High altitude cooking
Karen Lewis
bake a frozen pizza last night and failed. The high altitude suggestions
are for " over 3,000 feet". LOL I do cakes ok and figured out cake mixes,
but prepared foods just don't come out right. I hope some of you geniuses
can give me some hints. Hope we have a cook from Vail, CO in here
somewhere.
critters & me in azusa, ca
where are you? in the andes?
Dan Abel
"Karen Lewis" <ks...@earthlink.net> wrote:
OK, I gotta ask. Where are you that's at 10,000 feet? We have a few
places here in California at 10,000, but not many people live up there,
and I can't imagine any who would live there all year.
--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA
da...@sonic.net
Nancy Young
I looked it up, Vail Mountain goes up to some 14,000' ... pretty darned
high.
nancy
Steve B
"Dan Abel" <da...@sonic.net> wrote in message
news:dabel-192097....@c-61-68-245-199.per.connect.net.au...
We went to 10,500 feet Sunday to rescue a friend who had been thrown from a
horse and broke his shoulder. 10,000 feet is actually common. Living there
year round is a lifestyle in itself, getting food and wood laid in during
summer, and having a snowmobile, or good snowshoes to get in and out in the
winter. I would not want to do it year round. We occasionally go to our
cabin at 7,300 during the winter, but only infrequently. Our friend's cabin
is at 10,500 and that's too high for my taste. Only accessible about four
or five months a year.
Steve
visit my blog at http://cabgbypasssurgery.com
free books while they last!
sf
Notbob is up there with you at 8 or 9 thousand. With any luck, he'll
notice this thread.
You must have one heck of a pair of lungs on you. Do you run
marathons at sea level?
--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Christine Dabney
Okay...
I am not at 10,000 feet when I am in NM, but at 6500 feet, so I can
understand a bit...
Are you there temporarily, or permanently? If you are there
permanently, I suggest that you get a book called Pie in the
Sky...which has to do with high altitude baking.
In the meantime, you might need to set your oven temp to 25 degrees
higher, for when you bake or roast something. And you will have to
cook things longer.
If you are baking from scratch, the protein structure of what you are
baking needs to heightened. To that end, I usually add two more
tablespoons of flour, and occasionally one extra egg.
Leavening can be tricky at that altitude. Many high altitude guides
suggest cutting the leavening..but I am not recalling by how much.
For the time being, look up high altitude cooking on Google. Put in a
qualifier for above 10,000 feet.
Maybe Arri will speak up as well.
Christine
--
http://nightstirrings.blogspot.com
Karen Lewis
living and yes we spend most of the summer getting ready for winter. We
have to have 4wd vehicles and a big front end plow on the pick-up, but it is
not so hard to get to the highway most of the time. Just when there is a 7
foot snowfall. LOL
Baking up here is a joy! The yeast rises like crazy. You can't start
sourdough though. There is not enough yeast in the air to get it going. I
start it with a pkg of yeast, but it lasts forever.
I also have to add extra liquid to most cakes and cookies, and even to pie
dough. It is so dry up here. I have had some help from the extension
office. They have several booklets on high altitude cooking.
I am used to the fact that pasta takes 30 minutes to cook and potatoes an
hour. Water must boil at about 180 degrees.
I usually just nuke a bunch of potatoes and then use them up however I like.
I am learning, but hope to get some more good pointers from all you guys.
Victor Sack
A pressure cooker is considered to be a very useful tool for
high-altitude cooking.
Here are some useful hints from the USDA:
<http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/high_altitude_cooking_and_food_safety/index.asp>
Victor
pltr...@xhost.org
<ks...@earthlink.net> wrote:
There's always the Cooking School of Aspen, and the Savory Inn and
Cooking School (Vail/Aspen).
-- Larry
gloria.p
No one lives at the top. The town of Vail is at ~8100 feet with lots
of ski lifts going to the top. It takes a while for your body to adjust
to the altitude--the air pressure is lower and there's less oxygen. You
develop more red blood cells to carry oxygen. It takes most people about
six weeks and most of it is lost if you go to sea level for 2 weeks.
You get winded very easily when you exercise or otherwise exert until
your body adapts.
