JBailey

Does anyone have experience with the Electrolux Plug & Cook Mini Combi Oven? This looks like it would be a handy (but expensive) way to cook some of the recipes in MC.

Rebuilt or new, there seems to be a decent warranty...then again I always seem to forget to register or save my sales receipts! I imagine this sale was a combination of clearing out the older refurbished units and/or a way to reduce inventories on new ones. In either case, they found a clever way to move a bunch of blenders out the door.

Vengroff and bmdaniel, thank you for the clarifications. Now that I know what you were trying, it actually becomes an even more helpful tool. There have been times when I have raised temps when I did not have as much time available as I may have prefered, but this would help me keep within core margins. I hope you also consider a way to share this for my laptop as well.

Vengroff, your application looks fascinating. Best luck in getting it out to users as I am certain it will be most helpful. However, I have a question. It has been my belief from what I have read that meat cooked sous vide will not exceed the temperature of the water. In your post you say . Once the mass of the meat reaches the surrounding water temperature, how can it continue to rise? Isn't there an equalibrium? I would have imagined that terminal temperature is terminal temperature. Also, while some may rest their meat after sous vide, I was under the impression that there is no distinct advantage to resting as one might after cooking conventionally.

Nathan I just viewed the video on your Blog about the first printing of your book. That was a fascinating glimpse into the melding of technology and hand crafting of Modernist Cuisine at the printing plant. Just don't tell me that you composed the background music and played it as well!

I might recommend something with an open kitchen where they can see the food as it is prepared. While a chain, Bandera is on Michigan Avenue across from Nordstrom so it would give them the pleasure of seeing the food come out and be in the middle of the activity of Michigan Avenue. Another open kitchen is Wildfire in River North. Also if I recall, Scoozi, also in River North, is another where you can see the kitchen and wood fired oven action. Another thought is Quartino's at Ontario and State which is another in River North. They serve small plates and shared portions of some really terrific dishes. One other idea is to contact Kendall College on Goose Island to see if their dining room is open that day and if they can have the number of people you are bringing. This would allow them to see a culinary school plus interface with their students who work the room. I will try to think of other affordable, but nice places you might consider.

Then a double thanks to Patris! Believe me I held my breathe until the first bite fearing a rubbery texture. I certainly will try this again, maybe with my own curing next time.

Kerry Beal Thank you for your suggestions about how long and what temp to do pre-packaged corn beef. I put in my corned beef for 18 hours at 170 F. I chose to trim off nearly all the fat and remaining silver skin from the meat with the thought that it might not render or soften as it would if I was using a traditional recipe. When I originally sealed the bag, I neglected to put in the spices which came in the package. This morning, I pulled the bag from my stockpot with the SVP, opened the bag, poured out the accumulated liquids, used the provided seasoninga and then sealed the corned beef back into a new bag and retured it to the 170 F water. Tonight I served it for dinner. Others had warned me that the corned beef might be 'rubbery', but it was not. It was fork-tender with a very good taste. I did brush off the seasonings before serving because they had not softened and might distract from the meat. 170 was not a bad choice for the whole cooking time. I also might surmise that purging the liquid this morning helped.

Dave the Cook As in the movie The World According to Garp there is the airplane crash scene: "T. S. Garp: We'll take the house. Honey, the chances of another plane hitting this house are astronomical. It's been pre-disastered. We're going to be safe here." You have now pre-disastered your copy of MC!

I really enjoyed Seattle Food Geek's writing and observations as well. How nicely written it was. I have sent it to any number of friends. One might think a professional author of books about the CIA, leading kitchens and best selling cookbooks could have done half as well...

In the spring, my thoughts often turn to hulled strawberries, a touch of sugar, some fig balsamic, vanilla yogurt and some half and half. Certainly not low calorie, but delicious tasting...and oh yes, very filling! Blendtec just emailed me as to what color I wanted for mine. In the not distant future, this will be the first thing I try to blend. The two downsides I see are making even larger quantities which I will be compelled to consume and second now I will have the Blentec jar to wash plus my glass, instead of the plastic tumbler I had used with the stick blender and as my cup.

The last ham I bought was a spiral cut from Costco. Included with the ham was a packet for a glaze...I mixed the packet with 'Mexican' Coke (real sugar) also bought at Costco. I highly recommend you try adding Coke to your next ham. From a technical standpoint, it may not alter or change how the ham is glazed as you warm it to serve. Simply, I just like the flavor it adds.

Which is another reason to consider sous vide. Consistency. I did a similar sized rib roast last week and the interior came out perfect...pink edge to edge. Granted, I did it in the water bath for about 18 hours, so it was not something I could approach with a last minute decision. It was very tasty when it went from the bath to the table and was equally satisfying over the weekend as a sandwich. For this latest rib roast, I trimmed off as much of the exterior fat as possible. I put the fat and some of the trimmings into a skillet, seasoned them and sautéd/browned them and then put the cooked fat and trimmings into the bag with the rib roast. This seemed to impart a nice flavor and when I took the meat out I discarded these bits.

