jk1002

I would think the problem you run into, especially with the 2 step fry is that your fries get soggy. I personally blanch in boiling water and then double fry (following cookingissues blog approach). For the fish, I would just fry them in a normal pot. I have a Miu fryer that I used mostly for french fries, other things I just use my All clads and a wok skimmer. I can see why he does the fries first and then the fish but would just use separated pots. Fries are somewhat tricky with a slotted spoon but larger fish pieces should be easy to handle. The oil is hard to be re-used after the fish fry for other things anyhow, in fact when my recycled oil from french fries gets to a point that I am afraid it introduces an off taste it often is still fine for a last frying of battered olives or fish. So I actually have 2 oil recycling vessels For buying oil, I found that between supermarket and chinese market there was no difference, in fact I could get the gallon of peanut oil for 15$ at shop n stop last time I picked some up while chinese supermarket was 20$.

For the pasta SV question - I recall that Alan Ducasse is / was using an ancient method where the pasta would be cooked in little water which later would become its sauce. Alessi has a pot for that .... Alessi There is a also a Bittman article video about this, essentially it is cooking pasta Risotto style. Bittman I would think with SV you may loose some of the creaminess, it may become unpleasant if you run it too dry as I would think the pasta still leaches some starch. I would also think you do need boiling water, I had pasta once that was "soaked" in hot but not boiling water - It had a funny texture.

Here: Bittman Kitchen Essentials And here: Jill Santopietro: Stock your Kitchen I like the idea of picking recipes or at least as style of cooking and then buy as you go along cooking.

That is just asking for you to get beaten up. You can be very happy to be in NYC with Astor. I am out in Boston and while I can find some things when running around, Astor is heaven to me compared what I have here. Plus you have cocktail kingdom which I am thinking you can pick things up as well if you ask. When it comes to bitters, I think one of the reasons you can't find them is that they last forever in an average household and let's not forget specialty stuff like chocolate or celery bitters, there is just not enough volume on these things, even in a large stores like Astor. Beeing in Boston, I recently struggled to find Creme de Violette, Rittenhouse Rye, any of the Tuthilltown spirits, Luxardo Maraschino, Luxardo Maraschino cherries, Ardbeg Supernova. Thankfully my store picks these things up when you ask and they can get it. I would think if you ask the Astor guys they can get you what you need. JK

This is Monkfish done at 60.5c for an hour, poached in olive oil. Then finished off under a broiler for 1 or 2 minutes to get some color on it. I did brine for 20 minutes in 10%, I am guessing this wasn't enough since the fish leaked a lot of protein I know monkfish can be tough, when done right it should have a texture like lobster. This one here was not tough at all, more flaky and not at all what Lobster is like. For a normal flaky fish I thought the thinner parts were slightly overdone, the thicker pieces were perfect - I was just expecting the Lobster texture which wasn't there. In fact, texture wise it was similar to the salmon I did few days back. I think for fish with no skin the torch is definitely the way to go to get some color on, I don't think I would do the broiler again just to have more control. I know fish at an hour is long but I am extra careful and follow the Baldwin tables. P.s. Note I know Monkfish is on the Monterey Aquarium list, Wholefoods was selling it though and my local Monger had some as well so I picked it up.

What I am saying is you need the PID from freshmeals plus rice cooker. That gives you a decent solution that some here use. Note that freshmeals should come out with a "bubbler" some time soon, that should make the rice cooker obsolete. Check sousvidecooking.org, he has an article and there is some information in comments. I don't see how a 50$ hotplate with stirrer can be exact enough neither how these small plates can handle a pot large enough to carry a decent amount of product. Personally I would recommend using a digital thermometer and maintain the temperature manually. I did this for a while and it's a bit of a pain but it's a good way for getting one's feet wet. I did this for sirloin steak and chicken and just upped the temperature and time a bit to be safe. Use ziplocs, no vacuum machine needed. Just submerge and push the air out. I got a circulator for christmas for toying around. There are few things that knocked me out, a pork tenderloin, a 24h flank steak but then there were some other things like Eggs that I didn't care for or am afraid to try like that ultra rare salmon (simply cause I trust my fish market not enough - fish is often a bit slimy). For chicken I am not yet sure - I was after perfectly cooked chicken but somehow this reminded me of the cubed mystery poultry they use in our canteen at work for their chicken soup - or maybe deli chicken breast. I am still playing with that though ...... P.s.: Note the Frank HSU comments

