've never been much a fan of worcestershire sauce cause i don't like the tangyness of the tamarind most of the time, but i have been using fish sauce in its place in stuff like meatloaf and beef stew and it kicks, also i use seasoned rice wine vin for any vinegar application thats not cleaning or balsamic and like, for stuff like coleslaw, potato salad, i can't imagine using anything else, it's not what my mom would have picked, but she loves my cooking too

@noname-nu6oo

Жыл бұрын

I was gonna say the same. Love adding sake into dishes!

@mugnuz

11 ай бұрын

sake is discusting...im confused by the statement it has no unpleasant taste... but maybe it help cooking..

Ethan - this new explainer format that you’re doing (like you did for vanilla and Parmesan Reggiano) is everything I’ve ever wanted. I would watch a whole channel of just THAT. Thank you for the efforts!

@BeowulfNode

Жыл бұрын

A little more focus on which ones of the good ones are better/best and why, and less of the "this one is the worst and this is the second worst". Also less focus on did you taste which ones were which accurately. So 2 points I came away from this video wondering: in the first round with the different amounts of vodka, was the 1% better than the 0%? and in the last round, would weaker Mezcal be better than the Gin?

@roylim1169

Жыл бұрын

He's the nile red of food channels

@pastramiking

Жыл бұрын

Totally agree. I just subscribed.

@elitesasquatch

Жыл бұрын

Adam Ragusa?

@JoshBrockTheWizardBreeder

Жыл бұрын

Watch Good Eats, Alton Brown's intellectual child. He breaks stuff down even on scales like this, but makes it so enjoyable, even I watched when I was like 8.

I’ve always been skeptical of vodka pasta but since I don’t keep vodka at home never tried it, but often make “vodka style” sauce with no booze. Glad to see I wasn’t missing much if anything!

@8BitNaptime

Жыл бұрын

Yeah for me it's more an excuse to empty out the freezer of all the different vodkas I've bought over the years ...

@BigSnipp

Жыл бұрын

Try pepper vodka. It's much better for sauce than regular vodka.

@liamnacinovich8232

Жыл бұрын

Honestly cooking with wine is something that you should look into though (you could have cooking wine in the fridge just as you’d have vinegar)

@Bebegamer

Жыл бұрын

@@8BitNaptime I’ll take them off your hands

@danielmantell3084

Жыл бұрын

The way I learned to make it is you flambé the garlic and onions with the vodka which helps caramelize them. Does it actually help the taste? I dunno, I would assume not, but maybe the varied heat concentration could make some new flavors.

One thing to add, as the amount of ethanol evaporated doesnt just depend on the amount of ethanol added prior to cooking, you might actually end up with similar alcohol concentrations despite starting with different amounts - if the cooking time is long enough.

I had vodka pasta at a restaurant with my wife and I thought it was just okay. We both agreed that gin would probably be better due to the flavors. Great to see that you thought gin was the better option too.

@PWCDN

9 ай бұрын

I'd probably try vermouth then.

@maiskitty

8 ай бұрын

Gin is always better 😅

I really enjoy the blind taste test videos to try and compare the flavors with out the influence of reading a label. Super interesting to see you piece together your impressions and often bring them in line accurately.

@EthanChlebowski

Жыл бұрын

I highly recommend trying it at home sometime even if it's just 1 dish vs 1. It's really interesting to try and just focus on the flavors of a dish without actually looking at what you are eating!

@Kodiak01

Жыл бұрын

@@EthanChlebowski I completely agree! The only "beef" I have with it is that your opinion may be altered by trying a "stronger" element before going onto a "weaker" one. Just like going for a roquefort cheese before trying out a bleu d'auvergne. Both are blue cheeses but you won't know which one tastes better if you eat them in the "wrong" order.

@dirtperson4221slash2

Жыл бұрын

Why pallet cleanse at the end? I thought the initial test was biased because One percent was after four. It's easy to say zero would have perceived bitterness after tasting four. Bummed out to see the variable changed so late in the test

@dirtperson4221slash2

Жыл бұрын

@@Kodiak01 I'll take a bourbon barrel aged stout before my lager please.. This lager is too bitter and taste of bourbon I say!

@larsontazuma6288

Жыл бұрын

@@dirtperson4221slash2 the videos edited so he probably cut out him pallet cleansing every time because it’s not Interesting to watch

"Wine is primarily flavored with grapes." is a sentence that will forever haunt me.

@wildoneizzy

Жыл бұрын

😂

@derkik

Жыл бұрын

I heard people like grapes

@biggu3257

Жыл бұрын

why?

