avaserfi

I'm interested too. I will be there in mid-August and am scoping places out too. I was considering saving up to go to Quince or Coi for my one 'nice' meal, but haven't really decided on anything yet. I will also be around Yosemite and Big Sur if the weinoo doesn't mind suggestions extending to those areas.

Interesting idea. I'm hoping to make the flavor shine which is why I'm leaning toward hot sauce. Since it is my first experience with them I want to show them off . Not yet, but I've got a bunch growing from seed in the backyard greenhouse. If they take of like last years habaneros I'll be overrun, followed by a lot freezing and drying. I've got to think they are way, way deadly hot. I advise caution! I love hot and I love chiles (there is a reason I have two tattooed on my arm)! If you get too large a yield, my mailbox is always open. I wish I could get them fresh. Maybe I will try to grow them next year. This year I have serrano and Anaheim chiles growing. My first year trying to grow anything.

That suggests stapling the paper bag. Doesn't that cause sparking? I know I've gotten sparks off of a chinese takeout container before where the people had stapled it closed. I've never had an issue with sparking.

I have a jar of MSG in with my spices too. Its an ingredient no different than garlic powder or pepper to me. In the proper situation it adds the umami kick I want without other unnecessary flavors that you can get from other umami rich ingredients such as mushrooms, soy or Parmesan.

Today at the grocer I noticed dried ghost chiles. Being the chile fiend I am I had to grab some. Now I have no idea what to do with them. I was thinking about making my first hot sauce, but that seems too simple. Has anyone cooked with dried ghost chiles before? Any suggestions? Edited for spelling.

Some of the more esoteric ingredients in Modernist Cuisine can only be purchased in large quantities or are very hard to find, if not both. This thread's goal is to help facilitate the sharing or trading of ingredients that might be hard to find in small enough for the home cook. Other members have expressed interest in such a thread, so here it is. I'm hoping this thread is not seen as a money making opportunity, but a way to democratize access to hard to find or expensive ingredients. Ideally, this thread can facilitate bulk purchases among members, or help us split the cost of more expensive ingredients and long term, save us some money. I'll start off. Right now I have an excess of Artistre brand iota carrageenan I will happily mail at my cost if anyone needs some. I paid $50 shipped for a pound. ____________________________________________ Host Note: Rules of the Game Great idea. For this to work, everyone will need to follow a few basic rules: Use the forums for posting information and follow-up Q&A about the products. Use the PM system for all aspects of the exchange: requests for products, how much you want, cost of shipping, addresses, payment methods, etc. To avoid misunderstandings, we ask that anyone posting about product availability provide the following info: - specific information about product you’re offering - the cost per unit - the quantity you have left to share - a reminder that all aspects of the exchange must transpire on the PM system Finally, please post an update when you run out and don’t want additional inquiries.

Recent work suggests lore. Harold McGee wrote about this here and Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot talk about using less water (and pre-soaking pasta to speed up cooking) in their book Ideas in Food.

Chris, Where did you get the HA and LA gellan? Everytime I search online I come across manufacture webpages, LA or unlabeled gellan. Thanks Le Sanctuaire carries both Gellan types, Here: http://www.le-sanctuaire.com/. Just search for Gellan. I appreciate the heads up. I really wish I had someone closer who was interested in this type of cooking. I just can't justify that kind of money to make a handful of dishes. Would other members be interested in splitting some modernist ingredients that can only be purchased in larger quantities? It seems like a distinct possibility if some of us got together as a group and someone with a vacuum chamber (or maybe food sealer) sealed and mailed packages? That way we could split costs and still get our hands on some ingredients which can only be purchased in large quantities. I know I've mailed a few people iota carrageenan and still have plenty left over.

Chris, Where did you get the HA and LA gellan? Everytime I search online I come across manufacture webpages, LA or unlabeled gellan. Thanks

Kuhn Rikon 7qt model 3344. I was gifted it about a month ago, so far it has been great and has been getting more use than my stock pot.

Exactly the same for me.

I used the pressure cooker technique to make the white chicken stock today. I mostly followed the recipe, but made a couple changes based on what I had on hand. I used just a chicken carcass (no ground dark meat), omitted the leeks adding extra onion instead and I used carrot tops instead of parsley. Cut everything up into small pieces and tossed it into the pressure cooker. About 1.5 hours and no fuss later I had an awesome stock on my hands. Great flavor, tons of body, easy and quick. The flavor extracted from the chicken and aromatics was much more intense than I am used to getting from using more traditional methods. The stock also had much more body. A lot more fat rendered too. I skimmed that off and will save it for another use. After refrigerating the stock became a nice gel which isn't surprising given how little water is used and the fact that the bones crumbled when removed from the cooker. I don't think I will make stock any other way after doing it in a pressure cooker.

An article posted a couple days ago on how nathanm makes scrambled eggs. I'm hoping to try it within a week or two. In the mean time, I make my eggs similarly to you, but I make them 2-4 eggs at a time depending on if I'm cooking for just myself or myself and my partner. I always use a non-stick skillet and blend with a fork (I've never considered my stick blender, but will have to try it), but my real secret is using a high quality cultured butter which has a natural cheesy flavor. I also find it imperative to remove the eggs from the pan about 10-15 seconds before they are done or they will overcook.

