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Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking

modernistcuisine.com

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Re: Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking

#121

Post by kevinmchugh »

agos wrote: post #118
kevinmchugh wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also do the Paulina Noah's Ark, and it's a great move for a summer bbq, sending out one variety of sausage at a time and letting people try all that sound interesting. Chicken breast is my favorite use for SV. I don't eat a lot of it, but my wife loves chicken salad, and it's nice for a green salad as well. Eating chicken breast that isn't dessicated is transformative. There's other ways to get there, but boy is SV…

is the Aviary Campari replacer from their book on non-alcoholic drinks? it's very interesting to me!

Yep! You'll need to buy half the spice shop, but it is really good. It's not quite as bitter and notably more vegetal, but it really hits the spot, especially in a spritz.

The Zero book from the Aviary is a lot more cookable than their original book, not as cookable as the summer or holiday books. The Campari replacement is really good, I've had less luck with the other liquor replacements.

There's a drink in there called the bramblin man that is probably my all time favorite N/A cocktail

Re: Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking

#122

Post by genewitch »

fmajid wrote: post #26
kjellsbells wrote: post #19

I dont understand the hate for this book. A very smart and wealthy man spent a lot of coin geeking out on a passion. Doesnt seem very different from Jay Leno and his garage or Tom Hanks and his typewriters. Compared to the ketamine and influence that our current billionaires spend their money on, it seems pretty harmless.

Because Myhrvold is the single most notorious patent troll, bar none.

Never sous vide your heros

Re: Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking

#123

Post by kevinmchugh »

tptacek wrote: post #109
kevinmchugh wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also do the Paulina Noah's Ark, and it's a great move for a summer bbq, sending out one variety of sausage at a time and letting people try all that sound interesting. Chicken breast is my favorite use for SV. I don't eat a lot of it, but my wife loves chicken salad, and it's nice for a green salad as well. Eating chicken breast that isn't dessicated is transformative. There's other ways to get there, but boy is SV…

How do I not know about Dave Arnold's mom's stuffing?!

It was featured on an episode of Dave Chang's recipe club podcast and it is really damn good. Forget fancy stuffing, this is what you want.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YueMZVAl9NMwORfXuxFl0iEN...

I have my notes somewhere but I think I did this in an 85C bath for an hour or something, then put it in a 13x9 in a hot oven with the turkey breast on top of it. I asked Dave on cooking issues for time and temp right before Thanksgiving last year and those about the direction he gave me.

The Parker house rolls are also really good, which is a shame because I already have a family recipe for dinner rolls and I'll have a revolt if I change it, and Dave's are easier.

Re: Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking

#124

Post by chongli »

linsomniac wrote: post #100
chongli wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. I have one and I love it! Everyone I recommend it to balks at the price however.

I get that, I spent a long time obsessing over the $100 ThermaPen One, because the $15 ones I had were "good enough". But, I'll tell you, it's quite a nice luxury for someone who cooks all the time. It just has all the rough edges removed: it's super fast, the display rotates, it does auto on/off, and the support has been superb. In this situation, I had to return it twice over the last year because of what turned ou…

The CI predictive thermometer actually does one better than the time@temp method for food safety. It integrates the temperature with respect to time (a method it calls SafeCook) and it does so with its estimate of the core temperature (based on which of the 8 sensors shows the slowest responding temp curve).

The previous comment about it being a cooking thermometer for nerds is bang on! I dunno how much it really helps improve my cooking but it gives me an incredible feeling of being in control! I love it!

Re: Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking

#125

Post by LargoLasskhyfv »

Moosdijk wrote: post #105
LargoLasskhyfv wrote: post #11

Does it show how to stay free, and/or reduce modernist contaminations, or is that intellectual venture part of the 'molecular kitchen'?

What do you mean?

Microplastics, VOCs, residual -ides, and so on, in the context of 'molecular kitchen'.

I mean, it's a lab. Can it be tailored to cut the crap?

Re: Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking

#126

Post by Agingcoder »

diego_moita wrote: post #115
Moosdijk wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're jumping to conclusions that aren't logical (at least not without you listing your assumptions that led to this post). There's more science to food than just nutrition and health. Also, that you can make tasty and healthy food without the technology you mentioned, does not exclude the technology from having a place in a kitchen. Lastly, how do you objectively define "weird obsession". Can you give some examples…

> There's more science to food than just nutrition and health. Maybe. But nutrition and health is what should mater the most, if you don't want to end up with a country of overweight people. > does not exclude the technology from having a place in a kitchen Certainly. From fridges and washing machines to food processors and electric stoves technology is more than welcome to the kitchen. But is always a cost/value cal…

At least the Arab world has a very wide range of dishes which require a large amount of preparation or require a fair amount of cooking time, so I would disagree with the ‘little preparation’ and ‘straight to the table’ descriptions you’re using. I’m most familiar with the Lebanese side of things , but I understand it translates to Morocco ( eg tagine, pastilla ) as well.

Now, this doesn’t invalidate your main point ( sophisticated tech is not a hard requirement for good food ) but afaik, some of the most famous dishes in the cuisines you listed do require specific equipment ( tagines, tandoors ) and don’t fall under the ‘ straight from the ground to the table ‘ umbrella.

Re: Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking

#127

Post by Wistar »

kjs3 wrote: post #76
Wistar wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not the SV circulator but the plastic vacuum bags folks are most worried about.

Which you don't have to use either, but that makes more sense.

It is hard to not use plastic vacuum bags for sous vide. Although there are re-usable silicon bags, such as stasher, they are — personal experience here — not very good for sous vide.

Re: Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking

#128

Post by m463 »

This reminds me of another book, "The 4 Hour Chef" by Tim Ferriss.

Is it the opposite of Modernist Cuisine?

I thought of it as practical, not theoretical. Like: learn to chop vegetables. and don't bother measuring stuff, learn how to grab a pinch of salt with your fingers quickly.

It struck me as interesting when the book tried not to be other cookbooks and tried to head off 'failure getting started'.

Re: Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking

#129

Post by wnissen »

yumraj wrote: post #42

Most cookbooks seem to optimize for taste. Are there any cookbooks that optimize for nutritional/health value of food with a reasonable emphasis on taste? Not looking to be just pointed to vegan cookbooks.

Cooking Light definitely does that, they have many volumes though it’s got a bit of a “generic American food” vibe.

“A New Way to Cook” was perhaps more ambitious than the content warranted, but Sally Schneider certainly knows how to get the best of out ingredients that are reasonably good for you.

https://books.google.com/books/about/A_New_Way_to_Cook.html?...

Re: Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking

#130

Post by kjs3 »

Wistar wrote: post #127
kjs3 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which you don't have to use either, but that makes more sense.

It is hard to not use plastic vacuum bags for sous vide. Although there are re-usable silicon bags, such as stasher, they are — personal experience here — not very good for sous vide.

Yes, I too have used a couple of different silicon bags as alternates. The stashers are barely usable, and the cheaper but more sous vide friendly are ok but are hard to clean if you're trying to reuse them. But is it about the heat transfer and stable temp, so anything that keeps what your cooking completely in liquid and can tolerate thermal expansion should work, right?
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