@bman6198

Жыл бұрын

@@biggu3257 I'm assuming it's the verbiage of the "flavored with grapes" part, as wine is made directly from grapes, not used in any type of flavoring process.

@lurklingX

Жыл бұрын

🤣🤣🤣🤣

This has to be my favorite cooking / science related KZread channel. You do such an amazing job at making science fun and practical while still extrapolating enough data to make our brains work a little. Bravo man really I aspire to incorporate this type of content into my normal day to day life, thanks again!

This format is so freaking informational and addicting to watch. Thanks for all the hard work.

Ethan, as a biochemist this video really hit home with me. Anytime you namedrop a taste receptor like that I'm in heaven!

@claytonstacey

Жыл бұрын

So did you cringe a little too when he said that sugar and ethanol molecules resemble each other 😂

@David_Spector27

Жыл бұрын

@@claytonstacey Yeah that hurt a bit lol. I was hoping he'd delve into vapor pressure and why adding a volatile compound would increase the evaporation of other volatiles because distillation is super cool, but that's too far in the weeds for a cooking video

@bryanballot5684

Жыл бұрын

@@David_Spector27 my biochemistry degree is very-well aged and my moderate alcohol intake over the decades may have extracted some of my memories.... but am I recalling correctly that the mixture of alcohol and water boil at a different temperature than either alone?

@David_Spector27

Жыл бұрын

@@bryanballot5684 Yup you are exactly correct, that's actually part of the principle distilleries work off of! Similairly, adding ethanol to food will decrease the boiling points of the volatile esters and flavor molecules, increasing their vapor pressure and the number of taste receptor collisions. Super cool stuff!

@mattleathen445

Жыл бұрын

@@claytonstacey nah, as a professional chemist, I nodded with “yep, they’re both dominated by the alcohol functional group.” In the world of food chemistry, sugar and ethanol are more similar than most components of a dish.

Love the deep dives you've been taking in cooking, Ethan! Keep it up :D

@EthanChlebowski

Жыл бұрын

Thank you, I've been having fun making them!

@miso5037

Жыл бұрын

@@EthanChlebowski there is nobody like you, you create a unique type of content

@DaMorg3

Жыл бұрын

I’ve enjoyed your more straight-up, “Make XYZ food and here’s how and why you should do it,” for a while now, but I feel like you’re really finding your unique creative voice with these recent “what’s the deal with X?” videos over the last few months. Keep it up!

@yourface2464

Жыл бұрын

Stop Being Everywhere

@trollzone1

Жыл бұрын

@@EthanChlebowski you’re only 5’6” and seem like an angry man 😂

10:10 I usually add the vodka before the cream, which means that depending on the quantity and heat, it would need up to 15-20 minutes until the consistency is right, and fall rather under the first category. I do it like this, since the theory I heard is that the alcohol washes out flavor components from the tomatoes that otherwise can't be tasted, so obviously this can only happen before blending, and it has to be done with whole tomatoes or tomato chunks, not blended sauce. Also, since I cook it that long and usually cook a whole pot, even adding like 100ml of Vodka doesn't make the final sauce noticeably bitter at all. It is a heavy hitting dish that goes strong on flavors, so I would recommend using a lot of pepper, cream and cheese.

I love your educational style of combining science with experience and experimentation. Both entertaining and informational.

In Germany a similar sauce is often used in greek restaurants. It is made with Metaxa, a greek brandy, tomatos, butter, cream and often bell peppers and/or champignons. The brandy adds a very nice taste to the sauce.

@wn947

Жыл бұрын

Vielen Dank Herr Lott

@StarDustForge

Жыл бұрын

Hmm 😋 leckere Metaxasauce.

@GhostSamaritan

Жыл бұрын

My first thought watching this video was to try it with brandy. Thank you for the tip!

@waynebimmel6784

Жыл бұрын

Metaxa is not just Brandy though, its infused with herbs

@christophstuwe4330

Жыл бұрын

Gyros with metaxa sauce baked in the oven with cheese... fuck me!

I like how the result of testing pasta ala vodka was that you don't really need to add vodka.

@Tinil0

Жыл бұрын

It's super interesting and makes a ton of sense. We all knew vodka was extremely neutral and ethanol evaporates quite a bit so that neutrality is even more tuned down. We also know it can help other flavor compounds, but it was kinda always open-ended by how much. Adding in that we know the popularizer of pasta ala vodka was intentionally trying to sell more vodka and the results all sorta fit. It makes a small change, but realistically a good pasta sauce isn't going to be turned into anything special with vodka, it just perhaps slightly changes the flavor profile a tiny bit. Also means teetotalers aren't missing out on anything in this case!

