[Unrest at the CIA & the Import of Culinary Degrees]

You must be American, for there surely is a national standard for a cook in Canada, it's called the Red Seal, and it's the same piece of paper you earn as a journeyman carpenter, tool and die maker, line man, plumber, or any other trade.

In a kitchen there can be only one 'chef', but there can be many professional (papered) cooks.  They are not the same thing, and are not mutually inclusive.

All culinary programs across the nation lead to an apprenticeship, which leads to journeyman (Red Seal) certification.  Google it, or go to www.red-seal.ca for more info.

I am very surprised that there is not a formal trade system in the US like this one.

-- Matt.

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What's the point of the Red Seal? Every chef I know in Canada claims it's kind of useless. Why do some cooks get it?

[Unrest at the CIA & the Import of Culinary Degrees]

Here is a little bit from an online job posting that I found really amusing:

"Ideal candidate(s) must have a passionate desire to run his or her own kitchen and a culinary degree from CIA—culinary degrees from other institutions might be considered depending on level of experience and other factors—candidates without a culinary degree however will not be considered."

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Yeah, I can see how an employer insisting on formal training is knee-slappingly funny.

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The posting mentioned nothing about "formal training". A degree from the CIA and formal training are apples and oranges, my friend.

Amusing indeed.

[Gelatin filtration experiment]

It is very hard to judge the color of the end product in those jars.

Was it totally water clear?

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It's not totally clear - it's more like the colour of pale apple juice. I'm pretty sure, though, that if you start with tomato water it will come out totally clear.

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That's true! I've done it in the past with the water from different colored heirloom tomatoes, .15% agar and a superbag.

The resulting liquid is "water clear" and is bursting with heirloom tomato deliciousness.

[Sous Vide: Recipes, Techniques & Equipment (Part 4)]

I've done everything from cooking beef, chicken and fish to order for ~<1hr. to cooking shorties and pork shoulder for 48hours. I've never done brisket ...not a big fan.

I always season every protein I vacuum pack.

Never have I pulled anything out of cryo that I would consider to be dried out.

[Sous Vide: Recipes, Techniques & Equipment (Part 4)]

I've always seasoned proteins I've either cooked via sous-vide or braise.

I've never had a situation where my meat comes out dry due to seasoning. I would love more information about the threat of meat losing moisture do to seasoning.

Should we therefore never season proteins before vac'ing? This notion is new to me.

[Trends and Philosophy in Molecular Gastronomy]

I don't disagree that there is a difference between the quasi-scientific exploration of cooking and the application of the knowledge so gained.  This is a fairly minor nit you're picking here.  But, if you want to pick nits...

"Gastronomy" has many possible definitions, including:

• The art and practice of choosing and preparing and eating good food
  
• A particular style of cookery (e.g., "Southern gastronomy")
  
• The study of the relationship between food and culture
  

"Molecular" ("relating to, produced by or consisting of molecules") makes some sense, in consideration of the fact that people seek to understand how food behaves and interacts on a molecular level, and to apply that knowledge to produce new and unexpected effects.

Slap these two words together, and what do you get?  Well, I'll tell you what you don't get.  You don't get your definition, which seems to be: "the scientific exploration of the chemical and physical properties, relationships and reactions of food items, including the first-time application by the investigator of the knowledge thus gained in a new and unexpected expression of the ingredients in a culinary preparation."  Rather, you get something like: "a style of cooking based upon an understanding of the molecular properties of food" -- which one could differentiate from regular gastronomy by adding "applied to produce effects not possible with traditional cooking techniques."

So, despite your protestations, the appellation "gastronomy" is misapplied to the scientific investigation and not so much to the style of cooking.  A better way to describe what you think is the only thing that should be called "molecular gastronomy" is plain old "food science," and the people you would call "molecular gastronomists" are more appropriately called "food scientists."

"Gastronomy," on the other hand, is a word that is appropriately applied to a style of cooking.  I would argue that it is only when food science is applied to the preparation of food to produce a new and unexpected effect that it becomes "molecular gastronomy."

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Very well put, slkinsey. Maybe now we can put this baby to bed.

[Plastic wrap box design: sliding cutters]

One pet peeve of mine, primarily for industrial sized saran wraps...Is when Somebody mistakenly screws up the roll, i.e keeps wrapping stuff when the entire roll doesn't comes out, yet they continue using a portion of it and don't bother fixing it. Causing whomever, usually myself to take countless time to cut and backtrack to where the problem originated.

Oh what a pain in the butt. Especially with the huge ones that are heavy as heck.

