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

[Greg Honeycutt]

I feel like I'm behind the curve here, never having read the book. I feel like I've been playing in some dark arts til I stumbled on this forum. I got a bag of transglutaminase yesterday, and my centrifuge, so I'm off to explore more and see what happens. Cheers.

[LoftyNotions]

I feel like I'm behind the curve here, never having read the book. I feel like I've been playing in some dark arts til I stumbled on this forum. I got a bag of transglutaminase yesterday, and my centrifuge, so I'm off to explore more and see what happens. Cheers.

What, no rotary evaporator yet???

Just kidding. Welcome, and let us know what you're concocting.

Larry

[rotuts]

the gold standard for the MC Club is a Paco-Jet. +/- a blast chiller.

[Bojana]

Don't forget the the good old wood fired pizza oven in your backyard

[Baselerd]

Just finished the Chinese duck variation on the carnitas - once again some amazing results. The texture was tender and creamy, I'm probably going to try the Korean short rib recipe in a few days since I bought way too many frozen buns. I also paired this with the Chinese noodle soup variation on the infused chicken soup, using Chinese banquet broth from the original MC books instead of the MCaH duck broth.

[Bojana]

I can report that pressure caramelized vegetables can be made perfectly without any butter, for those among us that find them too rich. Tonigh I made celeriac pure with neutral oil, 15 gr of it, and a splash of water. Got really nice and deep flavour thanks to baking soda, and it was light enough to figure as vegetable next to our red wine glazed steaks and couscous with apples and fennel.

[Greg Honeycutt]

I have tried the pressure caramelized veggies. I culled that technique from the web, and it's great..

[mayland]

Made the caramelized carrot soup for the second time. First was many months ago using the recipe from original MC published on their website. This time, it did not get nearly the rich, brown flavor and color as I remember from the earlier soup. I noticed the proportions are slightly different in the MCaH version, but it seems doubtful that this would be the problem. I know when baking soda gets too old, it loses its ability to react with acid; does it also lose its ability to lower the temp at which browning occurs?

[Keith_W]

I know when baking soda gets too old, it loses its ability to react with acid; does it also lose its ability to lower the temp at which browning occurs?

Baking soda is NaHCO3 (Sodium Bicarbonate). As it grows older, it tends to absorb H2O from the atmosphere. It then decomposes to Na2CO3 + CO2 + H2O. This reaction requires the presence of water, and is accelerated by heat - so if you live in a hot, humid area, your baking soda will expire sooner. This means that that the baking soda loses its alkali potency over time.

Baking soda helps Maillard reactions by providing alkaline conditions. If your baking soda is expired, it will be less able to produce an alkaline pH, so it will not have the desired pH raising effect to favour Maillard reactions.

[mayland]

High school chemistry is fuzzy...thanks! Made the carotene butter (delicious by the way), and even cored the carrots, then flubbed it with expired baking soda. Argh!

[Hugh Anderson]

Last night I made a full-on MCaH Thanksgiving dinner for my parents who are going to be out of the country for the next couple weeks. We started with the caramelized carrot soup, which I finally did the "right" way with carotene butter & fresh carrot juice (using about 12-13 pounds of carrots all told I think). Then we had the creamed spinach, potato puree, baked macaroni & cheese with cheese crumble, green salad with romaine dressing, modernist sandwich bread as dinner rolls, and sous vide turkey breast & turkey leg confit with home jus gras. To feed a dozen people I doubled the macaroni, potato puree (but not the butter), and creamed spinach, and I halved the bread recipe, making everything else as written. For dessert I made a pumpkin pie using pressure caramelized pumpkin added to the pastry cream recipe and spiced with the autumn spice mix, as well as the gingerbread dough. It didn't set up like a traditional pumpkin pie - were I to do it again I'd definitely add gelatin as recommended in the book.

All told it was a good amount of work, but all of the "make ahead" sections were extremely useful and something I wish more cookbooks included. Some of the favorites for people were the creamed spinach, romaine dressing, potato puree, and turkey confit. Never having messed with turkey legs before, I didn't realize removing the tendons is more than just fussy French technique & would've made carving 10x easier. Lesson learned. I made a few other mistakes as well, but all the recipes from this book have been very forgiving for me so far.