An important factor in cooking at altitude is that for every 1000 ft.
above sea level, water boils at 2 degrees cooler temperature. We are at
~5600 ft. and the temp of boiling water is ~200 degrees, meaning it
takes longer to boil potatoes, pasta, etc. (The water boils at a cooler
temperature.) All the temperature and gas laws you learned in high
school physics apply. Because of the decreased air pressure, baked
goods rise with less leavening. Relearning to cook is an interesting
experience.
For the OP, Karen, the Extension Service at CSU has some literature with
information about high altitude cooking.
gloria p
gloria.p
Karen Lewis wrote:
> We live up here permanently.
Karen:
Where is "up here"? There are a few of us on rfc who live in Colorado.
We are just outside of Denver at 5600-5800 ft. but that doesn't affect
cooking nearly as much as your 10,000 ft. altitude.
gloria p
Nancy Young
> Nancy Young wrote:
>> critters & me in azusa, ca wrote:
>>
>>> On Aug 17, 9:18 am, "Karen Lewis" <ks...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>>>> I mean really high altitude. Like about 10,000 feet elevation. I
>>>> tried to bake a frozen pizza last night and failed. The high
>>>> altitude suggestions are for " over 3,000 feet". LOL I do cakes ok
>>>> and figured out cake mixes, but prepared foods just don't come out
>>>> right. I hope some of you geniuses can give me some hints. Hope we
>>>> have a cook from Vail, CO in here somewhere.
>>> where are you? in the andes?
>>
>> I looked it up, Vail Mountain goes up to some 14,000' ... pretty
>> darned high.
>>
> No one lives at the top. The town of Vail is at ~8100 feet with lots
> of ski lifts going to the top.
That makes sense. I was just looking to see just how high
that mountain was!
> It takes a while for your body to
> adjust to the altitude--the air pressure is lower and there's less
> oxygen. You develop more red blood cells to carry oxygen. It takes
> most people about six weeks and most of it is lost if you go to sea
> level for 2 weeks. You get winded very easily when you exercise or
> otherwise exert until your body adapts.
Yikes. I know teams try to prepare themselves physically for
the Mile High Stadium.
> An important factor in cooking at altitude is that for every 1000 ft.
> above sea level, water boils at 2 degrees cooler temperature. We are
> at ~5600 ft. and the temp of boiling water is ~200 degrees, meaning it
> takes longer to boil potatoes, pasta, etc. (The water boils at a
> cooler temperature.) All the temperature and gas laws you learned in
> high school physics apply. Because of the decreased air pressure,
> baked goods rise with less leavening. Relearning to cook is an
> interesting experience.
Very interesting. Thanks.
nancy
Karen Lewis
go down to Nederland.
"gloria.p" <gpue...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:4C6B5CAF...@comcast.net...
sandi
news:m8CdnbRUH-pNgvHR...@earthlink.com:
> I live up in Coal Creek Canyon. At the top. Great view of the
> divide when we go down to Nederland.
Love it in that neck of the woods!!!
LUCKY YOU!
notbob
I'm jes outside Buena Vista CO, at about 8K ft. Love it! Driving
about 40 miles North to Leadville would put me a couple hundred feet
above 10K ft, but know one there so have never cooked there.
> Baking up here is a joy! The yeast rises like crazy. You can't start
> sourdough though. There is not enough yeast in the air to get it
> going.
That explains a lot! I tried sourdough half a dozen times, to no
avail. I'll get more into baking this Winter.
> I also have to add extra liquid to most cakes and cookies, and even to pie
> dough. It is so dry up here.
That's what I would have thought, but almost all mixes suggest adding
flour if you live above 3K ft. I've found doing nothing works just as
well.
> I am used to the fact that pasta takes 30 minutes to cook and potatoes an
> hour. Water must boil at about 180 degrees.
Yep. Boiling is the real killer. Used to take me less than 2 hrs to
cook a big pot of beans at sea level, now takes almost 4 hrs. My
pressure cooker is a godsend, though I don't do beans with it.
I have no problem with a lot of other things. I was reading books
about elevation cooking when the librarian ask me if I'd yet tried no
changes at all. Now I don't do much of anything with non-yeast breads
like sf's carrot cake. Comes out perfect. Likewise baked/roasted
goods. Did a frozen pizza the other night according to instruction
and it came out perfect. Tasted like crap, but that's another thread.
Maybe the baking/roasting differences are more pronounced 2K ft
higher, but I'm getting the hang of it here at a year round 8K ft.
