Judy Wilson

Hi Mikemac, When puncturing a piece of meat, you can no longer just sear the outside of the cut, so you would need to increase the time/temperature in order to fully pasteurize the meat. We talk about that (and much, much, more!) in our article on food safety tips here: http://www.food52.com/blog/4562_7_essential_food_safety_tips

Hi Brandon, I've talked to the chefs and they say that the beef is not discarded. Hope that helps! Let us know your results! Judy

Hi everyone, The MC team has been watching your progress, and discussing some solutions to a few of your problems. They asked me to post their answers for them, so here we go: I would think that if they only wanted beef fat there would be better ways to get it than browning 1.25 KG of lean ground beef until dark brown. I made a note that I thought it should be put in around step 6. But I could be wrong. HTH. Larry Yes, Larry is correct. Chris, do you happen to have any photos of the dough? That would help the chefs diagnose the problem. They suspect that it either wasn't scaled out properly or not kneaded enough. On the top right of page 297 there is a photo of what the dough should look like. Did yours look like that? I would guess yes ... I have a similar question about the cheeses in the PC broccoli recipe. Look forward to trying the eggplant recipe soon Yes, they both go in the pressure cooker. No trussing necessary! The total weight of the liquids should be 300 g. For example, if you are making the creme brulee recipe, you would add 150 g of milk and 150 g of cream. We hope that helps some of you out and that you have a great weekend cooking out of MCAH!

Hi Guys, First I must say, thank you very much to anyone and everyone who preordered MCAH. We've investigated the shipping sans boxes scenario and here's what we found out: Amazon.ca shipped 2/3 of the MCAH pre-orders without a shipping carton, so not everyone received a damaged copy, but some did. If the slipcase is damaged, please contact Amazon.ca to get a new book. Sorry for the hassle. They are aware of the problem and will ship all books in cartons going forward. Amazon.ca will make sure every customer gets a book in mint condition. Again, very sorry for the trouble. I'd be happy to send anyone an autographed bookplate for your trouble. If you have any questions or concerns, you can write directly to us through the website or info@modernistcuisine.com. Judy Wilson Online Marketing & Customer Service Specialist Modernist Cuisine & Modernist Cuisine at Home

dkliman, You might be interested to know that we have a marinara recipe in MCAH that takes only 1 hour and uses a pressure cooker. It is, of course, a totally different recipe, but might help in your experiments!

Hi rotuts! To register your copy of MCAH, scan the QR bar code on the inside of the back cover. And about the emails: yes we will be starting these back up. Things got a little crazy with the book launch and Maxime's transition out, but we hope to get back to "normal" soon.

Lenny, A Rotavap may be out of your price range, but you could build your own. MC co-author Chris Young explained how to do it a few months ago. You can find the post here: http://modernistcuisine.com/2011/11/vacuum-concentrating-part-2/

We use this technique for our Ultimate hamburger, as well as for many other kinds of meat.

Have you thought about creating a vacuum-concentration set-up? Chris Young explained how to do it here: http://modernistcuisine.com/2011/11/vacuum-concentrating-part-2/

While it just scrapes the surface of these topics, we do touch on some of this in MCAH. Actually, cooking creme brulee, pot de creme, and flan sous vide is a great way to avoid syneresis. The chapter includes recipes for cream infusions, creme brulee, pot de creme, flan, posset, sous vide lemon curd, panna cotta, sous vide creme anglaise, gelato (pistachio and variations), pie crusts, pastry creams, pie toppings, cream pies... In the microwave chapter, there's a recipe for microwaved sponge cake, and in the burger chapter there's a recipe for sandwich bread.

Hi octabeer, The prints we have for sale are all found in MC. Cheers! Judy

Various brands we recommend: Bradley (sawdust puck smoker) Traegar (pellet hot smoker) Cookshack (pellet hot smoker) BBQ Guru (for computer controllers for custom smokers) Enviro-Pak (Digital smoke oven with humidity control and cold-smoking capability). Here are few specific models: http://www.amazon.com/Bradley-Smoker-BTDS76P-Digital-4-Rack/dp/B000FJZ150?ie=UTF8&tag=modercuisi-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0982761007 http://www.amazon.com/Traeger-bbq070-Lil-Tex-Grill/dp/B000VYKN0M?ie=UTF8&tag=modercuisi-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0982761007

Hi Bethanie, I asked Sam Fahey-Burke, one of our research chefs. While they've never done this at the lab, he thinks it would last about a week, refrigerated. If you vacuum seal it, it might stay longer. Judy

The biggest thing to think about is what it was previously used for. You don't want anything that came in contact with bacteria or other pathogens--ever.

at the lab, we use wood cutting boards because wood has natural antibacterial properties. Though some people like plastic because you can bleach them, and also some people color code them (one for meat, one for veggies)....

There are pros and cons to different kinds of juicers. A food press compresses food, rather than ripping it apart, but also costs much less. In the Modernist Cuisine lab, Champion-style juicers are preferred, but of course they can cost up to $300. We go over the different styles in Modernist Cuisine at Home.

Hi Mikemac, We go over this in Modernist Cuisine at Home. Here's a snippet from that section: "Consumer-grade combi ovens differ from their professional counterparts in a few ways: they are less precise and powerful, and they have narrower temperature ranges, so they can't do high-temperature roasting or oven frying. But these modern ovens still vastly out-perform conventional ovens in both accuracy and versatility." So, that's something to think about when shopping around! Judy

Hi Dominic, Here's one we recommend: http://www.amazon.com/VacMaster-VP210C-Chamber-Machine-Metallic/dp/B001Q3LSW4?ie=UTF8&tag=modercuisi-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0982761007

Hi chivesdining, You can find a table for both in this post: http://modernistcuisine.com/2012/07/for-a-great-summer-feast-cook-ahead-and-bring-extra-fat/

Not sous vide, but we do have a technique in Modernist Cuisine at Home, in which you freeze steaks, then sear them (on a pan or with a blow torch) and then cook them in a low temperature oven (about 200 F) for about an hour. Nathan demonstrated this for the New York Times a few months ago: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/dining/modernist-cuisine-adapted-to-home-entertaining.html?ref=dining&pagewanted=all&_r=0 Judy

Did you check the errata? There are a couple of errors in that recipe.

I'm not one of the chefs here at MC, but I believe that it's a riff on the constructed creams found on page 4·236 and 5·33.

Hi, we recently had a stage out for a week, who blogged about some of her experiences, including experimenting with a vanilla-macadamia nut gelato. You might find some help in her write-up: http://www.multiculturiosity.com/vanilla-macadamia-nut-gelato-dairy-free-in-a-pacojet/ (look around the site, as there are a few other posts from her time at the MC lab that mention gelato-making).

Hi, of course, everyone's experience with a type of cuisine is different. Care to share your recipe? Gualtiero Marchesi does indeed come from Milan, where he was born into a family of chefs. He's often describe as a key influencer of modern Italian cooking. Here's some more biographical information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gualtiero_Marchesi http://www.gualtieromarchesi.it/en/biografia.html Hope that helps!

Hi LFMichaud, I asked Anjana Shanker, one of our research chefs who worked on this recipe, and she noted that she split the mixture between two siphons.