ChrisZ

I saw an Italian documentary on the history of ice-cream which included an Italian company showing how they made gelato in the "traditional" way. They started with a normal egg-based custard but included lemon rind in a bag of muslin, which they said stopped the base from tasting like eggs. I thought that was interesting. I assume there is a temperature point at which a custard begins to taste like eggs (maybe over 80 degrees?) and using a thermometer to keep the custard below that point would help. (PS - I don't currently have an ice cream machine. I just buy it by the carton.)

I have plenty of small plastic tubs if you want some, no need to send it through the post twice. I'd re-use some of the plastic tubs that came from Willpowder when I originally mail-ordered stuff from the US. The only caveat is that I don't think I could fit much in a 500g satchel, you'd probably have to spring for a larger size (I think there's a 3kg satchel too, as well as 5kg, but normal satchels will be cheaper than express post). I figured the easiest thing to do is for someone to buy their own bag and address it, then fold it up and send it to me, I can simply pop stuff in and send it back. I'm in Sydney...

We've been renovating & moving house, and I've found a few spare jars of modernist ingredients from a batch of kits I made up. They're taking up space that we don't have, so I'm happy to give them away to anyone in Australia who wants them. I have a few 100g jars of calcium lactate gluconate, sodium citrate, and a big tub of nZorbit. Then I have a few 50g bottles of food acids and other bits and pieces. Nothing difficult to source but it's all in nice airtight glass jars. If you're in Australia and you're interested, send me a private message and I'll give you my address and you can post me a self-addressed express post bag. The 500g ones are about $10, and the 5kg ones are $20. I'll post it back filled with whatever I have left. This is for Australian residents only - too much hassle involved with customs paperwork to post overseas. -Chris

I've just skimmed through this thread and was surprised that no-one has mentioned 'Frozen Desserts' by Migoya. It's a popular book - perhaps not as obvious as 'The Perfect Scoop' - but it's quite industrial/scientific in it's coverage of recipes and ice cream categories and the use of ratios, and judging from your in-depth discussion I think you would enjoy it. I had a cheap domestic ice-cream machine many years ago which wasn't much more advanced than the ice/salt buckets used centuries ago. I spent a lot of time and eggs trying to find a way to make lovely soft ice cream at home that didn't freeze into a hard block or have an icy texture. I kinda concluded after a few years of casual experiments that the recipe wasn't nearly as important as the machine. I think ice cream is one area where it's OK to blame your tools! So my opinion is that if you have a cheap ice-cream machine, I don't think there's much point worrying about the exact temperature the base is cooked at, I think you're facing an uphill battle to begin with. The most important thing to do is get an ice cream machine that isn't complete rubbish. More recent demonstrations by those with access to liquid nitrogen (or dry ice) tend to agree- the faster you can freeze the stuff the better it will be. Have you tried to source any liquid nitrogen or dry ice? I've mentioned this before in other ice-cream threads, but part of the reason I bought 'Frozen Desserts' was the hope that it would contain a holy-grail like recipe for ice cream that would have the perfect texture even if made in a cheap domestic ice-cream machine. Unfortunately Migoya basically concluded that the best way to make ice-cream is in a Pacojet, which is fine if you have a few thousand dollars to spare but not much help if your ice-cream machine is at the crappy-christmas-stocking-filler end of the range. BTW- Pacojet is the answer to LancasterMike's question about success without sugar. It sounds like you can freeze pretty much anything and a Pacojet will turn it into perfect ice cream, but they cost a lot...

A recipe & technique for the 'perfect choux' popped up on Migoya's blog a while ago, he says it has taken him over 5 years to perfect. It's one of those things on my to-do list... (BTW here is the direct link to the recipe)

I don't know if I'm annoyed or fascinated by the way marketing has made "Angus beef" sound like it's an automatic indication of quality. I don't know if it's only in Australia or if it's a global trend, but "Angus beef" is touted as being something rather special, when it isn't really. That's nothing new in the world of advertising, so I guess I admire the advertising industry as much as I'm annoyed at how successful they've been. I'm not saying that Angus beef isn't good. I think it's the most common breed of beef cattle, and so there will be good Angus meat and bad Angus meat. Just because a cow is 51% black doesn't automatically make the beef amazing - and so it's the advertising that suggests this that annoys me. If Angus beef is the most common type of beef in the world, then by definition Angus beef is average. There are many, many factors that determine the quality of a piece of meat by the time it gets to your plate and the breed of cattle is only one of them - even if the definition of the breed is pretty liberal. Would I prefer a McDonalds burger that touts Angus beef over a restaurant burger made with another breed? Doubtful... In a slightly similar manner, I'm suspicious of chocolate manufacturers that promote cocoa percentage as an indication of quality.

