H E SORY SORY OF HIS H IS BOOK BOOK Browse any booksore, online onli ne or brick-and-morar, brick-and-morar, and you’ll find a large selecion o culinary reerence books ha offer sep-by-sep insrucions or preparing classic French cuisine. Many o hese books are wonderul, and we highly recommend a number o hem or any cook’s library. Unorunaely, alhough hese exs ofen encompass Nouvelle and New Inernaional mehods, hey include ew (i any) o he exciing new echn iques ha have been developed in he las 30 years. Many Modernis ches have writen heir own books, and hese generally do a grea job job o elucidaing aspecs o each che’s personal culinary syle. Ches don’ usually aspire o wrie a book ha is more comprehensive han heir own vision�afer al l, a che operaing a resauran probably doesn’ doesn’ have he he ime o produce a lenghy reerence ex like hose ha exis or French cuisine. Ches are oo busy running heir kichens and creaing new dishes. In a sense, cookbook wriers ace similar barriers. barriers . Many o he greaes cookbooks are writen by people who wrie or a living, li ke Paula Woler, Paricia Wells, Michael Ruhlma n, Mark Bitman, James Peerson, Wayne Gisslen, and dozens o ohers. Auhors such a s hese end no o wrie large-scale large-sca le reerence books, books, which require large saffs working ull-ime or a mater o years. For conex, consider ha he he producion o hese five volumes required he combined effors o several dozen people over he span o hree years. Ta level o effor is he norm or a major reerence work or college exbook. Resources on his scale are generally no available o independen ood wriers, however. O course, Julia Child is one noable excepion o his rule, bu she had wo coauhors, and even hen, hey underook an arduous nine-year journey o he publicaion o Mastering Master ing the Art of French Cooking. In addiion, Child’s maserpiece was mosly ex�i originally origina lly conained no phoos and only minimal illusraions. Ta kind o book worked in 1961, bu i wouldn’ be compeiive in oday’s marke, where numerous visual elemens are expeced in a book o his size. Child’s sory is a cauionary ale o wriers who would atemp a book on a simila simila r scale. Indeed,
or people who wrie or a living, i makes more sense o publish less comprehensive, more specialized cookbooks on a regular basis. Who, hen, would spend he ime, energy, energy, and money o creae a large-scale culinary reerence book? Cerainly no mainsream mains ream publishers, because such a book would be exremely expensive o produce and would no have any proven marke. Who would be oolhardy enough o sep orward? We decided i would be us. Te origins o his book dae back o 2004, when I sared exploring and explai ning sous vide cuisine in i n eGulle’s online or ums (see page 59). 59). As a resul o ha experience, I resolved o wrie a book on sous sous vide. A he ime, here was no book in English abou he echnique, and he only recen ex on he subjec was Joan Roc a’s a’s excellen Sous Vide Cuisine, which I sruggled hrough in Spanish (beore he English version came ou and beore Tomas Keller published his book Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide). Tere was clearly a need or a comprehensive book on sous vide in English, so I decided o wrie i. Bu as I worked on he book, I kep seeing reasons o expand is scope. Food saey is inricaely linked o sous vide; misundersandings abou he saey o he mehod have long prevened is widespread adopion. So, wi h he help o several research assisans, I dug ino he scienific lieraure and discovered ha much o wha ches are old abou ood saey is wrong. Mosly i is wrong in a way ha ruins he ase o ood wihou providing any meaningul improvemen in saey. Someimes i is wrong in he oher direcion, producing resuls ha could be unsae. I became clear o me ha cooks need some guidance. Tis idea was driven home when che Sean Brock conaced me or help convincing his local ood inspecor ha i would be sae o serve ood prepared sous vide a his resauran, McCrady’s, in Charleson, Souh Carolina. A ew days laer, he ood inspecor or ha area also conaced me. He was ascinaed by he daa I had passed along o Brock and waned o learn more. Brock go approval o go ahead, a nd I resolved ha my book would cover microbiology microbiology and ood saey as well as he core aspecs o sous vide echniques.
For references to recommended culinary books, including books by Modernist chefs, see the Further Reading section near the end of volume 5.
The creation of this book required years of effort by a large team. Most of the photography, research, and recipe development and testing took place in the team’s kitchen laboratory in Bellevue, Washington. Scenes shown on the previous page include (clockwise from top left) coauthor and head chef Maxime Bilet tossing stir fry for the photo on page 2·50, instrument maker Ted Ellis sawing equipment in half for a cutaway image, chef Grant Crilly arranging sausage for a cutaway image of a grill (see page 2·14), author Nathan Myhrvold adjusting a rotary evaporator, Maxime arranging up a plate-up for a photo shoot, Grant getting splattered while running an immersion blender upside-down to get a dramatic picture, researcher Christina Miller mixing it up, the photo studio floor after one especially messy shoot (see page 4·196), chef Johnny Zhu putting the final touches on a tilapia (see page 2·189), and coauthor Chris Young working with Grant and chef Sam Fahey-Burke to prepare a pig for cooking sous vide—whole.
IRRADIATING FOOD TO PERFECTION
Grilling food over an open flame is a practice as old as humanity itself. Indeed, it’s likely that we are human precisely because we learned to grill our food. Perhaps it is this primeval connection that makes grilled foods such as hamburgers so mouth-watering: we’re hard-wired by evolution to find comfort in the heat of the grill, the smell of the smoke, and the taste of the food. Although grilling food is so simple that our ancestors managed to do it eons ago, mastering the heat of the grill is a culinary challenge of the highest order.
Wafting smoke gives form to the turbulent air that rushes skyward past the patties, much like whath appens in a chimney. Heat fromthe burning fuel causes adjacent air to expand, making it more buoyant. As the hot air rises, it cooks the food and creates a draft that sucks more air in to fuel the fire.
Most of the heat a grill producesis wasted. It bypasses the food and literally goes up in smoke or is radiated away into the sky. But without the intense heat, grilled food would not taste as good.
Smoke is an aerosol—a mixture of minuscule solid particles dispersed within a blend of invisible gases. The solidsmake smoke heavier than air; it floats only when carried aloft by rising hot air from the draft. (If you let smoke cool to ambient temperature, it will sink.)The solids also scatter light—an example of the so-called Tyndall effect—and blue rays get scattered more than red, casting smoke’s blue haze.
Grills are definitely not nonstick surfaces. The high temperatures at which charcoal grills operate would makemost nonstick coatings unstable. Coating food in oil works, but can cause flare-ups that coat the food with soot. The best way to avoid sticking is to preseason the grill with a patinamuch as you would an iron skillet or steel wok (see How to Season a Wok, page TK).
Food must be relatively thin to cook properly in the intense radiant heat and scorching air rising from the coals. Food that is too thick will burn on the outside beforeheat can penetrate to its core.
A layer of ashshould coat the coals beforefood goes on the grill. The ash dims the coals’glow, moderating the heat they radiate. The ash also reduces the chimney effect by insulating the coals from the air.
Drippings are the realsecret to the unique flavor of grilled food. As these complex chemical solutions combust, they coat the food with a panoply of aromatic and delicious compounds. Flamesmay seem to flicker above charcoal,but these fiery tongues are actually little plumes of incandescent carbon soot. The superheated air is turbulent; it lifts soot part icles off the coals and allows them to react with carbon dioxide in the air to produce carbon monoxide. The flammable monoxide burns wi th a hot but faint blue flame at 1,600 °C / 2,900 °F or higher, which heats the soot particles so much that they glow with an intense white light that masks the dim fi re from the monoxide. A variable air vent allows the griller to control the flow of air ir into the fire. Starve the coals of fresh air to cool them and slow the chimney effect; open the vents to turn up the heat.
Glowing coals generate temperatures well above the 700 °C / 1,300 °F required to emit light in the visible part of the spectrum. The bright orange light emitted by the centerof the embers indicates a temperature above 1,100 °C / 2,000 °F. Pockets between the coals are hotter still: there, burning carbon monoxide heats soot to at least 1,400 °C / 2,550 °F!
TRADITIONAL COOKING
Throughout the book, we use cutaway images to provide an inside view of the cooking process. We cut a Weber grill (and a couple hamburgers) in half for our annotated explanation of grilling on page 2·7.