@bcubed72

Жыл бұрын

The thing that wowed me is Ethan preferred gin in his pasta, and I thought going in to this test that the combination would be simply abhorrent! I mean, I like gin, but I never thought making my pasta sauce taste like a Christmas tree would improve anything!

@bodyofhope

Жыл бұрын

@@bcubed72 Exciting! I wonder how many chefs were frantically taking notes of the gin idea lol

@bcubed72

Жыл бұрын

@@bodyofhope I'm gonna at least try it once.

@Kewl_Kabewm

Жыл бұрын

@@bcubed72 i mean, rosemary has pretty strong pine notes, so it's not an outrageous idea.

This is amazing, Ethan! It'd be awesome to see what's the most optimal time to cook tomatoes for / and length of cooking. What happens to the tomatoes? What's the breakdown of the different flavors depending on the heat/ingredients/time of cooking? What makes a good tomato sauce?

Excellent video. Fantastic format, great science, clean and organized. Huge fan!

This is probably the first time when I’m not very satisfied with testing methodic. The best tasting recipe had different time when you introduce alcohol - it is used to deglaze tomato paste, not after you add cream. And here I’m pretty sure it makes significant difference. I definitely could smell fruity aroma of deglazed tomato paste. Also, that recipe included significantly more alcohol (I’d say about 6-8%), because it was introduced earlier and most of it was evaporated. Maybe I’ll try to make pasta alla vodka without alcohol some time to taste the difference for myself

@lukemorgan158

Жыл бұрын

This was my thought as well. I get that you'd kind of need a very rigorous test kitchen to make a bunch of these at the same time in the same way, just with more or less vodka addd at that point. Having tried this with a few different spirits, Brandy is the best for my tastes. Also using 20-40% by weight cherry tomatoes for more pectin and intensity of flavour.

@prettypurplepicklez

Жыл бұрын

Yes, I don't understand why he did it this way. I've not seen any pasta alla vodka recipes that just simply add it at the end like this. Don't know why he's done this. I want to see him do this again with deglazing the pan and cooking it off at the right time...

@darcieclements4880

Жыл бұрын

Seems like deglazing with alcohol may help carmilization. I would also add a sauce that contains parmesan cheese in it or other dry difficult to mix non homogenized fat in it may change the end effect. I'm allergic to dairy now, so I can never answer this question. Maybe he will do a follow-up.

@sanjuanfromsomewhere

Жыл бұрын

I would love to come back to watch a part 2 on this with the tomato sauce deglazed and more alcohol

@fantikawerner8029

Жыл бұрын

Caramellizing anything containing ethanol evaporates it very quickly

Ethan+Ethanol=Perfect Pasta! I think an interesting aspect of adding any type of ethanol is that certain flavours are alcohol soluble, rather than water soluble. Aspects of garlic are noticeably different to me depending on whether wine or vodka is added. Other flavours are fat soluble, whilst some may be be both, and will yield different results. I tend to notice the notes of bay leaf and fennel seed when I use wine or vodka in my sauce.

@Nakkiteline

Жыл бұрын

this might be the solution for me since i rarely taste the garlic in my food anymore even if i use like a whole head to tomato sauce, and i'm huge garlic head so it's a bummer. have been searching for a way to enhance the flavour of garlic in my food for a minute. thanks!

@edwardkantowicz4707

Жыл бұрын

@@Nakkiteline Wishing you satisfactory results, and more garlic flavour! I think the sweetness of the wine I add really brings out more of garlic's potential. I find I prefer red with meat or Bolognese, and white without.

@zoulzopan

Жыл бұрын

@@Nakkiteline why don't you taste garlic anymore?

@Nakkiteline

Жыл бұрын

@@zoulzopan it's the favourite spice of my family and we kinda have over used it ina way that i don't recognice it any more that well and if i do it's completely overpowering for other people :D

Other use for vodka in sauce: If you're trying to cook a cream based sauce very quickly, the alcohol will protect the sauce from breaking through heat of evaporation. This is because the liquid can't exceed the boiling point of alcohol until after a substantial portion of it boils off

Great video, Ethan! Really concise and good methodology. Really enjoyed learning about food here

Really love the channels pivot to more food sciencey content, especially appreciate the practicality of your experiments. this type of content is not being made elsewhere and is genuinely helpful for home cooks

@patricko9479

Жыл бұрын

Adam Ragusea has these kind of experiments as well, e.g., for how adding whipped cream affects volume and taste.

I might be a weirdo, but I find alcoholic cider to be a good fit for tomato sauces. One of the best baked pasta dishes I've ever made had a large splash of dry yuzu cider in it -- certainly acidic, but very fresh and fragrant :3 Loved this video!

