Mjx

I always add flavourings (oils, water-based infusions, alcohol, etc.) to the cream, and carry on as usual; I've never run into any problems.

The language of the American Northwest is Italian?! News to me In Italy, if you request 'latte' in a coffe shop, they'd probably look at you like you had rocks in your head, but they just might decide to give you what you requested: a glass or cup of milk. I suspect Debenhams of smugly inverted snobbery as a marketing gimmick, not any real concern for clarity. But then again, if the end result is clarity, who cares?

Cook's Illustrated addresses this in their November & December 2012 issue (p. 2). They peeled and sliced some apples one and two days ahead of baking them in an an apple crumble (holding them in the refrigerator in zip-lock bags), and compared the results to those using freshly prepped apples. They found that after they were baked, the apples showed no discernible differences in their flavour, texture, or colour, regardless of how recently (or not) they were prepped. This being the case, putting the apple slices in acidulated water seems like an unnecessary step (no idea whether flavour would be leached, but it does make sense).

If you have some way of covering a lot of space around the dessert, you might try making the mixture as described, then using a brush to shake/spatter it on. It would be coarser than a spray, but beats clogging your oil mister. You could test the technique on a plate, first, to see how it goes/how much the effect can be controlled.

Andie's advice about keeping the plants pinched back is important for another reason: If the plant grows a lot, you'll probably decide to repot it, in a pot that gives it 'enough room to grow'. And, it will grow. And, while it's growing, it will temporarily but entirely call it quits, with regard to producing flowers. Our two chili plants are about three years old, now, and one has been producing heavily since early summer (the other, inadvertently repotted in a really large pot, only started flowering about a month ago). I pick the fruit at all different stages, and mostly just string them on thick thread to dry.

That's a lovely dessert! How did you dehydrate the pumpkin wafer? Low oven, microwave, something else?

Not questioning the value of the sv setup (although reading through the books, I'm fairly certain that in a number of instances, other methods would yield at least very similar results), but as I noted in the OP, it's just out of the question, at this time: I've no room to set it up, which is the reason I'm focusing on the smaller items (e.g. measuring devices, tools that produce interesting shapes/textures). I have some gelling agents (xanthan gum, agar), and I definitely appreciate your short list.

Thanks, that's precisely what I wanted to know!

Chris, would you elaborate a bit on this? I'm wondering whether the pressure cooker is being used in MCaH to cook things that are similar to what is cooked sous vide in MC (e.g. meat, custard [bases], as well as soup), or whether the sorts of things being made are simply quite different to the sou-vide cooked ones in MC.

Nope, no sv rig, and no crock pot or rice cooker, either, although I'm lucky in that I travel quite a bit, so if I can't get something reasonable locally, I can usually get it from Germany at a decent price, or pick it up when I'm in the US. What I didn't mention is that I'm currently using someone else's kitchen, so I'm holding off on larger items for now, since there's no place to store them, and I can't really leave them in the kitchen. I figure that this is a good time to focus on getting my hands on smaller items. Thanks for the heads up on the pH meter (which I was sort of considering) and the whipper v. creamer! I have a Jennings CJ 4000 that I'm very happy with it, so I was thinking of getting one of their jeweller's scales, would you happen to know anything about them? I know companies are not necessarily consistent across all their product lines. Any other measuring devices worth considering?

Thanks, Digijam, that definitely puts this on my book list!

I've been sitting on USD250 of amazon gift certificates for while, debating what to use them for. I was given Modernist Cuisine as a gift for my birthday this year, and despite the fact that USD250 is a tiny amount in the face of the recommended equipment list, I do want some of my purchases to go towards making some of the recipes a possibility. I have no special equipment, unless you count a scale (a good one) and the Adria spherification kit (also a gift, accompanying Modernist Cuisine). I've been considering one or two iSi whippers, a couple of Silpats, some silicone moulds, a jeweller's scale, for really small masses of ingredients, Migoya's The Elements of Dessert, and a Thermapen. I'm most interested in smaller, non-mechanical items, or less-expensive mechanical ones (more expensive items with the potential to conk out, e.g. pressure cookers, I'd rather purchase here, where things come with a two-year money-back guarantee). At this time, my interests in modernist cooking are focused on appetizers, garnishes, and desserts/sweets; I also have a weakness for gels, and I'd like to experiment a with transglutaminase. Given my interests and restricted budget, what would those of you who've been working quite a bit with modernist cooking/Modernist Cuisine advise, in terms of crucial pieces of equipment? Your thoughts/input tremendously appreciated! Thanks in advance, M.

This sounds extremely appealing, but how demanding is it, in terms of necessary equipment? Approach- and aesthetics-wise this kind of sounds like a 'desserts, the missing manual' companion to Modernist Cuisine, but it would depressing if it turned out that making even the simplest recipes would require an outlay of hundreds of dollars (which I haven't got) for specialized equipment/tools.

For Copenhagen, I want to mention Brewpub (which I'll review properly as soon as I have a little free time). It's located at Vestergade 29, easy walking distance from Copenhagen's central train station and Rådhuspladsen. We ate in the restaurant, but there's overlap between the pub and restaurant menus, and there's a single kitchen, so the quality is likely the same for both. We both had the exceptional rabbit fried with pepper bacon & liver mousse as a starter, followed by the very good ribeye (for my boyfriend) and breast & confit of duck (for me), and quite outstanding the porter-chocolate cake with carrot and sea buckthorn sorbet. We left feeling extremely happy with the meal. My only real complaint is with their knives: we struggled a a bit with our main courses, even though the meat was just as tender as it ought to be. I thought about requesting a steak knife, but when I looked about to see whether any other diners had something of the sort, none were in evidence, so I didn't ask. Especially since I haven't had much luck finding places in Denmark with excellent, reasonably priced food, I'd categorize Brewpub as a something of a find.

