MC Archives - Page 5 of 33 - Modernist Cuisine

A Confection Dissection: Love and Tonka Beans

Posted on February 12, 2015 at 10:57 am.

Written by Caren

Love is a particularly difficult emotion to define. If you ask 10 people what love is and how it makes them feel, you’re likely to get 10 different answers. It’s an abstract concept that wraps up any number of emotions we feel because of another person. We soar and then fall. We gain wisdom and then lose ourselves momentarily.

It’s no surprise then that Valentine’s Day elicits a motley crew of reactions. On February 14, some of us celebrate the people we love, while others celebrate their interpersonal independence. We mourn, we embrace, we cry, we reflect, we ignore, and we laugh at what Valentine’s Day has become. What we can all agree on, however, is that it’s a day to enjoy chocolate.

This year we wanted to create something that would appeal to everyone, from die-hard romantics to cynics, and capture the complexity of the holiday. Of course we wanted to do it with a twist. Our literal interpretation of a chocolate heart is a dark wink to all of the heart-shaped confections out there.

We’re incredibly lucky—head chef Migoya knows a thing or two about chocolate, which makes it easy to turn our sweet ideas into a reality. “Let’s make a chocolate model of an anatomical heart,” we joked. And then it happened. The proof of his incredible skill is in the pictures.

The discussion then turned to ingredients and what we could incorporate to continue the literal nature of our theme. Enter the idea of dehydrated red velvet cake for texture. Why? Because red, of course. New questions emerged. What ingredients could we add to play on the duality of the day? What could we do for the bleeding hearts out there? “We should add tonka beans,” chef Migoya suggested. And we did.

Tonka Beans

If Jack and the Beanstalk has any basis in fact, his beans must have been tonka beans. Tonka beans are flat legumes that are roughly the length of a shelled Brazil nut. When cracked, the wrinkled black shell reveals a dense brown fruit. Although these beans will not cause skyward beanstalk growth, their aroma is intoxicating. It’s often referenced as a vanilla substitute; however, this is a bit misleading. Tonka has a beautifully complex scent—spicy with notes of vanilla, tobacco, and smoke, plus a hint of cinnamon. Tonka beans have been used as a tobacco additive, to create perfumes such as Guerlain’s iconic scent Shalimar, and as an aphrodisiac in some cultures. It’s rumored to have mystical properties, used in some traditions as a “love-wishing bean,” in addition to summoning courage and incurring money.

Tonka beans pop up every now and then on menus stateside, but by far it’s not an ingredient you often encounter. It has a rather nefarious reputation, despite its incredible flavor profile.

Tonka beans are the seeds of Dipteryx odorata (commonly called cumaru), a large tree that grows in the rainforests of Central and South America. The seeds contain a chemical compound called coumarin, which we have to thank for the beans’ distinctive aroma and bitter taste. Coumarin was first isolated in tonka beans; however, it naturally occurs in many plants, including cassia cinnamon, vanilla grass, sweet clover, sweet woodruff, strawberries, cherries, lavender, licorice, and even apricots. It’s the source of the sweet aroma of freshly cut grass.

At high enough concentrations, coumarin can be moderately toxic to the liver and kidneys. Tonka beans have relatively higher amounts of the compound, which is why their consumption is regulated. In 1954, the FDA restricted the use of tonka beans as a food additive after a study found that coumarin was hepatotoxic in rats at high doses. More recent studies have not been able to replicate the results in other rodents, such as hamsters, and some researchers have noted that other species of rodents and mammals, including humans, likely metabolize coumarin differently than rats.

Like nutmeg, a little bit of tonka bean goes a long way. Single beans are typically shaved or grated into food, and because small amounts make a big impact, it’s unlikely an individual would consume enough in one sitting to cause medical concern or an adverse reaction. Its use as a food additive is legal in many countries, including Britain and France; however, many have created guidelines for how much coumarin should be consumed each day, though many note that short-term elevated intake is not harmful.

Here’s where the bleeding heart comes in. A common, and persistent, misconception is that coumarin is also an anticoagulant that causes hemorrhaging when high concentrations are consumed. It’s a bit of a culinary myth, but the association is not far off. Coumarin can be transformed into a natural blood thinner, but it takes certain molds and fungi to make that transformation happen. When these organisms feed on plants containing coumarin, it is converted into a chemical substance called dicumarol, an anticoagulant. Dicumarol is the toxin responsible for sweet clover poisoning, which occurs when animals hemorrhage after eating toxic quantities of spoiled sweet-clover hay. The phenomenon was somewhat of a mystery until dicumarol was isolated by biochemist Karl Paul Link and his team. The compound was used as a pharmaceutical to treat and prevent blood clots until it was replaced by synthetic derivatives, such as warfarin and coumadin.

