jk1002

When it comes to beef, I understand that tender cuts should be done at higher heat and shorter time versus tougher cuts like my flank steak above should be done at lower temperature and longer time. When it comes to what we consider in the US a tender cut, depending on the origin of the beef it might be tough as well. Lets just take for example german beef, steaks are usually not as tender as in the US. Would increasing the time help in this case help breaking down the collagen or would it lead to overcooking? Is there anyone who tried doing steaks with meat from a breed like the german cattle that is general tougher?

I did a a 24h Flank Steak at 55c, then pan seared it. I don't think I can recall eating a better steak when it comes to flavour or texture. Sliced it, then wrapped it into a crepe made out of peppers and corn (Michael Symon Recipe) together with BBQ sauce and cole slaw. Texture of the steak was in between a filet and a new york strip I would say. Very interesting. I am wondering how different it is with 3 or 4 hours in the water bath?

>>I just use the ziplock vacuum bags, I find if I use it on a smooth surface (glass table) and push down really hard, I get a great seal. I haven't had any problems with air bubbles or anything. << I use those as well. No problems at all. Peapod has both sizes for 2$ a box - I am guessing as the reynolds system it doesn't sell to well.

>>I would love to see the person that can accurately discern the difference between a duck breast cooked at 60 and one cooked at 60.5. << When you look how far the temperature ranges for medium and medium well done steaks are defined, it sure should not matter. I think the reason lies around the pasteurization. See example below from the baldwin tables. mm 57.5°F 60.5°C 63.5°F 66°C 20 2:04 55 34 26 The only thing I found so far was the Egg where the tiny difference seems to matter.

I visited it last February, they closed it as some tourists did not behave but then re-opened. So unless they closed it again since Feb '09 you should be OK. I did not book a tour because I wasn't sure if I could get up that early but there are few (google) that offer. Tokyo is an awesome place to visit, I had a blast. Edit: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3021.html Actually it is closed until Jan 23

>> Also the specs do not indicate there is any circulator built into the device, from which I would assume that the precision of temperature control no better than the combination using cooker that heats from the bottom. << There is no circulator. They have a perforated bottom and based on comments I read on on one of the blogs they have multiple heating zones that they activate to generate some sort of current within the bath. Judging their marketing, they are after the no carb dieter rather than the "How can we poach this in butter" Egullet food scientist so this is maybe why they leave lots of info off the table.

>>The vinegar pickles (p. 66) call for rice wine vinegar. I'm only familiar with the dark kind that I use for Chinese cooking. << I have a crystal clear rice vinegar, used that for sunchokes in the mushroom salad. It has a lighter flavour and I would think it is supposed to be this way judging the pictures in the book.

>>ha, you almost sold me one! I'll still hold off though, I'm still not convinced I need this at home.<< I do have a sous vide setup at home (Not the Supreme) and I have done it in the past with an induction cooktop. In regards to using it at home, many things need quite a bit of time and advance planning. Who wants to wait more then an hour and a half in the morning for perfect poached eggs. Also while for tough steak cuts, chicken breast and pork tenderloin I am a huge fan, chickens legs I like baked and broiled, same for lobster (par boiled and broiled). Yes the sous vide tail was perfectly cooked, but it was very tricky to get the shell off while it was raw and it looked a bit beaten up because of that. I think if it is worth it, depends drastically on one owns cooking style. I am not yet sold on it being the next microwave for the home cook - in fact I doubt it. Some things like chicken breast I will consistently do sous vide as I am less nervous about bacteria - when done normal I always overcook it just to be sure. Same for pork. Lamb and duck I haven't tried but I am guessing that will be SV as well as I just don't do those often enough that I could pull that off reasonable well without it. For some things I just don't see a point, with the lobster I haven't see anything other then TKs butter poaching and that was impractical cause of the shell that didn't come off, for chicken legs that is just too forgiving to be messed up in my oven so I am not bothered with SV.

