Search the Community

Hey all, I just scored a VWR 1122S circulator off eBay and need to find a replacement power cord before I start using it. I believe this circulator is manufactured by Polyscience and modeled after their CLASSIC series. Does anyone know what I should be looking for in a replacement power cord? I have one here that is marked 10A 125V that fits the circulator perfectly. Would this work? Thoughts? -Chris

I need help. I came home from the store today with an approximately 6 oz frozen "lobster tail" -- one of those warm water crayfish like things, not real lobster tail. My thought was to bag it up and cook it sous vide from the frozen state. After a couple hours study I was more confused than ever. Some cook lobster tail to what I would charitably call raw. The last two "lobster tails" I had (from the same package, cooked on different days) made me rather sick, hence my preference for pasteurization. They sure were good though. I've read that one should not cook lobster between 55 and 60 deg C or the meat will become mushy. Not sure if this applies to the creature that I have or only to real lobsters. Assuming it does, looking at Douglas Baldwin's tables, it is thus only practical to pasteurize above 60 deg C. Will this ruin my meat? All in all I would rather err on the side of over cooked. I'm thinking now of 61 deg C for four hours for the frozen tail. What say you? Or should I defrost first and remove the shell?

In Pãstryrevolution #5 (a great magazine on pastries and bread, if you can read Spanish language) there is an interview with Francisco Migoya where he says he is starting a project with Nathan Myhrvold. This seems like the beginning of the works for "Modernist Patisserie". This is a great news for me, an equivalent of "Modernist Cuisine" for pastry and baking would be a dream! Teo

I'm using the Anova circulator, which I think is fantastic. I've tried sirloin and flatiron steaks so far, cooked at 133F(56C) for anywhere from 3 to 6 hours. All came out perfectly medium rare-to-rare and tender. After removing from the bag, I dry them with kitchen towels and then sear them in a heavy skillet with a little oil. They look terrific, but i sorely miss the flavor of steaks prepared in the conventional ways. I've tried salt & pepper after searing, as well as vacuum-bagging with dry garlic, oregano, a little pepper and a couple of other spices. No difference. What am I missing ? George Bedford, TX

I'm leading a more domesticated life this year. Cooking has shifted from experiments in art / science / decadence to a means of feeding people. I'm still trying to figure it out! The possibly cruel irony is that this coincides with the new availability of cheap immersion circulators. I've had to borrow circulators for special occasions in the past. How many of you find sous-vide cooking useful for your daily meals? And how many of you like sous-vide for cooking things besides meat? I've always used it for fantastic pieces of meat, but this isn't what I'm cooking every day. If you have sources on techniques / approaches for sous-viding things like green vegetables, root vegetables, and god knows what else, I'd love to check them out.

Hi Guys! I'm looking for some real pacojet recipes and I was wondering if anybody care about sharing their recipes here. The ones I use in my work place are pretty limited and do not work 100% if you change some ingredients. I'm specially looking for sorbet recipes. If someone have any good tips about pacojet, I would love to hear it. Cheers

The previous section of the ongoing Chamber Vacuum Sealers discussion reached the 20-page mark (after which point topics cause the site to slow significantly whenever they load), so we've split the discussion, which continues, here.

I got my sous vide last week. One of the first applications was the Crème brûlée I'd heard so much about -- it came out perfect. I searched online for a lower calorie custard, but every recipe uses cream and/or yolks, no whites. I decided to make a custard 1 part whole egg to two parts liquid (no starch), 83 degrees Celsius, 30 minutes. It set in the bag. I poured it in moulds and when cooled it tasted fine, but wasn't what I was looking for. Without going through dozens of eggs and liters of milk, does anyone have either a recipe for whole egg custard Sous Vide style, or some suggestions for my next batch? Thanks,

I'm not sure if this is the best place to post, if not and the moderators would like to move, feel free. The other day I took out the methylcellulose F50 and proceeded with the following: 120 grams egg white60 grams methylcellulose F50 hydrated overnight (3 grams F50, 1 gram Xanthan, 150 grams water)150 grams white sugar100 grams AP flourMethod: Whipped the whites and F50 until they started to foam, added sugar and whipped util they still (about 10 minutes). Folded in the flour and baked in floured cake pan 30 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. Five minutes after taking out, inverted the cake pan with the cake inside. The next morning the center collapsed a bit. Cutting, the center fell further. There were lots of air pockets which when collapsed form layers. There's nothing gummy about it. The taste and mouthfeel remind me of a sweat bread than a cake. Taste, moist and wonderful. Aside from a savory cake another goal is to make a genoise with reduced sugar and no fat. My thinking was that since the F50 holds 40 times its weight in water then the cake should be moist without syrup and fat. Yes. After 24 out without a cover, it's still moist and the flavor is good. I'm thinking the weight of the water has caused the cake to collapse. Does anyone know a formula for how much sugar stabilizes x grams of egg white? In other words, do you think an increase in sugar would help stabilize the cake? Also, do you think that using a bread flour would give the cake the structure it needs? Ideas on preventing it from deflating are appreciated. Thanks