Anatomical Chocolate

Back to our heart. We have a lot of unconventional tools at our lab, such as the fishing-lure molds we use for our Olive Oil Gummy Worms, but no human-heart-shaped mold. So we created one using food-grade liquid silicone. Food-grade liquid silicone actually consists of a base and catalyst that are mixed together just before you’re ready to cast the mold. Mix ratios vary depending on the brand you use—we used CopyFlex, which has a 1:1 ratio. You’ll need a standard kitchen scale to ensure you’re measuring the base and catalyst equally. To start, estimate the smallest amount of silicone needed. You can easily mix and add more if you underestimate; however, you don’t want to be stuck with superfluous silicone. We used a spare can—you don’t need a special container to make the mold in, instead use something that you can discard and recycle afterward.

We wanted the shape to be as realistic as possible, so we found a life-sized teaching model, intended for anatomy classes. To cast the mold, Chef Migoya submerged the model in food-grade liquid silicone and then allowed it to set for 12 hours. Once the mold was ready, it was sanitized with very hot water, and then placed in baking soda to sit overnight so that the chocolate wouldn’t absorb the flavor of the silicone.

For the chocolate, he combined milk chocolate, cocoa butter, oil, tonka bean shavings, and the ground, dehydrated red velvet cake, which he baked the previous day and allowed to dry uncovered overnight in a dehydrator. The fats from the cocoa butter, oil, and milk chocolate make it easy to slice through the finished chocolate and surround the crumbs without rehydrating the cake, keeping the crisp texture intact. The result is a satisfyingly delicate crunch.

We used milk chocolate to complement the flavors of the tonka bean and red velvet cake. We found that milk chocolate was the best conduit for these ingredients—the finished product is pleasantly complex with hints of spiced vanilla, tobacco, cinnamon, and cocoa. To finish, the set heart was coated with a vibrant red cocoa butter and, for effect, plated it with splatters of pomegranate juice that we thickened with xanthan gum.

We think the result is a rather stunning tribute to Valentine’s Day and evidence that the world needs more chocolate offal.

Sweet Tips to Melt Their Heart and Your Chocolate

Posted on February 10, 2015 at 9:32 am.

Written by Caren

Spending time with your sweetheart is lovely, but the best part of Valentine’s Day is the chocolate. At least, it can be. Working with chocolate can be tricky, so we’ve compiled a few tips (and an easy step-by-step recipe) from head chef Francisco Migoya that will make creating homemade chocolates a little easier—no tempering necessary.

Add a little bit of oil, such as olive or canola, to melted chocolate. This will prevent the chocolate from developing unsightly streaks if you’re not tempering it. The fat from the oil will destabilize the polymorphous fat crystals found in cocoa butter, preventing the crystals from arranging themselves. It’s the same principle used in chocolate-dipped ice cream cones, where the chocolate is mixed with coconut oil, and works beautifully to make chocolate-dipped strawberries.

Water and chocolate are not friends, however a tiny bit of water can be a huge boon to manipulating chocolate to work in your favor. Sugar is hygroscopic, meaning it is attracted to moisture and easily binds to water molecules. The sugars in chocolate are no different. When a few drops of water are added to the chocolate, the sugar will want to bind to the water, no matter how little is added. The reaction causes the chocolate to thicken, making it pipe-able.

You need only a small amount of water (think drops, not teaspoons) to thicken chocolate, and this technique works with any type of chocolate. The amount of water you add will vary depending on the viscosity of the chocolate you’re using, so it’s best to start by mixing just one or two drops into the melted chocolate, and then adjust to the desired thickness. To demonstrate, chef Migoya created dark-chocolate pops, covered in dehydrated strawberries.

First, assemble the pop sticks on a flat surface, such as clear plexiglass or a sheet pan, that is lined with an acetate sheet or parchment paper.

Next, add a few drops of water to the melted dark chocolate.

Transfer the thickened chocolate to a pastry bag. We used a round pastry tip, though any shape could be used to create desired effects.

Pipe the chocolate from one end of the stick to the other, overlapping to create a free-form chocolate latticework.

Once all of the chocolate is piped onto the sticks, add a topping for extra flavor and a punch of color. We used dehydrated strawberries, inspired by the classic combination. Immediately transfer the finished chocolate pops to a refrigerator until you’re ready to serve them. Refrigerating your chocolate will prevent sugar bloom, which creates a white powdery look on the surface of the chocolate.

If you’re still craving more, chef Migoya shared more sweet tips with chef Jamie Gwen. Stay tuned to our blog for even more heartbreakingly good chocolate later this week.

Keeping it Fresh: Make Your Juice Last Longer

Posted on January 8, 2015 at 9:51 am.

Written by Caren

Jack LaLanne was the world’s first fitness superhero, the “godfather of fitness.” He also really loved juice. The Jack LaLanne Juicer turned juicing into a mainstream practice and juicers into common kitchen equipment.

Research studies have yet to validate claims that juicing is more beneficial than eating whole fruits and vegetables, with some studies suggesting that cleanses or excessive consumption can do more harm than good. Juicing, within reason, is a great way to incorporate these ingredients into your diet if you aren’t naturally inclined to eat your fruits and veggies. There is also something undeniably delightful about a glass of fresh-squeezed juice or the unique flavor combinations that can be created—orange-durian-strawberry-mango-kale, anyone?

