Corymoto

How about (dry) malt extract (purchased from a homebrew shop)? It's in your price range. Lots of options there. You'd probably need to experiment a bit. You could even steep a small amount of hops (probably a noble type that's not too intense) in some water/stock/liquid (perhaps do a quick infusion via whipper) to go along with it. I think the Cooking Issues podcast has mentioned a "hop tincture" made via that method at one point or another (although I think they are going for a very hoppy flavor. Newcastle isn't exactly "very hoppy"...).

Regarding the FF Mac & Cheese fat content, I can't actually quantify it, but I bet it's pretty low... Both of the times that I've made the cheese water, I have refrigerated it overnight and was left with a solid-ish removable layer of cheese fat/oil on top. Which, by the way, after you cook off whatever trace amount of water was present, behaves just like any other oil. I slow-cooked some 'torn croutons' (a riff on the technique in Ad Hoc at Home) in the aged cheddar oil and they were fan-friggin-tastic. I'm sure there are other uses as well. I agree that the flavor (or lack thereof) for the crumbles is pretty cheese-dependent. The aged cheddar crumbles that I made were good. Gruyère crumbles weren't that tasty.

I have made the sous vide fish stock quite a while back (maybe the first thing I made out of MC?). It turned out very well for me. Those were my pre-chamber vac. days if I recall correctly, so I did it with two (large) ziploc freezer bags. I didn't have any issues with punctures, but I certainly didn't/couldn't pull a 'hard vacuum' on the ziplocs (removed air via the 'submerging' technique). Definitely worth making, I thought it was the best fish stock that I have ever had (not that I've tasted a ton of them straight though). I don't think it would be the same with a pressure cooker.

Quick algorithm/mental math for ºC to ºF conversions: add 40 to your 'C' number multiply by two subtract 1/10 of this number from this number subtract 40. ex. 60ºC 60+40=100, 100*2=200, 200-20=180, 180-40=140ºF ex. 150ºC 150+40=190, 190*2=380, 380-38=342, 342-40=302ºF

I'm very interested in your results. Looking at another's results, I wonder if you had the same 'foam' outcome ... the recipe calls for a siphon (I presume a soda siphon?) and the blogger used a "whip" which I am guessing is a whipped cream dispenser, which is quite likely a different outcome? I have no idea about these devices. Was yours foamy? Yes, I had very similar results. I did scale the recipe down a little bit for the amount of yolk I had on hand and used citric instead of malic acid. I used a thermowhip (not a soda siphon) just like the linked blogger. I assume the foamy-ness is kinda the point of using a siphon (that and being able to hold it and dispense as required as the blogger pointed out...). It is a thick and rich foam, but seemed maybe a little 'lighter' than the traditional sauce. Maybe only 'lighter' in that it is less dense and as such, you may end up using less on a mass basis..? It was good on omelettes.

FYI - The Modernist Cuisine website has an 'about the book' pdf file that has a recipe for Sous Vide Instant Hollandaise. I made it about a week ago, worked very well, pretty foolproof. Here's a link.

re: the sous vide oatmeal upthread- I have done this several times (even replied to a rice-cooker/oatmeal thread here on eG about it). I did it as more of a convenience breakfast item rather than an attempt to improve upon conventionally-cooked oatmeal though... I use Alton Brown's 'overnight oatmeal' recipe, put it all in a bag, and set it in a PID-controlled rice cooker at 182degF overnight (I generally start with room temp/cold ingredients - ice cubes and frozen half and half for the liquids, so it takes a while to come up to temp each night - probably ends up being at 182 for 6 hours???? It's been a while since I've done it). I'm not exactly sure why I settled on 182 degrees (can't remember or find my scribbled notes).? I was starting to read about starch gelatinization at the time though. From Doug's post (thank you for everything you've done for all of us amateurs, BTW!!!) it looks like I could drop the temp even lower. My version is probably not quite as nice as oatmeal made in a pot over the stove, but much less labor intensive (In the morning, I empty the bag into a mixing bowl and give it a few good stirs, but other than that, it is hot and ready when I wake up)! - c o r y

You could try sous-vide. You'd need a temperature regulator (like an Auber PID controller) hooked up to your rice cooker (not all rice cookers can be controlled with one though) and a vacuum sealer system (reynolds handivac works fine). Put your oatmeal ingredients (steel-cut oats, dry fruit, h20, half&half, salt, sweetner, etc.) into a vacuum-pack bag and set it in a temp-controlled rice cooker filled with h20 overnight. I do this with a crockpot set to 182ºF. The next morning, I have a bag of hot oatmeal waiting for me.