The article's claim is about farmers' markets, though, not CSAs. I'm sure that CSAs can offer more food at lower prices, -- that is part of the point of CSAs for farmers and consumers both -- and as a long-time CSA member, I appreciated that savings to a point. That point was reached when I was forced to find uses for another ten pounds of zucchini one late August. Yeah, I had to include the CSA because it is such a big part of our food habits that it is sometimes hard to separate. I did try to do just that with my second paragraph trying to only refer to the farmer's market. The zucchini can get rough, last year I did find a huge inspiration in Mexican inspired cuisine.

I haven't compared prices for about 6 months now, but last I did overall it was cheaper for us to be on a CSA and shop at the farmers' market with supplemental shopping at the grocery store than it is to shop entirely at the grocery store. Add the fact that we get fresher ingredients and ingredients often not available at the grocery store and I think we have a winner. We live in a smaller town, at its peak we might have 20 farmers at the market, but it does run most of the year. Off season brings 5-8 farmers. Off the top of my head melons, jams, carrots, kohlrabi, shallots, cabbage, leeks, tomatoes, eggplant, braising greens and lettuce are generally cheaper at the market. Eggs are slightly more expensive, garlic is about 3x the price (but it comes fresh with the greens and all at the farmers' market), and radishes are double. Depending on the season, berries fluctuate from being cheaper to more expensive. Meat is always pricier at the market. Although I never buy them, I recall baked goods also being similarly priced. Squashes tend to be similarly priced as well. Milk is much more expensive (2x) but that is raw, straight from the farm, I pick it up once a week and it was milked the day before. Oddly, cream is no more expensive from the same farmer. One thing I did notice, when I started sourcing from a CSA and local market our grocery bill dropped by about $20 a week. This was primarily because our eating habits changed. Rather than writing a list ahead of time and deciding what we needed before seeing it, I just go and get what looks good then make our meals from that. The result is us eating more fresh vegetables than ever which are almost always cheaper than buying meat (even the mass produced stuff). Shopping like this has also helped my cooking immensely.

I use the method found here, changing the flavorings as my tastes dictate.

I've always been curious about these things because they seem pretty cool. From my understanding you fill the canister with liquid, then charge with N2O, shake and it will release a foam on command. When charging it takes one full iSi N2O cartridge even with smaller sizes, correct? This seems pretty wasteful. Is there another way to charge them (or can you use less then one full cartridge to load a canister)? Also, I was wondering about sizing. For someone making dishes for two people, sometimes four, is something like this worth the money and will the smallest size (half a pint?) be too much or too little? Thanks

I got it on sale, cheaper than I could find anywhere else. It took quite a while of saving for me to get enough to order it on the sale (I started well before the books were released). If I cancel with B&N, I don't know how much longer I would have to save up to get it. Graduate student budget makes me deal with B&N, I guess. cheaper than the $460 on amazon? what did you pay if you don't mind my asking? In early April B&N had an in store only half off coupon. I ordered a copy with that coupon so I paid a little more than half the Amazon price. I also know they have redeemed other orders using the coupon, so they aren't trying to get out of it because of the price I paid. Plus, my card has already been charged.

I got it on sale, cheaper than I could find anywhere else. It took quite a while of saving for me to get enough to order it on the sale (I started well before the books were released). If I cancel with B&N, I don't know how much longer I would have to save up to get it. Graduate student budget makes me deal with B&N, I guess.

It looks like I will be waiting until the second edition too. My Barnes and Noble order was canceled this morning for some reason (not my doing), despite being told it would ship this morning yesterday. They have no clue why, but are "looking into it." Supposedly, they are now out of copies and aren't expecting any until July. The weird thing is I know three people who ordered after me. All their orders have been fulfilled. So frustrating!

When did you order? I think you ordered before me.

That duck confit looks great and solves the biggest issue I've had with duck confit, not having access to enough duck fat. Now I can't wait to get my hands on some duck legs.

Big upset today! I'm waiting for a copy from Barnes and Noble. Two acquaintances who ordered theirs after me got confirmation that their copies had shipped. I called BN today and was told my set has not shipped and there is no ETA because they are out of stock again! They couldn't explain why people who ordered after me got priority, but are "looking into it." Guess I will be waiting a little longer.

For me it is chili. In red chili the beef should be cut by hand and seared, not ground. The base should be a mix of dried and fresh chiles and some aromatics in beef broth (onion, garlic, cumin, tomatoes etc.). Green chili is even worse. I hate seeing tomatillos which is so wrong! Green chili should get its color from roasted hatch chiles, mixed with aromatics and enriched with seared Boston butt.

I have a Matfer egg topper it works well, but takes some getting used to. I find that setting the egg on a soft surface such as a dish towel and then topping the smaller side, by bringing up the weight about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way works best. http://www.matferbourgeatusa.com/products/index.php/domestic-egg-topper.html