FoodMan

Like many here, I am looking forward to my copy of MC. It's almost intimidating to have all books on my shelf that I am not sure where or how to start beyond ogling the pictures. What would the MC team recommend as a first (or maybe top 3) recipe/technique to use?

I, like many people, don't watch TV in real time much. I just let the DVR collect the shows I want to watch and I watch them as I please - fast forwarding through commercials. That's why I think product placement will become the norm. I liked the challenge. I can relate to cooking in a Target store far more than I can to some Farm in Napa Valley. The only thing I didn't really like was the lighting. Target is definitely NOT a great dining atmosphere. But it's entertainment. It's a game. It's not bocuse d'or. You keep missing my point. I am very much aware what a DVR is used for. I watch most of my shows via DVR and I am not bitching about "product placement". Yes, advertisers need to figure out novel ways to get to their customers in the age of TiVo, but taking over a whole show and degrading the quality to the point of "well, it's not that bad" is not one of them. It's about quality. I believe we should support excellence, not mediocrity and this episode was beyond mediocre. I've never been to Napa either and I go to Target maybe 2 or 3 times a month. That does not mean I would like to see a cooking show set in Target. I prefer to expand what I relate to, not limit it to a 3 mile radius. Really Kafka Zola's post sums up my problem eloquently, to quote it:

Chris, I agree with you practically. Yes, they needed to cook to win (I would hope this is always a given). Yes, they all have the same limitations (ditto). Is that all you are looking for on this show though? What would make it a bad show in your book? I am talking about general quality of the program and how it manages to (or not to) hold our interest. In that regard, it was crappy, IMHO.

While I was watching this episode, I imagined that I'd find this very post. But I enjoyed this challenge very much. IIRC, Hubert Keller won a Top Chef: Masters challenge cooking in a dormroom bathtub. At the time, he probably would've killed for an entire Target store to work with. A good measure of a cook is to limit them to what's in a house at a given time. An entire Target store should produce some good stuff. I was a bit disappointed by what they came up with as a whole. But it was a fair test. Regarding the product placement/Target commercial, I'd say get used to it. Thanks to my DVR, I watch Top Chef prectically sans commercials. And of course in Indy we have a traditional automobile race that Target (and formerly K Mart) is a big part of. Target will sponsor a couple of cars but will pay for much of it by their 'associate sponsors' (Energizer Batteries for instance) But interestingly, no one really played up any of the products. And in fact, it could be argued that one of those products sent someone home. [EDIT]And henceforth muppets should narrate all quickfires. I have no problem with product placement and as I mentioned, I've defended it before on these forums even when it is blatant. I am very much used to it as well. I just have no interest in watching a whole episode that is no more than a commercial for Target. It was a bad show. I'm also a bit tired of the whole argument about a true test of the chef is to "limit" them. Fine limit them, but at least be creative and maybe they will be more inspired. I'm not sure what the DVR has to do with it. Did you fast forward the whole episode?

Wow. This is one crappy episode. I've defended product placement before, sort of. This is just rediculous though! I mean the whole thing is a Target commercial. It's beyond silly and pisses me off. I'm not sure I want to finish watching honestly.

Rice. Plain and simple rice. Sometimes it works out perfectly and other times it's texture is all wrong and crunchy. I suspect the size of the pot vs. water is the culprit, but would like to know more. Is there anything in there about that? What about different kinds of rice (brown, sticky,...)

In the first part of a two-part interview with Stephen Dubner (of Freakonomics fame), Waters said of the modernist movement: Wow. Her comments really make no sense. They just show that she has no idea about what the "Modernist" in Modernist Cuisine stands for. Someone like her (ie a prominent food industry figure) should take the time to actually pay attention what these modern cooks are doing.

Looks fantastic from start to finish Mitch. I'd like to know more about the grenadin syrup you are using. What is it? Looks homemade. As much detail as possible about syrups (Gum???), bitters and other cocktail accents would be much appreciated from all pretty please.

