Merkinz

For me it is Fuchsia Dunlops "Every Grain of Rice". This book has had a huge impact on our diet and weekly dinners (for the better). I cook at least a couple of recipes out of this book and have done since it came out. The guy at my small local asian supermarket even knows me Other than that MCAH has consumed alot of my weekends, and often to good effect.

Ok this is great thanks for the replies. What I make of this is that the Poly CREATIVE is sufficient even in 'slightly larger than recommended' baths (I doubt I'd ever shoot over than 30L anyway)... and that maybe their pumps aren't rated to run non-stop all week like the pro models are. This is fine as I imagine I'd only use it now an then: eggs on the weekend, protein for the occasional dinner party / BBQ, and the odd MC custard / pie filling.

You are pre-empting my thoughts there rotuts! I was planning of using a 25-30l insulated bin (cooler bin) covered with pingpong balls. But I still just wanna make sure that the ONLY adverse effect of using this in an oversized bath would be poor heating / poor heat distribution / poor heat stability ... And NOT stress on the unit itself. Can anyone confirm this?

Question about the Polyscience Sous Vide CREATIVE: - This machine is rated for a 20L Reservoir ... What happens if I use a larger reservoir ... say 30L? Will this put strain on the machine itself making it more likely to break / giving it a shorter lifespan? Or does it simply mean that the temperature in the bath may be less stable / precise ... e.g. +/- 1°C ass opposed to 0.07°C? What if I went to 40L? Any insight into this would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.

It's all in the title ... "Modernist" and it all begins with a 'Modernist Registration'! ... For what it's worth it is an extremely quick process.

Would it be appropriate to use something like a 'Hario Skelton, ceramic burr coffee grinder' for spices? Does anyone else use something like this? Thoughts please... I'm in the market for one too although I have a good morter and pestle already (heavy and awkward to clean).

I'm asking santa for a Rotovap ... But to be honest I don't think I've been good enough this year to deserve one , so I said I'd settle for an Immersion Circulator (Polysci Creative)

Right, I picked up Japanese Farm Food recently and am in two minds about it: Firstly I'm impressed with the recipes! I was really looking for that next step in Japanese home cooking after sushi. I love the simplicity of Japanese cooking and I love the flavors of Japanese food. I wanted a place to go for 'everyday' Japanese food and I feel like this book really delivers in this sense. It is well sectioned and seems well balanced. Secondly I'm quite unimpressed with the tone. There is a very heavy "Buy Organic Food" tone and it can come across as quite condescending in places! She takes every chance she can to pump "Organic" in the general text of the book and then in recipe ingredients the word "Organic" has been placed in front of almost every ingredient (Do I really need to spend more money just to get 'Organic Sugar'? No.). I feel like all of this talk could have been contained in a chapter at the start of the book and it wouldn't have bothered me so much but it is on just about every page I turn to. So to sum up: I got the book of recipes I was looking for! I feel that there are alot of recipes in here that I will try and I can already see that some will become staples in our house (the true test of a cookbook for me by the way). However the tone of the book has put me off reading the 'non-recipe text', I can only take so much 'food religion' before I lose interest.

I'm interested in this also! ... very interested

Thoroughly enjoyed the first episode. I find Peter Meehan a little annoying. In other videos/interviews/etc. I've seen he always seems to be hanging around Chang but rarely contributes anything interesting. I hope he isn't featured all season... or if he is then I hope he contributes something and becomes more than the object Chang talks to. In any case I enjoyed it and I like the direction it is heading in.

If you get really desperate you could always visit your local garden/tree nursery and pinch a few leaves off a bay tree ... Not that I am recommending stealing!

