lesliec

Hi Merridith. Yep, jowls and all. I hadn't heard of guanciale until now - might give it a try. Have you got a favourite recipe? (The objects are frozen right now, but that's easily fixed.) Thanks, Leslie

Hi Barb. We went induction just before Christmas and we're loving it. Heaps of power, heaps of control. Forgive the perhaps obvious question: are you sure you need to replace your stuff? Have you done the fridge magnet test? We found all our old pots and pans, except one tiny pan we rarely used and our roasting dishes, were quite happy on induction. The only real adjustment I had to make was to start making gravy for roasts in a saucepan rather than in the roasting dish. Enjoy it!

Yesterday I extracted the cheeks from a pig's head (it's OK, it was dead). I have a beef cheek time/temp I'm very happy with (30 hours @ 70°C), but it occurred to me that pigs, not being ruminants, might not have quite the amount of tough stuff in their cheeks needing to be broken down. Anybody care to comment and recommend some settings? ScottyBoy, I envy your belly. If you know what I mean ...

I've tried in my FoodSaver. Complete failure - it just doesn't have the suck, to coin a phrase ...

I've had a couple of bag failures, but nothing I could blame on temperature. I've done vegetables (carrots, baby turnips) at 85°C (185°F) in FoodSaver bags without a problem. Would the FoodSaver struggle to seal thicker bags?

The Matrix, in the scene where Cypher (Joe Pantoliano) is discussing the terms of his 'defection' with Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving). I want that steak!

My mother always had the cold tap running when she poured hot water off something. Her explanation was it reduced the amount of steam released into the kitchen. Although I'm far from convinced it actually does reduce steam, I always run the tap too.

Need to resurrect this thread for my own purposes ... I'm visiting Paris with Wifey in a few months and have fancied La Tour for years. Has anybody been recently? Best for lunch/dinner? Comments most welcome. Thanks ...

Le Cordon Bleu New Zealand is growing. This gentleman ... ... is Guy Pascoe, recently appointed Director, International Business. Guy is from a teaching background, having taught in schools in several countries, and most recently worked for Grow Wellington, Wellington's economic development agency, as its Education Sector Manager. New Zealand has a large population of students who come here to study in various disciplines every year, and Guy sees Le Cordon Bleu as a great fit with our already-excellent reputation as an education - and food - destination. His new job is very much about attracting students to the new school. At present he's receiving maybe two or three calls a day to enquire about courses, all without any real marketing of the school yet. He expects the student mix to be about 80% from overseas - predominantly Asia, with South Korea providing a good number of enquiries right now - and the rest local (Le Cordon Bleu is looking to partner with a language school to cater for non-English-speaking students). He was delighted to receive a call recently from an Australian studying with Le Cordon Bleu in Paris who wants to transfer to the Wellington school when it opens next year. Fees for the New Zealand courses haven't been finalised yet, but Guy says they'll be comparable to those at the Australian Cordon Bleu schools (and it's probably cheaper to live here!). The building which will house the school is looking even more empty than in the photos in my first post above. Strengthening work is continuing; there was a large truck loaded with reinforcing steel outside when I dropped by before meeting Guy. They're is still on track to open in May next year, with the first full student intake in July, and Guy says one of the first things students will do is to spend four weeks touring New Zealand to soak up our food and wine scene, meet local chefs and talk to producers. There'll be a strong emphasis on 'paddock to plate' in the Wellington school and our central placement means it will be easy for students to hop onto a fishing boat heading into Cook Strait, or to pop over to Martinborough or Marlborough to visit farms and winemakers, from the artisanal to some of our biggest producers. The school has yet to appoint course tutors, but they'll soon start looking for an academic director. Guy admits his own cooking cred is somewhat lacking, but he does enjoy the precision of baking. In other news, Le Cordon Bleu has appointed two Ambassadors, whose job is essentially to fly the flag for the New Zealand school - this may include fronting various events, both here and in other coutries. Julie Biuso is well-known to New Zealanders for her books, magazine articles and TV appearances (on a personal note, may I say I've never had a failure from one of Julie's recipes?), and Josh Emmett has worked with some of the big names like Marcus Wareing and Gordon Ramsay. He appeared as one of the judges of MasterChef NZ earlier this year.

We have an island setup with nothing above the work surface but lights. Don't like cupboards above the bench; it's oppressive to have a door in my face when I'm trying to prepare/cook something.

PedroG?

Down here in the South Pacific (I claim the prize for 'deepest south') we always had it as a main. When I was growing up it was the sort of thing we might have on a Sunday evening in front of the fire and/or TV, but it was always a meal in its own right. Having now discovered the Modernist Cuisine version, I've served it a couple of times now as a side. I don't think I've really formed a preference, but with the MC version allowing - indeed encouraging - the inclusion of really good cheese, and the associated richness of the finished product, I may end my days using it as an accompaniment to something else. Or as an entrée.

Hi Twyst. I've been playing with short ribs recently. At 140°F/60°C fo 72 hours they're quite amazing - very tender but still pink inside. I really like them this way, but just for interest I'm going to pull my next lot at 48 hours, just to see the contrast.

[font="Trebuchet MS"]'Acculturation'. What a lovely word. I like you, Mr Shaw. Try a pavlova (here, about halfway through the post). Nothing like a stand mixer for getting a big one of these suckers fluffy.

