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"Modernist Cuisine" by Myhrvold, Young & Bilet (Part 3)

ShaneH

By ShaneH
in Cookbooks & References

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Volition

Volition

Posted
Posted

Looks to me that it is for sure a new book apart from MC. I am so excited I'm interested to see what ideas they came up with on the techniques in MC. Especiallt the WHipping Siphon and Pressure Cooker stuff. No wait everytjing, custards. Oh no. I spent a fortune on MC the book. Then MC the equipment, what now. I have children to raise.

In addition I would love the corrections to be listed by edition of printing. I started to go through them and they were mostly fixed. It would take forever to go through. Has anyone by anychance seperated the corrections into Print editions?

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Shalmanese

Shalmanese

Posted
Posted

It seems like there was a break-in to the Modernist Cuisine servers last night and a confidential 24 month product roadmap was leaked:

MODERNIST CUISINE INC - PRODUCT ROADMAP 2012 - 2013

This document contains sensitive information

Spring 2012

Modernist Cuisine at Home 450pp RRP $139.95

Summer 2012

The Modernist Pantry: A Quick Reference Guild to Ingredients and Equipment 300pp RRP $49.95

Fall 2012

Modernist Cuisine, Compact Edition 1000pp RRP $149.95

Winter 2012

Modernist Bread 900pp RRP $199.95

Modernist Pastry 1300pp RRP $249.95

Spring 2013

Modernist Cuisine in 30 Minutes 400pp RRP $79.95

Celebrity Chefs Cook Modernist 250pp RRP $79.95

The Illustrated Modernist Cuisine 300pp RRP $39.95

Summer 2013

Modernist Cuisine at Work 300pp RRP $49.95

Modernist Cuisine on the Road 300pp RRP $49.95

Modernist Cuisine at the Beach 300pp RRP $49.95

100 Best Modernist Grilling Recipes 300pp RRP $49.95

Fall 2013

Modernist Cuisine for Kids 200pp RRP $19.95

The Modernist Zone Diet 300pp RRP $39.95

Six Pack Abs, The Modernist Way 250pp RRP $39.95

Modernist Healing, Revealing the Ancient Secrets behind Modernist Cuisine 100pp RRP $69.95

The Modernist Wok Cookbook 300pp RRP $29.95

The Modernist Tagine Cookbook 300pp RRP $29.95

Modernist Cuisine in 15 Minutes 150pp RRP $29.95

The "I Hate to Cook Modernist" Modernist Cookbook 400pp RRP $39.95

Raw Modernist, Unleashed! 250pp RRP $49.95

Winter 2013

Post-Modernist Cuisine: Why Modernist Cuisine is now Obsolete 6000pp RRP $999.95

PS: I am a guy.

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DanM

DanM

Posted
Posted (edited)

It seems like there was a break-in to the Modernist Cuisine servers last night and a confidential 24 month product roadmap was leaked:

MODERNIST CUISINE INC - PRODUCT ROADMAP 2012 - 2013

This document contains sensitive information

Spring 2012

Modernist Cuisine at Home 450pp RRP $139.95

Summer 2012

The Modernist Pantry: A Quick Reference Guild to Ingredients and Equipment 300pp RRP $49.95

Fall 2012

Modernist Cuisine, Compact Edition 1000pp RRP $149.95

Winter 2012

Modernist Bread 900pp RRP $199.95

Modernist Pastry 1300pp RRP $249.95

Spring 2013

Modernist Cuisine in 30 Minutes 400pp RRP $79.95

Celebrity Chefs Cook Modernist 250pp RRP $79.95

The Illustrated Modernist Cuisine 300pp RRP $39.95

Summer 2013

Modernist Cuisine at Work 300pp RRP $49.95

Modernist Cuisine on the Road 300pp RRP $49.95

Modernist Cuisine at the Beach 300pp RRP $49.95

100 Best Modernist Grilling Recipes 300pp RRP $49.95

Fall 2013

Modernist Cuisine for Kids 200pp RRP $19.95

The Modernist Zone Diet 300pp RRP $39.95

Six Pack Abs, The Modernist Way 250pp RRP $39.95

Modernist Healing, Revealing the Ancient Secrets behind Modernist Cuisine 100pp RRP $69.95

The Modernist Wok Cookbook 300pp RRP $29.95

The Modernist Tagine Cookbook 300pp RRP $29.95

Modernist Cuisine in 15 Minutes 150pp RRP $29.95

The "I Hate to Cook Modernist" Modernist Cookbook 400pp RRP $39.95

Raw Modernist, Unleashed! 250pp RRP $49.95

Winter 2013

Post-Modernist Cuisine: Why Modernist Cuisine is now Obsolete 6000pp RRP $999.95

You Missed the two books from the Religious Catalog...

