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Guy MovingOn

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    Cooking with "Modernist Cuisine" (Part 2)

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Finally getting around to making the Modernist Mac & Cheese recipe. Ordered some sodium citrate from Boots Chemist online, trying hard to choose one that is not cranberry flavoured... once it arrived I saw on the front of the packet, "Lemon Flavour". Oh well, I proceeded with the recipe, the cheese sauce seemed to taste pretty nice anyway, so I have popped it into the freezer in preparation for tomorrow night's dinner.

    "Modernist Cuisine" by Myhrvold, Young & Bilet (Part 3)

    in Cookbooks & References

    Posted

    I have to say that I don't think the book is as easy to read as everyone else has claimed.

    I have started reading the book from Volume 1. Page 1. The language itself is absolutely fine and clear and I have no problems at all understanding or intrpeting what has been written. What I find difficult is the layout. The prose is so often interspersed with histories and biographies that occupy two thirds of each page. These text boxes actually occupy more space on the page than the continuous prose that I had intended to read. A lot of the time the histories and biographies are not relevant to the other text on that page. It's a bit like a book with ADD.

    "Modernist Cuisine" by Myhrvold, Young & Bilet (Part 2)

    in Cookbooks & References

    Posted

    My books arrived yesterday! I could hardly sleep for fear that I wouldn't hear the DHL guy knocking at the door. Luckily I was awake coz he only knocked once very lightly!

    I couldn't believe the box was so big! I actually found it difficult to remove the books in the acrylic case vertically out of their cardboard box, but I agree that the packaging is very nice!

    These pages are very big! I feel like I have been reading it a lot since it arrived, but I am only up to page 50 of volume one!

    Cooking with "Modernist Cuisine" (Part 1)

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I have a question regarding the pressure cooked carrot soup. I don't have the books yet (2 more weeks hopefully!) but I seem to recall from the videos talking about this recipe that no water is added to the carrots inside the pressure cooker. I'm pretty sure that most pressure cookers require you to fill them to a certain level with a liquid.

    Could you clarify on how the pressure cooked carrots are made? Thanks!

    Cooking with "Modernist Cuisine" (Part 1)

    in Cooking

    Posted

    A vacuum bag that can withstand the high temps of a pressure cooker. They are generally thicker material than standard vacuum bags, and require better sealers.

    My waterbath has stopped heating up recently, but I already had a batch of duck legs cured and vacuum packed, and since my pressure cooker is the largest cooking vessel I had, I decided I would cook them inside that but with the lid just loosely placed on.

    The bag burst pretty quickly and I ended up eating poached duck legs :)

    "Modernist Cuisine" by Myhrvold, Young & Bilet (Part 2)

    in Cookbooks & References

    Posted

    I think the review is very self-serving. The author is almost self-justifying his criticism by constantly referring to the fact that he has ONCE visited the establishments of each chef, and further crediting this claim to criticism by exactly stating what he was served, again repeating the ingredients of the dishes frequently. It is almost as if he is using the entire second half on the review/article to settle some form of personal feud regarding a who-said-what. Talking about airing your dirty laundry in public.

    I am getting quite sick of people's intent focus upon the extreme cases of modernist cuisine implenting expensive machinery. Yes, those are far and beyond the reach of the home cook. But this book wouldn't be concise without their inclusion. As said previously, this book is like an encyclopedia, and what kind of a reference would it be if it only included those recipes which could be made in a family kitchen?

    Personally I salute the extreme lengths the authors and team have gone to to share as much information regarding the science of cooking as possible.

    I am in sincere and severe anticipation of the arrival of this book upon my doorstep. I am a final year undergraduate, and honestly cannot wait until the end of my exams whereby I can bury my head deep into this book, and learn as much and far more than I had ever hoped to have learnt about the nature of cooking.

    Nathan, congratulations. It may not be 100% of the cooking world's cup of tea, but what you have done is incredible, it is beyond worthy of praise. Regardless of any negative reviews, you cannot hope to please an entire population, but had these reviewers read the entire 5 volumes, I am sure their opinions would change. Well done.

    I seriously cannot wait for what else you decide to publish in the future. :)

    Cooking with "Modernist Cuisine" (Part 1)

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I'm very intrigued by the spherification technique with the carbonated mojito spheres. Can a liquid which is already carbonated be spherified? I ask because I would love to do some sort of gin and tonic spheres.

    I also contemplated spheres within spheres. Perhaps using hemispheric molds or something. Whereby upon placing the sphere in your mouth, you may sequentially burst two to three spheres containing a sphere within them. My inspiration was a tequila slammer.

    I wondered if it would be possible to create a sphere of lime juice, freeze it or by some other means trap it inside a sphere of pure tequila, which would then be dusted or sprinkled with some form of salt, and place that onto a tapas/chinese spoon. This would provide the sequence of flavours of salt->tequila->lime.

    Would those wiser than me consider such techniques possible? If so, please share your wisdom regarding how!

    Cooking with "Modernist Cuisine" (Part 1)

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I'm going to make the mac & cheese tonight when I get home (to serve with some pulled pork sandwiches and a few other things), so I thought I'd share a tweaked version of the ratios in the book. We found that it was a bit too salty, and I wanted a stronger cheddar component. I also tweaked the techniques a bit.

    Whisk & simmer

    • 100g water
    • 75g (wheat) beer
    • 10g sodium citrate
    • 4.5g salt
    • 1.25g iota carrageenan

    Grate and combine over low heat:

    • 140g aged gouda (was 200g)
    • 145g aged cheddar (was 80g)

    Stir until melted/emulsified. Pour into container; bring to room temp; freeze. Just before serving, pull it from the freezer and grate/shred 160g.

    Boil over high heat:

    • 300g water
    • 100g macaroni
    • 1g salt [down from 24.g]

    Don't drain it. When pasta is al dente, add cheese and heat through until smooth and combined.

    I then put it in a Le Creuset au gratin pan, topped it with seasoned breadcrumbs, and let it sit until the broiler for a couple of minutes.

    Oh, and, yes, that's dried macaroni, not fresh.

    I would like to thank you personally for taking the time to post the recipe, with concise directions, and your own feedback and suggestions. I really appreciate it! Thank you!

    Cooking with "Modernist Cuisine" (Part 1)

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Can the macaroni and cheese be made with dried macaroni?

    My girlfriend has a packet and keeps pestering me to cook it for her somehow... then I saw all these posts about the modernist mac and cheese and knew this would be the perfect way.

    I'm pretty sure I have the relevant hydrocolloids to make it.

    Could somebody post the amounts of cheeses/hydrocolloids and some simple instructions on how to make it?

    It would seriously make my life a lot better if I could cook this for her!

    Thanks!

    Cooking with "Modernist Cuisine" (Part 1)

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Does the book explain the equipment needed for ultrasonic cavitation? I have a small device which uses ultrasound to clean my wife's jewellery, but given it only holds about 1 litre of water I'd need lots of small bags of potato batons and a long time.....

    The ultrasonic cleaner we use is similar to the one for your wife's jewelry, only bigger. They come in various sizes. You could test the recipe out with a 1-liter ultrasonic bath, but you won't be able to make large quantities that way.

    I've seen on eBay that you can get ultrasonic cleaners ranging from 0.7L to 27L! Some of them also heat up to 80C. As you would expect, they are not particularly cheap, but the 2L one is about £100, which I guess you could justify if you really love your french fries (chips!).

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