@kaemincha

Жыл бұрын

oh my god im gonna have to try this! i put apple cider vinegar in my red sauces, so i could see how a cider would provide that same bite and acidic with a little kick!

@bodyofhope

Жыл бұрын

I have a ton of cider and might give it a shot! What else do you like to add it to?

@victorkroud3642

Жыл бұрын

Good suggestion.

@bingusman69

Жыл бұрын

sounds pretty good

@shan-junlu8238

Жыл бұрын

I was at a friend’s place and once didn’t have White Wine for Bolognese and ran cider instead. I have made a full time switch from white wine to cider - although living in the U.K., which has less sweet more sour tomatoes due to the lack of sunshine/greenhouses, that extra sweetness from the cider balances out the U.K. tomatoes.

That was excellent! Solid experimental setup and entertaining too! :) I just found this channel and am looking forward to watching more.

Man Ethan really appreciate all the time, work and effort that goes into your videos, especially the sciency ones like this!! I know I would never go through this to find this stuff out but definitely want to know lol - appreciate you going through it for us 😂 Amazing video

I'm not sure if it's just your editing and you're fooling us all, but damn - I'm always really impressed by your taste buds. That's kind of a weird thing to say, but it really gives you quite a lot of credibility. I'm impressed.

@dr.corneliusq.cadbury6984

Жыл бұрын

He’s pretty darn accurate on the tests (in other videos as well). I don’t think most people would be able to distinguish flavors this well.

Woof, it's the big chlebowski

@j_freed

Жыл бұрын

The Gin sauce really tied the dish together.

Anytime I make any kind of tomato based sauces, I always add about half a tablespoon of vodka when adding the room temperature tomatoes. That way the alcohol has a little time to extract the alcohol soluble flavors before it starts to evaporate.

Great breakdown/tests! Science in cooking is my Fav!

I always thought using vodka for cooking was an odd choice because vodka is made to taste like nothing. When making cocktails you add vodka so there's that ethanol kick rather than changing flavor profile. Insightful stuff and love these scientific videos :)

@valhallakombi7239

Жыл бұрын

Yeah the only legit use case of vodka is for fried food, like british fish and chips because the vodka evaporates faster then water in the oil and so the battered fish ends up more crispy

@mgntstr

Жыл бұрын

He should've let the onions marinate with the ethanol over night to experience the unique compounds ethanol pulls out of the vegetable. face palm

@puppieslovies

Жыл бұрын

@@valhallakombi7239 there's gonna be alcohol-soluble vitamins in some foods, especially soups. Even if the flavor doesn't change entirely there can be benefits

These types of videos are better than 99% of the content on the Food Network. Excellent production my friend I really enjoyed this.

@LoyaFrostwind

Жыл бұрын

So the 1% would be Alton Brown.

I love the way you planned and documented this whole thig out. Here is my thoughts though, I think the alcohol might best be added while cooking down the onions, garlic, and red pepper flakes in the butter. The reason for that is those are probably the biggest flavor notes you have in the sauce and that might be the best time to add the new flavors of gin into the sauce. I will try this next time I have some gin! Thinking Bombay sapphire east might be the best, because of its additional black pepper and lemongrass flavors. Would love to see a video of you testing this theory out! Would be more work, but might be worth it.

@hiriasbloodweaver8593

9 ай бұрын

This is correct, adding the alcohol after blending the sauce is missing the point.

@LexxG

9 ай бұрын

Your supposed to add it once you cook off some of the raw tomato paste. I appreciate his videos but sometimes he does the testing applications so wrong

@sneakerhead4770

6 ай бұрын

Yea if u had the paste all on the onions and stuff in the pan get a fond started add in vodka deglaze cook off most of it then cook the sauce cooking off most of it I’m guessing it would be mostly distilled water left carrying the flavors

As a Muslim who doesn’t drink or use alcohol in cooking I have always been so curious about this. Thank you !

@brandonhoffman4712

5 ай бұрын

Omg! There are extra layers of flavor to be had cooking with alcohol. So far every dish ive done it to has been awesome! I use old grand dads bonded bourbon. I use it in my tomato/basil sauce, and on my bean with bacon recipe. It definetly elevates both dishes, and i cook the alcohol out for 15 minutes or so. I would classify it non-alcoholic, but im not a professional. I do drink occasionally, for me its a zen kind of thing. Ill have a drink at the end of the week to relax and treat myself to a flavor experience. I will tend to dabble in different products looking for new experiences. Even switching types of alcohol to beer, wine, rum, tequilla, etc. Its never at the front of my mind really though, just in fleeting bits. Ill tend to go a month or two every year completley forgetting alcohol exists. Do you drink tea or coffee? Those are considered a narcotic, but i do drink a big cup of coffee everyday! Like the mandalorian says "this is the way"!

