paulraphael

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.

My stock would be pretty clear if I just ladled it off the top. But it clouds up when I dump it into a strainer to get all the liquid, which is what I do. I usually don't need it to be clear. I can partially clear it by pouring through a superbag (I just use generic 25 micron bag filters). For consomme, I'd use agar clarification. A pain in the ass, but it preserves a lot more flavor than a traditional protein raft. One trick that gives some of the benefits of a raft without the drawbacks is to have some lean, ground meat in with the stock ingredients. It both contributes flavor and traps coagulated protein. Depressurizing the cooker slowly is also important. If you do it fast, the liquid will come to a boil. I don't think the type of pressure cooker matters so much w/r/t clarity. Dave Arnold and company found that flavor suffers if your cooker vents steam. But clarity should only be impacted if the stock is allowed to boil. This is just a matter of paying attention no matter what kind of valve you have.

Yeah, the world survives. But individual people survive at a much lower rate when they don't have 1st world sanitation. This is a fact; look at WHO mortality statistics for infectious diseases. CDC statistics for the U.S. on foodborne illness aren't exactly rosy. The idea that "no one gets food poisoning" when living in developing world conditions is just wrong. Food-borne and water-borne illnesses wipe people out. In less extreme cases, people develop tolerance to organisms like giardia ... which just means that after their initial weeks of being sick as a dog, they feel fine. But they remain carriers the rest of their lives, and spread it whenever they go to the bathroom. I'm fine with the That Which Doesn't kill Us Makes Us Stronger approach, when it comes to myself. I have a sense of what my own immune system, and it's my fate to gamble with. Different story when I'm cooking for other people. I find it stunningly irresponsible to be dismissive of food safety when you're making the choice for others. If you cook for people, learn to cook safely.

For long cooks I use an insulated cooler. I haven't measured power use, but would imagine this brings it closer3 to the LED bulb range.

I have an extra 8oz sample tub of TIC Gums GuarNT in the NYC area, if anyone's interested. Maybe you have something interesting to trade?

Aside from it being a bit of an acquired taste, there's a lot of range available before you mess with the proportions. Gins are different from one another, and sweet vermouths are radically different. You can get a lot of flavors while sticking with the 1:1:1 If you do deviate, the most common thing is to up the proportion of gin a bit. Like 1.5 : 1 : 1. A little boozier, but less intensely bitter. BTW, I like that you're posting about Negronis at 9:02 AM.

I haven't tried Punt e Mes in a negroni. I've heard others talk about it. I'm surprised it works, since it seems like it's well on the road to being a bitter just like the campari. You find it balanced?

Nathan Myhrvold talks about this at length in the Modernist Cuisine series. There are some advantages to smoking pre- and post- S.V. I gather that his preferred method for barbeque is to sous-vide first (very long and low for traditional tough bbq cuts), then to place in a low oven to dry out the surface to the right level of tackiness, and then to smoke. When the surface moisture content of meat is at the right level, it soaks up smoke very, very quickly. Which suggests that during traditional smoking, there's a fairly short window when most of the smoke molecules are actually getting absorbed by the meat. This is a variation on the progressive smoking method developed by German sausage makers. There's also mention of smoking first, cooking sous-vide later. I can't remember the supposed advantages of this. The disadvantage is that the smoke flavor diminishes a bit during cooking.

I just tempered chocolate for the first time s.v.. Holy moly was that easy. Very little mess / waste. Not going to do it any other way.

Mine was brand new from the store around the corner (admittedly it may have been on their shelf forever). I haven't had Cinzano. One of the M&R haters in a cocktail forum suggested that Cinzano had a similar flavor profile and yet he found it inoffensive. The cocci tastes nothing like M&R—darker, less sweet, some bitterness, orange peel and spices. The flavors I get from M&R are like sweet bathwater and imitation oregano. This is drinking it straight. In a negroni the campari is powerful enough that I don't find the M&R terrible. But I also don't find the overall effect magical. Edited to add: I'd be curious to hear a description of the flavors of M&R from some of the people who like it. Is this one of those cilantro-like things where we're tasting something completely different?