Jim

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Ha! I used to purposefully do that in order to get under my old sous chefs skin. She would start screaming "Who f*cked the plastic wrap again?!".

[Vacio-The Argentinian Steak]

I'm having a hard time convincing people that the Argentinian 'vacio' steak can not be part hanger steak and part flank steak.  In Argentinian parlance, vacio usually refers to 'flap' meat, or 'flap' steak, which is cut from the flank.  Hanger is cut from the plate.  Would it be possible to have a steak that is "part hanger and part flank"?  I'm having a hard time believing that I might be incorrect, but I guess there is always that possibility.  Any takers?

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Flap meat is cut from the loin, not the flank. It sits in the middle of the fat cap on the loin.

Flank and hangar are 2 completely different whole muscles so no it is not possible that vacio is part hanger, part flank.

If it is indeed just flap meat then it comes from up by the loin ... a great distance from either flank or hanger.

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"Flank and hangar are 2 completely different whole muscles so no it is not possible that vacio is part hanger, part flank."

Can I get an amen on that?

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AMEN, brother! Testify to deliciousness!

[Vacio-The Argentinian Steak]

I'm having a hard time convincing people that the Argentinian 'vacio' steak can not be part hanger steak and part flank steak.  In Argentinian parlance, vacio usually refers to 'flap' meat, or 'flap' steak, which is cut from the flank.  Hanger is cut from the plate.  Would it be possible to have a steak that is "part hanger and part flank"?  I'm having a hard time believing that I might be incorrect, but I guess there is always that possibility.  Any takers?

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Flap meat is cut from the loin, not the flank. It sits in the middle of the fat cap on the loin.

Flank and hangar are 2 completely different whole muscles so no it is not possible that vacio is part hanger, part flank.

If it is indeed just flap meat then it comes from up by the loin ... a great distance from either flank or hanger.

[Global oriental's knife]

I saw this on sale and I was wondering if you can you use this as a chef's knife? The tilt to it seemed a little strange.

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It'd make a fine chef's knife. You'll get used to the angle of the blade.

[trotters..what to make]

the trotters are all done, nicely rolled up and chilling in the fridge. I skipped the brining part of corrigan's method. It appears to me that what I got had this so called gammon ham attached to it, obviously not cured. There were two bones in this portion of the trotter so it must have been the part of the leg from the knee down. Ramsay's method calls for slitting the skin on the trotter and peeling it down and cooking this part separately from the gammon knuckle and I can see why. If these pig pieces weren't so long and had all that meat, I never would have gotten enough meat out of the feet to make the roll, because there really isn't any meat in there. I think if you cooked the skinned trotter carefully enough you would get nice pieces of skin to roll the stuffing in. I washed these, blanched them, rinsed them again, and started cooking in clean water with the aromatics and nutritives. They twisted up and contracted and I had to piece the skins together to make the roll. I also deviated in another respect and added a bit of white wine vinegar to the final meat pile, because it needed something tart. I'm going to save the braising liquid, get another package of trotters, and make Trotter Gear.

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Nice! Sounds delicious when I'm done drooling it's time to call my man Vinnie at John Dewar and have him put some aside for me.

[trotters..what to make]

You should do the trotter recipe from MPW's White Heat: Trotters stuffed with chicken mousse, sweetbreads and dried morels.

When he bones out his trotters, he doesn't mention retaining the meat. I say grind it and use it in the farce with the chicken mousse.

He serves it with very loose potato puree and a cognac and madeira sauce.

I used to work at John Dewar's in Wellesley. You in Boston? Enjoy the trotters!

[Sushi etiquette]

There's no right or wrong way to eat sushi or sashimi.

Just get it in your mouth as quickly as possible and enjoy.

[Vegetarian Sausage Casing]

Thanks, I obviously didn't investigate the sights deep enough. 

I want to make vegetarian sausages.

What do I do if I can't find the right product?

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I wish you good luck on your veg. sausage casing journey ... but I'm pretty sure you won't find what you need.

Just pump the sausage mix into some synthetic casing, poach them, decase them and grill 'em. They won't have that snap your looking for but trying to make an entirely vegetarian sausage with the texture of meat sausage = square peg -> round hole.

[Air cured Kobe beef recipe]

Why anyone would cure dry Kobe beef is beyond me if it was real kobe and not Waygu? A true whole Kobe strip loin will also cost you upwards of $3-4K if you can get one.

Anyway, what type of cure was it? Most air dry beef cures use salt to prevent unwanted bacteria. If just air dryed such as dry aged beef, certain conditions of humidity and UV sanitation are usually employed to avoid illness.

