Search the Community

Love the new book, but somewhat overwhelming. Looking to hear from others what they have cooked up so far that they really love. Especially those that do not require out of the ordinary equipment. Thanks in advance. Gary

Does anyone have experience using a laser cutter to cut or modify food? I will be participating in a "food hacking saturday" at the Madison, WI makerspace this weekend. I will be working with sous vides, centrifuges, LN2, dry ice, modified charcoal grilling, ultrasonic baths, etc...all per MC. My question is: Does anyone have ideas for foods that we could cut with our laser cutter. I have heard that cutting rice krispy treats produced less than ideal results, as the edges were burned and blackened. I would think that thinner and colder would be better for the food to cut. Maybe laser etched creme brulee? Also lower energy dense food would likely burn less. What do you think?

Okay, so yesterday my husband and I spent a fruitful afternoon canning tomatoes and learning the ropes (so to speak)of pressure canning. Now we're wondering, what did we do wrong, and did we just waste 20 lb. of plum tomatoes? Here's what we did: We packed raw tomatoes into one-litre jars, added the recommended amount of lemon juice, filled the jars with boiling water, sealed them, then processed them for 1.5 hr. I think that's an extraordinarily long processing time, but according to Modernist Cuisine, it's a fail-safe to ensure that everything reaches optimal temperature for killing any possible toxins. The instruction book that came with our pressure canner recommends 10 minutes at 10 lb. pressure. Here's what we got: Bottles are only about 3/4 full, and there's evidence of leakage into the canner. After they came out of the pressure canner, the tomatoes were floating near the top of the jars, but have since settled to the bottom. The liquid and tomatoes fill only about 3/4 of the jars. They've also discoloured, indicating, to me at least, that they're seriously overcooked. Okay, so I know that we didn't pack the tomatoes tightly enough. I have another case of tomatoes to can today, so will address that problem. What I need to know is, are the ones we've already canned safe to eat? Or is the air space likely to harbour any nasties, and should we just discard them?

On the gels chapter there is a brief discussion on ricotta, and in the parametric table for cheeses it says that if you want to make dry ricotta you can add 0.7% salt, press it for 2-3 days in fridge, then hang for 2-3 weeks. 0.7% of what weight? The milk? or the ricotta you get? Is it added to the milk? I assume you press it in a cheese basket, with only a little weight? What are the environmental conditions supposed to be during the hanging?

Alright so I am thinking about bottling and selling my own hot sauce. The base is butter and whenever it cools it solidifies. It's not that big of a deal, you can just throw it on whatever you're cooking and it melts right over top everything. But, I would really like it to keep in a liquid form. I know if I used clarified butter, that will increase the shelf life and I wouldn't have to refrigerate it. But, is there anything I can add to it to keep it in a liquid form?? Happy Valley Chow

During much of the first volume, the book discusses specified cooking times and temperatures in order to kill bacteria and other pathogens. When it says for example that a certain bacteria dies at 130 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes, what does that mean? Like for a steak, does it mean the internal temperature of the steak needs to be 130 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes, or just exposed to that temperature for that amount of time? Thank you!

Howdy, Are any MAP-Pro torches available in the market food/kitchen safe? I was browsing at Lowe's and saw the "BernzOmatic TS8000KC Map-Pro Kit", which looks pretty similar to the model that the MC team uses in their books (the cylinder is a different brand). Any comments? This would only be used in the kitchen...

Several of us over at the eG Forumshave tried making the standard wheat pasta listed on volume 3 and have found the dough to be much too firm to use with rollers. Was this dough specifically designed for an extruder? If so, how would you modify it to work with a roller? I think most of us have simply added more water to get to a workable texture, but of course you could add more egg or oil as well.

Greetings, Chefs - Attempting to make both brezen and fresh ramen, and curious to know if anyone's used baked baking soda (a.k.a. sodium carbonate) as an unequivocally successful substitute for food-grade lye (a.k.a. Sodium Hydroxide) in making those bavarian knots or to switch-hit well for kansui (a.k.a. 55% sodium carbonate, 35% potassium carbonate, and 10% sodium biphosphate dodecahydrate) in making ramen. Baking soda is far easier to acquire - but accurate authenticity is of course key, and perhaps never more so with specific elements when engaging them in fusion recipes. Thanks for any insights you may be able to provide! Going to experiment a bit myself, and will post gathered results as they come in.

