pasta night

K & E came over for pasta night this weekend so that K could teach all of us how to make homemade fresh pasta.  It was a much lengthier process than anticipated, but the result was so much better than P and my previous attempts.  It was soft, smooth, and delicate, yet the noodles were able to stay together.  You work out the guns too during the mixing and kneading process - I'm always looking for new ways to pump up my ginormous guns.

We learned a few interesting things along the way.

• "00" flour, or doppio zero - this does not refer to the amount of protein in the flour.  "0" flour also exists, so how do you have doubly absent protein?  I googled it.  The number refers to how well refined or sifted the flour is.  "00" is the most refined you can get - talcum powder soft.  It does not indicate the amount of protein.  In fact, high protein "00" exists!
• The kneading process and the resting period for the dough are both very important.  We knew it had something to do with gluten, but weren't exactly sure what happened.  I googled it.  The kneading process creates the gluten structure, and the more you knead, the more the gluten cross-links.  The resting period allows the gluten to relax so that the dough won't be stiff.
• The definition of "gamey."  I have never understood what a "gamey" taste is.  I know that things like lamb, venison, and veal are considered to have a gamey taste, but I can't put my finger on what that is.  To me, each meat tastes like what it tastes like.  Lamb tastes like lamb.  Lamb tastes nothing like venison.  Venison tastes like liver.  Is liver gamey?  

Here were some descriptions that we came up with.

1. Gamey is derived from game meat.  Meats that are considered game are gamey. - This seems to be true in what people describe as gamey, but it still has to connect to a TASTE. So, see #2.
2. Game meat has more muscle and dark meat, so gamier meats have that more (delicious) (my words) dark meat flavor.  So by comparison, a wild turkey is gamier than a farmed turkey.  Dark meat chicken is gamier than white meat chicken.

I then googled it, of course.

This was posted by Grape Stomper (hunter, processes own meats, loves cooking) on Yahoo! Answers:

Young deer are more tender by nature, and require no aging (Meat is only properly aged when it is hung in a temperature controlled room for at least ten days), that is unless it ran a great distance between being wounded and death. This causes the deer to expend all its glycogen reserves, and when this happens, the pH levels of the meat will increase, spreading a bacterial growth. When the deer is wounded and becomes frightened, there is a release of adrenalin, the chain reaction that follows causes the deer’s muscles to be flooded with blood. This sudden rush causes a build up of metabolic waste, and this build up is one of the reasons for a strong gamey taste.

Metabolic waste!  Except I don't know what metabolic waste tastes like.  This description makes sense with #2 somewhat since it is dependent on the musculature and the nature of the animal at the time of the, you know, passing.  It also makes some sense because it addresses the variability in wild meat.  Depending on where you get your meat, and which day, the same type of meat can be gamier on 1 day vs another.

Another description was that gamey meat has a zing to it.  I can get on board with this one.  I still think that say lamb has a different zing than other gamey meats, but if I consider the word "spicy," each spicy dish tastes different, but they're still all considered spicy.

You guys, it's sciiiii-eeence.