I love how well thought out your deep dives are. And don't worry about how long these vids are bc the people that are watching these are into what you're testing and not just for people looking for a recipe. I really don't want you to leave anything out hence why these need to be longer than some other vids, Thanks again Ethan for these great vids.

@Nakkiteline

Жыл бұрын

i concur about the lenght of these deep dives. okay with everything in your post :D

Ethan is actually really just a scientist, it just so happens that he’s also really good at cooking

@tamatikentwell9861

Жыл бұрын

Cooking is just taste-safe chemistry (so long as you don’t fuck it up too bad)

@monki2945

Жыл бұрын

@@tamatikentwell9861 Here I am doing a chemistry course realizing I just wanted to cook.

@bryanballot5684

Жыл бұрын

If you can follow the instructions in organic chemistry lab, you can use a well-written recipe to cook. Same difference.

@janzizka9963

Жыл бұрын

Well he prepares this recipe in a wrong way.

@darcieclements4880

Жыл бұрын

Yes, as a non food scientist that is a different kind of scientist, I can confirm many of us turn into the equivalent of a food scientist in the kitchen, lol it goes both ways. Science is science and once it gets into a person, it gets into all aspects of the person.

My favourite alcohols for cooking are whiskey/brandy (same "spectrum" - aged wood, lots of caramel flavours) and cider, which works similar to white wine. I'm glad to have found out how alcohol actually works when it comes to cooking.

I have been using beer, r/w wine and cider in my cooking so far, but Pasta alla Gin sounds like something I have to try now. Considering I love gin(&tonic) and the flavor of juniper and coriander in food, I don't know why I didn't try this before. Great video, I love how in-depth you went and how you analyzed the different modes of flavor. Have a like and subscribe.

I love your content! If you can, do one on different types of butter and if it affects taste at all!

@Donovarkhallum

Жыл бұрын

That's pretty vague as it would need to apply to a specific dish as a control

@missknight9

Жыл бұрын

@@Donovarkhallum like most other experiments he does…

@GhostyOcean

Жыл бұрын

@@Donovarkhallum butter pasta? Not hard to think of one

@ygiagam

Жыл бұрын

That sounds like a GREAT idea!

@hermiona1147

Жыл бұрын

I used unsalted and salted butter in the same cookies recipe and didn't notice any difference idk how that works 🤔

The blind testing was super interesting, but I would have loved if you tried the sauces you found similar after each other and tried to identify differences. That would have been helpful to actually see if the alcohol changes the flavor.

@ThomasW215PHL

Жыл бұрын

Completely agree.

Back when i made medicated brownies, I'd put a shot of amaretto into the herb-infused butter right at the last 5 minutes. Seemed both to add a nice hint of flavour and catalyze the absoprtion of the alkaloids into the fat

I'm really enjoying these deep dives into food! Keep it up Ethan, I think you are on track to be the new Kenji.

I can't believe you didn't use red wine !!! It has the most flavonoids of all alcohols and adds the most depth of flavor to any tomato based pasta dish. It's the most common alcohol used by Italians everywhere. It's not even a close comparison to any other alcohol. Also, white wine for any garlic based white pasta sauce! Great experiment as always, Ethan.

@grabble7605

Жыл бұрын

"It's the most common alcohol used by Italians everywhere." Why does that matter?

@MymilanitalyBlogspot

Жыл бұрын

I was wondering the same thing. The deeper taste of the red wine is a time-tested winner in tomato-based sauces, and makes me wonder about the role of the tannins in creating a more umami taste. White wine would just put the fruit of the grape and its tones (in this taste taste citrus, which seems too acid) with the fruit of the tomato (which is really an acidy fruit).

@Thomas5937

Жыл бұрын

@@grabble7605 probably because the video is about pasta

@Shadeadder

Жыл бұрын

I think red wine is kind of a "given" for tomato sauces. If an Italian red sauce calls for alcohol, 90% of the time it's gonna be red wine. I think this experiment was more about less obvious cooking alcohol choices (along with white wine since it's almost never used in tomato-based dishes).

@dmitriyk.2890

Жыл бұрын

He tried to use alcohols with more neutral taste close to vodka, red whine is to flavorful in comparison.

Fun experiments! If you're looking for part 2, I'd be curious to see if alcohol works better in dishes where you don't have the fats pulling double-duty as a solvent for non-polar molecules. (i.e. using alcohol in something with less butter & heavy cream)

@CrazyCoon100

11 ай бұрын

Mirin and sake in Japanese cooking is a good example.

THAT IS SO PERFECT! I was thinking about this the last week and as youtube did not show me your video, even though I subscribed, I am glad to finally have this answered!

