1821 replies to this topic

[jfrater]

Argh! Biggest annoyance with Modernist Cuisine so far: finding anything in the kitchen manual! I have to use the website to find everything.

[paulpegg]

Argh! Biggest annoyance with Modernist Cuisine so far: finding anything in the kitchen manual! I have to use the website to find everything.

The index is at the back of Vol 5.

[Merkinz]

Argh! Biggest annoyance with Modernist Cuisine so far: finding anything in the kitchen manual! I have to use the website to find everything.

The index is at the back of Vol 5.

I'm with jfrater on this, busting out Vol 5 just to find a page in the kitchen manual is annoying. The index should also exist in the kitchen manual itself. Even better there should be an app just for the index... They could even include that feature the website used to have where you could select an ingredient or piece of equipment and it would suggest some recipes ... That was a neat feature for deciding on which modernist ingredients to invest in and which would probably never get used.

[jfrater]

So - the countdown is on to the BBQ - the first complete dish is done - the modernist potato salad. I didn't use the pink onions as I had none and no time to make my own - but as I was using red skinned potatoes I figured it would be contrast enough. NZ eggs are extremely rich so you can see that my sous vide yolk is a lot more orange than in the book (I consider that a plus for the quality of NZ ingredients!) More photos to come. Meat is heading into the sous vide to finish now.

[Merkinz]

Looking forward to photos and hearing whats good :)

[jfrater]

Oh my God - amazing. This meat was some of the best I have ever eaten. I will never BBQ another way.



Pork ribs with dry rub, beef brisket with East Texas BBQ sauce, and pork ribs with Kansas city BBQ sauce. Stunning.

The real star - the one I will cook for the rest of my life was the pork ribs with dry rub - it was put on the BBQ for a few minutes to crisp up the skin. Absolutely incredible.

Edited by jfrater, 22 September 2012 - 12:59 AM.

[dml]

Argh! Biggest annoyance with Modernist Cuisine so far: finding anything in the kitchen manual! I have to use the website to find everything.

The index is at the back of Vol 5.

I'm with jfrater on this, busting out Vol 5 just to find a page in the kitchen manual is annoying. The index should also exist in the kitchen manual itself. Even better there should be an app just for the index... They could even include that feature the website used to have where you could select an ingredient or piece of equipment and it would suggest some recipes ... That was a neat feature for deciding on which modernist ingredients to invest in and which would probably never get used.

I have the kitchen manual index PDF on my laptop and my iPad. The pdf reader's search function works well enough to find what I want. One could also print it out and keep it with the manual.

[Merkinz]

Good point! I might explore the pdf idea ...

Nice job jfrater! I might have to have a crack at those ribs when I next get access to a smoker :)

[ScottyBoy]

Oh man, if only I was at your place to partake in all that BBQ...

[lesliec]

Jamie, I think next time you announce you're doing something like that Merkinz and I will be agitating for an invitation ...

On the subject of indices and Kitchen Manuals, I keep a printed copy of the KM index with my books (and a copy of the main index as well). Works fine.

[FoodMan]

Oh my God - amazing. This meat was some of the best I have ever eaten. I will never BBQ another way.



Pork ribs with dry rub, beef brisket with East Texas BBQ sauce, and pork ribs with Kansas city BBQ sauce. Stunning.

The real star - the one I will cook for the rest of my life was the pork ribs with dry rub - it was put on the BBQ for a few minutes to crisp up the skin. Absolutely incredible.

Great job Jfrater! Everything looks amazing and I know it tastes brilliant too. I agree with you about that potato salad and the eggs in it. It's a great version of potato salad. I made it last year for 4th of July along with a few other items of BBQ from MC and it was all a huge hit. I need to start a batch of ribs ASAP now after seeing those pics.

[Baselerd]

I'm finally getting around to updating about this. The beef dried and cured perfectly in my wine fridge (I made a fantastic Finocchiona in there recently from "Salumi" as well).The Bresaola as part of a plated dish with the strong garlic sauce worked very well. I do think served by itself, as in slice and eat with a piece of bread, the coffee cure is a bit much for my taste. I made the sauce from the recipe using the MC garlic confit as opposed to black garlic and it is really is a winning combination with the crunchy celery and delicious beef. I'll juts stick with no coffee in my cure though, but I do love the juniper in there so that's staying! On another note, I so wish I have a good meat slicer...

