Msk

I did not read the article, nor do I know how it is organized, so some of this may be redundant. But I did see FA speak at the Experimental Cuisine Collective in NY and he did discuss it and its goal. Basically he gives the/a Stageurs a tight budget and they have to make a "menu" out of it for the restaurant's family meal. They are incredible obsessive (like all things apparently there) and catalog/document all "menus". So this book is a documentary/collection of all the "Family Meals" at El Bulli adapted somewhat for people at home. Since everyone at the restaurant sat down to eat thiese meals, and FA, made it a goal of his to drastically improve the quality, I'm very interested in it. Bear with me since that was from memory from months ago. Mike

I think thats the version I have. How do you plan to use it? It really is very versatile and there is alot of ground to cover. Its great as a steamer, I throw some broccoli and fish in it and voila! Quick healthy meal. It can also make rice and pasta which I have done successfully, but not many times. The steam injection is great for baking. Reheating baked goods with steam makes day old bread/buns almost like new. I have made roasts with good success (though the cavity is small and tough to replace a full size oven for a large household). Tell me your goals and maybe I can help more. Mike

I have it and love it too. Its really a great "Little Oven" we roast veggies and all sorts of stuff in it. While I haven't tested the temps, it hasn't been a problem in the 18 months or so since I bought it. My one annoyance? the Plug sticks straight out like 3 inches so the unit can't sit flush against the wall. No issues as it relates to performance (Disclaimer: Toast is not a priority for me) Mike

Blow torch for searing and finish in the oven? Not sure if it follows fire codes though. Its been awhile since I lived in NYC. Mike

Successful Pastrami Attempt! Thank goodness because after 10 days of waiting, It could have been quite a letdown. I liked the pastrami (as did my wife and Dad) and the smokiness plays nicely with the sweetness of the brine. I am a long way however, from giving Katz's a run for its money. Thanks for all the help from those who went before me. Mike

My setup was Inverted platesetter, drip pan filled with water on top, then the grate with pastrami on it. I had the Pit thermometer on by Guru on the grate itself, and had it set to 170, my lower vents were all the way closed except for the Guru Fan Door. I had a 180F dome temp most of the Cook, but it did reach 200+ by the end. The inverted plate setter with a drip pan filled with water does restrict airflow quite a bit, and I do only light a concentrated area of my lump (with a torch). Mike

Did the smoking portion of my MC Pastrami yesterdayon my BGE, using my Guru to keep temp around 180. Now waiting for it to finish in the water bath. BGE is truly an amazing thing. Mike

Larry, You hit exactly on my point. The pastrami brine looks neither like a pink brine or a regular brine from the "Best Bets for Brining" section when you convert it to Meat+water scaling. Mike

Larry, That makes sense. thanks a ton. Mike

Hi Mike, The beef cheek pastrami recipe is about right as far as salt is concerned. Sugar is a bit high for my personal preference, but your tastes may vary. It looks like there is an error in the basic pink brine scaling 1 on page 3-168. It says to use 10% salt, but that would be extremely salty for an equilibrium brine. In general, for cooked products, I find that a brine consisting of about 2 percent salt, 1 percent sugar and 0.25 percent Insta Cure is about right. These percentages are based on the total weight of meat plus water if brining, or total weight of meat if using a dry rub. If you're following the pastrami recipe, the aromatics that go in the brine are about right. Do keep in mind that the spices used for the rub after brining make about 5 times what you need for 1 kg of meat. I've found that brining in a small bucket is a lot easier than trying to vacuum seal meat plus brine. HTH, Larry Thanks Lofty, and generally do you have a % of weight you think aromtaics should be or is it just a matter of taste? I was just confused since the Standard brine had no pink salt, and the pink brine had no sugar. Thanks for the clarification. I guess the pastram is a combo of the 2. So I basically could just recalc the salt/sugar/pink salt for the meat + water, then just add in the same amount of aromatics. Mike

I just put some pastrami into brine last night and as noted, boy was it fun trying to fit that amount of liquid into a vac bag (But I did it!) When looking at the Best bets for brining and the scaling for meat + Water = 100% which one do I use the normal brine or the pink brine? When I try and redo the calculations for the pastrami brine they dont match either. Any help would be appreciated. Mike

I would echo what Chrisz has said since I have also been on this quest, and would add the Ideas in Food book though it is supplementary not a comprehensive resource. I will add another suggestion which is to get started. Pick some Recipes from one of the Sources and make them. It is tough to understand the theoretical definition of the differences between Say Agar-Agar and Gellan until you touch, feel, and taste them At least for me. It wasn't until after I started getting my hands dirty that it all came together. Mike

