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William Colsher

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Posts posted by William Colsher

    Your Daily Sweets: What are you making and baking? (2014)

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    Great, thanks.  Haven't got that one; I may have to get creative.  What's the active ingredient - something like isomalt?

     

    Wifey and I went to a screening of El Bulli: Cooking in Progress as part of the annual Wellington on a Plate food festival last week, so my interested in fun stuff has again been piqued.

    Nothing that exotic - just sugar,  a little water and ouzo, then paint the syrup on obulato squares, pop on some toasted pine nuts and dry in the oven.

    • Like 1

    Updating the Kitchen Essentials

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    Pretty much agree with all of the above, though I'd lean toward a stand mixer like the standard model Kitchen Aid before I bought a food processor.

     

    And I'll repeat:

     

     

    9. A digital scale. Weight, not volume. Say it again! Weight! Not! Volume! *cheering*

     

     

    You mention soup, which brings to mind a high power blender like the VitaMix.

     

    The ThermoMix is, as mentioned, a bit of a "cult" and for the same amount of money you can easily buy all the other stuff that's been mentioned. Even so, I'm planning to buy one late this year due to an unfortunate obsession with elBulli 2005-2011. :wub:

     

    But... all you really need is

    1) a good knife

    2) a good cutting board

    3) a kitchen scale

    4) a basic set of quality cookware plus a nonstick frying pan for eggs

    5) Miscellaneous hand tools: grater, vegetable peeler, tongs, slotted spoon(s), spatula(s), measuring spoons/cups for the recipes that use volume

     

    And...

     

    6) That reliable cook book(s) - see threads here on eGullet

     

    I lived for years without a toaster and a microwave but "need" them now. If I was starting from zero, I'd think hard about the SmartOven/Combi-Oven that have gotten a lot of coverage here. If you get into almost any kind of meat cookery, baking, or candy making you'll need an instant read thermometer. Don't mess around with anything other than a ThermaPen.

     

    You'll know when you "need" the other gadgets.

    Lobster tails for 30-40

    in Cooking

    Posted

    How long and at what temp would you cook them?

    130 F for 15 minutes when I make Lobster Eggs Benedict with little tails like that. However... When I posted  I had completely forgotten that I peel the tails prior to the butter poaching for which I apologize. Obviously it's an extra step before cooking that will take some time.

     

    And... 130 F might be a little on the rare side for some - other recipes specify 140F for 20-30 minutes which is probably closer to what most people think of as "normal".

    Lobster tails for 30-40

    in Cooking

    Posted · Edited by William Colsher (log)

    Not a professional so FWIW, I'd go with sous vide for the "set and forget" aspect. Skewer 'em so they don't curl, bag with some beurre monte and away you go. At service pull the skewers, cut open the shell with scissors (for easy eating) add a quarter lemon and a little cup of butter and you're done.

    Recommended gourmet foods?

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    I had thought that maybe I just go through "phases"

     

    We all do. Temperature (of ourselves, the air, and of course the food), level of hydration, prescription or OTC drugs, other recently eaten foods (Google Szechwan Button), texture, slight illnesses one doesn't otherwise notice, emotional state... darn near everything affects how we perceive flavors.

     

    There are several recipes in the elBulli 2005-2011 books in which an ingredient is cooked at different temperatures or presented in different textures that exploit some of these ideas.

    Recommended gourmet foods?

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted · Edited by William Colsher (log)

    I saw a show on the Food Network that said that, to the surprise of their "experts", chicken eggs from widely different sources all tended to taste the same

     

    There's a similar test from 2010 over at Serious Eats: http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/08/what-are-the-best-eggs-cage-free-organic-omega-3s-grocery-store-brand-the-food-lab.html

     

    There seem to me to be two methodological flaws with that test: 1) the eggs are scrambled in butter and salted and 2) there was no attempt to quantify the differences in feed except to mention that Misty and Logan supplemented their diet with bugs and worms - I suspect the pets mostly ate a commercial feed mix not too different from what factory chickens get. And that seems to be confirmed by this article, also from 2010: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/01/AR2010060100792.html?sid=ST2010060101402

     

    There's also no mention of breed, but that becomes a more complicated question since you'd also have to control for diet.

     

    As I mentioned, I've been obsessing over poached eggs, partially because the ones we'd been buying at the supermarket don't have much flavor at all.

    Grill Pan for Electric Range

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    I've used the P12SGR3 on our glass top electric stove for years with no particular issues. Like all cast iron they can be a little brittle - I dropped mine once and the handle snapped off :wub: . Still works perfectly though. I like the looks of that LSRG3.

    Recommended gourmet foods?

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    Regarding eggs and cheese....

     

    The suggestion regarding eggs is a particularly good one (disclosure: I happen to be obsessing a bit about the poached variety just now). Find yourself a couple Farmers' Markets some weekend and buy fresh eggs from a couple of different vendors. Talk to them about how their chickens are kept, what they eat, etc. Take notes.

     

    Then go home and cook them simply - poached or soft cooked - any form of frying adds the complication of the oil you're using. Take notes regarding weight, cooking time, temperature, etc.

     

    Look at the eggs. Taste the eggs. Compare them to each other and to your usual eggs. Take more notes.

     

    Incidentally, while you're at those markets, find a creamery that produces several types of cheese. Buy 2 or 3 kinds based on the same milk. Don't put them in your refrigerator. Repeat the egg experiment, taking notes. Always challenge yourself a little.

     

    In case you haven't noticed the note taking thing is important (the particular product less so). Do this sort of thing every week (really). And read. Take the suggestions above seriously. If there's a cuisine you're particularly interested in someone here will certainly have advice on where to begin. Search out interesting blogs. Many of the members here have theirs listed in the signatures. And be sure to spend a rainy weekend broswing the archives here.

     

    I'm lucky enough to have the Reading Terminal Market about 5 minutes out of my way home after work. I stop in probably twice a week (for fresh Mozz and seafood) plus weekend runs to various Farmers' Markets. Once you get out of the supermarket mindset you'll begin to see so many possibilites you'll never have to ask a question like this again.

    Dinner! 2014 (Part 3)

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Tonight's elBulli experiment: Miso Soup Spherical-I and a perfectly normal burger: red and yellow sweet peppers sauteed with red onion, sharp white cheddar on Philly's finest Amoroso buns

    Burger.jpg

    Soup.jpg

    • Like 5

    Whippers/Whipping Siphons: Brands/Models, Cartridges?

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted · Edited by William Colsher (log)

    >what are the differences between the types of gas chargers

    There are 2 types N2O and CO2. My impression is that most applications use N2O.

    >how long will it stay that way

    Several hours for sure.

    >Is it expensive to use in a busy kitchen

    Don't know.

    >Any advice on good websites to buy from and any good recipes would be appreciated!

    I'd say the "usual suspects": Amazon, WebstaurantStore, etc.

    >and any good recipes would be appreciated!

    http://forums.egullet.org/topic/107085-foam-recipes/

    http://forums.egullet.org/topic/130145-isi-whipper-%E2%80%93-which-one/

    http://forums.egullet.org/topic/83890-warm-foams/

    etc. Search using "ISI whip foam"

    Outside eGullet http://blog.khymos.org/ has an ebook of recipes that includes some foams.

    and of course: http://www.isi.com/us/culinary/

     

    And be aware that many foams are made by simply applying an immersion blender to the foam base.

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