Whether you juice for health or to please your palate, here is everything you need to know about how to help your juice stay fresh and vibrantly colored for as long as possible and about selecting the proper juicer for your needs.

How Juicing Works

Juicing seems like a violent practice. There are gentler ways of retrieving flavor, such as stock making, when we coax flavors from these ingredients as they simmer. Juicing, however, is a form of violence on the biological building blocks of food so that we can unlock the liquid essence within. This means rupturing cells, but the cellular violence is well worth it—juicing yields incredibly rich flavors.

The rich flavors are fleeting, reserved for the freshest juice, which explains why the fresh stuff will always taste better than store-bought counterparts. When we make juice, sugars, acids, and peel oils combine to make the unmistakable flavor of fresh juice; however, over time, the acidity ruins the incredible flavor by destroying the aromatic peel oils over time.

Making the Most of Your Juice

Juicing is only half the battle. Freshly squeezed juice is fleeting. Although cellular destruction is required to release flavor-creating enzymes, as soon as cell walls are ruptured, the clock and biology will start working against you. The same oils that imbue juice with intense flavors and bright colors oxidize quickly. Aromas and flavors begin to diminish as flavor compounds break down.

When we cut open a piece of fruit, we know that it will eventually turn an unappetizing brown. The same applies for the liquid of those fruits. Many juices brown quickly in reaction to the trauma of juicing. Browning is a defense mechanism that plants use to prevent infection. To defend against germs, plants raise antimicrobial defenses. One mechanism is the release of the enzyme polyphenol oxidase (PPO) from tissue, which leads to the production of protective compounds, such as tannins, and to brown color. Pulp presents another issue. It typically browns long before the liquid. Pulp contains high concentrations of oxidizing enzymes and their molecular targets.

Browning may seem like a strange issue for those of us who are accustomed to purchasing juice at the store. Those juices, however, have already been treated to prevent color change and to preserve flavor. Although juicing is a relatively simple technique, these seven tips, used alone or in combination, will help you to improve your product and get the most out of your produce.

First, keep everything cold. Browning is caused by enzymes that respond to heat: for every 10°C/ 18°F drop in temperature, enzymatic activity falls by about half. You can safely chill most fruits to just above freezing before juicing them; however, avoid chilling subtropical produce, such as bananas, mangoes, avocados, and strawberries. Chilling these fruits can induce chilling injury, wherein low temperatures reduce the quality of produce.
Freezing produce prior to juicing will also prevent browning. Deep-freezing will permanently destroy the browning enzymes; however, flavor-creating enzymes might take a bit of a hit. If you decide to freeze your produce, thaw prior to juicing, unless you want to have a smoothie on your hands.
A three-minute dip in boiling water destroys browning enzymes. Blanching requires high temperatures, though, which will partially cook food by the time the enzymes break down.
Although some of us prefer a little pulp in our juice, filtering it out will eliminate the tissue that enzymes act on to form brown pigments.
Try lowering the pH of your juice. The more acidic the juice, the slower the enzymatic reactions that cause discoloration. High acidity also acts directly on brown pigments to lighten their color.
If you own a vacuum sealer, use it to help prevent oxidation. Although some oxygen is dissolved into the juice itself, vacuum sealing the juice will help slow down browning by removing oxygen.
Natural preservatives are another way to retain color and restore flavor. Ingredients like ascorbic acid (vitamin C), citric acid, malic acid, and honey will prevent browning, while essential oil, alpha tocopherol (vitamin E), or even a squirt of fresh juice from a different batch will preserve flavor.

Picking a Juicer

The type of juicier you own will also make an impact on your juice. Devout juicing advocates prefer cold-press juicers over equipment that introduces any heat to the process. In truth, the mechanisms that make each juicer work can affect the quality of your product, yield size, and even what types of produce you can juice.

Centrifugal-style juicers:

Centrifugal-style juicers are similar to blenders—they pulverize food with a broad, flat blade that sits at the bottom of a spinning mesh basket. The pulverized food is flung against the basket wall, where centrifugal force expels most of the juice from the pulp through the mesh and into a waiting container. These juicers handle both fruits and vegetables well, but look for machines that are designed to automatically dispel pulp deposits to make cleaning easier and to prevent clogs forming in the basket. With centrifugal force comes one major drawback: the friction of the force oxidizes the juice faster, which damages the flavor and color. You’ll also find that the yield from these machines is smaller than its Champion-style counterpart.

Champion-style juicers:

Champion-styles juicers are workhorses. Food is pushed down a chute onto a serrated, rotating blade. As fruits and vegetables pass through the blades, cell walls rupture, releasing their contents, which rapidly collect in a bowl. These appliances excel at separating solids from liquids: pulp is discarded into a separate waste receptacle. Champion-style juicers are also ideal for juicing relatively dry foods, like wheatgrass or leafy greens that can be difficult for other machines to pulverize. The primary shortcoming of this style of juicer is that the pulp still retains some liquid, which reduces overall yield.

