Cooking with "Ideas in Food"

[mkayahara]

Even with all the attention being lavished on Modernist Cuisine, I find it hard to believe no one has been cooking from Ideas in Food!

The first preparation I made from it was red wine vinegar; before reading the book, I'd been reluctant to use cider vinegar as the starter (even though it's the easiest vinegar to find with a live mother), but they convinced me to stop being such a purist about it. I've been regularly feeding my red wine vinegar over the past few weeks, it's thriving, and I love the flavour. I've used it in everything from vinaigrette to Sauerbraten.

Last night I made the macaroni and cheese recipe. The version in Modernist Cuisine calls for sodium citrate and carrageenan; the version in Ideas in Food just calls for evaporated milk, which already has disodium phosphate and carrageenan in it. I think this is a really elegant solution if you don't want to spring for the specialty chemicals.

Better still, the recipe worked like a charm, and was fast and delicious. I'm looking forward to playing with different kinds of cheese, but I think it's safe to say I'll be keeping a can of evaporated milk handy at all times from now on.

Edit: Society-friendly Amazon link.

Edited March 9, 2011 by mkayahara (log)

[RDaneel]

I am glad that I picked up this book, and look forward to cooking with it. I'll make sure to contribute to this thread when I do. MC has kind of dominated my free time, which really isn't fair!

I saw some posts about the Miami dinner that Alex planned and executed with GastroPod (and obviously with the help of many others), and it looked really great. I'm sure the book has many great ideas...

[cbread]

I did the "Ideas" M&C as well as a tweeked "Modernist" M&C found here in egullet. Both very good. I suspect I will be combining ideas from both books. I really liked the directness of the "ideas" recipe.

Edited for bad pselling

Edited March 9, 2011 by cbread (log)

[Paul Kierstead]

I've made the bread from it several times and quite like it. I've made the scallops several times also, and find it a very foolproof and delicious method. For the rest I've been using it on inspiration, but the mac'n'cheese now have me curious....

[FoodMan]

I also have successfully made their red wine vinegar. I'v enever been able to do that before with mothers harvetsed from store bought vinegars. This recipe was very straight forward and produced a delicious vinegar. I used that to also start a batch of the Maple Vinegar from the book. It still needs a couple of weeks to finish maturing...so I'll report back then.

The 5 (or is it 6) minute egg worked great, but the Onsen not so much. I could not peel the Onsen egg properly and when I did it was fairly solid as opposed to an egg that can be used for Eggs Benedict like the recipe claims. I used my IC to cook the egg, but the stove top to re-heat it, so it is possible that I screwed it up during the reheat process. Need to give this one another shot.

Another recipe I tried was the sourdough waffles. I was not a fan of this one at all. I used my own refreshed starter (had it for about 9 years now) and it was too strong tasting and a bit too tough in texture.

[mkayahara]

I've made the scallops several times also, and find it a very foolproof and delicious method.

That reminds me, I've been meaning to make the scallops...

Also, although it isn't technically in the book, I've made their 6-minute risotto, and was blown away by how foolproof and good it was.

Has anyone made the cheddar and apple risotto? It got panned in the Globe and Mail, and I have to admit I've balked at the quantity of cheese called for. I'd love to hear a second opinion.

[Tri2Cook]

I'll have to do a recipe or three from the book sometime soon. I'm so backed up on recipes I want to check out from various books I have that I'll probably never get caught up but I'll definitely never catch up if I don't start doing some of them. I go to the Ideas in Food blog more for ideas and information but I've done a few of their recipes and haven't been disappointed yet.

[Msk]

I'm so glad somemone finally started this thread!

I did the Mac 'n Cheese and I love it. The topping is so crunchy and amazing (and simple) I foreseee that being my go to topping for all caserole type dishes. I used panko to great effect.

I too did the red wine vinegar, and it was delicious and my Maple Vinegar becomes 4 weeks old today!

I also did the Peanut Butter custard that used the 2 Karageenans and thought it was very good. I think that preparation has alot of potential to run with my own flavoring creativity. Its pretty darn easy too. Since I was experimenting with it the first time I put it into several different molds to see how it unmolded and had the best luck with my silicone ones. I also poured the hot base into my isi and let it set overnight in the fridge with 2 charges. IT WAS AMAZING! It was light and melted in your mouth much lighter than a whip cream but with more body than a foam. Highly recommended.

Mike

[Msk]

I'm also very curious what people think about the texture from hydrating the pasta and how viable/successful hydrating pasta with flavored liquids would be.

I've thrown around the idea of making basil or olive "water" to hydrate pasta for different dishes I typically do using those ingredients.

[nolnacs]

I just got the book about a month ago but I did try their recipe for cacio e pepe.