Nex, inspired by he quesions ha people had posed in he eGulle hread on sous vide, I decided ha my book would also include inormaion abou he basic physics o hea and waer. Ches hailing rom many o he bes kichens in he world, as well as amaeurs o all sors, had quesions abou hea ranser. When maki ng radiional cuisine, you don’ need o undersand precisely how hea moves ino and hrough ood�you jus need o know ha you urn he burner o medium-high, or example, or se he oven o 175 °C / 350 °F and roas your ood unil i’s golden brown. Unorunaely, his approach gives you litle inuiion ha’s any help when you ry o use a echnique like sous vide, in which a more precise knowledge o he heaing process is required o achieve consisenly good resuls. For he mos par, experience rom convenional cooking does no apply. Bu his ra ised a quesion: wouldn’ people like o undersand how radiional cooking acua lly works? Aside rom is inrinsic ineres, he science o cooking would also help ches apply Modernis
59
echniques. Beore long, I was sliding down a slippery slope oward a book o epic proporions. Why no add a secion on hydrocolloids? Wha abou oams? A ha sage, my ideas were more daydreams han pracical realiy, so i was easy o convince mysel ha i all made sense. How could such a echnical book be made accessible o readers? I decided ha phoography�anoher passion o mine�could make he difference by presening echnical conceps in a highly visual manner. My hope was ha seducively beauiul and clear phoos would boh draw readers in and provide a clear demonsraion o wha he ex old hem. Tis decision made he book much more challenging o creae bu also ha much more compelling i i was successul. Wha I wound up wih was wha you see now, a mulivolume book wih hree main goals: o explain key aspecs o ood science in a new way; o show how radiional cooking really works; and o provide deailed, sep-by-sep phoos and insrucions or every major echnique and ingredien in Modernis cooking. A saner man
migh have reaed ha as hree disinc projecs, bu o me hey seem o hang ogeher as a uni. Tis accoun o he book’s hisory has been writen in he firs person singu lar, because in he beginni ng i was jus me, Nahan. Bu i couldn’ become a realiy unil I had a eam. I had been very lucky o have me Chris Young a Te Fa Duck (see page 49), and when I heard he was moving back o he U.S., I jumped a he chance o hire him or he projec. Chris quickly recruied Maxime Bile, anoher Fa Duck alumnus, as head che, and rom here we were off. Iniially, I had planned o ake all o he phoos mysel. Ryan Mathew Smih joined he eam as a phoo assisan and digial phoo edior. Soon Ryan was aking mos o he picures, and we hired an assisan or him. A firs, he work was done in my home kichen, bu soon we decided o move o par o a science laboraory and invenion workshop ha my company was building. Tis allowed us o work all hours o he day and nigh, which we promply proceeded o do. In hose early days, very litle o our work was devoed o developing recipes. In mos cookbooks, recipes make up 90% or more o he conen�bu ha is possible only because almos all o he echniques and equipmen discussed in such books are old ha. People know wha saué pans and ovens are, so w riers don’ need o spend pages describing hese ools. Bu people may no have he same basic knowledge abou combi ovens, waer bahs, or reeze dryers, so we knew we had o explain wha hey are and, more imporan, o discuss why you’d use hem. As a resul, his book devoes more pages o discussing new ools a nd echnologies han a radiional book does; recipes make up a much smaller racion o our ex. Indeed, we had no planned iniially on including recipes a all. Over ime, however, we decided ha we needed o provide some recipes as examples, since heory a lone would be oo hard o apply. Bu hen we go ca rried away. We developed no only small examples bu also numerous plaed dishes. Te syle o hese dishes is eclecic, and ha is a deliberae choice. Te goal o mos cookbooks is eiher o showcase a che’s personal syle or o explore a cerain ype o cuisine (Korean, New American, vegearian, ec.). In conras, our goal is o showcase he echniques and ech-
nologies o Modernis cuisine across all o heir poenial applicaions. As a resul, here is no single syle represened in his book. We explain how o use Modernis echniques o creae he ulimae cheeseburger (see page 5·11), sunny-side up egg (see page 2·174), and Indian c urries (see page 5·89). Bu we also discuss highly echnical dishes and processes, such as consruced creams (see page 4·236), reverse spherifica ion (see page 4·186), and spray-dryi ng (see page 2·438). Many o he leaders o he Modernis movemen were ki nd enough o give us recipes o use as examples. In some cases we developed our own examples using he work o oher ches as an inspiraion or poin o deparure. Tese volumes are dedicaed o he Modernis revoluion in cuisine discussed in his chaper, bu many readers will be more radiionally minded. Ta’s fine�our mission is o each echniques, no proselyize or Modernism. People ineresed in radiional ood will sill find much here o value. We explain how radiional echniques work in chaper 7, and we have many recipes and echniques ha involve purely radiional ingrediens. Wan o make perec omeles or a crowd? See page 5·215. Would you like o make your own ou or mozzarella? Check ou page 4·110. For radiional ches who are ready o walk on he wild side and experimen wih some new ingrediens, we have recipes or an invincible beurre blanc ha can be made ahead o ime and held wihou coagulaing (page 4 ·200), a meringue ha can be made o order wih a whipping siphon (page 4·284), and a perec risoto ha can eiher be made largely ahead o ime or prepared rapidly in a pressure cooker (page 3·304). Tis book, in five volumes plus a kichen manual, is enormous by nearly any sandard. Ye I am cerain ha here will be people who hink we lef somehing ou. I am sure ha we have! Tere is no way, even in books o his size, o cover every issue, or even every imporan issue. I your avorie echnique, ingredien, or recipe is no covered, I apologize. We’ll r y o do beter nex ime. One omission is deliberae: we have no reamen o pasry, desser, or baked goods. We expec o cover hese opics in he uure, bu we had o draw he li ne somewhere, so we lim ied ourselves o savory cuisine. Conversely, here will be people who argue we
We performed many experiments as part of our research for this book, including an entertaining triangle test to determine whether contact with polyethylene really can rescue “corked” wine. For the results, see page 4·347.
have pu in oo much. Indeed, a che riend asked me, “Do you really need all ha maerial in here?” My answer was o hrow he quesion back a him: “ell me, do you really need ha many courses on your asing menu?” Te poin is, wha does need have o do wih any o his? High-end cooking is abou delighing boh he che a nd he diner; i’s no abou delivering he minimum daily requiremens o nuriion. Similarly, books like hese are mean o provide ar more han he basics o culinary echnique. A srange phenomenon seems o occur when many op ches publish books. Tese c hes have made heir repuaions by reusing o make compromises wih heir ood, ye or heir cook books hey choose paper ha isn’ erribly nice, wih limied phoos and relaively low-qualiy prining. Te recipes are ofen dumbed down and oversimplified. Te no-compromise che winds up wih a book ha has compromises on every page. How can ha make sense? Ofen he reason his happens is ha publishing execuives ell ches hey have o compromise, and he ches believe hem. Ta’s because publishers wan o make low-end o midra nge books; hey hink hese are wha will sell bes. Maybe he publishers are righ, bu one has o wonder�i’s like saying ha cheap resaurans are more popular. Te publisher is r ying o make a book ha is analogous o McDonald’s or, a bes, o a seak house chai n. I publishers suggesed ha he che change her resauran i n he same way�aim or lower qualiy, drop prices,
eliminae expensive ingrediens�hey’d ge hrown ou on heir ears. Righly or wrongly, we have aken he nocompromise approach wih h is book, believi ng ha i we c reae somehing we love and are proud o, a leas some people will va lue i he way we do. Maybe we’re maki ng a big misake, bu only ime will ell. Our book has pleny o exras, such as hisorical inormaion, which isn’ necessary in a sric sense. Tis inormaion is like a garnish on he plae�i adds somehing o ineres o he dish even i i isn’ he primary ocus. Yes, you can serve ood wihou a garnish, and we could have omited he hisory o make he work a bi smaller, bu as you can clearly see, smaller was no high on our l is o goals. Indeed, he size o his book, he number o picures i conains, and he labor ha wen ino i, orce i o carry a high price ag�a leas compared o oher books. Unorunaely, mos people have been rained o expec books o be very cheap, and his colors how hey view he price o a book. Bu look a i his way: his book is likely o cos abou as much as dinner or wo a a op resauran. A he very bes resaurans, is price would probably only cover he ood, wihou wine, ip, or ax; or resaurans ha are a litle less expensive, ha price migh buy dinner or our. o me, ha doesn’ sound like a bad va lue. Afer all, by he nex morning, dinner is jus a ond memory. Don’ ge me wrong; I love dinner a a grea resauran. Bu like a concer or a play, i lass only so long. Is mos enduring legacy is probably a bi o weigh gain, as in he old saying: “a minue on he lips, a lieime on he hips.” Tis book, in conras, eaches echniques ha can be used o make an enormous variey o differen recipes and dishes. You can reer o i again and again or years. (Indeed, i may ake you years o ge hrough i.) Why isn’ he knowledge and inormaion in i jus as valuable as he ransiory (albei wonderul) experience o dining in a grea resauran? Coninuing wih he resauran analogy, i all you are used o paying or is a McDonald’s Exra Value Meal, hen a nigh a Per Se or L’Arpège seems exremely pricey. Because publishers so ofen end up compromising qualiy o hi a price poin, mos cookbooks are priced somewhere beween he Exra Value Meal and dinner a a
midrange resauran chain. Mos cookbooks published in he U.S. cos rom $15 o $40, wih a ew a $50 and virually none over $75. Te percepion in he publishing world is ha he marke won’ suppor anyhing more expensive, bu ha is largely a sel-ulfilling prophecy. I’s like surveying resaurans and saying, “Look, mos esablishmens are as-ood joins or sripmall diners; hereore, nohing else is possible.” Ta pricing philosophy is perecly appropriae or publishers and auhors who ruly embrace i. We decided ha we could no creae he book we waned o make on ha kind o budge�jus as Per Se and L’Arpège have decided ha o achieve he level o qualiy hey are ineresed in, hey need o charge more han McDonald’s or he sripmall diner. Anoher criicism people may have o his book is ha he maerial is oo complicaed or readers o undersand. We made a rule ha we wouldn’ dumb down he conen. We have ried o make he ex as easy o undersand as possible, and we have gone o grea lenghs o illusrae he conen wih phoos and o lay ou he key inormaion in an accessible and engaging way. We hope you’ll agree. O course, you can always skip he science and go righ o he sep-by-sep echniques and recipes. We have ried o make he maerial sel-conained enough ha you can eiher ake he ull-Mony approach and learn i all or cherry-pick he echniques you wan o use. Te no-dumbing-down rule means ha some echniques shown in his book require equipmen no ound in he average kichen. Indeed, no resauran in he world owns he ull se o ools and echnologies we show; here are ew k ichens in he world oher han research laboraories ha would have all he equipmen o make every hing. We chose o cover his specialized equipmen or wo reasons. Firs, here are pleny o oher echniques and recipes ha can be done wihou a cenriuge, reeze dr yer, spray dryer, or oher exoic gadge. Second, we hink ha people are curious abou how hese ools work and will enjoy learning abou hem, even i hey don’ have hem a home. You migh wonder wheher his book is mean or proessional ches or or home ches. My reply is, I am a home chef! And yes, I have used almos all o he echniques we discuss i n my home kichen a one poin or anoher. Admitedly, mine is a raher
special home kichen, bu many o our recipes can be used wih litle or no unusual equipmen. Te word “amaeur” comes rom he Lai n room amare, which means o love. Amaeurs cook or he love o ood and he process o prepar ing i, bu he ruh is ha mos proessional ches also cook or he love o i. Anyone who loves ood will find much o like in his book, regardless o wheher or no hey cook or a living. We pull no punches in explaining how o creae boh high-end and highly echnical ood. Bu we are confiden ha home ches will be able o execue he vas majoriy o he echniques and recipes in his book.