Because real Kobe beef (A4 grade) is so fat intensive I have come to the conclusion that the Japanese prep is the best. Simply cube the Kobe and sear on each side briefly. This brings out the maximum flavor of the Kobe and minimizes the loss of fat. Western traditional methods for Kobe do not work well because of the ultra high fat content.-Dick

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If you've ever had the air dried kobe at French Laundry you wouldn't have to ask why.

[Beef]

I stand corrected! I never would have guessed it was 2 tenderloin tails.

Looks tasty, either way.

[Beef]

It's an eye of round roast. You'll never see a whole tenderloin that only weighs 1.3lbs, let alone at that price. That's a common size for an eye round.

It's common to see any cut of beef with a shape like a whole tenderloin being referred to as a filet. You'll see "butcher's filet" and even some people call hanger steaks "hanging filets".

It's a great way to market a cheap cut as more than it really is.

[Thinking about cooking professionally]

You gotta be a cook before you can become a chef. Those are the hours that really kill you.

Good luck but make sure you know what you're getting yourself into. Odds are good that you'll not be spending too much time with the family on your journey.

[Options for Duplicating a Recipe]

I like this one:

2 tablespoons dry mustard

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

5 tablespoons milk

2 tablespoons cream

2 tablespoons hot water

1 tablespoon sesame seeds, lightly toasted

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 garlic clove, minced

Blend and drink ... or dip some deliciousness in it.

[Greatest Kitchen Practical Jokes]

Shove anchovies in mustard into the deeper slots of someone's knife roll and mash them up with a wodden spoon handle.

Usually they don't notice until 3-4 days into it.

[Mystery machine @ texturas....]

Hey everyone,

Over the last month or so I got heavily got into MG experimentation with alginate, xanthan gum, gluco, and all those other fun products.

There is one thing that eludes me however. Over here:

http://www.texturaselbulli.com/ENG/videos_recetas_01.html#

If you look at the first two videos (Meat jus, part 1 and 2) at the beginning of the 2nd video the juice mix is poured into a machine that makes heavy foam out of the liquid. It looks like it's cooking, but I can't be sure. Or is it a sous-vide machine trying to get the air bubbles out of the mixture?

Do any of you what this machine is, or how we can achieve the same result without that machine at home?

Thanks

Joo.

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It's a chamber cryovac, for sure. I use mine similarly to remove air bubbles from solutions with hydrocolloids.

[Watermelon Rind]

heidih: I always remove the green part ... don't know if that's a non-traditional move or not.

Enjoy!

[Watermelon Rind]

1 Tb pink peppercorns

1Tb black peppercorns

1Tb mustard seed

1 Tb coriander seed

1 Tb fennel seed

1 Tb cardamom seed

¼ cup sugar

2 garlic cloves, peeled

3 cups white wine vinegar

Rind from watermelon, cut into chunks, fleshy pink part removed

1. Combine all ingredients except for watermelon rinds in a nonreactive saucepan with 2 cups of water and bring to a boil.

2. Place the rinds in a large plastic container.

3. Pour the boiling liquid over the rinds. Refrigerate and wait 2 weeks before serving.

4. Eat that deliciousness

[Sous Vide: Recipes, Techniques & Equipment (Part 4)]

I sv lamb liver. I cook it to 130F then blowtorch it

[White wine spheres?]

When I tried the reverse spheres I wasn't using glucolactate (calcium lactate gluconate?). I was mixing the wine with calcium chloride and then into a 5% alginate bath. Is this my problem ... aside from stupidity? 

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You asked for experts and I'm not even close to being one of those but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night (actually I didn't do that either) so I'll add my completely irrelevant and unsolicited opinion by saying that the main problem with using calcium chloride in reverse spheres (in my already admittedly non-expert opinion) is that it tastes nasty. Not bad. Not less than stellar. Plain ol' tastebud-offending bad. Of course I have previously admitted to the possibility that I just have some weird hypersensitivity to the stuff but I've gone down to levels that wouldn't even do the intended job and the stuff still made me wish I'd put something tastier (like a cod liver oil sorbet with extra turpentine) in my mouth.

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Ha! I was hoping my recent stay at a Holiday Inn would help me reach a solution to this problem, as well ... but I'm starting to think those commercials aren't entirely honest.

I haven't had the foul-taste problem with reverse spheres you've run into. I'm sure enough of the stuff to any solution will taste pretty gross.

Even if I can't figure this out, I'm having plenty of fun with the process either way.

I was thinking I could make white wine spheres then carbonate them in my ISI with some soda chargers. Sort of a sparkling wine sphere.

Thanks, everyone for the input!