paulraphael

What's the advantage of the KA heat mixer bowl over a laboratory magnetic hot plate? I've seen ones with thermostats for under $200.

I've already searched for an attachment designed for it. No hits. BTW, in the homogenizer world, the rotor-stator is called a generator (don't ask me why). Seems like homogenizers today are like immersion circulators were 5 years ago. Priced for the lab market. An attachment for a Bamix would an interesting project for someone with access to a CNC machine. Or maybe we can convince Anova to get to work ...

If anyone has a Bamix (I don't) I'm wondering if the whisk attachment would make a reasonable poor man's homogenizer. Some models go up to to 17,000 rpms.

The cooking issues guys say they circulate detergent water.

I'd be interested to know if there's an effect on final texture if you homogenize at the beginning of cooking rather than at the end. Maybe I can commission a batch.

There are a lot of issues with nonstick pans, but it's beyond my imagination why plastic would be one of them. But yeah, unless you're doing lots of egg cookery, or delicate fish with the skin on, there isn't much justification for nonstick. a metal surface almost always gives better results.

It's all based on PTFE and it's all disposable. If you really need a nonstick pan, best to get a cheap one. Restaurant stores are a safe bet.

I'm sure someone will volunteer to buy the O.P.'s circulator

Dave Arnold and Nils Sorensen on Ziplocs for sous-vide: The advantages of the Ziploc are: you don’t need to buy a vacuumfood can be bagged hotfood can be removed from the bag and re-bagged easilythe process is very gentle on foods and doesn’t change food textures the way vacuum bagging canit’s just as effective for cooking as vacuum bagging for most itemsThe disadvantages of the Ziploc are: not as convenient for bagging a lot of items as the vacuum machineZiplocs cost more than vacuum bagsdoesn’t provide some vacuum benefits –fast marination, extended storage, oxygen removal.Dave's summary, which mirrors my experience: "While I love a commercial vacuum machine, about 90% of what a cook wants to accomplish with low temperature cooking can be achieved without a vacuum machine. When Nils was at restaurant Aquavit he did a lot of low-temperature work with a circulator, but didn’t have a vacuum machine. Back then restaurants weren’t required to have a HACCP plan; he didn’t have a commerical vacuum because they cost too much. Today many home cooks use the Food Saver vacuum for low temp. I don’t use my Food Saver any more. I use Ziploc bags, without a vacuum. I find Ziplocs easier than the Food Saver – I don’t have to hunt down the special bags, I can easily bag sauces (a pain with the Food Saver), I can bag hot foods (foods to be vacuumed need to be cold – more on that in the next primer installment). My Food Saver has been relegated to potato-chip-bag-resealed." At cookingissues.com

Preparation with ziploc bags is pretty easy, and in many cases preferable to vacuum sealing. And there's no reason they can't be used for cook/chill. I do it all the time. They're a bit pricey, but some people wash them in the dishwasher and reuse.

He says he just uses a stick blender after cooking the custard. Last he blogged about it (not that long ago) he didn't have a real homogenizer. I had originally misread this; I thought he blended it after aging, which is something I usually do to thin it enough so it can run through a strainer easily. But this probably has no homogenizing effect.

Thanks Ruben. With a little luck Jenni will tell me some more, or maybe point me to some of her sources. Some pastry chefs have the benefit of working directly with guys like Douglas Goff and Cesar Vega, so they get information that we might not be able to find online or in books. In the mean time I think I'll do a taste test of different cook times and temperatures. Part of the issue is that cooked milk flavor is so subjective. Some people want it, some don't. So the real issue might be what milk flavor you personally prefer. I'm not putting the highest priority on the functional properties of the milk proteins, since it's possible to get those elsewhere.

Laiskonis just moved his blog to luckypeach.com/category/columns/opusculum/ (to make it easier to remember?) I've been investigating some of long cooking theories w/r/t protein denaturing and emulsification. Most of what's in the literature doesn't concern ice cream ... it acknowledges that sugar content can push temperatures up considerably, so there are a lot of question marks. Jenni Britton may know the most about this. She details her process on her site. Basically, she separates milk into skim and heavy cream, and then concentrates the skim portion with microfiltration, using no heat. She pasteurizes at 79°C for 2 hours (!) before homogenizing. her goal is like Ruben's ... to use the milk proteins as a stabilizer and emulsifier blend. This is related to what brands like Haagen Dazs do also, although they don't talk about their process. I'm corresponding with Jenni about this. My primary concern is flavor. She believes that the long, slow cooking actually leads to more cooked milk flavor—which in her opinion is good in some circumstances and not in others. I may have to do a more regimented than usual experiment to see what time/temperature combination I like best in terms of flavor. I can deal with the texture through other means. For one, I'm happy to use hydrocolloids. For another, I'm ok with using some egg yolk, as long as I can't taste it. Incidentally, I think you can come closer to Jenni's result by using nonfat dry milk than by reducing the milk with heat. The better nonfat dry milks are evaporated with a low-heat process, so you don't get that caramelized, condensed milk flavor.

Plymouth is pretty nice. I've only tried with a few different gins.

