Mjx

Okay, makes sense, and I can see your point (Although I loathe cooked eggs, I love cooking them, and the first dish I ever cooked was scrambled eggs, again and again and again, for about a fortnight, until I had a pretty good idea of exaclty what I could do with this preparation; my parents were stunningly patient about eating the same thing almost every night during this period). You mentioned massaging the bag, upthread: when you do that, do you get the consistency you want? The mechanical element of making traditional scrambled eggs (i.e. stirring) definitely affects the end result, so I was thinking the post-cook massaging might do part of the trick. Is it? Does this have any affect on the extra liquid in the bag?

Actually, before recommending any specific unit to anyone, I'd want to raise one other point: that is, realistically, how much would you expect to use the system? The prices will come down as room for competion increases, but the numbers of people who buy them will be affected by both good and bad recommendations, since a lot of people will be wary of investing in something that most of their friends end up selling on e-bay (a bit like all the fondue sets from the 80s that ended up in second-hand shops), which is going to happen to some extent, and will also drive down prices. Case in point, I've held off on getting this equipment, since at this time I can't see that I'd use it much, except out of a sense of obligation (which could happen, since my boyfriend is wildly enthusiastic about the idea, without being able to specify the reason): In terms of meat texture, I'm satisfied with the techniques I have at my disposal, I loathe eggs, and my boyfriend seldom bothers with them, and things like custard are not at the top of my list, since my boyfriend hates those, and anything of that sort would be something I'd have to eat in its entirety, leading to needless waist/waste (sorry). I work from home, so keeping an eye on a braise provides me with much needed breaks. If I were to get a setup for cooking sous-vide now, at best I'd be mutedly enthusiastic, not exactly fantastic publicity for it; if I wait until I can think of solid reasons I'd want to use it on a regular basis, I'd probably succesfully convince everyone I know that it's at least worth considering.

Foams are spermy-er than uncooked eggs. Or spittle. Not that I have a standard for comparison. It depends on the foam: some are firm[er] and dense, sort of like meringue, and those are actually kind of fun, if the kitchen hasn't gone berserk and squirted dollops of foam over every single dish (then it stops being 'Ooo, interesting' and becomes 'God, AGAIN?!'). I can't imagine any competitive cooking programme today not featuring foam, it seems to have become something more or less expected.

I don't know whether or not this is still true today, but at one point there was a sugar floor, below which sugar prices would never drop; if this is stil the case, this floor may have just undergone one of its periodic rises. (Disclaimer: I know very little about this sort of thing, BUT the 'sugar floor' thing is one of perhaps three things that stuck in my mind from the compulsory business course I took as an undergrad.; it seemed so implausible, I actually researched it at the time.)

Agreed, when it comes to low temperature cooking in general, but since 'sous vide' does mean 'under vacuum', points 1 and 3 aren't actually correct. Once enough people realize how versatile a temp-controlled water bath is, I think that they could easily be sold at the same range of pricepoints that you find for microwave ovens.

The dish may not have tasted perfect, but it looks gorgeous! I wonder whether a drizzle of something along the lines of balsamic vinegar would have been more satisfying than the vinaigrette. I made gnocchi last night, too! I've never had a problem with glueyness, but I think that is at least partly because I almost never make traditional ones (owing to problems with wheat and potatoes). Even if I do use potatoes, I still use rice flour (and/or chestnut flour) instead of wheat flour, and regardless of whether I use potato or winter squash, I put it through a food mill, which makes for a coarser-looking puree than putting it through a sieve (as the recipe you linked to instructs), but this breaks down fewer cells, so less starch leaks out (again, reducing the gluey texture), and the puree breaks down to complete smoothness when you work the flour into the dough.

Thanks for that tip, which I used when I made the hokkaido gnocchi last night. The result was fantastic, and they held together beautifully.

Boiling seems to be helpful: http://www.farminmypocket.co.uk/growing/wild-food/sweet-chestnuts (That entire site is well worth checking out, it has a lot of interesting and useful content).