I made the recipe for Strawberry Gazpacho (5-277) a couple weeks ago. It calls for both citric acid and malic acid. I found citric acid (organic, even) at Whole Foods in the bulk section. Malic acid was trickier to acquire, but I did eventually find some at a store in Kirkland that sells beer- and winemaking supplies. I had no luck finding a local source of fructose or glucose syrup DE40, so substituted ultrafine sugar and corn syrup. The soup turned out great.

In the recipe for the marinated pork loin in volume 5 you marinate for 48 hours. If i was to use a vacuum marinator (which i purchased after reading MC) how long will i need to put it in for? The vacuum marinator that i purchased uses the Grovac process (salt and citric acid) to remove bacteria from the food as well. Can you recommend the quantity of salt and honey powder marinade to add to this machine. Normally i buy marinades already made up from Creative Culinary Solutions. I hope you can help.

I just ordered a Cameron stove-top smoker (I live in an apartment, so outdoor options are prohibited) and was wondering if anybody had tips for the best ways to get smoke absorption with the limits of this setup. I'd like to try the pulled pork recipe in the book finished sous vide, but the 7-hour hot smoke is obviously not repeatable indoors. My current thoughts are: 1. Cut the food into small pieces to maximize surface area. However, it seems the smaller they get, the faster they'll dry out which will limit smoke absorption. 2. Smoke the food multiple times. I remember reading that once the food reaches a certain temperature, smoke absorption stops. Is this true? Is this actually because of the temperature of the food or is it the wet/dry issue discussed in the book? If temperature is an issue, would smoking, cooling, then resmoking work? 3. Use a heavier smoke like oak or mesquite. Would these overpower the pork or would they effectively counteract the limitations of an indoor setup? If anybody has any other thoughts on indoor smoking, I'd be happy to hear them (foods that work best, wood types, temperature/humidity control, etc). I'm looking forward to trying the smoked potatoes, which specifically mention a stove-top smoker.

Hello, I have been studying the first book in depth over the last few months and I have a few questions regarding the safety of cooking sous vide (as well as a few other issues). Firstly I wanted to ask a couple of questions on the table on page 193-1 "Extended & Simplified 6.5D Salmonella Reduction Table"; This table is referring to the killing of salmonella in different meats. I wanted to know if using these time and temperatures for all farmed meats would successfully eliminate ALL pathogens that we need to be concerned with, thus rendering it "safe" to serve to a customer? You have also stated that the interior of meat, so long as it's not punctured, should be sterile. I got the impression that this is not the case for chicken, and that chicken needs to be cooked to the times listed in the table. So why would the interior of chicken be inherently different to other animals? Not that I would want to serve chicken raw, I am just curious as to why this would be different to searing the outside, and eating a raw interior, as you can with beef etc? I understand that wild game is a little different, as you are more concerned with parasites and the like, which shall bring me on to my next question; I have seen restaurants serving Venison carpaccio, and I would love to make a venison tartare, but would that be foolish considering this animal is classed as "Wild Game"? It is served raw all over the country, so I am interested to learn how this differs to farmed beef for e.g.? Next, I would like to learn a little about the reheating or "regenerating" of meat. If, for e.g., I was cooking chicken sous vide, and I cooked it at 54ºC for 2h17m to achieve a 6.5D reduction, could I then chill in an ice bath and reheat it to order? In the UK, legislation states that cooked meats need to be reheated to 86ºC to be safe. Now obviously this would ruin a chicken. A restaurant that I know cooks Venison at 55ºC, chills it and then "regenerates" it at 50ºC to order. Is that safe? I am interested in cooking/reheating options. And finally, the last question I have is regarding fish. Now I understand that if I cook fish to the time/temp listed in the chart on 193-1, I will likely result in fish that is overcooked to most peoples liking. However if I freeze it to the suitable time/temp, that renders it safe to serve raw, correct? Now using the current freezer I have, which sits at about -20ºC, I think that freezing in this way will be of detriment to the quality and texture of the flesh. Is that a fair comment? And how could I bypass this stage? Is that just a risk that restaurants take and, much like serving raw salad, occasionally someone might get sick from it? Apologies for the length of this text, and I hope the questions I ask are interesting for you to answer. I look forward to hearing back from you. Thanks very much advance. Iain

Thanks for putting up this forum 🙂 I would like to bake using a combination of sous vide and a conventional oven. Would it be possible to put the dough in a vacuum bag cook it sous vide at 37C for the dough to raise optimal and then put it in a conventional oven? Thanks

