Cooking with "Modernist Cuisine at Home" (Part 1)

[mathewr]

Thanks kennethT and foodman. KennethT since ur location says new york ny, do you know where i can get agar or gelatin in manhattan? thanks

[KennethT]

Agar agar is easy to find - many groceries in Chinatown have it, but if you're further up, you can get it at Kalustyan's on Lex. and 28th St.

Powdered gelatin can be found in most supermarkets, but I don't know whether MCAH calls for leaf or powdered gelatin and the conversion can be tricky. Leaf gelatin can be found at NY cake and Baking on 22nd(?) and 6th Ave. or at Kalustyan's... of course...

For any other NYCers, Kalustyans is building quite a little modernist pantry - they now carry things like Versawhip, to sodium alginate, to different calcium salts, etc...

[mathewr]

Agar agar is easy to find - many groceries in Chinatown have it, but if you're further up, you can get it at Kalustyan's on Lex. and 28th St.

Powdered gelatin can be found in most supermarkets, but I don't know whether MCAH calls for leaf or powdered gelatin and the conversion can be tricky. Leaf gelatin can be found at NY cake and Baking on 22nd(?) and 6th Ave. or at Kalustyan's... of course...

For any other NYCers, Kalustyans is building quite a little modernist pantry - they now carry things like Versawhip, to sodium alginate, to different calcium salts, etc...

much appreciated thanks

[Chris Hennes]

Vegetable Risotto (p. 328-329)

This is a par-cooked risotto made with vegetable stock, carrot juice, celery juice, and aged gouda: no saffron, though you may think it's in there based on the color (which is mostly from the carrot juice and gouda). As usual, my love for that vegetable stock led to my making this dish, and I was not disappointed. The par-cooking has never worked quite perfectly for me, I always have to cook mine longer than the recipe says I should, but that's not really a big deal, it still only takes ten minutes to finish. I used a Noord Hollander 4-year gouda, which I thought was perfect with the stock and juices, the overall balance of the dish was superb. Definitely a top-notch risotto, I'm looking forward to trying the other recipes in the book.

[LoftyNotions]

Chris,

Our favorite has been the Barley With Wild Mushrooms and Red Wine on page 331. We love the texture of barley cooked this way. It hasn't failed us yet.

The recipe accommodates a lot of variation in cheese, mushrooms, wine and stock.

I'm more of a fan of a single pass pressure cook than par-cooking. It makes more sense to me in a home environment.

Larry

Edited October 16, 2012 by LoftyNotions (log)

[LokiSnake]

It seems carrot juice and other juices are used everywhere. Is there any way to make juice without a juicer?

I've just got the basics right now (pressure cooker, sous vide), and will probably get a whipping siphon before even considering a juicer, as it seems the siphon would be more useful.

[Chris Hennes]

I simply purchased the carrot juice, it's pretty readily available in the health drinks section at my grocery store. The celery juice I made with a blender and a tea towel strainer, which I've also used for apple to good effect.

[coz]

I'm thinking about trying the Roast Chicken. The recipe doesn't say to truss the chicken only to french the legs. I've been under the assumption that this is mandatory (Keller etc) do you think it matters here?

[Bojana]

Question about infusions: I am unclear about the quantities to be infused. The text says something like 300gr milk/cream/sugar syrup or equal quantities of milk/cream. Does this mean 300 gr of liquid, consisting of 1/3 each cream, milk and sugar syrup or 300 gr milk and 300 gr cream? Anybody understand how this was meant?

[Bojana]

I realize I may have been unclear, my previous post question was about infusing liquids to make creams and other yummy desserts.

So far, I've made 10ish recipes from the book, all great success. MC@H will be on my kitchen table, open and in use, for the bigger part of 2013 I suspect.

However, I feel that desserts part is not quite at the same level with the rest of the book, hope the team is working, as we speak, on Modernist Patisserie version.

To illustrate my point, Panna Cotta recipe is made with raspberries and alternative recipes mention any kind of fruit puree. Doing so results in Panna Cottas of varying level of sweetness, depending on the natural sugar content in fruit used. I'd expect MC team to work with Brix for desserts, to achieve the right level of sweetness, consistently every time. The tool is relatively cheep and I feel is truly in the MC spirit.

I'll give few sweet recipes a go and come back to report the results.

[coz]

It sounds like equal parts. I don't have the full text in front of me to see if it goes into more detail.

[Baselerd]

I too agree that a Brix measurement would help. I think with MC:AH they omitted a few things that they felt would alienate most home cooks. While you and I know that a kitchen refractometer is a cheap tool that you can use to ensure correct sugar content, I do think the majority of home cooks would be put off by that requirement. The original MC books use Brix measurements here and there if I recall...

[Bojana]

It sounds like equal parts. I don't have the full text in front of me to see if it goes into more detail.

I understand equal parts, but what is the total quantity? Because it then uses fixed quantities of flavourings to infuse this liquid, so I am looking for how to scale. I want to try lemongrass & gigner creme brulee, sounds like a divine combination.

[Chris Hennes]

I'm thinking about trying the Roast Chicken. The recipe doesn't say to truss the chicken only to french the legs. I've been under the assumption that this is mandatory (Keller etc) do you think it matters here?