The Photographs One o he ounding principles o his book is our decision o use grea graphics and phoography o make he echnical processes o ood preparaion approachable and undersandable, and maybe even inriguing and compelling. Mos exising books abou he science o cooking are based on ex and diagrams; we waned a book ha was ar more visual. Ta’s ricky, because some imporan oodscience conceps are no easy o visualize. A key developmen was he idea o he cuaway phoo ha would show wha was happening i nside ood as i cooked. Iniially I hough o doing i wih illusraions, bu ha would lack he sense o verisimi liude ha would draw people in. Te cuaways had o be phoos o show wha was happening and make i seem real. So we cu suff in hal. An abrasive waer je cuter, an elecrical discharge machining sysem, and oher machine-shop ools le us cu apar our pos, pans, and oher gear. Food was cu in various
This group of authors, chefs, editors, photographers and designers is just a part of the Modernist Cuisine team. For more on the complete set of participants and their backgrounds, see page 5·XLVI.
Photographer Ryan Matthew Smith with a fiber optics strobe light used to light some of the pictures in the book.
ways, including wih mea-cuting band saws. Te cuaway phoos are all real. We arranged ood in our cu-in-hal equipmen and hen ook he picures. In mos cases, he ood really is being cooked as shown or was cooked in an idenical uncu pan, hen swapped in. Te pad hai shown on page 2·50 is cooked in a cuaway wok (wih abou on-hird o one side removed so he pan could sill hold some oil), which is siting on a wok burner ha is also par ially cu away (bu wih enough lef o burn gas). I urns ou here is a reason people don’ cu heir woks like his! We had problems wih oil alling ino he burner and he whole hing caching fire, so i was a bi dangerous and very messy. Bu he picure really is a sho o wha i looks like o sir-ry noodles in a wok ha’s been cu apar. In a ew cases, we couldn’ acually cook in he cuaway�or example, he whipping siphon shown on page 4·261, he pressure canner on page 2·90, and he microwave oven on page 2·186
couldn’ uncion afer we biseced hem. A echnique we used o creae many o he cuaways was o glue a piece o hea-resisan borosilicae glass o a cu po wih silicone caulking. Ten we digially edied he image o remove evidence o he caulking and he glass. I’s some wha like he echnique used in Hollywood movies o make people look like hey’re soaring hrough he air: film hem “flying” while suppored by wires, hen digially remove he wires. Creaing cuaways o illusrae he process o deep-rying was a paricular challenge. We buil a special rying ank ou o Pyrex borosilicae glass so we could phoograph ood as i was r ied. wice we burned up or shatered he ank, bu ulimaely we were able o ge he shos (see page 2·118). We ofen creaed composie shos by ediing muliple images ogeher. For example, when making he phoo o hamburgers sizzling on a cuaway grill, Ryan had difficuly finding a phoographic exposure o capure he coals and
he mea simulaneously; camera sensors capure a ar smaller range o brighness han human eyes do. So or each image o his kind, we ook muliple shos wih differen exposures and combined pars o hem ogeher o make he final image. In oher cases, we did his using a echnique called high-dynamic-range imaging, bu more ofen we creaed he composies direcly in sofware. As a resul, puriss w ill argue, each o hese is a “phoo illusraion” raher han a single phoograph. Ta comes wih he erriory�a magical view ha shows you wha is happening inside a pressure cooker as i i were cu in hal is echnically no a pure phoo, nor can i be. Tese phoos are as close o real as we could make hem. Aside rom he cuaways, he oher images are all real phoos o real ood. Food phoography and syling are well-developed ars ha ofen make appeizing phoos by using ricks�like mixing up ake ice cream ha won’ mel, using plasic ice cubes insead o real ones, or aking a roas chicken by paining a browning compound on a nearly raw bird. We generally did no use hese echniques in he book. Our goal was o show how cooking works, in as realisic a way as we could. In
a ew cases we did have o resor o some exra work o achieve he effecs we waned. One o he quesions we ge is “Who was your ood sylis?” Te answer is, nobody. Or, alernaively, one could say ha everyone on he eam was a sylis. Par o he ar o Modernis cooki ng is syling and presenaion; we see i as an inegral aspec o cooking his ype o cuisine. We also wan o ocus more on he ood han on he able setings, so our shos are generally made wihou plaes or silverware in he rame. We sho he phoographs primarily wih Canon digial cameras, including he EOS-1Ds Mark II, EOS-1Ds Mark III, and EOS 5D Mark II, oufited wih a varie y o lenses. A broncolor sudio flash was used or mos o he phoos, wih a variey o sof boxes or oher ligh modifier s. We used Nikon microscopes or he microscopy shos, along wih cusom-made servomoors and compuerized conrols or aking shos wih exensive deph o field. We also used a number o objec ive lenses and condensers, including brigh field, dark field, differenial inererence conras and Hoffman modulaion conras. For a ew shos, we used a Vision Research Phanom V12 video camera ha
The photography for Modernist Cuisine left us with a boneyard of cutaway tools.
shoos high-definiion resoluion video a up o 6,200 rames per second; an example is on he nex page. We also used Adobe Phooshop exensively, as well as oher digial phoography sof ware, including Helicon Focus.
A Guide to Modernist Cuisine
We used high-speed photography and video to capture cooking processes that occur in the blink of an eye—as well as some events that are simply visually stunning, such as a bullet passing through a half dozen eggs.
