Monthly Archives: February 2011

Modernist Cuisine At Home: Pea Butter

28 Monday Feb 2011

Posted by in centrifuge, MC at home, recipes

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Pea Butter

Recently, in a laboratory outside Seattle, I ate a piece of buttered toast that I will remember for the rest of my life. The bread itself was not extraordinary, but it was spread thickly with the brightest-green butter I’ve ever seen. It was not true butter, but rather an extract of pure green peas. Fresh peas are blended to a puree, then spun in a centrifuge at 13 times the force of gravity. The force separates the puree into three discrete layers: on the bottom, a bland puck of starch; on the top, vibrant-colored, seductively sweet pea juice; and separating the two, a thin layer of the pea’s natural fat, pea-green and unctuous.

– Paul Adams, Future of food: Drinkable bagels and beyond

As the first reviews began coming out from the 30 course dinners held by the Modernist Cuisine team, everyone mentioned the pea butter in particular.  A pretty simple recipe, you take pureed peas and spin them in a centrifuge to extract the pea fat.  I gave it a shot at my house, taking a can of peas, blending them, and spinning them for 30 minutes.  Nothing good came of it and the layers did not seem to separate.  I was stumped.

Luckily, I was able to talk with chefs Maxime Bilet and Anjana Shanker at the Modernist Cuisine book launch and they were able to clarify a few things for me:

  1. Use frozen peas
  2. Blend them with nothing else
  3. Spin for 90 minutes

That seems simple enough.  So I went home and went at it.

Visualize Whirled Peas

Peas, Unspun

Peas, Unspun

The chefs recommended a bag of high quality organic peas.  My local store had Kroger brand.  Well, hey, I gotta start somewhere.  I brought home a bag and threw them in the Vita-Mix for their first spin of the day.  It ended up being a very bright green frozen powder.  I put the pea dust into one of my centrifuge containers and filled the rest of the containers with water as counterweights.

Frozen Pea Dust
Peas Ready For A Whirl

When talking with Chef Shanker, I asked how powerful their centrifuge was that she used for the pea butter, and she said it was 10,000 g’s.  So I had to calculate how long mine would spin at, since my centrifuge only goes to 1520 g’s.  Since the relationship is linear it’s straightforward to figure out:

10000/1520 = 6.58
6.58 x 90 = 592 min.
592/60 = 9.9 hours

Ten hours in the centrifuge?  Mm.  I started around 3pm and didn’t feel like waiting until 1am to see the results.  So I decided 5 hours was plenty.

Pea-Minus Countdown To Launch
'Fuge RPM

She also mentioned that it was good that I had a refrigeration unit attached. The reason is two fold: 1) so the food doesn’t cook; and 2) it keeps the pellet together, providing better separation.  I checked my centrifuge temperature with and without the refrigeration unit.  Without, the chamber got to 124F. With the unit turned on, it was at about 70F.  So a significant difference to be sure.

Pea Parts

And after five hours, I pulled out the peas and saw the results.  Three separate layers: a pellet of pea meat, a thin layer of pea fat and a supernate of pea water.

Pea Parts

One thing to note is look at the bottom of the container as compared to the photo of it prior to spinning.  Five hours in the centrifuge completely distended and reshaped it.  Luckily, it didn’t crack open.

I scraped off the fat and put it on a piece of bread.  Pure bright pea flavor.  It’s really, really good.  The pea pellet and pea water were also striking in their own way as well.

Pea Putty
Pea Water

I’m a little concerned about the wear and tear on the centrifuge since I will be needing to be spinning it for long periods of time to get their results, but it performed great for a five hour run.  Cooking of all types teaches you patience, and in this case as in others, the wait is well worth it.

Jethro

The Modernist Cuisine Book Launch

24 Thursday Feb 2011

Posted by in cookbook

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Modernist Cuisine Book Launch

I was one of the lucky 100 or so people to attend the launch of the upcoming cookbook Modernist Cuisine in Seattle earlier this week.  It was held at the Palace Ballroom in downtown Seattle.  A small tasting plate was served as well as a couple of drink tickets for wine.  The pastrami was fatty and tender and delicious.  The Asian pear and apple chips were bright and sweet, without the nutty overtones from my batch of dragon fruit chips I made.

The Menu
The Dish

We were invited to take our seats.

The Seating Arrangments

Seattle chef (and Palace Ballroom owner) Tom Douglas was the MC for the evening.  He introduced Nathan Myhrvold, who took us through a chapter by chapter review of the five volumes of the book.

