ChrisZ

I like blue cheeses (especially gnocchi with a blue cheese sauce), but when my flatmate came home with a pot of Stilton, I noticed that every time I ate some I had the most incredibly vivid and utterly crazy dreams. This has only happened with Stilton and none of the other blue cheeses I've tried (I don't think I've tried Roquefort). I even Googled it to see if I was alone and found that it's quite common, even though there's no scientific explanation and it's dismissed as a myth. But it's something I noticed first and read about second - for me, Stilton really does give me crazy dreams! (blue cheese with ripe figs and walnuts is great)

Was re-reading the thread after it got bumped up from 18 months ago, and realised that I forgot to make my own suggestion - Bodean's. I did some work over the road from the Soho branch and their burgers were always a highlight.

Thanks for the links, they've been very interesting - they're quite clear even after being translated by Google.

I've been playing around with sous vide for over a year now and I'm still not sure how these different combinations are calculated. Personally, I've always had great results with the lower temperatures and longer times - I generally cook everything at 58-60C and pork ribs / pork belly are divine after 72 hours. But assuming that oxtails cooked for 100 hours at 60C are comparable to those cooked for 12-18 hours at 80C, is there some rule that can be used? If you graph these time/temperature combinations is it linear? Or is there some way of quantifying the texture from a given combination? Considering the amount of discussion that's been given to the significance of 1 degree when cooking an egg - and I do realise that meat and eggs are different - I've always been intrigued by this and would love to know more...

For me, dill is the taste of Greek food (as others have already suggested). A little dill can make the difference between the same ingredient tasting "Italian" or "Greek" - red peppers for example. A really simple dish to try is saganaki - works well with prawns. If you simply sauté some prawns and add tomatoes you might have an Italian pasta sauce. But if you add some Ouzo (flambe) then throw in some fetta and some dill you end up with a distinctively Greek prawn saganaki. Takes 5 minutes to cook and is delicious. Dill - Fetta - Ouzo = excellent combination.

Made the chicken with sherry/cream/onions, it turned out really well and my guests enjoyed it. It's really quite a simple dish and I don't think it's one where you need to be precise with the exact ingredients- next time I won't worry if I don't have gruyere or pancetta in the fridge; some cheddar and bacon will be fine. And the same with the wine - you could easily use a madiera or a port etc etc and the dish would remain basically the same. Funnily enough it reminded me of a recipe I used to make when I was much younger - an early teenager. I had found a recipe called 'chicken with garam masala sauce' which looked pretty simple - it was basically chicken pieces fried in a pan with onions, then cream and garam masala were added. The thing is that when I was a teenager I had no idea what garam masala was and there was no internet then to look things up. I looked through mum's pantry and found a bottle of marsala wine and figured that would be close enough. It was many years before I discovered that marsala wine is nothing, nothing at all like garam masala! But I liked the result and I made it that way a few times - and Heston's chicken with sherry recipe was comparable, and jolted my memory back a few decades to my garam masala/marsala wine days...

I think that some of it is psychological, to do with the way that cooking something for a long time fills your kitchen/house with its aroma, and you become accustomed to it - just like the way you can't smell your own cologne/perfume. Eating the same meal that you have been smelling for hours will not have the same level of impact as eating the meal in an environment that smells neutral. So if you reheat a meal a few hours or days after the smell has dissipated then it tastes more intense. That's my theory, anyway...

Chocolate. I admire the people who roast their own coffee beans but a hairdryer and a dog bowl won't cut it when it comes to chocolate. A google search will show you how to make chocolate from scratch but I'd rather walk up to the supermarket.

Just wondering what the verdict is on Scanpan? I read earlier a description of 'good, not great'. We got a lot of Scanpan stuff for our wedding and I've grown to really like it. I've been casually looking around in Australia at 8 litre pressure cookers. A Kuhn Rikon is approaching $300 while the Fagor Duo and Scanpan models are $150. There's a Scanpan 2 pk which combines an 8 litre pressure cooker and a 3 litre one for $180, which looks like a good deal when compared to the Kuhn Rikon. So I'm wondering what makes the Kuhn Rikon and the Fagor preferable over the Scanpan?

It occurred to me that if you're new to Melbourne, you might be interested in this thread from earlier in the year. I just re-read it and it's full of great suggestions.

