KennethT

Wow - that is a great idea... I will definitely try that this week! Kind of reminds me of the potato experiment I did as a kid....

Thanks Carlo - I have no prior lemongrass growing experience, and wasn't sure what to expect... now that I know that it grows slowly, I don't feel like I'm doing anything wrong! I have an extra metal halide plant light that I use for my citrus trees (which are doing great in a manhattan apt. by the way) - so maybe I'll use it for the lemongrass to get it started and see what happens... maybe I can trick it into thinking it's summer... edit - one of the reasons I was a bit worried is that my seeds were pretty old - past the expiration date... but I got 3 out of 15 seeds sprouting (and one that looks like it could be a weed, but it's also growing really slowly - but the leaves are a totally different shape) so I guess I was worried that the old seeds may have stunted the plant's growth...

hey HungryC - I've been trying to grow lemongrass in a sunny windowsill in a NYC apartment, but I'm having a bit of a problem... I planted from seed, and have a few that have sprouted... but it's been weeks, and they're still only 3" tall and look like a single blade of grass... how long does it usually take to grow? Any ideas why mine are growing so slowly? Thanks! edited for stupidity...

Butter? Interesting... is it clarified butter or whole butter? I'd imagine the whole butter would burn... but I definitely agree that it's a totally different ballgame with heads-on shrimp... much more flavor... sometimes, if I don't have the heads, I'll throw in a small handful of chopped up shrimp with the shells to try to boost the flavor a bit...

I know a lot of recipes don't do this, but I like to do my shrimp stock sort of like a lobster stock... so to me, the key to a good shrimp stock is to caramelize the shells well... using pretty high heat and a heavy pot, I add a little bit of canola oil and then fry the shells/legs until they're bright red, moving around quickly so they don't burn. Also, make sure you don't crowd your pot, otherwise you'll be steaming more than frying. I then add a little bit of tomato paste and fry that as well... then I turn down the heat and add mirepoix plus sachet of bay leaf, dried thyme, cracked peppercorns, and a few parsley stems.. I'm not a huge fan of the dried parsley - I think it has a weird flavor... cook until the veggies are soft, then cover with cold water and simmer for about a half hour, skimming any impurities that may come up... strain and cool...

Amen to the gumbo idea... I love it when you have a nice brown roux, really tasty andouille, and a robust shrimp stock... nothing better! Also, sticking with the shrimp and pork theme, you can do shrimp in a chorizo broth by steeping chopped chorizo in the shrimp stock... add a little cilantro.. mmmmmmmmmm

hey Sher - I'm sorry I can't help with any advice, but I was wondering what the Robuchon method was for retrograding potatoes for the puree... is it similar to the Fat Duck method? What temps for how long? Do you do the retrograde step sous-vide in the vacuum bag, or are the potatoes immersed in water to do it? Thanks!

Does Versawhip work with bases that contain fat? ← i cant for the life of me find the kaffir leaves.. is there anything i can use in substitute? ← I can't really think of a good substitute for kaffir lime leaves... it's a very specific flavor/aroma.... I know I have seen them online here and there - if you look for Thai groceries online, they have them, but the shipping costs are pretty high... but the nice thing is that stuff like kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lemongrass freeze really well, so you can get a bunch and save it...

Interesting... thanks - I'll check it out... I don't know about the proportions either... I understand what you mean about some being used as an emulsifier (like a salad dressing) but what about a fat/liquid blend that is already emulsified - like heavy cream? According to the information on the Khymos recipes (linked at the top), making a lime air (just lime juice and water - recipe from texturas el bulli) uses 1.5g lecithin for 500ml liquid - which is 0.3%... a parmesan air (water and parmegiano) uses 0.52% lecithin (1.3g for every 250ml parmesan liquid)... other liquids like mixtures with milk or water/oil mixes use around 0.85% (5g per 570ml) lecithin... so your theory definitely seems to apply - the more fat in the mixture, the more lecithin you'd need...