Dr. Myhrvold Going Over The Book

Dr. Myhrvold Going Over The Book, While A Woman In Front Of Me Senses My Phone Close To Her Face

He showed us a lot of interesting portions of the book: a full page photograph of E. coli; maps of regional BBQ styles from the US Southeast and curries of India that resembled battle maps with arrows going to and fro; a simple recipe for carrot soup using a pressure cooker and a blender as well.  And there were slow motion films using their state of the art camera capturing liquid nitrogen floating along a surface and a water balloon exploding.  The depth and breadth of the book is really staggering (you can see some of their films on YouTube).

He also tossed out little nuggets of info throughout his talk.  Two stuck out in particular.  One is the use of salt.  They studied it, and found a very simple ratio for proper salting: 1%, or .75% if you’re sensitive.  That’s it.  It’s so deceptively simple that I’m sure some people will take issue with it.  Cooking is generally so intuitive, that such direct explanations might make a cook feel like the magic, the artistry of cooking is being shelved for direct measurements.  I think it just makes it that much easier to make delicious food and allows the cook to focus on other components of their dishes to elevate their flavor and presentation.  As a matter of fact, Dr. Myhrvold pointed out that the book doesn’t go into detail about flavor pairing and that there isn’t a lot of research available on the subject.  I guess they have another book to do.

Another little trick he told us about is hyperdecanting.  To quickly decant a bottle of wine, pour it into a blender and blend on high for 30 seconds.  He said he did this to a bottle of Spanish wine given to him by Spanish royalty in front of them.  They were mortified, but after a blind taste test, they always chose the hyperdecanted wine.  They quickly called their winery in Spain and in rapidfire Spanish said “blahblahblahBLENDERblahblahblahBLENDER”.  That got a good laugh from the audience.

Afterwards Tom Douglas had the co-authors, Maxime Bilet and Chris Young, join Dr. Myhrvold on stage and had a Q and A session.  Questions were asked about health department codes (the FDA apparently doesn’t like unsolicited advice), self publication (publishers would have only run 2000, over 3000 have already been pre-ordered), and various other things that I can’t recall.  Tom Douglas wrapped it up and said he was getting a copy of Modernist Cuisine for each of his chefs.  That’s a boss worth working for!

People mingled a bit more, asking questions from all the chefs who worked on the book. A couple copies of the book along with some excerpts were also out for people to page through and look at.  Everyone finished their drinks, and then it was off into the rainy Seattle night.

A Cookbook Excerpt

Jethro

Ideas In Food At Home: Watermelon And Coffee

18 Friday Feb 2011

Posted by in recipes, vacuum sealing

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H. Alexander Talbot and Aki Kamozawa run a culinary consulting business called Ideas In Food.  They started a blog in 2004 to showcase their research into food preparation, cooking techniques, and flavor combinations.  Recently, they put it all into their first book, Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work, which should quickly be in your hands and on your kitchen bookshelf.  I was looking for a small course to add for a dinner I made a few weeks ago and came across their post for Watermelon and Coffee:

These cubes of watermelon are seasoned with cane sugar, instant coffee and salt. As is they are amazing. When you vacuum seal them and let them marinate for a day their taste potential increases exponentially.

Something quick to bring a little zing to my dinner – perfect.  I found a nice watermelon down at the Pike Place Market, picked up some Via instant coffee from Starbucks and went to work.  Chop. Season. Seal. Sit.  Who said modern cookery is difficult?

Fresh Cut Watermelon
Vacuum Sealed Watermelon

Salty, sweet, bitter – it’s a tantalizing combination for sure.  I think I’ll juice a jalapeño and add it in next time for a spicy kick.  And why not – it’s just another idea in food, right?

Jethro

The Most Pretentious Mac & Cheese Ever

11 Friday Feb 2011

Posted by in dehydration, maltodextrin, recipes, starches, thickeners

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mac-and-cheese

It is undeniably fashionable, these days, for an upscale restaurant to serve “their take” on macaroni and cheese.  I’ve seen it prepared at least a dozen ways: with wild mushrooms, with truffles, with bleu cheese, with cave-aged gruyere, in mini-cocottes, on oversized platters, broiled, baked, and deep fried.  For the record, there’s nothing wrong with any of these preparations.  In fact, we served a wild mushroom and truffle oil mac & cheese at my wedding!  However, I wanted to take the concept to the extreme and produce the most hyperbolic, modernist version of the dish I could… just to see what happened.  The result: maltodextrin-powdered Beecher’s cheese with a tableside hot cream to make an “instant” sauce.