I too recently made the Bresaola recipe. I ended up making the black garlic sauce as decribed but had to add a bit of additional water (2-3 tablespoons) to get my blender working with it. All in all the dish was excellent, but I would tend to agree that the cure is a bit on the powerful side. However, I would say my preference is towards the coffee and away from the juniper. Either way, it was a learning experience for me (first time making dry cured meat).

Edited by Baselerd, 28 September 2012 - 08:04 AM.

[jfrater]

Baselerd that looks absolutely stunning! Well done. I am going to have to give that a try.

On another note - does anyone know what I can use as a substitute for fermento in the house cured bacon recipe? I can get everything else but not fermento. My butcher said that he isn't aware of a similar product on the New Zealand market. I see some people on another forum talking about using some kind of citric acid - any thoughts?

[Todd in Chicago]

Baselerd that looks absolutely stunning! Well done. I am going to have to give that a try.

On another note - does anyone know what I can use as a substitute for fermento in the house cured bacon recipe? I can get everything else but not fermento. My butcher said that he isn't aware of a similar product on the New Zealand market. I see some people on another forum talking about using some kind of citric acid - any thoughts?

I see that on Amazon they sell a 1.5 lb. bucket for $15 (us currency). Not sure if that helps at all. LOL....I need to get some myself for the same reason, but don't need a whole bucket!

Todd in Chicago

[avaserfi]

Baselerd that looks absolutely stunning! Well done. I am going to have to give that a try.

On another note - does anyone know what I can use as a substitute for fermento in the house cured bacon recipe? I can get everything else but not fermento. My butcher said that he isn't aware of a similar product on the New Zealand market. I see some people on another forum talking about using some kind of citric acid - any thoughts?

Fermento is a buttermilk powder that gives a slight tang, mimicking the flavor of fermentation. You could use a small amount of buttermilk or skip it all together.

[jfrater]

Okay - I got everything sorted for the bacon - my butcher suggested using easy-yo yoghurt powder as a substitute for fermento so I did. Here are the ingredients all set out:



And here is the pork belly vacuum packed in the cure - to stay in the fridge for one week:

[jfrater]

Hi all - I am in the middle of cooking my sous vide duck confit - can someone tell me how long it will last in the fridge? I did a double batch so if it is not going to keep for too long I will freeze some of it.

[mkayahara]

I've kept it for a couple of weeks with no problems, and I imagine it will keep much longer than that. It freezes and thaws well, though, so if you've got the freezer space and aren't sure when you'll use it up, it's probably your best option.

Edit: I mean, that's assuming you can resist eating it all in the span of a couple of days.

Edited by mkayahara, 02 October 2012 - 01:59 PM.

[KennethT]

I've eaten SV confit that has been at the bottom of my fridge for half a year... not that I'd recommend that to everyone, but on the SV thread, I once asked the question and got some very good answers by the likes of Douglas Baldwin (who has studied bacteria stuff in great detail). Basically, depending on what temp. you used, and how long it was there, and how cold your fridge is, it technically can stay there indefinitely. BTW - I keep my refrigerator VERY cold - so teh bottom is borderline freezing - in fact, if I put a small pot of water there, after a few days, I'll see a thin sheet of ice on top or on the sides.

[jfrater]

Thanks for the advice guys. The duck is AWESOME - so delicious.

I have another question - I am making the MC bacon and I decided to do a double batch so I currently have two 4kg blocks of it drying in the fridge after the curing process. I was thinking that it would be nice to have one smoked and one unsmoked. Given that the smoking on the bacon is done hot - do I need to cook the unsmoked bacon before consumption? Also, will the cure be too overpowering for the bacon if it isn't smoked?

[LoftyNotions]

Thanks for the advice guys. The duck is AWESOME - so delicious.

I have another question - I am making the MC bacon and I decided to do a double batch so I currently have two 4kg blocks of it drying in the fridge after the curing process. I was thinking that it would be nice to have one smoked and one unsmoked. Given that the smoking on the bacon is done hot - do I need to cook the unsmoked bacon before consumption? Also, will the cure be too overpowering for the bacon if it isn't smoked?

