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David McCowan

David McCowan's saved articles

David McCowan

David McCowan's saved articles

Saved Articles
David McCowan
ddmccowan
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David McCowan is a contributor to The Takeout and a physicist at The University of Chicago. He loves food history and talking spirits, cocktails, beer, and wine.

@ddmccowan
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Rogue-Jyn-Tonic
10/29/18 7:53pm
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You would too, David.

Features

Welcome to The Takeout’s first-ever art exhibition

Kevin Pang
6/07/18 3:21pm
23
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Visual artists rarely get their due. Photographs and illustrations on the internet are treated as in service to the writing (when they’re not being repurposed or stolen outright). An effective piece of art, however, can articulate a story just as well as words can. Which is why at The Takeout, our art department is…

Ryuthrowsstuff
4/24/18 8:40pm
1
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That title alone deserves a high five.

Recipes

The best method for cooking asparagus is 2,000 years old

Kate Bernot
4/23/18 9:10pm
28317
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I used to think I didn’t like asparagus, but it turned out to be—as these aversions often are—a textural problem. Their stalks would remain fibrous and tough even as half the stalk and the tips turned to mush. My mind was changed a few years ago when some restaurant dish I ordered came with a salad of pleasantly al…

Snacktaku

Why Sushi Used To Be Much Larger

Brian Ashcraft
3/27/18 7:00am
10424
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During the Edo Period (1603-1868), sushi was between two to four times larger than it is today.

Features

Why clarified butter is so tasty (and how to make your own)

Caitlin PenzeyMoog
1/09/18 10:07am
8512
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Ghee and clarified butter are a secret ingredient. They’re butter, but better. They’re richer, stronger, more condensed versions of butter. They’re like butter squared.

peetah84
1/09/18 9:46am
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I believe legend has it Bob Uecker was born on the side of the road during his parents oleo run to Illinois.

thesweatypotato
1/08/18 7:33pm
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I know Canada is a mostly forgotten footnote in world history, but I feel like this article should at least mention Canada’s weird history with margarine. Before Newfoundland was officially part of the country, margarine was an illegal substance in Canada. But Newfoundland is a big frozen rock unfriendly to dairy…

Rainbucket
1/08/18 3:20pm
2
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And after the war. My mother was born on Pearl Harbor day and she and her siblings had a ritual of tossing the margarine bag around until the dye was blended in.

Ferdinand Cesarano
1/08/18 1:39pm
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The worst thing about margarine is its name.

The spelling is absurd; there is no justification for a soft G before an A. The letter G can be pronounced with its soft sound only before the vowels E, I, or Y. So the word should be either “margiarine” or “margerine”.

This is the English word that I hate most.

teagurl
1/08/18 1:39pm
24
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Wisconsin takes their butter extremely seriously. It was only last year that you could sell Kerrygold butter in the state again, given the hoops one has to jump through. WI has a law (dated 1953) requiring all butters to be rated on various measures — including flavor, body and color — by the federal government or…

Cayde-6's Unloaded Dice
1/08/18 11:37am
932
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So I’ll go a bit more into hydrogenation:

All fats come in a form called “triglycerides.” These molecules have a glycerol backbone and 3 fatty acid chains. Fatty acid chains are long molecules that are essentially big carbon chains. Now, if every carbon on this chain has the maximum possible number of hydrogen atoms…

RebZelmele
1/08/18 8:44am
74
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Margarine was also a big deal in Jewish culture, such that it’s still widely used by non-SK Jews and considered to have a nostalgic quality that coconut or even real butter can’t equal.

Conan
1/07/18 11:37pm
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Should’ve made beignets instead.

Recipes

I have brought great shame upon my family for deep frying butter

Kevin Pang
1/07/18 11:12pm
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The Pang name has been dishonored. Last week, upon reading about this curious state fair food item “deep fried butter,” I made the fateful decision to replicate the dish within the sanctity of my family home. The decision did not come easy. The notion of deep frying butter felt deeply shameful. I was above this…

Dr Emilio Lizardo
1/06/18 2:00pm
711
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Standing in the checkout line, I realized I had forgotten to get butter. I dispatched Mrs Lizardo to get it while I emptied the cart. She came back with margarine. How long should I hold it against her? Note: it has already been more than 20 years.

Just Another Gawkfugee
12/06/17 5:45am
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Yeah, I think McCowan might be in the pockets of Big Spoiled Meat.

Kevin Pang
12/05/17 10:01am
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I mean, you’re still gonna die. Happy Tuesday!

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