Ha- FWIW it looks like that video was shot in front of the Stokehouse, which is something of a St Kilda institution. There's casual dining downstairs, formal dining upstairs - it's pretty nice to have lunch on the beach when the weather is fine. It gets packed on weekends but if you're a local and able to wander down during the week then it's worth checking out. I took some friends there who were over from England and it just happened to be a day with perfect weather and only a few people there- they were absolutely blown away with being able to eat on the beach like that - postcard material. A google search revealed that the Phillipa Sibley restaurant is in Brunswick, which is a decent trek from St. Kilda. However I do have a recollection of her opening something in South Melbourne, but I may have been confused by an article in Gourmet Traveller about the place she worked at 10 years ago. If South Melbourne doesn't worry you, then one of my favourite restaurants was Misuzu, which sadly burnt down. They promptly re-opened it but I haven't lived in Melbourne for 7 years so I don't know if it's the same or not but it was definitely cheap, casual and full of locals. Their salad platters were so simple yet so amazing - I hope they still do them. I agree with Chris that the famous cake shops along Acland Street are over-rated, save your money and go to Brunetti's in Carlton. When I was a student - and that was a long time ago - Topolino's pizza on Fitzroy Street was a regular port of call. No frills pizza at any time of the night, good value for money - but who knows how it's changed since then... I would suggest that the places Chris has mentioned are great but they don't really fit my idea of 'casual' dining - for me they'd all be a special night out. One place to add to the suggestions of more high-end places is Mirka, which is relatively new. I was treated to lunch there last year and was very impressed - some of the tastiest food I've had for a long time. But considering the prices (unless someone else is paying) it's probably for special occasions only...

Thought I'd mention that I am still alive after re-heating and eating some pork ribs that have been sitting in my fridge for almost 6 months. I bought a rack of marinated pork ribs in January, and split them into two bags. I cooked them for 3 days (about 72h) at 58C, ate one bag immediately and popped the other in the fridge where I thought they'd make a quick meal at some point. While sous-vide is perfect for the cook now, reheat later approach there's not a clear indication of how long cooked food should last, in the bag. For one reason or another the bag just ended up sitting there for month after month.. Because I'd cooked the ribs for 3 days - and the bag was still airtight - I was sure the meat had been fully pasteurised and should be safe to eat. I heated the ribs up at 60C for a couple of hours, opened it and it smelt fine. Ate it and it was great - as if it had been cooked yesterday. I would've been more cautious if I hadn't cooked the meat for so long, but I'm curious to know what the guidelines are regarding the shelf-life of cooked sous-vide meat...

Tried the lemon tart and the potato and leek soup. The lemon tart was great, but the soup was really pretty average and it was made very clear to me that Heston's recipe is inferior to my wife's! Heston's recipe has 750g leeks, 200g onions to 180g potatoes. Normally when we make it we have about the same weight of potatoes as leeks (or even more), which makes the leek flavour quite mild and smooth. I didn't mind the different recipe but compared to what we're used too it was quite pungent and sharp. Hopefully I'll have time to try some of the more complex recipes...

Very interesting - I was wondering the same thing a few months ago and googled around to find an answer. I made some notes that the combination of calcium lactate and calcium gluconate is especially soluble, which is the opposite of what the CI text listed above says. I wish I made a note of where I read it, so I can compare sources. Unless it was referring to solution clarity, rather than solubility. If calcium lactate gluconate makes a clearer (ie more transparent) solution then I can see why it would be preferred for spherification. So now I'm wondering why one source is saying the calcium lactate gluconate is especially soluble, while another says it isn't...

Nutella mixed with whipped cream makes an easy cake filling, and I also use it in a similar manner to flavour buttercream. It actually goes really well with carrot cakes, and apple/cinnamon cakes, where it is a complimentary flavour. When you pair it with chocolate it can become a bit of a sweetness overload. I don't like eating nutella straight or as a spread though. I used to live by a market that had a chocolate stall that sold slabs of Callebaut gianduja by weight. My guilty pleasure was buying a block of a few hundred grams and biting it off in chunks... Who makes "high-end" gianduja - is there an Amadei or Valrhona for gianduja? I ate a lot of the stuff in Perugia and thought it was delicious but I'm not sure who the manufacturer was.

Yeah, the simple way to describe a chicken sparerib is that it's half the wishbone. So the meat on them is high quality, and you would get 2 per chicken. Marinated chicken wings & spareribs cooked on the bbq are one of my guilty pleasures - so cheap, so delicious.

