lordratner
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Posts posted by lordratner
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Help! I'm trying to make an Onion Sugar. Its Onion Juice, glucose, and sugar (or isomalt for a reduced sweetness). Chris Hennes tried this back in 2012 and got the same results I did: very dark, slightly burnt, still slightly sticky and impossible to grind back into powder.
Has anyone tried this with success? The sugar needs to reach the hard crack stage so it can be ground back into a powder, but basically remain as clear and un-carmelized as possible.
Help me Gods of Glucose, Sultans of Sucrose, Kings of Caramel, Masters of... whatever. Any ideas?
Thanks!
Seth
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Granted I haven't read through all 10 pages of this thread, but what are the main differences between this and the full version, and as an amateur cook (albeit with long-term professional aspirations), will this version suffice?
As of now the only "modernist" stuff I do is sous vide/low temp cooking, some nitrous infusions, and I did just start using hydrocolloids for my bar syrups...
MC@H is a Modernist cookbook with helpful information on ingredients, equipment, and techniques to give the reader a basic understanding of the science behind the recipes.
MC is a five volume college-level textbook covering, as titled, the art and science of cooking, covering advanced food chemistry, the physics of heat and its implementation in various types of cooking equipment, and the history of the modernist cuisine movement. It also happens to have a few hundred recipes as examples.
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I wasn't exactly sure where this should go, but this seems right.
I bought Modernist Cuisine at Home (MCaH) in 2012 when it first came out, and I just recently bought Modernist Cuisine (MC). While reading MC I noticed the binding separating from the pages. The pages are bundled into groups of 12 (6 pages front and back) which are secured by string. The bundles are then pressed into a fabric binding coated in what looks like glue.
While reading through volume 2 I noticed the bundles separating from the glue. As I got towards the middle of the book the bundles detached faster, taking adjacent bundles with them. By the time I read through the entire volume (about 10 sessions) all of the bundles had separated. The book is still held together by the string, but because of the separation there are gaps between the bundles and the pages on the side opposite the spine do not line up when the book is closed.
I looked at my copy of MCaH, which had the same binding failure last year, and it looks identical, except it took 2 years, not one reading.
For reference, the MC books are laid flat on a table and read page by page, opening and closing once between each session. I never press down on the center of the book to flatten the pages, and the books are treated with extreme care.
I'm now on page 116 of volume 3 reading it the same way and the page groups have started to separate from the cloth binding, just like volume 2. I looked at volume 1, and while the separation isn't as severe, there are multiple separated page groups.
Anyone else have this issue? I honestly expected these books to last a long long time, especially considering the cost, but having the binding fail after a single read through is alarming.
To be fair to the MC team, I contacted them and they are sending a replacement volume 2 (mine also had a printing error on two pages), but with volume 3 doing the same thing I am starting to worry the problem is not a one-off.
If anyone who owns the books could chime in, I would appreciate it greatly.
Thanks,
Seth
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Do you have the rubber kitchen gloves people use to wash dishes? Get a pair of those that are loose fitting, and wear them over a set of regular gloves. Biking, baseball, knit, leather, whatever, just not thin plastic/rubber like the outer gloves.
You can keep your hands in the water for minutes at a time (I've tested it), and you have a dexterity that you lose with utensils.
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Were they actually short ribs that had the bones taken out, or the cut above the ribs that don't actually have ribs attached?I don't agree.
I've had excellent results with 60-70 hour cooks at 134F with grassfed, boneless short ribs
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Were these boneless short ribs? If so, you didn't have the right cut.Following Modernist Cuisine, I just did a 72 hour short rib at 141F. Came out dry!! Anyone else have experience with this?
When I test sous vide meats, I don't like to use any marinade or sauce. This way I can really see if the meat is dry or juicy and not confuse the "juiciness" from a sauce.
I pan seared for about 30 seconds on each side after I sous vided the short rib and then added a little salt.
This short rib cost me $14 a pound from the "Best" butcher in Boston! It is from a local cow and pasture raised.
If you look at the pic, you can see the meat is dry. I chopped off the middle fat part before I ate it so I don't confuse juiciness with that large piece of fat.
It's a different muscle group, and I've had terrible results from it every time. It works fine in ground beef for burgers, but long sous vide cooks are out.
If the rib bones are in, you should get great results, as you have the right cut most likely.
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I got the Shapton Glass stones in 500, 1k, and 2k. They are a huge improvement over the EP 220 and 320 stones I was using before, but I can't compare them to the higher grit EP stones.interested to hear what you think of the Shaptons. what grit ? do you have to 'off-set' as some are thicker than reg. water stones.
They cut very fast and wash off easily. They are thicker than EP stones, but since the 500 grit Shapton is similar to the 320 EP, I only use the Shaptons which are the same thickness so no adjusting between stones is needed.