I found that the pasta needed to cook for considerably longer than they recommended (I think it was a minute or two... I don't have the recipe in front of me) and even then was still a bit on the chewy side. Now, this might have had something to do with the roasting of the pasta - perhaps I roasted mine longer than they did and so needed to soak longer than the 2 1/2 hours that the recipe calls for.

I wasn't thrilled with this technique the first time around but I do want to try it again.

[nolnacs]

Last night I made the rosemary pineapple to accompany steamed red snapper. It's one of the simpler recipes in the book - slice pineapple into chunks, vacuum seal with rosemary, salt, sugar and pepper (I used aleppo) and then let the flavors meld for several hours.

While it was sitting, I happened to read in Modernist Cuisine that you can ripen fruit sous vide by cooking it around 100 F so about an hour before I was going to use it, I tossed in a water bath.

After I pulled the pineapple out of the water bath, I thinly sliced some of it and stuffed the snapper with the sliced pineapple (I served the rest of the pineapple on the side).

I'm not sure how much of a difference the water bath made, but overall it was quite good and complemented the fish well.

[nolnacs]

After I pulled the pineapple out of the water bath, I thinly sliced some of it and stuffed the snapper with the sliced pineapple (I served the rest of the pineapple on the side).

By the way, putting the leftover fish and pineapple in the same container..... not such a good idea. I'm sure that some part of my brain recalled that pineapple contains an enzyme which can turn meat into mush, but it certainly wasn't active that night!

Edited March 18, 2011 by nolnacs (log)

[ruthcooks]

Precooking probably killed that enzyme--that's how it works with pineapple and gelatine: if you use cooked or canned pineapple it will gel but fresh pineapple won't gel.

[mkayahara]

Precooking probably killed that enzyme--that's how it works with pineapple and gelatine: if you use cooked or canned pineapple it will gel but fresh pineapple won't gel.

It looks like nolnacs only cooked it to 100F, and the bromelain isn't inactivated until 158F (per Ideas in Food, pg. 252), so it was probably still active.

It's actually got me wondering what would happen if you cooked pineapple at exactly 158F, and how long you'd have to leave it there to totally inactivate the bromelain. Would the texture be more like raw pineapple or canned? Anyone have any experience with this?

[Jose Nieves]

It looks like nolnacs only cooked it to 100F, and the bromelain isn't inactivated until 158F (per Ideas in Food, pg. 252), so it was probably still active.

It's actually got me wondering what would happen if you cooked pineapple at exactly 158F, and how long you'd have to leave it there to totally inactivate the bromelain. Would the texture be more like raw pineapple or canned? Anyone have any experience with this?

As soon as the product reaches 158°F, the protein is altered/destroyed and stops working as a "tenderizer". The texture is between that of fresh and canned and highly dependent on how fast the product is cooled down. To me, the biggest change is not so much in texture but in flavor.

[mkayahara]

It looks like nolnacs only cooked it to 100F, and the bromelain isn't inactivated until 158F (per Ideas in Food, pg. 252), so it was probably still active.

It's actually got me wondering what would happen if you cooked pineapple at exactly 158F, and how long you'd have to leave it there to totally inactivate the bromelain. Would the texture be more like raw pineapple or canned? Anyone have any experience with this?

As soon as the product reaches 158°F, the protein is altered/destroyed and stops working as a "tenderizer". The texture is between that of fresh and canned and highly dependent on how fast the product is cooled down. To me, the biggest change is not so much in texture but in flavor.

So then it's just a question of holding it at 158° long enough for the centre comes up to temp? In terms of cooling it down, I assume faster is better? Is it worthwhile?

[Jose Nieves]

So then it's just a question of holding it at 158° long enough for the centre comes up to temp? In terms of cooling it down, I assume faster is better? Is it worthwhile?

Yes and yes.. Large-scale food production facilities do this by pumping the product through a series of heat exchangers to rapidly increase and decrease the temperature in order to retain the texture. Imagine pineapple chunks being pumped through a tube running through a super-heated waterbath and then an icebath. The thickness of the tube is determined by things like what type of product is being pumped and how fast you need it to reach the desired temperature (smaller diameter will reduce the time it takes the product to reach the temperature). The length affects how long you want the product to remain at said temperature. This is all part of the basics of thermal processing.. A certain Dr. Ian Britt of Guelph, CA is a leader in the field

Worthwhile in what sense?

[Anna N]

Can anyone explain the role that agave syrup plays in this recipe? So far I have not been able to source this ingredient so I am wondering if there is a substitute that would work. Many thanks.

[patris]

Can anyone explain the role that agave syrup plays in this recipe? So far I have not been able to source this ingredient so I am wondering if there is a substitute that would work. Many thanks.

Not sure of its purpose, but agave syrup is readily available here at Wegmans, in the organic/natural foods section - perhaps it would be available at a health food store in your neighborhood? Too bad I didn't know you needed some yesterday - I have a bottle in the cupboard and would have sent it north with Kerry!

