Search the Community

I have been playing around with the reverse spherification technique and found that the sphere itself holds great for even up to a few days when submerged in water. The problem is that the flavor starts leeches out into the water almost immediately, resulting in a more tasteless orb as time goes on. This seems to have a correlation with the viscosity of the liquid inside the sphere (the thinner the liquid, the more flavor leeches out). A few questions: 1) If I thickened the holding water with something like xantham gum, would that keep the flavorful liquid from leeching out? 2) Does the amount of time the frozen/calcinated liquid spends in the alginate bath have a correlation to how thick the sphere wall is and thus how much flavor leeches out? 3) Would storing the sphere in the same liquid inside it (minus the calcium) make up for any flavor loss? I am trying to avoid this last option as food cost becomes an issue at some point. 4) Finally, would using the same flavor of the inner sphere for the alginate bath make any difference? Again, the food cost thing. I am going to try and play around with this after the weekend, but if anyone has any suggestions in the meantime, please let me know. BTW, thanks for the book and the forum, I have been waiting for something like this for so long!

Is there any reason why I couldn't put hot ingredients (scrambled egg foam) inside my cream whipper? I bought this model: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/CREAM-GUN-WHIPPER-1L-PROFESSIONAL-DISPENSER-KA4700-/150602834437?pt=AU_Business_Industrial_Restaurant_Catering_Equipment&hash=item2310a0e205#ht_2658wt_922

MAPP gas ceased production in 2008, so I was a little surprised to see it still recommended here on the MC site. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAPP_gas The alternatives from Bernz-O-Matic ("MaxPower") and Worthington ("MAP//Pro") appear to be close to all propylene. Any experience on with these non-propane alternatives in as far as leaving residual odors on the food?

Mushroom stock is referred to in quite a few recipes, and said to be on page 6. I'm assuming that it is actually talking about vegetable stock, substituting mushroom as a majority, but I can't find these proportions. Does anyone else have any ideas on what to do when mushroom stock is called for? What have you done / made?

http://www.savoryspiceshop.com They have a wide selection of spices at reasonable prices and their shipping is prompt. I've bought piment d'espelette, vadouvan, urfa biber, asafetida, and tasmanian pepper berries.

After putting all the components of Seattle Food Geek's DIY immersion circulator in my Amazon basket I remembered that I know next to nothing about assembling electronics. That fact, and my sincere desire to avoid electrocution, led me to consider purchasing a commercial circulator. Does anyone have any experience with the Sous Vide Magic and the Fresh Meals Magic? I'm interested in the FMM because of its circulating abilities, I would much prefer that over a water bath. I appreciate any answers you can give me.

I am looking at building a drying chamber for cured meats. It would have basic humidity and temperature control. I had a question about the environment inside the chamber as I am trying to figure out what controls I feel like building. Is there ever a time that the humidity would have to be raised? My assumption is that once the chamber is sealed, and a closed system is formed, thehumiditywould rise above the desired 70-90%RH, and it would only have to be controlled in a downward direction. Does anyone know if this is a correct assumption? It would save me having to build a water injection system. I will make sure to do a build log and code for anyone who is interested. Thank you, Joshua

On Volume 5, p152, the Pate A Choux recipe calls for Methocel SGA150 in the dough recipe. I looked at a PDF reference of this chemical in the Dow website and MC Volume 4, page 60 - I could not find the reasoning behind the inclusion for the dough. On Volume 4, the table shows it is for "tender", "edible films/wrappers" - what does this chemical compound actually do to the finished, baked product? Does it give it a glazed effect?

We have a new poll on our blog allowing readers to help us pick four 8x10 prints we'll include with the 3rd printing of MC! Tell us what you think, and if you have any suggestions of prints you'd like to see us include in the future, leave your comments here or on the blog post.

This is perhaps one of my favorite techniques in the book. I'm a sucker for a confit and love the fact that I don't need massive quantities of stored fat to make them now. I don't even add the little fat that MC calls for, enough renders when the leg cooks. Tonight I will be trying a similar technique with pork belly.

I've made this dish twice now and both time loved it. Everyone who has had it comments on how it is the juiciest and most crisp quail they have ever had. It also helps that the flavors really work well together and balance nicely.

Does pure alcohol also needs particles to freeze like pure water? The way the supercool water experiment works, if I were able to bring pure liquor or wine to some temperature below its normal freezing point (query: what is the freezing point of wine or liquor at different percentages of alcohol?), wouldn't I be able to replicate the same result? Pour liquid wine and watch it freeze?

