Cooking with "Modernist Cuisine" (Part 1)

[runwestierun]

OK if by "bitter" he means "Seville" then I would just use half the amount of regular orange zest, because it is more acidic/strongly citrus flavored than Seville orange zest.

[runwestierun]

Chris,

I was wondering--I don't have a preview copy--does it say if the Angelica Root is fresh or dried? Is dried OK?

[mkayahara]

It all looks fun but, it just is funny to me to see people without solid foundation jump to the next level of cooking.

Does that mean you make the cooks under you cook over a wood stove before you let them near the gas burners? Or make all their purees with a food mill before you let them use the blender?

There is some sense to learning foundations of cooking before trying advanced techniques that draw on more basic skills. But sometimes technology takes a quantum leap forward, and the old techniques simply become obsolete - in other words, sometimes, the foundations, the points of reference, change.

[roygon]

I have a question regarding the Risotto parametric table that was just released. For Pressure Cooking, or Boiling for that matter, do you not add oil, onion and then stir in the rice before adding the liquid? It sounds like that is skipped but wondering if it was done to simplify the chart? Also, it says to use water as the liquid for the parcook - is it better / possible to use stock in this step or should it only be done with water?

rg

[Chris Hennes]

Chris,

I was wondering--I don't have a preview copy--does it say if the Angelica Root is fresh or dried? Is dried OK?

It says "Angelica Root, sliced" which I was assuming meant fresh, but I don't know that for certain. It's a bit player in a brine, so it may work fine with dried.

I'm rethinking this plan: I had intended to basically "part out" the pork tenderloin section of the Choucroute Royale recipe, but on reading the whole thing every component sounds fantastic. I'm thinking I might start some sauerkraut tomorrow (takes two weeks to make by the recipe in the book). I started the "Aromatic Alsatian Mustard" today, that takes a week but can be held longer. The other components are quicker, though I'm not going to be able to get my hands on pork cheek either, I'll have to sub in something else. Any suggestions there?

[vice]

I'm not going to be able to get my hands on pork cheek either, I'll have to sub in something else. Any suggestions there?

Belly?

[Chris Hennes]

Belly might work: based on the photo it looks like the pork cheek they mean is just the nugget of meat in the jowl, though, not the whole thing, so I guess I'd have to trim the belly up to get something similar.

[runwestierun]

I'm not going to be able to get my hands on pork cheek either, I'll have to sub in something else. Any suggestions there?

I live in a very remote area of the Pacific Northwest. The closest city with a population of more than 10K ppl is more than 100 miles away. We have 2 grocery stores within 30 miles, Safeway and Fred Meyer's. I was looking for pork belly, there was none to be had, but the guy at the meat counter had some pork cheeks kryovac'ed. I was so surprised. If my regular everyday grocery has it, maybe yours could get it for you in time?

[Dave the Cook]

. . . I'm not going to be able to get my hands on pork cheek either, I'll have to sub in something else. Any suggestions there?

I think if you got some decently sized hocks, you could either trim out the meat and treat the larger pieces like cheek, or adjust the smoking and cooking times to accommodate hocks, then harvest the meat.

Speaking of smoking, the recipe says 7C/45F at 50% relative humidity for 24 hours. Are you going to attempt that, Chris, and if so, how?

[Chris Hennes]

I haven't decided whether to cold smoke or hot smoke: I'd like to go cold, but my rig is no longer set up for it so I'll have to improvise. Might pick up a soldering iron and go that route.

[dcarch]

I read in a number of places about MC's workaround for not having a proper brick oven to cook pizza, consisting of putting a 1/4 inch-thick steel sheet and using it instead of a stone. Two questions about that: any steel will do it? would it work for baking bread?

Although I don't have access to the book anymore, I read that section with interest. Let's see how good my recall is...

The reason that ovens retain heat is because the sides of the oven heat up. The air in the oven is mainly incidental and will heat up fairly rapidly when the door is shut. Hence opening and closing the door causes less damage than most would think (eg. in the questions about basting).

Using a sheet of metal means that you add another source that effectively absorbs and radiates heat, thus making the heat sources in the oven more stable. So in answer to your specific questions: any steel should do as long as it can store and release heat. Secondly, it should be good for bread because of its contribution to the overall heat profile within the oven.

Nick's memory is excellent.

They recommend a piece of steel or aluminum (the latter is much lighter, of course) that is 2 cm -- that is to say, 3/4 in, not 1/4 in -- thick.

A 30" x 30" steel plate would be about 200 lbs.

I don't see how steel plate can be a substitude for brick. They have completely different thermal properties.

dcarch

Edited February 22, 2011 by dcarch (log)

[jmolinari]

Mac and Cheese (p. 3-387)

No, this isn't some kind of play on words, or a joke-recipe, or some kind of fascinating modernist creation. It's just macaroni and cheese. This recipe is a clear demonstration that while you can use modernist ingredients to create some really crazy stuff, you can also apply them to simply take a classic dish and make it better. And believe me when I say it: this version of mac and cheese is so vastly, clearly superior to anything I've ever had it is mind boggling.

