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I'm looking to buy some new pots and pans and would like to tap into your knowledege and experiance with them. Which pans tend to yield the best and most consistant results. Same for pots. Any and all recommendations would be greatly appriciated, thank you in advance. Herman 8D

I am new to the MC@H world. Today I finally bought a pressure cooker. Cooks Illustrated ran a bunch of comparison tests a while back, and concluded that the 8-quart Fagor stainless steel, for about $100, was virtually as good as PCs costing much, much more, and labeled it their best buy. So that's what I got, from Amazon. Interestingly, on Amazon, one can for $110 buy that PC, with no accessories other than a basket, and pay for the shipping; OR one can buy a kit, with that PC, a 4-quart pot to go with it, the basket, and a glass non-pressure lid, and with free shipping, for $99. I did the latter. While others on this list may not be as skinflinty as I, I would be curious (while I await its arrival in 6-10 business days) to hear if others have had good experiences with the Fagor.

I tried making the Sandwich Bread from MCAH last night. It turned out okay in terms of crumb size and flavor (a little too salty for my taste, but that's easy to fix). When I tried make a sandwich with it this morning, I toasted the slices and it nearly fell apart coming out of the toaster. What can I do to make the bread stronger?

This is not a new variety of brown rice, but a newly discovered way of cooking brown rice to "activate" it and increase natural occurring gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an amino acid in brown rice believed to have health giving properties such as lowering blood pressure, improving kidney function and relieving stress. While I am not techinically capable of commenting on the above statement I do like the taste of the rice . problem is when making it in a rice cooker I am limited to a 2 hour soak aparently because the rice water gets too ripe. plus are the claims made about GABA rice really true?

Hey everybody! So in the last day or so I have been playing with my centrifuge and peas. I made pea butter, which is a delicious little delicacy I highly recommend to anybody who hasn't yet tried that, pea water, and with the pea water, an attempt, at least, at sweet pea clusters. I followed the recipe as best as I could determine. Here's a link to my blog with a couple photos of what I ended up with: http://www.cookedthreeways.com/2013/02/peas-in-onion-consume-with-mint-and.html Basically, although I'm pretty sure I followed the recipe accurately, the peas simply started to come apart once they were in the 194F water bath. What might I have done wrong and how can I troubleshoot this recipe?

I made Asparagus Royale tonight from 4 - 94. I don't have a combi oven, so used the instructions for cooking in a bath (176 degrees for 30 minutes). The end result tasted really great, but didn't look nearly as nice as the one in the cookbook. It came out two different colors... the top very green (like the photo), but the bottom was an off yellow color. Tasted fine, but looked weird. Why would this have happened? When it says to cook in a bath (covered with plastic wrap), does that mean fully submerged, partially submerged, or sitting above the water? Mine were partially submerged, which I'm thinking was the cause for changing the color. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

I want to make the Ultrafrothy Milk Shake recipe which is in MC@H on page 89. I have never heard of deodorized whey protein isolate. Today I went into one of the better known health food stores in this city and when I asked them about it, I drew blanks. Can someone please tell me how I can determine if whey protein isolate has been deodorized? Or suggest some brand names that I could maybe track down? Or on-line sources? Thank you very much.

I tried to make the pressure caramelized ketchup two times in a row but when I opened the pressure cooker both times it was burned on the bottom, I dont know if my pressure cooker takes too long to reach full pressure, I removed it completely from the burner after reaching full pressure and putted it back on low heat to continue the cooking watching carefully to make sure it didnt overheated. I have tried other recipes like salsa marinara and the salsa didn't burn. Anyone knows what can I do?

I would like to make a savory custard for a consomme. I would like to put a layer of sauce American on the bottom of the mold so that it is like a caramel topping on a flan when turned out. I feel that I need to use a hydrocolloid to stabilize the sauce and keep it from mixing with the uncooked custard. Not sure how best to do this.

has anyone used flavored oils, like LorAnn's Candy Oils, for flavoring foams or sphere (fluids or gel)?

I am looking at getting a combi oven gaganeau or wolf. Will they do the job for sous vide as well or should I also buy a polyscience recirculator for sous vide? Any advice appreciated.

I recently purchased a used Buchi R Unit http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A6IIRE2/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (refurbished for $1000!) and got a Pfeiffer Vacuum MVP 015-2 PK T05 100 Dry Pump on ebay for $160. I'm trying to keep my costs down and get a working setup as soon as possible. I am a former chemistry major, but we always used the lab line for vacuum, so I am at a loss for where to look for a used vacuum controller and what to look for. I would like a digital one, but I'm not entirely sure if all controllers will be compatible with my pump, and I haven't been able to glean much from MC. Some guidance as to what features to look for and where to purchase would be great. This is my first post on the forum, so be gentle if I've said something MHMR.

Hi For the Spaghetti Carbonara, do you cook the bacon before adding to the cream, or no? Thanks Brian

I've been looking for a FoodSaver for a while and this popped up. I think it's good enough to go for. http://www.homebrewfinds.com/2013/02/foodsaver-v3860-bonus-bags-free.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HomebrewFinds+%28Homebrew+Finds%29

I followed the MCAH recipe on p. 137 for the Fish Spice Mix. I even had the N-Zorbit brand from Modernist Pantry. The recipe calls for 12g of this powder. The powder is very, very light so it ends up being a LOT of powder for the mix. In fact, my fish spice mix appears to be totally over-saturated by it. It just doesn't look right. There was no way to completely incorporate it. I'm probably going to scrap it and try it again with a fraction of the powder. Maybe 4g or so. Can someone verify that 12g is the proper quantity for the tapioca maltodextrin?