Does anyone know what sort of ratio sodium citrate should be added to say broccoli puree/juice to delay the 'browning' effect? Had a lengthy search and I get a lot of cheese hits (obviously!) Cheers Daniel

Ive been meaning to ask about using a vacuum as a food 'processing' technique I now have a chamber vac, and would like to learn how to make quick pickles, infusions etc Im hoping that folks w a chamber vac might add their thoughts here or any other techniques that use a vacuum to add to food prep many thanks

its also good to have one of the 'needle' probes, makes a very small hole.

Borrowing a page from Modernist Cuisine, I put 500ml of whole milk and 70 grams cocoa nibs in an ISI container with two charges of NO2. Eight to twelve hours later I strained. The milk is white with a grains of cocoa (which fall out on their own), but tastes strongly of chocolate -- it's white chocolate milk. As a drink, with sweetener it's delicious. But baking with it the flavour evaporates. Why, and does anyone have a suggestion on how to keep the chocolate flavour? To be more specific, I used the white chocolate milk in place of milk in drop cookies and white cake batter. In the batter the flavour is noticeable, after baking, it's gone. Baking times were between 10 and 40 minutes. The only thing I can think to do is try the experiment again with heavy cream and see if the fat preserves the flavour. Any thoughts on this?

I'm trying to cook the perfect melt in your mouth pork belly. I've done sous vide, but still find the bottom part(dark part of meat) dry and stringy. Any tips? I always test it without any sauce so I can check for moistness and tenderness, and always get the best pork. I've tried 181F 12 hours, 171F 12 hours, 171F 10 hours. Does anyone have any good temp and time recommendations? I don't like the 135F 48 hours because I find the fat too firm and not melt in your mouth.

6 books outlining every dish they came up with over this time with essays etc. Appears to be about the size of Modernist Cuisine and has about the same price tag. I can't say I'm really that excited about it but I preordered anyway to add it to the collection as it wil surely be a historical record of what the pinnacle of that movement in cooking was about at the time. Even though it only shuttered 2 years ago, it seems like so much has changed in the culinary landscape. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0714865486/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I recently purchased a Harsch fermenting crock and made up my first lot of Sauerkraut, which is absolutely delicious. I've also wanted to make some Kimchi but feel that I won't use the large amount that using the crock would create. Short of giving it away to friends (a reasonable solution), I decided to experiment with transforming the kraut into kimchi. Reasoning that the sauerkraut is already full of lovely fermented goodies, it seemed that I'd need to add some other elements such as carrot and onion as well as some additional flavourings. What I did was put some sauerkraut in a vacuum pack bag along with some finely sliced onion and some shredded carrot (again finely cut on a mandolin, this time with the medium slicing blade added). To this I added three different types of chili: A squirt of Sriracha sauce, some crushed fresh chili, and some ssamjang fermented chili paste. I also added some crushed garlic. In order to infuse the extra flavourings into the sauerkraut and to part process and force the mix plus sauerkraut juice into the onion and carrot, I used my chamber vacuum sealer. By running a full vacuum four times with no sealing I was able to mix all the ingredients and infuse them into the vegetables. The result was very tasty, still crunchy, and a very good substitute for conventionally made kimchi. I'm going to do it again, next time experimenting with some additional elements.