Has anyone kept notes on the effects of varying the amounts of egg (whole/whites) used? I'm planning on making some hokkaido squash gnocchi, but since I have a rough time with wheat flour, was planning on using rice/chestnut flour instead, and I have a hunch that I'll need to compensate by adding more eggs, or at least more egg whites, to keep them from falling apart, but don't want to overdo it. Anyone have some experience with something like this? Thanks, M.

In terms of what's available, I don't have a favourite time of year, but visually, autumn is definitely my favourite. I've remorslessly hauled people from their beds early in the morning, so they could see the one in Union Square (NYC) at this time of year, the low-lying sun spiling over the produce, just few quiet shoppers drifing about.

I may be thinking of someone else, but I think you were the one who mentioned making food for events like Renaissance Festivals, and if that's the case, is there any chance of doing a trade of some sort with one of the metal workers from one of these?

If there was a charge for the massage it was illegal; otherwise, as long as the the customer is fine with it, it shouldn't be an issue.

I've been in DK too long, as soon as I read this, I thought 'HAH! In grams maybe, but not, alas, in metric: behold, the "Jäger bomb"': 25 cl Red Bull 4 cl vodka 4 cl Jägermeister CHUGCHUGCHUG... dance.

Dave, how much has living in France affected the way you cook, overall? Do earlier patterns determine the underpinnings of how you prepare food, or has lengthy immersion effectively blurred that?

Carelessness does seem a likely culprit in many cases of cooked-chicken-borne salmonellosis, but heat-resistant strains of salmonella apparently do exist (e.g. see Propylparaben Sensitizes Heat-Resistant Salmonella Enteritidis and Salmonella Oranienburg to Thermal Inactivation in Liquid Egg Albumen).

Do the pits have bits of plum stuck to them, or are they the kind that come cleanly away, so they're just naked pits? If the latter, I think the only thing you'd be able to do with them would be to crack them (assuming the kernels inside can be used like apricot kernels).

You wouldn't happen to have done more blown sugar work, recently? Those apples you made we stunning.

I also make the cuts on the curved side (makes for longer cuts, and it's easier to get sme purchase on the edges), and peel them straight from the oven. So far, have never had a problem getting them to peel.

David, do you start some every year, or a these extra special ones? I'm behind the curve this year, haven't yet gone down to the slaughterhouse to pick up this year's blob of fresh kidney fat.

Definitely make a day trip to Parma. A few years back we stayed at B&B Cancabaia, outside of Parma in Lesignano de Bagni (107km/1h26m, west of Bologna, according to google maps), which is a fantastic B&B that is also a small-scale Parmigiano producer. They also directed us to a nearby vintner and balsamic vinegar producer (Medici Ermete), which gave a a very absorbing tour (we forgot to take pictures), and a small prosciutto producer, the name of which I'm going to add later, when I dig it up.

There's a good chance that you'll find a bowl you like that has no lid; if that's the case, you might want to look into one of the stretchy Lékué lids (which you can use withr a variety of different containers, not just the bowl), which come in various sizes. I've seen these at Sur la Table, and Bed Bath & Beyond.

dcarch, that is insane, and if I had a hat on, I'd be taking it off to you. No, that's not sarcasm. I'm wondering whether the hole made in the plastic die is of the same smoothness as would be obtained by an industrial punch (or whatever they use). There's no question that pasta can vary considerably in surface roughness, but I'm guessing that the die material is not all-important: the smoothness/roughness of the margins of the holes almost certainly covers a range for each material.

Now that I see the title of the book, I don't blame you for asking! :-) We run-of-the-mill members can't change our posts once the editing window has closed - that's about an hour, if I recall correctly - but whether the moderators can edit the topic title (with the original poster's permission) is another question. If a moderator doesn't answer the question publicly, perhaps one will answer privately. Unfortunately, the title field won't accomodate a longer character string than what you see, and simply cuts off any additional characters.

Docrjm, you're welcome, I hope it actually helped, and that there isn't an entirely different process for doing this now.

MCaH has a QR code on the inside of the back cover. MC doesn't have a QR code (at least the printing I have doesn't): to register, you follow the instructions on the MC site to find and enter a number on a specific page in a specific volume (as far as I remember).