Keith_W

I have the same IR thermometer in that link. I have no complaints, except that the reading does not seem to tally with my Thermapen. Still, it is close enough ... and it keeps me away from hot oil! Very funny!

My no. 1 tip for cooking: measure everything. All quantities should be measured by weight, not volume, and certainly not "a pinch of this". It is acceptable to say "to taste". All food should be cooked to temperature, not time. I will make an exception for pressure cooked foods, or foods where you have to observe changes in texture to tell if it is cooked - e.g. boiling pasta, or stir fried veggies. ... but that is about as much subjectivity that creeps into my cooking My pet hate are recipes that have been "housewived" - e.g. measuring flour in cups, telling you to use "6 eggs" ... have they forgotten that flour varies in density, and eggs come in different sizes?

It looks beautiful! A couple of questions if you don't mind - what did the tomato gelee taste like? Did it have much tomato flavour left, after the centrifuge? Was there a difference in taste before and after you gelled it? I have access to a medical centrifuge, but I doubt if my lab scientists would let me anywhere near the thing

Kim those glass platters are by Nachtmann. It is part of the "Bossa Nova" series. I have a weakness for nice service ware Maybe I should start a new topic.

Thanks Peter. You don't have to remove the blood from the marrow by soaking it in 6 changes of water first?

Hi scoop, can you please run through how you would prepare bone marrow as a spread for bread?

As an Asian we used to make fried shallots and (as heidih says) ... use it as a condiment for many dishes. Sprinkle some on steamed fish, or stir fried veggies, or tofu, or steamed eggs, or congee, or noodles, or omelettes, or fried rice ... the possibilities are endless. Slice the shallots thinly, then fry until browned and all the liquid is gone. We would let the oil cool, then filter it and pour it back into the container. The oil is intensely fragrant and will lift anything you cook it with. Both shallots and oil will turn rancid if not used within 2 weeks - so unless you cook Chinese food all the time, you should make small quantities.

heidih - thank you! I did serve some sourdough bread with dinner, but that was store bought so I didn't post it. I also made two other dishes - a mushroom dish, and a roast vegetable salad. Unfortunately, the pictures didn't turn out so I decided not to post. Scottyboy - sure! Join my dinner party club - you host one, I host one, and around the ring it goes Dakki - thank you!

Had a dinner party last night. It was Spanish themed. Here were some of the dishes on offer: Spanish style ribeye steak with Romesco sauce. Sous-vide then browned with a MAPP blowtorch. Stuffed lamb cutlets with Salsa Verde. The stuffing was made from lamb mince, paprika, cumin, and nutmeg. Placed on the outside of the lamb cutlet, then wrapped with caul and finished on the barbecue. Grilled cod with olive tapenade and cherry tomatoes. Sous-vide carrots with mint, cumin, and sherry vinegar. Broad beans with Iberico Jamon. This was a favourite.

Modernist ribeye steak. Sous-vide then browned with a MAPP blowtorch. I bought the blowtorch specifically for this purpose. Perfectly medium rare throughout with a tiny sliver of well done.

I don't have the book in front of me, but I seem to recall that the recipe called for Allspice and not Coriander seeds?

Hi Paul, I happen to know quite a bit about chemo and breast surgery. I am an M.D. I can guess what stage your friend's cancer was at based on the treatment prescribed. That is very aggressive treatment indeed - the surgery is the least of her worries. I am not trying to make light of your friend's situation, but - a double mastectomy is nothing compared to the chemo and the radiation. IF the radiation field includes her oesophagus or her gut, she will find it difficult to swallow and eat - and, as others have said, she will feel tired and nauseated. Other challenges patients face are gastric ulcers and frequent diarrhoea. The radiation oncologists usually aim the beam away from sensitive areas like that but sometimes they have no choice. They will presumably follow-up her treatment with something like Tamoxifen or Letrozole (depending on age and oestrogen receptor sensitivity) which will also have an impact on her appetite, mood, and many other things. There are no specific dietary requirements that I am aware of, other than suggesting that she continue to have a normal, balanced diet. Note that I am talking about food groups, and not necessarily suggesting that she continues to eat what she normally eats (because I have no idea what her normal diet is like!). Needless to say, if she develops gastritis or ulcers, spicy food should be avoided. If she develops diarrhoea, she will need to keep her fluid intake high (which can be difficult if she is also nauseated). Her doctors will be monitoring her and any deficiency should instantly show up. They are the best people to advise if her nutrition is insufficient. Best of luck to her, and to you. It is a lovely gesture and I am sure she will appreciate it.

What surgery is your friend going to have? If they are going anywhere near his gut, your friend will need to eat low residue foods - i.e. stuff that digests almost completely leaving little to come out the rear end. Examples are soups, pureed foods, congee. The surgeon would have warned your friend of any dietary requirements before the operation.

Thank you Ah Leung for the recipe, and thank you metea for bumping it. This looks simple to make and delicious ... I will give it a go. I love Chinese herbal soups, but my problem is that I do not understand the herbs. Have you made some other soups?

Question for NathanM (if he is watching this thread). MC does not have a pastry section. I have read elsewhere that you are planning to write a book on pastry in the future. I was wondering whether you have started work on this book. If you have ... where can I put my deposit

What's wrong with omelettes I have been practising making them - can't get enough of a perfectly made omelette with a slightly oozy center. Serve the mushrooms on the side ... just heaven.

