Robert Jueneman

March 20, 2012

Turtleboom,

Unless you need to eat them right away, I would chill them, and then measure the temperature drop if you turn off the power, vs. how long you think you were without power.

If the temperature drop over that amount of time was less than 5C, i.e., to less than 55 C, then you are absolutely OK. If it was longer than that, then the question is whether it would drop to below 55C for more than four hours.

Since I suspect that you would have known if the power had gone out for four hours or more, I think you are almost certainly fine.

If not, feel free to inscribe this on your tombstone! :-)

Good luck!

March 11, 2012

Boy, did you just open a can of worms!

People like Blackp and Pedrog and I have been all over these issues over the last year.

Some people I respect claim that too strong a vacuum can cause meat to boil, and the texture to degrade. Others, including myself, have never seen meat boil, and tend to poo-poo the idea. But this may be a function of your altitude, the kind of meat, etc.

There is also the issue of whether you are pulling this vacuum in order to immediately cook the food, or whether you are going to store it, presumably frozen, and if so for how long.

If you are going to be cooking the food immediately, then the only thing that really matters is whether the bag floats or not, so 98% or higher is probably fine.

On the other hand, if you are the type that freezes something and may not pull it out until you come across it a year later, then you may want to consider 99% and even an extra vacuum time, in order to minimize freezer burn.

I don't have any experience with a boiling point sensor -- I just look at the food and hit stop if it starts to boil.

I haven't any idea why they would recommend only 95% for cooked foods, assuming you have chilled them back down again -- otherwise they might well boil.

And cold liquids are going to have to be very, very cold indeed, or they will boil at 99%. But maybe the boiling sensor at maximum sensitivity takes care of that.

So for what it's worth, I think the cooked foods setting is too low, and the cold liquids a bit too high, and the rest sound about right.

Your mileage may vary.

March 8, 2012

I would think so. Even if some air-bourne bacterial floated in, they wouldn't survive at the pasteurization temperature.

But why not just leave it in the bag until service? Or are you planning on slicing it to order?

March 5, 2012

They say that only way to avoid making mistakes is through experience. Unfortunately, the only way to gain experience is by making mistakes!

Failure #1. I tried making a beer batter, using 328 g of Guiness Foreign Extra, 100 g potato flour, and 0.5 g of baking soda. It hardened to the consistency of cookie dough within a few minutes., and the dark beer made it look like the dog had done it, but never mind. I added the remains of the second bottle I was planning to drink, another 193 g, so that I could at least coat the rings. Using tongs, I dropped a few of the coated rings into the basket, and deep-fried them at 350F for three minutes. The rings were nicely soft, but rather oily. But the batter didn’t stick well to them, but it did stick to the fry basket.

Failure #2. Since I had the rings already coated with the batter, I thought I’d try them at a higher temperature, 395F. The results were even worse — the batter didn’t stick at all, and the batter got too done.

Failure #3. I vacuum sealed four or five rings in a bag, and immersed them in my ultrasonic machine for 20 minutes on a side, then vacuum cooled them three times at 99.9% + 30 seconds. The batter stuck a little bit better, but not much, and the rings were still oily.

Success, finally! I tried slkinsey’s recipe, mixing rice flour and Wondra 50/50, but I had no idea how much beer to use. I finally ended up with 80 g each of rice flour and Wondra, and 200 g of a pale ale, and the results were delightful!

Next time, maybe I'll try some with buttermilk.

March 5, 2012

I also want to know about the chilled vodka bath. I use chilled vodka too, but usually just for inspiration. :-)

That's what the bourbon is for!

I keep three or four 1.5L bottles of the cheapest vodka I can find in the freezer, at about -8F/-22C. Then depending on the size of the piece I'm trying to chill, I either pour that into a Cambro cold-holding tank that has a cold gel in it, also stored in the freezer; or I put it in a metal pan on top of my Anti-Griddle, which can get down to -30F if it is well insulated, e.g, by covering it with a Styrofoam cooler.