Finally, the macaroni & cheese recipe was made using homemade sodium citrate. I've had some on order for a month now & have been having trouble with the supplier, and I was committed to making mac & cheese so decided to try making some at home with baking soda & citric acid. Anybody else tried their hand at this? Basically I combined citric acid with water, then very slowly added baking soda, before evaporating off the water. Was this dangerous/dumb/ill-advised?

[HowardLi]

Last night I made a full-on MCaH Thanksgiving dinner for my parents who are going to be out of the country for the next couple weeks. We started with the caramelized carrot soup, which I finally did the "right" way with carotene butter & fresh carrot juice (using about 12-13 pounds of carrots all told I think). Then we had the creamed spinach, potato puree, baked macaroni & cheese with cheese crumble, green salad with romaine dressing, modernist sandwich bread as dinner rolls, and sous vide turkey breast & turkey leg confit with home jus gras. To feed a dozen people I doubled the macaroni, potato puree (but not the butter), and creamed spinach, and I halved the bread recipe, making everything else as written. For dessert I made a pumpkin pie using pressure caramelized pumpkin added to the pastry cream recipe and spiced with the autumn spice mix, as well as the gingerbread dough. It didn't set up like a traditional pumpkin pie - were I to do it again I'd definitely add gelatin as recommended in the book.

All told it was a good amount of work, but all of the "make ahead" sections were extremely useful and something I wish more cookbooks included. Some of the favorites for people were the creamed spinach, romaine dressing, potato puree, and turkey confit. Never having messed with turkey legs before, I didn't realize removing the tendons is more than just fussy French technique & would've made carving 10x easier. Lesson learned. I made a few other mistakes as well, but all the recipes from this book have been very forgiving for me so far.

Finally, the macaroni & cheese recipe was made using homemade sodium citrate. I've had some on order for a month now & have been having trouble with the supplier, and I was committed to making mac & cheese so decided to try making some at home with baking soda & citric acid. Anybody else tried their hand at this? Basically I combined citric acid with water, then very slowly added baking soda, before evaporating off the water. Was this dangerous/dumb/ill-advised?

Did you follow their recommended temp for the turkey confit?

[Hugh Anderson]

Did you follow their recommended temp for the turkey confit?

Yes, 60/140 for 24 hours. Are there other temperatures that are popular? My experience with confit is limited, so it's hard for me to draw comparisons, but I really liked it, much more than the breast.

[rotuts]

havent had a chance to look up the turkey in MC@H

did you do the turkey br. at 140? for how long? and the legs you said at 140 for 24?

Ive been happy with turkey br. 140 for 3 - 4 hrs and legs. and thighs skinned and 2" of end leg cleaved off each in separate bags 160 for 24.

I leaned a long time ago from a JuliaChild vid to chop off 2 " of end leg and then when cooked pull out the tendons w a needle nose pliers

I also used to bone out the turkey and cook it on 2x stuffing for a 20 lbs bird. I now do the stuffing SV. the whole turkey production is done ahead and ready to re-heat.

[Twyst]

The pommes puree recipe uses starch retrogradation to to help prevent gummy potatoes. The potatoes are peeled, heated to temp in a water filled cryobag, then allowed to slowly cool before being cooked. Would it be possible to adapt this technique to affect the starches in a whole unpeeled potato? My reason for asking is because Id like to make gnocci production in a restaurant setting more user friendly and wonder if this technique could be adapted for that purpose. Im thinking the potatoes would have to be cryovacced then put into a water bath, or the initial "cook" could probably be done in the combi oven.

[David Ross]

OK, all of you have sold me. A traditionalist has been convinced that I can no longer ignore the wonderful dishes I've seen come out of your kitchens as a result of this book. The book was on a 25% off special at Barnes and Noble today, but I didn't buy. Looks like I can get about 35% off buying it through Amazon.

