Modernist Cuisine *****


 

JimH TX

TVWBB Pro
I just read an interesting article in the WSJ about a new set of cook books written by a former Microsoft IT guy. A lot of it might be nothing new to some of the more experienced here, I found it interesting.

Modernist Cuisine
 
Thanks for the link. I heard some coworkers talking about the book and wasn't sure if I should believe them. I think the book is a case of too much information. I don't know what I'd do with a 2400 page cookbook.
 
I like to read a lot, and this looks like something I would like to spend some time with.

Problem #2 is something that I always run into from the get-go, so that little hint was interesting.

Thanks Jim.

Tim
 
Interesting article. I'd love to have this. Don't think I can swing the $625 price tag though. If any of you get it can I borrow it after you have read it?
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nice link. That's an amazing chunk of information, I can only imagine that those that can afford it will share some of the info and it will trickle to us all, through the web.

Someone here, in the bbq section, posted a link to a thread that discussed the cooking stall being caused by a "wet bulb effect." Nathan M had a ton of good info in that thread and I think he mentioned something about how this info was to be in his new book.
 
I guess it makes sense that this author, Nathan M, would be discussing bbq on egullet. I just read how he's part of a bbq team that has competed and done well at MIM.

I read the amazon specs for the book set and there were some parts that seemed pertinent to the readers of tvwb:

Stunning new photographic techniques take the reader inside the food to see cooking in action all the way from microscopic meat fibers to an entire Weber grill in cross-section.

Many invaluable features include:

* Insights into the surprising science behind traditional food preparation methods such as grilling, smoking, and stir-frying
 
Game changing? That's what they said about the Segway when it was introduced.

a little media hyperbole doesn't negate the fact that these books look to be filled with original ideas that nobody else has the time or money to figure out.
 
I really find the science behind cooking interesting; it helps me understand how and why things work in the kitchen. What I don't understand is how a tech genius like Myhrvold seriously thinks he can sell a 6 volume set to the common man. Maybe he's not shooting for that market, but why spend that much time and self-publish? Go paperless man! And this comes from someone in the printing industry. The days of successfully marketing huge publications like that went out with the paper Encylopedia Britanica. Load that bad boy on a Nook.

Paul
 
What I don't understand is how a tech genius like Myhrvold seriously thinks he can sell a 6 volume set to the common man. Maybe he's not shooting for that market, but why spend that much time and self-publish? Go paperless man!

I know what you're thinking, I wish it was more affordable myself, or broken down and sold as smaller books.

Basically, I think they guy isn't looking to make money. Its more like his opus and he wants it done to his standards. If you read up on the back story, he couldn't get a single publisher to buy the book the way he wanted it printed.
 
Anyone buy the book yet? Those tax refunds are coming and I think you'll get free shipping from Amazon.

Ruhlman did a review in the Times. Read it here.

A taste of Ruhlman's review:
I will get this out of the way fast. The text, and there is a lot of it, is proficient and as compelling as my high school science textbooks. But artful prose is not the point. While the quantity of aspirin required to read this straight through can be measured in thousands of milligrams, the goal was clarity and thoroughness, and the information is indeed clear, sound and, if anything, too thorough.
 
I haven't picked it up, just due to cost but probably will bite the bullet eventually. I have been following the thread on egullet where they have been cooking out of it though. Pretty neat stuff. The Mac and cheese really intrigues me.

Clark
 
A link with other links for anyone interested in current agricultural movements and studies.

aw, man...Ruhlman says the books contain:

Volume 5 includes fabulous barbecue sauces and dry rubs with no unfamiliar ingredients.

can we get them without dropping $450?
 
Originally posted by j biesinger:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">A link with other links for anyone interested in current agricultural movements and studies.

aw, man...Ruhlman says the books contain:

Volume 5 includes fabulous barbecue sauces and dry rubs with no unfamiliar ingredients.

can we get them without dropping $450? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Maybe a group buy can get us a 90% discount.
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Jeff - I just posted the question to see if someone is willing to share the info.....I'll post it here if someone is!

The link for the post on the folks cooking through the book, with lots of pictures and recipes is here. Just ignore where they start talking about brisket and one of our members is on here. Slightly dissing our forum and claiming people on here are telling him to cook his brisket at 450 degrees.....like I say just skip that part. I noticed it late so couldn't respond.

For the recipe here you go (these are not ingredients you will have at home)....This is all from Chris Hennes at Egullet so not my info but and I quote.....

No, this isn't some kind of play on words, or a joke-recipe, or some kind of fascinating modernist creation. It's just macaroni and cheese. This recipe is a clear demonstration that while you can use modernist ingredients to create some really crazy stuff, you can also apply them to simply take a classic dish and make it better. And believe me when I say it: this version of mac and cheese is so vastly, clearly superior to anything I've ever had it is mind boggling.

There are two keys to the dish, both related to problems with the original: the first is that when you make a cheese sauce with a bechamel base, you have to use a LOT of bechamel, and there is a limit to how much cheese you can add before it breaks. This winds up diluting the cheese flavor, and is part of the reason I would never consider making a traditional mac and cheese with a really great cheese: its subtlety would simply be lost, and you'd gain nothing over using a simpler cheese. The second key is that not only does bechamel dilute the cheese flavor purely by volume, it also has poor "flavor release" compared to, say, carageenan: the book spends a great deal of time talking about this sort of thing, and it's very helpful for understanding why these techniques work as well as they do.

So, the modernist version of the dish does away with the bechamel base: instead, you make a small amount of a solution of beer, water, sodium citrate (to emulsify the cheese) and carrageenan (the thicken the sauce). You then melt a huge quantity of excellent cheese into it (I used Cabot clothbound cheddar and Roomano Pradera Gouda), in effect making your own processed cheese block. You chill it down until you literally have a block of processed cheese more or less the consistency of Velveeta, and then you shred it. The pasta is cooked in just enough water for it to absorb, and then the shredded cheese product is stirred in. You wind up with a mac and cheese the same texture as if you had used Velveeta: perfectly, flawlessly smooth. Except it tastes incredibly intensely like the best cheeses in the world! Perhaps you have gathered here that I rather liked the stuff
 
Already got a response....
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What sort of information are you looking for? I made the South Carolina BBQ sauce here, and the BBQ info in all the volumes is quite good. Only one of the BBQ sauces requires a centrifuge
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I've clarified for a bit more info but it appears there is a lot.....

Clark
 
One more response for tonight, not really looking forward to finding out the exact recipes now (myself anyways)

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They provide recipes for two different BBQ-specific rubs, the "Kansas Rub" and the "Memphis Rub" -- the Kansas is mostly brown sugar, and the Memphis is paprika-based. Neither have anything "exotic" in them.
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