Molecular Gastronomy 102

[beerfish]

So I've been getting more and more into molecular gastronomy. Tonight I rigged a crock pot and a Ranco controller to make a sous vide oven for steaks and made a deconstructed salad to go with it.

Here are some shots of tonight's food and my equipment. I used ziplock bags instead of vacuum sealing the steak. The crock pot was connected to the Ranco and cooked my steaks at exactly 130 degrees all the way through. I've never had better consistency. I then seared them on a grill pan to achieve the Maillard reaction. They were garnished with shaved asparagus and fresh pepper.

For the salad, I blended arugula and a shallot, then boiled the liquid with agar agar. I used the syringe to push the mixture through the tubing and let it set in a cold water bath, forming gelatinized salad noodles. I served them with plum tomatoes over mozzarella, and then spherified some balsamic vinegar again using agar agar and a bath of icy olive oil.

Anyone else here dabble in MG?

 

[KathyC]

Go you Eric
I dropped a corned beef in a pot of water..left it there for a few hours while I cleaned my tanks, then slapped it on some yummy rolls and ate it with a side of macaroni salad and a Pepsi.
For Christmas...I will actually cook

 

[CHEMCHEF]

Neat Idea. Great Results.
How long did the steak take @130?
Making spheres is fun.
Check out some liquid nitrogen stuff when you get a chance. Breaking stuff is fun too.:letitallo

 

[beerfish]

Thanks!

I'm not really sure how long the steak took. Since you can't really overcook it in the sous vide, I set up the steaks to cook, then made the rest of the meal. They were in for about 90 minutes, but I'm guessing they would have been ready in 30 or so.

I'm dying to get a liquid nitrogen setup, but the wife is concerned about the safety of it. Until I convince her (working on it), I'm limited to sous vide, lots of hydrocolloids, and some simpler forms of MG. My kitchen is starting to look like a science lab... I've even got a centrifuge!

 

[beerfish]

Played with the sous vide rig again tonight and the results were amazing again. I created the glaze with rum, blackberries and agar agar, let it set in the fridge for about 15 minutes, then sliced it up and placed it on the edge of the plates.

Pork chop cooked sous vide with blackberries, sage and ginger. Served with a sheet of blackberry rum glaze on a plate dusted with powdered ginger.

I'm going to see if I can get a brick of dry ice and play with some anti griddle recipes on Christmas!

 

[lfsmarineguy]

Rum fruit roll ups!