Shredded pork with microwaved crackling: The pork was a skin-on cut traditionally used here for flæskesteg, braised in a litre of stock plus a beer, seasoned with fresh lovage, garlic, a bit of ground cloves and nutmeg, a chili, a pinch of ground vanilla bean, and a little vinegar and sugar. Since this was braised, the skin was soft and gelatinous by the time the meat was done; I started to finish it a high temperature to crisp it, but everyone was hungry, so that went to the wall. However, I was curious about something I'd read in Modernist Cuisine about making beef jerky in the microwave, and wondered what would happen to the skin if I I cut it away from the meat and just nuked it for a few minutes (folded up in paper towel, to absorb the grease, and because I don't love cleaning microwaves). In about half a minute, it sounded like I was making popcorn. At the two-minute mark, the skin was (as you can sort of see; it was a bit dark when I took this shot), beautifully, deliacately crisp and browned. Since the traditional method of browning the skin in the oven tends to make for rock-hard results without anything special in terms of flavour, I intend to go the microwave route from now on.

Special presentation jar for sweets or some other specialty that doesn't require special preservation measures?

I was equally surprised.. One hour and nutmeg, Mjx you either have a strange taste or are a ground breaker. :-D Maybe i should have made it clear: I'm talking about a pinch of nutmeg. I find that it offsets the 'wet dog hair' smell I sometimes detect in stocks, particularly ones that are bone-heavy, but it draws no attention to itself. Although I will admit that my tastes run a bit medieval, and I really enjoy a faint presence of nutmeg (or cloves) in meat dishes.

I'm going to have to go with 'wow', which I realize is spectacularly inarticulate. This is the the first time I can recall seeing a savoury gel and thinking, 'I need to do that'.

Yep Nope. My point is that if the stock solids are cut into small pieces, their size is such that any water-soluble flavour molecules are very quickly extracted, and you get something full-flavoured in a short time. If I'm cooking up a big batch of whole bones, I don't expect much flavour from them; increasing the cooking time won't change that. But you will get a lot of gelatine. I'd saw up the bones in small slices, and cut the cooking time down to an hour; why run the stove for 8 hours to accomplish what only need take an hour? If the stock solids don't have much to contribute in terms of flavour (e.g. bones), lengthy cooking can't actually change that. Usually, If I cook something on the bone, I leave a bit of meat on, and I save cuts that don't have much to offer in the way of meat for stock (e.g. bird backs); I just keep chucking all this stuff in a bag I keep in the freezer. Often, I don't even use vegetables, just a bay leaf and little nutmeg and salt. I roast the bones before making stock. If the stock comes out kind of wimpy, I may simply save it to use as the liquid for my next batch of stock, rather than using it as such.

I can't remember where I got the 'to about halfway-up' or 'a couple of inches for really large cuts' (either way it's never more than the latter, and usually less), but this does ensure a volume of liquid substantial enough to maintain a consistent temperature, and not cook away in a hurry if the lid isn't on perfectly.

That seems contrary to tradition and the experience and recommendation of many chefs... nevertheless it has a point (continue reading). I think it is not poosible to make a general statement: different components of a stock have different optimal extraction temperature & time profiles. Gelatin from bones needs the longest times, much longer than one hour. For beef meat one hour simmering may be optimal in many cases (actually 60 minutes at 85ºC was found optimal in this study). Vegetables likely have a similar profile (in my experience). Aromatics are often considered to produce highly volatile aromas that do not stand long times, so some suggest to add them at the end of the cooking (either some time before finishing, either when the heat is stopped -infusing while it gets cold-, either putting them when reheating the stock for using it). . . . . I do agree with you regarding the extraction of gelatine from larger bones, but I personally prefer the flavour of more briefly cooked stocks to that of longer-cooked stocks (this is inevitably going to be subjective, and vary considerably from person to person). Although I often make mixed-source stock (chicken, lamb, various game), I break things down into small/thin pieces, which optimizes extraction, and even with the brief time-frame I described, it gels as firmly as any longer cooked stock I've seen (cleanly spoonable). If I'm boiling up a bunch of more or less intact larger bones, I'll cook them for a quite a while, but I'm not aiming for flavour.

By 'the end' I'm understanding you to mean when the stock is finished; since that's the point when you remove the solids from the stock, adding something at point would have no effect of the finished product. For whatever it's worth, I haven't found any advantage to using more than about an hour to make stock: prep/roast/brown the components, then sweating them 20 minutes, and simmering barely covered in water 20 minutes. Any longer doesn't seem to give more flavourful results, things just get more murky and dull (I may use some extra time if I want to reduce the stock, however).

Until you get a tagine, you can use a Dutch oven. I've done stovetop braising with no problems, even in the kitchen I'm currently using, which has a lousy cooktop prone to heat spikes, making this a bit tricky.

Unless you're cutting something very hard and bulky, like a winter quash, I'm fairly certain an adequately sharp blade shouldn't require much force or speed to move through what you're cutting. One other possibility: if you're very tall, the cutting surface might be too low for you to bring the knife all the way down, without your paying constant close attention (owing to the angle between your hand and the cutting surface at the bottom of your stroke). I noticed tall friends had this problem in the kitchen in our flat, when they used the pullout cutting table which was exactly the right height for my rather short self.

These are lovely, Dave, exactly the sort of thing that makes me love gelled things so much. Also, the pretty moulds inspired me to try to get my hands on some myself; mysteriously, nothing even remotely like this is to be found, hereabouts. Any shots of the inside? Did the flavour/texture combination meet your expectations?