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

[coz]

Thanks EnriqueB

[Chris Hennes]

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?

I let it simmer an extra minute or two until the quinoa absorbed it, I found it a bit too firm for my liking after just four minutes. Not inedibly so, just not to my preference.

[Chris Hennes]

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.

Interesting Enrique: I really like the parsley there. Yes, it was a lot, but I thought the flavor balance worked very well.

[Morkai]

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.

Is the MCaH macaroni and cheese recipe different than the original MC version?

[Chris Hennes]

Yeah, they simplified it, removing the carrageenans In addition, the one I made was the second of the two in MCaH (the baked one, as opposed to the purely stovetop one), which is a bit different.

ETA: Not that I used the carrageenans in the original after I made it as-written the first time... I always leave them out these days.

[ScottyBoy]

You don't use them at all? It works the same without? I've done the MC mac a couple times and love the Stouffer's style texture with high quality cheese. Is the mouth feel effected?

[Judy Wilson]

Hi everyone,

The MC team has been watching your progress, and discussing some solutions to a few of your problems. They asked me to post their answers for them, so here we go:

Was greeted with display shelves full of honeycrisp apples when I went to the market today, so the parsnip and apple soup is definitely on the menu tonight or tommorow!

I have a question about the red wine glaze in the book if anyone has tried that recipe yet. In the first step you brown almost 3 pounds of ground meat, set it aside, then use some of the rendered fat from it in the next step. None of the remaining grease nor the meat is mentioned again, so am I correct in assuming that you are only using the ground meat to obtain rendered beef fat, and then are left with a bunch of ground meat that you will need to repurpose?

I would think that if they only wanted beef fat there would be better ways to get it than browning 1.25 KG of lean ground beef until dark brown. I made a note that I thought it should be put in around step 6. But I could be wrong.

HTH.

Larry

Yes, Larry is correct.

Capicola Pizza (p. 306) -- Composed of

Neapolitan Pizza Dough (p. 296)

Pizza Sauce (p. 112)

Oven-Fried Pizza (p. 305)

The taste of this pizza was excellent: I liked their sauce recipe, and of course the topping combination is a great one. I used the Neapolitan pizza dough for it, and I really hope I messed something up, however: it was almost impossible to work with. I have never attempted to maneuver such a slack dough before, and had a very difficult time doing so. It flowed so much it was practically liquid, and tore at the slightest provocation. For the second pizza of the evening, in fact, I gave up on trying to shape it on a peel, and instead pushed it into the pan directly, trying to work quickly so it didn't burn. I found that to be a more effective technique, though it still required some finesse and careful watching in the oven.

Chris, do you happen to have any photos of the dough? That would help the chefs diagnose the problem. They suspect that it either wasn't scaled out properly or not kneaded enough. On the top right of page 297 there is a photo of what the dough should look like. Did yours look like that?

Microwave eggplant recipe was amazing. The texture of eggplant was similar to that of melted mozzarela, not chewy, not bitter, not soggy, just a great canvas for tomatoe basil cheese flavours that we know work well together. Quick to do if you keep marinara sauce at ready, which you should bc is so versatile and tasty.

Question about the pc squash puree: does lemongrass go inside the pressure cooker as well? I could not figure it out from the recipe. I have made carrot soup before few times, reducing butter slightly bc i felt it was too rich for my taste. Other than that, I am a fan, and hope someone knows what to do with lemongrass. Planning to use it for the risotto recipe tonight.

I would guess yes ... I have a similar question about the cheeses in the PC broccoli recipe.

Look forward to trying the eggplant recipe soon

Yes, they both go in the pressure cooker.

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 trussing necessary!

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?

The total weight of the liquids should be 300 g. For example, if you are making the creme brulee recipe, you would add 150 g of milk and 150 g of cream.

We hope that helps some of you out and that you have a great weekend cooking out of MCAH!

[Chris Hennes]

Thanks for those responses, Judy. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of that particular attempt, and my later attempts have faired better, whether due to correct scaling, better kneading, or better handling, I don't know which. Case in point:

Genovese Pizza (p. 306)

I'll say it again: this pesto is just awesome. Please forgive the pale-looking crust, I didn't have time to properly preheat the oven today, so it wound up lighter than the last couple attempts. The taste was fantastic, however: I loved the brussels sprouts with the pesto and mozzarella. This is definitely on my regular pizza rotation.

[Merkinz]

Judy: Thanks for the input. It is fantastic to see some of the MCAH people answer some questions here. Overall I'm loving the book and having a great time cooking from it!

Chris: After reading your post about the pesto I decided to give it a crack and I totally agree with you! It simply tastes amazing. I didn't take any photos but I split it into three portions, froze two and plan to use one portion at a later date on a pizza like you've shown above. I'll take photos of that and I'm sure it'll be great.

[dhardy123]

I got my copy last week and bought a pressure cooker today. I decided to do the carmelized carrot soup as it seemed very popular. I followed the recipe and as it was cooking away, I read my pressure cooker booklet. It said that I should never have less than 250ml liquid when using it. The carrot soup turned out amazing but I am concerned that maybe the small amount of liquid somehow caused damage to my cooker? Has anyone ever heard of this 250ml liquid minimum?

I also did the vegetable risotto and it also turned out great.

So far I am happy with this new way of cooking. Are there any other must try pressure cooker recipes that are fairly easy for a newbie?

[Merkinz]

Dhardy: you didn't damage your pressure cooker. The worst that could happen with not enough liquid is it could scorch and burn the bottom of your pan. It'd be a pain to clean for sure but there would be no permanent damage.