Last night we ate my best batch of beef cheeks yet. I'm indebted to nickrey for the time/temp recommendation some months back, but the following recipe is of my own devising. First, cut the cheeks into rough chunks - around 2-3cm works for me. You don't have to be too elegant about this; if there are any really nasty-looking bits of fat or gristle get rid of them, but leave in the layers of tough stuff. They'll go away in the cooking. Dice some vegetables of your choice, a similar quantity to the meat. I use carrots, celery and onion with a chopped clove or two of garlic. Heat some oil and cook the vegetables until they begin to soften - don't let them go too far. Some browning is nice, but the heat shouldn't be fierce. Remove and set them aside. Increase the heat, add a little more oil and briefly brown the beef cheeks. Season with salt/black pepper. As soon as you've got a nice brown thing happening, dump in some red wine and let it boil partly away. Turn the heat off, mix the vegetables back with the meat and let the lot cool a little before you bag it. There'll be quite a bit of liquid in the mix, so FoodSaver users (like me) have to be careful. Once it's bagged, cook at 70°C for 30 hours - these are Nick's magic numbers and work really well for cheeks; the meat should be almost melting (in a good way). At the end of cooking pour off most of the liquid and thicken it. I used flour; use a more exotic thickener if you wish! Pour the thickened juices back into the bag, massage it to mix and serve over very buttery mashed potatoes with a drip of truffle oil. Lovely. There were some juices left in the bag after serving. After an hour or two sitting out on the bench I had the most fantastic jelly. That's where all the funny layers in the raw cheeks go! Sorry, no photos of this batch. Maybe next time ...

Since getting mine I've done the MC carrot soup twice - highly recommended - and a sorta kinda version of their autoclaved onion soup. For the latter I didn't use jars; just chucked evrything in. The result was to my taste just OK, not best onion soup ever (although wifey was very happy with it). I need to experiment more with that one. And I've also done a stew, making it up as I went along - diced beef, tossed in flour; browned in oil and removed; diced carrot/cerlery/onion/garlic, browned likewise; all added back to PC; seasoned (salt & pepper and probably some fresh herbs); a cup or so of red wine added then pressure cook for ... I dunno, maybe 40 minutes (it was a little while ago). Great result, as good as or better than I'd expect from braising the meat for a few hours. And now one of my foodie friends is getting one as well.

What happened to 'crockery'?

Favourite method: for every two eggs, add one tablespoon of cream. Season and whisk (with a fork) until thoroughly blended. Pour onto enough melted butter to cover the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring over low heat - you might be at it for 10 minutes or so. When the eggs start to firm up, but well before they're dry, take the pan off the heat and stir for another minute or so. Serve - here's the key - with a sprinkle of good truffle oil on top. Magnifique. Edited to add 'low heat' bit.

Speaking as one who has got a ton of bench space (well, three metres of it, anyway), I come down with the 'load as you go' group. Certain things, like the cast iron which NEVER goes near the dishwasher, may stay out for a while, but plates and cutlery go in as soon as we're finished with them. Unless it's full ...

Steam or microwave 'em and put some Modernist Cuisine cheese (from the mac & cheese recipe) on top while still warm - mix when it's melted. Did that last night with some broccoli that was a tad past its best-by date. Yum.

Kim, somewhere I always recommend is Le Gallopin in the 2nd. I've managed to get there three times, and two sets of friends have also been on my recommendation. It looks beautiful - all wood and polished brass and waiters in black & white. It looks more expensive than it is, but I'd suggest the menu rather than the carte for budgetary reasons. I've never made a reservation (I'm sure they'd appreciate it if you did, like most restaurants, but they never made me feel guilty about it). One set of friends showed up hot and sweaty after a day of sightseeing and were treated like eccentric millionaires (they're not. Not millionaires, anyway), so dress code isn't demanding either. And all the wait staff appear to have a good sense of humour. As with anywhere in France, at least try to use a bit of French - it helps. We'll be back in Paris in September and we'll be trying to get to Gallopin again. Can't praise it highly enough. Enjoy your trip.

Ingredient question ... A few of the MC recipes call for a small quantity of essential oils - thyme is one I remember seeing, in (I think) one of the accompaniments to the SV pork belly (5•101). Can anyone advise: are these the same essential oils one might get from a health shop for making nice smells over a small burner or including in massage oils? I asked a local manufacturer about the food safety of them and they don't recommend 'internal use' as they're not a 'food grade premises', so are they just being safe or are there different grades of essential oils?

Hi, Almondmeal. Welcome to the wonderful world of food that expands! Yeast has a bit of a reputation of being finicky stuff to work with, but I haven't had much problem with it. The one rigid rule is that you mustn't put it in water that's too hot - you'll kill it. If you can put your hand in it comfortably, the yeast should be happy with it too. I also haven't noticed much interesting activity in the first stages of dissolving the yeast, but don't worry too much - all it needs is five minutes or so to dissolve, then away you go. Magic will happen later in the process, you'll see.

If you were feeling really scientific you could make bromelain. There must be more refined ways, but essentially blast the core in a blender or food processor, let the result settle and use the clear layer that (maybe) develops after a day or so to inject meat. Bromelain is a powerful tenderiser; having tried it (and experienced it at a restaurant where I'd previously attended a demonstraton and could thus decipher what 'injected chicken' on the menu meant) I find it leaves tracks of 'predigested' meat through your (for example) piece of chicken which I find slightly disconcerting. But ya gotta try these things, right ... ?

We had some thickened cream this morning with a nice apple cake one of my workmates had baked. I was amused to note that it 'may contain milk'.