I'm always on the scour for more blogs in which the authors write about their experiences with the Modernist recipes and techniques. Here's what I've found so far: Seattle Food Geek Jet City Gastrophysics Consumed Gourmet the eGullet discussion thread Does anyone have any others? Constantly on a quest to find more! Lachy

I've starting working my way through Modernist Cuisine and it didn't take long before I was unable to cook a recipe without ordering a special ingredient online (iota carrageenan). Are there ten or so key ingredients that I should stock as I keep reading through so that I can attempt a majority of the recipes? What about the starter kits listed on Amazon? Example:http://www.amazon.com/Experimental-Kit-Artistre-600-grams/dp/B0045KOOXU/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1314771769&sr=8-4 Any advice is appreciated, I'd rather not wait a week for shipping every time I want to try a new recipe!

My wife rolled her eyes when I asked her for a $600 cookbook for my 50th birthday. She immediately reminded me of the exhaustive list of my cooking appliances, both current and posthumous, our cabinets full of our current cookbook collection and inventoried the various gadgets stuffed into every nook and cranny in our large kitchen. Yet she ultimately relented. And, so I set off to acquire a copy of Modernist Cuisine. I will spare you the long saga of the actual acquisition of the volumes, although the process involved haranguing phone calls, supplier lies and misrepresentations. Eventually, a third-party paragon of fairness interceded and I soon received a call from my wife that the box had come. ‚“It‚’s heavy,” she said. ‚“Are you sure you only bought the cookbook?” her tone indicated that I might have once again duped her by what she calls tag-a-long buying (a scheme where you promise to buy just one item, but under the cover of darkness you actually sneak in another kitchen gadget into the order). It was certainly a big box! I had finally extracted my prize: five huge volumes encased in a ¼ inch Plexiglas book container. Each book measured 10 ½ inches by 13 inches with cover photographs fit for a coffee table. The sixth book, a soft cover kitchen manual, fit beautifully on top of its Plexiglas home. I gingerly opened the first book and audibly gasped with surprise. Each glossy page was packed with photographs, statistics, charts and graphs. The $600 list price was starting to look inexpensive (I got for less but cannot reveal my source). I positioned the volumes on the countertop and plotted my next move. I first decided to get acquainted with the table of contents. Segmented into five volumes, the set includes: Volume 1: History and Fundamentals; Volume 2: Techniques and Equipment; 3: Animals and Plants; 4: Ingredients and Preparations; and 5: Plated-Dish Recipes. As a home chef who primarily cooks for my family and to maintain sanity, my first instinct was to dive into Volume 2 to see what I could whip up. Instead, increasingly intrigued by the first volume, I decided to start by reading a few pages about the authors and their journeys and 335 pages later I put it down. The rest of this review focuses only on Volume 1. I know now to read each volume in order. Chapter 1 covers the history of food. One of the central arguments described is that of the ”˜traditionalist‚’ versus the ”˜modernist.‚’ The debate probes: even if you can still eat the way your ancestors did, why would you? Further, food ingredients we associate with authentic regional cooking are, for the most part, not indigenous to the region ' so what is the meaning of ‚“traditional” in this context? Moreover, recipes we consider traditional today were really modernist in their time ' e.g. ‚“three centuries elapsed before the fruits [tomatoes] were fully accepted, due to lingering concerns over their safety.” Throughout the chapter, due deference is paid to the pioneers of the modernist movement and their origins and contributions. After completing Chapter 2: Microbiology for Cooks, I was thoroughly horrified. The authors detailed surprising cycles of illness called ‚“The Strange Life Cycle of Toxoplasma gondi” which I will leave as a story to be discovered (hint: page 127). The book covers an accomplished range, from ‚“Why You Shouldn‚’t Eat People” to ‚“Crazy Cats and Mad Moose.” Chapter 3 delves into the Food Safety, only furthering my depression. Confirming my suspicions, the chapter affirmed that various government food agencies are not exactly the sharpest tools in the shed. A recipe the FDA follows emerged in my head: 1 cup reality; 1.5 cups supposition; fold in one half cup of whipped hysteria to manipulate the masses and shake violently. Let cook indefinitely and deny any errors made along the way. I think the most useful part of the whole Volume is found on pages 192 to 194 ' Simplified Cooking Standards Based on Science. These pages and the authors‚’ preceding discussion are worth the reader‚’s investment and will ultimately lead to safer and tastier food results. Also, you simply must read the section on hygiene; review the UV powder simulation contamination on your hands. By Chapter 4, I was ready to be uplifted. Instead, I found a chapter called Food and Health, where the authors systematically dismantle numerous long-held beliefs using statistical evidence. The net of this chapter is that we know very little about which foods cause what long term problems, but our pharmaceutical companies, medical community and billion dollar diet industry often disregard facts or statistical evidence anyway. Instead, they try to make a buck off of marketing tantalizing lifestyle changes. Chapter 5: Heat and Energy and Chapter 6: The Physics of Food and Water cheered me up with upbeat facts about how things cook and freeze, essentially covering the whys that surround the hows. I recognized most of this content from my days of engineering school. As I closed Volume 1, I was surprised by how much I‚’d learned in this brief time, despite the fact that I‚’ve been cooking for 35 years. If I had gone with my impulse and skipped the first volume, I would have missed incalculably valuable information, and maintained my old mindset. Most books either fail to thoroughly cover the scope of material found in Volume 1 or cannot sustain the financial costs of publishing to do so with style and rigor. So when you buy Modernist Cuisine, start on page one. If you'd like to see my review of volume 2 when I finish it, let me know. http://www.linkedin.com/in/glenndhousesr