The effort that went into this video is amazing.

I've never seen someone mix the vodka in the sauce before cooking. I've always added the vodka after sautéing the onions, garlic, and tomato paste. The alcohol is supposed to help scrape up any delcious caramelized bits from the pan before it quickly burns off. Then i add the canned tomatoes and cream after.

@cristianm4208

Жыл бұрын

Exactly. I use about two shots of good vodka at the deglazing stage and then simmer the tomato sauce, before adding the cream and cheese. Before adding those I’ll add a shot to the sauce and simmer for about 3-5 minutes then add the cream and cheese

I love how Ethan methodically breaks down a problem and draws charts to clarify things. He'd make an awesome engineer. 🤠

@JohnDlugosz

Жыл бұрын

Ethan breaks down a problem Ethanol breaks down certain flavor compounds A fitting symmetry.

Awesome, high quality as I've come to expect from your uploads. This did address a burning question I've always had about adding vodka to the sauce. For the longest time I just assumed it was called Vodka Sauce for no reason other than to make the dish sound a little more substantial or interesting or fancier than what it is.

Excellent video! Really high quality scientific experiment about cooking. Please keep more coming like this!

I actually like the taste of Brandy in a creamy tomato soup. I think the sweet offsets the bitter well enough and the heat of the alcohol (and a bit of cayenne) makes it very warm going down on a cold day. I could see how it might be weird with pasta though.

@lepreking

Жыл бұрын

Might be an acquired taste thing, or just preference? I personally enjoy a little bitter with sweet too

Pretty cool taste test! I think especially interesting to find that gin could be the best tasting. It sort of opens up a treasure trove for experimentation, since gins can vary so much in the botanicals used.

So much work and an interesting experiment. Thank you for sharing this

I love your approach to cooking. Thank you so much for creating this type of content. It helps mediocre cooks like myself think more about the science of creating food.

These videos are remarkably well made and edited, it’s clear you put many hours into each one. I am genuinely amazed! Thank you for producing such incredible content, it is appreciated!

Ethan, your videos are truly exceptional. I've been a fan since your early days and it's clear to see why your reach has expanded so much. Your content fills a lot of gaps in my knowledge of food and is incredibly informative. Keep up the great work!

Great video mate love these types of food science experiment vids. Keep them coming

This was so interesting! I love cooking with alcohol. I normally add wine or beer into many dishes I make. I even add tequila to some things. I've never used mezcal but I love smoky stuff so I could see this being amazing. The thought of using gin really peaked my curiosity and I could see those herbal notes being great in a pasta. Or even other dishes! Thank you so much. Now my mind is spinning how exactly I'm going to get 2% into my dishes cuz I don't measure very much stuff lol

Mhh I'm not convinced by the experiment because I would certainly not add vodka to the finished product even with intent to cook down further. To my knowledge vodka is usually added early on, with the tomato paste into garlic and onion but before tomatoes. The idea is that it gives the opportunity for solvating flavour compounds and reacting with them before adding wet mass in the form of tomatoes that will prevent alcohol evaporation.

@MrRussianComrad

Жыл бұрын

the order that I would do it in: sautee garlic, onion, chilli flakes add tomato paste, mix it in and let it heat up for 1-2 minutes. I find this step reduces unpleasant flavours from cheap tomato paste that I buy add vodka to dissolve and collect the paste before it burns. wait for ~half of the liquid to evaporate add tomatoes and continue as in the video with the cream/butter/blending

@ComradeJX8P

Жыл бұрын

I was hoping he would address that in the video, that was my understanding too. Makes me want to test that myself (same amount of vodka added at different stages of cooking).

It's been said ad nauseum....but this little series and episodes in this format have been pretty fantastic from vanilla, tomatoes, this episode, etc. Really enjoy them and it seems like you enjoy making them. Looking forward to what else you think to test and compare.

Really interesting conclusions and so informative. Thank you!

Love this channel you answer questions I didn't know I had

Ethan, you are like the Mythbusters of cooking! Love how rigorous you are with these videos!

Really great video, I consider myself a home cook with no formal training and seeing the science as to why certain alcohols pair well with foods or in them, and why using things like wine can deepen flavors in things like sauces was awesome. Love the channel, keep it up!

There is a fourth use case for cooking with alcohol. Since it evaporates at a lower temp than water you can add fluid for coatings and mixing that shows up less in the final product. Thicker sauces, crispier fried breading, etc.

@henrymarks2237

8 ай бұрын

And then 5. It freezes at a lower temp and doesn’t permit gluten development like water does so it can be useful in cold pastries

Such a great channel! Ethan does a good job getting into the food science like Alton Brown on Good Eats but more direct and entertaining in its own right. Both are great programs and well produced, thanks for the content!