I used a sharpie to set the EP to the matching angle and went from there. I may end up getting an angle cube to get a more precise bevel on the Takayuki, but I haven't decided. If I do, I'll get the quick load spring and locking collar at the same time, as well as the 4k Shapton to finish the set.
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I just bought this little guy (literally... I ended up getting the exact one they used for product photos):
http://www.chefknivestogo.com/sata24wa.html
It's a Christmas gift, so DW isn't letting me use it until then. My other two knives are a MAC chefs knife and utility knife. I love them. Just got done Shapton stones for the edge pro to make them stupid sharp.
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They rust fast. I'd put it on a hot burner after washing, should dry in about a minute, but give it another minute to get everything.
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in the US, $179 for the new one, and $199 for the A1?
$20 is "very slight" on a piece of kitchen equipment, irrespective of 'percentage'
the LID for a Cambro costs more
Disagree. A 10% mark down is a huge deal from a business perspective. And they are - regardless of our passion for the craft - a business.
Walmart dedicates millions in resources researching how producers can shave pennies off their prices. Those have huge effects on volume.
A product like the Anova is strange and new for most people, has very little word of mouth supporting it, and doesn't "make sense" to the masses. Every dollar they shave off the price brings it within the threshold price of a new group of consumers.
They aren't going to make their millions off people like you and me. They need to appeal to the average home cook, and price is the biggest factor on something new like this.
In either case, I'm excited to see people getting their units. I want mine even more now.
EDIT: The average home cook would never dream of paying what we pay for a plastic bin to hold water. I don't think the Cambro is a fair comparison.
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although this is a bit annoying, what's more important until a 'fix' is in: does it maintain "that" temp over time ?
if so, then you manually use that offset, and well be OK
unless its eggs ( yolks for sure ) or 130 'beef' 1.3 wont matter very much at all.
still .....
I agree. I would rather see the temp off but stable. This is something I would expect to be dialed in before shipping, but if the idea is to calibrate the device at home, the calibration better work.
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Bingo. At $115 per unit, I'm happy with the "compromises" so far.not for us Kickstarter funders, it's much higher.
I also don't know that I would consider a 10% reduction in price to be very slight
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What role--if any--does the fact that the white knife is a good deal narrower, I'd say 25% of the surface area compared to the black knife, have?
More knife surface area= more contact with the spud=more adhesion, or if you will, "stickiness".
Russets are an o.k. "general purpose" spud, but Yukon golds and reds have a much higher starch content
Correct. But the argument being made (and supported by the vacuum tests) is that the adhesion force is much less than the suction force. So yes, there is less adhesion, but the adhesion from the starch was never enough to keep it on the blade (which is why it falls off under vacuum). But because the knife prevents suction by allowing air between the potato and blade, no sticking spud.
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Where in London is it?
No kidding. London knife field trip?
I have and love my Mac, but I'm always looking for contrary information.
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So the knife negates air pressure?
Hard to tell from the video, but it looks like the blade has an uneven surface, unlike the first knife. It's also a lot narrower.
The narrower blade provides less surface area, so if the potato does get a good seal, the force of air pressure holding it to the knife is lower (since it is a function of surface area).
More likely is that the knife has an uneven surface. Similar to the knifes with scallops in the side, the uneven surface allows air to get between the potato and the blade, which balances the force of air pressure on the spud, leaving gravity to pull it where it will.
If the answer was sticky starch water, why wouldn't the potato stick to all metal knifes, regardless of shape? Does duct tape only stick to flat surfaces?
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Strange, the Anova one came with an excellent manual.
And a higher price tag
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in the Pot. exp above I take this away:
the Pot. is in 'pressure' equilibrium or it would move.
there is the 'local' ATM of pressure all over the Pot., knife, and Experimentaur.
however, the Pot. has its weight ( ie mass ) as an additional force in the downward direction.
so the equilibrium of the ATM top of knife and bottom of knife has an additional factor with the vertical 'sticking'
it cant be the ATM, it something acting in that cloying interface we have not been able to measure where the Pot. and Knife
are enjoying themselves.
adhesion its for me, oil or no oil.
If it was adhesion, the potato wouldn't slide around on the knife without falling off. Think of any adhesive. Bumper sticker, glue stick, scotch tape, crazy glue. You can never slide the two adhered objects around once the adhesive is set. Adhesives work by grabbing on to micro imperfections in the surface of the objects. That's why smooth surfaces sometimes need to be sanded for an adhesive to stick. But once stuck, they don't slide on each other.
A suction cup, however, works better when lightly wet. It's not the water making it stick, though, it's the suction. The water just acts as a better gasket than the cheap rubber. And you can slide suction cups around on smooth surfaces without the suction breaking and falling off, because it's air pressure, not adhesive holding the suction cup in place.
Once again, the only tests done in this thread point to suction. I wonder exactly what proof would help change your mind.
By the way, this is fun.
