KennethT

so far, went to Maxim's Palace, Peking Garden and Din Tai Fung. Palace was a great experience - excellent service, and good dim sum, for the most part. xiaolinbao ok, char Siu boa just ok, nothing special. Shrimp in rice dough roll was awesome, as were the chicken feet and pork ribs, and steamed chinesebroccoli. Har gau was good Last night we were exhausted (I had been up for about 24 hours at that point, with a failed nap attempt. But we had to eat, so we went to Peking Garden in the Pacific Place mall. Oddly enough, I figured it would be all tourists since it was in the mall, but it was the opposite - all local families out after shopping, I guess. Almost everyone had a reservation, except us, so we had to wait a few minutes. The shredded chicken/noodle appetizer was very good. I think there was some Szechuan peppercorn or something. The pekingduck was excellent. Almost no fat underneath the skin, which was very tender,bit as crisp as I hadhoped. The meat was not dry as usual though, which was amazing. And the pancakes seems like they were made about 10 minutes ago. Lunch today at Din Tai Fung. Awesome! Xiaolinbao were so good, we had to get a second round at the end. Also had the version with shrimp which I loved, but my wife not so much. Dan dan noodles were very good, as was the fried rice - which we got with shrimp. The Sauteed Indian greens were amazing, tender yet crisp, full of flavor. We also really enjoyed thesesamebun for dessert, but were getting pretty full.

It depends on whether you want the foam to be warm or cold, but if you want a warm foam, I think agar is your best bet, as pastrygirl said. Make an agar fluid gel with (if I remember correctly) 1% agar, then bring up to temp (just don't go over 85C or the agar will melt) and add to ISI whipper - I think I used to charge twice, with the first time done with the handle depressed to get all the air out of the canister. You can keep it warm for a few hours with no problems.

Just an update to this list - I emailed Maxim's Group, and they responded that out of their group (Maxim's Palace, Serenade, 8 Happiness), only Serenade and 8 Happiness accept reservations, and only for lunch (W Square and Kai Tin locations)

To me, it seems that the biggest problem for a chamber sealer is the fact that everything has to be cold before being sealed. So, for me right now, using a ziplock, I can sear a piece of meat, put a little liquid in the bag (or rendered fat) and seal it right away. If using a chamber sealer, I'd have to chill it in the fridge for a while until it's cold - which would probably take a couple of hours.

Larry, did you incorporate the mustard soaking vinegar, or did you drain it?

BTW - do I need a reservation for any of the above recommended places?

Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!! This is perfect!!!!!

I've found that the issue with grass-fed is not really in the cooking, but in how the animal was raised, and its condition at slaughter time. It's rare to find (especially in the US) but you can actually get some grass fed beef that has some marbling. I read a whole article once that was interviewing a grass fed farmer well known for the quality/flavor of his beef, and he went on a whole diatribe about how most grass fed farmers will slaughter the cows when they're not mature enough, and haven't accumulated enough meat/fat. This beef winds up dry and tough. He showed pictures of two cows the same age - one ready for slaughter, the other in his opinion required at least 6 more months. He pointed to specific spots on the animal as to where to check for "meatiness". But, he said, most farmers just go by age, and not by development. Plus, it's more expensive to wait longer for the cow to mature. Unfortunately, this doesn't answer your question. Personally, I'd cook it in a 130/131 bath straight from frozen - it'll defrost much quicker than in the fridge, unless you wanted to jaccard it. McGee recently put out an article where he compared defrosting techniques, and found that defrosting in circulating warm water was best (by far) both from time and quality standpoint. While some people may talk about the bacterial safety of defrosting in 110F water, he said that it defrosts so fast (20-30 minutes) that it doesn't leave much time for multiplication, especially if you'll be cooking it right away. Since you're cooking in a 131 (pasteurizing) bath, you'll kill anything that multiplying if you leave it there long enough. According to Modernist Cuisine, using a 131 bath (which cooks to a core temp of 129), you need to hold for 2h17m once core temp is reached to pasteurize. I don't know how much longer I'd hold it than that, since sirloin is pretty lean (especially grass fed), and I think it would dry out if held too long... so maybe 4 hours at the most? A great thing to do would be to portion the meat into several portions, and cook in separate bags for different amounts of time. Then you can report your findings!!!

Just to let all the gellan people know that it shipped last Saturday by priority mail. Everyone should have received it by now... if not, let me know, and I can track it to find out what happened.

Modernist Cuisine has a complete discussion of just about all hydrocolloids, with guidelines of concentration, hydration and gelling, not to mention pluses, drawbacks, potential problem areas, etc. It is very thorough.

OK... finally got to the book... according to the chart on 3.109, they like pork shoulder at 149F (65C) for 36 hours (their preference) but also recommend 140F (60C) for 72 hours. But you're right, the recipe on 5.78 uses 150F (65C) for 72 hours, but it's then mixed with BBQ sauce - maybe that's the cause for the difference? Hopefully Maxime will be able to weigh in on the disparity at some point...

Phaz, I don't have the book in front of me, but if memory serves correctly, most pork products are cooked between 40 and 48 hours, not 72.... it's the beef products (brisket, beef cheek, short rib) that are cooked for 72 hours. Maybe that caused the dryness?

hzrt8w, I'd love to hear your "short list" of recommendations for chinese (primarily cantonese/seafood, but I'd like to try others as well) food and dim sum... my wife and I will be in hong kong for about 7-8 days in the beginning of July. Thanks!

