gfweb

Looking from the outside, it seems to me that there are two approaches to new techniques. Either a restaurant uses them quietly alongside classic methods to make a better product, or they get all wrapped up in the new thing and make a big deal of it to the point where the method gets more attention than the food.

Agreed. Pregrated cheese is never as sharp as the best crumbly stuff sold in blocks.

cole slaw goes well with pulled pork

Freezing point of EtOH is about -115C. LN2 could freeze it, but the Freeze Girl couldn't hold it there. I believe it would boil off rather than sublimate. The volatiles in wine that contribute to what you smell would have to be lost by the process I think.

Re FD wine...I bet a lot of volatile flavor would go off too. When I lyophilized stuff in the lab (decades ago) , I would always freeze it first with LN2 or dry ice/acetone. This Freeze-Girl (relative of Steam Boy) seems like it takes a long time to get to frozen; why not pre-freeze?

Big question is do you mix it with a fork or with a food processor? Chunky or creamy? I lean toward a finely mashed but slightly chunky, forked product. Sharp white cheddar, chopped roasted red peppers, mayo, Worcestershire, horseradish (a little), Tabasco, s&p

I have a big old Vulcan with about 8 pilot lights (I turned a few off) and gas hot water too. I think the propane guy comes two or three times a year. A modern stove without pilots would use much less.

I've done a quick corned beef with thin meat eg bavette. Usual spiced nitrate rub but put overnight into SV bath immediately. In the morning it looks and tastes like traditional corned beef. Chicken breast would probably lend itself nicely to this method.

I was fed tea when I was a sickly child. Can't stand the stuff.

There are foam tapes available that are self-sealing if you insert the probe through the tape. They look like the insulating weather-stripping that you can buy at the hardware store and may well be just that, but re-labelled

You get up to Park City? Some nice ones there

The thing on my unit has come out a couple times. I don't quite trust it.

So much cooler than Anova 1.0.

A marinade or brine will flavor but probably not tenderize cooked meat very well as the fibers are already contracted by cooking and can't absorb as much.

This almost sounds like a B-school project brought to life.

Interesting piece. The concept isn't even a little bit attractive to me. Pay upfront for membership in a focus group that dines sporadically in places ill-suited for eating a meal (a parking garage, really?). They are going to monetize this by starting restaurants that exploit the recipe data generated from the labs. Doesn't sound promising. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/31/business/dinner-lab-brings-the-wisdom-of-crowds-to-haute-cuisine.html

The hacker special never made sense to me in terms of potential PITA to Anova. Perhaps they are looking for crowdsourcing design of the next version?

Cold smoke (less than 85 depress F) permeates better but often produces an initial assertive harshness that mellows and melds with rest. In general, it takes more time to develop flavor and color at lower temperatures.Depending on what you're smoking, warm or hot smoke can suck big time because it can lead to a nasty warmed-over flavor. Interesting links. When I think of cold smoking it isn't the long process that they describe...over days ...and with drying as a goal. As I practice it, it ta kes less than an hour ...usually 30 mjn and uses dense smoke. I put the meat in chilled and then cook it immediately.

Its my impression that using wet wood ie the standard soaked chip method , leads to an acrid flavor especially with cold smoking. I've switched to well dried wood and find the result more appealing

Amusing little piece. It does draw rather over-broad conclusions based on scanty data. I hope his real science has more rigor.

You can cold smoke for flavor and then cook by any means. Fat or rendering fat isn't necessary for smoke absorption. I prefer cold smoking because it is easier to control temp and doneness if you cook by sous vide after smoking.

If ever a recipe needs to use weights it is one for mayo. Yolks vary in size greatly. In a one-yolk recipe there isn't even the possibility of multiple yolks evening out the variation in size.

LOL FWIW, Kenji Alt says in the above referenced method that EVOO makes for a bitter mayo when made with a high speed blender as opposed to whisking.

The stuff isn't quite as stable as Hellman's over many weeks, but you can make small volumes that get used up before breakage begins.

Thing about reheating it that way is that it will continue cooking it which could make it tougher. If you don't have a sous vide thing than just hot tap water in a pot will warm the a ziploc bag of slices fine. It is how I have done it many times....about 135F