jsmeeker

Thanks larry. That helps. At this point, I think I need to get a small scale that can measure down to .1 or .01 grams. And a "kit" of these moderinist ingrendients and just fool around with it. I'm still curious about the role of the crageenan. Maybe it's not needed if I always make a full batch 'from scratch'. But I know I would like to be able to whip up a large batch of the cheese part so I can save that (fridge? freezer?) so it actually stays stable. Being a single guy, this is actually pretty important. I would be nice to be able to quickly whip up a small batch for a snack.

$35 bucks? Seems high.. But if it lasts a long time, then I guess it's worth it. I have one just like andiesenji. It's a bartenders best friend. Right up there with the shaker and strainer. Before, I had a smalle green one (for limes). After time, the paint (poweder coating?) started to chip and flake offf. Then the whole thing broke. So, I got a yellow one. It's bigger to handle lemons. But limes work just great in it. if the ends of the lemon are "pointy", I just flatten it out by trimming of the point with my pairing knife.

For refernce, I think this is a tweaked version of the "mac and cheese" cheese recipe. I got it from this post Clearly, for the queso, we skip the pasta part. I am guessing you can go straight from the "melted and emulsified" step and proceed directly to adding in the flavors you want for the queso. But the question is, at this point, how thick is the sauce? Is it too thick? If I wanted to thin it out, what would I use? More beer? Water? Milk?

Great! When you say the "MC basic recipe", I don't know what that means. Do they have a recipe for queso? I don't have the book.

I can easily get obsessed with BBQ.

For the mac and cheese, my impression was that the recipe for the process cheese makes more cheese than you really need to make the finished dish. I may be wrong, but it seems that once you have this "solid" block of cheese is that it becomces very easy to whip up a batch of mac and cheese. Is the carageenan doing anything else here? If you left it out and used all of the prcess cheese recipe to make the mac and cheese, would you get a different consistency to the cheese sauce? I'm not looking to make mac and cheese. I want to make "queso". I think the recipe for the "mac and cheese" process cheese yields a sauce that is too thick. I would have to thin this out with something. (more on that later). But the idea of making a "large" batch of process cheese and store it so I can easily and quickly whip up a small serving is appealing. I'm just now wondering what issues I would run into if I eliminated cargeenan.

Over in the Cooking with "Modernist Cuisine" topic, one of the most popular recipes for people to try out is the Mac and Cheese recipe. So far, it seems this has been a smash hit. What's the secret? It's taking real, good quality cheese and "processing" in such a way so that it will melt smooth and creamy like a commercial product that uses inferior cheese. But the cheese treatment doesn't stop there. "MC" also presents a method for making a cheese that can be sliced and put on a burger. I'm told this also makes an excellent grilled cheese sandwich. So, what are the "tricks" that make this work? An ingredient to emulsify. And then an ingredient to thicken. But what different ingredients can be used here? And what makes you choose one over the other. Is sodium citrate the standard emulsifier? When it comes to thickening, what's the differene between kappa carrageenan and iota carrageenan? Do you even need this if your end result is the sauce for a mac and cheese? I don't have "Modernist Cuisine". But I have become very interested in this subject. For me, I have two end products in mind. The first, is "queso". Anyone who spends any time in a Tex-Mex restaurant is familair with staple. It's cheese dip. Sometime thick. Sometimes thin. I'm not entirely sure how it's made in these resturants, but I speculate they are using velveeta or cheese whiz or something like that. In my mind, we can do better if we take GOOD cheese and apply some "modernist" methods to it. The second end product is grilled cheese sandwiches. I think this should be pretty straightforward by simply using the method for processing the cheese for the burger. But I'd like to understand that process a little better. See what issues there may be, what kinds of cheese would work, etc.

I don't think the bacon in an oven method was invented by someone with a TV show. It may have been popularized and introduced by one of those guys, but I am pretty sure it's been a fairly standard food service technique for some time.

Are we talking in English or French, now? In French, I've never heard appareil used to refer to something cooked but you can bet someone somewhere says it. You'd probably be more likely to hear it referred to as the crème or crémeux. Or quiche sucrée. I'm afraid I've never worked in an English kitchen so cannot be sure. Imported words often lose their nuances so you may find people saying app even when the thing is cooked. Has anyone heard it used like this? uhhh... Either? Both? Johhny I. is American and works in a restaurant in NYC. I guess what I am getting at is how to describe the completed dish to diners. I'm thinking I am just gonna go with "flan". Or probably "lemon flan" In all honestly, I was just curious about the usage of the word "app" in this context. Maybe someplace in the full book, he has a glossary that describes the terms in the way he uses them.

