Things that go “Poof” in the night.

An idea.

I’m reading food background.
Came across something called the Maillard Reaction.
Sounded terrific.
Something I could share.
A piece of science for everyman.
And improved dinners.

This is part of what I read:
The Maillard reaction creates brown pigments in cooked meat in a very specific way: by rearranging amino acids and certain simple sugars, which then arrange themselves in rings and collections of rings that reflect light in such a way as to give the meat a brown color.

Frankly, I didn’t understand it.
My second-year Harvard student-friend, Cassandra, she of helping-me-launch-the-blog fame, happened to visit my daughter, Kat.
So I shoved the sheets containing the Maillard Reaction in front of her, asking for a layman’s explanation.
She read them in ninety seconds and concluded, “The idea will not help you in your cooking. Should I still explain what it means?”

“No thank you.”

Damage done.

Poof.

Today’s post, found below, is another exercise in wine appreciation, a short excerpt from the manuscript, Wine by the Glass, by Dom Capossela, dealing with effervescence.

Today is Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Good morning, my friends.
This is my seventy-ninth consecutive daily posting.

It is 5.47am
And the weather reporter calls this the ‘perfect day,” sun, temps in 70s, low dewpoint.

On the screen:  The 49th Parallel is a 1941 British war drama film, the third film made by the British writer-director team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.
It was released in the United States as The Invaders.
Despite the title, no scene in the film is set at the 49th parallel, which forms much of the Canada–United States border.
The only border scene is at Niagara Falls, which is further south.
The original choice to play the German officer, Lieutenant Hirth, was Archers' stalwart Esmond Knight but he had joined the Royal Navy on the outbreak of war.[6] Anton Walbrook as "Peter" donated half his fee to the International Red Cross.
Raymond Massey, Laurence Olivier and Leslie Howard all agreed to work at half their normal fee, because they felt it was an important propaganda film.

I found the movie an under-rated engrossingly accurate illustration of the Nazi mentality.

I’m at my desk.
Dinner is Linguini w White Clam Sauce. Recipe in queue.

Today’s Post
From “Wines by the Glass,” found only on this blog.

5. EFFERVESCENCE
In addition to brilliance and color, sparkling wines must also be judged on their effervescence, their bubbly quality as determined by:

Size: smaller bubbles are preferred over larger ones, for the subtlety of their prickle. 
Quantity:  more bubbles are preferred to fewer bubbles, for their merriment and bite.
Persistence: a persistently bubbly quality is preferred to that of a wine whose effervescence is finished in short order, leaving the wine in the glass flat.

Effervescence in wines comes in every level of enthusiasm and is measured scientifically by atmospheres of pressure of the air at sea level, about 14.7 pounds per square inch. 

One atmosphere of pressure:
Characteristics: These wines display a slight froth when poured, have observable bubbles around the rim, and are slightly prickly in the mouth. 
Vocabulary: Common terms for wines with this level of effervescence are "frizzante", “petillant”, and "spritzy".

Three atmospheres of pressure:
Characteristics: Wines intermediate between petllant and fully sparkling are "cremant," with a light, slightly creaming mousse. 
Vocabulary: “cremant” or “creamy.”

Six atmospheres of pressure:
Characteristics: Fully sparkling wines foam when poured, display bubbles that saturate the glass, and titillate the palate with countless tiny bursting bubbles.
Vocabulary: “sparkling”,

Reminder here that judging the bubbly aspect of a wine in the glass is additional to admiring the wine’s tint and intensity. Brilliance and viscosity are not significant factors in admiring a sparkling wine.

Post Scripts
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God bless!
Be good.
Be well.
Love you.