Food presses:

Food presses or cold-press juicers (also known as masticating juicers) force liquids out mechanically by squeezing food between two hard, unyielding surfaces, one of which is perforated. These machines, which theoretically seem like a medieval torture device for fruits and vegetables, are often preferred by serious juicers because they use less heat. Juice presses are great for softer foods or for foods that have been softened with sugar, enzymes, or a little heat. In some presses, including cider presses, food is placed between flat plates, often between multiple layers of plates. Citrus fruit presses accommodate the shapes of citrus fruits by using convex and concave pressing surfaces. Muscle power fuels juice presses, which causes juice yields to vary depending on the user. If you enjoy pulp in you juice beware— your juice will contain fewer particles because food is compressed, as opposed to being torn or shredded.

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A Gingerbread Tribute to Antoni Gaudí

Posted on December 18, 2014 at 9:08 am.

Written by Caren

The idea was simple enough—build a gingerbread house for the holidays. Less than a month later, our house transformed into a gingerbread homage to Spanish Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí and Casa Batlló, his kaleidoscopic masterpiece in Barcelona, Spain.

Everything about the structure is edible, from the luster on each chimney and spire to the blanket of snow dusting the roof and ground. After creating a blueprint, we used a laser cutter to replicate the organic, serpentine curves of Casa Batlló in gingerbread and to etch the delicate, bonelike details of the balconies in fondant.

Jolly Rancher glass covers each window, created by crushing the candies with a meat cleaver, placing the shards in each window of the gingerbread facade, and then baking it on a Baking Steel, topped with a Silpat, in our bread oven. The radiant heat from the top of the oven melts the Jolly Ranchers without burning the bottom of the gingerbread

Decorative touches were carefully added: tiles made from Jolly Ranchers, prismatic scaled shingles of icing, edible gold luster dust, rice paper snowflakes, and finally, a powdering of tapioca maltodextrin.

We hope you enjoy watching our tribute to Antoni Gaudí come to life. And, above all, wish you a wonderful holiday season.

– The Modernist Cuisine Team

Gift Guide 2014: White Christmas Edition

Posted on December 11, 2014 at 11:49 am.

Written by Caren

It’s that time of year: gift-guide season has arrived and there’s no shortage of ideas for cooks—we all love indispensable kitchen tools, after all. In previous years, our gift guides encompassed our favorite equipment and tools, including suggestions for photographers. This year, however, we decided to take some of our favorite seasonal songs literally. We’re having a white Christmas and letting it snow by dedicating our gift guide to the powdery wonderland of Modernist ingredients.

Modernist chefs adore ingredients that make the culinary impossible possible, by transforming starches into sugars, stabilizing emulsions, gelling liquids, and creating cloud-like foams. Unfortunately, misinformation about Modernist ingredients is abundant, especially online. Because these substances are able to transform foods somewhat magically, they are often misidentified as being the byproducts of misguided science experiments. In reality, most are derived from naturally-occurring ingredients and processes, and many have been in use for decades.

The usefulness of these ingredients has made them staples in many contemporary kitchens. This guide features background information and ingredients (in no particular order of importance) deemed essential to Modernist techniques—it also serves as a foundation of a well-stocked pantry. We think they make fantastic gifts or stocking stuffers for anyone interested in Modernist cuisine, from seasoned professionals to adventurous home cooks. Create gift sets of different ingredients or provide helpful tools like digital scales, rapid caviar makers, or even a label maker, which comes in handy when you have a pantry full of identically-colored spices.

Gift Guide

1. Xanthan gum is the “sliced bread” of Modernist ingredients. It’s an easy-to-use, tasteless, and flexible additive, made by fermenting bacteria, just like vinegar. It’s an incredibly useful thickener and stabilizer because it is effective under a wide range of viscosities, temperatures, and pH levels. Use it to create salad dressings, sauces, pestos, soups, gelatos and baked goods, including gluten free recipes.

2. Tapioca starch is a traditional thickener made from ground cassava roots. Also known as tapioca flour, it thickens gently, without modifying flavors, making it a great choice for broths, jus, gravy, fruit fillings, and our at-home version of dairy-free gelatos. Additionally, many Modernist chefs make use of modified starches, such as Ultra-Sperse and Ultra-Tex, that are derived from tapioca. These specialty starches are specifically formulated for different thickening tasks and are a great addition to any chef’s arsenal.

3. Transglutaminase is a family of enzymes that form chemical cross-links between muscle proteins so that they bind to one another. These enzymes are found in animal, plant, and microbial cells and play many roles in many functions, such as blood clotting. Despite the nickname “meat glue,” it is a naturally occurring ingredient commercially manufactured via bacterial fermentation, making it no more or less artificial than yeast-leavened bread, vinegar, or fermented sausage. It can be used to raise the melting point of gelatins and increase overall gel strength; in Modernist cooking, however, it’s most commonly used to glue meats or seafoods together. One brand of transglutaminase, called Activa, comes in various grades, each one optimized for a different use. We use Activa as a binder in our recipes for coarse-ground sausages and to create a show-stopping chessboard of bonded tuna and escolar.

