avaserfi

I have made a caramelized onion puree in my pressure cooker - no jar needed. The addition of baking soda really helps the Maillard reaction occur. When the onions pressure cook, the excess liquid in them is released, but does not evaporate as quickly as it would in a pan. That is why I ended up making a puree, but you could always strain the onion juice/butter mixture and reserve it for something else. Using slightly less butter might be a good idea too, if you want just caramelized onions because the vegetable releases so much liquid during cooking. My formula is here.

As far as I know the the shape doesn't matter, if you used 'basic spherification' (a liquid mixture with sodium alginate placed in a bath of calcium chloride) the reaction continues even after it is removed from the bath. In contrast, if you used 'reverse spherification' (a liquid mixture with both calcium gluconate and calcium lactate in a bath of sodium alginate) then the process stops upon removal from the bath. My understanding is the reverse technique can be stored for later use, but it is not advisable to store the basic approach.

What form of spherification did you use? The most basic form will not keep well. The liquid will continue to gel until the whole sphere is a solid piece of jelly, no longer caviar. Freezing may slow the process, but it doesn't take that long for the full gelling to occur in my experience.

Thank you! I will have to look at my notes to get the exact recipe (I took notes since I plan on posting about this recipe on my blog), but it was fairly simple. I sealed a skin removed duck breast with some flavorings then sous vide at 54.4C/130F. I crisped the skin in the oven separately and served.

I made this a couple days ago, but just not got the pictures off the camera. Inspired by my first experience with black garlic which I now love, but wish was cheaper! Black garlic duck breast with duck skin cracklings and mushroom risotto:

My cooler is 14 liters or so and works perfectly. I picked it specifically because I needed something small to work with so I wouldn't waste excess water.

Why not using something designed specifically to maintain liquids at a specific temperature rather than retrofitting a stockpot? I have an SVM/FMM combo and use a cooler with a small notch in the corner as a wiring conduit. It wasn't expensive (less than $20) and has good efficiency, the addition of a nearly full lid has the added benefit of minimizing evaporation. If you really want to stick with the stockpot, any decent easily cleaned insulator will do. I've seen people use bubble wrap.

It really varies for me. My go to is real maple syrup. Lately I have been using some recently homemade dulce de leche which has the consistency of maple syrup. Occasionally, if we have good jam or preserves we will use those as well. Of course, the first pancake I eat warm untopped. I have to test the quality .

The pasta extruder I linked above works well, especially considering the cost. It is far superior to the older "extruder" where poorly made plates for the grinder. Read more about extruders on the eG thread here:

Which pasta making attachment are you getting? The one for sheeted pasta or the one for extruded pasta? It sounds like you are talking about the sheeted pasta attachment. If so, why not make a Ragu Bolognese?

Looking on Amazon and Barnes and Noble online, both say the first issue won't be released until July 12th. I assume this is an outdated release schedule? I haven't had a chance to get to a store and check it out yet. Edited for grammar.

Why is this? Did they explain? I don't know...I didn't think to ask at the time for clarification, hence my follow up here. I'll have to look in their book to see if it's covered.... It has been a while since I read their book, but I don't think it was covered.

For me it depends. If I'm trying to dissect the meal or components I will poke, prod and sniff. If not I just eat, but out of habit I have noticed (or have pointed out to me) that I do at least sniff the first bite to try as I try to detect all the more subtle aromas.

I haven't seen a copy yet, but from the previews I have seen it looks really interesting. I'm strongly considering a subscription.

Thus far I haven't had a need to seal anything while it was hot. The warmest thing I have sealed was slightly above room temp which, from what I understand, shouldn't be a problem. For those who upgraded from a clamp style vacuum sealer to a chamber sealer do you still think it was worth it?

I was going to go to Franklin this Saturday for lunch. There was a 200 person line by 11:30am so I went elsewhere. Another time...