I just made a recipe of brown beef stock using the pork variation. I accurately measured the amount of meat that went in (I used pork spare ribs as indicated) and the amount of the liquids. When all was said and done I had barely 2 c. of stock. This is the second time I've made either brown or pork stock and the yield has been less than half of what's indicated. Is this normal? How on earth are you supposed to get 4 c. of stock from only 3 3/4 c. of starting liquid? Neil

After reading and watching the "Dairy-Free Potato Puree" blog entry I've become really interested in using diastase. I've run into a small problem, however. I eat a gluten-free diet, as well as almost everyone I cook for. Diastatic malt powder, while thankfully easy to obtain, sadly seems to be an inherently gluten-filled product. Is there are a gluten-free source of diastase available? I was looking into pure diastase powder, thinking it might be similar to bromelain (safe to use and sold as a powder at vitamin stores). While I did find several sources, and it is listed as non-toxic and even food safe, provided MSDS sheets for diastase indicated that it should not be consumed. While this may mean simply not to eat it straight out of the bag, I'd be very grateful for some guidance. If pure diastase is unavailable and unusable is there another enzyme worth looking into for breaking down starches?

Hello! I'm presently travelling and will be staying at Lyon for a day ”” does anybody know about a shop that might carry modernist ingredients? My French is non-existent so the Google is not of much help to me. Thanks in advance! Anton

Since I'll be using a long water bath,Im wondering if I could go with a smaller brisket ( e.g. half of one of the big honkers I usually cook) ?

Tonight I cooked MC Special Sauce according to the recipe on MC@H. I turned out like green onion porridge. Maybe I should have only used the white/yellow parts of the leeks? Taste and texture are nothing like a sauce. Gotta say I was very disappointed with this! Especially since my pressure-caramelized ketchup didn't turn out really good either.

Tonight I made pressure caramellized ketchup and I have two problems with it. I tastes really much like onion. Weight/volume measurements don't seem to work. It says 6 g or 1,5 tsp. 6 grams was like 2/3 tablespoon. I guess onion powders can differ. The taste is really spicy and oniony. It was also too runny. I added some xantham gum and locust beam gum. Hopefully it won't become like jelly

Hey guys, I'm going down to NYC for my birthday in a few weeks and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for where to eat. I was thinking about Momofuku Ko, but I've heard reservations are near impossible to get. I'm open to pretty much anything.

When I cook meat at low temps the meat seems to lose a lot of the moisture. A steak cooked at 56C for 3 hours is a bit dry, especially when compared to one which is cooked at 53C for the same period. This seems to be even more problematic when cooking for days. I once cooked brisket for 72 hours at 58C. The meat was very tough and chevy - basically unedible - and had lost lots of the moisture as well. I am wondering if I am doing something wrong. I have not succeeded to tenderize tough cuts at low temperatures, and they have not been very moist either. So far I've got best results with naturally tender cuts, or if I use tough cuts I just overcook them at 80C.

Recently, a curious reader wrote in to ask: How long in advance can I season and vacuum prep meat prior to water bath cooking? Specifically - beef filet purchased on Saturday, with intention of serving the following Thursday. Option 1: on Saturday, I salt it, vacuum seal it, and leave it in the fridget until Thursday. Then I drop it in the sous vide surpreme for an hour, sear and serve. This is the most convenient approach for me as a harried office worker trying to get dinner on the table weeknights, but I worry that the extended time with the salt will damage the texture of the meat. option 2: on Saturday, salt, vaccuum AND cook. Then put cooked meat in fridge until Thursday, when I warm it up a bit, sear then serve. This seems to be the commonly used option for advance prep, but the double-warming is extra effort. Option 3: vacuum seal the meat. Don't do the salt or prep until Thursday when I'm about to cook. Involves two rounds of vaccuming, not as convenient, but will this give the best overall finished product and be safest health-wise? Hope you can help, even though this is clearly a question from a household cook as opposed to a professional cook! What has worked best for you guys?

A while ago, someone wrote in to ask: I own your very interesting set of books. Please advise who makes the vaccuum covers for the hotel gastronom type containers you show for storing berries under vacuum. They do not appear to be made by fooodsaver whose machine is shown on the opposite page.

On Cooking with ”˜Modernist Cuisine‚’ on eGul­let, there are tips related to curing, and what happens to the meat if it's been over-cured.