4. Soy lecithin, as the name implies, is derived from soy beans. It’s a naturally occurring phospholipid used to emulsify or create foams. Often found in chocolate, this ingredient is commonly used to make salad dressings and sauces, like our Modernist Vinaigrette or Home Jus Gras.

5-6. Sodium alginate is a natural thickener and hydrocolloid derived from brown algae. It’s an ingredient that is commonly associated with spherification. This technique was made popular (and named) by Ferran Adrià—it is now one of the hallmarks of Modernist cooking. When alginate (a sugar) comes into contact with a calcium ion coagulant, gelling occurs—the secret to spherification is to delay the reaction by creating a gel mixture that cannot set. In the original spherification technique, sodium alginate is used to create a gel mixture that contains no free-floating calcium. When the liquid is dropped into a calcium bath, such as calcium chloride, a shell forms on the surface, enveloping the liquid inside. Spheres of juice add bursts of flavor to drinks and can transform familiar ingredients like olive oil into surprising pops of texture.

7. Guar gum, of no relation to the band Gwar, is a thickener and stabilizing agent extracted from the seeds of guar beans, which are indigenous to India and Pakistan. This hydrocolloid can thicken both hot and cold liquids, stabilize emulsions and foams, and help prevent syneresis (the tendency of gels to weep liquid). Guar gum is used to create constructed broths and coating sauces as well as cold cream sauces, constructed creams, and ice-cream bases.

8. Agar is derived from seaweed and has been used in Japanese cooking for centuries. It’s a clear, tasteless gelling agent that also works as an effective thickener and stabilizer. Although it’s available at Asian markets, specialty retailers sell agar powders, graded by gelling strength, that perform more consistently. We use agar to create fluid gels, like our Vegetarian Panna Cotta and Onion Fluid Gel. When making foams with a whipping siphon, the addition of a small amount of agar will give thin liquids enough body for foaming.

9. Sodium citrate is the salt of citric acid, which is a natural component of citrus fruits. With a slightly sour taste, it is sometimes used to add flavor (think of club soda), although we most often use it in cheeses as an emulsifier in order to keep droplets of water and fat from separating. A tiny amount will give your favorite cheeses a silky smooth texture when melted, allowing you to develop new spins on cheese-based dishes.

Looking to try out these Modernist ingredients? Our recipe library is full of wonderful options for cooks of all skill levels.

Eight Days of Modernist Cuisine Sweepstakes

Posted on December 4, 2014 at 4:29 pm.

Written by Caren

This holiday season, we’re sharing the love—of Modernist Cuisine, that is. Mark your calendars and set your alarms: starting December 8^th, we’re giving away a different Modernist Cuisine gift every day for eight days. We’ll offer a new item each morning at 12:01 A.M. (PST), so check our website daily to see what we’re giving away that day. Enter to win just about anything Modernist Cuisine, from our Special Edition Baking Steel to the 50-pound Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking. Be sure to enter before 11:59 P.M. (PST) each day.

After entering, we hope you’ll stick around to double down on the holiday cheer. Let someone know you’ve been nice this year by using our interactive wish list of Modernist Cuisine books and gear. E-mail your customized list to loved ones, or let the world know on Facebook and Twitter. Above all, we sincerely hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

—The Modernist Cuisine Team

See official rules and details

Leftovers Survival Guide

Posted on November 25, 2014 at 9:00 am.

Written by Caren

Let’s cut to the chase: we look forward to Thanksgiving leftovers almost as much as the formal dinner itself. One of the most emblematic leftover preparations is undoubtedly the post-Thanksgiving turkey sandwich. A delicious amalgamation of last night’s meal, this sandwich is the essence of Thanksgiving between two slices of structurally sound bread. When it comes to handling leftovers, however, things can get a bit funky. Here’s what you need to know.

Danger, Danger

At the end of dinner, there’s a mad rush to clean the kitchen and pack leftovers so that loafing can begin. It’s usually an afterthought, but proper packaging is a crucial step for ensuring your leftovers survive.

Cooked food should be chilled quickly to inhibit bacterial growth. The “danger zone” range is 4–60°C / 40–140°F, encompassing temperatures between refrigeration and cooking temperature. This zone is notorious because it provides favorable conditions for bacteria to rapidly multiply. The longer food spends cooling in this zone, the more likely it is that your leftovers will harbor unwanted microbes. As a general guideline, food should not sit in the danger zone for more than four hours. The guideline also comes into play for thawing food. A whole turkey and similarly large foods thaw slowly and unevenly, so they should not be left to thaw at room temperature. As the bird slowly thaws, bacteria will develop on the outer tissue layers even though the inside remains frozen.

It’s important to note that these guidelines, developed by the FDA, are an oversimplification of how bacteria behave. Multiplication rates vary according to many factors, such as temperature, moisture, and pathogen type. More conservative recommendations from other organizations, such as the USDA, suggest that two hours is a more suitable estimate, while others expand the window to six.