I'd recomend you try the garlic confit, it's easy and the results are great. I use it as a pizza base sauce (thinly) and then pile mushrooms high on top. Delish!!! I made the pork belly Adobo (upthread) which I look forward to making again.

[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.

Interesting Enrique: I really like the parsley there. Yes, it was a lot, but I thought the flavor balance worked very well.

In that case, I'll try the whole amount next time! Thanks Chris

[EnriqueB]

Has anyone ever heard of this 250ml liquid minimum?

Pressure cookers can scorch and makers try to ensure against people using them in a wrong way by putting such things on the manual.

If it is a non-venting PC and you use the PC correctly, you can use much less than 250ml liquid without any problem. But you must ensure that there's no overpressure at any moment (as some steam would be lost), and also monitor times carefully.

For steaming vegetables in the PC for less than 10 minutes I never use more than 100ml of water. Caramelized soup from MC also use less liquid and they have never given me a problem.

[nickrey]

My copy arrived the other day.

First time cooking something from the book. Pressure-cooked Carnitas with Refried Bean Foam and Guacamole (the latter not from book).

Really tasty and loved the foam.

[Chris Hennes]

Arborio Rice with Caramelized Squash and Saffron (p. 330)

Another delicious "risotto" from MCaH: it looks like the MC team's almonds shaved into much prettier shreds than mine, but otherwise the recipe worked pretty much as written, with the usual modification of a bit longer cooking of the rice after it came out of the pressure cooker. The saffron flavor worked very nicely with the caramelized squash puree, I think that by itself would be a great soup.

ETA: I garnished mine with a red Hawaiian sea salt for a little visual interest.

[Twyst]

. The saffron flavor worked very nicely with the caramelized squash puree, I think that by itself would be a great soup.

Have to agree, the pressure cooker caramelization does magical things to squash. I've made the lemongrass/squash/coconut milk soup a couple of times already, It's just so easy and delicious.

[Merkinz]

What "Squash" are you lot using in these recipes? I always regarded the term as encompassing a variety of quite different vegetables. If you could link me to a photo of what you are using that would be most appreciated. Cheers.

[Chris Hennes]

I used a butternut: the recipe suggests either that or delicata.

[Twyst]

Butternut as well, its readily available here and is coming into season.

[Merkinz]

Ahhh excellent thanks. Butternut is usually available here tho I guess its out of season...

[rotuts]

Twyst:

' I've made the lemongrass/squash/coconut milk soup a couple of times already '

is that in MC@H ? on in the Main Tomes? I just got a ton of Lemon grass at my Sat Town Sq. market. enough to freeze for the winter. difficult to find in the MegaloMarts around here.

found it. sorry.

Edited October 21, 2012 by rotuts (log)

[lame username]

Mostly MCAH "B" Dinner: Broccoli-Gruyere Soup, Blue Cheese Sauce, and (Kenji's Ultimate Extra-Crispy Double Fried Confit) Buffalo Wings. I don't have enough sous vide capacity for the quantity of wings I wanted to use the MCAH recipe easily. This was a spontaneous dinner in response to a Buffalo wing craving, and dependent on my husband's tolerance for grocery shopping, so I didn't make the MCAH Buffalo sauce either and the plating is messy; hurry-up-I-want-my-wings. I think Kenji's Food Lab wings were a good substitute for, and in the spirit of, the MCAH wings. They stayed very crispy, even with my standard Buffalo sauce, and the recipe works for 4 lbs. of wings.

I tried both versions of the Blue Cheese Sauce, warm aerated and chilled. Both are great, but I like the contrast of the chilled sauce with the hot wings.

I didn't have hazelnuts, so I used toasted pumpkin seeds and thyme to garnish the soup. Loved it.

Edited October 21, 2012 by lame username (log)

[Wapi]

Time for my first MC/MCAH recipe, the "red wine glaze".

Browning the minced meat

Browning the vegetables in the fat of the minced meat. However, I rendered nowhere near 40g fat from my first batch, so I doubled the frying oil for the second batch.

Vegetables + tomato paste

Wine added and reduced

Added the rest of the ingrediënts (I did not have parsley so I used chives instead)

After 2 hours:

Filtered:

Reduced for 40 minutes. The recipe states that the result should be 100ml, but the flavors were already very strong so I stopped at 200ml.

Served with lamb (cooked sous vide at 61°c for 35 minutes), cauliflower puree and mushrooms.

The sauce is amazing, but quite costly and time consuming. However, the end result was amazing. This will without a doubt be the next dish I will make when someone comes around for dinner.

Edited October 22, 2012 by Mjx (log)

[Chris Hennes]

Potato Noodles (p. 270)

Has anyone tried making the Potato Noodles variation on p. 270? I tried making them tonight with limited success: the dough was quite soft and, while not quite "wet" per se, definitely wetter than a conventional pasta dough. Considering that the ratio of flours:liquids in this dough is about 350:240 (1.45:1), whereas the egg pasta is 436:200 (2.18:1) this isn't surprising, but I do wonder if the recipe is correct. The dough was workable, but it took a LOT of passes through the rollers to get it even close to smooth, and that was adding quite a bit of additional flour as I went.

ETA: Photo of the carbonara (I didn't use the MC recipe for the sauce, just for the pasta).

[nickrey]

While we're talking about potential errors. I made the brown pork stock for my carnitas. It is a variant on the brown beef stock (sorry away from books so no page number). The stated yield of 1 liter is more than the amount of liquid included in the recipe. I added additional water and it worked well.