Modernist Cuisine: Lessons from the Amish 2500pp $379.99

Modernist Cuisine: Making Trayfe Foods Kosher 750pp $99.99

And hidden deep in the code of the website...

Post-Modernist Cuisine: Experiments in Soylent Green 350pp $66.66

;)

Edited by DanM (log)

"Salt is born of the purest of parents: the sun and the sea." --Pythagoras.

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nathanm

nathanm

Posted
Posted (edited)

Here are some comments direct from the horse's mouth (or maybe the other end, you decide).

MCAH is basically all new material. A few of the most popular recipes from MC are carried over, like mac and cheese, but even these have been re-done to be easier to make in a home kitchen.

If you already have MC, then we think of this as being like volume 6 - i.e. a volume covering home cuisine. There is very little duplication of topics between MC and MCAH - about the only ones I can think of are some coverage of sous vide technique, and some basic recipes like stocks, but even there the MCAH versions are different and adapted for the home.

At the same time, we didn't dumb down MCAH. Our recipes have a similar style, but we always have a traditional-equipment variation, and the recipes generally do not use hard to obtain ingredients. We do use Xanthan gum, but that is in nearly every supermarket. We did a lot of recipe testing to make sure that the supermarket grade of xanthan (and other ingredients).

The recipes are also not quite as highbrow as MC. For example we have a whole chapter on chicken wings and related snacks like satay and tsukune. We have a chapter on chicken noodle soup. MC covers a wide range of foods, but many of the recipes are either adapted from, or inspired by food at restaurants like Alinea, elBulli or per se. MCAH does not cover formal or high end dishes

For dessert lovers we have a whole chapter on custards and pies. We still have not tackled pastry baking and dessert, but we thought that we needed to have something sweet in the book.

People who don't own MC will find that MCAH is a pretty complete set of basic cooking techniques, and then a lot of great recipes that let you try modernist approaches without all of the equipment or equipment. As people on eGullet knows, thousands of home cooks cook from MC; you don't have to be a professional to use the big book. Nevertheless the reality is that MC was was too intimidating for some folks. MCAH will be a much more gentle introduction to modernist cuisine.

It also has a much lower price point. The list price is $140. I don't have any control over the actual street price but I suspect that it will get a bit deeper discount than has occured with MC. There have been some questions in the thread about the Amazon price - when I looked today it was at list price, but one thing to keep in mind is that if you pre-order the book on Amazon (or Barnes and Noble), they honor the lowest price between the time you order it and the book arrives. That means that if the price dips you get the benefit. I would be very surprised if the book isn't discounted between now and the ship date in October.

Not only is the absolute cost of MCAH much less than MC, but it is also less expensive on a relative basis - MCAH costs less per page, or per recipe, than MC does. That said, it is not a cut-price book. We took the same high quality oriented production approach as for MC - the same thick paper, chroma-centric inks and other things that we did to make MC a great looking book.

We are all very excited by the new book, and we hope you will be too. I will try to sporadically check in on the thread to answer questions.

Edited by nathanm (log)

Nathan

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ScottyBoy

ScottyBoy

Posted
Posted (edited)

Fantastic. So many people ask me if they have to go to culinary school before they get into the profesional game. I used to say no, just stage at a restaurant.

I now direct them towards a $450 education in your books. On top of that now there's a primer that my clients won't think is too much of an investment.

It's hard sometimes to convince people just how much basic info there is in these volumes and not just modern cuisine. The first two should be required reading in most culinary schools.

Edited by ScottyBoy (log)

Sleep, bike, cook, feed, repeat...

Chef Facebook HQ Menlo Park, CA

My eGullet Foodblog

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Twyst

Twyst

Posted
Posted

It's hard sometimes to convince people just how much basic info there is in these volumes and not just modern cuisine. The first two should be required reading in most culinary schools.

Ive stopped even trying to argue with people now. Some people are just dead set against these books, but its their loss.