As you get ready to pack leftovers, do the math and toss anything that could have exceeded this threshold. If it’s particularly warm in your kitchen, dispose of leftovers well before the four-hour mark. Food should be disposed of after an hour if it held in a 32 °C / 90 °F environment.

Rapid cooling has another big benefit: it maintains juiciness and fresh-cooked flavors better than slow cooling can. Juices gel and thicken before they escape, and flavorful aromatics stay locked in your foods.

The obvious remedy to cooling hot food appears to be simply placing it in the refrigerator straight away. But this strategy happens to be the worst way to cool and store leftovers. Warm packages stay warm, well after an hour, and actually raise the temperature of surrounding foods, increasing the risk of spoilage as illustrated in the infrared images below. It’s an interesting problem: food should be chilled rapidly, but cooling via the refrigerator or freezer is problematic.

SV5_Fridge w hot food thermal — Top: Hot food immediately placed in a refrigerator. Bottom: One hour later, leftovers are still hot and neighboring food is now warmer.

The Art of Cooling and Reheating Leftovers

Putting warm leftovers away probably seemed like a mundane task a few paragraphs ago. Now it might feel more like a dilemma, but you have several options.

If you’re cooling lots of sauce, like warm gravy or stock, pour it into a shallow container to increase the surface area. The shallower the container, the faster your liquids will cool. You can also divide the sauce or stock among several smaller containers.

The best way to quickly cool food to refrigeration temperatures is to dunk your sealed foods in ice water, which can be as simple as a sink or bowl of cold water with lots of ice cubes. Once the food is chilled, it can then be stored, still sealed, in a freezer or in the enclosed drawers at the bottom of the fridge, which maintain the most stable temperatures. Avoid the shelves in the door, which are the warmest part of a refrigerator.

When you’re ready for reheating, simply put your bags of leftovers in a heated water bath, and let them warm gradually. Most foods should be reheated to 60 °C / 140 °F, though red meat should be reheated to its original cooking temperature. Avoid reheating any food to temperatures above 65 °C / 149 °F, and take care not to overcook food. Finally, allow reheated food to rest. The rationale is similar to why we let meat rest— resting allows the exterior to cool slightly while juices thicken. This final step will preserve the flavor and moistness of the food.

If dunking your foods in ice water isn’t an option, let them cool on your counter (if time allows), or, if the weather is cold, place covered leftovers outdoors until they’ve cooled enough for safe storage.

Warmed-over Flavors

Turkey and ham come with an additional challenge: the slightly stale, somewhat-rancid aroma that develops after being reheated. It’s an aroma that can put a considerable damper on daydreams of savoring a delicious turkey sandwich.

The underlying cause of rancidity is the oxidation of unsaturated fats found in muscle-cell membranes. When first cooked, these unsaturated fats remain reasonably stable. Once the meat cools, however, the cell membranes readily break down, exposing fat molecules to oxidation. The greater quantity of unsaturated fats, the more likely warmed-over flavors will arise after reheating cooked meat, which is why such aromas are commonly found in seafood, poultry, and pork.

Iron, abundant in meat and myoglobin filaments in muscle, catalyzes these oxidation reactions after food has been heated, cooled, and then reheated. Brines with curing salts can be used as preventative measures against the reaction, but salt alone can do more harm than good. The best way to buy more time for your leftover turkey is to keep it tightly packaged in a sous vide bag after cooking. The air-free environment therein will help slow the process of oxidation.

Now back to that sandwich. There’s a lot to be said for one perfect bite of thanksgiving—getting all of those flavors in a single bite. When it comes to sandwiches, be strategic. First, if you don’t use a water bath to warm your turkey, try reheating it in extra gravy to restore flavors and lost moisture. As you begin construction, use cranberry sauce as a spread, and then add your gravy-soaked turkey. Next comes a rather difficult decision: whether to finish your sandwich with stuffing or potatoes, but not both. Too many carbohydrates will upset the delicate ratio of proteins and condiments.

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Building a Better Turkey

Posted on November 19, 2014 at 9:03 am.

Written by Caren

When it comes to turkey, there are many different theories about the best way to prepare a bird. The topic can get downright philosophical with every side presenting evidence on behalf of a particular technique, leaving you to exit the fray with over a dozen methods, each one somehow better than the last. While some methods yield far better results than others, the only true loser is your dried-out bird. Here’s our guide, backed by science, for making a truly succulent turkey.

The Mechanics of Dark and White Meat

Structural differences between white and dark meat make succulence a particularly challenging goal. Meat gets its color from an oxygen-carrying protein called myoglobin, which naturally binds and shuttles oxygen throughout an organism’s body. Dark meat is comprised of slow-twitch muscles that are built for endurance and found primarily in the legs and thighs. These aerobic muscles require large quantities of oxygen-friendly myoglobin to help sustain prolonged use—such as long-distance running—hence their dark coloring. They also burn fat for fuel, so the meat ends up richer in flavor.