Other things are looking up for me. I'm finally properly
outfitted with real CO Winter apparel, they're now wiring the sewer
lines for heat so they won't freeze, and the snow keeps mom from
wandering off. I think I'm going to enjoy this Winter. ;)
nb
notbob
I'm jes outside Buena Vista CO, at about 8K ft. Love it! Driving
about 40 miles North to Leadville would put me a couple hundred feet
above 10K ft, but know one there so have never cooked there.
> Baking up here is a joy! The yeast rises like crazy. You can't start
> sourdough though. There is not enough yeast in the air to get it
> going.
That explains a lot! I tried sourdough half a dozen times, to no
avail. I'll get more into baking this Winter.
> I also have to add extra liquid to most cakes and cookies, and even to pie
> dough. It is so dry up here.
That's what I would have thought, but almost all mixes suggest adding
flour if you live above 3K ft. I've found doing nothing works just as
well.
> I am used to the fact that pasta takes 30 minutes to cook and potatoes an
> hour. Water must boil at about 180 degrees.
Yep. Boiling is the real killer. Used to take me less than 2 hrs to
Karen Lewis
work fine too. I do use the crock pot for beans and stews.
My old recipes for muffins and scones and cupcakes and such seem to turn out
fine without any changes.
Still puzzled about why the pizza didn't work. I like homemade better
anyway.
Why is it so hard to find real winter clothes? They look warm but really
are not.
I love my fireplace!!
notbob
> Still puzzled about why the pizza didn't work. I like homemade better
> anyway.
Mine? It did. Di Giorno brand. I came out perfect, bakewise, but
has degraded into the worst, most tasteless, pizza on the market.
I've come to the conlusion I'll hafta learn to make my own.
Store bought pizzas jes don't get it anymore. I've got the crust
down, but need a good sauce. I'm open to suggestion.
> Why is it so hard to find real winter clothes? They look warm but really
> are not.
After 2 Winters living in rags, I can finally afford good clothing and
have learned what works, at least for me, and it's fleece! Give me
Polartec or give me Hawaii! Comes in 3 basic weights, 100-300 and a
few specialized variants. Polartec invented fleece and it's still the
best. Accept no substitutes!
> I love my fireplace!!
I bet you do. I'm forest green with envy. ;)
nb
Christine Dabney
>I've got the crust
>down, but need a good sauce. I'm open to suggestion.
Okay, this is the Crushed Tomato Sauce from Peter Reinhart. It is
wonderful....
The Sauce:
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 Tablespoon garlic powder or 4 or 5 cloves of crushed garlic
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar or lemon juice, or a combination of
the two
salt and black pepper to taste
Stir everything together. If the tomatoes are too chunky, break them
up with your fingers.
This is not cooked, except when the pizza is baking.
Christine
--
http://nightstirrings.blogspot.com
notbob
> Okay, this is the Crushed Tomato Sauce from Peter Reinhart. It is
> wonderful....
>
> The Sauce:
>
> 1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
> 1 teaspoon dried basil
> 1 teaspoon dried oregano
> 1 Tablespoon garlic powder or 4 or 5 cloves of crushed garlic
> 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar or lemon juice, or a combination of
> the two
> salt and black pepper to taste
Sounds simple, yet good. Thnx, Chris.
nb
gloria.p
> Why is it so hard to find real winter clothes? They look warm but
> really are not.
Most people work in overheated buildings and don't NEED winter clothes
except to run back and forth to the car. You need to shop in places
that stock clothing for outdoors (example: Eddie Bauer, no matter how
they advertise, is fashion, not survival.)
--Look at the LLBean website or REI for things like temperature ratings
on jackets.
--Wear layers including thermal underwear, plus wool or Polarfleece.
--Wear something warm on your feet.
--Wear a lightweight hat indoors if you still feel cold.
--Drink hot coffee, cider, cocoa or tea or soup.
--Use a fan to move the hot air from the fireplace or (better) put a
woodstove insert into the fireplace for much more efficient heating.
--Make sure your windows and doors are caulked. Get foam inserts for
your exterior wall switches and outlets. They are cheap at hardware
stores and make a huge difference.
--Move to Arizona for the winter. ;-)
gloria p
Ophelia
"gloria.p" <gpue...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:i4jklr$1gu$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
All good stuff..er... except for your last:)
notbob
> --Look at the LLBean website or REI for things like temperature ratings
> on jackets.
