tan319

Forgot to mention, I'm rocking #2317/5000

Damn, Fat Guy! This damned book is HUGE!!! Bigger then '98/02'. I'm pretty gobsmacked at the moment with this. First off, I ordered it from Amazon.fr and the service was impeccable. I ordered it on the 29th, it was processed on the 30th, I got it yesterday afternoon! I was tracking it on their express service, chronopost, and it was unreal watching this thing travel (no, I wasn't stoned...) The FedEx guy brought the box into my restaurant and I thought the package must have gotten mixed up, as it was so big. My chef and I could hardly get any work done 'cause we were geeking on 'Spoon' so much (he's ordering one tomorrow). Love the look, the recipes look top notch all the way around and do-able. Love the dessert stuff and glad to see some of the plates in there that were mentioned on the Mix thread. 'After Eight' made me smack myself on the forehead. I'll be digging into this major league soon, along with my chef. Will try to post some pix too. Thanks for this heads up, F.G., AMAZING!!!

I just got the Ducasse 'Spooncookbook' and of course wound up here as a result of my sous vide researching. He's doing meat sous vide for between 12 and 24 hours at 143 f I believe. From the little I've found on the web so far, it seems sanitation and sterilization are paramount concerns, beyond even what one would usually follow in the kitchen Vacuam cooking has been especially interesting to be in the dessert area, fruit confits especially. But I'm a bit nervous to go running out to get a black and decker bagger, lets say. Would Botulism be a concern? I need to check it out a bit more. "The other approach is to use a hot water bath. The best piece of equipment to use there is a piece of laboratory equpment called a circulating water bath. These will maintain a water bath at a constant temperature with very high accuracy. They are expensive to buy new, but fortunately, you can get them on Ebay pretty cheaply - like $200 to $300."(nathanM) This is damned cool! I think I might have seen this kind of set up in a Food Arts article about a restaurant in DC, chef is French. It's like a box mounted on a pole that has a fitting that locks on to the pan sides? Has the tutorial gone online yet? Dying to find out more about this stuff!

If you're talking about the "fizzy sherberts" in some of the desserts in '98/02', I'm not sure they made them. When I was doing my search I plugged fizzy sherberts in too. They come from the UK it seems. I think the process to make them would be kind of difficult, since it involves sugar at about 240f getting gassed with Co2. But Bicycle ( and anyone else who might be interested), while we're at it, let me run something by you. I'm toying around with an idea for dessert and I want to carbonate creme anglaise. Possible? With a soda siphon? Like you would use for your own seltzer?

Ok, it did set up. Kind of fragile though. It's pretty strange to have it gel w/o gel! Unique. Will be posting more as it happens.

Thanks Brian! I did a search but was only coming up with flavors.

If anyone can pass any info on a neutral flavored pop rock on, I would most appreciate it. Looking for a non flavored one. Thanks!

Question for anyone out there who may be interested. In the book they write about 'fizzy sherbets', in recipes,etc.. Would they be pop rocks? Also, does anyone know of a source for neutral flavored pop rocks? Thanks.

MAN! I haven't been hanging out enough in the Spain forum lately. Can you post about the experiments you tried? Would love to read about them! BTW, it seems Balaguers web address is down at the moment, at least as of yesterday. Cocoa Sampaka weirds out a bit too. If you have a chance, would love to hear more. Thanks in advance Ted

A few thoughts on this stuff... I'm not impressed with it as a gelatine substitute, that's for sure. I've done two seperate trials, the second using more than 5 times the weight of my usual gelatin, which is at the high end of what they suggest ratio's should be. The result is just a bit too iffy for me. I used 50 grams the 1st time, dissolving it in 60 c cream and cooling it to 18c( I stickblended to emulsify, I think some one else noted, maybe M. Laiskonis, that you get a bit of an oil slick otherwise.) This didn't gel well at all. So I went back and used 100 grams and it was better but... I'm a bit curious why CB would roll out a product that is so hit and miss. Even the 150/175 dollar book that is built around this leaves one a question mark it seems. Maybe not using gel is a bit more incentive driven in Europe with Mad Cow Disease? I'm having a big problem with the uncertainness of the methods, the price of it, given the amount you have to use, and the idea of dicking around with any recipe I have that uses gelatin two or three times. Of course, the kitchen staff and servers are thrilled to eat the "mistakes". I'll have to see what it's like with chocolate and tempering. Edited to update... My chef just called to say they've set up rather nicely I'll try and taste tomorrow.( i was off today)

Should the sig be 'Fitty Dahla'?