I'm getting curious about this topic as well. My foodsaver is dying a slow death and will probably give out any day now. This was one of their first models and was used infrequently for years. As soon as I started to use it more often for sous vide cooking it started to break down. I really don't want to spend $200 on another foodsaver just to have it break and I know there are other companies that make clamp style sealers, but a chamber vac is intriguing, especially with the lower cost bags. Right now I'm trying to figure out the benefits of having a chamber vacuum sealer over a clamp style (I have not gotten to the relevant portion in Modernist Cuisine, if there is one) . The most obvious is the ability to easily seal liquids. Along side that there is speeding up marinades, compressing fruits and better storage life. Considering the fact that the cheaper vacuum chamber sealers cost about 3x a clamp sealer (not including bag costs), does it offer anything else to the experience over a clamp sealer? Also, are there any downsides to having a chamber sealer vs clamp sealer? I've read that some models might crush softer foods, is this really an issue?

This past Saturday at the end of a great meal I asked the waiter if we could buy the kitchen a round. He looked a little surprised and had to talk to the chef, but came back a few minutes later with a few options. He explained that as the cooks and chef cleans the kitchen they typically split a 12 pack. That Saturday night the beer was on us. This way we didn't have to interrupt their workflow since the kitchen was busy as we were leaving and didn't need a distraction, but they certainly looked like they could use a beer.

It really depends. Typically, when I bake bread at home I slice up what we need then freeze. Thickness varies on the bread and what I think it will be used for, but typically with crusty breads (which is what I tend to make) I slice thinner than thicker. On a picnic with a great baguette? You'll probably see me rip it or bite the baguette directly. If I need to serve the same baguette to others and make it look good then I cut on a bias.

I'm not a fan of the Ruhlman recipe. The ratio for meat/salt he recommends varies so wildly it is hard to know what the recipe should look like. If anything, I would take the salt ratios and curing technique from the MC recipe and adjust seasonings to taste.

The bacon turned out great. I don't have much to add to what others have said: This recipe is exceptional - porky and salty, a great balance. I think the general recipe will make a great base for experimentation too, next time I will probably try to make a maple variation.

I also use my wok for small batch frying. It doesn't take too much oil and the shape is very conducive to frying. Depending on what I am frying I often save the oil too. Cool, strain and store in an empty bottle (I keep one around for such an occasion). I use it a few times and then recycle it. I tend to use neutral frying oils capable of withstanding high heat, I don't think olive oil would hold up as well. That said it still splatters a bit. I have been eying those splatter screens for a while now, but I would guess they mitigate the problem rather than solve it.

I've always washed my fruits and veggies in the sink without issue. When I first started cooking I had issues with deterioration, but discovered this was due to improper handling/storage. I haven't had those issues in years. As far as cleaning the sink goes, I wash it with soap and warm water daily. I've never bothered using a sanitizer simply because I've never really thought about it. I have a gallon of iodine I use, mixed with water, as a sanitizer for brewing. I guess I could easily mix up some in a squeeze bottle for kitchen use as well. What mixture or product(s) does everyone use as their kitchen sanitizer?

We typically eat it as a main, but there are certain times when it makes the perfect side. Why choose just one or the other?

I've been busy, but am trying to work from the book when possible. I made the duck leg confit with pommes sarladaises (3-178; 6-105), my most recent blog post. I also made the gummies (4-147; 6-267) although I didn't have worm molds, so I made owls. The confit was great. I followed the directions pretty much exactly, but like Chris Hennes, I didn't add any extra fat to the bags. The gummies had a really nice light flavor, but I don't think they turned out just right. My gummies were slightly tacky and didn't become clear like the pictures I've seen of the MC team's worms. Does anyone know what could have caused this? In the mean time I have the pastrami (short ribs) brining and a 4lb piece of Gloucestershire Old Spot belly in the fridge waiting for the pastrami to finish brining so I can smoke them both. Sadly, I didn't get bone in belly (they just finished pulling the bones when I got to the market), but the belly does still have the short rib meat attached so it is a much more meaty piece than most belly. The belly runs in at 4-6" thick so I gave them a few extra days to cure.