Te firs volume is abou he undamenals�oundaions on which o build an undersanding o he echniques described in he oher volumes. Tis firs chaper covers he hisory and philosophy o Modernis cuisine and he echniques used in i. Te nex chaper, Microbiology or Cooks, addresses he way microbes inerac wih ood. So much o ood saey revolves a round microscopic pahogens ha i is valuable o undersand he
basic science o microbiology. For example, many ches can’ ell you why a common oodborne malady is called “ood poisoning” or explain he differences beween viral, bacerial, and parasiic inecions. Chaper 2 demysifies hese hings. Chaper 3 addresses ood saey isel. Our analysis is likely o be conroversial, because we poin ou how much o he convenional wisdom commonly presened o ches is jus plain wrong. Firs, we ound ha many ood-saey guidelines augh o boh home and resauran ches are ou o dae compared o he laes official regulaions. For example, oday here is no ood-saey reason o cook pork or any longer han bee or oher meas. In addiion, he official governmen regulaions have heir own problems. We ound a number o errors in he U.S. Food and Drug Adminisraion regulaions, bu perhaps worse, we also ound ha governmen ood-saey regulaions ake posiions ha are based as much on poliics and lobbying as on science. Ta conroversy pales in comparison o wha we’re likely o sir up wih chaper 4 on Food and Healh. People have srongly held belies abou which oods are good or you and which are no. Tese belies are usually jusified by scienific research�sudies linking paricular oods o hear disease and cerain kinds o cancer, or example. Unorunaely, i urns ou ha he acual scienific resuls rom he laes research conradic mos o he convenional wisdom. Te remainder o volume 1 covers he basic science o cooking, wih an emphasis on he wo mos imporan players. Te firs is hea (chaper 5). So much o cooking is abou heaing ood ha i seems invaluable o really undersand he basics o hea ranser. When hea flows ino ood, wha happens nex depends a lo on he physics o waer. Mos o our ood, afer all, is composed primarily o waer. So ha is he subjec o chaper 6, he final chaper in his volume. Volume 2 covers echniques and equipmen, saring wih chaper 7 on radiional Cooking, which explains v isually how he various processes long used o prepare ood in he radiional kichen work. Nex, Cooking in Modern Ovens (chaper 8) covers combi ovens and waer-vapor ovens ha cook wih low-emperaure seam. Tese are very imporan pieces o kichen equipmen ha are widely available bu no widely
undersood. Chaper 9 on Sous Vide Cooki ng covers ha invaluable echnique in deail. Te las and larges chaper in he second volume, Te Modernis Kichen (chaper 10), offers an in-deph look a he equipmen�much o i repurposed rom science laboraories�ha Modernis ches use o work heir magic in he kichen. Tese special ools include cenriuges, roary evaporaors, reeze dryers, and many more gadges and appliances. Volumes 3 and 4 are abou ood ingrediens. In Volume 3, Mea and Seaood (chaper 11) covers all aspecs o using animal flesh�wheher fish or owl, mollusk or mammal�in cooking. Plan Foods (chaper 12) discusses he biology and preparaion o all manner o vegeables, ruis, grains, and oher plan-derived producs. Tese wo large chapers include boh visual explanaions o he ingrediens and numerous recipes. Volume 4 addresses he mos imporan new ingrediens in Modernis cooking. Our chapers on Tickeners (13), Gels (14), Emulsions (15), and Foams (16) all explore he ways in which Modernis echniques can be used o creae new orms o ood ha would be impossible o produce wih convenional ingrediens. Eggs and dairy ingrediens are also covered in his volume.
Te wo final chapers o volume 4, on Wine (17) and Coffee (18), cover he wo mos imporan beverages in a meal. In each case, we ake a differen approach rom mos cookbooks. In Wine, we discuss some o he laes research on flavors and terroir, and we offer new echniques or using wine, including “hyperdecaning.” Te Coffee chaper discusses boh how o brew grea coffee and how o make ousanding espresso drinks, boh o which are ofen negleced ars in resaurans as well as in home kichens. Volume 5 conains our recipes or plaed dishes. In ha sense, his volume is more like a radiional cookbook han any o he ohers. As discussed above, hese recipes run he gamu rom hamburgers and barbecue o Indian c urries o mulicomponen, resauran-syle Modernis dishes. Each o hese recipes combines muliple smaller recipes o creae an enire plaed dish or se o relaed dishes. We hope you enjoy reading his book as much as we’ve enjoyed wriing i, and we look orward o your eedback. Visi ww w.moderniscuisine.com o share your houghs, ask he auhors quesions, see videos o seleced ech niques (as well as he exploding eggs shown on he previous page), and much more.
The Modernist Cuisine chefs tested all of the recipes in the book in our research kitchen.
Tender hamburger bun, made from scratch and toasted in beef suet
Hamburger glaze of suet, pureed tomato confit, beef stock, and smoked salt
Maitake mushroom, sauteéd in beef suet
Romaine lettuce infused sous vide with liquid hickory smoke
Vacuum-compressed heirloom tomato
Cheese single made from aged Emmental, Comté, and wheat ale
Short-rib patty ground to vertically align the grain
Crimini mushroom ketchup with honey, horseradish, fish sauce, ginger, and allspice
A BOU HE R ECIPES Modernist Cuisine, both the culinary movement and this book, is dedicated to looking a cooking
rom new angles. We cover opics ignored by oher culinary books, so i sands o reason ha our recipes look somewha differen rom hose in oher cookbooks. Our goal is o break down recipes in such a way ha you can beter undersand no jus he what (ingrediens) and he how (mehods), bu also he why. o accomplish his, we needed a new orma or presening recipes. Te compac, modular orm o our recipes makes hem a broader resource or insrucion and inspiraion. Tey’re mean o help you boh undersand he pracical applicaions o culinary principles and visualize how you migh apply hose principles in oher conexs. In hese five volumes, you’ll find a huge variey o recipes and oods. Alhough we are elling he sory o Modernis cuisine, our recipes are no limied o cuting-edge dishes�we cover everyhing rom American regional barbecue o innovaive flavored gels. Te poin is no o ou modern approaches or science or heir own sa ke bu o illusrae how he principles o Modernis cooking can be applied across a wide range o recipes. An imporan hing o consider when ollowing recipes in his book is ha deails mater, ofen o a grea degree. In radiional cooking, here’s a common precep ha exac measuremens don’ mater much (a leas in savory dishes): a handul o his, a ew drizzles o ha, a pinch o somehing else. Fundamenally, much o his kind o cooki ng is done “o ase,” ollowing he cook’s experience. Ta is no he case wih pasry, where precision couns. You don’ add yeas or baking powder o ase, and proporions o leavening o flour aren’ lef o creaive impulse. Modernis cuisine ends o lean more oward he pasry che’s approach. In Modernis cooking, careully measuring ingrediens ensures consisen resuls. In par, ha is because he specialized ingrediens used in his orm o cuisine can be qu ie powerul. A litle oo much o a gelling agen, or example, can resul in a ough, rubbery produc, while oo litle will no produce he desired gelling effec. So measuring is a criical acor, a leas i you’d like o atain he end resul ha we inended.
Ingredients and Equipment You migh be surprised o learn ha alhough many people equae Modernis cooking wih somehing akin o laboraory science, he majoriy o recipes here can be made wih ools available in mos sandard kichens. Even he recipes ha involve sous vide echniques can be made wihou specialized gadges; you can jus use a simple po on he sove and a hermomeer (see page 2·240). A he oher end o he specrum are he recipes ha do require a cenriuge, combi oven, reeze dryer, or oher specialized ool. I you’re ineresed in invesing in such equipmen, here are now many places o find i, including eBay and oher purveyors o secondhand equipmen, scienificequipmen caalogs, and a growing number o cooking sores. Very ew kichens on Earh have all he equipmen eaured in his book (I know o only wo: one a my house and anoher a our cook ing lab). Our recipes were designed under he assumpion ha he opimal ools and equipmen are on hand. I you don’ have hose ools a your disposal, hose paricular recipes will be more inormaional han pracical, bu hey will sill serve heir purpose as an educaional medium. Indeed, many recipes in cookbooks end up uncioning primarily o provide inormaion and inspiraion. No everyone who owns a copy o Auguse Escoffier’s Le Guide Culinaire has made all his riple socks and complicaed orcemeas, or example, bu here remains grea insrucional value in seeing his examples and reading he recipes. Wha you won’ find in our recipes is much atenion o he mos basic equipmen, such as bowls and saué pans. We presume ha you’ll know wha equipmen you need o use when we call or blending or simmering or sauéing. Recipes here use a number o unusual ingrediens, like xanhan gum, sodium alginae, gellan, essenial oils, and glucono dela lacone. Our glossary o cooking erms a he back o volume 5 describes each o hese ingrediens, and you may be surprised a how easy hey are o acquire. Well-socked supermarkes and healh ood sores sell many o hem, because hey are used in cerain regional dishes or as subsiues or more rouine
For more on where to purchase items mentioned in these volumes, see Sources of Equipment and Ingredients, page 5·30.
A digital gram scale is a must for any serious cook. For more on digital scales, see page 4·41.
producs. People wih whea allergies, or insance, ofen use xanhan gum o replace he gluen proein ound in whea flour. Agar is ofen available where you’d find oher Asian specialy producs. Te rise o he Inerne has made finding such iems much easier, and hey are available rom a number o online sores. Seeing hings like propylene glycol alginae in an ingredien lis may ake some geting used o, bu i should be no sranger han a meringue recipe calling or cream o arar, a quick bread recipe calling or baking powder, or a recipe or a regional specialy calling or disincive herbs and spices. In a ew cases, here may be local legal issues wih some o he equipmen we use. For one example, in he sae o exas here are laws requiring a governmen permi o own laboraory glassware, including he Büchner unnels and flasks ha we recommend or vacuum filraion (see page 2·353). I may seem a bi odd o regulae a device we use or clariying consommé, bu here is a mehod o he madness: he laws are aimed a curbing producion o mehampheamine and oher illegal drugs. W heher one can do so by oulawing glassware is quesionable, bu ha’s he law�a leas here. Oher places may have similar issues. Anoher ouchy area is disillaion, which is regulaed in he Unied Saes a boh he ederal
and sae levels. One piece o equipmen we use in his book, he roar y evaporaor, is made or disilling; i i is used o disill and concenrae alcohol, i may be subjec o reg ulaion. Some saes in he U.S. consider any and al l alcohol disillaion o be illegal, and hey devoe law enorcemen resources o punishing moonshiners who make heir own whiskey. A he oher exreme, Oregon has a sae-unded program dedicaed o promoting arisanal craf disillers, which he sae sees as businesses i wans o encourage. Counries oher han he U.S. have a wide range o regulaions covering alcohol producion. So find ou wha is appropriae or your area beore you disill alcohol. O course, roar y evaporaors also have uses oher han alcohol producion.