If I recall from Modernist Cuisine, they explicitly don't want you to truss the bird, it makes the thighs and legs cook slower so they don't get done at the right time.

[Bjs229]

I would think that the average cook investing in books of this caliber would have the ability/taste to adjust sugar accordingly to the flavor agent being used. I believe cooking without any instinct doesn't feel good.

That being said I understand that certain recipe quantities need to be followed for scientific reasons.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

Edited October 17, 2012 by Bjs229 (log)

[FoodMan]

Question about infusions: I am unclear about the quantities to be infused. The text says something like 300gr milk/cream/sugar syrup or equal quantities of milk/cream. Does this mean 300 gr of liquid, consisting of 1/3 each cream, milk and sugar syrup or 300 gr milk and 300 gr cream? Anybody understand how this was meant?

I don't have the book in front of me, but what I think this means is 300 gr of milk OR Cream OR Syrup. You could use a 1/3 each probably too, but I do not think that was the intention.

[ryansm]

Question about infusions: I am unclear about the quantities to be infused. The text says something like 300gr milk/cream/sugar syrup or equal quantities of milk/cream. Does this mean 300 gr of liquid, consisting of 1/3 each cream, milk and sugar syrup or 300 gr milk and 300 gr cream? Anybody understand how this was meant?

It's 300 grams total of any liquid you want to infuse. It can be 300 grams of cream, 300 grams of milk, 300 grams of simple syrup, or 150 grams cream + 150 grams of milk. If you look on the next page at the creme brulee, they're infusing a total of 300 grams liquid (half cream and half milk) with coffee using the infusion technique on the previous page.

[ryansm]

I'm thinking about trying the Roast Chicken. The recipe doesn't say to truss the chicken only to french the legs. I've been under the assumption that this is mandatory (Keller etc) do you think it matters here?

No need to truss. Most assumptions about traditional chicken roasting don't apply here because the technique is so radically different. Keller has you roast at around 450 degrees for about 45 minutes, but this is roasting at 200 degrees for around 4 hours. My understanding has been that you truss a chicken to prevent air circulation in the cavity, which would overcook and dry out the breast before the legs and thighs were done. That's not a concern here because you're cooking at such a low temperature.

I made the roast chicken last night and it turned out beautifully. It took just about 4 hours to reach 140 degrees. Extraordinarily juicy breast meat, and the skin was lovely and crisp. I also made the potato puree, and their method is my new standard--it gives both a perfect texture and a deep potato flavor.

[Bjs229]

Equal quantities of milk /cream mean just that.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

Edited October 17, 2012 by Bjs229 (log)

[Baselerd]

I would think that the average cook investing in books of this caliber would have the ability/taste to adjust sugar accordingly to the flavor agent being used. I believe cooking without any instinct doesn't feel good.

That being said I understand that certain recipe quantities need to be followed for scientific reasons.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

True, but sometimes sugar content has just as much to do with texture as it does with sweetness - maybe not with this Panna Cotta, but definitely with other recipes. I don't fully trust my intuition to that end. For instance, I ruined the Guiness Pate de Fruit from the original MC for this very reason.

[Chris Hennes]

Quinoa with Pistachio Pesto and Asparagus (p. 332)

This dish is in with the "risotto", though it bears little resemblance in terms of ingredients. It's pressure-cooked quinoa (cooked with vegetable stock and vermouth) with the pistachio pesto I talked about the other day, plus some sliced asparagus and a little ricotta salata. It was good, although personally I did like this pesto served on pasta a bit better. The crunch of the raw asparagus slices was nice, though.

[Kerry Beal]

Rather than double post on two threads - thought we'd add a link here to some pictures of what we've been playing with from Modernist Cuisine at Home while working up north.

Here you go.

[Chris Hennes]

Baked Macaroni and Cheese (p. 312)

I've made the original "world famous" Modernist Mac & Cheese many times since the original volumes came out, and I've finished it in the oven on a few occasions following steps similar to what they describe in MCaH. The main difference is that I typically cook mine more on the stove and less in the oven. I also have never made a "cheese crumble" for the topping (usually I just use breadcrumbs and shredded cheese). The cheese topping was nice, I thought: crunchier than just breadcrumbs, with more flavor. It's another one where I didn't like the taste on its own, but as a topping for the mac and cheese it worked. I personally thought the cheese for the M&C itself was too thick, with an unpleasantly viscous mouthfeel. In my opinion the cheese should flow a little, even when it's cooled down after a few minutes out of the oven: this started to get overly thick after a short time out of the oven. Really, I'm not sure it was worth jumping through the par-cooking and cooling hoops, I think I'll probably stick to simply broiling a topping for a couple minutes using just-slightly undercooked (and not chilled) pasta, with a thinner cheese sauce.

[coz]

Chris, quick question for you on the Quinoa dish. I tried this last night. After the 4 mins in the pressure cooker did you have to drain the liquid or did you boil it down before the pesto and butter etc were added?

Thanks very much

[EnriqueB]

Coz, I made the quinoa salad yesterday. I drained the quinoa, otherwise it would be too soft. I also used much much less parsley (10 g vs 40 g). Another pressure-cooker option for quinoa is 1 minute and natural release, according to Laura from hippressurecooking.