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Worked every time for me when cutting 1/8 " slices out of a Yukon Gold at 328 ft above sea level.
You must have a bad potato.
I can't tell if there's sarcasm in there.
I agree that oil can help keep potatoes from sticking when slicing them, but I submit that it is because it allows air to get between the knife and potato. Perhaps a function of the oil and water repelling each other, I have no clue. But if starchy potato water is the only thing making spuds stick to a knife, then an oiled potato should not stick at all.
But in reality, both oil and water can act as a gasket (if the layer is thin enough) to block air from getting between the blade and potato, creating suction and holding the potato there. The fact I was able to slide the potato up and down the knife while tilting it implies the oil is not acting as a strong adhesive. That leaves air pressure.
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The oiled knife experiment pretty much kills the air pressure theory.
This is a potato. Heavily coated in oil and pressed to a knife coated in oil. I did this 2 minutes ago. Olive oil, if it matters.
Edit. I redid this a minute ago, rinsing off all the starchy water I could, then dried with paper towels, then coated in oil, an stuck to a dry, then an oiled knife. Same exact result.
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Thank you. This is your personal experience/observation, and I respect it for what it is-- a personal experience/observation. It is also a viable option to mitigate potato slices sticking to a knife blade, and one used by countless people.
I also respect gfweb's observation/experience, even though I wouldn't use it. But again, it is a viable option, and one that is used by countless people .
Going over the 5 (five) pages of this thread, I fail to find any personal observations or experiences from dcarch. I don't know why this is, but we have a lot of science, climbing up walls with suction cups, sheets of glass, and yet, no personal observations or experience concerning slicing a lowly spud.
The "test" is very easy, it is not time consuming, does not require expensive equipment or elaborate set ups, nor does it require extensive training. It (cutting a simple spud) is also very cheap--I bought potatoes the other day for 69 cents /lb, and after "testing", you can cook and eat the spuds.
Regardless of what Dcarch has personally tested, of the two "scientific" tests performed in this thread to specifically address the topic, both pointed heavily in the direction of air pressure being the primary force acting to keep the potato on the blade, which is exactly what he said from the start.
It doesn't answer the question once and for all, but it's a lot more than "I just don't think air pressure makes sense"
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Really? I'm shocked they are as close to the original schedule as they are.I'm furious. Clearly they've just made a decision to save money on production for their bottom line, instead of being loyal to their backers.
They are a small company undergoing incredible growth, with 6ish product variants to manage. I don't think there is an evil plot afoot, and making a profit is a good thing.
As long as they send the Kickstarter units first, whenever that ends up being, I will consider then to have kept to their promise.
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Not a great example, since the news paper doesn't keep air out well.I'd say that the boiling water is putting water vapor between the plates first, then air perhaps.
How much force does it take to open a newspaper? Next to none, even though air is pressing on it.
Now how about if the sheets are wet? significantly more, yet air pressure is the same.
There are videos in this thread that show how strong the vacuum can be with no water on a simple plastic bag.
If the potato starch and water was so sticky, you wouldn't be able to slide it sideways
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In my experience with vacuum boiling, it takes a bit of time for the moisture to completely evaporate.The water "glue" evaporated at near max vac.
That it didn't fall off at lesser vacuums effectively rules out air pressure as the cause of adherence.
Nice experiment.
I think the two likely answers are:
Dcarch is right (I believe he is)
The boiling liquid is putting air between the potato and knife, which supports both your theory and Dcarch's.
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The irony with this statement is that you are wrong. Just because the concept is beyond your ability to grasp, does not make it false."it take no horizontal force to work against vertical force (atmospheric pressure)."
you can stop now. not sure how to put this politely, but you have no idea of what you're talking about.
Dcartch isn't great at explaining scientific concepts, but he's done good on this one.
Onion Sugar
in Cooking
Posted
I'm guessing it has to be the onion solids suspended in the juice. My results were just like Chris's here: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/141972-eg-foodblog-chris-hennes-2012-chocolate-tamales-modernism-etc/page-4#entry1864765
I don't know that adding water will change anything, but I'll give it a shot. The added water will still have to be boiled out with the onion juice.
It can't be a high-heat probelm. My first attempt was in an oven at 310F and it browned slowly over the course of the cooking time, which was well over and hour. The mixture only reached ~220F and it was already a medium brown. I moved to the stove top and got it closer, but only to ~266F, maybe a touch higher. At this point it was very dark and like Chris's results, tasted of onion but somewhat burnt. Still, the sugar was sticky enough that it could not be ground to a powder.
I guess I'll have to try a very high heat, see if it's a matter of the onion juice being exposed to heat for too long. I filtered the onion juice through coffee filters to get out most of the solids. The recipe in MC didn't specifically call for centrifuged juice, so I'm a bit stumped. It's a pity too, because the mixture is actually quite tasty before it gets too dark.