[CH] Sort of Off Topic
John Benz Fentner, Jr. (jbenz@courant.infi.net)
Sat, 28 Feb 1998 11:25:33 -0500
This was in Michael Quinion's World Wide Words column this week. Probly
of more interest to the BBQ folks but it does have some interesting
applications for CHs.
2. Turns of Phrase: Hydrodyne process /'hVIdr@UdVIn pr@UsEs/
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If a report of this had not appeared in so reputable a source as
the 'Scientific American', and had not been confirmed by various
news articles, I would hardly have thought it was genuine, it
sounds so unlikely. The "hydrodyne process" is a new method of
tenderising meat, especially beef, that avoids the need to hang
joints in cold stores for weeks at a time. The boned joints are
sealed in vacuum packs and hung in a tank of water. A small
explosive charge equivalent to about four ounces of dynamite is
then set off. The supersonic shock wave pounds the meat and
tenderises it in less than a second, reportedly without affecting
the flavour. It also seems to kill some of the bacteria that would
otherwise eventually spoil the meat. The process is being
commercially developed by a subsidiary of the Halliburton Company
and is expected to be available by the end of 1998. It would seem
the name was coined by the inventor, John Baldwin Long, from
'hydro-', (water), and '-dyne', a suffix from the Greek word for
power that has occasionally been used to form scientific terms.
JB
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John Benz Fentner, Jr.
Unionville, Connecticut, USA
http://www.geocities.com/~jbenz/
"Lex Non Favet Delicatorum Votis"
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