• About The Crew
  • Cooking Through ‘Modernist Cuisine’ At Home

Jet City Gastrophysics

~ Exploring Modernist Cuisine in the Northwest

Jet City Gastrophysics

Tag Archives: immersion circulator

The Price Of Cooking Modernist Cuisine, Part I: Tools And Gadgets

19 Thursday May 2011

Posted by jethro in blow shit up, centrifuge, combi oven, dehydration, liquid nitrogen, pressure cooking, sous vide, vacuum sealing

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

dewar, digital scale, immersion blender, immersion circulator, induction cooktop, ISI ThermoWhip, Modernist Cuisine, pH meter, pressure cooker

“Modernist Cuisine” is not for most home cooks.
– Michael Ruhlman

“[Modernist Cuisine] looks cool and would be fun to flip through,” he said. “But I don’t need to spend six hundred dollars on a cookbook — I already know how to cook.” This led to my next question — in his opinion, were these techniques even appropriate for the home cook? “Sous vide is great for cooking vegetables and meat,” he replied. “But home-cooked meals are home-cooked for a reason. They’re meant for the home.”
– Domestic Divas

The truth is that this stuff is for the pros.
– New Yorker

Man, do these people bore me.  How uninspired. How defeatist.  How sad, pathetic, and totally lame.

0 To 60 in 90 Days

I started to cook in December 2009 – about 18 months ago.  I had no knife skills, didn’t know anything about Anthony Bourdain or Iron Chef, much less Mugaritz.  My refrigerator was empty save for old condiments.  I didn’t even notice the front right burner on my stove was larger than the others because I had never used it.

But once I started, I got way into it.  Within weeks, I had discovered avant-garde food.  By February 2010, I had ordered my first ‘molecular gastronomy’ kit and contacted Scott and Eric to form Jet City Gastrophysics. By March, I spherified my first liquids.  By August, I made the red cabbage gazpacho from The Fat Duck. And in October, just 10 months later, I began cooking from Modernist Cuisine, which wasn’t to be published for another five months.  I used their PDF excerpt.

Continue reading →

Soy Glazed Mackerel, Honey Roasted Root Vegetable Puree, Macadamia Extraction, Herb Salad.

20 Thursday Jan 2011

Posted by ericriveracooks in centrifuge, sous vide, vacuum sealing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Blog, Cooking Blog, Dinner, Fish, Food, immersion circulator, Mackerel, Recipe, Sous Vide

Equipment:

Centrifuge
Homogenizer
Chamber Vacuum Sealer
Immersion Circulator

Our first main course dish. Good things are coming…..stay tuned.

Eric

Sous Vide Apocalypse And The Mangalitsa Resurrection

01 Wednesday Sep 2010

Posted by jethro in blow shit up, sous vide

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

immersion circulator, Mangalitsa

It turns out that I am an excellent product tester.

Now, in my past, I have done some software testing, so I know a few things about pushing just that right combination of buttons that will make everything crash, mystifying the developers.  Turns out it’s not just software I’m good at breaking.

The $75 Immersion Circulator In Action

My sous vide, in better days

I am proud to say I was the first customer for Scott’s incredible DIY Immersion Circulator.  To be able to afford one of these, and have it sitting in your kitchen, ready to go – there’s just this incredible feeling of excitement and possibilities.  I  went down to Dick’s Restaurant Supply, grabbed a container, and proceeded to screw the circulator onto it so I could start cooking.

Oops

Oops.

I immediately broke it.  Not really aware of the pressure I was applying while screwing it on, the lucite tub grip snapped in half.  I really should have been paying more attention.  But, undaunted, I went to Lowe’s and picked up some hearty brand of plastic glue so I could put the pieces back together and continue on my merry way of sous-viding (can I use sous vide like that?  Eh.).

Unfortunately, the glue didn’t hold so I had to break the news (pun intended) to Scott to see if he could help me out.  Needless to say, he was, oh, impressed at my ability to render it useless so quickly.  But being the stand up guy that he is, he took it back and lovingly crafted another for me.

I was in sous vide heaven.  Perfectly cooked steaks, creamy egg yolks, incredibly tender leg of lamb – everything they say is true.  Sous vide cooking IS different and IS amazing.  I wondered how I ever got by without my little water oven sitting on my counter top.