[Hugh Anderson]

havent had a chance to look up the turkey in MC@H

did you do the turkey br. at 140? for how long? and the legs you said at 140 for 24?

The book recommends turkey breast cooked in a 135 bath until the core temperature reaches 133. Due to their warning that it would have a "surprisingly" pink color, and keeping my less adventuresome family members in mind, I opted for their back-up recommendation of cooking it to 142 in a 144 bath. It was plenty juicy.

[mayland]

We started with the caramelized carrot soup, which I finally did the "right" way with carotene butter & fresh carrot juice (using about 12-13 pounds of carrots all told I think).

How did the freshly juiced carrot version compare to regular butter and store bought juice?

[Hugh Anderson]

How did the freshly juiced carrot version compare to regular butter and store bought juice?

I'd say it bumps up the flavor maybe 5-10%, if it's possible to quantify such things. I changed two variables though - fresh vs store bought juice and regular vs carotene butter, so it's hard to say which helped the dish along more. I suspect the carotene butter. More than anything I think the best path to maximizing flavor is using good carrots for the caramelization step.

[slkinsey]

The pommes puree recipe uses starch retrogradation to to help prevent gummy potatoes. The potatoes are peeled, heated to temp in a water filled cryobag, then allowed to slowly cool before being cooked. Would it be possible to adapt this technique to affect the starches in a whole unpeeled potato? My reason for asking is because Id like to make gnocci production in a restaurant setting more user friendly and wonder if this technique could be adapted for that purpose. Im thinking the potatoes would have to be cryovacced then put into a water bath, or the initial "cook" could probably be done in the combi oven.

The technique should work on whole unpeeled potatoes, although it would take longer for them to come up to temperature. Why wouldn't you want to at least peel them, though? Actually, in a restaurant setting, I would think that having the retrograded potato already peeled and cut up would make things much easier.

[Twyst]

The technique should work on whole unpeeled potatoes, although it would take longer for them to come up to temperature. Why wouldn't you want to at least peel them, though? Actually, in a restaurant setting, I would think that having the retrograded potato already peeled and cut up would make things much easier.

Perhaps, but the potato is going to have to be roasted (not boiled) in order to make gnocci. The process will have to be tweaked I'm sure, but I want to be able to have non waterlogged, non colored potato at the end of the process. Discoloration due to exposure to air or over roasting are not variables I want to mess with at the outset of seeing if I can get this to work for me. If it works and makes gnocci production significantly more consistent and foolproof Ill start to worry about ways to streamline the process. Right now I really think the Rational oven will be the easiest way though. Edited November 11, 2012 by Twyst (log)

[bhsimon]

I'm about to embark on my first set of recipes from Modernist Cuisine at Home. ‘Pressure-Cooked Garlic Confit’ and ‘Pressure-Caramalized Onions’ are among those recipes.

My question relates to canning jars. On page 33 there is a discussion on ‘Pressure Cooking in Canning Jars’ and mentions mason jars specifically. Unfortunately I did not remember this as I purchased canning jars from the local kitchen supply store. I did not realise at the time that the ones I purchased were not mason jars; they do not have the separate sealing lid which fits inside the screw-top lid. The lid is all one piece.

Can these be used as canning jars for pressure cooking?

[Chris Hennes]

Yes, I don't think it will be a problem: you're really just using the jars for convenience in cooking small quantities, and ease of cleanup.

[pbear]

Agreed. bhsimon, I'm guessing from the description that what you found are Quattro Stagioni jars. If so, yes, those are functionally equivalent to mason jars (e.g., those made by Bell). Indeed, if anything, they're even more sturdy. And, for all the recipes I've noticed (only just got the book), the one-piece lids will be fine, as you back them off a quarter turn so the jars won't build pressure. One-piece lids aren't recommended for pressure canning, but you can easily use standard two-piece lids with QS jars (they'll fit) if you want.

[slkinsey]

Twyst, I've had good success pressure-steaming potatoes or gnocchi. Takes very little time & doesn't result in watery potatoes.