bmdaniel

This is a boring one, but I made their brown veal stock recipe last week and it is very good and quite easy in the pressure cooker. I do think it is a little strange that they have you add vodka and don't discuss the reasoning - I assume it's just to extract alcohol soluble flavors, but you think it would be mentioned ? (or maybe I missed it?).

To this point, I am surprised that Paul found such an issue with the Jaccarded steak; to me, my "complaint" about using it on tender meat is that I don't really notice a difference. Paul - how much did you jaccard it? I usually just do one pass over (i.e. each area of the steak only gets one press).

I was talking to the rep at the PMCA today about getting a sample of PGA - we ran up against a little issue as she needed me to pin myself down to exactly which PGA I needed and for the life of me I couldn't figure that out. What recipe is it for? I confirmed in the book last night that it should be the protonal ester variety; I was interested in the bulletproof beurre blanc, but it comes up a lot.

For orders under 500kg, it's $42 for 20 kg, plus shipping.

I think Bobby was probably referring to dried chick peas, which would then be ground to make the falafel balls. Thank you for that. I checked my local Von's and they don't carry them. My guess is they'll be found in the local Indian grocery store. The restaurantuer-wannabe's were given $300 and then they shopped at what looked to be like a Costco/Sam's Club-type store. I know my Costco doesn't carry dried chickpeas. I don't think the contestants had the option to do their shopping at an Indian/Ethnic store. So if your main dish requires ground chickpeas, what's a person to do? I think Stephanie made the best decision based upon what I saw in the editing/show and she shouldn't have been taken to task by the judges for it. Unless the contestants did have the option to shop where they wanted to shop to better source their ingredients, then the judges critique would be correct. I thought the whole thing was a little silly, but the judge's point was that if she couldn't get a good product, she should have changed her recipe.

Not yet- definitely potential to split an order (but even then, it's a lot!).

This is amazingly ridiculous - especially because I doubt I have the same view as them about what constitutes healthful eating.

The smallest quantity of PGA FMC sells is 20 kg. I've requested a sample, but does anyone know of a source for smaller quantities?

I make myself a fried egg breakfast most days - I have toyed with the idea of adding a Crystal hot sauce beurre blanc, but it is a lot of work for the morning. Heating up a refrigerated sauce is very appealing.

Mostly reading this makes me sad for a very mediocre meal there in 09. Looks and sounds like an amazing dinner.

The applications I've noticed it in are more related to emulsification/stabilization (e.g. the "bulletproof beurre blanc"). From johnder's link it looks like the protanal ester version would be best for those applications. "bulletproof beurre blanc" buy a thermomix LOL I think the idea is you can refrigerate it, freeze it, etc. then just heat it back up and you are ready to go (i.e. still have a nice emulsion).

The applications I've noticed it in are more related to emulsification/stabilization (e.g. the "bulletproof beurre blanc"). From johnder's link it looks like the protanal ester version would be best for those applications.

Has anyone found a source for propylene glycol alginate? It seems to come up a lot.

I can confirm that the polycarbonate case does a good job protecting the books. My set did a gainer off the dining room table and none of the volumes were harmed. Unfortunately I have several pieces of case now.

In this sense it is not different than primal jaccarding, which apparently is not an entirely rare practice (I believe Nathan M has commented on this previously). Incidentally, I used to be a management consultant, and I still remember seeing a hospitality industry knowledge primer that discussed gluing tenderloins together to increase yield (e.g. make use of the tails). That was the first I ever heard of transglutaminase.

The first question is whether it's something to even care about?

I had my first dud tonight - the chicken tikka. I won't blame the book; I think the chicken overmarinated and had a mealy texture. Also, there's not really a sauce (just lime juice, shallots and chili). I probably won't revisit this one.

Could you tell any difference related to the meat fiber alignment?

I was contemplating getting a piece of PVC and just cutting it in half, but flexible cutting board sounds easier. I will be very curious to hear whether you think strand alignment makes a difference - I have heard mixed reviews. Sounds like a helper would be very valuable on the strand alignment.

At that speed, I have to believe there there is not "somebody grab[ing] them", but someone employing technology to game the system. I was able to manually "hold" a table last night by clicking on it every few minutes (it gives you 10 minutes to complete the reservation and the clock resets when you click again). This gave me time to call the friend who I was booking the table for and get the information re: their preference for wine pairings, etc. without risking losing the preferred time slot. This is just one of the "quirks" of the system that I would imagine could easily be abused by a script. I believe they only allow 2 reservations per email account and the account had to have been originally registered, so my guess would be there should be less of this (at least if the 2 reservations per account is holding up).

Can I ask what bar?

I did 40 minutes, but as I mentioned above, I think that the texture of the shredded meat was far superior to the texture of that left as whole cubes. Did you shred? I did about half and half; some of the shreds got unpleasantly chewy rather than crispy.

On my 8qt Fagor Duo, before it gets pressurized steam escapes through the handle - I think this is unavoidable and based on the safety valve catching at pressure, like you said. Once at pressure, it depends on how much heat you are giving it (steam can escape through the selector dial opening). I also forgot to mention above - if you are trying to avoid venting, you also obviously have to let the cooker cool naturally rather than releasing the steam at the end (can take 30+ minutes for a full batch of stock in my cooker)

I think the kuhn rikon makes it easier to cook without venting any steam. If you follow the Fagor manual, you are supposed to have a slight but steady stream of steam while you are cooking at pressure (I guess this guarantees that you are at the target pressure). If you don't want to vent (e.g. for stock where it has been shown to produce a less flavorful outcome), I have had success turning down the temperature slightly to the point where it is not venting but still at the desired pressure (you have to get used to it on your cooker/range b/c it's easy to drop further down as well). I've found listening to the interior contents (mild bubbling) as a helpful indicator to make sure it is getting enough heat.

Coincedentally, I made these carnitas last night as well. I thought the flavor was great, especially the sauce made with the cooking liquid + chipotle, ancho, and achiote. I don't think I nailed the texture; I split the baby on the pressure cooking time (they suggest 20 minutes for firm and 40 minutes for flakey, I did 30 mins). How long did you pressure cook for Chris? (Incidentally, this recipe does not include sous-vide; Ruhlman must have missed it). Tonight the Chicken Tikka; has anyone made this? From the picture in the book it looks like their is some sauce, but it's not really clear from the recipe; I presume it's just extra reserved marinade?