This is a typical response and it misses the point. I don't want to make Wondra flour, I don't want to know the chemical compounds in Wondra, I want a substitute. For example if you make pesto and you simply cannot find pine nuts you might use cashew nuts as a substitute. You don't expect the cashew nuts to taste like pine nuts, they may even have a slightly different texture and effect on the final pesto but the end result is still a delicious pesto. Well what is a substitute for Wandra? what can I use instead of Wondra in say the Chicken Wings Batter recipe? - Normal Flour? Corn Flour? Corn Starch? Potato Starch? Rice Flour? Glutenous Rice Flour? Tapioca Flour? Chickpea Flour? Texturas Trisol? ... ??? Which flour can act as a substitute? Which flour will deliver similar (albeit not identical) results? Would you use the substitute in identical quantities? Would you use the same flour in different recipes or would you use a different substitute depending on the recipe and desired result? As it so happens I have 3 cans of Wondra sitting on my desk, I imported them and it was expensive and a pain in the arse. However there are quite a number of recipes in this book that call for Wondra and I imagine quite a number of people who don't have access to Wondra, so I think this topic is still worth perusing! Hey, I didn't come across this in my searching so thanks! I occasionally travel to Aus and have friends there who can send some over if I need. EXCELLENT to know this as this will now be my source! ... Still interested in hearing from the MCAH team about what they might consider a good substitute for others who can't access this ingredient.

Appreciate the comments! Thanks

Hey, I've been searching this alot and asking in other places but it seems noone can answer this ... All you ever get is a bunch of people telling you to order it online ... Which is far more expensive than I am prepared to pay. I'm still hoping that someone can come to the table with genuinely useful advice on this issue.

Pickles are on 3-348 and frying batters are on 3-333.

I think it is fair to expect high quality and consistent results from a cookbook of this price. When recipes call for measurements to the tenth of a gram and cooking temperatures to the exact degree then you have to expect that those measurements are precise AND accurate. I've cooked a bit from "Heston Blumenthal at Home" which is of the same ilk and I had great success with that book (that was less than half the price). My 'strike rate' from MCAH does indeed fall shot of what I was expecting in terms of how the recipes turn out and taste. That said, i'm definitely happy with the book. I just won't be preordering any future offerings from the Modernist Cuisine lab.

Yes! I am going to be more dedicated to growing my own herbs this summer. it usually pays off alot more than growing your own vegetables which can be had for dirt cheap at the farmers markets.

Ahhh excellent thanks. Butternut is usually available here tho I guess its out of season...

What "Squash" are you lot using in these recipes? I always regarded the term as encompassing a variety of quite different vegetables. If you could link me to a photo of what you are using that would be most appreciated. Cheers.

Dhardy: you didn't damage your pressure cooker. The worst that could happen with not enough liquid is it could scorch and burn the bottom of your pan. It'd be a pain to clean for sure but there would be no permanent damage. I'd recomend you try the garlic confit, it's easy and the results are great. I use it as a pizza base sauce (thinly) and then pile mushrooms high on top. Delish!!! I made the pork belly Adobo (upthread) which I look forward to making again.

Judy: Thanks for the input. It is fantastic to see some of the MCAH people answer some questions here. Overall I'm loving the book and having a great time cooking from it! Chris: After reading your post about the pesto I decided to give it a crack and I totally agree with you! It simply tastes amazing. I didn't take any photos but I split it into three portions, froze two and plan to use one portion at a later date on a pizza like you've shown above. I'll take photos of that and I'm sure it'll be great.

The things I found most useful out of MC were the tables for things like frying batters and pickles etc. where you would move down the table for the different types of batter/pickle and then across the table for the ingredients for a particular batter/pickle. I use these tables alot! This would have worked really well for things like the different pestos as well as the infused fats and oils. ... maybe risottos as well? ... but I'm biased, I do love a good table

It's funny you mention this as that is the first thing I looked for when I opened the book and was also disappointed not to find it. I don't have a SV setup yet but I am gifting the book to someone who is about to get a SV. I also share your confusion on the full page spread on the PacoJet. It is about as useful to a home cook as a full page spread of Jamie Oliver smiling at a handful of beans (no offense Jamie if you are reading this). I am loving the book however and do think that the pages on SV equipment will be worth it to the person I am giving the book to.

Has anyone seen, used or know anything about the "Minipack-Torre Vortex Vacuum Packers"? I am able to source these locally but I simply cannot find anything on these machines: http://www.minipack-torre.it/MPCatalog/mPShowProductProcess.jsp?productID=794&productCategoryID=185

I don't have a sous vide setup and have enjoyed quite a few recipes out of the book