I found ingredients at a restaurant supply site online. Anyone can register and order. Beside modernist ingredients they have other stuff. I put the categories below http://www.otbfoods.com/otbfoods/ Categories MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY - TEXTURAS-> EASY KITS TEXTURAS APPLICATIONS SPHERIFICACIƒ“N-> GELIFICACIƒ“N EMULSIFICACIƒ“N ESPESANTES SURPRISES SUGGESTIONS TOOLS/GADGETS INGENIOS BOOK's & DVD's LYOPHILISED FRUITS MUGARITZ-> BALSAMIC VINEGAR of MODENA EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OILS (EVOO)-> TRUFFLE PRODUCTS IBERIC & SERRANO HAM-> SPANISH CHARCUTERIE SAFFRON PAPRIKA SPICES & HERBS HORCHATA de CHUFA - TIGER NUTS SUN DRIED TOMATOES MUSHROOMS GIN TONINC - SPECIAL TOUCH SƒËœBOGAARD Nectar - 100% ORGANIC VANILLA BEANS & EXTRACTS COFFEE - SUPRACAFE-> SMOKING WOOD CHIPS KITCHEN EQUIPMENT-> CLEARANCE I also found modernist ingredients at this site: https://cedarlaneculinary.ca/Products/Listing/Powder%20For%20Texture VERSAWHIP 600K FOR MOLECULAR COOKING $7.99 CDN MALTODEXTRIN POWDER FOR MOLECULAR COOKING $28.99 CDN AGAR AGAR FOR MOLECULAR COOKING. 40 GRAMS $7.99 CDN CALCIUM CHLORIDE FOR MOLECULAR COOKING. 50 GRAMS $4.99 CDN ISOMALT FOR MOLECULAR COOKING. 750 GRAMS $22.99 CDN SODIUM ALGINATE FOR MOLECULAR COOKING $5.99 CDN ULTRA-TEX 3 FOR MOLECULAR COOKING. MODIFIED TAPIOCA STARCH. $5.99 CDN XANTHAN GUM FOR MOLECULAR COOKING. $6.99 CDN SQUARE SQUEEZE BOTTLE FOR MOLECULAR COOKING. $3.99 CDN DIGITAL POCKET SCALE FOR MOLECULAR COOKING. $35.99 CDN 50 GRAM CONTAINER OF SODIUM CITRATE WITH TAMPERPROOF SEAL. $6.99 CDN Activa Transglutiminase RM- 1 kg foil pack. $98.00 CDN They carry other things that are of interest including "The Smoking Gun". Both places have reasonable shipping. Please post any other online stores in Canada.

I've made veggie burgers before and they are good but normally they are bean based and quite mushy, and are difficult to grill without them falling apart. I'm wondering if there is a modernist cuisine take on them? Something that will make them more like the consistency of a garden burger that can eaily be put on the grill? jcg

As part of a celebratory dinner tonight, I am going to take my first stab at spherification. I've been putting it off for a while because, while the technique has become something of a modernist cliché, I've never experienced it before and I want my first time to be special. lol. So I thought, what would I most like to explode in my mouth, which lead me to the idea of Sauturnes. I have a 2007 Premier Grand Cru that I think will fit the bill nicely. Though I'm set up for both, I'm think reverse spherification is the way to go here. Does anyone have any advice on making this work? Any ideas on what to serve with it either as an accompaniment or a beverage pairing?

Hello, It is about 11 hours before the January 15th 11:59 PST deadline to use our 50% off code for the eBook version of The Modernist Cuisine At Home. I just went to purchase the eBook on inkling and am receiving a message when I enter my coupon code that it has expired. Obviously this is not the case since it is not 11:59 PST yet. Has anybody felt with this issue or have advice on how to proceed. Inkling only has support via email and they say to allow 48 hours. Thanks

Anyone have any experience with the Sinbo brand of vacuum sealers? They are snorkel-type machines that make it possible to use the same inexpensive nylon (or even Mylar) bags that chamber-style vacuum machines use, rather than the more costly quilted type of bag. Here's a link for a Sinbo machine that they also claim can be used to seal liquids: http://www.vackpak.com/Sinbo.html

I am trying to make corned beef and pastrami without nitrites/nitrates, while still keeping the meat red after cooking. Any thoughts on this. Thanks

Hi All, Do anyone have experience with the Kuhn Rikon Non-Stick Pressure frying pan - 2.5L? There seems to be not much information on this specific item. I am in two minds whether to go for the titanium non-stick version vs. the normal version. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kuhn-Rikon-Duromatic-Pressure-Non-stick/dp/B003JQLMFE/ref=pd_rhf_ee_p_t_1_8X2D My concern is that the non-stick will wear off over time (non-stick guaranteed 3 years by Kuhn Rikon) whereas the PC itself is guaranteed for 10 years. Any advise on this will be appreciated! Cheers, Henk

Hi All, One of the features of sous vide that interests me is the ability to cook and rapidly chill food for later reheating and serving. While this is great for storing your 72 hour-cooked short ribs, I'd like to learn more about strategies to adopt when coming home from the store with freezer-destined meat including steaks, chicken, salmon etc. One option I am considering is the following: Sear > Seal > Cook > Chill > Freeze > Reheat (1 degree lower) > Sear > Serve The other is: Sear > Seal > Chill > Freeze > Cook > Sear > Serve The questions I have are the following: 1) Does cooking from frozen (in any scenario) result in measurably less-favourable results than simply refrigerating? 2) If not, then would there be a preferred option? 3) Does this vary depending upon the protein/vegetable? If so, how? Any help here would be greatly appreciated. Kind regards, John

I got the coupon for the MCAH eBook & read the offer & thought about it...researched it...& decided to purchase it. What an absolute waste of money! It was unuseable on my Android tablet (even though MC had advertised it's use on a tablet [separate from an iPad]). Inkling was very good about refunding my cost...but MC has not responded to my concerns.... Beware