paulraphael

If I understand what you're describing (didn't see a link in your posts) it sounds just like rock-chopping. Some purists say that the tip should never leave the board, but a lot of people find it more efficient to do it that way, especially if you're cutting something tall. Either way it's the same basic motion ... the curved belly of the knife is acting as a fulcrum, and the blade pushes forward and down, shearing the food between knife and cutting board. Standard technique for a German-style knife, poor technique for a gyuto that's thin behind the edge.

I'm not sure what circus acts you're talking about. There's nothing inherently dangerous about any of the basic skills. Some of them are counterintuitive, and may seem scary (like bias-slicing toward your guide hand), but I find this just focusses your attention. I've never actually seen anyone cut themselves doing this technique, even as a beginner. The techniques usually have safety built into them. The thing is, when you're working with a very sharp knife, you never apply more than smallest amount of force to it. So you have a lot of control, and the knife never slips and goes flying. You get comfortable working the blade right by your fingers. And doing it blindfolded actually isn't much of a challenge, because your guide fingers position the knife more than your eyes do. I suspect knifeproof gloves would just foster inattention and bad habits. They make those things for processing plant workers who butcher meat on 12 hour shifts.

Re: "The only skill you need is to keep your fingers away from the sharp end of the knife" ... a lot of techniques put your fingers right against the blade. A lot of them cut right toward your fingers or right past them. Some of the Japanese techniques put your fingertip (not your curled knuckle) against the blade to guide it. I don't use the fingertip technique, but one of my teachers did, and he could out-cut anyone I've met.

I'll agree if you're really talking about fancy skills (katsuramuki, making roses out of tomatoes, etc). But I'm talking about basic skills. Being quick and efficient, cutting food evenly to the sizes and shapes you want, and making clean cuts that best preserve the flavor and texture of the food. I think basic skills benefit everyone, and being better at them is always better than being worse. For me personally, broadening and improving my skillset has allowed to me to enjoy prep, when previously I didn't. And it lets me get things done in half the time. Always significant! Part of the enjoyment is that I have an understanding of specific techniques, so when I'm doing something tedious, I can be consciously working on how to improve them. As far as rocking or not rocking, it's entirely knife-dependent. Rock-chopping was developed for European knives, which are limited by metallurgy in how sharp they can practically get. It's a technique that allows you to put a lot of force behind the cut, and to amplify that force with shearing action against the cutting board. The knives likewise have been designed for the technique, with a big curve in the belly. If you have a knife made of thinner, harder steel, not only is rocking unnecessary, but it's undesirable. Such a forceful technique would ravage the edge; you'd have a dull knife within minutes. I never rock-chop with the thin gyuto in that shallot video. But I have a burly German knife with a deep belly that I use for rock-chopping woody herbs and other things that are unfriendly to a thinner blade.

Based on your description, that sounds like push-cutting. The Japanese call this tsuki-giri (thrusting cut). It's a standard technique used with an usuba when cutting vegetables, and it translates well to a gyuto and other hybrid knives. Here's a quick video of push-cutting a shallot.

I agree with the Serious Eats article linked by jmolinari. There aren't any circumstances where pasta water as salty as the sea will give good results. That's a truism repeated by Italians (or maybe just Italian-Americans) but I've never seen any of them actually follow it (or measure, for that matter). I don't measure either ... I just go for pleasantly salty. But it's always way, way, less than 3.5%. The other big truism—about how much water you need—has been debunked many times. There's no advantage to the huge ratio of water to pasta. I've seen 5 to 6 liters per pound advocated. Marcella Hazan herself wrote to never use less than 3 quarts for any quantity of pasta (reason not given), to use 5 quarts per pound, and never more than 2 pounds per pot (something about sticking and safety). But cooks from Harold McGee to Kenji Lopez have found through experimentation that you not only don't need nearly that much water, but that in many cases it doesn't even have to be boiling. (Cook's Illustrated has come to similar conclusions, but I hesitate to cite them as a source). McGee even got Hazan and Lidia Bastianich to grudgingly agree. I haven't experimented with starting in cold water (or water below the boil, or with tiny quantities of water) but sometimes make up to a kilo of pasta in a 5 quart pot with around 3-3/4 quarts water. It works great. There is truly no difference in this case between making the same pasta in a full 12-qt stockpot. No need to waste the time and energy. I love Italian food, but have learned to treat Italian food wisdom with great skepticism.