Sous vide isn't necessarily a 'wow' technique, often it's just consistently a bit better than usual. I hope you're not disappointed. I haven't yet made a sous vide steak that tasted better than one on the BBQ, but at the same time I'm reluctant to cook chicken any other way. The biggest 'wow' I've had with sous vide is from salmon fillets, cooked at about 50C and then blow-torched so the skin is crispy. It's the simplicity, and the lack of overcooking that makes salmon such a great fit for sous vide. I've tried lower temperatures but wasn't sold, 50C is hot enough to feel hot. Scallops are another big winner - you can cook them perfectly through then sear them to get a crust. At lower temperatures seafood isn't pasteurised so the risks are roughly the same as eating sushi. Probably not a great fit for your 'well done person'. Through the power of crappy online shopping I found a cheap vacuum sealer for $44. It works fine - and I've really appreciated being able to bag up and freeze all sorts of things that would otherwise get thrown out. You don't need to spend a lot of money for a top brand.

Filled pasta can definitely be too thick. I like making ravioli etc but I learned quickly that I need to have the dough thinner than I think, because it swells up when cooked. The filling can easily be lost if the outer pasta wrapper is too thick or chewy. I'm a big fan of filled pasta but I'm disappointed if I can't taste the filling. But I have no problem with thick, plain pasta. I especially like lasagne where the noodles have a texture and flavour that's a significant part of the dish, and not just the white bit between oceans of sauce.

I've been thinking about this all day, I started with an empty kitchen 4 years ago and have been slowly picking up bits and pieces- and I know what it's like to live with a tiny kitchen. Of all the bits I've accumulated and been given, the thing I use most are scales (which you have sorted). I have gram-accurate kitchen scales up to 5kg, and a $10 digital "jewellers scale" for the modernist stuff. Which my friend - a criminal lawyer - calls "cocaine scales" because apparently the ones I bought off eBay are the same ones popular with dealers... Apart from scales, I use digital thermometers religiously - they would be my number 2 item. I use them to check everything - not just meat but custards, chocolate tempering etc etc. And they don't take up much room. I agree that silpats are great, but I hardly use my whipper siphon thing and I see that as more of a novelty. I picked up a heavily discounted mandoline and surprised myself with how much I enjoy using it, even for banal stuff like mirepoix - perfect little cubes! Not modernist but much better than I expected- I always thought of them as useless things that were sold on late night infomercials but I'm wrong... In a similar vein, a cheap ricer has transformed my mash and gnocchi. Not modernist, but I eat mashed potatoes and gnocchi a lot more than anything I have spherised. I already had a rice cooker and so my SV rig consisted of a budget temperature controller from eBay and a $44 vacuum sealer. The vacuum sealer is something I am using more and more - I hate throwing out food and now I bag it up and freeze portions. The vacuum sealer would probably be my number 3 item but it does take up a little room. My freezer is stocked with bags of stock, pouches of mirepoix ready to use, as well as meals that are ready to cook. This is all seperate to sous vide - you can get great milage out of a vacuum sealer - even a cheap $44 model - without using it for sous vide. My most recent acquisition is a pressure cooker and although it is still new, everything I have made in it so far has been amazing. But it's pretty big... Then there are the specialty ingredients that last a long time. I love my truffle oils, liquid smoke, dried porcini mushrooms and the bulk bags of chocolate that are within hands reach. In hindsight, I would've been happier spending the money that went on the siphon on porcini mushrooms instead!

Personally I would just want the cake by itself. I've been looking at that recipe for ages and it's on the to-do list. I'd make it with the best chocolate I could find and I wouldn't want to dilute or distract from the flavour and textures by serving it with anything else.

Haven't thought of ceramic knives for years... Around the late 90s there was a TV chef (American with Asian background, I think) who really pushed them, had his own branded line of Kyocera ceramics. I only saw one or two episodes of his show, but his constant endorsement of ceramic knives made me curious, so I asked about them at a specialty knife shop. They informed me that ceramic knives are illegal in Australia because they are not detected by security metal detectors and treated me like I was some type of criminal! I'm pretty sure they now add metal powder to them so they set normal metal detectors off, if I see a cheap one I'll give it a go, see how it goes with tomatoes (I eat a lot of tomatoes, they're always my test for knife sharpness)

Scanpan sell a set of two, that share the same lid. Consdiering the price, it works well - you get a big one for stocks, and a small one for smaller meals - eg perfect for the carrot soup.