At the risk of infuriating traditionalists, I was thinking about how to modernise the Parisienne technique. The recipes that came up with a simple Google search were generally similar - you cook the scallops separately, then make a sauce with stock, wine, mushrooms & cream that is thickened with a roux. The scallops and sauce are topped with Gruyere cheese and grilled. Some recipes have mashed potato as an accompaniment. This sounds delicious and the recipes are making my mouth water, but they don't sound 'light and fresh'. So here are some suggestions on a more modern approach: - Brine the scallops and cook them sous vide. You will get perfectly cooked scallops every time. I use the technique of lining the scallops up in a row and wrapping them in cling film so they look a bit like a sausage, then vacuum bagging them. I've had good results cooking them at 55 degrees C for about 30 minutes. The suggested temperature and time for sous vide scallops vary according to where you look, but I've been happy with that combination. Then pan fry in butter - they will caramelise very quickly. No need to worry about overcooked or undercooked scallops, and brining + sous vide really brings out their flavour too. - A traditional roux based sauce will be heavier than it has to be, especially if cream is added too. To make it lighter and fresher you want no flour and no cream- same underlying logic as the modernist cuisine 'mac and cheese' recipe. With no flour or cream to mask flavours, I'd add the gruyere to the sauce so the flavour is there but the scallop isn't covered in it. As per the MC 'mac & cheese' recipe, I'd make the sauce by starting with the wine and stock, adding sodium citrate to help emulsify the cheese, and adding the gruyere to the liquid. Iota carrageenan would thicken and add 'mouth feel' if the sauce is too thin. - Adding the gruyere to the sauce removes a textural element from the dish. You could still sprinkle more Gruyere on top and grill for a traditional look, but I think it's a shame to cover up a gorgeous caramelised scallop. You could add a parmesan crisp on the side instead to add some crunch. - If you go for the mashed potato option, then you can try using the 'retrograding' technique to help keep them "light and fresh". Retrograding mashed potatoes is usually discussed when referring to a rich potato puree, but I've found that when done with floury potatoes that are gently mashed with a ricer, the resulting mashed potatoes are very light and fluffy. Just some thoughts off the top of my head - I realise that these may not be the types of suggestions you're looking for. But seriously - the traditional recipe is not exactly 'light and fresh' so I think modernising the Parisienne recipe is an interesting but reasonably simple challenge. I'll have a go myself and I'll post back results and photos!

Just a few thoughts: -Firstly, as the main reason you're doing this is for a science project, it's important that you document all your 'failures' and make any changes in a methodological manner. It doesn't matter how poor your results are, the aim is to demonstrate science and so don't change everything at once! Adjust one aspect of your technique at a time, document everything, and the resulting science project will be interesting and valid regardless of how the cheese turns out. It might be nice to produce a great batch of mozzarella, but if you can't definitively prove the effect of the type of milk, the ph, the temperature, or the addition of calcium then the science project won't be very good. -Similarly, it might be useful to compare the process that you are using with the traditional Italian process used to produce the protected "Mozzarella di Bufala Campana". -Calcium chloride is used industrially because it's cheap. With your interest in modernist cuisine, I'm guessing you've got some calcium lactate or even some calcium lactate gluconate in your pantry... these will do the same job as calcium chloride but they don't taste bitter. If you decide to give it a go, I would suggest using them instead. -Just wondering if you've looked through all the videos on YouTube about making mozzarella? If so then it would be great if you could share any that you've found to be especially useful. If not, then have a look as you might find them useful, either for your own reference or for the science project - especially the ones from Italy that show the making of 'real' mozzarella.

Tiger prawns are readily available in Australia, they are possibly the most common variety sold here. They are usually available in a range of different sizes, priced accordingly. The super large ones can be roughly the same price as lobster/crayfish, while the smaller ones can be found for less than the price of good chicken breast fillets. The sad thing is that a lot of premium Australian seafood is exported and the stuff that is available to the local public is actually imported from Asia. I think that tiger prawns are the most commonly farmed type of prawn in Asia. (Not being pedantic, but a prawn and a shrimp are different species, so calling it a 'tiger shrimp' is not quite right). It is common to see local fishmongers selling 'King Prawns' which are not actually genuine 'King Prawns' (a local Australian species) but are just really bloody big Tiger Prawns. Not that I think anyone would really care, but I have a general distrust of Australian fishmongers when it comes to labelling their produce. Farmed, frozen and imported prawns of any species can lack flavour compared to locally caught fresh options, but Australians buy and eat them by the bucketload so I don't see why there wouldn't be a viable market in the USA.

My wife makes a very simple but delicious pasta dish that is basically caramelised onions and peas. Stir it through macaroni with some fresh mozzarella.

Some ingredients are a lot easier to find than others, and their individual prices vary widely. I found a few wholesalers that were happy to take relatively small orders (for them) over the internet, it just took a bit of googling around. The food acids - citric / ascorbic / tartaric and malic acids can often be found by companies that sell ingredients to home brewers and home cheesemakers. Sodium Citrate is also easy to find and quite cheap - you may even be able to find it in your local supermarket or speciality deli where it's sold as 'sour salt'. If you look at home brew / cheesemaking websites and forums you not only learn more about these hobbies, but you also learn some great places to buy online.

Your main concern is botulism, because anything submerged in oil is in an anaerobic environment that suits the growth of the botulism bacteria. This is why it's important to heat the oil / chillis first - you want to sterilise them. And of course you want to clean and sterilise your bottle too... The riskiest approach is to simply take some raw chillis and pop them in some oil without any prep. Just google around for botulism and check you're not doing anything wrong.