I'm not necessarily trying to freeze the bagged meat or whatever -- sometimes from cook-chill, but sometimes just leftovers -- but rather just cool it down rapidly, so I can put it in the fridge or the freezer, and not have to wait an hour or two.

Obviously a -22C bath is going to chill foods a whole lot faster than a 0C bath will, and on top of that, I don't have to buy big bags of ice, or use up all of the ice in the ice maker, just to chill the food. And the vodka is reusable, assuming I don't overfill the funnel while pouring it back into the bottle.

But you could also add ice cream salt to your ice bath, if you don't mind the additional cost, and the mess if you spill some. I don't think it will get down to that temperature, but I haven't tried it.

I've asked Vengroff to add this lower temperature bath to his Sous Vide Dash app.

March 4, 2012

What's the difference, if any, between the sweet onions I bought today (imported from Mexico) vs. Vidallia or Walla Walla onions?
I was going to embark on a long explanation, but the Serious Eats link says it pretty well:
Turns out that although sweet onions have about 25% more sugar in them, their flavor difference when raw has more to do with the amount of tear-inducing lachrymators they contain. Yellow onions have more pungent irritants than sweet, giving sweet onions the impression of actually being even sweeter than they really are. When you cook the onions down, these pungent compounds mellow out into more complex flavors, giving yellow onions a distinct edge over the sweet.

But both Vidallia and Walla Walla are considered sweet, aren't they?

And for making onion rings, everyone seems to recommend using them, vs. the more complex yellow onions. Is this because the fried onion rings don't cook long enough to mellow out the more complex flavors?

March 4, 2012

slkinsey, do you remember the proportion of beer to the flour mix? And what was the reason for using rice flour and Wondra, rather than all one or the other?

March 4, 2012

Join me in trying to improve on fried onion rings with techniques borrowed from the starch-infused, ultrasonic French fries? See the onion rings thread.

And SL Kinsey has a neat trick with a cream whipper that seems worth trying, as well.

Do onion rings profit from a Maillard reaction, as per the Serious Eats reference above?

What's the difference, if any, between the sweet onions I bought today (imported from Mexico) vs. Vidallia or Walla Walla onions?

March 4, 2012

Last week I cooked a large pork shoulder for 24 hours at 58C. I then opened the package, and sliced the meat into three sections each about 45mm thick, rebagged them, and continued cooking one, while chilling the other two in my chilled vodka bath, then froze them. I sliced the cut pieces and served them with mustard and horseradish sauce., accompanied with starch-infused ultrasonic French fries. Delicious! If I had a smoker, I might try that but these were just fine, and nice and tender.

I'm going to retherm one of the frozen pieces for 5 hours today, and serve them with some ultrasonic onion rings that I'm going to try for the first time. See the onion ring thread.

March 4, 2012

A while ago, I kicked off a longish and very interesting thread on the MC starch-infused ultrasonic French fry (see ).

Now I'm beginning to wonder of some of the same techniques could be applied to onion rings, and perhaps vice versa.

The above recipes seem to have used AP flour, corn starch, rice flour, chickpea flour, and Tempura batter. But why not try potato flour, as well?

Second question -- all of these recipes seem to fry the onions only once, as opposed to the two-step, lower temperature, cool, then super-hot temperature for the second go-round, or even the triple cooked (boiled, then fried twice) method of Heston Blumenthal's Pommes Pont Neuf. So I wonder -- would a two-step process be of any benefit? The goal of that process, as I understand it, is to cook the potatoes to the point that the inside is nicely softened, but then achieve a crunchy exterior.

JimS mentioned the possible use of both baking power and baking soda in the batter. This might two two things -- the baking powder might make the batter lighter and more airy, as the carbon dioxide is released; and the baking soda might dissolve some of the pectin in the onion rings, and allow the batter to stick to the onion better, so it doesn't slide out.