When cooking whole slices, I am an oven man all the way. I always cooked it at about 400 to 425, directly on a sheet pan. It doesn't make a mess all over the stove. It comes out pretty flat. I can cook it so it still has chew and doesn't get burned. But over the weekend, I did the "Hennes method". It was interesting. I cooked it directly on the pan. But then decided to move it to a rack set inside the pan. The end result was very crisp bacon. It held together, but snapped with the slightest pressure. The fat that was rendered out was very clean. Noticeably whiter than my standard method. To be honest, I wasn't a huge fan of the end result. When eating bacon "whole", I like some. chew. But this would be a great method if you wanted super crisp bacon crumbles for a salad or something like that.

interesting. So, the finished component, when it's baked, is just "flan", or do you still call it an "app"?

The funny thing is that the guy had his stuff the most thought out got booted a couple of episodes ago. (Grilled Cheese Guy). The Harvest Sol girl was equally clueless. Her concept really changed a great deal. Before, it was all about calories or fat grams or something like that. "What's the fla vor profile?" "Uh... 500 calores". "No, no.. what does it taste like?" "Uhh.. 4 grams of fat" I actually like Joey Meatball. But one of the "investors" made a good comment. It's all the OTHER stuff that drags him down.

My ice looks like Steven's. But it's automated. I don't have to fool around with trays. A lot (most??) of my ice use is for making cocktails that are strained and served up. So, the look of it is rarely an issue.

It's certainly making individual tarts in the recipe. I get that. It's a restaurant dish. But I am not going to do that because A) I don't have enough small tart pans and don't want to. B) I will need to transport this dessert a few miles from where I make it (home) to where it will be served (parent's house) Thanks for the feed back on the curd and the meringue.

I was poking around Johnny Iuzzini's website and found a recipe for a Double Meyer Lemon Tart. It looks and sounds really good. I need help adapting it for my use. The main issue with the recipe as printed is that it's too big. It makes 6-8 individual tarts. It doesn't say how large, but just looking at the amounts of tart dough, it certainly seems to be a lot more than I need. Also, I only have two smaller individual tart pans in addition to a larger (I think 9" ) tart pan. Basically, I want to use the ideas here. A lemon tart with two "layers". A lemon flan (an 'app'??), then a lemon curd on top. The recipe is here. http://johnnyiuzzini.com/storage/recipe/spring/beg/Meyer%20lemon%20tart.pdf I have made sweet tart doughs before. So, that's not much of a challenge to overcome. Next up is the meyer lemon flan app.. first, what is an "app"? Never heard of that term. For amounts, could I simply halve everything? I think it may wind up making enough. The baked tart shell gets filled halfway with this, then baked to set the flan. After that, comes a lemon curd. I've made lemon curd before, so that's not a huge deal. I just wonder if the curd in this recipe would setup thicker than what I have made before. I would think that I would want it fairly firm. Note that the recipe doesn't call for the curd to be baked or anything like that after it's made. It just goes into the tart shell after the flan has been set and cooled. The final part is the Italian meringue. I've never made that before, but I have made marshmallows, so I am familiar with hot syrup into beaten egg whites. The problem with this recipe is the sugar amount. The recipe lists 113 g of sugar with 100g of whites. But the method section calls for 223 g of sugar. Also, could the meringue be made advance? Like several hours and held in a container, then piped out and torched just before service? If not, how long can the meringue sit on a finished tart before service? Any help people can provide would be much appreciated. Has anyone actually made this themselves? I think if I can figure it out, this will be Easter Sunday dessert.

In Texas, everything is bigger. The Texas Rangers' ballpark sells a 3 pound pretzel http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_localpn/20110415/ts_yblog_localpn/bow-down-to-the-3-pound-pretzel-at-texas-rangers-ballpark

I'll have to give that bacon cooking method a try one day. Like, for a late lunch.

Really? FIVE hours to cook bacon? Oh, and cool that it's on a BLACK plate.

I think Sandra Lee may have already done this.

hmmm.. I haven't really heard of people using it as a verb. I've probably heard "chicken fried" as a verb more often. I mean, who doesn't want some chicken fried chicken?

I have to try the plate(s) with a wet towel in the microwave trick next time.

Is that COOKED spaghetti, all neatly line up?

Woo hoo! Go Texas! Of course, I am not helping things by NOT having this book.

I was able to watch the first episode via Hulu last night. TiVo is now set to record the rest of the season. it sounds like he initially had parmission from LAUSD to to this, then they backed out and cut him off. Anyone have details? I can flex my google foo if needed.

Imbibe magazine weighs in on the Boulevardier cocktail http://www.imbibemagazine.com/The-Boulevardier-Cocktail