What you will end up with will be similar to Pancetta, with the major differences being different spicing, not drying it as long, and I also assume you used cure #1?

I would definitely cook it before consumption. I don't think the cure would be any more overpowering whether smoked or not.

It should taste just fine.

Larry

[jfrater]

Thanks Larry - do you recommend "cooking" the unsmoked bacon in the smoker for the same duration and temperature without the smoke generator turned on?

[LoftyNotions]

Thanks Larry - do you recommend "cooking" the unsmoked bacon in the smoker for the same duration and temperature without the smoke generator turned on?

You could go ahead and throw it in without smoke. I guess I was thinking more along the lines of letting it dry in the refrigerator on a drying rack for a week or so, slicing it up and freezing what you weren't going to use in a relatively short period of time. Cooking could occur just before eating it. Pancetta would normally be dried for 3 to 4 weeks in a refrigerator, but I'm not sure about the safety of doing that using cure #1.

Jason Molinari (another eGullet member) has an excellent blog on cured meats and covers Pancetta at http://curedmeats.bl...uscles - Recipe .

Larry

[jfrater]

Thanks again Larry - I checked out the site and Jason says (on this page: http://curedmeats.bl...eat-of-all.html) that cure #1 is fine in this case as the meat is solid. I am not quite sure what that means but at least I know it is safe :) I am not excited to say that I will have a 4kg bacon and a 4kg pancetta! I bought a commercial meat slicer so I can't wait to try it out. Oh - also, Jason says to hang the meat for 3 weeks for pancetta so I will just leave it in the fridge when I am smoking the bacon.

[LoftyNotions]

Thanks again Larry - I checked out the site and Jason says (on this page: http://curedmeats.bl...eat-of-all.html) that cure #1 is fine in this case as the meat is solid. I am not quite sure what that means but at least I know it is safe :) I am not excited to say that I will have a 4kg bacon and a 4kg pancetta! I bought a commercial meat slicer so I can't wait to try it out. Oh - also, Jason says to hang the meat for 3 weeks for pancetta so I will just leave it in the fridge when I am smoking the bacon.

That should take care of part of your charcuterie needs for a while. :) I freeze a lot of sliced bacon and Pancetta, and it keeps well snuggled up in vac sealed bags.

I think you'll really like your commercial slicer. It's a great addition to any foodie's gadget collection!

Larry

[jfrater]

Larry for sure - though I have to say it is so much fun that I am now tempted to fill my garage with enough meat to feed 10 Italian families for a year! My butcher is going to love me :)

[FoodMan]

I made the BBQ spareribs and Kansas City sauce again and we all already know how awesome these things are, so I'll skip that part. I'm not sure if we've mentioned the Baked Beans though. These are seriously good beans and very simple to make. Just pressure cook the beans, reduce some stock, onions, maple syrup...combine the two and cook SV for an hour. The result is delicious, rich with just the right balance of sweetness (not sickly sweet), tartness and smoke.


I made these beans without much planning ahead so I had no tomato confit on hand. So, I substituted a little tomato paste instead (I used maybe half the weight of the confit).

[rotuts]

where on the MC web site is the downloadable Index.pdf? I DL'd it some time ago and cant find it on my comp.

I also cant find it on the website.

many thanks!

[Twyst]

I made the BBQ spareribs and Kansas City sauce again and we all already know how awesome these things are, so I'll skip that part.

Well, I was in the "didnt know" camp as I have sadly not cooked as many recipes as I would have liked from the book. After reading your post and seeing your pics I decided to give it a whirl and was definitely not disappointed, it was as good as any BBQ Ive ever had (and I live in central texas now, we have pretty good bbq here)


Embarrassingly I think the only things Ive really cooked from the book are the mac and cheese, the carrot soup, the pastrami, and now the bbq ribs. Any other insanely popular recipes that I have missed and need to make since I have a few days off?

[LoftyNotions]

where on the MC web site is the downloadable Index.pdf? I DL'd it some time ago and cant find it on my comp.

I also cant find it on the website.

many thanks!

It's here. http://modernistcuis...isine_index.pdf