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Cooking with "Modernist Cuisine" (Part 1)

Chris Amirault

By Chris Amirault
in Cooking

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Chris Hennes

Chris Hennes

Posted
Posted

Whoa, wait... another 10-12 minutes?! Are you dead certain you had the quantity of water right? I mean, on high heat the water should completely evaporate in 20 minutes of cooking, even if none of it was absorbed into the pasta at all. Something is not right here.

I did have the right amount of water...the extra time cooking was more of a simmer than a rolling boil.

Does that mean you weren't on high heat? It's really key for this recipe to work right: if you weren't blasting it, that's why you had water leftover at the end. I've now made the recipe four times and my pot has been almost dry by the time the pasta is al dente, in about six to seven minutes.

Chris Hennes
Director of Operations
chennes@egullet.org

therippa

therippa

Posted
Posted

Whoa, wait... another 10-12 minutes?! Are you dead certain you had the quantity of water right? I mean, on high heat the water should completely evaporate in 20 minutes of cooking, even if none of it was absorbed into the pasta at all. Something is not right here.

I did have the right amount of water...the extra time cooking was more of a simmer than a rolling boil.

Does that mean you weren't on high heat? It's really key for this recipe to work right: if you weren't blasting it, that's why you had water leftover at the end. I've now made the recipe four times and my pot has been almost dry by the time the pasta is al dente, in about six to seven minutes.

I don't recall, I guess I'll just have to make it again, this time being sure to use high heat the entire time (which is a good problem to have!)

abadoozy

abadoozy

Posted
Posted

I had no problems with mine being soupy; I kept my water at a boil, and the pasta was perfectly done in maybe 7-10 minutes.

For making a block of cheese first, isn't that because the recipe for the cheese block make a lot more than you really need for a batch of mac and cheeese? It would seem the point here is that you make the cheese block. Now, you can use part of that as an ingrendient in a finished dish.

True. But the recipe as posted here doesn't make a lot of pasta - one large bowl, maybe 2 side dishes worth. It wouldn't be very hard to use the entire block if you had 4-6 people to feed.

Heck, back in the days when I used to eat a lot of pasta, I could easily see splitting the block between 2 people and not having a lot of leftovers. Unfortunately (or fortunately!) these days I try to stay a little healthier.

jsmeeker

jsmeeker

Posted
Posted

I would assume that "Modernist Cuisine" talks extensively about hydrocolloids. I was reading something about them on "Cooking Issues" blog and started to wonder about something. With the right hydrocolloid, can you gel just about any liquid?

Jeff Meeker, aka "jsmeeker"

Borgstrom

Borgstrom

Posted
Posted

I'm attempting to make Russian Smoked Salmon (p. 3-212). Fish is vacuum sealed with cure and resting patiently in refrigerator now for dinner the day after tomorrow.

This recipe, as well as the parametric recipe for smoking (p. 3-210), only gives instructions for cold smoking fish. Unfortunately, I only have a simple Camerons stove-top smoker which can only do hot smoking. The overview of smokers (p. 2-146) implies this smoker can be used for fish, but I can't seem to find any guidance on cooking times.

I've made smoked trout in this smoker before; the fish was very thin and cooking time was about 25 minutes and turned out great. The wood at that point was totally turned to ash, so I'm not sure if longer cooking would have made more quality smoke. The salmon is considerably thicker (2-3 cm?), so I'm thinking it will need more time. Any suggestions? Will the Camerons be able to keep the smoke going that long?

Chris Hennes

Chris Hennes

Posted
Posted

Well, cold-smoking is going to give a dramatically different result, particularly with fish (which will cook at the temps for hot smoking). I'm sure it will taste good, but it's not really at all comparable to the recipe as written. So you aren't going to want to concern yourself with smoking for any particular length of time, just smoke until the fish is cooked to your liking, because unfortunately you will actually be cooking it, not just smoking it.

Chris Hennes
Director of Operations
chennes@egullet.org

Borgstrom

Borgstrom

Posted
Posted

it's not really at all comparable to the recipe as written.

Yeah, I suppose I'm not going to be re-creating the MC recipe at this point...unless....

I wonder how long it would take to get a Bradley delivered! :smile:

blackp

blackp

Posted
Posted

I wonder how long it would take to get a Bradley delivered! :smile:

My BBQ has a smoker tray with a burner underneath so hot smoking is easy for me. I've been interested in cold smoking for a while, but never made the move. Maybe when my copy of MC turns up I might make the leap.

I just checked the Bradley web site - the 4 shelf digital in the US is $500 and here in Australia it is $825 (USD=AUD at the moment).

I can't understand how a 240V conversion could cost >$300.

Might just go for Chris' Ghetto 4000 instead.

Cheers,

Peter.

nickrey

nickrey

Posted
Posted

I wonder how long it would take to get a Bradley delivered! :smile:

My BBQ has a smoker tray with a burner underneath so hot smoking is easy for me. I've been interested in cold smoking for a while, but never made the move. Maybe when my copy of MC turns up I might make the leap.

I just checked the Bradley web site - the 4 shelf digital in the US is $500 and here in Australia it is $825 (USD=AUD at the moment).

