paulraphael

When I come up with a recipe, there's a typical arc that the process follows from the early versions to the final one. It starts simple, then gets absurdly complex as I address all the problems, and then it gets simple again as I figure out how to streemline the steps and make the recipe smarter. I assume there's always room for it to get even simpler. However, it would be hard for someone besides me to know how to simplify it, since they won't necessarily understand the full purpose of every step as it's written. If you're just riffing on the recipe's basic idea, then this probably doesn't matter much. But if you're trying to get the intended result, it's best to trust the recipe. Or do a thorough job analyzing it. Or best yet, write to the recipe author.

If the xanthan solution gets nasty, maybe you could try adding a preservative to the next batch. citric acid? sodium sulfite from the darkroom? also, are you keeping it in the fridge?

that slimy "aftertexture" pretty well describes the results when I tried to stablilize ice cream with arrowroot. I'd always liked arrowroot more than cornstarch in sauces, so I thought it might be better in ice cream, too ... in spite of warnings from people smarter than me that arrowroot does weird things in the presence of dairy.

I'm guessing this is the photographer in you, mixing a percentage solution like you'd do with phenidone. Which has crossed my mind ... it would make both measuring and mixing easier. The trouble is preserving it. It would make the most sense if you could keep the solution around for a while, and I suspect it would spoil pretty quickly.

Maybe. My immediate association with it was that this is one of the things I don't like about processed foods. Maybe there are contexts where it doesn't have that effect, like baked goods or in combination with other ingredients that cut through the slime (acids? alcohol?). I haven't experimented enough with it yet myself. ← Sliminess for me is just a sign that too much was used, or it was used inapropriately. I'm wondering (worried) if I could make something that feels fine to me and would feel slimey to you or someone else. In general, I find every colloid, including the more traditional ones like cornstarch, arrowroot, roux, and reduced gelatin, has some bad textural quality that's brought out by overuse or use in the wrong context. I started using xanthan to get away from the shortcomings of cornstarch and arrowroot, which i started using to get away from roux.

Are you guys suggesting that the slimy mouthfeel is a reaction some people have and others don't? One of the things I like about xanthan is that if it isn't overused, I get no weird lingering mouthfeel. But I'd have to rethink some of my recipes if a significant number of people would find them gross (for some reason I can't test for).

I can't comment on much on content, but you can definitely tighten up the writing. Instead of "cunduct training for kitchen crew," say "Train kitchen crew." "asian and chinese" is absolutely redundant. The easy fix is with specificity: "experience cooking Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese, Philippine, Laotian, Japanese, mainland Chinese, Hong Kong, and Mecau foods" (assuming you're actually experienced in all that. yikes!) The last two lines, about being a hands-on team player and being mindful of quality ... that doesn't really belong on a resumé. Those are your appraisals of yourself. A resumé is for information that's factual. Those appraisals belong in a cover letter. But better yet, say things in the cover letter (supported by factual lines on your resume) that lead the boss to come to those conclusions on his own. Saying "I'm a hard worker!" won't impress too many people. Pointing to facts like the shifts you worked, the responsibilities you took on, the improvements you made, etc., show that you're indeed a hard worker. The comments by Niki and Katie and Pastrygirl are spot on.

I haven't used it in ice cream. My inclination would be to save for stronger flavors, like coffee and chocolate. I wouldn't want that cooked, ultrapasteurized flavor invading my vanilla. For herb and spice flavors, and more delicate fruits, I go the other direction and use the barely pasteurized milk from stoneybrook.

The Activa I've used will definitely cold set. But I don't know if every variation of it will cold set in every circumstance. Ajinmoto sells a bewildering array of activa products, and their descriptions of the different properties aren't as clear as they could be.

In some ways should be able to do a better job than the bandsaw. Butchers seem to have a hard time getting slices of perfectly even thickness with those things. The challenge will be getting steaks the exact thickness you want, since you'll be forced to cut between ribs. I'd use the longest, thinnest slicing knife you have, and cut as far as you can without banging into bone. Then cut the bone with a hack saw. That transition between knife cut and saw cut might be a bit ragged, but I doubt it would call any attention to itself once the meat is cooked. That's going to be a lot of steak. Are you planning a big dinner party? (hint, hint)

I've thought about this a bunch and have been discussing it with my butcher. For just a tenderloin, I think the practical limit is 10 days to 2 weeks. The other possibility (a good one ... but would take a lot of commitment to do at home) is to age the whole short loin. Then you have the option of butchering it to strip steaks and tenderloin, or leaving it whole and serving as regular t-bone or porterhouse.