Werdna, where are you based? As an Australian I'm interested to know where this show is being broadcast around the world, and also which series you are watching. TV cooking shows fascinate me because they're a collision of my professional life (TV) and my hobby (cooking). When I'm watching a cooking show - especially ones that are more 'reality' style, I'm often busy admiring the way the show is produced while being annoyed at aspects of the cooking, or vice versa! You seem intrigued by the show's format, so here are some vague ramblings about how it came to be: Firstly, realise that Australia is a small TV market, and until recently we only had 3 free commercial TV channels. We have more now, and cable is much more widespread than it was 10 years ago, but basically we have 3 non-government channels - 7, 9 and 10. They are fierce competitive rivals... In 2003 Channel 9 invented a reality TV series called 'The Block', which put 4 couples in a competition to renovate a block of flats. The show was a smash hit and continues to this day, still with huge ratings. Channel 7 wanted something just as popular, so they responded in 2004 by creating a TV series called 'My restaurant rules', which pitted 5 couples (each representing their own state) in a competition to renovate and launch a restaurant. There were many elements of the show that closely mimicked elements of 'The Block', such as weekly cash bonuses to the couple who had done the best job in that particular week. The show rated OK but was never the smash hit that 'The Block' was, and it only ran for 2 series. Jump forwards to 2009. Channel 10 license the UK series 'Masterchef' but give it a radical makeover, and turn it into a reality TV show where the contestants live in a house together but risk eviction based on various cooking challenges. Masterchef is on TV 6 nights a week and rates its socks off. It is very difficult to explain to anyone overseas what an unexpected phenomenon the Australian series of Masterchef became. It was so popular that during the general election, a scheduled TV debate by the two party leaders going for Prime Minister was re-scheduled so it didn't clash with the Masterchef final. Channel 7 want something similar, and decide on a format comparable to the UK show 'Come dine with me' - where competitors cook dinner parties for each other in their own kitchens and rate each other's food. Perhaps the success of Masterchef prompted them to look at other UK cooking shows? However a local cable company had already licensed the UK format and produced 'Come dine with me Australia' for pay tv. So Channel 7 called their version 'My restaurant rules' to tie in with their previous series 'My kitchen rules' and tweaked the format enough to avoid legal issues with both 'Come dine with me' and 'Masterchef'. Basically they combined elements of Masterchef with Come dine with me, and retained the concept of the competitors representing their own state. What you get is a TV series in which the first few weeks closely resemble the format of 'Come dine with me', as each couple cook in their own homes for the other competitors, who judge their cooking. Based on the scores, some couples are evicted and then the series switches to a format that closely resembles Masterchef Australia, where the couples compete against each other at various locations, with various challenges, and are judged by a panel of professional/celebrity chefs. Couples are progressively eliminated until there's a 'Grand Final', and a winner. So there you go, perhaps that answers some of your questions regarding the format? Personally, I like the show but it's more reality than cooking, so they obviously hype up the drama and tension. As someone who is heavily interested in the science behind cooking it often frustrates me when the contestants get highly emotional about things which are completely wrong! This happens all the time... in the most recent series, two contestants try cooking steak with a digital thermometer so they don't overcook it. However they do two things wrong - firstly they cook the steaks until the internal temperature is about 65C (55C would be considered rare), and secondly they don't make an allowance for the temperature to continue rising after they take the steaks off the heat. The end result is horribly overcooked steak, and a shot of the contestants declaring that digital thermometers are rubbish and throwing theirs in the bin. Obviously the thermometer wasn't broken, they just didn't know what they were doing... but I guess it's good entertainment!

If you're seriously interested in ice cream then also consider "Frozen Desserts", by Migoya. It has a lot of technical information - this is a book aimed above your average home cook, it's aimed at professionals making small quantities. It deals with a lot of the different terminologies used and whether or not they're regulated - eg "ice cream" is defined and controlled, "gelato" is not. All sorts of ingredients, formulas, additives and techniques are discussed, and although the book is full of recipes it also has basic tables and ratios designed for commercial applications. My only real disappointment with the book is that Migoya basically concludes that the best way to make small quantities of ice cream is with a pacojet, and as they cost more than my first car I won't be getting one anytime soon. But the photography is superb and the recipes are inspiring. If you're really serious about ice cream then this is a book for you.

I don't know if he's spelled it out anywhere, but although it's often said that the most technically "perfect" way to cook a chicken/turkey would be to butcher it and cook the different parts sous vide at different temperatures, there is a certain amount of tradition and satisfaction in serving a whole bird at the table. It's not as practical to cook a whole chicken or turkey sous vide as you'd need a pretty big water bath and some huge sized foodsaver bags! So if you want to cook the bird whole, then slow roasting is the practical alternative.