Weights and Measures You’ll see in hese recipes ha we measure ingrediens by weigh. Mos cookbooks sold in A merica use U.S. weighs and volumes or i ngrediens: ½ cup o sugar, one easpoon o sal, wo cups o mi lk, ec. We find ha hese volume measuremens are no sufficienly accurae in many insa nces. Modernis recipes ofen require grea precision in measuring ingrediens. I you use a racion o a percen more or less o cerain gelling agens or hickeners�or example, one exra gram o he compound per lier o liquid�ha i mprecision will r uin he recipe. So raher han using more general volume measures in some cases a nd precise gram weighs in ohers, we chose o use gram weighs or all ingrediens in he book. We even lis waer by is weigh raher han by is volume, unless he quaniy needed is undefined. Sal is usually relegaed o he vague noion o “o ase,” bu where pracical, we provide measuremens or sal by weigh. Obv iously, i you like more or less sal, adding i o ase is always your prerogaive, bu we believe i’s imporan o mainain as much precision as possible so ha you achieve he same exures and flavors ha we did when developing hese recipes. Ingrediens ha come in disinc unis, such as eggs or allspice berries, are an excepion o his rule. We usually sill measure hese by weigh, bu we also lis he rough equivalen unis or reerence. And some ingrediens are called or “as needed,” when here simply is no single correc amoun o use.
Digial gram scales are w idely available in cooking sores around he world. Tey’re common enough now ha a good basic model is no an expensive invesmen. I you’ve measured ingrediens only by he cup and easpoon uni l now, his is a grea ime o buy a good scale and begin applying a bi more precision o your recipe measuremens. In ac, you migh wan o consider geting wo differen scales i you’re commited o cooking a range o recipes rom his book. One would be your general-purpose scale, good or measuring weighs rom one gram o 1,000 grams or more. Te second scale would be or finer measuremens, accuraely weighing iems down o 0.01 gram. Such scales ofen max ou a 100 grams or so and hus are no as widely applicable as he firs ype o scale. Keep in mind ha he final yield o a recipe will no necessarily be a simple sum o he weighs o he ingrediens. Some hings ge rimmed along he way, liquids evaporae, and unmeasured ingrediens come ino play (or example, he waer used o soak dry beans will add weigh o he finished dish). We provide yield inormaion based on he real weigh o he final resuls, as measured in our es kichen. emperaures in he book are given in boh Celsius and Fahrenhei. In general, where precise emperaure is less criical, we do some rounding. I doesn’ help much o know ha 57 degrees Celsius equals 134.6 degrees Fahrenhei; 135 °F will work fine. Kichen hermomeers ypically don’ operae well a more han one o wo ull degrees o accuracy anyway (see page 269), and he conrols o ovens and deep-ryers ofen jump by five-degree inervals. Bu one o he cenral hemes o Modernis cooking is ha exac emperaure conrol is ca lled or under cerain circumsances. Waer bahs used or sous vide cooking (see page 2·236) are a means o precisely conrolling emperaure. Accuracy is paricularly imporan in he lower range o cooking emperaures. ypically, he higher he emperaures, he less criical i is ha hey be precise. Bu when you’re cooking salmon mi-cuit (lierally “parially cooked”), he color o he flesh shouldn’ change rom he raw sae, which requires careul emperaure managemen. You need o cook he fish wihin a very narrow range, o no more han 40 °C / 104 °F; above ha, i becomes difficul o conrol he resuls. Many
gelling agens are effecive up o 85 °C / 185 °F , bu i hey are heaed o higher han ha emperaure, he gel can ail. Anoher issue o consider is ha some o he newer ingrediens, like hydrocolloids, come in range o grades, brand names, and proprieary blends. We lis he specific brands we used in developing he recipes as a poin o reerence and o provide some guidance abou he properies ha oher brands may have. Don’ le hese sligh variaions inimidae you; once you ge he hang o i, hese deails become second naure. Someimes a recipe will go awry or any number o reasons. Perhaps you’re using a finicky hydrocolloid like gellan, which migh gel premaurely i your ap waer has a paricular ly high mineral conen. Or perhaps your sous vide bags are leaking. We have ried o offer pleny o roubleshooing noes and examples o various scenarios o help you diagnose he mos common problems, bu we surely haven’ caugh hem all. Unorunaely, here are many more ways o do somehi ng wrong han o do i righ. When all else ai ls, ry o rea hese oucomes as a learning opporuniy.
Baker’s Percentage You’ll ofen wan o scale a recipe up o higher yield or down o make a smaller quaniy han i will as writen. You can do his by muliplying he ingredien quaniies by a given acor or by doing some division o figure ou he raios o he ingrediens. Te bes sysem ha we have ound or making a recipe easy o scale is called baker’s percenage, a mehod o measuremen ha is widely used in pasry and baking books. In a recipe ha uses baker’s percenage, one reerence ingredien� usually he ingredien ha mos affecs he yield or he cos o he recipe�is se o 100%. Te quaniy o each oher ingredien is hen cied as a percenage o he reerence ingredien’s weigh. For example, our recipe or Sous Vide Insan Hollandaise (see nex page and page 4·228) ses egg yolks as he reerence ingredien a 100% and calls or 75 grams o yolks. I calls or vinegar a a scaling o 47%, meaning 47% o he weigh o he egg yolks�no 47% o he yield or 47% o he sum o all ingrediens, jus 47% o he weigh o however much he yolks weigh.
Michael Ruhlman’s cookbook Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind t he Craft of Everyday Cooking is dedicated to the idea of using ratios to express quantities in recipes.
Any scaling system is mathematically equivalent to others. We use baker’s percentages because they are convenient for the most common scaling situation and are already familiar to pastr y chefs.
Example recipes and components of plated-dish recipes have similar formats. In cases where a recipe is inspired by, or adapted from, another chef, attribution is given after the recipe title � and the date of the original is listed at the bottom of the recipe A. Temperatures � are set in heavier type to make them easier to find at a glance. Lines within the recipe
� group ingredients into blocks; procedure steps apply only to ingredients in the same block as the step. In step 1, for example, “combine” means to combine just the wine, shallots, and vinegar—not to combine all ingredients in the recipe. The total expected yield of the recipe � differs from the sum of the ingredient weights when ingredients are lost or discarded during preparation or cooking. In addition to weights, ingredient quantities are specified using baker’s percentages � to aid in scaling to higher or lower yields—see the previous page for more on using these percentages. For ingredients that come in standard sizes, approximate numbers � are given as well. In certain cases, a special scaling percentage � is given to aid substitutions or to provide greater precision when needed, such as when using gelling agents. The special scaling is calculated as a percent of some combination of ingredients, as explained by a note � at the end of the recipe. When an ingredient is itself the product of a recipe or a step-by-step technique, a page reference � is given to the instructions for making it.
Baker’s percentages provide an especially handy, reliable method to figure out the right amounts of minor ingredients needed to match the quantity of the major ingredient when scaling a recipe. Without baker’s percentages, calculating quantities can be tricky.
EXAMPLE RECIPE
�
�
SOUS VIDE INSTANT HOLLANDAISE I N S P I R E D INGREDIENT
QUANTITY
White wine (dry) Shallots, finely minced White vinegar
PROCEDURE
100 g
SCALING 133% �
50 g
67%
� Reduce to syrup-like consistency.
35 g
47%
� Strain.
� Egg yolks
BY DANIEL HUMM
75 g
� (four large)
Yields 345 g
� Combine.
� Measure 20 g of wine reduction.
100% ( 28%)* �
� Blend thoroughly with wine reduction.
27%
� Cook sous vide at 65 °C / 149 °F for 30 min.
� Vacuum seal.
�
Stock or water
20 g
Unsalted butter, melted
225 g
300%
� Blend into yolk mixture until fully emulsified.
Salt
4g
5.3%
� Season.
Malic acid
1g
1.3%
A Transfer to � l / � qt siphon. B Charge with two nitrous oxide cartridges. C Hold siphon in 65 °C / 149 °F bath for �½ h maximum.
Two-stage fried egg see page 2·174 �
four eggs
D Garnish eggs with hollandaise as desired.
