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I have been flipping through the book looking for a discussion and understanding of the issue with low temp game cookery and the science behind the issues. I use a fair amount of both farmed and wild game meat (including some rather odd ones) and have been both disappointed and amazed with the results, but never sure how and why, and more importantly how to replicate them. I made a balontine of rabbit for a our menu recently and poached it sous vide. I cooked it to 60 degrees in a 64 degree bath and it was perfect. I cooked the same one the next week with fresher rabbits to 60 degrees in a 60 degree bath to pasturize and all the loin meat went mushy. I have also had this happen with lamb leg (not sure if it was just a bit to old or the acidic marinade did it but 24 hours later it was trash.

This looks to be an inexpensive sous vide circulator: http://shop.vac-star.com/shop/USER_ARTIKEL_HANDLING_AUFRUF.php?darstellen=1&Kategorie_ID=108&Ziel_ID=1092&anzeigen_ab=0&sort=&order=&javascript_enabled=true&PEPPERSESS=012dd988efb2030eaa390a95cd627fde&w=1331&h=746#Ziel1092 Does anybody have any experience with this equipment?

Hello, I've beenexperimenting with spherification the last couple nights with some success, i think... The wholeexperiencehas left me wondering, what should a properly executed sphere be like? I've never had the pleasure of eating a dish using the technique prepared by someone who really knows what they are doing, so I'm heading blind into this. My spheres have been somewhat like caviar at best and like terrible snot at worst... In my reading of MC and other books like Art Culinaire, I've always imagined the spheres to be discrete from each other, not sticky or slimy. Also they are supposed to "pop" in the mouth i've heard, but mine seem to go from too fragile to lift from the bath to fairly solid within a very short period. Can anyone shed light on what I should be looking toachievewith this? Thanks -Steven

Sorry for the basic question, but what ratio of clay powder to water did you use to create the clay seal on the cast iron dutch oven for the braise? I see the photo and recommendation of Kaolin clay but no indication of how to achieve the proper clay construction to insure a proper seal. Thanks for the help.

Hi Modernist Cuisine and followers, One of the recommended tools suggested by MC was the Jaccard 45-Knife Meat Tenderizer. They are not expensive but the jury seems to be out on whether they make a difference. Does anyone use one? How/when? (i.e. what kinds of meat etc.) Are their any Modernist Cuisine recipes that call for a tenderizer...I would love to make a specific dish twice, once with and once without using the tenderizer to decide for myself. Also, I already have a mallet-style tenderizer for carpaccio, so I am wondering if two tenderizers is overkill or if they are completely different in terms of application and results. Happy to try one out but thought I would run it by the group to see if anyone had experience with them. Thanks, Ian

I posted this at egullet, and while a few people concurred with my argument, there was no response from the MC team, something which I feel would be both helpful to me and to them. Thus, I will repost here and hope to find some information: Followed up by:

I have bought some "ingredients" from a local supplier in France to play around with in the galley, but one of them I don't know anything about. It is Whipped milk paste, link to buy it is here: http://www.sosa.cat/familias.php?lang=en&PHPSESSID=deef7935cbbe6397cb0c14a9cac10f0c Can anyone shed some light on this product please? Any ideas what to do with it? Thanks!

In MC 3.42 the process of dry aging beef is explained. My question is in a home application does one need a dedicated space to limit the potential for cross contamination? I was hoping for a little more detail regarding potential health concerns, is this process really this simple?

I live in Switzerland, and I've been looking everywhere to find an online supplier for many ingredients that I need but I can't find one with (almost) all of them and that delivers in Switzerland... Does someone know a european store for modernist ingredients ? Thanks

I had a wonderful cocktail the other night here in Denver. The bartender muddled cilantro, cucumber and jalapeño, added lime juice, simple syrup, green tabasco and reposado tequila, shook with ice and strained it into a cocktail glass. It was delicious. I immediately thought about how to pull out more of the cilantro, cucumber and jalapeño flavors. Of course, my first step was to consult what is now my kitchen bible - "Modernist Cuisine." However, I could not find any extraction direction for these three products. I can guess at the best method for each but thought I should post a request for help to see what you think is the best course of action. I only have a vacuum sealer and a thermal circulator (and a recently purchased pressure cooker which does indeed produce measurably better stock but I do not think it is much help in this department ). Brian

Hi everyone, I am making a white beef stock (2-296), and I am not sure when it describes blanching the bones in water (step 2 of the white stock variation) if this is the same water that the stock will be made from, or if the blanching water is drained following the blanching and fresh water added for the stock. Does anyone have any ideas? Cheers, Ben

I'm ready to buy a pressure cooker and I'm looking at the Kuhn-Rikon Duromatics. I'm not sure which size to get, though. I'm mostly cooking for two, but I like having leftovers, and I'm concerned a 4-qt one won't be large enough for larger proteins or stock (which, in reality, I probably won't be making all that often). I'm leaning towards one of these three: http://www.amazon.com/Kuhn-Rikon-3043-Duromatic-6-3-Quart/dp/B00009A9XT/ref=sr_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1326995636&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/Kuhn-Rikon-3916-Duromatic-Pressure/dp/B0000Y73UQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1326995628&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/Kuhn-Rikon-3342-Stainless-Steel-Pressure/dp/B00004R8ZE/ref=sr_1_3?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1326995628&sr=1-3 Because they all look fairly similar, this is rapidly becoming the most difficult decision I've ever had to make. Does anyone have any advice?