I had donated a pizza party (I have a wood burning pizza oven in my yard) for 8 at my house (cooked by me) to the local school system fundraiser. We had it two weekends ago and I decided to turn a couple of courses into MC inspired pizza courses. Amuse - One Bite salad - Endive, Balsamic Chip, Olive Oil powder MC Pizza One - Grapefruit Cured Salmon, Greens, Horseradish Cream, Everything Spiced Crust MC Pizza Two - Roasted Cippolini Onions, Broccoli, Aged Cheddar, Aerated Scrambled Eggs (Done Tableside) MC Pizza Three - Herbed Ricotta, Fresh Heirloon Cherry Tomatoes, MC Chili Oil The biggest hit was definetly the Egg one. Watching the emotional rollercoaster of the guests was awesome. First they saw they beautiful colorful pizza, then I covered it in white foam with something they thought would be heavy and gross, then they tasted it and got an airly light version of a cheddar broccoli omelette. I also served the aerated mango sorbet with homemade Limoncello at the end. People were genuinely wowed, and we had a great time. Mike

Harvard Science on Itunes Look at the Wylie Dufresne lecture for some background.

I do them a la Ideas in Food. I think its 163.5F for 25 minutes SV, then run through an isi with 2 charges. Its more of a scrambled egg sauce/foam thats great for putting on cheese and toast but its pretty awesome. Mike

I would also recommend the Harvard Science and Cooking video of Wylie Dufresne, to anyone looking for answers on "Meat Glue" Its free on iTunes and an hour of Wylie showing how and why wthey use it. Mike

So there I am thickening some Balsamic Vinegar with Ultratex 3 (for the first time) in order to make some balsamic chips. I have this idea for an appetizer that is a piece of endive with a balsamic chip and olive oil powder. So the Balsamic has taken on a very nice thick glase like consistency, so I taste it, and it was pretty good. So I decide to salt it, and sure enough it was even better, I could totally taste the nuances of the vinegar and was well balanced without reduction. Amazing and delicious.!

I have the Gaggenau plummbed version. I love it. It cooks really well, stesms really well. It was expensive but I just spent $600 on a cookbook so what the hell...... I have only had it a few months so I'm still learning. Mike

The only thing I can think of is you have a leak or your lid is not on tight and the moisture is escaping causing it to dry out inside and burn. Mike

With the VP112, if you hit the Off button instead of "Stop" it will evacuate without sealing. Mike

Foodman, Does your Maple Vinegar have any Vinegar "Bite" toit? Mine really does not, but I wouldn't call it sweet either. Its almost like the nutty notes of a port without the sweetness. It is delicious but since I have no basis for this I am curious about others results. I made the soft scrambled eggs and ran them through an isi. Really awesome, on Chala toast with a slice of cheddar. More like a sauce than eggs, but definetly tasted like eggs. Mike

Phaz, I was following Nathan's suggestion of using Xanthan, perhaps I just didn't use enough. I decided to add some jelly of the same flavor fruit puree to add pectin content since I don't have Pectin on hand, again maybe there wasn't enough pectin in the jelly. Oh I did the above attempt without any citric acid at all. (the first successful one with pictures) So thats not even needed with mango. You may have hit on a point too about the universal lid pulling a different type of vacuum, I haven't gone back to using that since I bought the smaller Ball Jars. I made a batch of the Simple syrup so maybe Ill give it another go tonight with some other fruits. The other question is, if just adding Pectin is the answer, does it have to be heated to get hydrated? Most jelly recipes include it for canning which means its always heated. Mike

Made the Chili Oil over the weekend, but with different Chilis since thats what I had. Very interesting and deep flavor, intoxicating. Would go great on almost anything. Just as an update to the Mango Sorbet, I have had limited success making this with other fruits. I have tried adding Xanthan Gum, I even tried adding some Fruit preserves. Almost every time as it reaches the top of the jar, it collapses, sometimes all the way down, sometimes less. The mango is by far the most stable. The best luck I had was raspberries, with some added seedless rapsberry preserves, and some xanthan. Mike

I have made this recipe many times and I love it. I did not have the overcooked texture problem, but I have also used Barilla Penne as my pasta. The one hour still left my pasta al dente, even with the fulll cooking time in the sauce, though with a different "more consistent tooth" throughout. This has become my go to mac and cheese (prior to tonights trial of MC) Mike

Looking forward to it!