� *(% of total weight of wine reduction, stock, and unsalted but ter ) (original 2009, adapted 2010) A
So i you’re using 75 grams o egg yolk s o make he recipe, you need 35 grams o vinegar, because 75 grams imes 47% equals 35. Bu say you only have 65 grams o egg yolks. How much vinegar should you use? Tis is where he sca ling percenage really simplifies hings. Jus muliply he same 47% or vinegar imes he acual weigh o egg yolks available�65 grams�o ge he answer: 30.5 grams o vinegar. Keep in mind ha he percenages o he minor ingrediens will no add up o 100% because scaling percenages give he weigh as a proporion o he weigh o he reerence ingred ien, no o he oal weigh o all ingrediens in he recipe. One challenge in using baker’s percenages is ha hey can be difficul o use i you wan o omi or add an ingredien, or i you subsiue several ingrediens o differen quaniies. Tis issue comes up mos requenly in recipes ha involve small quaniies o poen hickeners or gelling agens. Bu i also arises or more common ingrediens such as sal. In he hollandaise recipe above, or example, i you decide o use a more flavorul wine and sock, you may choose o reduce i a bi less han he recipe indicaes o achieve he balance o flavors you wan. Bu how should you hen adjus he quaniy o egg yolks o preserve he exure o he sauce? We provide a special scaling percenage in many
cases o help wih such siuaions. A noe a he botom o he recipe explains how he special percenage is calculaed. Ofen i is a proporion o he weigh o all ingrediens in he recipe or o all other ingrediens (omiting he weigh o he ingredien ha has he special percenage lised). In he example above, we added he weighs o he wine-shallo-vinegar reducion, he sock or waer, and he buter, which came o abou 268 grams when we made he recipe. Te weigh o he eggs, a 75 grams, is 28% o 268 grams, so we include he 28% as a special sca ling percenage. So, i in your adjusmens o he recipe, you find ha you end up wih 300 grams o reducion, sock, and buter insead o he 268 grams we go, you can easily work ou how much egg yolk o use by simply muliplying 300 grams by 28%: 84 grams o yolk should produce a exure very close o he original version. Te special scaling someimes becomes crucial when using recipes ha include hydrocolloids ha are quie powerul in small quaniies, so hey mus be added wih grea precision. Our recipe or a gelled Long Island Iced ea on page 4·141, or example, suggess using 5.6% as much gelain as you use o cola, hus 6.75 grams i using 120 grams o cola. Bu ha raio would no work well i you were o omi he equila. In ha case, you should
insead use he special scaling lised or gelain, which is 1.6% o he oal weigh o all he oher ingrediens, or 6.25 grams. Similarly, i you waned o add, say, 60 grams o whiskey o he recipe, he special scaling percenage would le you easily work ou he righ amoun o gelain o use, which is 1.6% o he new oal (450 g) o oher ingrediens: 7.2 grams o gelain. Wihou he special percenage, you would be emped o use jus 6.75 grams o agar, and he resul may no se he way he origina l recipe does.
Three Kinds of Recipes Te book eaures hree disinc kinds o recipes: example recipes, parameric recipes, and plaeddish recipes. Each serves a differen purpose in illusraing how paricular ingrediens or echniques can be applied in he kichen. Example recipes are ypically he shores and simples o he hree kinds. Some come rom leading Modernis ches; ohers we developed ourselves. Each was careully seleced o illusrae he culinary principle a hand. Because hey are ocused on individual echniques or procedures, example recipes will no always resul in complee dishes. In ac, many example recipes serve as componens in more involved plaed-dish recipes. Example recipes may look surprisingly shor and ocused, and ha’s deliberae. For insance, we have a ew recipes or making differen ypes o ou. We may offer a couple o suggesions or how o serve hem, bu he undamenal goal is o discuss he ou isel, a core ingredien ha can hen be used in myriad dishes. Tese example recipes are ofen building blocks raher han complee recipes (alhough our silken ou made wih GDL is so good you could ea i sraigh). Te parameric recipes, he second o he hree kinds, are quie unlike usual recipes�and, in our view, much more ineresing. Parametric reers o he ac ha hese recipes have parameers ha are se by one key ingredien or characerisic. Tis idea echoes ha o he maser recipe, which many successul cookbooks have used as a oundaion. Examples include books by he ediors o Cook’s Illustrated; Sauces and Splendid Soups, by James Peerson; and Raymond Sokolov’s Te Saucier’s Apprentice. Maser recipes illusrae a
basic echnique in is pures orm firs, hen use variaions o elaborae he heme. Te key difference beween a parameric recipe and a maser recipe is ha he later mus be very general in order o encompass is many variaions, which ge mos o he space. A parameric recipe, in conras, simply summarizes he variaions in a compac orm. So, or example, our parameric recipe or pureed ruis and vegeables cooked sous vide, page 3·288, liss cooking i mes and emperaures or a wide variey o ingrediens. A a glance, you can see ha rhubarb puree should be cooked a 88 °C / 190 °F or one hour, whereas mango puree needs o be cooked a 75 °C / 165 °F or 20 minues. When recipes ge more complicaed, he parameric orma really shines. Our parameric recipe or ho gels on page 4·160 summariz es he differences beween 10 approaches o creaing his dish, each o which uses differen hydrocolloids ha have heir own scaling percenages. We eel he parameric recipe is a srong concep or an insrucional cookbook. Such a recipe does more han merely sugges mehods or making one dish he same way again and again� i reveals he patern and reasoning behind he chosen ingrediens and mehods, and hus makes i clearer how o apply hose lessons in oher circumsances. Te parameric recipe hus akes he maser recipe o a more deailed level, and serves as a launching poin ha allows you o change ingrediens and quaniies in a number o ways o produce dozens o variaions. A single page o parameric recipes in he Gels or Tickeners chapers, or insance, migh poin he way o hundreds o differen preparaion opions. Te parameric approach also makes scaling he yield o a recipe up or down simpler han any oher approach we know. In parameric recipes, we are requenly concerned only wih minor ingrediens; ofen he only major ingredien is whaever liquid is being hickened. Ta liquid is he ingredien ha ses he reerence quaniy, and he amoun o oher ingrediens is given as a percenage o he reerence. As an example, our recipe or ham consommé wih melon beads (see page 4·66) simply liss xanhan gum a 0.24 %, which would mean using 2.4 grams or every 1,000 grams o base liquid.
MAKING A SMOOTH PUREE �
1
Prepare the vegetables by cutting them into evenly shaped, small pieces, as indicated in the table below.
2 table. Set the weight of the produce to 100%. For example, use 12 g of
Combine the vegetables with the liquid or seasoning indicated in the butter for every 100 g of mushrooms.
3 listed in the table.
Cook as indicated. Suggested methods, temperatures, and times are
4 stator homogenizer, ultrahigh–pressure homogenizer, or ultrasonic Puree by using the tool indicated. Optionally, process with a rotor-
homogenizer for a finer texture. For large quantities, a colloid mill is an ideal tool.
Best Bets for Vegetable and Fruit Purees
Parametric recipes typically contain three parts: an introduction that explains some of the underlying principles at work (not shown in this example), steps � that outline the general procedure for making the recipe, and one or more tables, typically organized by main ingredient, � that present the parameters—ingredients, quantities, preparation steps, cooking times and temperatures, etc.—for making a number of variations. Ingredients for each variation are grouped together between horizontal lines. � In the example below, the recipe for asparagus puree calls for blending both vegetable stock and unsalted butter together with the sliced asparagus. More than one variation is sometimes given for a main ingredient, � as indicated by an indented line. If no ingredient is listed for a variation, � that indicates that we don’t consider any additional ingredient necessary in this case. A value of “n/a” indicates that the value for that column is not applicable for a given variation. Cooking instructions � typically include both temperatures and times, given in minutes (min) or hours (h), as indicated by the unit at the top of the column. When a time is unusually short or long, the abbreviated unit is included with the number. � Quantities in parametric recipe tables are often given as percentages of a liquid or a main ingredient, as indicated by a note at the bottom of the table. A References to related example recipes, plated-dish recipes, or step-by-step procedures are often given in a “See page” column. �
Cook Ingredient
Prep
apples �
peeled, quartered
(°C) sous vide � 90
asparagus
thinly sliced
sauté
artichokes
hearts, thinly sliced sous vide
80
176
beets
peeled, thinly sliced
sous vide
80
176
sauté
medium heat
boil
high heat
broccoli
stems, peeled and sliced � florets, sliced
Method
(°F) 194
high heat
(min) Liquid 2½ h �
See page (scaling)* Tool commercial 4 17 � � blender 10 vegetable stock 25% � commercial 341 � blender unsalted butter 15% 45 vegetable stock 50% commercial blender olive oil 5% 1h cooked beet 50% commercial juice blender unsalted butter 15% 12 neutral oil 3% commercial 426 blender 4 neutral oil 3% Pacojet A *( set weight of prepared vegetable to 100%)
In many cases we have example recipes ied o enries in he parameric recipe able. Tese cross-reerences le you see a ull example o how he parameers and ormulas work in pracice. Te final kind o recipe we use in his book is he plaed-dish recipe. Tis comes closes o he recipes ound in radiional cookbooks. Our plaed-dish recipes offer insrucions or creaing an enire resauran-syle dish, including main ingrediens, muliple garnishes, and deails abou how o assemble everyhing or serving. We describe he enire conex o he dish in deail; hus, some o hese recipes are quie involved, wih many componen pars. You can always op o simpliy hings a bi by using only cerain pars. Plaed dishes come in a wide variey o syles.
