Chris Hennes

Right: according to Google maple syrup has something on the order of 20mg per 15mL of calcium (depending on the variety, etc.) which is probably enough to gel your alginate. Well... certainly, I'd say, since that's what is happening! MelissaH's suggestion of trying a reverse encapsulation is a good one.

Are you doing an alginate/calcium chloride encapsulation here?

Hey, Kansas isn't far from Oklahoma... you want some dinner guests? (too bad I'm traveling this week!) That BBQ sounds great, I've never smoked venison before. What sort of wood did you use?

I believe when he says just "glucose" he means the syrup and "d-glucose" it's the powder.

ScottyBoy, are you cooking the egg SV in its shell, and then removing the yolk and holding it, or are you just cooking the yolk?

Today for lunch I tried to make Cunningham's yeasted waffles, but I must have screwed up the recipe last night, because the batter was much too thin: the waffle I tried to make with the batter as-is did not have enough structure to rise, it simple flowed out the sides of the iron. To salvage the situation I added another half cup or so of flour and beat it in well (my current working theory of waffles is that you actually want gluten formation so that they hold together). These are the waffles that resulted: Still a very good waffle, but I have to withhold comparison to the others until I get the actual recipe to turn out correctly.

When you have some free time, have a look at the several past discussions referenced in the SV index about the misnomer "under vacuum": I think we can agree that for culinary purposes "sous vide" is simply shorthand for "long time, (relatively) low temp" cooking.

I pay $12/750mL here in Oklahoma.

In terms of white rum I think that the Flor de Caña is the best bang for the buck, hands down. At least in these parts it's even cheaper than Bacardi, and has the benefit of actually tasting good, even before infusion.

I have not tried the "quick pulse" method, only the "blend to hell" method, which doesn't work well at all. So if your blender is only going to give you a BtH option, I'd suggest an alternate route. I like your idea of taking the seeds and mechanically crushing them somehow, either with a mallet or maybe a rolling pin (in a bag of course). I vote you give it a go and report back .

You can't just casually toss that out there to tantalize us and say nothing else about it! What book? Why? I will eat fewer Ritz Munchables Pretzel Thins (spicy chipotle cheddar flavor, please) because the damned things are going to kill me. I will make more food to send into my wife's office. I will learn how to make shiny molded bon-bons that stay in temper!!!! I will read Modernist Cuisine, cover to cover.

I'd be interested to know what the water temp actually was down there in between those eggs: they look like they are pretty densely packed, and as you say, without a circulator or frequent stirring, the local temperature was probably much lower. Were they started at room temp, or out of the fridge?

Tangentially related, but on the subject of pears, any pear lover out there should check out Dave Arnold's recent post at the Cooking Issues blog:Pear Enlightenment and The Brogdale Farm. It sounds like there are some astonishing species of pear out there.

I'd be concerned that a chicken gravy would overwhelm the relatively delicate flavor of the lobster: I think your choice to go with a lobster-stock-based white sauce was probably the best one. Did you make those fries yourself? Using which technique?

Douglas, do you know the optimal temperature (e.g. for fastest breakdown) for that enzyme to operate at?

Peter can you say more about that lobster poutine? It looks excellent: how did you make it?

Tonight for dinner I made the "Waffles of Insane Greatness" linked to above. I used the whole milk option since I don't have any buttermilk at the moment. The WIG recipe has two major departure points from my normal waffles. First, it has a very large amount of cornstarch in it (the flour to cornstarch ratio is 3:1). Second, it uses vegetable oil rather than butter. Here is the waffle that came out: And the interior: I had some trouble getting these waffles to fill out the iron: the batter is very thin, and they didn't want to rise all the way up to the top. I suspect this recipe is better with a non-Belgian iron. Second, the texture of the waffles was quite good, certainly the crispiest I've ever had in a non-yeasted waffle, but I think this came at the expense of flavor: corn starch may be great for crispiness, but it it essentially tasteless. Last, to be honest, I missed the butter. The WIG were fine, for a non-yeasted waffle, and a good option when you want your waffles NOW. But I think several of the recipes up-topic are competitive with these, in particular those that use butter rather than vegetable oil. Next up: Marion Cunningham's Yeasted Waffles.

Wow, the seafood you have access to is incredible! That is gorgeous.

eG Forums Technology Update: Tags! I'm excited to announce the newest enhancement to the eG Forums: topic tags. A "tag" is a label or keyword that gets assigned to a topic by the topic-starter (or a Forums Host). This allows finer-grained categorization of topics that can cross normal forum boundaries. For example, a topic about sous vide cooking might be tagged "Modernist" in the Cooking forum, and a topic about online sources for methylcellulose could also be tagged "Modernist" in the Kitchen Consumer forum. A search for all topics tagged "Modernist" would show both of these topics together. Applying Tags to a Topic When starting a new topic, a list of available tags is printed below the area for the topic title: during the testing phase of this new technology only one tag is available: "Modernist." If the topic you are starting is related to Modernist cooking, dining, shopping, etc., post the new topic in the appropriate forum as usual, and then check the "Modernist" tag checkbox: when you post the topic, the Modernist tag is applied. Of course over time more tags will be added once the system is well-tested (you can suggest tags to the eG team by sending e-mail to feedback@egullet.org). If you see an older topic that you think should have a tag applied to it (or if you think a tag was mistakenly applied), please use the "Report" button in that topic to let hosts know. Using Tags At the top of every topic, just below its title, the currently-applied tags are listed (or "none" if there aren't any). Clicking on a tag takes you to a list of all topics with that tag, similar to a forums list. Just like a forums list, you can even "watch" a tag and receive a notification when a new topic is posted with that tag: click the "Watch Tag Collection" button at the top of the tagged-topic listing (the button will change to say "Stop Watching Tag Collection" when the subscription is set up). The Future Right now there is no way to search for topics limited by a particular tag: we plan to implement this in the coming months. There is no "Immediate," "Delayed," "Daily," or "Weekly" option for when to receive new topic notifications: all tag notifications are immediate. If there is demand for this feature it may be added (please send feedback if it's something you are interested in). You can, however, adjust what type of notifications you receive by visiting your Control Panel. A list of your subscriptions can be found on this page. There is only one tag available while we test the system and verify that everything is working correctly, but of course if the system works as expected and seems useful, we will add more tags over time. Your suggestions count! We developed this tag system to augment the standard "Forums" taxonomy with an additional layer of categorization, but we welcome any other ideas you have for how to use it, or other features you'd like to see. We can't promise to implement them all, but if a lot of people have the same idea that's a pretty clear sign that it's a good one! Please send your ideas to feedback@egullet.org.

Steven, have you tried the Dole pineapple? I found that in smoothies at least it had an oddly unpleasant aftertaste.

I'd definitely think that book implies US. Anyone know what the net-looking thing above it might be?

I use the Dole strawberries in smoothies: they are flavorful and tart (which I like). I have not tried either the blackberries or blueberries, I'm afraid.

I did not find the gluten increase problematic: the waffles were very tender. I don't really have a good explanation for that, but yeasted waffles have been around for a long time, and with good reason. I was especially concerned at first when the recipe called for whisking everything together quite vigorously, but it just didn't seem to be an issue.

For me it was the two tablespoons of hot chili oil that contributed the most to the spiciness. There is also a LOT of Szechuan peppercorn in there, plus a few dried chilies for good measure. Of course, this is all with the caveat that I am a Westerner, so my tolerance for spice is not up to Szechuan standards!

No, no peanuts in this one, though it had sesame paste to get a nutty flavor to it.