Habaneros are one of the most common fresh chilis to find in NYC - after Jalapenos... you really shouldn't have to go toa specialty market for them. Even the ridiculously crappy Food Emporium in my neighborhood has them. Fresh Direct has them also. Whole Foods always has them also...

Welcome Keith! I don't know how much experience you have with sous vide, but if you've got a little (or a lot as the case may be) time on your hands, you might want to peruse the old sous vide thread, now closed. It's huge... so huge, that they actually made an index for it. The index is always at the top of the "Cooking" forum and there's a ton of knowledge in there. Basically any question you can think of has already been asked, and answered... probably more than a few times. There's also the 2011 sous vide thread found in the cooking forum as well. And, in case that wasn't enough, you can look at the Cooking with Modernist Cuisine thread, where lots of stuff is cooked SV and then used in other applications.

I typically do 62C for like 3 days for pulled pork - that's the most succulent I've ever made... I think it also matters what the fat content is of the meat - really lean pieces tend to dry out more...

I've used FoodSaver bags, and zip locks, and never had any kind of plastic smell/taste, even when cooking for many hours at 185F. I can't imagine getting a plastic smell at 131F. I agree with Nick - I wonder if it was something else in the bag, or maybe some lactic acid that contributed to it? Did you sear/torch/boiling dunk the short ribs prior to the 2.5 day cook? I usually do that for long cook times just to make sure the surface bacteria is gone and can't produce any funky odors.

[Moderator note: The original Cooking with "Modernist Cuisine" topic became too large for our servers to handle efficiently, so we've divided it up; the preceding part of this discussion is here: Cooking with "Modernist Cuisine" (Part 2)] I'm actually making the mustard again, and draining the vinegar left it a bit thick in my opinion (it was like thick cement), so I wound up thinning it with a bit of champagne vinegar. I also felt that it needed more salt. Like Larry, I"ll know more by the weekend, after it's had a chance to age more.

I wouldn't say a tie is necessary at Del Posto - I think jacket/buttondown/slacks is most typical there, with some people less dressed than that. In my opinion, there are few places left where ties are common... I'm thinking Daniel, Per Se, etc. but even in those places I've seen quite a few people who were tie-less (although those who were had pocket squares if memory serves correctly).

This is out there, but peanut/maple/bacon

When we were in Thailand, my wife and I sampled various bugs - we thought the crickets and meal worms were the tastiest. Both were deep fried and salted. When we initially sampled them in the market, the taste was initially crunchy and salty, but then a slight bitterness comes in that was only slightly unpleasant. I would say though, that they'd make GREAT snacks to have with beer. The crunchiness and saltiness are great, and even more savory than a potato chip, and whatever aftertaste there is would be washed down by the beer. Plus, the fact that they are low in carbs, high in protein is an added bonus!

OK - the gellans have been ordered. The total with shipping to me came out to $0.1384 per gram of each, so 100g of each costs $27.68, plus the USPS shipping to you. The gellans will probably get to me by mid-next week, and then I'll distribute and take them to the post office the following Saturday. Once I know the total cost, I'll message each of you privately so you can send payment at that time.

Sorry Gellan people.. I made a math error - $100 for 28 ounces (793g) is $0.126 per gram not 0.76 per gram.... plus the shipping of course... ETA: Sorry - one more error - there's actually 7 of us looking to split the gellans, so that's like 56-57g each. I know this is getting a little low on quantity, so maybe we should get two containers of each - which will be 113g per person? Most people requested about 100g of each...

OK - I now have 6 people, including myself signed up for the Low/High Acyl Gellans. Each container has 14 ounces (approx. 400 grams), so I'm going to stop taking requests now. I haven't had a chance to write to everyone yet confirming - but anyone who has written to me by this time is in. If we split it evenly, it winds up being about 66 grams per person, which is a lot because you use very little of the gellans, as compared with most hydrocolloids (or so it seems reading MC). If someone doesn't want that much, let me know, because one of the people will take extra if available. I'm going to get the Kelcogel F Low Acyl gellan, and LT100 High Acyl Gellan, since those are brands specified in MC. It seems like the only place to get it is le-sanctuaire. Their price is $48 for one, and $52 for the other - so that's about $0.76 per gram of each, plus the cost of shipping to me, plus the flat rate USPS to redistribute. There's no charge for the padded envelope/ziplock bags for redistribution since I've got tons of padded envelopes and ziplocks are cheap. I don't know the exact cost for the shipping to me yet, as that's calculated when you place your order, but I will write to everyone to let them know the exact cost once I have it. While we're ordering from Le-Sanctuaire, are there any other CP Kelco items anyone would want? I spoke with the CP Kelco rep, who basically said Le-Sanctuaire is the only place that carries small quantities of their product. I'm sure we can save a bit in shipping costs if more stuff is shipped at once.

I am trying to get a group together to split the cost of purchasing high and low acyl gellans. We currently have 4 people in the group. I was planning on waiting a few more days to see if anyone else has any interest, and then I'll go shopping and get prices. If you are interested in joining the group, please PM me letting me know how much of each you'd be interested in. Once I have everyone's order, I can figure out how much to buy, and what the total costs will be. I was planning on putting each order into a zip lock bag, and sending via USPS in a padded envelope. Thanks.