We have ull-on Modernis dishes ha would no be ou o place a leading Modernis resaurans. Bu we also have dishes ha are ar more inormal, like barbecue rom he American Souh, a pork belly picnic, and even he perec omele. For us, a plaed recipe doesn’ have o be ancy, as long as i’s made wih he qualiy and care o more elaborae preparaions. Our hamburger is he bes one we know how o make, and we believe ha you should pu every bi as much effor ino making a grea hamburger as you would i you were making dishes wih lofier ambiions. Some Modernis dishes are lavishly complex à la Heson Blumenhal, while ohers are boldly minimalis in he syle o Ferran Adrià. Oher Modernis ches, including Gran Achaz, David
2
MONKFISH WITH MEDITERRANEAN FLAVORS Zucchiniblossombeignetwithhalibutbrandadefilling,spicemixemulsion,mussel
Truthbetold, themonksh is notthemost beautiful sh in the sea. Itisa predatorthatwaits motionlessonthe boom,blending in withrocksa nddebris.It isalso called an anglersh, because it danglesfr omitsheadalongspinewitha soeshyend thattwitches like a worm.When a sh comesin for thebait,themo nksh distendsitsenormous jaws,through itcan swallowsh aslongas its own body. Sixofthe seven speciesofmon ksh (sometimes also called goosesh)live in theAtlantic. One speciesextendsinto the
Mediterranean, andanotheris foundin the western Indian Ocean. Monksh arestrangely absent fr ommost ofthePacic ,however, withjust onespecies thatswims alongthe coasts ofEast Asia. Chefsprizemonksh forthetail meat;thetexture ofthemeat remindssomepeopleof lobster.Indeeditwas oncecalled “poor man’slobster,”butgrew sopopularthat itbecamemorec ostly than therealthing. Herewecookmonk sh sousvideand garnishitwith a zucchinibeignetstu ed withaha libutbrandade.
MONKFISH WITH MEDITERRANEAN FL AVORS Zucchini blossom beignet with halibut brandade filling, spice mix emulsion, mussel
YIELD: SPECIAL EQUIPMENT: TIME REQUIRED:
our portions sousvideequipment,whippingsiphon 49 h overall(15 d i making Salted Halibut), including 1 h preparation and 30 min to reheatandfnish
�
ORDER OF PREPARATION: TIME TO COMPONENT
PR EP
C O OK
FIN I SH
12h*and 15d*
SaltedHalibut
QU AN TT I Y
160 g
optional,seepage3·189
Pâte à Choux
5 m in
HalibutBrandade ZucchiniBlossomBeignet
10 m in
Sous Vide Mussel
10 m in
FishSpice Mix
5 m in
12h* and10 m in
750 g
2d* and1
640 g
3 min
h20 min 5 m in
four
15min*
450 g 10 g
SpiceMixEmulsion
5 m in
20 m in
2 m in
250 g
SousVideMonkfishPavé
2 5m in
45 min*
25min*
4 00 g (f ou r l l te s , 100geach)
12
Greenalmonds times ) *(unattended
ASSEMBLY:
Cook monkfish sous vide at 48 °C / 119 °F to core temperature of 47 °C / 117 °F , about 25 min. Cook mussels sous vide at 65 °C / 149 °F for 12 min.
Season withsalt. Warm spice mix emulsion, and adjust seasoning. Place monkfish pavé on each serving plate. Garnish each plate with zucchini blossom beignet, cooked mussels,
While fsh is cooking: Deep-fry batteredzucchiniblossomsin 195°C / 380°F oiluntil goldenbrown,about 3min.Drainon papertowel-linedtray.
150
VOLUME 5 · PLATED-DISH RECIPES
and green almonds, and dust with additional fish spice mix. Pour spice mix emulsion at table.
FISH
151
Truth be told, the monksh is not the most beautiful sh in the sea. It is a predator that waits motionless on the boom, blending in with rocks and debris. It is a lso called an a nglersh, becau se it dangles from its head a long spine with a so eshy end that twitches like a worm. When a sh comes in for the bait, the monksh distends its enormous jaws, through it can swallow sh as long as its own body. Six of the seven species of monksh (sometimes also called goosesh) live in the Atlantic. One species extends into the
Mediterranean, and another is found in the western Indian Ocean. Monksh are strangely absent from most of the Pacic, however, with just one species that sw ims along the coa sts of East A sia. Chefs prize monksh for the tail meat; the texture of the meat reminds some people of lobster. Indeed it was once called “poor man’s lobster,” but grew so popular that it became more costly than the real thing. Here we cook monksh sous vide and garnish it with a zucchini beignet stued with a halibut brandade.
� Plated-dish recipes are the most involved recipes in the book because they bring together multiple components including a main dish, side dishes, sauces, and garnishes. A brief introduction � provides historical or culinary context for the dish. It is followed by a “dashboard” view � that gives an overview of the recipe components, the time you’ll need to budget to make each part, any special equipment that is required (or that is optional but handy), and the assembly steps involved in bringing everything to completion at the same time. Yield for the recipe as a whole is given as a number of portions. Several times are listed in the TIME REQUIRED: section. � The “overall” time indicates clock time from the start of preparation to serving time. Because many recipes require long periods of cooking, curing, fermenting, etc. that do not require a cook’s attention, we also indicate the amount of hands-on kitchen time needed for preparation. Finally, we give the reheating and finishing time to let you know how far in advance of serving you should begin final assembly. The component dishes in the recipe are then listed in a suggested order of preparation, � with those parts that are easily made in advance given first. Although the recipes for most components follow the dashboard page, some may be found instead in other parts of the book, in which case a page reference is given. � Components that are optional are clearly noted as such. � For each component, we list the quantity needed and three useful times: the hands-on prep time, the time needed for any finishing steps during assembly, and the cooking time. Cooking steps that do not require active attention are set in italics; � in cases where a dish involves both attended and unattended cooking steps, times are given separately for each. � Instructions for finishing and final assembly of the plated dish appear after the table of components. � The most difficult part of making a complex meal is completing all the last-minute cooking, dressing, and garnishing in the few minutes before it is served. To help you pull off this feat, all of these final steps are presented together in this spot and arranged clearly in a practical order. The remaining pages of the plated-dish recipe are devoted to recipes for the components, A each of which is presented using the same approach we take for example recipes (see page 96). Where space permits, we have included photographs showing some of the steps involved. Notes in the margin B provide tips and ideas for substitutions.
YIELD: SPECIAL EQUIPMENT: TIME REQUIRED:
our portions sous vide equipment, whipping siphon � 49 h overall (15 d i making Salted Halibut), including 1 h preparation and 30 min to reheat and fnish
� ORDER OF PREPARATION: TIME TO COMPONENT
PREP
COOK
FINISH
12 h* and 15 d*
Salted Halibut
� optional, see page 3·189 �
� 12 h* and 10 min
5 min
Pâte à Choux
750 g
2 d* and 1 h 20 min
Halibut Brandade Zucchini Blossom Beignet
10 min
Sous Vide Mussel
10 min
Fish Spice Mix
5 min
Spice Mix Emulsion
5 min
Sous Vide Monkfish Pavé
25 min
I
I
QUANTITY
160 g
640 g 5 min
four
3 min
15 min*
450 g
20 min
2 min
250 g
25 min*
400 g (four llets, 100 g each)
10 g
� 45 min*
I
I
12
Green almonds *(unattended times )
AS SE MB LY:
�
Cook monkfish sous vide at 48 °C / 119 °F to core temperature of 47 °C / 117 °F , about 25 min. Cook mussels sous vide at 65 °C / 149 °F for 12 min.
Season with salt. Warm spice mix emulsion, and adjust seasoning. Place monkfish pavé on each serving plate. Garnish each plate with zucchini blossom beignet, cooked mussels,
While fsh is cooking: Deep-fry battered zucchini blossoms in 195 °C / 380 °F oil until golden brown, about 3 min. Drain on paper towel-lined tray.
and green almonds, and dust with additional fish spice mix. Pour spice mix emulsion at table.
5
F I H
AHALIBUT BRANDADE quantity of the whole milk will B The depend on the size of the fish and container shape and size. Good quality, store-bought salt cod can be substituted for the halibut.
Yields 800 g
INGREDIENT
QUANTITY
SCALING
Whole milk
as needed
Salted halibut
160 g
100%
Drain fish and discard milk.
25 g
16%
Repeat steps 1 and 2 three times, for total soaking time of 48 h. Reserve 20 g of liquid from final soaking step.