This being my favorite cocktail, I've been experimenting lately. I'm loving the classic proportions with Plymouth Gin and Cocci di Torino. Stirred vigorously and strained into a glass with fresh, big ice cubes. They melt slowly enough that it's still satisfying at the end, but even in the beginning it's not quite the punch in the face of groni served up. My girlfriend, a bit tired of being knocked completely off her feet, has asked for a "girly" version. A regular negroni diluted 1:3 with soda, served on a lot of ice, is refreshing and delicious. On a hot day I might even prefer the girlygroni. N.B.: I'd previously been using whatever gin was lying around, and M&R vermouth. The latter, I've come to realize, is disgusting. I've found a lot of debate online about this. There may be something in it that freaks out the taste buds of certain people. Some knowledgeable cocktail folks seem to like it but mine is going down the drain.

I think I've cracked the texture issue, after trying the idea mentioned a page ago. I'm balancing the meat mix by adding butter (in this case 5% total weight.) The butter gets worked into a compound butter with 0.7% salt and 0.2% black pepper, relative to the weight of the meat. Roll the butter into a small cylinder with plastic wrap and freeze. When the meat is partially frozen, distribute the various cuts randomly on a tray. Cut the compound butter into small cubes and distribute evenly with the meat. Drop the butter cubes into the grinder along with the meat, striving for an even distribution. Cook S.V. as you normally would. That's it. The result was perfect seasoning, no need for any last-minute seasoning of the patties, and no noticeable toughening from the salt (done without any kind of control; I can't promise there's no change in texture). That's it. I believe the butter keeps the salt sequestered from the meat proteins long enough to prevent much curing to happen. I did this with a blend of 1/3 chuck, 1/3 brisket, 1/3 oxtail. Next time I may try shin instead of oxtail (cheaper and easier) and add the marrow to the mix to compensate for the cut's leanness.

Yes, please report if you get one of those gizmos. So far all the sub-$500 ones I saw could only handle a test tub worth of stuff. Would be nice to borrow one. I have yet to see any theory on what's actually happening in the post-cook blending. The milk and cream are already homogenized, so is this about the egg fat, if any? And if so I wonder why it makes a difference if it's done pre- or post-aging. Or pre-or post-cooking. My mix goes through a blender (to disperse the hydrocolloids) before cooking. Interestingly, the aging process is about helping to unhomogenize (heterogenize?) the mix. It partially crystalizes the fat droplets, and also effects surface changes to aid in their agglomeration. As far as I can tell, the actual agglomeration takes place as the mix freezes.

Interesting. I'd been under the impression that Laiskonis blended after aging, but indeed he does it as you describe. I haven't seen any side-by-side tests of this from him or anyone else, though. He seems to do it on good faith that a stick blender has some homogenizing ability. Have you tested it, or do you know of any tests?

I do blend the mix after aging, partly because of Laiskonis's thoughts on this (he's one of my teachers), partly because some stabilizer blends for a gel that needs to be thinned before you can strain them. Have you tried using nonfat dry milk to up the solids? It's precise and easy. Laiskonis and most pastry chefs do it this way. I believe that freeze-drying skim milk in controlled setting is going to be more repeatable and mess with flavors less than doing it yourself on the stove. Have you calculated your total solids and total nonfat solids? Getting a handle on these numbers can help diagnose problems. At 40% solids and below most recipes are ok.

Thanks Ruben. In the past I've sous-vided for 30 minutes at 85C. This is around what most pastry chefs are doing. No problems with icy texture, or with egg flavors (although part of this is that I'm only using 32g yolk/ 1000g). I'm more averse to egg flavors than a lot of people. But without doing a side-by side comparison, I believe I'm getting a fresher / less cooked milk flavor at 73C. Which seems worth striving for. Some iciness could be due to the change in stabilizer I made to accommodate the lower temp. Right now I'm at 39% solids (fat and nonfat). I might increase this by 1% with a few grams extra nonfat dry milk, which has very high water sequestering properties. And I'll try cooking for 70 minutes, which will give somewhere near an hour at full temperature (allowing extra time for the mix to rise from fridge temp). I think you'll like making ice cream sous-vide. It's fool-proof, you don't have to hover over a pot, and your pasteurized mix is sealed in a bag for later use. I've only begun to experiment with using the sous-vide step to infuse flavors. I suspect it will be ideal for some flavors and not others. For the latter, you can infuse on the stove at a higher temp/shorter time with a portion of the milk.

I suspect it also looks off-puttingly fussy and technical to a lot of home cooks. A circulator doesn't look anything like any familiar appliance, it attaches to a separate container, requires a whole separate packaging step (which may include a whole other weird machine), and uses cooking principles that at best seem foreign and at worst seem like things we've been specifically told not to do. I think it's a tough sell. But the inverse argument may also hold true ... anyone with more than a few geeky bones in their body will drool over sous-vide.