Anonymous Modernist 5766

I have both MC and MC at Home books. I was doing the math on the ratio of the Coffee Creme Brûlée recipe in MC at Home, page 362. It calls for 53% scaling of egg yolk to liquid. However, the weights are 80g. of egg yolks to 200g of infused cream which works out to 40% scaling. Am I missing something? I made the recipe and it was a bit runny to my liking. Separately, in terms of ease, why not simply seal the entire contents in a single bag, cook sous vide, then distribute to ramekins for cooling and setting? Besides easier sous vide preparation, this would allow the benefit of insuring proper distribution and mixing immediately after cooking. Just a thought.

Sorry for the basic question, but what ratio of clay powder to water did you use to create the clay seal on the cast iron dutch oven for the braise? I see the photo and recommendation of Kaolin clay but no indication of how to achieve the proper clay construction to insure a proper seal. Thanks for the help.

I had a wonderful cocktail the other night here in Denver. The bartender muddled cilantro, cucumber and jalapeño, added lime juice, simple syrup, green tabasco and reposado tequila, shook with ice and strained it into a cocktail glass. It was delicious. I immediately thought about how to pull out more of the cilantro, cucumber and jalapeño flavors. Of course, my first step was to consult what is now my kitchen bible - "Modernist Cuisine." However, I could not find any extraction direction for these three products. I can guess at the best method for each but thought I should post a request for help to see what you think is the best course of action. I only have a vacuum sealer and a thermal circulator (and a recently purchased pressure cooker which does indeed produce measurably better stock but I do not think it is much help in this department ). Brian

Judy said: Judy: I followed the video instruction of tightening the lids all the way down and then backing off the tension by 1/4 turn (while this is the verbal instruction, the visual of the turn appears to be more in the 1/8 turn range). However, when I opened up the pressure cooker after the 2 hours, I noticed that approximately 50% of the oil had escaped out of the jars and into the pressure cooker water. I live in Denver (elevation 5280ft). I doubt this was the problem but I thought I would post my experience with the hope of some suggestion for how to avoid this problem in the future. Thanks for the help. Brian

I wondered whether the lab can provide some information on the effects of smoking ribs at a higher temperature than recommended in the book. Specifically, I wondered what the effects are of smoking at 160F versus the recommended 149F. I am considering purchasing a Traeger smoker (I do not want to have to tend the fire of a Karubecueevery 30 minutes) but learned that the minimum operating temperature is 160F (with a variance up to 20F) .