In contrast, if you were to look at a turkey breast under a microscope, you would see many light-colored, fast-twitch muscle fibers, geared for intense bursts of activity such as fluttering or scrambling across a road. These fibers work anaerobically and don’t burn fat, so few myoglobin proteins are present, resulting in a white, lean meat.

With different compositions and purposes, muscles cook at different temperatures—dark meat, for instance, requires higher cooking temperatures than white meat. That’s why preparing a turkey can get tricky. A Modernist approach is to cook each separately. For Thanksgiving, we like to create a confit of dark meat, brine the breast meat, and cook both sous vide at their respective times and temperatures. Cooking sous vide provides a precision-based strategy for maximizing juiciness, and it has an additional bonus: it frees up precious oven space for other dishes on your menu.

The Whole Turkey

It can be hard to imagine a Thanksgiving meal without an iconic, whole-roasted turkey. Maybe it’s a deep‑seeded, primal instinct based on millennia of roasting meats over a fire. Or perhaps it’s the nostalgia from that special moment when everyone in the kitchen holds their breath in unison to take in the aroma, the color of the skin, and the site of the steaming turkey as it emerges from the oven.

Whatever the reason, there are two issues that make roasting a whole turkey tricky. First, white and dark meat have to be baked together. Second, a crisp, golden skin requires temperatures that will leave the meat underneath undesirably dry. Suddenly, roasting a turkey becomes a juggling act between crispy skin and succulent meat, a task akin to an algebraic formula: if a turkey leaves the station in St. Louis at 15 mph, how long will it take to arrive in Denver with crispy skin and tender meat? Is there a definitive solution for roasting a whole turkey? Likely not. But we’d like to think that injection brining comes pretty close.

How Brines Work

On a fundamental level, brines modify meat proteins. When dissolved, salt dissociates into positively charged sodium ions and negatively charged chloride ions, which are the atoms that actually diffuse throughout your foods. Salinity is a measure of the concentration of these two ions, which equates to a specific ratio of salt to water. Ions flow from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration, but, due to a shallow gradient in muscle tissues, the diffusion of dissolved salt tends to be quite slow, which is why it can take months to properly cure a ham.

Brining technically does not work via osmosis, as popular opinion suggests. If osmosis alone were at play, water would be drawn out of the meat, but brining works by pulling water into muscles. Chloride ions from dissolved salt diffuse into muscle fibers and accumulate along the surfaces of protein filaments. As these ions increase in number, they generate a negative charge that loosens and pushes neighboring filaments apart. This newly created channel provides enough space for water to enter the muscle, causing it to swell from the influx of ambient water. Ions further modify muscle proteins by causing them to bind tightly to water and resist shrinking as the meat cooks. Muscle will continue to swell until the salinity reaches 6%—after that, it shrinks and begins to lose water.

Brining is a slow process; salt diffuses through muscle roughly 100 to 1,000 times slower than heat conduction. As such, traditional brining can take days—the thicker the cut of meat, the longer it will take to brine. Protein is also found in skin, thus water molecules are bound and trapped there as well. As a result, the skin of brined meat can easily get soggy because of the time it takes for the brining process to work. Excess water can, then, lead to soggy skin and a rubbery texture. Enter injection brining.

Injection Brining

Injection brining speeds up the process, turning a multiday event into an overnight task. This technique will give you more control over where your brine diffuses, allowing you to expose only the bird’s muscles to the brining solution.

The day before Thanksgiving, create a brine of 6% salt by turkey weight—a reasonable rule of thumb is to use at least as much water by weight as you have meat. Pull back the skin so that you only pierce the meat. Then, using a brining syringe, slowly inject the legs, breasts, and thighs. Inject the muscles evenly over the surface, leaving about an inch between injection sites. Turkeys can be large, so this may require dozens of injections. After your turkey is brimming with brine, let it rest overnight in your refrigerator. When you’re ready to roast the turkey, put it on a roasting rack over a drip pan. The rack allows air to circulate around the turkey, which helps amplify flavors and promote even browning of the skin.

Crispy Skin

Skin has an incredibly high moisture content—it’s about 70–80% water by weight. The science behind golden skin is simple: dry it out by removing moisture. For particularly thick skin, however, we like to add an extra step before cooking—don’t cover your brined turkey when you refrigerate it overnight. Instead, leave it uncovered until it’s time to put it in the oven. By doing so, you’re allowing the turkey’s skin to dry out so that it crisps better in the oven.

Crispy skin is also dependent on knowing the internal temperature of your turkey, so we like to combine the drying step with another equally simple step: tracking the oven’s temperature. Cover your turkey with aluminum foil, which will help prevent the skin from getting too dark, and then place it in the oven. Depending on your oven, bake the covered turkey between 191-204 °C / 375-400 °F. Once the turkey reaches an internal temperature of 68 °C / 155 °F, take the foil off, and crank your oven up to 232 °C / 450 °F in order to brown the skin. When the internal temperature reaches 71–72 °C / 160–162 °F, take the bird out of the oven. The turkey will continue to cook from residual heat to an internal, safe temperature of 73 °C / 163 °F. Note that for the most accurate temperature readings, you should insert your digital probe into the thickest parts of the bird, such as the turkey’s breast.