ok well whatever it is i am trying to achieve, wether it is "air" or "foam" what is the best way to achieve what i am looking for....i want to make an aromatic, light tasting cool texture for my mango gazpacho. now i want to make it like in the youtube video it looks like a tight stable foam/air. i like the kaffir limes with coconut milk, anyone know what is the best procedure the best results. ← I don't know for sure, but underneath the YouTube video, someone recommended using 2g lecithin per 100ml of liquid... But I don't know how additional fats would add to or take away from the foaming properties of the lecithin... I think the best way is just to try it... why don't you start out with 100ml of coconut milk add maybe 4-6 kaffir lime leaf pairs (torn or chiffonade), warm it and gently simmer for 20 min. or so to infuse the flavor... then strain and cool to room temp. (I don't know how the lecithin works at different temps)... then add 1g of lecithin and start blending... if the foam isn't what you want, add .25g more, and keep doing that until you start seeing results that you like... then report back with how much lecithin it took to foam the coconut milk!! haha... Seriously, I'd imagine that liquids with a higher fat content (cream, coconut milk, etc) would require less lecithin than making stable foams out of liquids with no fat ie beet juice or lime juice since you can make a foam out of cold cream with no lecithin (whipped cream)... but this is just a hypothesis - the real way to do it is to try it... I'd try it for you, but I can't find an easy place to find the lecithin in NYC without having to go to the internet... Hope this helps and good luck!!!

I actually love the idea of the kaffir lime scented coconut air... I wouldn't have a recipe because I typically don't work with recipes... but kaffir lime is a leaf from the kaffir lime tree... you can usually find them either fresh or frozen (they freeze great) in an indian or asian grocery... whatever you don't use, just stick in a ziplock bag in the freezer... you don't really want to eat the kaffir lime leaves (they're pretty tough) unless you mince it into fine pieces or chiffonade... but what I like to do is to cut it into strips and simmer them in the coconut milk for about 10-20 minutes... you can't miss their aroma... then just strain them out... edit - the fresh ones would be in the refrigerated case... ← i generally dont work with recipies either its just that i am fairly new in the molecular gastronomy world so i am not too comfortable in messing around on my own yet because like i dont know ratios or what i am "looking for" in a good stable air, etc.... ← I'm still toying with the mol. gast. also - I really haven't gotten that into it yet... just played around with agar agar making hot foams with an ISI whipper... There's a great link to the khymos website which gives lots of example recipes with all different types of hydrocolloids... I don't remember if the link is at the top of this post or not... but you can do a search for it and then download the pdf... edit - yes, the link was posted by Jonathan Kaplan at the top of the post...

I actually love the idea of the kaffir lime scented coconut air... I wouldn't have a recipe because I typically don't work with recipes... but kaffir lime is a leaf from the kaffir lime tree... you can usually find them either fresh or frozen (they freeze great) in an indian or asian grocery... whatever you don't use, just stick in a ziplock bag in the freezer... you don't really want to eat the kaffir lime leaves (they're pretty tough) unless you mince it into fine pieces or chiffonade... but what I like to do is to cut it into strips and simmer them in the coconut milk for about 10-20 minutes... you can't miss their aroma... then just strain them out... edit - the fresh ones would be in the refrigerated case...