I found the tomato confit a fairly simple, but time consuming recipe that makes an intensely flavored dried tomato. I used a majority of my output to make veal stock, but also used some to make a veal Parmesan with mozzarella spheres.

I recently made the bacon jam to pair with a smoked french toast I made. I didn't bother adding coloring to the jam, but it turned out great. Very different from a more traditional bacon jam, but it worked well. Nice and sweet/savory combo in a rich creamy egg base. A hit overall.

I made some of the house-cured bacon a while back and really love the recipe. One of the more porky bacons I have ever had which is great. I find that most bacon cures cover up the pork flavor rather than accentuating it. I didn't follow the recipe exactly, I cured for 9 days because my belly was so thick. Also, I cold smoked the pork, did not use the sodium erythorbate and used boneless belly. Next time I plan on experimenting with the base formula to change the flavor profile a little and make a sweet/savory style of bacon. Also, I really want to get a bone in belly, bacon ribs sound amazing!

MC states the steel sheet method to make pizza works for an electric oven. Will it work for a gas oven? I read somewhere that could be a problem. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

One of the first recipes I'm going to try is the low temp oven beer can chicken. There is no mention of brining the bird first. Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

I was looking at the 'Lychee and Lime Soda' recipe (4-268) and would love to try it out for myself. My one perfectionist issue is that I do not know where I can get the plastic circular molds to form the small lime tablets (as pictured in 6b). Any ideas?

Hi All: I did most of this last night. I Sous Vide for 1 hour at 135F and then deep fried at 190C ( as that is the hottest my deep fryer would go) for 1 minute. I did not have any liquid nitrogen so missed that out. But the burger was dry and more like medium not what I was expecting. So what was the biggest mistake: 2 more degrees in the Sous Vide ' cannot believe that Not using liquid nitrogen ' hmmm unsure Not having the oil hot enough - 232C must be close to flash pointThanks for your help. The outside crunch was great and 240g of burger seemed light and tastey (it was my own grind) which was a win. Just a bit dry. Cheers Drew

Hi: Does anyone know where I can get liquid nitrogen in the UK? Drew

I have a Fissler pressure cooker, and I'm ready to use it to make the Caramelized Carrot Soup. However, the pressure cooker instructions say that I must not cook anything using less than the minimum amount of liquid they recommend (250 to 300 ml). The soup recipe calls for about halt that amount of liquid (the melted butter plus the water). Is everyone just ignoring that minimum liquid requirement when they caramelize the carrots? Anne

I am a small restaurant and wanted to try something new to my town, specifically cooking a steak sous vide, freezing it in liquid nitrogen, then deep frying it. However, my health department won't allow me to to keep the steak in at 131 degrees for more than 4 hours. My local inspector wrote the following: unless scientifically proven to be effective in preventing the growth of foodborne pathogens (lab testing). Those test results would have to be provided to our office for review and written approval. Thanks. I have not yet purchased the book....saving up for it, can someone send me in the correct direction for this, if it is contained in the book then please let me know, but I can't afford lab testing myself. Thanks a million Chris