Weird, no? But it certainly makes the Beastie Boys/Sara Moulton connection a little clearer. For a very cool shot of Sara Moulton and rap legend Fab 5 Freddy, click here and scroll down. Chad Dayyummm!!! Sara be HYPE!!! Really, her 'Cooking Live' show was one of my faves. And, boy, is she petite! I saw her crossing 23rd st. going into a Burritoville when I lived there once and I could not believe how short she is. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm a shortie too. Love the Reunite on ice ref! The Beastie Boys rule!

got'cha... I'm getting on it tomorrow,

I'm still a bit mystified how the dessert course is being rated so low at Per Se. They certainly have looked great, although I realize looks only go so far. Everyone who has posted about their meals at Per Se I would assume have a pretty refined palate. If you care to, could you post either what you think is missing in the dessert course or who is doing the best work where you dine? I'm not trying to split this off into a tangent but I think the subject could bear to be addressed. You have a very high profile (hopefully) four star restaurant still in it's opening days that almost flat out has received low points for it's dessert portion of the menu here. That's troubling.

I hope to be receiving mine in the next two weeks or so. I'll be having at the marmalade and pastry stuff, maybe a savory or two. Since i work at a restuarant, ing. will hopefully be an arm length away.

You are very lucky! I don't know any one who has a Thermomix, accept for some restaurants. More info on: http://www.thermomix.com/. But prices are not available, but I thought they are around 700 USD / €. My mentor and friend has one in his restaurant. Only 700 bucks? And it cooks and all that stuff? Hmmmmm......

Thanks, Mcduff. I called them today too Dig this, I came home from my morning stint today and find the copy of PA&D I was looking at last night for the damned ad, and it's turned over on it's back, with the ad staring me in the face!!! As for the call, the person I spoke to said to try 4 to 8 times the amount of gelatin I use, which is pretty close to your estimate, and yes, "you have to play around with it"! Which I think is kind of weird. But, whatever. Tomorrow I will play around with it. Question for you though. Does it hold pretty well? Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it

Going back to read the review, it seems that Bruni almost assumes his readers have already dined there. Chop, sorry about the kick to your crew. I feel for you guys. Hope everything gets better.

Not having much luck on googling it. Nothing. And can't find that damn ad that was everywhere in the mags, the one with the cross section cut of a raspberry mousse like cake. Does anyone remember where that was? Food Arts? PA&D?( ) Food& Wine?

I just got a can of this today and am looking forward to using it. I'm going to begin my search for gel/Mycryos substitutions but wanted to run it by you guys too. I do a dulce de leche mascarpone thing, a kind of tiramisu that i do in small ring molds and normally use 8 sheets of gel in my recipe( makes about 24 desserts). So, that would be 16 grams of gel sheets. Anybody have any ideas on a weight to go with? I was wondering if I should use their outline for a bavarian cream but my dish really isn't that kind of thing Thanks in advance for any input.

I liked the flow of that review. Looking forward to more from this guy!

ahhh..., right! Paul, if you get a chance. could you explain the Thermomix? I think it get's more action in Europe. I only know one person in the states who has one. Thanks!

Yes, temp is as stated above. Have to keep the mix moving all the time too. I use a zig zag pattern that some one showed me as an apprentice, hitting the corners of the pot too. When I don't use a thermometer, I bring my spoon up and watch how the mix drips off the spoon. When I see it drip in a tight manner, like a bead of oil in a way, I know I'm there. Even using a thermometer, I eyeball my mix.

did you add the sugar to the yolks w/o whisking right away? Or too early all together? Sugar let on yolks w/o incorporating will "burn" the yolks, kind of blistering them, could cause some pebbling that will be harder to strain. Otherwise, maybe get a cheap digi thermometer with a probe and make sure your temp is hitting 181 to 185f or 85c, then get into an icebath pronto. Please forgive me if you're already familiar with all of these techniques.

One can cook from the El Bulli book. I'm not sure I'm going to articulate this thought greatly but, the profile of what they do is so hyped up, and I mean that in a good way, that it's seems unreachable. I've posted at least a few times on this. I feel their approach is very simple, and you'll see this on the CD ROM. Yes, they use some very different techniques, ingredients, etc., but where it really takes off is in the presentation. If you have a fair amount of patience and a willingness to experiment, you can come up with some good results. Definitely need a scale, a digi thermometer... A Pacojet would be nice If you go for it, use the UK tables, they're a lot more user friendly to a pro cook. It's a stupendous package! That said, can't wait to get the Spoon cookbook, I think it's going to be great. Oh, a final thought. I think the Adrias would be greatly disappointed if they thought people weren't going to try to cook from their books.