>>Has anyone tried this yet? This sounds like a great alternative, especially for a home user on a budget. Question is,<< With 200$ you are very close to the price of the fresh meal solution which is somewhat proven with a rice cooker. Note that you will see a lot of movement in this market space. Apparently Polyscience will introduce a slightly cheaper unit for cooking and also Fresh Meals has new things come out plus there is a company called Addelice that should bring their product to the US sometime later this year. Now with a 200$ budget I think fresh meal is the way to go.

I had it as a steak tatar which was pretty awesome but if your saying raw is out of the question .... I have also had it in a japanese hot pot preparation which I didn't care so much for and grilled on very hot salt stones at the table. If you can't get your hands on salt blocks I would 2nd the very hot pan. Just don't overcook em, I don't think you get much color onto them without melting away the fat. JK

I did the Ginger Scallion, I was also wondering if the recipe is correct but I am guessing it is since it pretty much matches what they have here. http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/turkey-breast-with-ginger-scallion-sauce

I guess it can be a lot of hassle. I wasn't bothered by shape and somewhat in a hurry and I needed something to cover my olive oil poached salmon. Taste was very good, it aroma was more like a potato pancake and very different then sauteed potatoes. Not sure if that is normal, I was using 4 yukons I had floating around since christmas so they were a bit old. I checked my FCI cookbook, they have Anna but no Maxim.

I did try the Keller way just now. That said because I was home I was more relaxed with the shape of my slices and the layout of the overall thing. I did 2 layers. I made the disk too large and it broke when I tried to flip it in the pan put I was able to put it back together and in the end I had some sort of egg shape disk that was crips and did hold together like it should. I had the cooked potato slices in the fridge under a sheet pan to weigh them down but that didn't seem to do anything. I noted that the slices did not hold together until pretty far into the cooking in the pan, I would say when the "shrinking" process was well under way they started sticking. So I would use low heat and do it nice and slow and wait with the 1st flip until they did shrink a bit. Hope this helps.

This is a play on a technique I picked up in an amateur cooking class. We submerged cherry tomatoes in olive oil and poached them for a while. I never did this back at home since olive is kind of expensive and I didn't have use for it after I am done poaching. So I froze a few spoonfulls of oil and dropped it into the bag and SV'ed at 85c for 40 minutes. They come out looking raw but are fully cooked, nice surprise in a salad.

He show's the steps but doesn't give an exact recipe I believe. I think they call that soft tofu, has a custard like consistency. I had it in Tokyo as part of a tasting menu - wasn't my thing to be honest.

Microplaned lemon-peel. In one of the river street cookbooks they did that over some sort of chicken soup and it turned for me at least the dish from "meh" to superb.

Interesting. Keller said once in an interview that the oven he is working with plays a huge role and he is aware that recipes he gives may not work because of that. Anyhow, I believe if you do not dry the potato it becomes soggy and not crisp. In the sous vide book Keller gives a new version which to me sound more workable then in an oven. He blanches the potato slices (1/16") for 20 seconds which I think cooks them pretty much through. Then he dries them, sprinkles them lightly with starch, chills them and then pan fries them. No oven at all.d

>>With a traditionally roasted piece of meat, I'd put my thumb squarely on that. With SV, it might still be an issue. << I believe that with SV that is still an issue, I did pork tenderloin a few times and the first time I skipped resting and it lost a lot of juice (not that it mattered, it was still ultra juicy). Note that I did not pan sear but shuffled it under a broiler for a minute or two to crisp up a pecan maple syrup mustard topping. JK

Up to 2007 there was a massive butter surplus in the market in the European Union - it was called Buttermountain - the EU actually guaranteed prices and stored the butter. I think going rate in Germany is still way less then a Euro - I noticed how expensive Butter is in the US when I came here.