Victornet thank you for your generousity in sharing...now the deed is done!

The New Yorker article is what someone with Ruhlman's abilities should have written...

Let's talk corned beef sous vide for a bit. Not the preparation from original brisket, but using a store pruchase one. I would like to use a pre-done Chicago classic corned beef packaged by Vienna. Their traditional instructions are: "Remove from bag. Place corned beef and spices in a large pot. Add water to cover. Cover pot and place on medium-high heat. Bring to a boil. Once the water comes to a boil, skim foam off top, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 2 1/2 - 3 hours or until desired tenderness. Corned beef is tender when easily pierced with a fork. Slice against the grain and serve with boiled potatoes and cabbage, if desired." Ny riff might be 24 hours at 140F. What time and temp might everyone else consider? What are your cabbage thoughts as well?

It is my impression that while the food and recipes Chef Achatz will be taking to his two new restaurants is to be different, he continues to use some of the most successful equipment he has found on the journey. I imagine we will read that equipment from Polyscience and CookTek, among others, will be in the kitchen. Maybe he will be using what is already available for purchase, but it is equally likely he will be trying some next generation kitchen appliances.

Wicker Park is more adjacent to the downtown than the airport. Depending on traffic, you might be fine. On Irving (4000 north) in the Old Irving Park neighborhood is Sabatino's at 4441 W Irving (west of the Kennedy Epwy) which is old style Italian. If you want traditional Italian closer to the airport, there is Basilico at 4701 N Cumberland (8400 west) south of the Kennedy. At the upper end is Carlucci's in Rosemont at 6111 N. River Road. There is an outpost of Gino's Pizza at 8725 W Higgins, also close. Also to the north of O'Hare is a Harry Caray's at 10233 W Higgins. One other intersting one is Cafe la Cave at 2777 N Mannheim near the Allstate Arena, but I believe they are only a dinner choice. Another neighborhood not far from the airport is Edison Park. It would be reached by city streets and not the expressway, but they have Zia's, Nonno Pino's and Moretti's. You can catch cabs to places more local to the airport, but I might offer one piece of advice. Tell both the cab starter and the cabbie you are going more local. Many of them have sat for hours in line waiting for a fare and their hope and fantasy is that it is a full ride to the Loop or further. By telling them it is a short ride, they can get a ticket allowing them back in line further up than the back of the line.

I have the Imperia 220 Restaurant electric and it is a great pasta machine. I recommend it heartily. There is a mixing bowl attachment that you probably could forego. By the way, it is Imperia, not Imperial if you are doing searches.

Amazon offers several sources for duck fat on their site from small jars to tubs. Williams-Sonoma has been carrying a jar of duck fat from a firm by the name of Rougie. I believe Rougie also has a web store where the products can be found.

Angevin I personally hope you stay and contribute to this and other threads. While we may not agree on points, I do enjoy reading your perspective which gives me thought when measured against mine. I love analogies. Today we can type on a computer and share our thoughts electronically. The ability does not make picking up a pen and writing on a piece of paper then going to the post office to mail the note obsolete, merely different. So many things are transitional. Stoves in the home have evolved from gas and electric coil burners to now offer halogen and induction burners. Maybe in the future there will be more residential choices that bring combi-ovens and CVAP ovens to a more affordable price point. Didn't someone (it may have been Chef Keller?) suggest that sous vide setups may be the next big addition to kitchens? Not so many years ago, every office wanted to have a fax machine. Then fax machines transited to homes. Today, how many faxes do you think you will send? I would much rather buy a knife than forge my own, for any number of reasons. All is in motion.

Cooking secrets, in my opinion, always seem to be designed to elevate the importance of the secret holder. Whether true or not, how many of us have heard about someone genuinely liking a dish at a restaurant then asking for a recipe and getting one with certain ingredients or facts missing? Confident restaurant or home chefs will gladly share all the information knowing their skill and experience of doing the dish over and over will have the appreciative audience always coming back for more. As Daves said, one can always reverse-engineer a recipe which may be almost as much fun. What has been so gratifying about cooking sous vide has been the ability to replicate results consistently. Yes, there are variables in this and any process, but now I know what the inside temperature of my meat will be. It doesn't mean I don't riff the time and temps to suite my own preferences. Modernist Cuisine, as one of the goals I believe is trying to be achieved, is aiming us toward being able to repeat our results, not based upon 'instinct', but rather upon repeatable facts. It is nice to get the best out of my equipment and myself.

Nathan I am of an age where parents and friends of parents always told the horror stories of wiping the contents of pressure cookers off the ceiling. Silly as it may seem, I have little fear (cerainly using them in appropriate ways) of the various pieces of equipment in my kitchen, but alas I still harbor over anxiety about pressure cookers. While I am certain technology, improvements and safety have all been built into the newer models, where do you put a pressure cooker on the scale of it is safe to use with respect to the other extreme of be very, very careful of an enclosed container with a pressure relief valve???

I am a proud knucklehead!

By the way Nathan, what time did Ruhlman call or email to thank you for answering his questions over the last several weeks and to discuss your reaction to his review?