Baselerd

The Modernist Cuisine (doh!). Another good reference source can be found here for free, although I find it inferior to the Modernist Cuisine when trying to develop your own recipes.

Not quite as sophisticated as some of the other approaches here, but I've had great luck just throwing all the ingredients into a slow cooker and cooking overnight.

Are you asking how to compose dishes and select appropriate complimentary flavors? I think that is an intuition that is best gained through experience, but several books have been published on the subject. I also know there's a website called FoodPairing that allows you to build a complimentary flavor profile, although the free version is a bit limited.

Very good, nothing too fancy here - I used campari tomatoes for the chips (blanched, skinned, sliced 2-3 mm thick, sprinkled with salt and dehydrated @ 140 F for 2 days). For the others, I blanched baby San Marzano tomatoes, skinned them, sprinkled with confectioner's sugar and salt, and then dehydrated for 3-4 hours at 135 F, until slightly dehydrated but still juicy in the center.

Here's a dish I made - but was inspired by the article here. Started with some sous vide short ribs (133 F for 72 hours), then added some lightly set liquid egg yolks (cooked 149 F for 35 mins) mixed with salt and vinegar. Made some curry paste with coconut milk, galangal, cilantro, chili peppers, lemongrass, and shallots, etc.

Awesome, better post your results!

Isn't the "harshness" a result of the maturity of the olives when they were pressed, not necessarily the quality of the oil? I tend to like my olive oil spicy...

Been done more than a few times, but here's my take on the Momofuku Ramen, with roasted pork belly, pork shoulder, sauteed bamboo shoots, sous vide egg, collard greens, and noodles. I combined the techniques from MC and the Momofuku book to make the broth, which was by far the meatiest, richest broth I've made: 1. Boil and steep kombu 10 minutes 2. Simmer Shiitakes for 30 minutes 3. Simmer whole chicken (cut down) for ~1 hour 3. Roast pork neck bones in oven ~1 hour 4. Strain broth into pressure cooker, cook at 15 psi for 1.5 hours with bones and bacon 5. Add scallion, carrot, onion and simmer for another 45 minute 6. Strain, season with Tare

25 C is generally accepted as standard room temperature in most literature I've read.

Reading cookbooks that are less about recipes and more about technique always helps me. Modernist Cuisine is great, I also would recommend "Professional Cooking" by Wayne Gisslen, although it is very dry (a lot of it I didn't read because it's more about restaurant management and logistics). But it does serve to have a great foundation in most aspects of non-modern cooking (although definitely not a standalone for non-western ethnic foods). I always try to cook different types of food constantly. If I do cook the same ones, I like to try different techniques. I don't think I've ever repeated a recipe, save for a handful of times... Have you cooked any of the dishes out of book five from the Modernist Cuisine? That's a sure way to escalate your cooking (or put it to the test >_<). Another great book for challenging recipes is Eleven Madison Park.

I had a corn dessert recently at a restaurant, and it was amazing! If I recall, it was corn sorbet with polenta custard, a corn tuile, and some sort of corn milk sauce.

I've been cooking on the crazier side of things for a little while with my desserts, here's a few flavors that are still rooted in sanity that turned out well for me: -Sesame -Avocado (Good w/ Grapefruit too) -Some Cheeses (Mascarpone, Goat Cheese, etc.) -Peas -Cereals (ala Momofuku Milk Bar) -Rhubarb -Yogurt -Basil -Mint

It almost seems to be a fad now to say modernist cooking is passé, or trash talking sous vide and hydrocolloids. Why not enjoy all genres of food? It seems this thread has a circular pattern of someone decrying use of modern techniques, with following discussion.

That settles it, ordering the book.I dont even like dessert but I dream about this plate! Its so good! Yea that one was great

The book has 12 desserts, each of them feature 4+ components and are very modern in plating and appearance. I've probably cooked about half of them, and they're among the best desserts I've ever made (or had...). There isn't any major modernist equipment requirement, a few recipes use some modern thickeners such as agar, but nothing too exotic. You'll definitely need an ice cream maker for the dessert section. A few of the meat dishes call for Sous Vide. Here's a few of my favorites: -Coffee Panna Cotta with Mango Yolk, Mango Tuiles, and Coffee Soil -Iced Milk Sherbert, Fried Milk, Soft Chocolate Milk, Toasted Milk Powder -Jizake Creme Caramel, Brown Butter Sorbet, Ginger Consomme -Peanut Butter Semifreddo with Apple Miso Sorbet and Golden Raisin Puree

Nice! What's the trick with getting the orange puree so thick? The recipe has you simmer diced oranges (with peel) with sugar, spices, and a small amount of water for 40 minutes, until it is very thick, then you puree it.

From the Eleven Madison Park Cookbook: Qual Roasted with Endive, Dates, and Juniper -Sous Vide Quail with Honey-Soy Glaze -Red Wine Poached Endives -Saffron Poached Endives -Date Quail Jus -Orange Puree -Orange Juniper Crisp

The Modernist Cuisine has a simple plate I've always wanted to make - I've never been able to get my hands on the ingredients though It essentially has you clean a fresh sea cucumber, then brush it (along with the mushrooms, shisito peppers) with oil, sprinkle with Sansho pepper and grill it over white hot bincho-tan charcoals. It is plated with a light seasoning of salt and yuzu juice. Sounds amazing....

Nutmeg? The nearest nutmeg is still on the tree in the Moluccas. Which I why I said I can't get the spices. Well the nutmeg adds a nice subtle touch, but I'm sure the sausage would still be delicious without it. Most of the flavor comes from the garlic, salt, and pork anyway. Just sayin...

You could try a garlic sausage, I like it with just lean pork + fatback + garlic + nutmeg.

On this topic, I have had SV short rib two ways - one of which I don't know how to make (having only had it at restaurants). I've made short ribs plenty of times SV a la MC reccomendations (140F/60C for 72 hr). This is delicious, but gives a more tender texture, almost like slow smoked brisket, where the meat falls apart very easily and can be shredded with a fork. I've also had it at restaurants, and it had an almost steak-like quality. It was much firmer, but still tender. All the information I gathered from the restaurant was 72 hour water bath. So, is this the texture you get at 133 F / 56C?

If you want less fatty sausage you can always add a binding agent such as Activa and use less fat, although I would guarantee that you'll miss the fat...

An alternative that works almost as well as a smoke gun is to simply do the following: 1. Place the food to be smoked on a plate 2. Use a stovetop smoker (or sauce pot/skillet/etc) and place your smoke-ables (wood chips, tea leaves, etc.) in a small pile in the middle of the smoker. 3. Place on the stove and turn the heat up to medium high (or burn with a torch) 4. Once you detect a small amount of smoke escaping, place a glass serving lid or pitcher (upside down) over the pile of chips 5. Once the pitcher is filled with dense smoke, very quickly transfer it to the plate, capturing the food within. I've used this to great effect, although it is only good for short < 10 minutes smoking times, since the smoke eventually condenses or dissipates.

One of my favorite cook books, you better set aside a 24 hours a week to cook a meal out of it ;-)

My advice is to save a bit for a Vitamix. I've had one for quite a few years and have put it through heavy use on a daily basis and it still works as it did when it was new. Furthermore, the Vitamix just makes blending tasks so much easier, and does it extremely well (you can blend the crap out of most things and make very fine purees). You will finally be able to say goodbye to scraping down and shaking the blender to get all of the food to the blades. It's probably my #1 gadget in my kitchen.