I. Want. One. NOW.... but I suppose my poor version of an Old Fashioned will have to wait till after work.

Foams/froths work fine and to good effect if used sparingly in certain dishes by a good cook. Foam works good on a Cappucino as well :-). Brining is another technique that can get misused, but top chefs use it and home cooks do as well. Point is, any technique can produce horrible food in the wrong hands. As for menu items that drive me nuts - Aforementioned "World-Famous" description. No! your stupid fajitas are not world-famous. They are barely famous on this block. - Molten Chocolate Cake. Arghhh. - Black Angus Beef (like Black Angus Ribeye). Is that really something to tout in this day and age? Burger King has Black Angus burgers for heaven's sake. - Tiryaki glazed Salmon (or chicken) I'm sure I'll think of more soon.

At least a couple of times a week I plate, so I love white plates that show off the food beautifully. Like I think this dish here would not look nearly as good and photogenic if it was plated on a dish with a pattern but really overall, even for a piece of steak, white works better: Now, I also love my Italian style ceramic plates and use them to serve most of the Italian dishes I make (pasta, risotto, stews...) It just seems right and comforting to me. Now that I think about it, most rustic dishes, even if I am plating go in the patern ceramic. Here's a cotechino with lentils in one of those bowls (also plated, not family style):

Which upcoming Ruhlman/Polcyn book ? I believe it's coming out this fall. It's a followup to Charcuterie, but the focus seems to be on cured and dry-aged products if I am not mistaken. He talked about it on his blog a couple of times like in this post here: Salume in Northern Italy.

Well, thanks Chris for the useful review of this text. I will now probably remove it from must-have wish list. For terrines, I use "Charcuterie" and/or Life's "Terrines, Pates and Galantines" and was hoping this one would be a more in depth ref about charcuterie, esp. aged and dry-cured meats and sausages. I'll just wait for the upcoming Ruhlman/Polcyn book about that subject then.

I think you should be fine if the bacon was refrigerated the whole time. I've gone for more than the exact 7 days many times.

And his wife in a bikini... dear lord. That is a definite bonus That is the only bonus IMO. I never thought I would actually turn away from a cooking show set mostly in Italy, but Rocco annoys the crap out of me and comes off as pompous. Like a previous poster already commented...I so miss Molto Mario. As for Bitchin Kitchen, I've only caught glimpses from it and it really is repulsive to me (does she actually have half-naked Jersey-shore-cast look alikes on her show???). I am not sure what she was cooking (could be a kick-ass Timpano for all I know) because her shtick is just way WAY too much. I realise it's an act, but it's the equivelant of repetitive fart jokes in a movie, It gets old and disgusting after about a minute or two. She has nothing going for her, unlike other Cooking Channel female hosts. Rachel Allen, for example, she made puff pastry from scratch on TV! she looked great doing it, made it look easy and fun. I'll be watching her show more often.

I don't think it's racist either, but think about it this way... if an old white couple in Babbo were overheard saying "African Spaghetti" about a black chef while making an "Ewww-Face" there'd be a shit storm... But it wasn't said because of the ethnicity of the person/people cooking, but because of the quality/style of the food. I was unaware “Caucasian” was synonymous with “poor quality.” Jeez...here we go getting all too sensitive. The old lady could hate all white people and she might be a racist, but we do not know that. Her comment was not a recist comment at all. From the look of the food and the way it was executed, I took it that she was refering to the style of the Dim Sum. It was not traditional Chinese like she was used to. We can even assume she was cracking a joke and was at the same time pissed that it was bad and took forever to get to her table. But to brand her comment as racist is absurd! I hear Mexican coworkers/friedns of mine call some "Mexican" food in town "Mexican food for white people". Is that racist too? They don't usually mean it is bad (tho lots of times it is), they mean it is not traditional Mexican food. On another note, this challenge was very difficult and made for a fun episode. Making them cook Dim Sum for a hundred or so guests was nuts. It was cool to see Fabbio rank as one of the top three on an episode where the challenge was so foreign to him.

Yukon's are exactly what I've used when making this particular recipe. Without having the real deal Robuchon version though, I have no basis for comparison if my result is similar to his. The mash does end up on the looser side than other mashed potatoes I've made.