Singapore - best food in Asia? Sorry, I just have to LOL What they have is bland and plasticky compared to the rest of Asia. For REALLY GOOD food, try any of Singapore's neighbours - Malaysia has everything Singapore can offer, but with more variety and usually superior. Do not go to Johor Baru - the food centers are KL, Ipoh, and Penang. There are various small towns that specialize in various dishes. Even Singaporeans will concede that point - after all, you see lots of Singapore registered cars parked outside the well known restaurants. No Malaysian goes down to Singapore to eat. As for the other SEA'ian countries - nobody does Thai food better than the Thais, and nobody does Vietnamese better than the Vietnamese.

Thank you! I did a search for "Actifry" and only found a few short threads.

I thought I would bump this old thread. I am thinking of buying one of these machines. It is 4 years since this thread was created ... there are probably more eGulleteers who own an Actifry. Any opinions? How does an Actifry French Fry compare to a normal deep-fried French Fry? Are there other things you can make in an Actifry, besides French Fries?

That looks superb. Love the vivid green of your puree. Can I ask how you managed to get a crispy salmon skin without overcooking the salmon?

OK, here is the MC duck confit. The advantages of this recipe over the traditional method are: 1. No need to buy large quantities of expensive duck fat 2. The flavour is sealed in the sous-vide bag. 3. You save money on the power bill. You power a relatively economical sous-vide machine for 48 hours, instead of an oven. Here is the duck, just out of 48 hours of sous-vide. I saved the juices for the lentils, which were NOT cooked the MC method. I actually quite like my normal method - it is not much inferior to the MC method (detailed above), and it is easier. Skin is fried to produce a crispy finish. Those who have been paying attention to the book will note that I skipped the step that calls for bonding duck skin to the meat with Transglutaminase. Plated dish. Summary: the flavour of this dish is simply incredible. It came out really intensely flavoured - you can really taste the herbs and spices that went into the dish. The texture was fork tender, and so rich. My friends and I were full from eating one rather puny looking duck leg each. To those thinking of attempting the recipe: DO IT!!!! It is well worth it!

Here are a few pictures. Modernist Beef Brisket (inverted recipe) - smoke 7 hours then sous-vide 72 hours. As per my comment above, it came out homogenously tender, like canned meat. You can even see it. Modernist Macaroni and Cheese - using Sodium Citrate and Iota Carageenan as the emulsifying agent instead of bechamel. Utterly awesome. Not from the MC book - this is what I had with the Mac & Cheese. Herbed field mushrooms with truffle oil. Recipe is very simple - mix 50mL truffle oil with 1 tsp dijon mayonnaise, then season with truffle salt to taste. Brush on field mushroom caps, then broil until done. Sprinkle chopped herbs on top. The smoked quail was my own recipe - tunnel boned quail filled with mushroom stuffing. The lentils were from the cookbook - but minus the agar agar sherry vinegar, and no foie gras faux cherry parfait. I used real cherry for the lentils, and the guests agreed that it was provided a useful contrast.

I will be making 3 recipes from MC this weekend. The first was the Mac and Cheese. I concur with everybody else - this is simply head and shoulders above anything else I have made. You can really taste the cheese. Cooking the Macaroni in just enough water to set it is also a good idea - the starch in the water contributes to the flavour and the thickening. Downside - despite ignoring the instruction to use high heat and turning the heat down, whilst constantly monitoring and stirring, the bottom still got stuck and burnt. I had an unpleasant scrubbing session with iron wool later. The next time I attempt this recipe, I will probably increase the ratio of cheddar to gouda, or perhaps use a more interesting cheese, like Manchego. I deliberately left off the salt so that I could season at the end, which was a good thing. Perhaps the MC team's cheddar was less salty than the one I bought - because if I used the salt quantity recommended by the recipe, it would have turned out too salty. The MC team reckons the yield is 4 portions. Fat chance - my wife and I demolished it. She was licking her lips and asking for more! Like a few others in this thread, I garnished it with breadcrumbs and finished it under the broiler. I think this took away from the dish. It does not need it - simply follow the recipe as detailed in MC, but season to taste. That is all it needs. The sous-vide duck leg confit is in my SV machine right now. After the curing stage, I took it out and had a sniff. WOW IT IS AMAZING! I am really looking forward to this one! The last recipe I will be doing will be the sous-vide lentils, to go with the duck leg confit. I will not be doing the foie gras faux-cherry parfait, instead substituting fresh cherries as garnish. Wish me luck ... photos to follow later. PS: I love this book!

Foodman, perhaps your beef is tougher than mine I made a special order from my butcher - requested a dry aged brisket. Mine is from a yearling, grass fed and corn finished, and aged 36 days. I have never cooked brisket before. When I inspected this cut of meat, it did not seem as if it would turn out tough if I were to simply panfry it. And yes, both the briskets were done at the same temp, at the same time. All 3 pieces of meat were sitting next to each other.

Hi Foodman, this was what I did: Customized MC brisket: - rub applied (note this is another deviation from the recipe) - sous-vide 65 hours (more or less) at 63C. My SV controller can not sit precisely at 63C, so it was more like 63C +/- 2C. - removed from bag, patted dry, allowed to rest for 30 mins - smoked for 6 hours at approx 65C (my Kamado went up to 75C at one point before I managed to turn the heat down). - basting mop made from liquid contents of sous-vide + apple cider vinegar in a 1:1 (deviation from recipe) Conventional brisket: - out of the fridge 2 hours prior to cooking, rub applied - smoked for 6 hours at the same time as the MC brisket MC brisket #2: - Following MC recipe exactly - No rub or seasoning applied - Smoked for 6 hours (same time as others above), no mop - Currently in sous-vide machine, will open bag on Sunday. ... and yes, I am using the same size as what the recipe suggests.