["Modernist Cuisine" by Myhrvold, Young & Bilet (Part 1)]

Coming out of lurking mode just to say how amazing this book is and to personally say "thanks" to Nathan and Co for putting this together.

You would think there would be filler in a 2400 page book, but no -- just about everything is valuable and/or entertaining its its own right. Its a joy to read. Incredibly vast and expansive in scope yet somehow equally concise. I found myself picking up a volume, hoping to get right into the recipes and techniques, but got derailed from the beginning delving into the "History" section for an hour. History of the plated dish - who knew? Same with the other volumes - I've never thought 15 pages breaking down grilling vs broiling would be so entertaining and informative. And when I finally got to recipes, the parametric format captures so much useful information on just a page or two.

I can really appreciate/see the thought, care and effort taken to first track down such a vast amount of information and then distill it down into such a concise user friendly format. Forget cookbooks - I don't think I have ever seen a book on anything take so much information from so many disparate sources and then present it so clearly and effectively. I have a hard time seeing this book distributed as a pdf and agree that a digital version would have to be pretty close to state-of-the-art in presentation to match the effectiveness of the printed version. I also have to say its worth the price - what you might expect to get out of spending your whole $600 budget on a single "book".

So I am really grateful that someone took the effort to do this, especially someone with the talent and drive to do it so well.

[Sous Vide: Recipes, Techniques & Equipment (Part 7)]

Those pressures are huge considering that surface air pressure is about 14 psi, or an hydraulic system is a couple of thousand psi, or the bottom of the deepest sea trench is around 16,000 psi (if I recall correctly). I'm amazed the food is not altered. I'm also intrigued to know how they generate such force.

Nick's link is very good. Originally I thought it worked like chamber vacuum sealer, the pressure is applied both inside and outside of the "bag" before sealing so the food doesn't get completely crushed - which was why I posted here. Plus I wanted to see who here would build the first home unit.

[Sous Vide: Recipes, Techniques & Equipment (Part 7)]

Hello everyone. Long-time reader, learner and fan -- first post. Thought I'd post this on the sous vide thread since it has some interesting things in common.

Has anyone ever heard of this type of cold pressure sterilization? From this producer of refrigerated foods: http://www.sandridge.com/Recent_News.7.48.lasso

Most processed foods today are heat treated to kill bacteria and have preservatives added to extend shelf life, which often diminishes product quality and taste. HPP provides an alternative means of killing bacteria that can cause spoilage or food-borne disease without a loss of sensory quality or nutrients.

In the HPP process, the product is packaged in a flexible container and is loaded into a high pressure chamber filled with cold water and then pressurized with a pump. An equal amount of pressure is transmitted through the package into the food itself. Pressure is applied for a specific time, usually three to five minutes. Because the pressure is transmitted uniformly (in all directions simultaneously), food retains its shape, even at extreme pressures, and because no heat is needed, the sensory characteristics of the food are retained while still destroying the harmful bacteria. Bacteria are inactivated at levels of 58,000-87,000 psi and water temperatures of less than 45 degrees Fahrenheit. These pressure levels retain all the taste, texture and integrity of the original food ingredients without the need for preservatives and/or heat processing.

[Annapolis and Eastern Shore Dining]

I can still vouch for Cantler's - for food + overall experience. If you are going for hard shell crabs (which you should) go early as the big ones sell out fast. And look at that crab cake photo.

I also have liked Joss a lot for sushi but haven't been in a while.