I think this confirmed my initial thoughts about cooking, that it really does not matter how closely you follow a recipe. I used to measure exactly how much wine or vodka I put in dishes, but it looks like you can be off by like a factor of 2 in either direction and it's not going to make a difference. Pretty much salt and sugar are the only things which really matter that you're somewhat close, but ironically recipes rarely tell you how much of those to put and instead just say: add until you like it, which is probably way more accurate than any recipe can get.

I've always been using gin instead of vodka in my sauce and im glad he arrived at the conclusion that I also have.

One more big questio, how does the ordet of adding ingredients during cooking influence the final taste? I would (potentially naively) add alcohol to the pan before I add tomato and cream. That would be an interesting taste test!

@Asthepersianssay

9 ай бұрын

No you’re correct. Vodka should always go in after the onion and pancetta and before the sauces. Adding it after is the big no-no.

@Seppevh

8 ай бұрын

thats how its supposed to be done, and i was hoping that he'd test that

even though this obviously isn't a 100% accurate and objective experiment, it's really cool that you did it. I always wondered what was the deal with adding wine or other types of alcohol to food.

Just wanted to say thank you for producing such quality content. I have learned so much from your channel and appreciate the research and effort you put into each video. It doesn't go unnoticed!

Whisk(e)y and desserts often pair well, depending on the choice of spirit. I once found myself with a bottle of Knob Creek bourbon that I didn't like to drink, but when I added it to the chocolate-graham cracker-almond base layer of a dessert bar recipe it was _amazing_ and brought black cherry and vanilla and a bit of caramel to the layer. It might be a challenge to find a good pairing for a peated Islay Scotch unless you love peat smoke, but unpeated whiskies in general should pair well with anything that isn't so powerfully flavoured that it'll overwhelm the influence of the spirit.

Damn me, your channel's been appearing to me in recommendations since half a year or so. There are so many cooking channels here that I never entered yours to check anything you did. Honestly, after seeing the inmense job you did here, I just need to subscribe (and I didn't really see any of your other videos, but I perfectly know, after seeing this one, that I'm gonna enjoy them). Thanks for all the info you gave here.

One day I was cooking and we were out of vodka, so I decided to try our gin instead. I've never gone back! The herbaceous notes just adds such a nice, light complexity. Welcome to the pasta al gin train!

Fantastic video. Former restaurant person here. First off, there's a lot (potentially) going on chemically; for example, depending on cooking temps, some things might reach their Maillard Reaction temperatures (browning, caramelization) etc., which could influence final flavors, depending on the point at which alcohol was added. By adding it at a relatively low-temperature moment in the recipe, I wonder to what extent things might have been altered vs. adding it early. This felt like cooking Manderin but adding mirin at the very end, which (in my experience, at least) is a mistake, because one wants the sugars to convert to caramels and one wants to boil off most of the alcohol during cooking (although it's a tricky balance, because once it's in the wok, scraping the fond into the dish while on high temps until the moisture content drops enough is quite necessary to prevent harsh notes). I suspect the white-wine version would've been significantly upgraded if the wine was added with the butter and onions early, for example, but I'm not as convinced that the gin would've worked as well (very little sugar to work with, and who knows what bitters might result from floral / pine compounds reaching higher heat). It also makes me think that perhaps one area that somebody oughtta try making a product for the trade is in extracts for certain aromatics that we wouldn't normally want to drink; for example, oregano or thyme. It looks like, from a cursory search of the Internet, that this is a thing already (found "Extracts by Annie" on Etsy, for example) and I immediately wondered, "hey, how much of thyme's notes will be preserved; is this even vaguely going to carry the notes of fresh thyme", since fresh thyme is one of those things that I, like most people, only buy at home when I know a dish won't be right with the dried version. But this is an interesting theory: an Italian restaurant could use such extracts to cut down on prep-processing time and improve consistency while achieving A+ depths of flavor. One wonders if Olive Garden's test kitchen has tried this out (and if so, if they'd be willing to talk about it on the record). There are some other serious questions there, largely revolving around what would happen chemically as the flavenoids and other aromatic compounds were released (like, is it like mirin, where sooner is better... or is this something where it's better-used when temperatures won't permit much Maillard).

@madtonesbr

Жыл бұрын

A worthy question. My guess is that your theories are already in practice at an industrial level (large-scale food manufacture) where extracts in bulk are likely more easily worked with than whole ingredients. Like, say, ice cream making, sauce sold by the can in many places, etc. Also, your theories on efficiency and consistency sound a lot like what many bartenders/mixologists do. If you want to make a drink with thyme flavoring I'll bet that an extract or infusion from fresh thyme would work great. Might not be the same as fresh (like, say, muddled thyme in a cocktail) but it would have its own merits and might actually make for better consistency, mouthfeel (no solid ingredients or pieces), more practicality with shelf life and storage, etc.