Since it's Sunday, and I have some time to explore, I think I'll go buy some Vidallia onions. Then make a beer batter with 2/3 beer and 1/3 potato flour and 1 tsp of baking soda. Bag the onions in the batter and vacuum pack, then immerse in an ultrasonic cavitation machine for 30 minutes a side. Remove from the bag, and dredge in a little more flour. Then into the deep fryer at 330F until lightly browned, probably about 3 minutes. Remove and fan cool. Then back in the fryer at 395F until the desired color.

I have no idea what I'm doing or whether this will work at all! Mad scientist, secret laboratory!

March 4, 2012

Talk to Joe Strybel or Jason Sayers at PolyScience, and get them to special order one for you, already installed. I would think/hope they could ship it to you direct from Italy, rather than back and forth across the pond twice.

March 2, 2012

After reading the Cooks Illustrated article, my head is still spinning from the number of variables.

They suggest boiling the potatoes for only a minute, then draining them and reheating for 2 minutes to dry them. That sounds like it might be sufficient to get a nice mushy exterior, while not allowing the potatoes to fall apart, which my 15-20 minute time often does.

You could then starch infuse them, with or without cavitation, and then dry them again. Then deep fry them, or as they suggest, oven-roast them at 500F.

Last night I tried some of the fires I had left over from Sunday's marathon. They were bolded for about 20 minutes in brine with sugar and baking soda, then starch-infused, then put in the fridge. One batch I put in the ultrasonic machine, and put back the fridge to save, the other I fried twice.

I think the recipe uses too much potato flour. Instead of a nice thin batter, it made sort of a gloppy mess. They tasted good, but maybe not quite as good as the ones with cavitation.

And Cooks is right -- doing this for more than 2 people would be a real challenge.

March 2, 2012

That's rather surprising. I would call their 1-800 number, and ask for the culinary department.

March 2, 2012

Sous Vide Dash just keeps getting better and better, and it is absolutely invaluable.

Just to keep Vengroff's creative juices flowing, however, here is my short list of "wouldn't it be nice ifs":

1. Allow the use of chilled vodka as an ice bath, down to say -30C, which I can reach with my AntiGriddle.

2. Compute times for frozen foods (everyone wants that one, and I understand how difficult it is).

3. Add additional shapes, or clarify what the terms mean. E.g., hamburger should use the "medallion" shape, sausage is a cylinder. But what about a spatchcocked Cornish Game hen?

4. Add additional foods, e.g., beef liver, lobster tails, brisket, chuck steak, with recommended times and temperatures for tenderness, as well as basic temperature/pasteurization. (This may start a food fight of preferences and recommendations, but I think that people pretty well have agreed on 24 hours for chuck, up to 72 hours for brisket and ribs, etc. Or let the users modify them according to their own taste.)

5. Add lots of veggies -- asparagus, broccoli, corn on the cob, rhubarb, turnips, potatoes -- just to keep me from having to look up the recommended times/temperatures.

6. Support some kind of an interface to a label-maker, to prevent "Unidentified Freezer Objects". I'm presently using a PolyScience MV-35XP chamber vacuum, which has a printer that I can customize the "Ingredients" with brief cooking instructions, as well as a pack date and an expiration date, but it's rather a pain to set up -- you have to scroll through the alphabet, letter by letter, as there isn't a keyboard.

February 29, 2012

This may sound like heresy, but does anyone understand the purpose of the first of the two fry steps in Heston Blumenthal's Pommes Pont Neuf, or in the various starch-infused recipes?

It seems to me that the boiling step should adequately cook the interior of the fries. What is the point, therefore, of cooling them down, drying them, then cooking them again in relatively low temperature oil, then cooling and drying them once again?

I haven't done a controlled, A-B test yet, but the other night, after the 1/2" cutter for my Weston fry cutter finally arrived, I was a little bit impatient, so I first boiled the fries using the brine, sugar, and baking soda recipe, dried them in a salad shooter, and then fried them at my maximum of 395F. That was without the starch infusion, but I thought they were quite good.

