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Comment Threads

• Joan Slonczewski commented on Cooking in zero gee
  Ultraphyte thinks you're not going to eliminate Clostridium botulinum, since it's in air, water, and soil. And it's not the only microbe; many people carry Clostridium difficile in their intestines. Are you going to eliminate all microbes altogether? Then people would lack their intestinal community, which is considered an essential part of the body. Ultraphyte likes printing out some foods, although it will be a while before we can make desirable textures. Vinegar is healthy because acetic acid is a fundamental product of all living organisms, yet too high a concentration stops microbial growth....
• Moderator Alan commented on Cooking in zero gee
  The heat issue would be a big plus for sous-vide, I would think, since the temperature would be that much lower. One might as well have a water bath that you never actually bother cooling down - you just open a hatch, and lift out or place in the latest bags. Dealing with a large volume of relatively cool fluid is a lot less scary, since it wouldn't have any tendency to bubble into steam. Water surface tension should keep it inside its container, especially if you make that container's internal surfaces from a highly hydrophilic material....
• Moderator Alan commented on Cooking in zero gee
  I'm happy with McGee myself....
• Moderator Alan commented on Cooking in zero gee
  No, I was assuming one parameter being varied to start with, ad that parameter being the gravity. If you are running this habitat at that low a pressure, then that's a good point, and you might have to invent a sous-vide pressure cooker (!) I have to point out that if you're varying the atmosphere that far from STP, then there would be all sorts of other effects on cooking. Gas diffusion would be strongly affected, and dough could be positively dangerous, if the yeasts didn't just give up on the whole idea entirely....
• Moderator Alan commented on Cooking in zero gee
  I'm not saying you don't have a valid point of view. It's just that I think most other commentators were assuming that the only thing that varied was the gravity, and that we didn't have to worry about other parameters varying as well. The moment that I first heard the topic mentioned, we were being served Poori flatbreads, all puffed up like balloons, so I should have noted the possibility of pressure....