I honestly think I learned more from modernist cuisine than I did in culinary school ><

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Keith_W

Keith_W

Posted
Posted

I for one, AM very excited about this new book. Much as I loved MC, it is virtually impossible to obtain all the toys and ingredients as a serious hobbyist. I will never own a centrifuge, nor will I dare to handle liquid nitrogen at home, and so on. I understand that MC was meant as a treatise for the ultimate in food preparation and was never aimed at hobbyists, but I enjoyed reading it, much the same as I enjoy reading about cars I can't afford in car magazines. So good on you for spotting the hole in the market and preparing a book which most of us can aspire to use. I can't wait to get my copy and start cooking from it.

By the way Nathan - I hope you are preparing another MC for desserts and pastry. The introduction of MC hints at another book to cover this. We are waiting :)

There is no love more sincere than the love of food - George Bernard Shaw
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rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted (edited)

Nathan: I cant thank you enough for taking the time out of your busy life to add to this thead. So many thanks! :biggrin:

I have print 2 of MC and enjoy reading it regularly. I confess I havent made that many items out of it, but ive taken your ideas and added it to some day-to-day cooking that suits me, especially my personal studies on SV meat.

I also appreciate the e-mail MC Cooking New Recipes. Thanks again to you and your team for this. They are consistently stunning.

I look forward to MC at Home and plan to get it at Amazon with the Kudos to eGullet.

I follow the British show Great British Menu, now in its 7th season. Top British Chefs compete for a week and one goes on to the finals and 4 dishes are selected for the 'themed banquet' this year of course its the Olympics.

I love it when they use Modernist Techniques and I try to Spy Down there cooking equipment and personal knives.

This year in the 6th week a Chef used an evaporator: it was as Buchi with two large digital controllers at eye height. I fortunately did not see it at the Buchi site, about 8 k for this. But well, two might be good: one for Cuisine and one for eau de vie.

You may enjoy this tid-bit: the chef in question could not get the flask to lower to the water bath. Everything else seemed fine. It was on but no go: he frantically called his kitchen, smartly on an iPhone and got them to call the distributor. Somewhat Red-Cheeked he was told to properly pug it in! Perhaps it had two plug: one for the display and one for the mechanical parts.

:laugh:

Edited by rotuts (log)
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OliverB

OliverB

Posted
Posted

First I thought it'll be a condensed version of MC, but apparently it's all new or mostly new stuff, and I have to make some room next to MC for it in the near future. But, do I get it when new, like I did with MC? And it's errors? Or wait for the 2nd printing? I still wish I could at least get an updated (2nd printing) kitchen manual for my first edition books, having to deal with a very large book, a manual, AND an error list is not all that convenient.

Other than that, I'm quite excited about this new book! I don't mind spending hours in the kitchen, but having a selection of recipes that rely on the same technical background but might shorten prep time is good for a family of four :-)

I'll definitely be getting this! I'd also get the Modernist Bread from the "leaked" list (got me there for a while, LOL) and since Nathan is great at bbq, I'd not mind a (not necessarily modernist) bbq book....

"And don't forget music - music in the kitchen is an essential ingredient!"

- Thomas Keller

Diablo Kitchen, my food blog

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Shalmanese

Shalmanese

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Posted

I will never own a centrifuge, nor will I dare to handle liquid nitrogen at home, and so on.

Liquid Nitrogen is, in reality, pretty tame. They let us handle it in high school with just some basic safety instructions. As MC points out, in many ways, LN2 is less dangerous than hot oil and we think nothing of using that in the kitchen all the time.

PS: I am a guy.

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teonzo

teonzo

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Posted

For dessert lovers we have a whole chapter on custards and pies. We still have not tackled pastry baking and dessert, but we thought that we needed to have something sweet in the book.

I really hope you will publish a volume (or more!) on pastry and baking.

Teo

Teo

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gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted (edited)

Check out Ideas in Food http://www.amazon.com/Ideas-Food-Great-Recipes-They/dp/0307717402/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381769097&sr=8-1&keywords=ideas+in+food. More good stuff vaguely in the MC vein.

Also studiokitchen.com from the incomparable Shola.

I'd love to hear updates about your project.

Edited by gfweb (log)
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Twyst

Twyst

Posted
Posted

They have a brand new book out as well

http://www.amazon.com/Maximum-Flavor-Recipes-That-Change/dp/0770433219/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1381881285&sr=1-1&keywords=maximum+flavor

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