I have some starch-infused fires in the fridge, from Sunday's experimentation, and I'm going to try the three step approach vs. the simpler two step approach, and compare them.

Sunday was a bit of a disaster, but I learned a couple of things:

1. Never try to cook 4.5 kg of potatoes and brine in an immersion circulator, unless you have a huge one. The temperature dropped from 90C down to below 80C, and I had to give the potatoes and extra 10 minutes to cook them adequately.

2. Never scale up the recipe for the starch infusion. I tried to mix 250 g of potato flour and 500 g of water, but it was like mixing plaster. I couldn't make any progress with a whip, burned out my Braun immersion blender, and finally had to add a lot more water and mix it in my Thermomix, which jumped all over the counter in the process.

February 28, 2012

What the heck is a silver tip roast? Sounds expensive! :biggrin:

What part of the country/world do you live in?

February 23, 2012

Well, it appears that I was wrong. Mea culpa.

The manual for the MV-35XP doesn't say anything at all about what kind of oil to use, except to say that oils of the VG type shall be used in compliance with DIN 51506 standards, whatever that means.

The detailed 20 page manual for the Busch KB/KC 0010, 0016E pump (the MV-35XP uses a a KB 0010 pump) is equally unhelpful. It lists four different "denominations," VM 032, VM 068, VSL 032 and VSL 068. The first two are mineral oils, and the second two are "PAO" listed for Food applications (NSF H1), with the VSL 032 being for food applications with an AC motor (not 3phase).

On the PolyScience web site, the oil that is listed under the MV-35XP says that it is for the MV-45XP, but in fact the part number, PN 450-545 is the same as for the MVS-31X oil. That is a Telus-t32 15 weight non-detergent hydraulic oil.

Doug Care Equipment lists Busch Vacuum Pump Oil R-580 15 W synthetic cold environment pump oil quantity 1 quart, and it says that it is for the MVS20, 26, 31, 35, and all 45. The larger MVS48, 50, 65, 48DV, 250, 285, and 295 take a R-530 oil.

I've received oil from both Doug Care and PolyScience, once for the MVS-31X and once for the MV-35XP, and in both cases the Busch label on the oil bottle says R-580. The label says that the oil comes from the Busch plant in Virginia, which may explain why it is a quart, rather than a liter.

The 35XP requires 0.3 liters to fill it. The MVS-31X manual doesn't say, but when I filled mine, it took 0.2 L.

According to Busch, the oil should be changed every 500 to 2000 operating hours, or about every 30,000 cycles, or after half a year, but you may need to change it more often if you are vacuuming packages with a high percentage of liquid.

According to Doug Care:

“OIL” CODE AND HOW TO RESET:

After 12,000 vacuum cycles, the digital display will show OIL. The machine will be unable to cycle. This is a reminder to change the oil. Changing the oil, however, does not clear the OIL display. To reset the OIL code on the display, hold down the UP and DOWN arrows simultaneously for 2 to 6 seconds. The display will then show the last program (example P1) and is now ready to operate.

Whether that applies to the MV-35XP, I don't know, as it doesn't have the up and down buttons that the MVS-31X does. There is a Cycle count shown in the DIAGNOSTIC, STATUS display. I thought that the UTILITY, RESET TO DEFAULT function would reset the cycle count, but I just tried it, and it didn't. So I'm not sure how to reset the counter.

Doug Care also has instructions on their web site for how to calibrate the unit for altitude, but that applies to the MVS-31X, and not the MV-35XP. MiniPack American is trying to get more details on the calibration procedure for the 35XP from Italy, because the procedure in the manual says to press stop when 000mbar is reached, but on both of the two 35XP's I have had, the reading never goes below 192mbar.