Cabela's is good. They sell the heavyweight Polartec fleece (300
E.C.W.C.S.) with reinforeced wear points. This is mil-spec clothing
I've seen nowhere else. Keeps you toasty warm, yet breaths.
http://www.cabelas.com/p-0016692.shtml
> --Wear layers including thermal underwear, plus wool or Polarfleece.
Ahh ...would that I could!... readily find wool, that is. I've always
liked wool and it's getting harder and harder to find or afford. Used
to be companies like LL Bean sold many different styles/weaves of wool
apparel. Now jes a couple and in stupid camo colors. I wore
Pendleton for years, but when I went down to buy a new classic shirt,
it was $130! and you could read a newpaper through it, it was so thin.
So sad.
> --Wear something warm on your feet.
Bingo! I discoverd Sorel's fit my Donald Duck feet. That's one main
reason I will be so happy this Winter.
> --Wear a lightweight hat indoors if you still feel cold.
I live/eat/sleep in my Polartec 100 GI issue cap, indoors and out.
Best substitute for hair I've found. ;)
> --Move to Arizona for the winter. ;-)
Heh heh..... so many do. I live in what is essentially a snowbird
park. We're one of a couple dozen residents that stay year round.
nb
sf
wrote:
> --Wear layers including thermal underwear, plus wool or Polarfleece.
Wearing layers is the rule in San Francisco because we have so many
microclimates in the city and the temperature changes so drastically
throughout the day. Our rule of thumb for out of towners is "bring a
sweater with you".
--
Carrot cake counts as a serving of vegetables.
sf
wrote:
>
>
> "gloria.p" <gpue...@comcast.net> wrote in message
<snip>
> >
> > --Move to Arizona for the winter. ;-)
>
> All good stuff..er... except for your last:)
>
> --
Europeans get to say something more exotic like move to Spain for the
winter.
Ophelia
"sf" <s...@geemail.com> wrote in message
news:bbsq66latthb8lqjd...@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 19 Aug 2010 17:39:35 +0100, "Ophelia" <Oph...@Elsinore.me.uk>
> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> "gloria.p" <gpue...@comcast.net> wrote in message
> <snip>
>> >
>> > --Move to Arizona for the winter. ;-)
>>
>> All good stuff..er... except for your last:)
>>
>> --
> Europeans get to say something more exotic like move to Spain for the
> winter.
Heh but not *this* one:))
--
--
https://www.shop.helpforheroes.org.uk/
sf
Ophelia
"sf" <s...@geemail.com> wrote in message
news:0a3r66hmoas7tj94s...@4ax.com...
Well.... I have lived in too many countries/continents to be interested:)
Scotland is good enough for me now:)
sf
wrote:
> Well.... I have lived in too many countries/continents to be interested:)
> Scotland is good enough for me now:)
Oh, that's right! I completely forgot about you living in places such
as Malta.
isea...@gmail.com
Bruce
>COLORADO HAS TONS OF PLACES OVER 10,000. FEET
Jeßus
notbob
Leadville, which is 40 miles (and 2,000ft elev, higher) is one. Alma
and Montezuma are a couple more.
Plus, this thread was originally posted in 2002, long before I ever
moved here. ;)
nb
Ed Pawlowski
lower location or if there was an earthquake or volcano. Good to update
these things regularly.
Gary
I was only about 5 years old then.
My only memories from that time are from old 8mm movies.
I do have a family pic of us sitting at the top of Pike's Peak.
penm...@aol.com
any 5 star resto today... and no faggot servers, all zoftig bosomed
gals... and no tiny bags of peanuts.
col...@gmail.com
Leonard Blaisdell
> They say you can't make good coffee in Denver and it's not all that high.
waving from the most mountainous state in the Union. And most of you
think we are just desert, gambling and hookers. There are higher
mountains in other states, but we have a passel of true mountains, and
they start their climb from over a 4000 foot high valley floor.
Come visit! Then go away! Take Las Vegas with you.
[ObFood] CB&C again. I think I'll make hash.
leo
Ed Pawlowski
> They say you can't make good coffee in Denver and it's not all that high.
>
able to make coffee at that temperature with the right equipment, maybe
not the old percolators though.
Dave Smith
pressure.
notbob
> They should be able to make good espresso. The machines pump their own
> pressure.
much.
OTOH, good coffee at high elevation is still better than garbage coffee
at lower elevations. ;)
nb