I'm taking a vacation to New Zealand next month and was wondering if anyone has any restaurant recommendations. I was thinking of trying The White House when in Wellington, as they do some Modernist things and have Heston's Mock Turtle Soup as well as Sous Vide Duck on their tasting menu. Anybody else have any suggestions? I'm looking forward to going to a hangi and eating some seafood as well.

Hello, I was wondering if you could answer a question. In your section on American BBQ in regards to brisket it says to smoke it for 7 hours and then sous vide for 72. I was wondering if it is possible to smoke 3 or 4 briskets and then vacuum seal and freeze 2 of them, remove at a later date and sous vide then. What kind of negative impact would that have on the meat. Thanks.

This was the first recipe I tried. By substituting cashew oil, I had the ingredients on hand. Our blender was the stand-in for the rotor-stator homogenizer. I ran the puree on high for about 4 minutes. The result was terrific. Cooking the stalks separately worked magic. The blender actually made everything very close to silky. My fear that everything would separate were unfounded. My wife and I were like little kids with ice cream, as we scraped our custard cups clean. Is there a better way to serve this dish?

Anybody try this? What other types of fish have you used?

I glanced at the book for canning times and saw pints and quarts. Was there any data collected on half gallon jars? What I am canning is a clear liquid of pH 5.2, and 'overcooking' is not a problem. I just want to make sure it is sterile and I need it in 1/2 gallon jars. Any help in determining a time, even if it has a decent safety factor built in, is much appreciated. Joshua

I wondered whether the lab can provide some information on the effects of smoking ribs at a higher temperature than recommended in the book. Specifically, I wondered what the effects are of smoking at 160F versus the recommended 149F. I am considering purchasing a Traeger smoker (I do not want to have to tend the fire of a Karubecueevery 30 minutes) but learned that the minimum operating temperature is 160F (with a variance up to 20F) .

Hello all. I'm a home cook looking to get into Sous Vide cooking. I'm getting ready to order some of the equipment and I have a question regarding chamber vacuum sealers. I know that in MC's gear guide they recommend the VacMaster VP210C, while in his 2011 Gift Guide Scott recommended the VP112C. A week ago they were only about $75 difference in price, and since footprint isn't really an issue for me I was just going to get the VP210C. However, when I looked today, Amazon has the VP-112C on for only $646.30. That's starting to be a substantial amount of savings. Both seem to be well reviewed items and I'm relatively certain that I won't go wrong with either, but I was hoping that I could find someone here who has used both and get there advice. Is the 210C worth the extra $250? Thanks in advance.

So, I am pretty comfortable, and experienced, with many hydrocolloids, spherifacation etc, but I have never had anything but problems with gellan gum. I've tried numerous recipes from MC and from El Bulli, and the problem is always the same. Everything looks good until the gellan/liquid comes to a boil, then it immediately starts to clump and get disgusting. What, exactly, is going on, and how can I avoid it?

I've been searching for the beeswax required for the uni bottarga recipe and can't seem to find it anywhere. Does anyone know where to purchase this? Thanks for the help.

So I have been wanting to serve some savory pop rocks for a little while and was wondering if anyone here has had any experience with flavoring them. More specifically I am talking about these http://www.modernistpantry.com.....candy.html . It says on modernist pantry that they can be flavored with any fat based substance. The flavors I want to do would be Bacon, Chicken 'N' Waffles, Foie Gras, and White Truffle. My thought is to take some N-Zorbit and make a powder from these substances and simply toss the unflavored popping candy in my flavoring powder. Am I way off? Any different way to do this?

Hi! Has anyone tried this immersion circulator from Addelice? http://www.addelice.com/shop/default/cuisson-sous-vide-basse-temperature/einhangethermostat.html I live in Sweden so the price of this circulator is far better than the Polyscience one.

I have been reading and reading and then reading the Curing section over and over and then again along with the bacteria sections (and the whole book in general). I now understand the difference between brining, wet curing and curing and the parametric charts and the the best method charts but other than the one bacon recipe you barely touch upon it (bacon that is). My brain is telling me from all the info that Sodium Nitrite is not necessarily needed for bacon unless you like its flavor and the color it makes the flesh. If one follows the following; Basic cure recipe 7 days in fridge, rinse, some equilibrium time in the fridge, smoke in smoker and vac pac and store in fridge below 40f or in freezer until ready to use. Make sure its cooked to proper temp to kill any potential CB toxin if it ever had the chance the grow but should not have. Cooking over bacon 250 would render the toxin harmless. Or is it that bacon temp cooked never get high enough to render potential toxins harmless? Am I missing something? Which brings me to a question. The first Pork Bellies I did (Skin on Boneless) each weighed about 1.25kg were dry cured with a basic cure with salt, sugar and instacure 1. Left in for 8 days as I had to get smoker ready for a full load. Did a quick rinse and in the applewood they went. When I tried them they were WAY too salty (and I like salt). Any suggestions? They were about 1.5 inches thick does that mean even 7 days is too long? Just sucke blanching the slices in boiling water as it lost its smokey depth of flavors and became one dimensional. Thanks for the great book!

I just got the book and the Baked Potato Broth seems like a good place to dip my toes in the water. I would like a little clarification on how to decant the potato juice from starch residue. All it says is 300g from 700g of potatoes.