February 21, 2012

Hi
Im on the verge of buying the mvs 35xp, assuming i can get it shipped to this side of the pond.
Do you know Robert, if you can disable the reciept printing when you dont need it, or if its mandatory, what happens when the roll runs out of paper?
Does anyone know if there are any european b2c dealers of the MiniPack machines? seems strange that theyre made in italy but impossible to get over here.

Yes, one of the first menu options on the Configuration page is how many copies of the label to print, and "NO" is an option. I think PolyScience offers a box of 10 rolls, which should last you quite a long time.

I don't know what happens if the paper runs out. BTW, the manual doesn't describe how to open the paper roll holder, and it wasn't particularly obvious. Press the illuminated green button, and then pry open the holder from the top.

You might also want to order a quart of oil, and remember that you need the oil for the MVS-31X, NOT the 45X that is shown on their web site.

Be sure that they ship the unit without any oil in it, and include the slanted liquid tray.

February 21, 2012

EnriqueB (and everyone else), thanks for the fantastic contributions. This has become one of the most interesting forums on eGullet -- reminiscent of the early sous vide thread, before it started to become "Dinner."

Your A-B-C-D comparison between the various fry techniques was revealing. Doing them serially, changing multiple variables each time, and trying to remember just what you did, and how they came out, is obviously not the way to do a proper experiment!

The alkalinity vs. acidity question is very, very interesting. It appears that the baking soda helps to break up the surface, and may also improve the tenderness and flavor of the interior. Probably the sugar helps, as well.

So the next obvious thing to try is to blanch the potatoes in the sugar, salt, and baking soda solution, then starch infuse half of those, and then use the ultrasonic on half of the remaining starch-infused fries. I haven't tried the starch-infused only fry, nor the ultrasonic only technique. Hopefully, the baking soda would open up additional crevices and thus improve the starch infusion, while keeping the interior soft and tender.

On the other hand, if you wanted a simple fry and didn't want to bother with the starch-infusion, much less the cavitation, then a vinegar blanch might help keep the fries from getting too limp.

I don't know what to suggest regarding the temperature of the ultrasonic bath, or the time. The first time I did it I used 62C water bath, but only 20 minutes a side, by mistake. The second time I used room temperature water (maybe 22C) for 45 & 45 minutes, and the water was pretty warm at the end, due to the cavitation. I thought the first batch was better, but there were other variables as well.

I don't know why it should be necessary to flip the bag over midway through, except for the fact that if you had two bags, as I did, they might be touching. Next time, I think I'll separate the bags with my sous vide rack. Then I might remove one bag after 45 minutes, and let the other one sit in the bath for the full 90 minutes.

How long did you boil the fries in the first step? At least with Idaho Russets, I think 20 minutes is too long -- they tend to fall apart unless handled very carefully. I'm going to settle on 15 min at 90C in the circulator, and see how that works.

With regard to the commercial frozen fries, the only ones I've used in the past were the 1/4" to 3/8" size, and I'd prefer a 1/2" 1.5 cm steak fry. But if I could find any, it might be worth trying the starch infusion and ultrasonic cavitation on them, assuming they haven't been fried the first time as well.

Which ultrasonic machine are you using?

February 21, 2012

They were about 3/8".
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/05/perfect-french-fries-recipe.html is a link in which Kenji Alt tries to reproduce the McD's fry. Turns out he likes vinegar treating to get durability. Interesting read but clearly not the last word. You may be onto something with your second fry theory. More science is needed!

Kenji's recipe also uses vinegar, vs. baking soda. I am definitely have to do the controlled experiment, with three different variables!. Now, if only I could send all of my time in the kitchen a la Nathan, rathe than working, life would be wonderful (but poorer, certainly)!

February 21, 2012

High ph dissolves pectins. Cooks Illustrated has started doing alkaline cooking of potatoes for home fries/roasted potatoes. Another variable worth looking at is the fry fat. Beef tallow is what McDonalds used to use with great success, bacon fat and duck fat are also great alternatives. Also, go with the le creuset, deep friers simply don't have the oomph to successfully fry anything worthwhile.