@nah_bro_really

Жыл бұрын

@@madtonesbr Yeah, I presume large companies doing industrial-level stuff (Campbell's, for example) have probably tested a lot of these things, and there are probably some expert-level books on this material out there where I can't follow the biochemistry, lol. Probably extracts of some of these things are harder to achieve than, "throw in booze, wait" and it's either impractical or expensive vs. simply throwing in measured amounts of raws. But it's interesting to think about how extracts could be applied in ways to achieve better palate notes or at least more consistency for diners' experiences, especially for those midrange chains where that's so important (Olive Garden, Applebees, Qdoba, etc.). One imagines professional tasters evaluating "sauce base no 39" where the key note is 120-day aged Moroccan thyme extract, lol.

I love when cooking is just science, it's just best blend of practical and nerdy.

Interesting and informative as usual! Thank you! What is the short twisted pasta called? I'd really like to try some. It looked so yummy!

I really love the experimentation routes you've been taking in cooking lately. Being an enthusiast of science in general, adding the cooking elements is absolutely fascinating. Keep this up!

At 23:00 we can see that you kept on testing vodka during the video editing process, Ethan

Your channel just takes food science to a whole different level ❤

I've always known to cook my chopped or whole tomatoes in the vodka first while making vodka sauce as it'll draw out the sweetness of the tomatoes. So I'd be curious as how the sauce would taste vs this method of first cooking a mother sauce then adding vodka to it. Instead of making the sauce with vodka from the start after sautéing the onions and garlic, adding the tomatoes then your vodka into it and letting it cook down.

Your pasta vids are my favourite kind of vids. Keep killing it bro 💪

This was a fascinating taste-test. Thank you Ethan! On the subject of adding subtle flavors & aromas to cooked food with alcohol, it'd be really cool if you'd run this back with a few more spirits known for their distinct flavor/aroma profiles, namely: Sherries - (Oloroso, amontillado, and a PX for intense fruity sweetness) Whiskies - (Bourbon, a sherried scotch, and a peated scotch for the content) All of these should have quite the distinct effect on the sauce flavor, and are my preferred spirits for adding dimension to food!

@BrainStewification

Жыл бұрын

Yes! I was just about to ask why no casked/aged spirits such as Brandy or Whisk(e)y, and also why not Rum? Rum has a sugar base and has a lot of "funk" to it, so that would change the flavor profile a lot.

@rolig3518

Жыл бұрын

I can tell you that Brandy works very well.

For cooking i like to use fino or manzanilla wine. They are both similar spanish aromatic wines that give great flavours to anything from pasta sauces to croquetes. It's great if you can get your hands on it.

Incredible video, very detailed and learned alot

Great video! Wondering how stored sauces would compair since the ethanol could extract more flavour over a week or so. When I add liqueurs like cognac to creme patissier (normally ~3% abv) and taste it right away it always is pretty mediocre, but leaving it overnight in the fridge allows everything to react/extract and then it tastes much better than if it were boozeless. I may have to make some sauces now lol

i love that deep dive. My personal to-go is red wine for tomato sauce. gives it a rich body and enhances the existing flavours greatly

Looking at this from a hobby chemist point of view, i suspect the ethanol itself isnt really adding much flavor but is instead acting as a solvent, dissolving different compounds from the ingredients and allowing them to react with each other forming new flavors. Cooking is just very specialized organic chemistry 😆

Love the content and your approach to food!

Midway in, i love this type of content. Really great explanation, very good visual representation of the 3 desirable components. Ethan is starting to grow on me and has a yet distinct style that separates him to Adam R. Fantastic! This earned my interest and sub

A small detail with alcho not mentioned in your video but likely not relevant is alcho vs waters wetness. which could contribute to better spread over our tongue :) love the video keep up the amazing video's

Very well put together video, instant subscribe

I actually make my own vanilla extract and cocao extract with cocao nibs. I use crown royal for the vanilla and jack daniels for the cacao. Comes out really good IMO.

Rising up to rival Alton Brown’s science informed cooking. At this point, I’ve learned about as much from Ethan as from Alton. Thank you, Ethan, for working so hard to test and communicate the foundational variables of cooking!!

@someguyik

Жыл бұрын

Alton got too far up his own ass. Also, he tried to claim that American GIs taught Koreans how to make fried chicken..a dish they've been making for about 500 years...