The Amazing Pressure Cooker

Written by

In the third installment of MDRN KTCHN, our very own Scott Heimendinger and CHOW.com team up to bring you a video all about pressure cooking. Discover how it works, when it was invented, and how baking soda caramelizes root vegetables in 20 minutes.

Now that you can’t wait to dust off your pressure cooker, get the Caramelized Carrot Soup recipe and watch a demonstration by Scott here. Other pressure cooker recipes in our recipe library include Garlic Confit and Vegetable Risotto. For even more recipes using pressure cookers to make everything from stocks to carnitas to marinara sauce, check out our new book, Modernist Cuisine at Home!

Watch Nathan’s New York Times Talk

Written by

In case you couldn’t make it in person or stream it live last Saturday, here’s your chance to watch Nathan’s New York Times Talk with Jeff Gordinier. In the video above, Nathan tells Jeff about his favorite way to decant wine, when a chef’s own two hands are the best kitchen tools, how syringes are essential to roasting the best chicken, and more. Nathan also does a mean duck-in-a-feeding-frenzy impression!

Sous Vide Run Down on MDRN KTCHN

Written by

In the second installation of MDRN KTCHN on CHOW.com, our Director of Applied Research, Scott Heimendinger, focuses on sous vide cooking. Watch the video above to see Scott demonstrate the process and explain the science behind this technique. Want to try it out yourself? We have many sous vide recipes in Modernist Cuisine as well as Modernist Cuisine at Home. We also have a few recipes in our online Recipe Library, including ones for short ribs, rare beef jus, and light and dark turkey meat.

Bloomberg Pursuits

Written by

Take a tour through The Cooking Lab with Bloomberg Pursuits, tonight at 9 p.m. (EDT). Nathan Myhrvold will be taking Pursuit’s host Trish Regan through cryofrying steak with liquid nitrogen, making fries with an ultrasonic machine, centrifuging peas to separate them into three layers, and more! Watch the video above for a sneak peek.

Tune in to the Bloomberg Channel (check your cable provider for listings), or watch it live here.

Our Favorite Recipes: I Can’t Pick, But the Pie Crust Is Great!

Written by

Modernist Cuisine at Home author Nathan Myhrvold

All week the kitchen team has been taking turns describing their favorite recipes from our new book, Modernist Cuisine at Home. But for me, picking a favorite recipe is like picking a favorite child. I love them all.

So instead, I’ll introduce Larissa Zhou, our newest addition to the team, and our first professional food scientist. Larissa joined us after the new book went to press, so her opinion is a little bit different than everyone else’s. Instead of testing the recipes inside the Cooking Lab, she took her new copy home and started making recipes there. Here’s what she has to say:

“The pie crust would be a great addition to anyone’s kitchen repertoire. I recently moved and made this pie crust in my bare-bones kitchen. I baked it with blackberries picked just along the running trails here in Seattle and took it to a potluck. It was the first to go. The right amount of almond flour and butter make the crust incredibly flaky and irresistible.”

Food Scientist Larissa Zhou

I have to say, the pie crust is pretty damn good.

All week we’ve been telling you about our chefs’ favorite recipes from Modernist Cuisine at Home! Visit our blog for more photos, stories, and tips.

– The Modernist Cuisine Team

Our Favorite Recipes: Chicken Wings

Written by

I am most excited about the Korean Chicken Wings recipe in Modernist Cuisine at Home. Why? Because of the deliciousness factor! They’re amazing. Just watch the video above and see for yourself.

Developmental Chef Sam Fahey-Burke

Check back tomorrow: every day this week, we’ll bring you another of our chefs’ favorite recipes from Modernist Cuisine at Home. Visit our blog for more photos, stories, and tips.

– The Modernist Cuisine Team

Our Favorite Recipes: Roast Chicken

Written by

My favorite dish from Modernist Cuisine at Home is Roast Chicken. Like many people, I grew up eating roast chicken a lot, but having Modernist Cuisine at Home‘s roast chicken is like eating it for the first time. It’s injection-brined and then brushed with soy sauce, which might not be traditional, but these steps act as drying and browning agents for the skin. The result is a chicken that is perfectly moist on the inside and crispy on the outside.

Developmental Chef Aaron Verzosa
Developmental Chef Aaron Verzosa

Our Favorite Recipes: Vegetable Soup

Written by

I love all of the pressure-cooked soup variations in Modernist Cuisine at Home. We have an “at home” version of the Caramelized Carrot Soup recipe (as in the video above), but we also have several variations using artichoke, parsnip, or apple, because the technique applies to nearly any vegetable. You can make a great soup in only 20 minutes.

Developmental Chef Anjana Shanker

All week we’ll be telling you about the chefs favorite recipes from MCAH! Check back for more photos, stories, and tips.

– The Modernist Cuisine Team

Our Favorite Recipes: Microwaved Cod

Written by

Microwaved Black Cod with Scallions and Ginger is my favorite recipe from Modernist Cuisine at Home. My mom originally showed me the technique and I really love it. It very closely mimics a traditional Chinese steamed fish, but takes only minutes to prepare without sacrificing taste or texture.

Johnny Zhu, Developmental Chef

All week we’ll be telling you about the chefs’ favorite recipes from MCAH! Check back for more photos, stories, and tips.

– The Modernist Cuisine Team

More Modernist Cuisine Videos from Chow.com

Written by

We’re proud to announce the brand-new CHOW.com video series, MDRN KTCHN, starring our very own Scott Heimendinger! Every Sunday, Scott will demonstrate a recipe or technique from Modernist Cuisine or Modernist Cuisine at Home. In the coming weeks, MDRN KTCHN will show you how to make perfectly melted nacho cheese, walk you through sous vide cooking, and much more.

We’ve also partnered again with CHOW.com’s series CHOW Tips. In this latest installment, Scott demonstrates how you can bake a cake in your microwave using a whipping siphon. For the recipe, click here.