I'm getting quite an education!

Do you have a reference to the particular Cooks Illustrated discussion regarding alkaline cooking of potatoes? I used to subscribe, but they are so antediluvian with respect to sous vide and other modernist processes that I gave up on them. But maybe I need to reconsider.

Next question, what is the difference, if any, between beef tallow and lard (which I thought came from pork)? If beef tallow is in fact different from lard, where can I buy beef tallow, and how well does it keep? I understand that McDonalds used to use 93% beef tallow and 7% cottonseed oil in their fryers, until the vegetarians made them stop. They may also use some beef flavor in their oil -- any idea what kind?.

The French apparently use horse tallow, but good luck find any of that in the US!

As to the deep fryer vs. Le Creuset, my Krups Professional Deep Fryer holds a little more than a gallon of oil -- far more than my largest Le Creuset pot, so it should be less subject to temperature drop.

And very importantly, at least to me, the charcoal filter and fan keeps the fry oil from stinking up the kitchen and getting oil droplets all over everything. I suppose I could buy a turkey fryer and use it outside, but with a 21F chill factor right now, that isn't very appealing. If I couldn't use that, I would probably stop frying entirely.

As I said, however, I might get inside the fryer and tweak the calibration to allow it to go higher -- I did that with a Waring unit I had, and later got rid of because of the fry oil smell. Most fryers aren't very well calibrated in any case.

Does anyone know why 395F seems to be the highest setting for home fryers? Is it because of the smoke point of some oils, and/or the danger of fire?

February 21, 2012

I have tested the effect of pH on boiled potatoes. Fry-sized yukon gold potatoes were boiled gently for 10 minutes in either 1 cup water, 1 cup water with a tbsp of white vinegar or 1 cup water with a tbsp of baking soda.
Limpness (an inverse measure of pectin strength) was measured gravimetrically as shown in Figure 1. The top fry was acid boiled, the middle boiled in water, the bottom alkaline boiled. Note that the alkaline treated potato not only sags most, but also sags closest to the fixed end.
Conclusion, alkalinity promotes pectin destruction and acidity the opposite.

Very interesting! Now, why would the renowned Heston Blumenthal want limp potatoes?

Could it be that the baking soda penetrates to the core of the potato, making the insides desirably softer, while the double frying step adds stiffness and crunch to the outside?

I think a controlled experiment is in order, boiling the potatoes with water only, vinegar (maybe malt vinegar for taste), and baking soda, with or without sugar. (What does the sugar add?)

I confess that I don't really understand technically what the first, low temperature frying step adds after the fries have been boiled.

What size were those fries -- 3/8"? I'm still waiting for my 1/2" blade for my Weston French fry cutter to arrive, hopefully tomorrow, so I will have a bit more uniformity.

February 20, 2012

Great post.
Re baking soda. It speeds the Maillard rxn and also has effect on pectin. I believe I've read that alkalinity will soften pectin and make potatoes surfaces a little shaggy...which might help starch adhere...or promote a crisp surface after frying.
I'm looking for references.

Thanks.

Sounds like the baking soda might be worth trying.

February 20, 2012

There are a number of posts having to do with the "perfect" French fry, but most of them date back to the 2003 to 2006 period, and none provide an adequate discussion of the techniques developed recently by Heston Blumenthal, Dave Arnold, and most importantly, in Modernist Cuisine.

I therefore thought it might be useful to summarize my results to date, particularly with the starch-infused ultrasonic fries in MC. I've been trying to improve on that recipe, or at least simplify it.

Now, I've made the traditional double-cooked fries on and off for 40-50 years, and earlier this year I experimented with Heston Blumenthal's triple-cooked Pommes Pont-Neuf, which uses water, sugar, salt, and baking soda to blanch the fries for 20 minutes, until very tender, followed by vacuum cooling (or air drying), frying at 150C/300F about 7 minutes, cooled again, and then frying at 22C/430F until crisp.