There are a lot of threads and sites and blogs that deal with these questions, but in my opinion not too many deal with them adequately. If you use typically burly European-style knives, then the eGullet online course, and all the standard Cordon-Bleu techniques are probably adequate. If you're using thinner Japanese/Western hybrid knives, then there's a gap between the online instruction and the techniques that trained cooks often use. People do chop. And the thinner and more delicate the knife, the less likely they are to use Western rocking techniques. The techniques for these knives are derived from Japanese single-bevel techniques and adapted for the J/Western hybrid knives. Long slicing motions for proteins (starting with a short forward thrust to break the surface, followed by long crescent-shaped draw). Short push cutting motions for firmer foods (where the knife moves forward very slightly as its weight drops it through the food). Similar drawing cuts for more delicate food. And fast, vertical chopping with the front third of the blade for food that's firm enough hold its shape, delicate/small enough to not grab the blade. And there are hybrids between these motions. And no hard and fast rules about when to use which technique. It's more a matter of learning the techniques, practicing them, and then seeing which ones work in which situations. You may find that you prefer a different technique on today's mushrooms than on yesterday's.

As with a lot of things in the Modernist Cuisine kitchen, I'd like to have a wealthy and eccentric neighbor that I could borrow this thing from once a month. Along with a rotovap, a colloid mill, and a liquid nitrogen dewar.

I did my own experiment, without having tried the original recipe. This is just an adaptation of a standard buttermilk pancake / waffle recipe for the siphon. It's probably not as light as the OP's recipe, but I believe that this approach could be tweaked to be at least as light, and without any cream (or with whatever amount of cream you want to use for flavor/texture; you won't need it as a structural ingredient). I've eliminated the leavening, since the siphon already fills the batter with bubbles, and added methylcellulose at 0.2% the weight of the liquid. This gels at high temperature, preserving the structure while the waffle cooks, but then un-gels after cooking, when the temperature drops (by the time you eat the waffles, there should be no textural effect from the m.c.. I used Ticacell HV. 135 g all purpose flour 30g spray-dried buttermilk* 12–24g sugar 3g salt 0.6g methylcellulose 300g water* 2 eggs 35g butter seasoning (spices, vanilla extract. etc) *or use 1-1/4 cup fresh buttermilk -melt butter on stove or in microwave -stir together dry ingredients -whisk together wet ingredients -very thoroughly whisk the wet into the dry (alternatively use a stick blender or countertop blender) -strain into 0.5L siphon -charge with one N2O charger, shake vigorously, and hold for a minute. -dispense directly onto waffle maker

Resurrecting this thread. Has anyone tried reducing / eliminating the cream, and holding the structure with some kind of methylcellulose? Also, what's the point of the baking soda? I don't see any acidic ingredients for it to react with.

It's something you just have to try. The two givens are that you'll get a different flavor profile than with a hot infusion, and a different flavor profile than with infusion into water (the fat in the cream is a much stronger solvent for a whole range of flavor chemicals). Some of the differences have less to do with temperature than with the fact that cold infusion is usually done in a sealed container, so the aromatics don't get out. Hot infusions in a saucepan usually involve container open (or partially open) to the air, and temperature-induced evaporation. But this doesn't happen if you infuse sous-vide — sealed in a bag, those aromatics aren't going anywhere. The trick here is is to hot-infuse at a temperature that's not too hot, and then to chill the bag in an ice water bath before opening it (the latter step makes big difference if the cream will be used cold; less of a difference if you're going to cook it later in an open container). Sometimes hot infusion by sous-vide is too much ... you hold on to more aromatics than you want. The times i've put garlic in an s.v. bag I've regretted it. Edited: I wrote that fat is a stronger flavor for the aromatic chemicals, but I don't think this is right. Those are water-soluble. The fat-soluble ones are heavier molecules that we taste on the tongue.

Here's what I've been doing, as much because it's easy as it's delicious. Works best with a high-powered blender. proportions can be adjusted to suit any taste, so I'm not giving any quantities. -Quarter a bunch of really good tomatoes. -peel and quarter some onion. -peel some garlic. -optionally peel some ginger. -Puree it all until completely smooth in blender. -Pour a portion of it into skillet, preferably one with a light interior. -Pour the rest into a pot and heat. -Reduce and brown the portion that's in the skillet. Deglaze with some of the fresh soup, and pour the deglazing liquid in the pot with the rest of the soup -Add any fresh herbs you want. -Simmer until it has the level of cooked flavor you like. -Season -Optionally swirl in some olive oil or cream You can do this in about 25 minutes. The browning / reducing step introduces deeper, roasted flavors. Without this step the soup is pink and has a very light / fresh flavor. You can adjust the fresh-to-roasted spectrum of flavors with the quantity that you choose to reduce and brown. I've done this with canned tomatoes, and it's good if you can find good ones. You probably won't have to add salt.