After a particularly fun meeting of Jet City Gastrophysics, Eric generously offered me some Mangalitsa neck he had in his freezer.  I had recently seen a recipe from The Herbfarm for doing it sous vide on the Wooly Pig’s blog: sous vide at 165F for 14 hours.  Scott has done ribs for 72 hours, so I know the circulator can handle 14.  The key is to never let the heating coils sit completely out of water, or they will burn out quickly.  That was easily accomplished by filling the tub up to the rim. So I took the neck, seasoned her up, vacuum sealed the bag, and dropped it in the warm bath that would render her delicious.

Mangalitsa sous vide preparation

Preparing the Mangalitsa neck for sous vide

And I went to bed.

7 1/2 hours later, I woke up to an acrid plastic smell.  They’re currently doing construction nearby so I thought to myself in my pre-caffeinated state “What are they welding over there? That smells awful”.  Then I remembered I was cooking.

I leapt out of bed and bounded down the stairs, visions of fiery destruction blinding me.  The kitchen was intact, and there was no smoke, but there was my second immersion circulator, melting into the tub now 3/4 filled with water.

Immersion Circulator Meltdown Blues

Immersion Circulator Meltdown Blues

It seems as though enough water had evaporated so the upper half of the coils were exposed.  Since they were partially submerged, they didn’t burn out.  They just radiated heat on the plastic above them, perhaps for hours.  As the plastic melted, the box bent forward and the aquarium pump touched the coils, melting it against them.  Full on destruction.  Luckily, the house was fine, so as far as I was concerned, I dodged a bullet.  The smell of burnt plastic did permeate the house, so I opened all the windows and doors to get things back to normal.

I had to contact Scott again.  This time he was even more impressed with my abilities.  Now, let it be said, these are perfectly fine machines, actually fantastic machines, and he’s run his for hours at a go without a hitch.  Others have used his ingenious design without any problems as well.  And then there’s me.  I’d like to think I’m spurring further innovation in the field of culinary science.  And indeed, Scott is perfecting a Jethro-proof design so even I can cook sous vide.

Which brings me back to the Mangalitsa neck.  Luckily, the bag it was in never touched the coils, so it was intact.  I’m not sure what temperature the water was at by the time I pulled it out, but it had been cooking for around 7 1/2 hours.  Maybe not the Herbfarm, but long enough to salvage the thing:

Sous Vide Mangalitsa Neck

Victory From The Jaws Of Defeat

And yes, it turned out just fine.  Actually great.  Mangalitsa is delicious.  I wonder what it tastes like after 14 hours.  Maybe I’ll get a chance to find out – if Scott lets me.

Jethro

Search

Categories

From the Twitterverse

  • RT @Bourdain: How about ask "Who are these assholes?" As a where to start? I sure as shit don't know. twitter.com/TheGurglingCod… 6 years ago
  • RT @FMigoya: Birthday cake ganache. Hence the silver sprinkles. Individual confection. Photo by @Benfinkphoto https://t.co/DtkI6lXq3T 7 years ago

Feed Yourself

  • RSS - Posts

Recent Posts

  • Ferran In America
  • That One Time We Applied For A Food Patent
  • Ideas In Food At Home: Coffee Onion Rings
  • BOOM: Sansaire Circulator Raises $823k On Kickstarter
  • Dining Northwest Style at The Willows Inn
  • Sansaire, The $199 Circulator: A Brief History
  • Modernist Cuisine At Home: Barbeque Rubs And Another Sauce
  • Modernist Cuisine At Home: More Barbeque Sauces
  • The Price Of Cooking Modernist Cuisine, Part IV: More Gadgets, Ingredients and Resources
  • Modernist Cuisine At Home: Compressed Melon Terrine
  • That One Time We Were Nominated For Best Culinary Science Blog
  • Gastrophysics Labs Closes Doors; Reopens As A “Kitchen”

From the Archives

  • March 2014
  • November 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010

Blogroll

  • A Practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking
  • Alinea At Home
  • Chef Rubber
  • Cooking Issues
  • eGullet
  • Eric Rivera's Cooking Blog
  • Ideas In Food
  • Khymos
  • L'epicerie
  • LeSanctuaire
  • Modernist Cuisine
  • Modernist Pantry
  • Seattle Food Geek
  • Studio Kitchen
  • The Alinea Project
  • Willequipped
  • Willpowder

  • ericriveracooks
  • jethro
  • sheimend

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Jet City Gastrophysics
    • Join 163 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Jet City Gastrophysics
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...