Brine (will firm up the texture and reduce moisture loss) Water 100% ice 20% salt 6% (will be 5% after ice melts) sugar 4.2% (will be 3.5% after ice melts) -disolve sugar and salt into room temperature water in a plastic container -add ice and scallops -cover and hold in refrigerator for 30 minutes -drain and replace brine with plain icewater -soak for 10 minutes Cook -wrap in a cylinder in 2 layers of plastic wrap (to help hold shape)* -cook in 50°C / 122°C water bath (to bring scallops to 49°C / 120°F) 1” diameter: 40 minutes 1.5” diameter: 80 minutes 2” diameter: 120 minutes 2.5” diameter: 40 minutes (don’t roll. bag in ziploc, no vacuum, with space between scallops) -chill in ice water bath (sets a firmer texture) you can hold chilled for several hours -unbag. dry and lightly salt. -sear in neutral oil on hot pan. will go fast—just a few seconds per side (optional, for faster sear: -dust with maillard enhancer (1:1.5 baking soda / glucose) -immediately before searing dust with wondra flour) This is a combination of ideas from Modernist Cuisine, Ideas in Food, Cookingissues, and some original research. *for rolling technique check out cookingissues (near bottom of page)

Something to remember with vinaigrettes is that lots of things work as emulsifiers. If you're using adding anything like shallot or garlic, you've got all the emulsifying power you need right there. So mustard should be seen as a choice based on flavor. I usually add a tenth of a gram or so of xanthan, because it's such a good stabilizer. It lets me make the vinaigrette hours ahead of time and not have to worry about separation. It also slightly improves the ability to cling to the leaves. For proportions, I always eyeball it and then adjust to taste. Different vinegars have different acidity levels. And sometimes I want a more acidic result than others. The vinegar itself seems like the most important ingredient. The subtleties of a high quality raw oil can't stand up to the vinegar flavor, so there's little reason to spend money and attention there.

I just did scallops yesterday for the first time ... just about the best I've ever had. There's some controversy about whether or not s.v. is worth it; I think it makes sense if you it as three stage process, with brining, cooking s.v. (rolled into a tube in plastic wrap; not vacuum packed), chilling, and then searing. It's pretty involved, but all of it's easy, and the first two steps can be done well ahead of time. Searing takes seconds and can be done right before serving. The brining process is like what you'd do for s.v. salmon; it firms the flesh. The chill step after cooking also firms it, and helps keep you from overcooking during the sear. Rolling the scallops into a tube in plastic wrap for the cook increases the cooking time, but it results in perfectly shaped scallops that trivially easy to sear and to present nicely.

Jo, keep us updated! That thing looks great. You'll probably find a million non-ice cream uses for it too. I bet you could make stable emulsions without an emulsifier. Would be interesting to test a traditional vinaigrette (with mustard and a whisk) against one made without mustard but with the homogenizer. I wouldn't be surprised if the latter was more stable. She's just using the concentrated milk proteins as an emulsifier and stabilizer. It's a cool trick, but I can't imagine it offers any advantages over modern hydrocolloids, besides being easier to find and use. There are options which don't add any flavors, don't interfere with flavor release, work in minute quantities, and which can be tweaked to your heart's content to get the texture and other qualities you want.

That's probably the best emulsifier in the whole kitchen. I can't speak for its deliciousness.

Here are some standard variations I dug up: Camparinette: 1oz gin, 3/4 oz Campari, 3/4oz sweet vermouth (similar to the gin-heavy versions we've been talking about) Negroni Sbagliato: replace vermouth with prosecco Boulevardier: replace gin with bourbon (predates 1st known negroni) Old Pal: rye, dry vermouth, campari (predates 1st known negroni) Kingston Negroni / Man About Town: replace gin with Jamaican rum Agavoni: replace gin with Tequila Blanca Negroski: replace gin with vodka (emergencies only)

The main thing I do is avoid boiling huge pots of water. I've seen recommendations to cook a pound of pasta in over gallons of water; I use around 3 quarts, and honestly don't think it makes a difference. I buy good pasta—that makes a difference. When cooking green vegetables, instead of pre-blanching them, I pre-steam them. This can be done with a cup or two of water instead of a gallon. It works! You get the same vibrant green, and it works nearly instantly. 1:45 to 2 minutes for tough stalks (kale, etc.), under a minute for the leaves. This can be done effectively and with extreme laziness by forgoing the steamer: just bring 1/4" water to a boil, and throw the greens in. Time it conservatively. Dump into a colander and run under cold water. Set aside and sauté when you're ready.

All canned food is sterilized. It takes a lot of heat, which will definitely have an effect on flavors. But as gfweb suggests, the problems you noticed are just as likely due to it being hospital food. FWIW, sterilization is extreme. It means killing everything, including bacterial spores (which are practically indestructible). Everyone else has been talking about sanitizing, which just means reducing pathogens to a very low level. Lots of traditional cooking techniques accomplish this already.

My favorite sanitizers are ones based on quaternary ammonium compounds. I never use chlorine bleach, because it damages everything (side towels, stainless steel, wood, my clothes) and is surprisingly ineffective on porous surfaces or anywhere there are traces of organic matter (food). Acids like vinegar don't kill viruses, and are of limited effectiveness in general. Quaternary compounds are odorless, don't attack skin or metal or textiles, and don't have to be rinsed off. Spray or dip and let dry. As with any sanitizer, they can only be trusted if the surface you're sanitizing was already clean. You can't sanitize something covered with chicken fat. I mostly use this stuff on cutting boards. When I host big dinners, I also use it as a final rinse for dishes.

Ah, sorry, I missed the irony.

I've heard that some people go 1/2 and 1/2 with sweet and dry vermouth. Before I found a good replacement for M&R, I made a few drinks with half M&R and half dolin vermouth blanc (which was in the fridge left over from something or other). I don't know anything about vermouth blanc but it tastes pretty good. The resulting Negroni was fine if a bit pale looking and mild. And apropos of nothing, last week I had my first boulevardier, made with makers. That's a nice drink ... maybe should have its own thread.