Anonymous Modernist 11055

MA@H suggests cooking a rib eye steak at 56C for three hours to tenderize it. It did indeed tenderize it, but it wasn't as juicy anymore as I'd hope.

Tonight I cooked MC Special Sauce according to the recipe on MC@H. I turned out like green onion porridge. Maybe I should have only used the white/yellow parts of the leeks? Taste and texture are nothing like a sauce. Gotta say I was very disappointed with this! Especially since my pressure-caramelized ketchup didn't turn out really good either.

Tonight I made pressure caramellized ketchup and I have two problems with it. I tastes really much like onion. Weight/volume measurements don't seem to work. It says 6 g or 1,5 tsp. 6 grams was like 2/3 tablespoon. I guess onion powders can differ. The taste is really spicy and oniony. It was also too runny. I added some xantham gum and locust beam gum. Hopefully it won't become like jelly

I think I followed the measurements on the recipe. I weighed everything and I am used to the metric system because it is what we use in Europe normally. It was stupid of me to add all the carrot juice at the end, but I thought it wouldn't become thin, because the recipe mentioned that additional water may be required.

When I cook meat at low temps the meat seems to lose a lot of the moisture. A steak cooked at 56C for 3 hours is a bit dry, especially when compared to one which is cooked at 53C for the same period. This seems to be even more problematic when cooking for days. I once cooked brisket for 72 hours at 58C. The meat was very tough and chevy - basically unedible - and had lost lots of the moisture as well. I am wondering if I am doing something wrong. I have not succeeded to tenderize tough cuts at low temperatures, and they have not been very moist either. So far I've got best results with naturally tender cuts, or if I use tough cuts I just overcook them at 80C.

I have wondered about this subject for quite some time: why not use baking soda to increase the maillard reaction when browning a sous vide steak for example? Is there a reason why not to do so?

I just made my first attempt using the recipe of MCAH. I used store bought carrot juice. The soup tasted really great, but it was very thin. Maybe the juice was thinner than the one used in the recipe?