Sparren

March 30, 2016

Cured lamb, radish, beetroot syrup, beetroot powder, carrot powder and sour creme with garlic and lemon zest.

March 13, 2016

Last weekends dinner. Not sure what it´s called in english but it is sheek from cow. Cooked in porter served with potato puré

March 13, 2016

I cannot find any information on BDX500

I have however received an offer on the Pro Xtract 3R för 7300 euro (3000ml swing bucket 3600G) and 2000 extra for the fixed angle rotor (1500ml 15600G)
I need advice on whether I should add the fixed angle rotor or if 3600G is enough? Seems a little low compared to modernist cousines recipies using 27500G.

Would a recipe running at 27500G for one hour translate to 7,6 hours at 3600G

Also i wonder if I need to buy (expensive) plastic bottles from the centrifuge supplier or if regular plastic bottles can handle the G force?

March 2, 2016

Thanks for all replies.
I may not be Nathan but cooking is my biggest interest, so the kitchen is where I spend most of my money. However I don´t wan´t to invest in something that may just taka up shelf space.
The rotavap seems to be fun when experimenting with flavours but it seems to be very big ant difficult to set up. The centrifuge seems to be easier to use but almost as expensive as the rotavap if I decide to buy a new unit.
Centurion has a Pro-Xtract 3 Refrigirated that holds 4 * 750ml bottles (with included rotor) but will only pull 3600G with that rotor compared to >20000G in the modernist cousin recipes. What also makes me a bit suspicious is that they advertise it like a magic machine for making clear tomato juice which is something I rather easily make with my juice extractor.
So, will 3600G be limiting? And what magic would I be able to make with it?

February 24, 2016

This weekend, for my first time I cooked with scallops in shells.
I was surprised that both taste and texture was different from thoose without shells.
First is scallops with lemon air, chili and chives and the other is, scallops in bell pepper coulis with parsley, chives, chorizo and chili.

February 24, 2016

I'm considering getting either a rotavap or a centrifuge to expand my culinary possibilities.

So my question to people with experience with these devices. If you had to choose from one, which would you choose and why?

February 7, 2016

Saturdays dinner. Beef cooked sous vide very rare at 52,5c served with home made broth, shallots and tatsoi.

February 3, 2016

In the middle off the week:
Swedish meatballs with pickled cucumber, potato puré and cream sauce.

January 24, 2016

Yesterday I made Filé Oscar. A course that was first served 1897 for the Swedish king Oscar II who salubrated 25 years at the throne.

Filé of veal (56c sous wide) with choron (or bearnaise) white steamed aparagus toped with a lobster claw and double fried french fries.

January 24, 2016

17 hours ago, BonVivant said:

I like this. Is there a story behind it? How do you make it (your way)? Looks simple enough but not sure what cut of meat, kind of meat and spices you use.

In Norway I came across "Finnbiff", a dish that is also popular in northern Sweden (and Lapland in general). Let us see how you make it, too, someday maybe?

There´s not much of a story other than it originates from the famous Hotel Rydberg (1857-1914) in Stockholm and that it´s a luxury version of "Pytt i panna". Pytt i panna is a traditional course made of diced potato, onion and diced leftovers from meat, sausage, etc, served with fried egg and sliced beet root. This luxury version have larger dices and, the parts are not mixed on the plate but instead layed out in three sections toped with egg yolk. The beef is often high quality meat like beef filé.
I have actually planed for another course but the potato sticks i planned to double fry was a bit overcooked so I diced them and double fried. The meat is a diced tail of veal filét fried in a pan with butter. The onion is just sautéed in butter on low temperature until soft and transparent. I served it with raw egg yolk (63-65c is better) on top, grounded black pepper, parsley and whipped cream flavoured with Dijon and skånsk mustard.

January 23, 2016

Biff Rydberg is a Swedish speciality that I made for dinner last night.
Pan fried diced fillet of veal, sauteed diced onion and deep fried diced potatoes served with egg yolk, parsley and whipped cream with mustard.

January 20, 2016

Yesterday I made some Ramen for me and my son. I probably have violated what should be included in a Ramen since I didn´t follow any recipe and used glass noodles instead of wheat noodles but it tasted very good.

January 18, 2016

I got my self a PacoJet for christmas.
In sweden we do not eat turkey at christmas. We have christmas ham, meat balls, "prince"-saugage, pickled herring, hot and cold smoked salmon, mustard, etc.
So after christmas day I took the leftovers of the christmas ham and made a ham-mousse in the PacoJet and a mustard Ice-Cream. This was a very different approach to the taste of a swedish christmas table.