I am interested as well. I always search for something interesting to go along with the food I cook and I cook much more often then I like to drink. For all Italian meals I have, current choice is Sanbitter with an few good splashes of lime juice to break the sweetness and crushed ice.

http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/2009/02/16/326130/john-campbell-chips-masterclass.html I struggled with Russets doing a proper fry. This article gives a few clues. I had actually success with the method mentioned on the cookingissues blog. Personally I believe, while the potato is important, technique has the final say. Not storing the cut chips in water long time, cooking them in boiling salt water for taste and drying them properly after the blanching turned my crappy fry into something great.

It is a respect thing. Same as Dr or Professor or for that matter President.

The Maris Piper has less sugar then the Russet that we commonly use in the US for fries. That might be relevant for thicker fries as they don't brown that quick when you do the classic double fry. I know about Heston cooking in water first, but I am not sure how common that is. I'd think if you want thick fries the Russet would be very similar if you boil in water as well. I know I saw an article with Heston explaining why the sugar and starch level is so relevant, he used some tool on his potatoes to measure that, just can't seem to find it.

@Doug, I know it is probably too late but what I would be really interested in would be, how do I incorporate sous vide into a let's say "Gordon Ramsay makes it easy" or Jamie Oliver type of book. I want to try that 2010. Since I don't cook frequently enough I usually overcook my meats. I want to fix that with the circulator. For chicken breast and this weekends pork tenderloin as well as cheaper cuts of steak I had success. @all The Thomas Keller book states you should not sous vide longer then 4 hour within the danger zone which is defined in the book as 40 to 140f. How does this go together with the 72 short rib and 8 hour pork chop? @all I dropped a tablespoon of butter into my bag with the pork tenderloin and vacuumed it with the ziploc pump. The butter coated nicely the entire piece of meat once it was molten. Why would Keller waste an entire container (5KG Butter) of Beurre Monte on sous vide'ing lobster tail and not use bags if a few spoons in the bag should have done the trick?

Interesting. I made pork tenderloin over the weekend. I did not brine, but used a spice mix and lots of sea-salt as well as a tablespoon of butter. Basically butter poached it. I left it an 1:07 at 146f/63.5c (circulator), then I wiped off excess spice and salt and topped it with Maple/Dijon/chopped candied pecans and stuck it under a broiler for a few minutes. That was the most tender and juicy pork I ever had (I don't eat a lot), even though I did not rest it long enough and lost a lot of juice. It seems even with low temp the resting is still important, I don't think the broiler had much impact since it was just to caramelize and firm up the maple mixture, less then 5 minutes. For the chops, I will give this a whirl sometime this week. I don't think it should need so much time, in fact I like a bit of texture.

>>is whether you actually want a vacuum sealer at all<< I would ask the same question. Only reason to me is improved handling when fluids are involved or if you want to do other things like compression or flash pickling. I am using the ziplocs with the hand vacuum pump and sofar I have no complaints at all. Somewhere in the main thread I think it was bounced around if the vacuum would help eliminate certain bacteria but I believe that is incorrect and the reason for the vac is only to optimize heat transfer and prevent trapped air from expanding turning the bags into "floaters".

Maybe a book on plating or knife skills. Or wine pairings. Something that expands what he does into a direction he hasn't gone yet. If you can stretch it, maybe a cooking class on a special topic. FCI in NYC offers 3 or 4 hour sessions, I am sure you can find something like that in LA as well.

I 2nd the request for an online version. I loved the Natura version that had just pictures and then recipes and instructions on the DVD Rom. When you look at income level of a professional cook, 300 is undoable - so unless it is picked up as a business expenses I doubt many will get it. It might be too technical for the average food lover. I am still wondering who actually bought the Fat Duck book, I got it in absence of being able to go to dinner there. It was 130$ or so shipped straight from Amazon UK to the US. Early christmas gift to me.