There are two keys to the dish, both related to problems with the original: the first is that when you make a cheese sauce with a bechamel base, you have to use a LOT of bechamel, and there is a limit to how much cheese you can add before it breaks. This winds up diluting the cheese flavor, and is part of the reason I would never consider making a traditional mac and cheese with a really great cheese: its subtlety would simply be lost, and you'd gain nothing over using a simpler cheese. The second key is that not only does bechamel dilute the cheese flavor purely by volume, it also has poor "flavor release" compared to, say, carageenan: the book spends a great deal of time talking about this sort of thing, and it's very helpful for understanding why these techniques work as well as they do.

So, the modernist version of the dish does away with the bechamel base: instead, you make a small amount of a solution of beer, water, sodium citrate (to emulsify the cheese) and carrageenan (the thicken the sauce). You then melt a huge quantity of excellent cheese into it (I used Cabot clothbound cheddar and Roomano Pradera Gouda), in effect making your own processed cheese block. You chill it down until you literally have a block of processed cheese more or less the consistency of Velveeta, and then you shred it. The pasta is cooked in just enough water for it to absorb, and then the shredded cheese product is stirred in. You wind up with a mac and cheese the same texture as if you had used Velveeta: perfectly, flawlessly smooth. Except it tastes incredibly intensely like the best cheeses in the world! Perhaps you have gathered here that I rather liked the stuff. If this is "Modernist" then consider me modernified. Sort of. I did serve it with dry-fried chicken and steamed broccoli...

This looks awesome. I'm wondering if the "processed" cheese can be stored in the fridge for weeks like regular cheese...that way mac and cheese is only a pot of boiling water away...

[Chris Hennes]

Mine didn't last long enough to test: I used some on the second day and the rest on the third, both times with identical results to day 1. So it does hold for a little while anyway. It has a higher water content than just cheese, but I am not sure of the preservative effects of the salts.

[jmolinari]

Given the emulsifying salts, I wonder if vac packing and freezing would be ok. I guess it would.

[Kerry Beal]

I've still got some around - I'll put some away in the freezer today and retest it's texture in a couple of days.

[jmolinari]

Thanks Kerry...not that i have the book, but it would be interesting nonetheless.

[Chris Hennes]

So, I'm making (or should I say, "attempting to make") the "Aromatic Alsatian Mustard". Nothing Modernist-y here, it's just mustard. But I realized after blending it that I may have misunderstood the intent of the instructions, so if I could get your take on this:

1) Blanch mustard seeds

2) Combine seeds with vinegar

3) Soak for 12h

4) Combine soaked mustard seeds with other ingredients and process

In step four, do you interpret that to mean "drain mustard seeds and combine seeds only"? Or "combine seeds/vinegar mix"? I simply assumed that, given the very precise quantity of vinegar called for (none of the "to cover" stuff), and given that there is a step for combining the vinegar and mustard seed, that if they had wanted them drained they would have said so. But I'm having second thoughts: the mustard came out of the food processor pretty thin. Any advice?

[edsel]

the mustard came out of the food processor pretty thin. Any advice?

Maybe the mustard will thicken as it stands, now that the seeds have been blended with the liquid ingredients.

[Kerry Beal]

I'm for it thickening as it sits - most mustard I've made contains the vinegar.

[b-ry]

nathanm -

With regards to the the pizza method posting...

I am excited to try this method out because I have spent a lot of time trying make pizzas in my home oven that replicate a brick oven.

I tracked down a local steel fabricator and they were concerned with steel and food safety. After much discussion we decided that we need to use T316 stainless steel to create the steel rack for the oven, but they still weren't really able to answer if T316 was safe to 550 degrees in an oven.

Is T316 the correct type of steel to use? Is it oven safe to 550 degrees? What did you use in your tests?

Thanks.

Edited February 22, 2011 by b-ry (log)

[Chris Amirault]

How much is that gonna weigh?

[jmolinari]

a 0.75" 16x16 316L plate is about 55lbs.

Check out this calculator: http://www.onlinemetals.com/calculator.cfm

[Dave the Cook]

316 is commonly used for food applications. As far as heat is concerned, what are you worried about? It's not going to melt unless the heating element in your oven can reach 1375°C (about 2500°F).

[jmolinari]

What's interesting to me is that a 18x18x0.75 316 steel plate is about $800....sooooooo.....

[roygon]

Is Aluminum going to be ok and is there a specific type/grade I should be looking for? A buddy of mine has a CNC shop and a 3/4 inch aluminum sheet that fits my oven will run around $100 but I'm going to wait for some results, and the book to see the specifics, before I make a decision.

rg