I think it really depends on the places and types of food that are involved in the restaurants as to the success of the evening... When we travel, my wife and I (who can eat a lot we are told) commonly have problems - especially when travelling in france... our typical trip includes a 2 or 3* place each night... usually we have a very light lunch (just some mussels or a baguette) or sometimes even nothing... the problem is that after a few days of these big meals with snakc with champagne, pre-amuse, amuse, appetizer, main course, pre-dessert, dessert, petit fours - not to mention if we wind up getting the tasting menu - we wind up getting sated... the first night is always ok... even the second is ok... but after that, the satiety is just always there... we wake up in the morning and we're not really hungry - and not really hungry all day... then a little hungry by dinner time, but we could probably just have a light snack and still feel ok.... I think one of the worst experiences of my life was our 4 day trip to Paris where we ended with Guy Savoy... Let's put it this way - we were burping upon walking in the door, and said to each other in a hushed tone upon sitting down "I don't know if I can do this!!!"... It is a true testament to how good that place is that we ate everything on our plates (incluidng their bread pairing) up until the dessert trolley came by (after the normal desserts - and of course the cheese course).... But, we always say that we would have enjoyed that amazing meal much more if we had actually walked in hungry... Also, I find it amazing how satiety deadens the palate... Just my thoughts for whatever they're worth...

i like the lime air idea actually thanks.....if anyone has any other ideas please let me know, im interested for the future ← How about a coconut milk air? ← would coconut milk be too overpowering for the mango? ← I figured the intensity ofthe coconut milk would be decreased in air form - so it would be a good counterbalance of the fruityness of the gazpacho... edit - plus I think the color contrast would be nice too... edit - or you can do a play on the Thai dessert mango and sticky rice where the sticky rice is soaked in coconut milk and sweetened with palm sugar... so the air could be a slightly sweetened coconut flavor...

i like the lime air idea actually thanks.....if anyone has any other ideas please let me know, im interested for the future ← How about a coconut milk air?

I have a question for those who do the vacuum packing using a chamber vacuum... if sealing something with liquid in the bag (like a marinade or de-alcoholed wine, etc.) do you find that the liquid boils at the time when the vacuum is applied? If so, is it a problem during sealing? Thanks... edit - also, what is the standard vacuum that is applied prior to sealing - without trying to compress watermelon or something...

I wish I had access to liquid nitrogen - that would make the fast ice cream without the carbonation effect... but I have no idea where to get it, and I have no dewar flask for storage... I had thought that I'd use dry ice since I can get it pretty easily and just store it in a cooler... I had thought about the carbonation (cold + CO2 = carbonation) but hoped that it might dissipate before serving... in my prior experiment, upon first tasting, it was definitely carbonated, but after setting in the freezer overnight, it lost the carbonation - and expanded the container a bit! I was hoping that the small dry ice particle size would incorporate faster, and also "uncarbonate" faster too... but no such luck... edit - also, I was hoping that since I wasn't adding the CO2 at any pressure (other than normal atmospheric) that not much would be incorporated into the mixture... I was hoping that the CO2 would just bubble off as I stirred... which happened for the most part, but some did dissolve into it... If no one has done it already, I may at some point do an experiment where I make the ice cream, then taste every hour or so to see if it loses the carbonation over time...

It's true - it actually wasn't unpleasant at all... and most of the guests really liked it and even commented about how they thought the prickliness woke up their tongue... I tasted it just before plating, realized the carbonation, and, when serving, introduced it as a Vanilla Cream Soda ice cream because I think perception can be highly influenced by expectations...

So I tried this again the other night and came up with a slight problem... I started with base that had been sitting in the refrigerator for 24 hours, then added, a bit at a time, powdered dry ice (that had been sifted through a strainer to remove any pea sized pieces) and stirred with a wooden spoon - total freezing time about 5 minutes... I then served it straight from the mixing bowl. The result was extremely creamy soft serve consistency... The problem was that it came out slightly carbonated - so it was creamy but had a pricklyness to it... does anyone have any thoughts as to a way around this? I wonder if I let it set in the freezer for a bit if it would lose the carbonation? edit - something happened when I hit the post button before... sorry!

So I tried this again the other night and came up with a slight problem... I started with base that had been sitting in the refrigerator for 24 hours, then added, a bit at a time, powdered dry ice (that had been sifted through a strainer to remove any pea sized pieces) and stirred with a wooden spoon - total freezing time about 5 minutes... I then served it straight from the mixing bowl - soft serve consistency... The problem was that it came out slightly carbonated... does anyone have any thoughts as to a way around this? I wonder if I let it set in the freezer for a bit if it would lose the carbonation?

