Medellitin

I am really loving 'Future Food' on Planet Green (10PM:EST/Tuesdays).  On each half hour episode, Chef Homaro Cantu and his chefs use modern cookery techniques to recycle abused product , creating fish dishes without using fish, and, on the most recent episode, solving world hunger . How would the Moto team solve world hunger?   Their answer begins with a peculiar fruit called "Miracle Fruit".  Miracle Fruit contains a taste chemical called... wait for it... Miraculin.   Miraculin is a taste modifier.  You put it on your tongue and sour/bitter flavors become sweeter.  There are a handful of taste modifiers out there, but miracle fruit is the easiest to come by. At first glance, it is easy to dismiss the idea that the power to make unappealing flavors delicious.  After all, if you are starving, does flavor play a huge role in what you eat?  I don't know.  I also don't know how nutritious crab apples and various weeds are.  Bu...

It has long been on my list to make that amazing slow roasted pork dish of the yucatan: cochinita pibil.    Soak pork or chicken in a marinade made with a base of brick red achiote, garlic and sour orange juice, boosted with powerful spices like cinnamon, allspice, and clove. After an overnight marinade, wrap everything up in a banana leaf package, and let it roast for hours.  Serve with pickled onions augmented with the smoldering habanero chile. Or in my case, toss it in a plastic bag, vacuum seal and put in a 146 degree waterbath for a two hours.  I was worried about several factors going into this: Would the fresh garlic create that plastic-y, overly garlicy flavor that it is known to do?   The answer is: nope! Would the flavor of the banana leaf transfer and would I like the flavor?   The flavor of the banana leaf did come through, and without any surprises!   Chicken isn't pork, and its leanness doesn't really let you do any magi...

Short rib is by far the most amazing ingredient to cook sous-vide.  One person's cheap, fatty cut of meat is another's delicious and cost effective cut.  The last one I made was done using a short rib, removed from the bone, some roasted garlic powder , salt, pepper and some thyme.  Dropped into the FreshMealsMagic controlled water bath set at 136F and then left to slowly cook over a period of 72 hours. Sous vide genuinely lets us do something magical here.  We can break down the chewy fats that are typically broken down by braising, while maintaining the rareness of the meat.  This is because collagen (our chewy enemy) will actually break down at lower temperatures, if we give it enough time.  I have done this a couple of times and there is no doubt that 72 hours is a HUGE improvement over 48 hours. For our obligatory money shot, Here we can see a morsel of short rib, seared in a hot pan, with a roasted poblano puree.

I have in my possession a FMM for evaluation purposes. I got about as far as making sure that everything arrived before I had some travel that took me far away from my kitchen.  Now I am back and ready to shift into overdrive on the FMM.  I am going to write up a test plan for this, but in the meantime, let's walk through the different components: BRAIN // The SVM 1500D PID Controller Input: Power via Outlet Input: Temperature of Water Via Temperature Probe Output: Power -> FMM This component regulates the temperature of the water bath via a temperature probe and power going to the FMM.  I promise I'll talk about the differences between the 1500D and previous models.   MUSCLE // The Fresh Meals Magic Bubbler and Heater Input: Power via the SVM Input: Air via the Airpump This is a submersible heater.  It is responsible for providing both heat and circulation via air bubbles. LUNGS // The Air P...

This picture demonstrates two things.  The first is that I continue to suck at food photography.  Second, my knife was too dull.  But I am not here to talk to you about the tuna, my knife skills or my photography skills.  The star of this show was the beans.   Technically, I think these beans were born out of the echos of the Internet.  First, I adapted the IdeasInFood pasta hydration technique for the beans.  echo. I took sorted and washed beans and soaked them in prosciutto stock.  After that, they went into a 180F water bath.  The flavor of the broth really came through, and the beans had an edamame like texture.  echo. After I had the beans, my mind went to Saltimbocca I had recently.  I diced up some fresh mozzarella and drizzled on some sage oil.  Prosciutto.  Then I open up my rss newsreader. echo.

On February 14, a fire broke out at Mugaritz , a modernist/progressive restaurant in San Sebastian, Spain.  While no one was injured or died in the fire, three stagieres lost their knives in the fire.  Stagieres are unpaid apprentices, and their knives were not covered by the restaurant's insurance.  This form of apprenticeship is also essential to both passing down the craft and also to keep many top restaurants running.  This might not seem like a big deal to you, but let's remember that these stagieres are unpaid , probably didn't have a lot of money to begin with, need knives to continue down their career path, and that quality knives are expensive . Which is why I was really psyched to see that Doc Sconz set up a fund over at first giving to help these cooks land on their feet. As of 7:45PM EST on February 24th, 2010, Doc, through Slow Food USA has raised $485.00.  My goal is to triple it in a single week.  Here is how you can help: Do...

I love gizmodo .  So, it is extremely frustrating to see a Gizmodo food review for a Sous Vide product that could have been a lot better.  While I am sure my review has plenty of flaws, and I am sure this will result in me having thrown stones in my own glass house, I just couldn't let this go. Most of the review is really spent dissecting sous vide as a method of cooking and not the actual appliance.  For each protein the author reviews,  he discusses the advantages and disadvantages, which really has nothing to do with the SousVide Supreme.  He then ends each protein review with a rating of "Worth It / Draw / Not Worth It" ratings based on whether or not it produces the best results .  I fundamentally disagree with this approach because there isn't a singular best result for a given protein.  Another issue with this approach is that it is biased by the author's skill in the kitchen. Did I mention that none of this has anything to do with the ...