The ones I'm talking about are, for all practical purposes, cured. And in many cases also smoked. And they tend to be delicious; the Niman Ranch Jambon Royale is one of my all time favorite cooked hams. By the way, it's not necessarily true that cured meat products don't have to be cooked. Nowadays many foods are lightly cured, for the purpose of adding flavor, but the cure isn't long enough or intense enough to eliminate the need for cooking.

Some other ways to avoid biocides: -don't eat any salt -don't eat anything that's been exposed to smoke -don't eat any herbs, spices, onions, garlic, or other aromatic vegetables

good call! get a few. a bunch if you can. restaurant supply. sometimes you can get used ones for a song. just make sure the oven in your apartment can fit a half-sheet pan. i've had wee stoves that required quarter sheet pans. for parchment, there's a reseller on ebay who sells it in flat sheets, so you don't have to deal with annoying rolls.

You're way ahead of the curve on this project. You know what you want, it's all reasonable, you're not looking for "sets," and you plan to invade the restaurant supply store. I'm just going to throw out a few suggestions based on your list. Knives: for your situation, Forschner is a perfect choice. Durable, capable of taking a decent edge, not too hard to sharpen, and cheap. I'd get the 10" chef knife (my preference is the wood handle) and the $5 paring knife. You can probably skip the bread knife ... a forschner chef knife is robust enough for crusty bread. If you cut a lot of bread, go for the bread knife too. Then get a 1K or 2K waterstone for sharpening, and a steel. this isn't a premium performance solution, but it's cheap, serviceable, and might even survive your roommate. Mixing bowls: try the restaurant supply store, or ebay. Lids are convenient but not necessary. Plastic containers: it's hard to beat deli cups in 16oz and 32oz sizes, and the super cheap glad and ziplock containers. I have tons of all of the above. Stock Pot: restaurant supply. Stainless with a disk bottom, or plain aluminum. Fry pans: you could do it all with a 10" black steel pan. Restaurant supply, or buy online from Matfer Bourgeat (less than $30). Or get a nonstick pan for eggs (resto supply) and a clad, stainless and aluminum pan (not disk bottom). I'd go resto supply for the nonstick (cheap, recyclable) and volrath or all clad for the stainless. 1.5 qt saucepan: I'd get a good one. something responsive. stainless clad vollrath or all clad. For your mystery pan (rice pilaf, saute, etc.) I'd consider a rondeau ... 5 or 6 quarts. can be a stainless pan with a disk bottom, or a clad pan. this could do small amounts of pasta as well. Skip the pasta insert. Miscelaneous that you didn't mention: tongs, whisk, spatulas (bamboo and silicone), palette knife and/or fish spatula, strainers / collander ... I'm guessing you could come in well under budget.

How about some Somalian ingredients?

Good find! Niman's site says "Despite USDA regulations, it's probably more accurate to say that our uncured products are naturally cured. Instead of adding nitrate or nitrite chemicals, we use celery juice, a source of naturally occurring nitrates. During processing, the nitrates in celery juice are consumed by lacto bacteria--anaerobic organisms similar to the friendly bacteria in yogurt--that like a salty environment. Over time during the natural curing process, the nitrate in celery juice is consumed by the lacto bacteria and converted first to nitrite, then to nitrous oxide, a gas that dissipates into the atmosphere. The amount of natural nitrates remaining in the finished product depends on whether and when the meat is cooked, as cooking halts the dissipation process. Like cured products, natural curing inhibits bacteria, helps prevent meat from going off-color, and deepens flavor. I wish they'd just say "naturally cured." Not that the alternatives are unnatural in any meaningful sense (as opposed to the regulatory one). It's just helpful to know that a ham is a ham!"

Is there anything "unnatural" about the saltpeter that's been used for centuries? Even if that's what they mean, uncured seems both odd and deceptive.