Soak halibut in milk for 12 h.
optional,se epage 3·189
Garlic, sliced and blanched twice
PROCEDURE
Vacuum seal reserved soaking liquid, halibut, and garlic together. Cook sous vide at 58 °C / 135 °F to a core temperature of 57 °C / 133 °F, about 20 min. Hold at this core temperature for another 15 min. Pulse in food processor until finely shredded.
Water
1 kg
625%
Vacuum seal potato slices in a thin even layer.
Yukon Gold or other waxy potatoes, thinly sliced
250 g
156%
Cook sous vide at 90 °C / 194 °F for 45 min.
Olive oil
90 g
56%
Drain potatoes, and pass through ricer. A Mix into potatoes. B Pass through a fine sieve. C Fold sieved potatoes into halibut-garlic mixture. D Refrigerate.
152
VOLUME 5 · PLATED-DISH RECIPES
For more on Grant Achatz, see page 68. For more on David Kinch, Joan Roca, and Thierry Rautureau, see page 67, page 58, and page x, respectively.
Kinch, and Joan Roca, have heir own syles somewhere in beween. Our plaed-dish recipes exempliy all o hose syles. Te oher plaed dishes are no less sylisical ly diverse. I migh come as a sur prise ha we devoe so much atenion o American barbecue, bu we’re big ans o his cuisine. Indeed, we find ha barbecue exhibis enormous deph and complexiy ha is rarely undersood ouside is home region (and oo requenly ignored ouside he Unied Saes). Iniially we se ou o creae one barbecue recipe, bu he idea soon grew o include sauces and barbecue syles rom every region o he counry (see page 5·66). Perhaps we wen overboard, bu our goal is o serve up a broad range o experiences. Afer our es kichen had made is way hrough he barbecue recipes, a member o he kichen eam, Anjana Shanker, suggesed developing Modernis versions o some Indian curries. She reasoned ha Indian curry dishes, like American barbecue, come in a vas varie y o regional syles. Te recipes she came up wih were so good ha we had o pu hem in he book�you’ll find hem on page 5·89. Tese recipes illusrae how even culinary radiions sreching back hundreds (or in some cases, housands) o years can be revisied wih a Modernis palae and sensibili y�o delicious and hough-provoking effec.
Credit Where Credit Is Due Because we seleced recipes o illusrae imporan conceps in he developmen o Modernis cuisine, i is only naural ha many originaed as conribuions rom he ches who firs used he given echnique in a fine-dining conex. For example, Ferran Adrià was he firs o inroduce spherificaion o a resauran seting, and we have included example recipes ha cover wo o his iconic creaions: imiaion caviar and aux olives. I is no always he case ha he example recipe we have is rom he che who did i firs, however; we chose some recipes simply because hey seemed o bes exempliy he opics explained in he book. Alhough we have gone o some effor o documen hisory in his chaper, he res o he book is firs and oremos abou eaching echnique. Every recipe included here was esed in our kichen laboraory afer a remendous amoun o our own recipe developmen work. Bu we’ve also
had a grea deal o help rom leading ches around he world, and we believe i is imporan o give credi where i is due. Some o he people who inspired recipes in his book don’ know or necessarily endorse he ac ha we’ve used heir recipe as a launching poin or one o our own. Ta is paricularly rue o hisorical recipes, rom ches who are no longer wih us bu who, we hope, would be pleased o play a role in his book. Te older, more radiional recipes are also among hose we’ve mos modified o recas hem in a Modernis syle wih newer echniques or ingrediens. Tus, i we cie a recipe as being “inspired by” a paricular che, i means we modified he recipe in subsanial ways. We may have applied Modernis ingrediens or echniques o a basic recipe idea ha was firs developed in a radiional conex. For example, we include a recipe or spo prawns in a oie gras nage, inspired by a dish rom Tierry Rauureau, a French che in Seatle wih whom I appreniced or some ime. His version is a anasic dish, bu i is enirely radiional in is echnique and ingrediens. Our version uses a Modernis emulsifier—propylene glycol alginae—o keep he nage rom separaing, and we cook he prawns sous vide or wih low-emperaure seam. On one hand, ours is very differen rom Rauureau’s recipe, bu on he oher, i is compleely inspired by a ruly memorable meal a which he served his dish more han 10 years ago. Anoher reason we migh noe ha a recipe is “inspired by” a paricular che is ha we are using only a single componen rom a dish ha che creaed. Te goal in his case isn’ o showcase he che’s cuisine and he original dish in is ull orm bu simply o use par o he recipe as a eaching ool, somewha ou o conex. We’re deeply graeul o all hese ches who�wheher hey know i or no�have inspired he developmen o recipes in his book. In oher cases, we sared by creaing a dish or an elemen o a dish, hen sough ou a radiional recipe in which o embed our new creaion. Tis process led o some o he “inspired by” recipes in he book�hey have a leas one elemen ha was inspired by he che we name, bu he res o he componens may be quie differen. We say ha a recipe is “adaped rom” a paricular che when i is one sep c loser o how ha che migh acually make i. In mos such cases, we
have sill made some adjusmens o echniques or ingrediens, and we may have rearranged procedures a bi o explain hings more clearly. Ulimaely, we ake ull responsibiliy or all recipes in his book and how hey urn ou in your kichen. We’ve esed hem all ex ensively, and alhough we’d like o eel hey are oolproo, i’s likely ha some seps allow a bi more laiude han we anicipaed, leaving a litle room or error. Afer a lo o discussion, we decided o credi he recipes (boh “inspired by” and “adaped rom”) o individual ches raher han o resaurans. Tere are several reasons or his. Firs, many ches have more han one resauran. Heson Blumenhal runs boh Te Fa Duck and a pub called Te Hinds Head. Some o his recipes ha we use have been served a eiher or boh o hese resaurans. Bu ha’s no all, because Blumenhal also paricipaes in V shows, and several o he recipes ha we used were acually developed or his shows raher han or his resaurans. I would seem odd o credi hose recipes direcly (“as seen on BBC V”), so insead we chose o atribue hem o Blumenhal personally, since he is he driving orce behind his various venures. Similar issues come up wih cookbook wriers; in hose cases, i seems clear ha credi should go o he auhor, no o he book. Te sa me holds or web sies and oher venues or disseminaing recipes. So we decided ha, as a rule, we would assign credi o individuals. O course, we recognize ha he developmen o recipes is ofen a eam effor. So when we credi ches like Blumenhal or Adrià, ha credi should be inerpreed as going o he culinar y eams hey lead. Many o he innovaions likely have been developed, honed, or improved by ma ny people on he eam, no jus he che who leads he group. Te word chef, o course, is French or “chie, manager, or leader.” Te very bes ches are exacly ha: leaders who inspire and manage a eam. I is cusomary o atribue any eam’s effors o he leader, paricularly in he kichen, bu we all know ha he leaders would be a lo less producive wihou heir eams’ suppor. Tis book, by he way, is no differen; wihou an incredible eam o alened people, i would have been impossible o creae i. As or he phoographs ha accompany our recipes, mos are images ha we ook ourselves,
hough in a ew cases we do include an image ha was supplied by he che who creaed he dish. We recognize ha he way we’ve assembled and presened each dish may or may no be done exacly as i would have a he che’s resauran; bu he inen is o exempliy he che’s inspiraion. We have no expecaion ha his book duplicaes ches’ recipes and culinary syles as hey would express hem in heir own cookbooks. Afer all, ha is why hey wrie hem. Our book is insead a reposiory o culinary echnique, wih many ideas ha mos cookbooks don’ have he space or resources o provide. Te remaining recipes are hose ha we developed rom scrach on our own. For example, we waned o figure ou how o make an insan soufflé, bu we really had no saring poin o work rom. We jus began working hrough a range o ideas and opions wihou a clear pah, evenually creaing a recipe ha calls or expelling a premade soufflé mixure rom a whipping siphon ino a ramekin, hen puting i in he oven. I’s a mehod we’re quie pleased wih. For all we know, someone else ou here had already done he same hing�we jus weren’ able o find i. I we’ve inadverenly missed someone who eels she or he developed a dish ha we have no gi ven ha person credi or, we apologize.
Safety Physical saey is always an imporan consideraion in he kichen, and i can be especially so wih cera in aspecs o Modernis cooking. Some iems in he Modernis oolbox, such as liquid nirogen, are unusual, and you need o learn unique saey precauions in order o handle hem. Bu we’d also poin ou ha many elemens o radiional cooking can require special precauions as well. Oil heaed o 205 °C / 400 °F or deep-rying is a prety dangerous liquid, oo. Food saey is imporan as well�so much so ha we devoe chapers 2 and 3 o he subjec. In addiion o hese specialized secions, we have provided saey-relaed noes in many o he recipes. Tese noes are no mean o be exhausive�cooks should exercise he appropriae care and cauion in every dish hey make�bu hey may call atenion o cases where saey issues are no necessarily obvious.
