Jethro

They just put up a new video here: I had an opportunity to have it last month. It's ridiculous. As in good.

For fondue and thinly spread cheese, yes. For a cheese slice for baking they recommend disodium phosphate.

Thanks! It's not an eye-catching presentation, but hey, I'm just cooking for myself at home. I'm easy on the service in my establishment. So, I just melted it. Picture below. It has a mealy texture, so I definitely did not nail it. I think with a more accurate scale, I might be able to produce a more consistent result. The ham and omelet recipe on p.95 calls for thinly spread cheese, so yes, I slavishly followed the book. Except for the brown butter. I must always justify the expense of the centrifuge... J

Hi - I was following the book, which is 2% sodium citrate, 1% whey protein concentrate, and 1.2% sodium phosphate (fibrisol brand). I had two issues: 1. My digital scale isn't sensitive enough. It only starts registering at 2 grams, and doesn't do fractions of a gram (i.e. 2.5 grams). So I guesstimated a bit, which probably explains my second problem. 2. I couldn't get the pH down to the level they recommend. Actually it went up as I added more salts. I don't know if it turned out fine or not, since I've never had a silky thin cheese spread before. I've attached a photo of what it looks like as of this morning out of the fridge. It has the consistency of margarine. A perfectly good spread. Actually kinda awesome. Jethro

Hi - I would recommend to start out using what I have: the Fagor Rapida set. One 4 qt., one 8 qt., a universal pressure lid and glass lid for both, plus a steamer basket. The advantage? A new 6 liter (~6 qt.) Kuhn Rikon Ecomatic is about $100 on Amazon. Or you can get the Fagor set on eBay for the same price: http://cgi.ebay.com/B1XDE-200307-New-5Pc-Fagor-Rapida-Pressure-Cooker-Set-/230606154956?pt=Small_Kitchen_Appliances_US&hash=item35b132accc - J

I did a (very funny) interview with Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas last week. Nick, unprompted, defended Nathan Myrhvold and you can tell by the tone of the interview they are not by any stretch of the imagination, "insufferable". http://jetcitygastrophysics.com/2011/03/22/guns-guitars-and-gastronomy-a-conversation-with-grant-achatz-and-nick-kokonas-of-alinea/

My centrifuge was clean inside, and with a wipe down with a bleach soaked rag and soaking the buckets in the same, it's been fine. Your food will most likely be in test tubes, plastic containers you've bought (like me) or heat sealed bags (like Cooking Issues), so contamination will be highly unlikely. There are several makes of the centrifuge I have - a Beckman TJ-6 - on eBay right now. But if possible go for something more powerful like a Jouan C412 which does 4000g's. Could have done the peas in 3 1/2 hours with that one. Cooking Issue's excellent post on different centrifuges is here: http://www.cookingissues.com/2009/07/21/oh-lord-wont-you-buy-me-a-new-centrifuge/ My post on my centrifuge is here: http://jetcitygastrophysics.com/2010/12/13/you-spin-me-right-round-enter-the-centrifuge/ Happy hunting!

You can find decent ones for relatively cheap. I found mine for $500 at a local used lab equipment warehouse. Dave Arnold of Cooking Issues got his from eBay. Just keep your eyes peeled!

Hello - I have a centrifuge and just made pea butter for the first time the other day. I posted about it here: http://jetcitygastrophysics.com/2011/02/28/modernist-cuisine-at-home-pea-butter/ They use a 10000g centrifuge to make their pea butter. Mine is only 1520g, but I was able to get the same results, but it took over 3 times longer. - Jethro