[Jose Nieves]

So then it's just a question of holding it at 158° long enough for the centre comes up to temp? In terms of cooling it down, I assume faster is better? Is it worthwhile?

Yes and yes.. Large-scale food production facilities do this by pumping the product through a series of heat exchangers to rapidly increase and decrease the temperature in order to retain the texture. Imagine pineapple chunks being pumped through a tube running through a super-heated waterbath and then an icebath. The thickness of the tube is determined by things like what type of product is being pumped and how fast you need it to reach the desired temperature (smaller diameter will reduce the time it takes the product to reach the temperature). The length affects how long you want the product to remain at said temperature. This is all part of the basics of thermal processing.. A certain Dr. Ian Britt of Guelph, CA is a leader in the field

Worthwhile in what sense?

I was doing more than one thing at a time when I wrote this (you should see me trying to walk and chew gum at the same time.. not good!!) and forgot to mention that the "set-up" I alluded to is something akin to what someone can attempt to do in their home. Large-scale production companies will combine the ingredients in a recipe, seal it in a retort bag/pouch or can and then heat the product under pressure to finish the cooking process.

[Anna N]

Can anyone explain the role that agave syrup plays in this recipe? So far I have not been able to source this ingredient so I am wondering if there is a substitute that would work. Many thanks.

Not sure of its purpose, but agave syrup is readily available here at Wegmans, in the organic/natural foods section - perhaps it would be available at a health food store in your neighborhood? Too bad I didn't know you needed some yesterday - I have a bottle in the cupboard and would have sent it north with Kerry!

Thanks - have not had a chance to check out the health food stores yet but plan on doing so either today or tomorrow. Too bad is right! I am sure though that I have seen it somewhere in my travels so I will keep looking.

[mkayahara]

Thanks - have not had a chance to check out the health food stores yet but plan on doing so either today or tomorrow. Too bad is right! I am sure though that I have seen it somewhere in my travels so I will keep looking.

Health food stores is where I mostly see it, so you should have some luck there. I can certainly get it at the health food stores here in Guelph!

[mkayahara]

So then it's just a question of holding it at 158° long enough for the centre comes up to temp? In terms of cooling it down, I assume faster is better? Is it worthwhile?

Yes and yes.. Large-scale food production facilities do this by pumping the product through a series of heat exchangers to rapidly increase and decrease the temperature in order to retain the texture. Imagine pineapple chunks being pumped through a tube running through a super-heated waterbath and then an icebath. The thickness of the tube is determined by things like what type of product is being pumped and how fast you need it to reach the desired temperature (smaller diameter will reduce the time it takes the product to reach the temperature). The length affects how long you want the product to remain at said temperature. This is all part of the basics of thermal processing.. A certain Dr. Ian Britt of Guelph, CA is a leader in the field

Worthwhile in what sense?

I was doing more than one thing at a time when I wrote this (you should see me trying to walk and chew gum at the same time.. not good!!) and forgot to mention that the "set-up" I alluded to is something akin to what someone can attempt to do in their home. Large-scale production companies will combine the ingredients in a recipe, seal it in a retort bag/pouch or can and then heat the product under pressure to finish the cooking process.

Thanks for your reply! When I asked whether it was worthwhile, I guess I was asking whether it was worthwhile to heat the pineapple in a water bath to inactivate the bromelain, with the goal of maintaining the texture of raw pineapple (or as close to it as possible), and then being able to use it with gelatin or meat without breaking down the proteins. Normally, if I wanted to do those things, I would use canned, but I assume the texture of canned pineapple is adversely affected by the temperature it's heated to as part of the canning process, which I assume would be higher than just the temperature needed to denature the bromelain. Or am I wrong?

[Jose Nieves]

Thanks for your reply! When I asked whether it was worthwhile, I guess I was asking whether it was worthwhile to heat the pineapple in a water bath to inactivate the bromelain, with the goal of maintaining the texture of raw pineapple (or as close to it as possible), and then being able to use it with gelatin or meat without breaking down the proteins. Normally, if I wanted to do those things, I would use canned, but I assume the texture of canned pineapple is adversely affected by the temperature it's heated to as part of the canning process, which I assume would be higher than just the temperature needed to denature the bromelain. Or am I wrong?

I'm not sure what temp the canned product is heated to when it's produced but I would venture to guess that it's higher than that needed to inactivate the bromelain and possibly higher than the temp where it's outright denatured. Looking at the application you're mentioning, I would personally go with canned pineapple since the commercial product will have a decent texture. Does pineapple heated to 158°F simply to inactivate the bromelain have a better texture than commercial canned product? I'd have to test this out to see..

[abadoozy]

Can someone comment on whether this book has a lot of pictures/diagrams? I'm thinking of buying it and tempted to get the Kindle version, but not if there's a lot of illustrations (which never come through very well).