Hi All, I just finished reading MCAH and learned a great deal from it. I am anxious to try the techniques and am looking into the purchase of sous vide gear. My girlfriend is a vegetarian. As I read MCAH, there does not seem to be the interest in cooking vegetables to the degree there is for meat. Is sous vide cooking less appropriate for vegetarian cooking? My hesitance in the purchase of the gear is that I might be buying a device unsuited for what I need to cook. Are there better sources for cooking vegetables sous vide or is it just the wrong technique? Thanks, Steve

MC folks and friends, I noticed that the section in MC that deals with infusing flavor into fats does not mention a technique for infusing with basil, even though it lists a number of other herbs. It seems to me that sous vide infusion would be the best technique, given that basil is a heat-sensitive ingredient. But I don't know the time nor temperature that would be appropriate. Mind you, I am aware of the basil oil that appears in the tomato sphere recipe in volume 5, but this is not really an infused oil, it is a puree of oil and basil leaves. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

I am planning to buy a homogenizer. But there are many facts i don t know about. But before i will spend 3000 euros i would like to get Professional advise. I am planning to buy a glh 220 Hand Held homogenizer 28.000 rpm inkl 35 mm Probe like in the pistachio Gelato Video on youtube by modernist cuisine. Which homogenizer in europe will be the right one? Which rpm Speed should it have? Which Probe size ist the Most effizient for cooking Modernist cuisine Recipes? Coarse or Fine probes? Thanks

Hi, i have cooked 6 lamb shoulders with bone for 72 Hours at 56 C and the result was not that good... The meat was super tender and juicy and with the right pinkish color however there was a strange sent though.... Not sure if from the garlic that might have been trapped for too long? Or the rosemary that was a bit dry.... I only vacuum sealed the lamb with butter, garlic, bayleaf, rosemary and thym. What might have happened??

Hi there, First of all thanks for taking the effort to read this post (my first on this forum) and your answers. I have been using Sous Vide for a while now, but given I wanted to learn the techniques a bit better first, educate myself on the safety aspects of working with sous vide (bacterial growth in combination with low temperatures) etc, I have been working on the safe® side of the spectrum, ie temperatures of 70 degrees (celcius) and higher for cuts like Pork Belly, Chicken (actually did that at 80 degrees) etc. For an upcoming dinner I am going to prepare a premium piece of Wagyu and a saddle of venison. Clearly, I do not want to prepare these at 70 degrees The way I plan to prepare them, having read about the minimum and maximum times for these cuts is equal for both, being: - meat will come directly out of a cold fridge (say 3 degrees C) - sear the Wagyu and Venison in a very hot pan to give it a nice browning all around, as well as kill any bacteria on the surface of the meat - immediately vacuumseal the meat (clearly each cut in its own bag... I have two sous vide machines, so they will also each go in their own bath) - vacuum bag then goes into sous vide at 55 degrees celcius for 4.5 hours each - based on the thickness of the cut, it will take circa 1.5 hours for the meat to reach 55 degrees and then the other 3hours is to pasteurize - after 4.5 hours take meat out of the Sous Vide, char it above a wok-burner at very high heat (only a couple of seconds) and then it will be immediately served Now, assuming that we will work in a hygienic way, avoiding cross contamination or contamination after the second step where we have seared the meat at very high heat all around, is there anything wrong or risky with the above way of preparation? Thanks a lot! Regards, Michel

Hello everyone. What is the role of Baking soda in the caramelisation of onions and carrots in the pressure cooker please? It works beautifully but I like to understand the science behind it too. Thanks in advance Pablo

I have tried Glad, and a generic plastic wrap at 800W and Premium Saran at 500W for the Microwave Parsley recipe. In all cases the wrap melted through, at 800W much faster than 500W. While I have been successful using parchment paper and a careful eye, the plastic wrap would be much easier. In a brief look at commercial wraps, none seemed suited for the microwave. Any suggestions on a wrap? The generic wrap description in MCAH hasn't been sufficient. -Steve

Should the egg yolk for the pastry cream really be cooked at 80C? It seems rather firm, not to say rubbery. Worked fine for chocolate pastry cream yesterday mind you.

What is the purpose of cooling the spinach butter after pureeing it. You then melt and filter it - why not do this directly after pureeing? Are you supposed to store it unfiltered? Is that true if you are freezing it as well? Finally, in the photo of the sous vide steak on top of the melted spinach butter, the butter is separated into yellow and green globules. Mine is pretty much all green - it tastes fine, just doesnt look as cool as the photo. Any help is appreciated.

I've been looking around and have had a bit of trouble finding some sieves like the ones recommended in MCAH (200, 50 and 20 mesh). I've spotted a few at select lab sites and they tend to be around $90-$100 each. I'd be curious where some other folks might have gotten theirs. Additionally, I'd be curious what sieves some of you have, and which one(s) you find most useful/valuable. Thanks, Shawn