January 14, 2016

On ‎2016‎-‎01‎-‎13 at 3:33 AM, HungryChris said:

Sparren, is this a normal meal for you, or do you want to share what the occasion is? I love caviar, but tell us a few details, please.

This was a Friday dinner with a couple of friends that share my interest for food and cooking. I had a 250gr can of Oscietra that I bought in London last December.

For starter I server Russian gherkins (pickled in salt) with honey and Smetana (Russian sour crème) which is a very nice, cheap and easy Russian starter (the theme this evening was Russian) and for main course we had Blinis with Oscietra, Smetana and chopped red onion. Usually we serve Blinis with Caviar of Kalix at less then 1/10 of what sturgeon roe costs. It's not at all the same taste but also very good.

January 12, 2016

Dinner last friday.

December 23, 2015

Thanks!
The guide answers all my questions!

December 16, 2015

36 minutes ago, gfweb said:

If you spin for even an hour bacteria are a concern if there's no cooling. Room temp is bad enough, but the air friction will heat the centrifuge. I'd use refrigeration.

Thanks, I will probably go for the refrigerated version. Is 4000rpm good enough or are there applications that require more than that?

December 16, 2015

I'm considering getting a PrO-Xtract5 or a ProXtract5R and I have a few questions.

Is 4000rpm enough for most applications?

Do I need the refrigerated version? What applications require cooling? I do understand bacteria may grow if I spin stock for several hours at room temperature, but are cycle time so long that cooling is required?

Is this unit good? It seems to be constructed for food.

December 15, 2015

About reduction I finally got my answer:

Dear Mats,

I’m sorry for my late answer. This equipment is not a good option for this purpose. I advise to use an evaporation unit from the same brand ICC . I have attached the instruction manual in order to have a look on it.

If you are interested please contact to the owners of the brand International Cooking Concepts (ICC). Inma Ramo (inma@cookingconcepts.com) in order to know how to place an order.

Best regards

Jordi Gómez

September 2, 2015

I have the rotavap on my wishlist aswell. However with vaccumpump and chiller its three times more expensive as the Gastrovac and as you say it seems awkward and very complex.
It would be fun to play with though.
Good article by the way.

August 28, 2015

Have you seen the manual. Seems to me it answers some (but not all) of your questions.

Yes I have had a look at it and technically it looks like it would be possible to reduce with it (at least for 99 minutes, then pressure has to be released and rebuild) but since I never heard of anyone using it for low temp reduction I have my doubts that it may not be suitable for the purpose. I have emailed the manufacturer but so far no answer.

August 27, 2015

I agree that the term Sous Vide is misleading. To me what is called Sous Vide is cooking at target temperature, usually vacuum packed in water bath.

I'm considering investing in a Gastrovac but to justify the cost I need to know what I can achieve with it and also have an idea of how "magic" the results are. There seems to be very little information on the Gastrovac except for some reviews.

So far my conclusions are:

It can cook (boil) food at low temperatures in oxygen free environment which mean colours, taste and nutrition's are better preserved.
You can infuse food with liquid during cooking
You can deep fry at low temperature (80c) and batter will become crisp but not change colour and there will be no maillard reaction.
I'm still not sure you can reduce liquid with it but I guess you can if the pump is on all the time. It has a hose for evacuation, but I'm not sure it's suitable for this.

I can infuse cold food with good results in my chamber vac, but infusing hot food drags moisture into the pump which is may damage it.

I think I will pass on the Gastrovac for now. At least until I have had a demo of it or talked to someone who is using one. I just placed an order on a Ultrasonic device, so I will probably have something fun to play with next week. :smile:

August 26, 2015

Hi, I'm a bit curious about the technique of cooking in vaccum. Does anyone have any experience with the Gastrovac?

First of, deep frying (tempura) in 80c, will the batter really become crisp and have the taste and color as with regular deep frying?

I have also read that when cooking in Gastrovac there's no loss of liquid. This sounds a bitt strange to me as I suppose the vaccuum pump would suck out both air and steam.

Reduction at low temperatures would be one thing I would like to achieve.

Thanks!

Welcome Our New Members! · August 21, 2015

Hi,

I'm a food entusiast from sweden. In the last few years i have updated my kitchen with many new tools like, sous vide, chamber vac, thermomix, blendtech blender, smoking gun, excalibur, siphons, etc. I hope to find ideas here how to make the best out of my equipment.

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