| ▲ | purpleflame1257 3 days ago |
| One other fun thing about living at altitude is that the recipes you use need to be redesigned because the boiling point of water is lower. |
|
| ▲ | addaon 3 days ago | parent | next [-] |
| Very asymmetrically, too. There's a (relatively) small impact on cooking grains and pasta and stuff, but even at 5000 ft where I live beans can easily take 2x as long to cook. It's a challenge. |
| |
| ▲ | eichin 3 days ago | parent | next [-] | | Hmm, is coffee a problem? (some of the extraction depends on temperature, but if water boils before reaching that temperature then the extraction wouldn't work...) | | |
| ▲ | LargoLasskhyfv 3 days ago | parent | next [-] | | One can compensate with (steam)pressure and/or duration. Or cold brewing. In practice I note not that much difference at about 2500m altitute, where my main residence is. French/Aeropress suffices. 100°C isn't necessary. Even only 90°C suffices. Similar for good Tea. You destroy that with 100°C. Very good Tea should be brewed at 60 to 70°C for greens, blacks more like 70 to 85. Though the hardness/pH of the used water is equally important for them. For coffee not so much. | | |
| ▲ | LargoLasskhyfv 2 days ago | parent [-] | | Did I really write altituTe? Well, there is something about cognitive changes elsethreads. /giggle |
| |
| ▲ | addaon 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Coffee takes compensation, but even ambient pressure extraction can be tuned for great results — Denver and Boulder have good coffee scenes, for example. The bigger challenge is that Mr Coffee style brewers (bubble pump) have no way to adjust extraction time; and some fancier brewers try to closed-loop control temperature, and end up boiling the water continuously while brewing. Pour-overs obviously give you control to succeed, but for traditional machines I’ve found it critical to find one that allows a set point temperature JUST below local boiling, as well as time adjustment. The Breville Precision is my current workhorse, although I have some mixed feelings about it. | |
| ▲ | jillesvangurp 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Espresso machines work at high pressures (8-9 bar) so it's less of an issue with those. I went up to the observatory on Mont Blanc a few years ago and had an espresso there. That's 3500 meter. I definitely was out of breath. The coffee was fine. | |
| ▲ | cjensen 3 days ago | parent | prev [-] | | Yes! I like to vacation in the summer at Mammoth Lakes (~8000 ft ~2400m) and coffee is a bit of a problem. I like weak coffee and compensate for altitude by adding more grounds, but it's really not the same. |
| |
| ▲ | LargoLasskhyfv 3 days ago | parent | prev [-] | | Have you tried baking bread? Pizza dough? Some surprises wait :) |
|
|
| ▲ | mch17 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| It's not just the boiling point. Food tastes less salty as well. I once cooked a stew for friends at 8000 ft. I thought I had made a mistake because it tasted so bland. After the trip I had the leftovers at sea level and realized it tasted just fine. It gave me an appreciation for the fragile relationship between location and following recipes. (Humidity also changes taste) |
| |
| ▲ | sharadov 2 days ago | parent [-] | | Probably why airplane food is made extra salty to compensate for the rise in altitude |
|
|
| ▲ | dalf 3 days ago | parent | prev [-] |
| I remember the kettle took forever at ~ 9000 ft (near Huanglong, Sichuan Province). |
| |
| ▲ | hdgvhicv 3 days ago | parent [-] | | Kettle should boil sooner as it will boil at a lower temperature |
|