I can't understand how a 240V conversion could cost >$300.

Might just go for Chris' Ghetto 4000 instead.

Cheers,

Peter.

I suspect the same way that books published in Australia can be exported to the US or UK for us to purchase them (including postage) cheaper than we can source them locally.

A fine example of the profit motive at work.

Nick Reynolds, aka "nickrey"

"The Internet is full of false information." Plato
My eG Foodblog

alanjesq

alanjesq

Posted
Posted

Bradley came out with a cold smoke adapter that works with their smoker. About $100.00. I bought it but have yet to use it, since it has been cold in St. Louis, Mo. where I live.

alanjesq

LoftyNotions

LoftyNotions

Posted
Posted

Bradley came out with a cold smoke adapter that works with their smoker. About $100.00. I bought it but have yet to use it, since it has been cold in St. Louis, Mo. where I live.

alanjesq

I've used my cold smoke adapter a couple times now, and it does help to lower the temperature in the smoker cabinet.

My limited observations of cabinet temperatures so far are that the smoke generator, as the only heat source, and installed in the cabinet raises the cabinet temp about 60 to 70 degrees over ambient on a calm day. With the cold smoke attachment I've seen about 30 degrees over ambient on a calm day and 15 degrees over ambient on a windy day.

These are based on not many data points, but should give you some idea of general effectiveness of the cold smoke attachment.

Larry

Larry Lofthouse

OliverB

OliverB

Posted
Posted

if you google around, there are lots of self made cold smoking options to be found, from the old-fridge-and-trashcan to fancy contraptions that cost more than a ready made machine, but are probably more fun to make and be proud of.

I have little interest in cold smoking so far, but if it develops I'll try to just add a long duct to the top of my Big Green Egg and run that into some box a couple feet away, that should cool the smoke on it's way. Same can be done with most smokers/smoke generators. I think you could even extend the Bradely attachment to sit further away and cool the smoke more on it's way.

Of course the summer temps here are above cold smoking already and when it's cold I don't like to be outside too long, one of the reasons I have not looked into this. If it's 100 degree or more even the cold smoking attachment for the bradely won't do any good, unless I bring the whole setup inside where it's air-conditioned. I think I'd get into trouble with the family though....

I do live on a hill and sometimes dream of building a smoker into the hillside, with a chamber for hot somoking, and a 2nd one further up for cold smoking all underground. But I'm also dreaming of building a pizza oven, a fire place, a grill like they have on Mount Diablo made of local rocks and a couple other fire things. We'll see how far these things will develop :-)

"And don't forget music - music in the kitchen is an essential ingredient!"

- Thomas Keller

Diablo Kitchen, my food blog

Kerry Beal

Kerry Beal

Posted
Posted

if you google around, there are lots of self made cold smoking options to be found, from the old-fridge-and-trashcan to fancy contraptions that cost more than a ready made machine, but are probably more fun to make and be proud of.

I have little interest in cold smoking so far, but if it develops I'll try to just add a long duct to the top of my Big Green Egg and run that into some box a couple feet away, that should cool the smoke on it's way. Same can be done with most smokers/smoke generators. I think you could even extend the Bradely attachment to sit further away and cool the smoke more on it's way.

Of course the summer temps here are above cold smoking already and when it's cold I don't like to be outside too long, one of the reasons I have not looked into this. If it's 100 degree or more even the cold smoking attachment for the bradely won't do any good, unless I bring the whole setup inside where it's air-conditioned. I think I'd get into trouble with the family though....

I do live on a hill and sometimes dream of building a smoker into the hillside, with a chamber for hot somoking, and a 2nd one further up for cold smoking all underground. But I'm also dreaming of building a pizza oven, a fire place, a grill like they have on Mount Diablo made of local rocks and a couple other fire things. We'll see how far these things will develop :-)

Of course you can cold smoke right in your Big Green egg - either make a smoke generator from a tin can, a soldering iron and some chips or get a ProQ smoke generator.

the Chocolate Doctor
www.thechocolatedoctor.ca

www.eztemper.com

 

Confectionary Course • Confectionary Course Q&A
eGullet foodblog 2006 • eGullet Foodblog 2012

Kim D

Kim D

Posted
Posted

Kim

There is a good topic discussing kitchen scale recommendations in the Kitchen Consumer forum. Check it out right here.

I just ordered the Ohaus Scout Pro SP202. What tipped the scale for me was the ability to do percent weighing. Awesome feature.

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. - Carl Sagan

Clark D

Clark D

Posted
Posted

I was just reading his blog and Ruhlman says the books contains:

quote:

Volume 5 includes fabulous barbecue sauces and dry rubs with no unfamiliar ingredients

Just wondering if anyone can give me any information on that? Thanks either way!

Clark

http://haggishunters.blogspot.com/
Chris Hennes

Chris Hennes

Posted
Posted

They provide recipes for two different BBQ-specific rubs, the "Kansas Rub" and the "Memphis Rub" -- the Kansas is mostly brown sugar, and the Memphis is paprika-based. Neither have anything "exotic" in them.

Chris Hennes
Director of Operations
chennes@egullet.org

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