Whole Foods lists a bunch of hams in their deli case as "uncured." But these are not fresh hams; they're clearly cured. They're pink, they taste cured, and the ingredients all sound like curing ingredients to me. The one I buy most is the Niman Ranch Jambon Royal. Niman calls it uncured too. But everything I see written about says that it's dry cured before being smoked. Seems like they're full of it. But I don't know why you'd want people to think a ham is uncured. Has curing become a bad thing in the minds of the half-educated? Is there anything legitimate that Niman and WF might be trying to convey?

What kind of pan are you using? I've found pyrex pans to work best for browning pie shells. For tarts I like black steel. All the other suggestions are good ones. Though I treat Cook's Illustrated methods as a kind of last resort. Their techniques often seem like the brainchild of a committee of amature scientists, who psych themselves up for baking by smoking a bowl and watching MacGyver. Which isn't to say their methods don't work ... just that there's probably an easier way. My recipes tend to look like CI recipes when I'm halfway done with them, before I've had a chance to streamline.

Stabilizer and emulsifier describe the roles of certain ingredients. Emulsifiers are chemicals that help dispersions of oil and water hold together. In milk and cream and butter, the proteins in the milk solids act as emulsifiers. They aren't very strong, so it's easy for Philly style ice cream to separate and get grainy. In French style ice cream, proteins in the eggs act as powerful emulsifiers (just as they do in mayonnaise and caesar salad dressing). Gelatin and mustard also work as emusifiers. So do chemicals like soy lecithin and polysorbate 80 and all kinds of other things you see on food labels. Stabilizers, narrowly speaking, are chemicals that keep big ice crystals from forming in the ice cream ... when it's churning, hardening, or being stored. They work by thickening whatever portion of the water is unfrozen. And there's always some percentage of unfrozen water in an ice cream. This is why it's scoopable, and not rock hard. Because of the way they work, stabilizers also modify the texture. We typically use hydrocolloids for stabilizing ... including cooked egg proteins, gelatin, cornstarch, or gums. And these all affect the mouthfeel of the ice cream in different ways. For ice cream made at home or by a pastry chef, I think the texture modification qualities of these chemicals are more important than the stabilizing qualities. But we still call them stabilizers.

I was making fun of myself ... thought I was the first one to use the big word in this discussion Just acknowledging that when I say things like 'hydrocolloid,' some people start running for the door.

Yes, alcohol is yummy ... but it's also antifreeze. The right amount can give an especially soft, scoopable texture. Too much gives you soup. It depends on the proof of the booze you use. For instance, you can use much more liqueur than you could rum or brandy.

short answer ... anything that disolves in water and causes some kind of thickening. If you've ever thickened gravy with flour, then believe it or not, you're an old hand with hydrocolloids. Cornstarch slurry, arrowroot, and gelatin are other examples. The fancy name came into vogue when cooks started using less conventional varieties, and shopping at the chemistry supply stores. So when you hear someone mouthing off about hydrocolloids, there's a good chance they're using agar or alginate or xanthan or other kinds of gums and modified starches.

If you prefer the texture of philly style ice cream, and plan to eat it right away, and are happy to adjust your serving temperature to whatever suits any given ice cream recipe ... then you can get away with just milk, cream, and sugar. But if you want additional control over texture, then you're going to be adding emulsifiers and stabilizers. Period. That's what the eggs are in French style ice cream. Emulsification, stabilization, texture modification. I just don't happen to think eggs are the most elegant choice for this purpose, begause they taste like F'ing eggs! I don't want my ice cream to taste like cooked egg yolk. Egg custard does create a wonderful texture. I haven't found a perfect substitute, so I minimize the eggs rather than eliminate them. I find that I don't taste them when there's only a couple per quart. I make up the difference with minute amounts of hydrocolloids, which are able to modify texture without adding or diluting flavors. With this kind of combination, I can get the precise texture I want, without any flavor penalty. The resistance to deflation and ice crystal formation is just a fringe benefit. Some other ingredients I use pretty religiously: -nonfat dry milk. It lets you control the disolved solids, which influences the sense of body, and also the freezing point. A little bit helps keep the ice cream from being rock hard at normal serving temperature (6 to 10 degrees F). -alcohol, either as vodka or as vanilla extract (which I make with vodka). Fine tunes freezing point without affecting body. May also intensify some volatile aromas. -salt! Balances and intensifies most other flavors. I think it's criminal to leave it out of desserts. My ice creams have about 1/10 % salt by weight. Too little to notice; enough to make a difference.