I have it in powdered form... I don't know how the strands would work... but the powder is easy - just take a knife tip or two into cool liquid, whisk to dissolve, then bring to a boil... you should see it thicken very quickly... then pour into the whipper and charge

as far as isi whip makers, which is a good one to geT? ← ISI is the manufacturer of the whipper... they make a bunch of different styles but I like the ThermoWhip because it will hold hot liquids hot for 3 hours, and cold stuff cold for 8 hours... plus, a lot of their whippers can't be used with hot stuff, while the ThermoWhip can... they're a bit expensive on ISI's website, but you can get some good deals on Ebay (where else?) plus, you can also get some good deals on the charger cartridges - for hot stuff, you'd want the nitrogen cartridges, not the CO2 unless you want to carbonate your foam as well... hehe

At the top of the table, perhaps, but certainly further down they can (and are!). Naturally there are many factors at work and the FDA is not attempting to compensate for all of them. But if, for example) you hold the center of a loin roast at 135 for ten minutes, say by cooking it in a smoker set to 225 degrees, you will have a perfectly safe piece of meat, at least by FDA standards. ← oh, absolutely... it's no problem when you get into the medium-rare range of pork - you can even do it on a grill - I've cooked a pork tenderloin on the grill and the center has definitely been at 135 for 4-5 minutes before starting to cool down... The problem comes in when you want to attempt to do "rare" pork - like 125F - holding for 4.5 hours... the next question is - would anyone want to eat pork that rare?? I wonder what it would be like, taste and texture... But, again, I don't know if the 125F pork is so safe - although the trichinea would be taken care of, salmonella would still be a problem (if it was present in the first place, of course).. plus, I don't think it's ever a great idea to have something sitting in the hotspot of the danger zone for that long... then again, I think there's a higher chance of the pork being tainted with salmonella or listeria than with trichinea nowadays...

Hi, It should be noted that these USDA guidelines (http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/trichinae/docs/fact_sheet.htm) state, "It should be noted that these times and temperatures apply only when the product reaches and maintains temperatures evenly distributed throughout the meat." Microwaving does not provide the even distribution of temperature required. Tim ← Most standard cooking methods could not be used to achieve the results in the table since you must maintain those temperatures for the duration of the time indicated... the only way I can think of doing that is sous vide where you can set your bath temperature to be equal to that of the target temperature, so that once the pork reaches that temperature, it can stay there indefinitely (until you take it out of the bath). It would not be safe to do this in a 125F oven, for instance, because air is a poor conductor of heat, and a piece of pork straight out of the refrigerator would take forever to come to target temperature of 125F sitting in stagnant, or even circulating air, which would be extremely unsafe from a bacterial viewpoint.

Anything else to worry about beside Trichinea, or once the T. is dead everything else will be, too? It's interesting that the times are so short even down in the 125 F range: doing a slow-cooked tenderloin it seems like you can keep the temp very low. By the time the center has hit 135 F it has probably been long enough to be safe. ← Most of the common pathogens, like salmonella and listeria monocytogenes aren't killed until being held at alittle higher - usually, the lowest you should go to is 130F... the FDA has tables on how long to hold something at those temps... for instance, they list for beef, pork and lamb that 130F for 112 minutes or 131F for 89 minutes will be considered pasteurized. For chicken and turkey, they have a min. temp. of 136F for between 64 and 81.4 minutes depending on fat content (the higher the fat content, the longer the pasteurization time) The pasteurization times are logarithmic though - so you can pasteurize chicken or turkey at 140F (still a little pink and really juicy) if you hold it between 28.1 and 35 minutes depending on fat content. I cook chicken to 140F all the time - it is always super juicy... I haven't tried it at 136F though - I wonder if it would be a little TOO rare...