Those were a substantial improvement over my older technique, although I found that 20 minutes was too long -- too many of the fries fell apart. 15 minutes seems about right, at least with Idaho Russets.

After reading the starch-infused ultrasonic French fries recipes from MC, I ordered a Branson B5510 2-1/2 gallon ultrasonic machine, and followed the recipe. My wife and I agreed that they were absolutely the best we had ever eaten, bar none! They were deliciously crunchy on the outside, and soft and succulent, rather like a good baked potato, on the inside.

These were hand cut into 1/2" or 1.5 cm square-cut fries.

Because I don't have a combi oven (which the MC video suggests using), I cooked three potatoes (750 g, divided onto two bags, after brining them with 15g of salt in 750 ml of water) in a big pan in water on the stove, in two SV bags.

I then drained them and let them cool in the freezer for about 20 minutes, while I made up the potato starch mixture.

I transferred the potatoes to two new bags, and added the potato starch mixture, then put them in the Branson ultrasonic cleaner, which had been degassed and brought up to 64C. After 20 minutes, I flipped the two bags over, and gave them another 20 minutes. (The recipe calls for 45 minutes per side, but I misread or misremembered it.)

I then put the fries on a rack, and put them in my JennAire oven on the dryer function at 100F for about 20 minutes. After that, I transferred the fries to a rack, and put them in my chamber vacuum and ran it it five times at maximum vacuum. Several times it timed out, unable to reach 99% vacuum, so I had to stop and restart it.

Then I put them in my Krups Professional Deep Fryer at 330F for three minutes using Crisco vegetable oil, and afterwards put them on rack in my cool garage, with an electric fan blowing on them to cool them.

Then finally back in the deep fryer at the maximum setting (375F), but unfortunately this isn't quite hot enough. So instead of merely 3 minutes, I had to give the fries closer to 6 minutes to reach a nice goldren-brown color

Served with ketchup and Boar's Head Creole mustard, together with two SV lamb shoulder chops, with rosemary and garlic confit for Valentine's Day, the results were absolutely worth the effort!

Now, some have questioned whether this was worth the time and expense.

But as someone said, even a monkey ought to be able to make hot, fresh, French fries that taste good right out of the fryer -- the real question is what happens after they cool a bit, and what they "feel" like. Certainly there are lots of fast food joints that fall down in that regard.

To my mind, taste isn't the only important factor -- auditory and other sensory "crunch" factors are also important to the overall dining experience. And it was the extra delicious crunch, plus the soft, mealy interior that made those fries so appealing.

Since that initial, successful result, I've tried a couple of variations.

The first was to simply boil the potatoes in a pan, rather than bagging them. That didn't work too well -- the potatoes tended to fall apart, while bagging them under vacuum seemed to hold them together better.

Cooking the bags in a pot of the stove didn't work too well -- I don't have a deep enough pan.

But I do have an immersion circulator, so I cranked it up to 95C -- whereupon it started to boil at my altitude (7000ft.) So I turned it down to 90C, and cooked two bags containing a total of 750 g of cut fries for 15 minutes. I could easily have done four or more bags at the same time.

In a misguided effort to save time, I tried boiling the fries along with the potato starch. Big mistake! The starch made a very gloppy mess down at the bottom of the bag. Start over.

After boiling the fries, I cooled them in room temperature water before draining them. I think that was a mistake as well. Draining them, then putting them in the freezer briefly seemed to work better.

Then I added the potato starch mixture (150 g water, 75 g of potato starch, divided across two bags), pulled vacuum until the starch mixture started to boil, and sealed them.

Then into the Branson ultrasonic for 45 minutes, then flipped the bags over for another 45 minutes. The bags were submersed in plain water, in a perforated rack to keep them off the bottom of the unit.

(BTW, there is a considerably less expensive ultrasonic machine, the Samson GBW-300 Ultrasonic Fruit and Vegetable Washer, that is around $250. I wish I had seen that one before buying the much more expensive Branson.)