I originally thought I’d post my results as a joke – an over-the-top preparation that was to comfort food what the Dyson Air Multiplier is to climate control.  However, I was delightfully surprised to find out that this mac & cheese actually tasted fantastic!  The flavors are extremely pure and the consistency of the instant sauce was perfect.  Watch out, Kraft… you’ve got competition.

Makes: 2 snobby servings
Total kitchen time: 4 hours (45 minutes working time)

For the Powdered Cheese:

  1. Preheat your oven to its lowest setting (180-220°F).
  2. Combine the cheese, water and sodium citrate in a small saucepan.  Heat on low until completely melted.  Stir to ensure evenness.
  3. Transfer the cheese mixture to a small food processor and add 200g of tapioca maltodextrin and process until it forms a paste.  If you can’t fit all of the tapioca maltodextrin at once, add half and process, then add the remainder.
  4. Spread the paste in a thin, even layer onto a silicone baking sheet.  Bake until dry and brittle, 2-3 hours.
  5. Crumble the cheese mixture into a food processor, or preferably a clean, electric coffee grinder.  Process until the mixture becomes a fine powder.  If necessary, add an additional 15g of tapioca maltodextrin.  The mixture should have the same texture as the powdered cheese in instant macaroni and cheese.

For the dish:

  • 1 cup pipe rigate (or any other type of macaroni you’d like)
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • Hawaiian black lava salt
  • 2 sprigs thyme
  1. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the box.
  2. Meanwhile, heat the heavy cream to a simmer.  Just before serving, divide the cream into two mini sauce pots (I used glass port sippers, shown in the photo).
  3. To plate, sprinkle a two tablespoons of the cheese powder into a small bowl.  Top with pasta, sprinkle with a pinch of black lava salt, and garnish with thyme.  To finish the dish tableside, pour over the hot cream and stir well to make the cheese sauce.

I owe a big thanks to Maxime Bilet (author of Modernist Cuisine) for giving me a hand with the powdered cheese recipe.  If you aren’t up for ordering a pound of maltodextrin online, you can also use my simplified powdered cheese recipe from the Beecher’s Cheddar Cheetos article I wrote for Seattle Weekly.  However, tapioca maltodextrin (N-Zorbit) is pretty handy stuff for turning liquids into powders, and is a staple in modernist kitchens.

Scott

Alinea At Home: Salad, Red Wine Vinaigrette

04 Friday Feb 2011

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Alinea's Ice Salad

Perfectly pristine ingredients, combined sensibly and cooked properly, are what make Italian food taste so good.

– Mario Batali

Simplicity. Fresh ingredients. Straightforward cooking techniques.  This is what defines Italian cooking.  This is also what one does not think of at all when considering Modernist Cuisine.  What might come to mind instead: thirty components manipulated ten ways beyond recognition and put together in an abstract form to be contemplated philosophically before tasting (emphasis on tasting, not actually eating).  But as the genius of Grant Achatz demonstrates,  the principles of Italian cooking can be applied in novel and unforeseen ways.

Take the humble granita, for example.  It’s a simple Italian dessert, where you take fruit juice, or perhaps wine or coffee, mix it with sugar and freeze it.  You break up the ice into a slush and serve it.  Easy and delicious.  Chef Achatz’ spin: why not turn a salad into a granita?  Yes.  Why not?

Creating A Savory Granita

It couldn’t be easier really.  Take some spinach, arugula and romaine, and juice them all together.

Juicing Greens
Verdant Juices

Add some salt, pour into a tray, and freeze.  Then you take some red wine vinegar, add some salt, and freeze that too.

Freezing a Salad

Freezing a Salad. Also, an ice cream maker attachment and a bag of transglutaminase. An everyday freezer.

Once frozen, you take a fork to it and create a salad slush.  Actually, mine was pretty frickin’ frozen, so I spent a few minutes stabbing at it repeatedly with a fork, breaking the ice up into an acceptable slushy texture.  The funny part was ice flecks were flying all around as I was doing this.  Once I was done, I looked around and saw little droplets of bright green chlorophyll all over the counter and floor.  A quick cleanup followed so I wouldn’t be left with polka dot stains throughout my kitchen.

Creating Salad Slush
Lettuce Ice

Break up the red wine vinegar ice as well and you’re pretty much done.  Put down some lettuce ice, then some red wine vinegar ice, add a dash of olive oil, salt and pepper.  And your salad is complete.  An unique experience, your mouth is totally confused by the combination of the flavor, texture and temperature.  But yet it’s familiar too.  It manages to surprise, delight and yet be comforting at the same time.  Simple and straightforward.  And thoroughly, undeniably modern.

An Ice Cold Salad
Jethro