About a year ago I was trying to work out what the different codes for methylcellulose meant, with A,E,F and K being the four main groups and then followed by different numbers. From a google search: An initial letter identifies the type of cellulose ether. "A" identifies methylcellulose products. "E", "F", and "K" identify different hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (USP Hypromellose) products. The number that follows identifies the viscosity in millipascal-seconds (mPa.s) of that product measured at 2% concentration in water at 20°C. I also have some copy & pasted notes I made on what you actually use the stuff for - these are for methylcellulose in general, not specifically microcrystalline: Methylcellulose is used extensively in commercial products as a thickener and an emulsifier. Methylcellulose forms an oil-impermeable gel at high temperatures, so if incorporated into batters it can prevent fried foods from absorbing oil. Any products that envelope a water based filling with a fat-based shell - such as pies, filled pasta, pastries and deep-fried tempuras – can reduce water leakage and fat absorption with the addition of methylcellulose. Internet blogger ‘Foodplayerlinda’ writes about the modernist applications of methylcellulose: “As a hydrocolloid, it can thicken liquids to form gels that can glue together vegetables, or spread thinly on silicone to form sheets that are flexible and plastic-like when dried, but turn crisp and brittle when baked. It can also be piped into hot liquid to form instant noodles. The gel, when whipped, behaves like egg whites and can be baked into souffles, marshmallows, and light and crisp meringues.” Methylcellulose gels can also be used to create consommé with less flavour loss than the traditional egg-white method. Methylcellulose F50 can also be used as a wash to seal ravioli and other filled pasta, instead of egg. (and it’s worth noting that Methylcellulose is also used as a fibre supplement in products that treat constipation, and that according to wikipedia, Methylcellulose was used to create the slime in the ‘Alien’ and ‘Ghostbusters’ movies, and it’s also the primary ingredient in KY jelly!) Hope this is interesting to you...

Check out the recipe in MC for Spaghetti Carbonara, they use essentially the same technique with parmesan. I tried it and though the parmesan flavour was overpowering as they used it in the carbonara recipe, but found that the soft block was a great way to add parmesan flavour to normal pasta sauces. By making the parmesan into a softer and milder block, it's easy to stir it through pasta without it sticking to the plate (I stopped using parmesan cheese when I didn't have a dishwasher) and the flavour seemed to blend in much better.

It depends what you want out of a book, but if it's simply recipes and you're on a limited budget then you could be better. I have both 'perfection' books and also his 'feasts' books. They're a good read and I'm glad I have them, but they're not recipe books like HB at Home. I think there's only 8 recipes in each book, and in some cases they use such specialised ingredients and techniques that it's unlike you'd ever make them. It's a shame that the perfection series isn't available on DVD, but you can watch lots of bits on youtube, if you have the patience to piece the sections together in order. I'd suggest that you put the funds towards a different book and watch the show online. If you like HB at Home, then maybe something like the Family Meals book from Ferran Adria...

I have only tried equilibrium brining, using the tables in Modernist Cuisine. This works for me because I don't have to worry about the exact amount of time the meat spends in the brine - 24 hours might turn into 48 if I'm forgetful or if dinner plans change. I always brine pork belly and scallops - seems to make a noticeable difference to their juiciness. My understanding is that brining is all about juiciness/succulence and not about seasoning. I thought the idea was to replace the natural salts and sugars which had been lost since butchering, not to add additional seasoning. I think that once you get a higher concentration of salts & sugars than you would naturally, you are technically curing the meat and not brining it. So even if I've had a pork belly brining for a few days before I cook it, I wouldn't expect it to be better seasoned - I would still expect to have to season it just as much as if it hadn't been brined. I would only expect it to be juicier.

jfrater: awesome shots- you have motivated me to attempt the chicken tikka masala. I have made the lemon tart a few times now, the filling has the perfect balance of texture, flavour, sweetness and acidity. The only thing I have noticed is that it takes quite a long time to set, and based on previous efforts I'll always make it the day before it's to be served so it can sit in the fridge overnight. The temperatures listed in the recipe are precise, and I follow the directions carefully, but last time I tried making this the same day it was to be served it was still too soft to cut after 6 hours in the fridge. It did set after a few more hours, and the texture was beautiful, but I'm curious to know if others have noticed the same thing?

Hi Merkinz, Sydney's not too different - there are only a handful of places to go to for specialist ingredients and they charge a ludicrously high price. The price difference between Australia and overseas irritated me so much I decided to do something about it. I ordered 21 different ingredients from overseas, mostly in 2kg lots, bought some food-grade bottles from a local supplier and made my own kits. 2kg works out as 20 x 50g portions, although I was a bit generous when weighing so I ended up with 18 kits and some leftovers. I kept one kit for myself and sold the other 17 on Ebay. It was encouraging to see how quickly they sold, and I made a small profit which essentially covered the cost of my own kit and some of Modernist Cuisine. If you think there's demand in New Zealand and you have the time, you could do the same thing. Do your homework, take the risk of outlaying some initial money, and the result will be a well-stocked pantry that has paid for itself, and potentially enough profit to buy a few more cookbooks. Prices and availability have changed since I did it, but to give you an idea - one local supplier sells 10g of gellan for $20. Ignoring postage, you can get 200g of gellan for $30 in the UK. The postage costs more than the product, but if you buy in bulk and minimise your suppliers - or if you have friends overseas who can post you stuff - you can definitely feed a small market niche. -Chris

Superb work! Now I feel like some pie.