You can also get a roll of reflectex, and cut it with scissors to fit. It floats on the water, makes a pretty good seal, and insulates. You can just lift it out of the way to get to the contents. And you can use in conjunction with a lid if you want to save a few joules.

I don't have a problem with ice creams muting the flavor of dark chocolate desserts they're served with. I find the yin/yang of the intense chocolate and softer cream to be quite nice. I prefer this to chocolate desserts served with sorbets and very low-fat gelatos (although I like chocolate sorbet). If we're talking chocolate ice creams, I do eggless and about 10% milk fat (so what many people would think of as a gelato). It's still a fairly rich ice cream because of the cocoa butter (5%). The cocoa butter has a stronger effect on the texture than the milk fat, and not a positive one. I'd use all cocoa powder instead of chocolate if I could control the flavors adequately with powder.

I think a lot about milk fat and egg content with regards to flavor release. Usually I use 2 yolks per quart, because I find minimal impact on other flavors and no discernible egginess. Some flavors I feel are a muted by any eggs, like fruit. Others already have too much hardening fats in them, like chocolate or nut butters. I leave the eggs out of these and use other ingredients as emulsifiers. I aim for milk fat percentages from 10% to 15%, depending on the kind of flavor. I don't care for the mouthfeel and dull flavor release of super rich ice creams. Possibly with the lapsang I'd aim for a recipe that's on the rich end of this spectrum, just to help take the edge off the smoke. Off the top of my head I'm thinking it might work well with cooked pears. Maybe also cardamom. I also like the idea of serving it as a complement to chocolate.

We're all coming to your house for the apocalypse.

Tobacco sounds hardcore. The trouble I've had with Lapsang Souchong is the opposite of the smokiness getting lost. It's just been too assertive, at least in the couple of desserts I've tried it in. As a dry rub for meat, it's been amazing. I still love the idea of some kind of lapsang ice cream, just because I have such a long history enjoying that tea.

I order chocolate online these days. Mostly from World Wide Chocolates, but sometimes from Chocosphere. Both have amazing selections and good prices. The interwebs is also the best source for techie ingredients. L'Epicerie, Modernist Pantry, La Sanctuaire, TIC Gums Chef's Store, Willpowder, probably a few others.

Or if you have a little more room, BERKEL - Fly Wheel Slicer VOLANO TRIBUTE - Gold Finish and Flower Flywheel - Handmade in Italy - RED

Teo, have you had any success with lapsang souchong in an ice cream or sorbet? I've had luck with it in savory dishes, but not so much in desserts. Would love to find a way to get the smoke to work in something frozen.

As funk precaution before long cooks, I dip the bags in simmering water for one minute before putting them in the bath. I'm making a few assumptions about the conductivity of the plastic and the thermal mass of any fluids in the bag, but it should be enough to pasteurize the surface. After this routine, even after several long cooks, including 4 hour pre-cooking at 40°C, I've never had a hint of bad funk. I use ziplocs. No problems ever with long cooks. They are fragile, though, during and immediately after the dip in simmering water. So you have to handle them carefully there and check the seal afterwards. Once they cool down a bit they get their strength back.

It's definitely worth checking out a fabricator or scrapyard or two. Here in NYC the prices they quoted were way higher than the manufactured pizza steels, but it seems like in most places you can get a better deal by going that route. You may have to put in some work to get a finish on the steel that you find acceptable ... be prepared for rust, a rough mill finish, and sharp burs on the cut edges.

Try it and compare. The results are different. One extracts at 85°C, the other at 121°C. I find the differences especially noticeable with fish stock.

We were talking about using s.v. for veggie stock, not for the veggies in meat stock.

I made Rachel Khong's 2-minute chocolate microwave mug cakes. They're pretty good! I used decent chocolate (callebaut 70% and cluizel cocoa) and substituted melted butter for half the oil. This time I served them in the mugs (when I tried de-mugging, the results were unaesthetic in a fecal sort of way). This is a good one to have in your trick bag.