It's not clear how this thing is supposed to work. Making clear ice at home is not possible without expensive and complex machines as far as I know. The machine needs to freeze the water from the bottom to the top while agitating the mixture in order to not trap impurities and gases in the center of the ice and instead force these to the top/surface of the ice block to remove them. So if this thing really does work and costs $60, that's a good deal.

Yes, my thought exactly. The Salumi one is flavored with cardamom and orange zest (or maybe "citrus" zest). Batali gives it a name too, something like "agrumi" maybe. At least that's what it sounded like to me. I still have a 2 or 3 inch piece in my fridge from one of those salamis and it is very tasty. As far as I can tell it's got orange and possibly lemon zest along with cardamom and a little chili flakes. It has no orange or red color at all, so I doubt it has any paprika. Its color is closer to a Genoa Salami. I have been thinking about trying to make a good clone of it at home, but I have not yet.

These breads usually need no more than a couple of hours proofing time though. Would it be worth it to bother with bagging the dough and wasting energy to heat the water bath for it? I suppose if you can cut that time by like 50% or more then maybe it is, but I doubt it.

It's always tricky for me to adjust the time/temp vairiables when cooking SV in order to achieve a specific result. With tender cuts, the charts are a great guide, but with tougher ones not so much. However, every so often when I am forced to improvise I end up with a much better result than I had hoped for. In this case I am talking about this New Year Eve's Cotechino sausage. For the past 2 years I have been cooking my homemade Cotechino for about 3 hours at 85C. That was time enough to melt the colagen in the pork skin that is part of the filling and produce a good sausage. Well, this year due to necessity I knew I will need to leave the sausage cooking for a much longer period of time. I was afraid to either overcook it or to have it undercooked by the time we needed to eat dinner. I settled on 70C and cooked it for about 8 hours. It was cooked perfectly and held its shape and texture better than the previous year's. I also had less liquid in the bag. That liquid is a collagen rich and very flavorful stock that goes great as an addition to braises or beans (It's normally lost in the water if cooking the cotechino traditionally in a pot). Going forward I will always try to cook it using this lower temp and longer time. I served it with lentils and brussels sprouts.

I've been meaning to try Chuck Hughes' recipe for this toffee. It's very simple and seemed to work great on the show. Any one tried it before? Here's the link: Sponge Toffee

I'm wondering more specifically whether the SVS vac sealer is so basic that it's not worth considering, even cheaply, instead of a basic Foodsaver unit that's more expensive. I will definitely be trying out the Ziploc bag technique, but I don't want to pay extra for a vac sealer that's a waste of money, and I have to decide up front since I live in Canada (shipping is $80 per order). It seems like a lot of people use the pulse feature on their Foodsavers, which the SVS model doesn't have. I am happy to spend a bit extra on a Foodsaver if it's more useful for sous vide. My suggestion is to skip theirs and either just use Ziploc bags or spend the extra cash on a better FoodSaver with Pulse. I use that Pulse feature 99% of the time honestly because even "dry" items will still leach liquid once you push that "Vaccum" button.

I am looking to cook some quinces and am wondering what the consensus for timing would be. I think about 85C is fine for temp, but quince is hard and am not sure if I should go for a couple of hours or more. Ideas?

Far from being overkill, I find it easier to do a custard (defined broadly) by the SV method rather than in the traditional ways on the stove top or in the oven. Wouldn't it be overkill to purchase a thermomix or a new kenwood for this when a SV set up does the job just fine? May I add that SV more generally is not unnecessary, not overkill, not more than is needed to do the job for the simple reason that it is often the best way to do the job. I sv'd custard once for ice cream, and it was the best batch of ice cream I've ever made. Only complaint is how the bag fills with air unless you have a chamber vacuum...what would be handy are bags with one way valves so the air can escape, but I think that'd be overkill Yeap. Certainly not overkill! I have not made ice cream custard base on the stove top in a long time. SV is just ideal. I use the Pulse feature to get more or less a perfect air-free seal using the FoodSaver and I cook at about 82 C per the instructions in Under Pressure. I think my favorite part, in addition to how simple the whole thing is, is that the sealed bag is not pasteurized and can rest in the fridge for quiet some time until I am ready to churn.