Wow, you're totally correct. I should check these things before bashing out a reply. A few Google searches suggest the average body temperature of a cold-blooded fish is about 12C, and tuna are classified as warm-blooded, and have had their body temperature measured as high as 37C. So the 0C thing was wrong. However the difference in body temperature between cold-blooded seafood and warm-blooded mammals still explains why there are no suggestions to cook lobster for long periods of time. We're moving house so all my books are in boxes somewhere, but I'm keen to track down the bit about langoustine cooking time and temperature again to see what else was said.

Just a few thoughts... I think it's in the Fat Duck cookbook (when Heston writes about his langoustine lasagne) where he mentions that the enzymes in seafood will rapidly turn the flesh to mush when heated, so the cooking time for seafood has to be very precise (langoustine is scampi to us antipodeans). Basically, seafood lives in temperatures approximately around 0 degrees C, and all of the seafood's enzymes and biochemistry etc etc have evolved to work optimally at those temperatures. Sticking seafood in the fridge is not actually storing it at a lower temperature than when it was alive, so it degrades rapidly. This is quite different from a cow, whose body temperature is up to 40C, and which has evolved a completely different biochemistry for that temperature. Sticking some beef in the fridge at 4C is a big drop from 40C and so the chemical processes slow down dramatically and the beef lasts for longer. So this is why beef lasts longer in the fridge than seafood, and also longer than chicken and pork (chickens and pigs have lower core body temperatures than cows, although it's still in the 30s). So basically - cooking seafood for too long will turn it to mush, as it's basically decomposing in the bag. The difference between the 45C and the 60C camps may come down to food safety, but also texture. Those who don't care about pasteurisation - and seafood cooked at 45C is no more risky than eating sushi - may prefer the texture or even colour of food at 45C. Using a water bath over 55C will help reduce any pathogens, providing the seafood is cooked long enough for the core temperature to reach that point. Personally, I've experimented with salmon cooked around the 40C mark and although it's interesting, I simply prefer it cooked hotter. I'm not worried about the safety issue, but I do prefer eating something that feels hot rather than tepid. Same with scallops - although I think I'll give them another go at 40C just to check...

You should go to Italy. There, you get yelled at for not eating. Everyone you meet wants to give you food... 'mangia mangia mangia' all day. Complete strangers want to give you a 3 course meal. If you don't eat they think something is wrong with you. Their food is full of carbs and it's all delicious. One of the most wonderful places on Earth...

For something a bit lighter, try Anthony Bourdain's "kitchen confidential". You won't pick up any techniques, but the early anecdotes give a different type of insight into being a professional cook / chef. It was such a hit it should be easy to find a cheap paperback copy.

I haven't noticed this thread before so it was interesting to read through 18 months of scrambled eggs. I never thought much about scrambled eggs until I bought a box set of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, and noticed that in 2 separate James Bond stories Fleming detailed the recipe for James Bond's scrambled eggs. I did some quick maths and figured that Bond (Fleming) used 15g of butter for every egg, which seemed like a lot. It certainly looks like a lot if you go to the trouble of accurately measuring it. I was curious enough to try the recipe and found it absolutely delicious - soft and incredibly buttery - the flavour is as much butter as it is eggs. It's now my go-to recipe for scrambled eggs, and telling someone you're making them "James Bond's recipe" gets a better reaction than telling them it's a Jamie Oliver / Nigella / Gordon Ramsay / Heston Blumenthal recipe :-)

Thanks for posting the photos, I think those cakes look amazing. I especially like the 'old' one, and I'm just as impressed that they responded to your email. Kudos to Betty Crocker! To me, it looks like puff pastry. Regular shortcrust pastry will not have any structural strength and flaky / filo pastry is also going to be too weak. Puff pastry does have some structural strength, and it's common to bake it weighted down to stop it from rising. To me, it has to appearance of pastry that was baked inside a tin and turned out. So if you're using a dutch oven, I would use the INSIDE, as if you were blind baking. If it doesn't have to be edible you can probably fit some smaller tins inside the dutch oven to pack out the empty space and then fill the gaps around the edge with rice. I think that using the inside of a tin, and not draping it over the outside, is the key.