Anonymous Modernist 6826

Thanks Louis! It worked out great. Made a Magner's and Peche Mortel BBQ sauce along with a reduction from the juices. Glad I didn't have to toss it.

About a couple days ago, I set my circulated waterbath to 60C and dropped in two racks of pork side ribs. While it sank initially, much to my dismay, I found the middle portion of it floating recently. The ribs were already sold in a vacuum packed pouch so I didn't bother repackaging them. I'm concerned that the portion floating could be a result of bacterial fermentation (so the ribs were already bad when I bought them). However, if it simply floated as a result of steam buildup, is it safe to consume? My setup is an 18qt roaster with a covered lid, circulated by an aquarium pump and managed through a Dorkfood DSV. Since it is covered, I took a thermometer and tested the temperature of the air below the lid and it read up to 57C, ensuring safe pasteurization temperatures. However, since the bag inflated, is it safe to assume that the middle portion received adequate heat transfer to achieve pasteurization?

Would there be a large compromise if I decided to cook the french onion soup right in the pressure cooker instead of jarring them? I want to make a larger portion than what the recipe calls for in MCAH, and I also do not have more than a couple of canning jars in stock.

While making the caramelized carrot soup, I was struck with the idea of making brown stock in a similar fashion. Instead of roasting the meat & bones, would adding a 0.5% portion of baking soda to the total weight of ingredients facilitate an environment where deeper maillard notes are achieved? Understandably, vegetables have a porous cellular structure whereas meat does not. However, since we are dealing with a pressurized environment as opposed to pulling a vacuum, I am assuming the same principle as pressure-marinating (except at lower atmospheric pressure) will be taking place. Thoughts?

Should the steak also be rinsed before being cooked? Or is simply changing the bag enough?

In Modernist Cuisine, there is a brief mention of the Aeropress along with a suggested brewing method. From my various experiments with brewing and reading about coffee, I have found that seemingly small increments in the amount of water can make a perceivable difference in taste. I'm wondering if any of the MC Staff, particularly Nathan (due to his recommendation of the Aeropress in an interview) and Chris (due to his publicized interest in coffee) have a specific method they use. For example, brewing time, grind size, water temperature etc. Personally, I follow a method loosely based off of James Hoffmann. Here are my specs: Aeropress (inverted) + metal filter 12g coffee (drip grind) 200g water (93C) I make sure to preheat all my equipment and brew for one minute in between stirring the water & grounds (pre and post brew). I would be very interested to see what methods the MC Staff apply.

To answer the OP's question, the internal temperature has to held at 130 for 20 minutes in that example. But as LFMichaud pointed out, it is often unnecessary since the inside of a muscle is sterile. The general worry is with commercially raised poultry, (especially those being sold whole with the skin on) as they are a potential carrier of salmonella. Cattle is not known for being a popular carrier of salmonella. If you are worried about E.Coli on the other hand, then I would recommend pasteurizing your beef as well. Jaccarding is a common practice in meat products, so seemingly intact muscles can be infected. You can do the same with ground beef if you want to consume it in rarer states. I may be mistaken, but my understanding is that E. Coli is fairly easy to destroy and will readily die at low temperatures.

I always opt to season prior to service. Salting (and most other premade seasonings which have high sodium levels) ahead of time has the nasty tendency to draw moisture out of your meat. From a personal perspective, it might be worth dry equilibrium brining your steak (1% of the total meat's weight) and leave it for about 7+ hours. I have not tried this yet, but it seems like a good way of seasoning a piece of steak without diluting its flavour, while increasing its moisture retention.

My friend and I endeavoured to replicate this recipe with some rather unpleasant results. We deviated slightly, so I thought it would be best to ask for some advice on this forum. Mirin proved to be very difficult to locate so we substituted sake in its place. As the recipe suggested, we marinated for 5 days, but froze it thereafter as our conflicting schedules didn't allow us to attend to it on time. We then cooked it at the recommended 54C for about 2 hours. We found that the flank steak (sourced from our local butcher) was both difficult to brown and very unpleasantly chewy. To remedy this problem, we put it back in the water bath for another 12 hours at 55C (as recommended in 3-109). This yielded in a better steak, but it was still very chewy and unyielding. We could clearly see where the collagen sheaths dissolved but the meat had an oddly stiff texture. I noticed that I got a similar effect with marinated salmon vs. regular salmon. The marinade caused the fish to be unpleasantly chewy and I was forced to overcook it until it was edible. I'm wondering if the marinade is similarly responsible for the outcome of the flank steak. Is it possible that substituting sake caused this?