I found by accident few SV demonstration movies with Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park in NYC. These are also on the Eleven Madison Park Homepage Presentation Consistency Texture Flavour

Think about how you would incorporate salt into the dough? You would probably end up with tiny very salty pockets. If it get's applied through the boiling water you end up with a very evenly seasoned product. It is a similar effect as blanching a vegetable in salted water versus putting the salt on top I guess.

I have this down as my religion. It has to be a New York Strip. I cut up with a chefs knife 2 or 3 russets into 1/4 fries. I used to double fry but now follow the cooking issue approach and cook and dry before the 2 fry steps. The fries are topped with fresh rosemary and sea salt. I use some some demi glace and maybe port or madeira for a quick pan sauce. Ketchup for the fries on the side in a tiny bowl. Beforehand a Martini, during dinner a red wine, afterwards cheesecake. Then if I have it to support digestion a churchill size Romeo y Julieta cuban cigar with either wine or a malt. I don't do this more then once a month, I don't always have cubans or cheesecake. I used to go into steak houses but usually ended up frustrated about little things so I gave up on those.

>>I would have great difficultly in sourcing the primary ingredient in probably a large majority of the recipes. Time to start looking around<< That is true, one can simplify here and there but in general the style of food in that book is part of a multi course menu, I don't think that can easily be scaled up to become a full entry for lets say a family meal. Sometimes for example a "starch" component is missing etc. Over a multi course dinner that is no big deal, if you spend 6 hours or more to assemble that single plate it is a different story. What I have been doing is, I take the recipes I usually cook but toss the protein into the bath. For example I took the Pork Loin Spiedino out of the A16 book, SVed the loin and just finished off in the end for a few seconds under the broiler. Recipe is here: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2008/09/cook-the-book-pork-loin-spiedino-with-pine-nu.html For pork, chicken breast and tougher steak cuts SV is my goto technique. I haven't yet tried vegetables or fish. Lobster was a failure and even though I know where I goofed I would probably stick to my old method of parboiling and broiling. The connection one has to make is, how do you merge the SVed product with the original recipe. To me it seems that often this is not such a big problem.

If it is really melting in your mouth, I would think it's not the cut but a breed that makes the difference. Wagyo or Kobe. The fat in it melts like butter just by touching it.

I think the answer where to start without any skills on the resume is, look for bottom of the chain jobs to get your feet into a kitchen. When you apply lets say as a dishwasher, say that you eventually want to be cooking. If thats in the cards after being on time etc etc for a few month hope that they let you go for it when opportunity opens up. Or work for free but I am guessing that is not in the cards. I think this "entry" phase is what people who do culinary school may get around. For finding jobs, walk by restaurants you like and ask, these entry level jobs are usually through help wanted signs or craigslist adds or whatnot.

As it reads in the Keller book, if you stay below 140f (60c) you should not keep your food longer then 4 hours in the bag. So I would sear just to be sure. I think he is playing it safe in his book, for example the 400gr Sirloin, he has 45 minutes in the bath at 139.1 (59.5), then he pan sears for 5 minutes, then he pan roasts another 5 minutes on top. I would think he is a bit past medium with that timing. It looks good on the pictures though. For the torch, I haven't tried that yet but am afraid as well that you can taste the gas. I used a small creme brulee torch once, that was fine but that thing is way to small to sear a steak quickly. JK

I guess what you say is about right. I had my pan on medium high as well, I used high heat canola that can go up to 570f and it smoked so it was definitely hot. It was probably in there for 2.5 minutes each side, I think it went from rare at 55 celsius to a bit past medium after the sear. That said, I prefer rendered fat and a great crust and usually like my steaks medium to medium well. Also I am still nervous with bacteria, since it was outside what Keller specifies as the safe zone I wanted to make sure I sear it all over. If you want raw or lower grades of medium I guess your only choice is a torch or maybe a grill pan could give better results. Actually I found a stainless grill pan (not the non stick crap) on Amazon and I will give that a shot for my chicken breast. Somehow I don't like the pan seared crust on sv'ed chcicken breast - ruins the experience of the super moist meat so I am hoping the grill pan will address the optic and add some extra flavour without impacting the overall mouthfeel much.