>>If the potatoes are not up to required standards, a top quality restaurant should not serve french fries<< They harvest the potatoes at the peak of season. To me freezing is just another method of preservation, nothing wrong with that. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/09/20/FD17707.DTL I am struggling a lot with french fries at home, if I recall correct Mr Blumenthal was measuring sugar and starch content. I noted that "aged" russet potatoes work better to me. I just tried double frying but will do triple next, I just don't think his recipe works for thinner fries - I don't want mine to be half inch thick. JK

@ lel4866 I did misunderstood. I am so focused on researching sous vide options right now that as soon as I read temperature control I think of it. I am not sure how well these external controls work without having a probe inside the fluid that you are trying to warm. When it comes to chocolate melting I would just throw it in a bag into a regulated water bath, or just float a bowl. For frying, you can heat oil with the polyscience - see cookingissues blog and the turkey postings. I am guessing its just a huge mess to clean up. The larger polyscience goes up to 392 - short of french fries. I would not do that though no way - also the larger ones become too expensive. When I was a Kid we had a ceramic stove , it's just a huge mess too clean when things overcook thats all I remember about it. It is supposed to haven even heat distribution. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass-ceramic

Honestly, why would one bother with these workarounds? I haven't seen a bad word about the Sous Vide Supreme yet and it is in the same price range. Also rice cooker and sous vide magic give good results it seems. Plus they have a new product coming. I use a simple setup with a induction cooktop and a digital thermometer but am nervous about that and like to do more with sous vide at home. My preference is drifting towards the polyscience since it is christmas and I don't like to waste the space on the supreme, I like that I can use different vessels. Also I hate how the Supreme is marketed, which may be hard to understand for some that that leads me to spend twice as much for a toy for occasional home use. Only concerns right now are noise from the pump as my kitchen is in my living room and size of the pot required as I use mostly smaller pots. I know for sure though that any workarounds with cost coming close to Sous Vide Magic or Supreme are probably a waste of money.

I think asian is pretty broad, what does she like? I personally have given up on Japanese - that is something that I enjoy at the restaurant but Thai curries or any kind of wok cookery is what I do at home. I haven't used it much, but the Wagamama cookbook had some fairly simple recipes in it if I recall correct. Momofuku may be too funky even though it does a very good job getting one exited. Vongerichtens Asian Flavors was the first book that inspired me to actually run out to an asian supermarket - which I consider is the biggest challenge. If you don't have one or do not get comfortable buying fairly strange and unknown ingredients it will be tricky too cook.

I know about the Ramsay eggs. I know also about the armada of minions cleaning his stainless pan's ..... I am somewhat attracted to the perfect cooked bolded egg. In my head i settled on a polyscience and started saving for that. Unless the supreme gets killer reviews, the fresh meal product shows up or addelice is relased for the US (no date) I am not deviating and stick to my induction method to the paint i have a spare grand for the polyscience.

The Ramen? Did you make the broth all the way from scratch or took shortcuts? To me it looks more like a "oh we made ramen" over the last days then last night task. I did the mushroom salad which was incredible and had some serrano ham with his red eye mayo on the side to get rid of a starbucks VIA sample .... I finally found a use for that. The pickled sun-chokes for the mushroom salad turned out awesome. After a day the whole thing turned sweet somehow even though it was super sour when I tried after pickling them for a few minutes. Mushrooms I had to substitute but that worked out OK Cheers JK

I do these syrups all the time as a thing of "convenience". Right now I have a ginger/lime syrup for a quick margarita in my fridge. I also do sometimes water/brown sugar/mint for a quick mint julep getting around the requirement of having fresh mint in the house which won't last long at all. I also do a ginger simple syrup, to be mixed with muddled frozen cranberries, calvados and gin. These syrups are a great tool of preserving flavors so I can pull of a decent cocktail without planning or constant stock keeping of fresh ingredients.

http://www.sousvidesupreme.com/community/ Its here ..... scroll down a tiny bit ... Not sure what the obsession with creamy scrambled egg is, I like mine firm.