Modernist Cooking

The Late Night Gourmet

The Late Night Gourmet

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[Mod.Edit: post copied from another thread to start new topic.]

paulbutten said:
I'm a big fan of precision cooking and molecular gastronomy. I'm obsessed with tools like sous-vide and other next generation smart-cooking appliances that help us home chefs do a better job with less effort.

Anyone out there into the science of cooking as well?
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Yes, though I've given myself a bit of a break from such things lately. Even though what you say is correct about such cooking tools making things easier in some ways, I've found that there's actually a lot more work that goes into some of these techniques. For example, here are the steps involved in cooking a chicken fillet sous vide:
  1. find a seasoning blend I like
  2. unpack my vacuum sealer
  3. measure the amount of plastic sheeting I need, then seal the chicken inside
  4. set up the sous vide machine
  5. fill a pot of water with ping pong balls (for those who think I'm kidding, check out my ultimate lunacy with my Sous Vide Beef Brisket Bourguignon)
  6. operate the sous vide machine
  7. come back the next day and remove the chicken from the bag
  8. If I wanted to add a char to the chicken, I would then heat up a pan and cook it
Or, I could do steps 1 & 8 and skip the rest, and I'll have dinner in a matter of minutes.

But, I did start this thread about cooking gadgets. I have gotten a sous vide machine and a mortar and pestle since I posted that. And, J. Kenji Lopez Alt is probably my favorite chef (and his Serious Eats site is probably my favorite cooking site).
 
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I've dabbled - I've got a sous-vide (under used) and I've attempted 'caviar' spheres. My lates thing is foams/espumas and I recently bought an espuma maker. Great fun!
 
CraigC said:
Cooking in a bag was available in the late '60s. My mom used to by "Boil in Bag" products for her diet.:ohmy:
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Its not quite the same thing though. Sous vide cooks very long and at very low temperatures in a hermetically sealed pouch, whereas 'boil in the bag' is simply a way of re-heating usually already cooked foods for convenience. The long slow sealed cooking achieves results that are (apparently) wonderful. It not only tenderises but intensifies flavour. @epicuric is most experienced of us here at this... I'm a novice.
 
I'll never cook with that method. I'm not convinced it intensifies flavor. Maybe it increases tenderness, but there are other ways of achieving that, which also intensifies flavor.
 
CraigC said:
I'll never cook with that method. I'm not convinced it intensifies flavor. Maybe it increases tenderness, but there are other ways of achieving that, which also intensifies flavor.
Click to expand...

There are lots of ways to achieve intensified flavour and tenderness. Who knows unless you try it? And I haven't tried it enough yet to be definitive on that!
 
CraigC said:
Cooking in a bag was available in the late '60s. My mom used to buy "Boil in Bag" products for her diet.:ohmy:
Click to expand...

Wife used to buy beef in a bag with gravy, it was actually quite nice, but then I kicked her out of the kitchen about 30 years ago. I still make it now with leftover beef, I slice it then make a gravy and add the meat and heat through. It's popular here. My gravy is pretty good.

Russ
 
CraigC said:
Cooking in a bag was available in the late '60s. My mom used to buy "Boil in Bag" products for her diet.:ohmy:
Click to expand...


The old term or technology was the Daisy Seal-a-Meal. Then came Roast N' Boast. Our mom used to get that to cook a roast. Came with its own roasting bag & seasonings. You just add the veggies. Then out came the vacuum seal bags. Every company made them. They let you store foods in the freezer without the chances of the cold air eventually destroying them. :wink:
 
CraigC said:
I'll never cook with that method. I'm not convinced it intensifies flavor. Maybe it increases tenderness, but there are other ways of achieving that, which also intensifies flavor.
Click to expand...
It does. Whilst vacuum sealed in a bag the flavour has nowhere to go, unlike roasting, grilling or boiling. Yes, you can replace the flavour using other methods - rubs, seasoning or the maillard effect of searing, but that's not quite the same thing as intensifying the natural flavour. As for tenderising, it's probably the same as you get with your BBQ set-ups, low and slow, breaking down the connective tissues, except they are all sealed in the bag. It's also very low maintenance cooking, mostly with precise, predictable results, hence the reference to molecular gastronomy.
 
The Late Night Gourmet said:
[Mod.Edit: post copied from another thread to start new topic.]



Yes, though I've given myself a bit of a break from such things lately. Even though what you say is correct about such cooking tools making things easier in some ways, I've found that there's actually a lot more work that goes into some of these techniques. For example, here are the steps involved in cooking a chicken fillet sous vide:
  1. find a seasoning blend I like
  2. unpack my vacuum sealer
  3. measure the amount of plastic sheeting I need, then seal the chicken inside
  4. set up the sous vide machine
  5. fill a pot of water with ping pong balls (for those who think I'm kidding, check out my ultimate lunacy with my Sous Vide Beef Brisket Bourguignon)
  6. operate the sous vide machine
  7. come back the next day and remove the chicken from the bag
  8. If I wanted to add a char to the chicken, I would then heat up a pan and cook it
Or, I could do steps 1 & 8 and skip the rest, and I'll have dinner in a matter of minutes.

But, I did start this thread about cooking gadgets. I have gotten a sous vide machine and a mortar and pestle since I posted that. And, J. Kenji Lopez Alt is probably my favorite chef (and his Serious Eats site is probably my favorite cooking site).
Click to expand...
I've have died of starvation by the time I got to step 7.
My most modern kitchen implement is a stick blender :whistling:
 
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