I've done this twice, now, once with the Branson heater on and set at 62C, and once in just room temperature water. I didn't measure the final temperature in that case, but the ultrasonic warmed up the water -- I would guess to about 50C.

I then put the fries on a rack and put them in my cool garage with a fan blowing on them to cool and dry the fries, followed by vacuum cooling. I now think that my convection dehydrator function on the oven (set at 100F) worked better, followed by vacuum cooling them further.

Then into the deep fryer, set at 162C/330F for about 7 minutes, per MC.

Then back to the garage and fan again. In the future, I think I'll try refrigerating or even freezing the fries on a rack at this point. Others have said that 24 hours in the fridge helps considerably.

Heston Blumenthal recommends 220C/430F for the final fry. Unfortunately, no deep fryer I know of will go that high, and I don't like stinking up the kitchen with a Le Creuset or wok pan, so I had to use 190C/375F for about five minutes. (I might think about opening up my Krups Professional and seeing if I could recalibrate the setting to get it hotter, even though that would probably void the warranty.)

In general, this second go-round, although excellent, wasn't quite as superlative as the first, so I'll go back to that method next time, perhaps with some added refrigeration between the first and second frying.

A little added salt might have helped -- perhaps some hickory-smoked sea salt, and some pepper.

Next time, I'll try using a salad spinner to drain the fries after boiling them, before dehydrating and cooling them. I just hope it wouldn't break them. This could also be used after the first frying step.

Other changes that might be worth trying would be to try adding the sugar and baking soda that Heston uses during the initial blanching. (I'm not sure what effect the baking soda has -- I guess it makes it more alkaline, but to what end?)

And I might skip the ultrasonic cavitation, to see how much difference that makes. It would certainly speed up the process. And I'm not sure I could tell the difference between 20 minutes a side and 45 minutes -- another variable that would be worth exploring.

Sorry for the length of this post, but I wanted to summarize my experiments, and invite others to contribute as well.

Bob

February 20, 2012

How about one of these old fashion wall mount jobs?

I recently bought one of those, with the Weston brand name on it -- if you search Amazon you'll find lots of other brands selling the same device.

It came quickly enough, but seven days later, the 1/2" blade that I ordered on the 12th still only says that it has left the shippers facility and is in transit. I've never seen such lack of feedback from FedEx before. The blade was $15.59, and $10.48 for shipping! Outrageous!

My machine came with the 3/8" blade, and a pusher assembly that matches it. I'm assuming the 1/2" will have a corresponding pusher assembly.

I first tried the unit with the 3/8" blade, using the suction cups that come with it on my heavy meat cutting board. But I've got a couple of torn tendons in my rotator cuff, and I couldn't push the potato through it. So I mounted a couple of 1/2" x 16" oak boards to the studs on the hallway wall to the laundry room, and used four carriage bolts to mount the cutter to the boards. It's not going anywhere, and now I can pull down with my full weight. I suspended the handle with a string and a eye-bolt, to keep it out of the way.

It's a bit of a nuisance to disassemble and clean afterwards, and particularly so if it isn't wall mounted. You unscrew three wing nuts to remove the cutter blade, then use a screw driver to remove the pusher plate. I think I'm going to look for a sheet of Plexiglass or something that I can just put on top of the potato -- maybe a square of folded aluminum foil that could be discarded afterwards.

I'm hoping that the 1/2" blade will be sharper than the one that comes with it. But because there aren't as many blades to push through, I'm sure than the 1/2" one will be easier to use.

I've been trying to improve on, or at least simplify, the ultrasonic starch-infused French fries from Modernist Cuisine. If I could cut up a bunch of potatoes, boil them, starch-infuse them, and maybe par-fry them once and then freeze them, I could prepare a bunch over the weekend, and then just pop them in the deep fryer once more before dinner during the week.

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Posts posted by Robert Jueneman