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Mellow, the robotic sous-chef

cookmellow.com

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Re: Mellow, the robotic sous-chef

#151

Post by DanBC »

anologwintermut wrote: post #57
mattmaroon wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You also have to do it very quickly due to anaerobic pathogens like Clostridium botulinum and Listeria monocytogenes. I don't think it's possible for something that fits comfortably in a kitchen and runs on a 120v line.

What if you flushed the container with cold water? Seems easy enough to rig it to a cold water line and have a hose going into the sink to dump the hot water.

This is really easy to experiment with. Hard boil a few eggs (using convetional boiling water in a pan) and then see how quickly you can cool that egg.

They hold onto heat for a surprisingly long time.

Re: Mellow, the robotic sous-chef

#152

Post by tptacek »

ahh wrote: post #149
tptacek wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Noooooooo. Food is not similar to a braise. The point of low-temp cooking (sous vide is low temp under a hard vacuum) is that the cook locks in a perfect temperature for the food and the water bath never exceeds that temperature. In practice, you aim never to exceed the temperature at which the protein expels all the water from the food; think: absolutely perfectly cooked steak --- or, more magically, think a short r…

Can you elaborate a bit on the risotto? I've never gotten a clear answer on how that's supposed to work.

The premise is amylopectin retrogradation. Heat a starch to the point where it breaks up and liberates its network of amylopectin. Cool it, and the starch crystallizes in a much stronger structure. Heat it again, or (in the case of, say, potatoes) beat the hell out of them in a blender, and they'll retain their structure; they become somewhat bulletproof.

Retrograded arborio is stable enough that you can dump boiling liquid onto it, stir it, reduce the liquid, and end up with perfect risotto --- rather than carefully tempering the rice with small amounts of slowly stirred liquid. Hence: 7 minute risotto.

It turns out you can also simply hydrate risotto rice (soak it in cold liquid for a couple hours) and do the same thing to it, but it doesn't hold long term the way the retrograded risotto does.

These ideas are due to Ideas in Food, a really amazing blog. The authors have published a couple of books; their first (I think it's just "Ideas In Food") is one of my favorite cooking books.

Re: Mellow, the robotic sous-chef

#153

Post by tptacek »

eric_the_read wrote: post #113
tptacek wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Starch retrogradation is neat, but you can do it with a normal circulator really easily. (I'm partial to the IiF 7 minute risotto trick). What's the win with potatoes while I'm at work? I haven't done potatoes in the circulator successfully yet.

I read the IiF article, and maybe I'm just a newbie with sous vide, but I don't get how you parcook the rice. Based on this thread and other articles, I'm guessing you soak the rice in water first, at room temp, and then stick it in a bag in the water bath?

No, you cook the rice at ~150f or so, then cool it, then cook it a second time in boiling stock on a stovetop.

Re: Mellow, the robotic sous-chef

#154

Post by zemvpferreira »

rrhoover wrote: post #148
zemvpferreira wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We also have a thread full of great questions on PH: http://www.producthunt.co/posts/mellow

Best Product Hunt AMA yet.

Thank you! Happy to field questions wherever I find a smart audience.

Re: Mellow, the robotic sous-chef

#155

Post by dunham »

zemvpferreira wrote: post #131
thenomad wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks - I've been looking for a good prep method for chicken thighs. I'll give that one a go.

Let me know how you like the results - ze@fnvlabs.com . I'd be happy to dig out my notebooks and check the times/temperatures for you, too.

Are you using bone-in thighs or do you bone them out first?

Re: Mellow, the robotic sous-chef

#156

Post by zemvpferreira »

satiani wrote: post #118

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Happy to say we should be fully secure now, all the traffic is going through SSL-hosted pages. I can't thank you enough for bringing this to our attention.

Could I ask you one more favor? Would you check to see if we're as safe as possible now?

Re: Mellow, the robotic sous-chef

#157

Post by tptacek »

mattmaroon wrote: post #146
tptacek wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You still use duck fat, but you only need a 1/5th as much. I don't SV eggs all that often; it's easier to poach or sunny-side-up them conventionally for me. In particular, I can't fucking stand peeling eggs.

Oh man, I love the 75°C egg. You don't have to peel it, just crack it. (If you use crappy eggs though, the outer white does stick to the shell.)

75C is a hard-set yolk, right? Blech. :)

Re: Mellow, the robotic sous-chef

#158

Post by eric_the_read »

tptacek wrote: post #153
eric_the_read wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read the IiF article, and maybe I'm just a newbie with sous vide, but I don't get how you parcook the rice. Based on this thread and other articles, I'm guessing you soak the rice in water first, at room temp, and then stick it in a bag in the water bath?

No, you cook the rice at ~150f or so, then cool it, then cook it a second time in boiling stock on a stovetop.

So that first time, the rice is dry? I would not have thought to try that at all.

Re: Mellow, the robotic sous-chef

#159

Post by [deleted] »

zemvpferreira wrote: post #89
bullfight wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just wanted to point out on the prep part and American families. The time invested in prep for a device like this is hardly different that prepping a meal and throwing it in a crock pot before work. Crock pots are fantastically popular cooking devices found in almost every American's (middle america especially) kitchen and used on a regular basis. Personally I have no experience with sous-vide nor am I very familia…

Thank you bullfight, the comparison between sous-vide and crockpots is very adequate. I'd say sous-vide is crock-potting taken to the extreme. Sorry if the video wasn't very friendly for people unfamiliar with sous-vide.

[deleted]

Re: Mellow, the robotic sous-chef

#160

Post by bullfight »

zemvpferreira wrote: post #89
bullfight wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just wanted to point out on the prep part and American families. The time invested in prep for a device like this is hardly different that prepping a meal and throwing it in a crock pot before work. Crock pots are fantastically popular cooking devices found in almost every American's (middle america especially) kitchen and used on a regular basis. Personally I have no experience with sous-vide nor am I very familia…

Thank you bullfight, the comparison between sous-vide and crockpots is very adequate. I'd say sous-vide is crock-potting taken to the extreme. Sorry if the video wasn't very friendly for people unfamiliar with sous-vide.

I still liked the video, it certainly peaked my interest.

I happened to be on my phone so I missed or ignored the section about sous-vide basics, which helped alleviate some of my ignorance.

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