Patience is a Virtue

Once your turkey is out of the oven, it may be hard to avoid a display of turkey worship, but try to resist the urge to immediately carve your bird. Letting the meat rest can be one of the most difficult steps of the entire process, but it makes a considerable difference in flavor and texture. Ripe with brine, your finished turkey will be juicy. If you carve into it too soon, all of those glorious juices will end up on the cutting board instead of in the meat.

Why do we need to let it rest? Some popular theories suggest that the delay allows moisture, forced toward the meat’s interior during cooking, to travel back to the surface. But the slow diffusion rate of water actually prevents moisture from migrating during cooking and resting. In truth, degraded and dissolved proteins slightly thicken the natural juices as the turkey cools. The thickened liquid then escapes slower when the meat is sliced.

We recommend letting your turkey rest for 20 minutes. Use that time wisely by reheating vegetables made earlier in the day. Five minutes before service, gently warm your turkey in the oven.

One Final Debate: Stuffing

The subject of stuffing also happens to be fodder for debate. In one corner, there are devotees of cooking stuffing inside the turkey. In the other corner are those who insist that stuffing must be prepared separately.

If you want Thanksgiving to be memorable for all of the right reasons, make your stuffing in separate cookware, like a cast-iron skillet. Cooking stuffing inside of your turkey introduces food-safety issues—because turkeys are so thick, your stuffing will never reach a safe internal temperature, meaning you must contend with contamination issues from uncooked turkey drippings. Plus, you’ll miss out on the best part of stuffing: the crispy bits on the surface.

Ready for pie and leftovers? We have a recipe and more tips coming your way.

Día de los Muertos

Posted on October 27, 2014 at 10:19 am.

Written by Caren

This fall, we found ourselves inspired by the sentiment and iconography of Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). A two-day holiday, it begins November 1^st with All Saints Day, when the spirits of infants and children are honored, and is followed by All Souls Day, honoring adults. Both holidays are a way of commemorating the lives of deceased loved ones, but the festivities are far from morose, and the mood is far from somber.

Head chef Francisco Migoya grew up in Mexico City, where he celebrated Día de los Muertos each year, often going to the village of Mixquic, which is famous for its celebrations. Sometimes referred to as “City of the Dead,” the village is home to the church of San Andrés Apóstol and its surrounding cemetery, which became the epicenter of commemorations. “It’s where most of these traditions are kept alive,” said Migoya. In Mixquic, the festival spans three days and is attended by thousands. It concludes with La Alumbrada on November 2nd, when the cemetery is awash with the glow of candles and people hold all-night vigils at gravesites.

Day of the dead, Francisco Migoya, 2014

“A celebration centered on death might sound somewhat morbid to other cultures where it’s more taboo. [Día de los Muertos] is really a huge celebration that, in some ways, makes light of death…” said Migoya. For two days, vibrant processions snake through towns, and families build colorful altars called ofrendas at gravesites or in their homes to encourage spirits to visit, celebrate, and once again enjoy the luxuries of corporeal life.

The holiday is a feast for the senses. “There are specific flowers that are tied to the holiday. Marigolds and cockscomb flowers… You can smell the burning candles, incense, and Frankincense from the altars all day. Those smells are a big association with Día de los Muertos,” Migoya added.

Flowers, stories, possessions, toys, and, of course, foods and libations, are offered to welcome home the spirits for the holiday’s duration. Traditional holiday staples, including sugar skulls and Pan de Muerto, are prepared, as well as the spirits’ favorite dishes.

Sugar Skulls

Intricately decorated sugar skulls, or calaveras, with names of the deceased written across the foreheads, represent departed spirits. They are typically covered in labyrinthine patterns of vibrantly colored icing that seemingly breathe life back into the spirits. Throughout the holiday, the skulls serve as gifts between friends and family.

Chef Migoya based our sugar skulls on traditional recipes. First, he mixed sugar, water, and egg white powder until the mixture produced a texture similar to wet sand. Next, the mixture was pressed as tightly as possible into molds. “The process is similar to building sandcastles. Filling the molds is like filling buckets with sand. You want to pack them as tightly as possible so that the sugar skull pops out intact…” The skulls were dried on cardboard (permeable surfaces are preferable) and, after five hours, were hollowed out to reduce the weight of the skulls and make them easier to work with. After drying them for an additional 24 hours, they were decorated with a simple icing made of water, powdered sugar, and a little bit of citric acid; the skulls were then placed under a fan to keep the icing shiny. “The citric acid prevents the sugar from crystallizing. And the faster the icing dries, the shinier it will be.”

Pan de Muerto

Pan de Muerto (Bread of the Dead) also adorns ofrendas and is eaten during the holiday. This soft, yeasty bread is lightly sweetened and typically flavored with anise- and orange-blossom water, giving the bread a delicate taste and enticing aroma. The bread maintains the iconography of Día de los Muertos—before baking in the oven, the dough is rounded, topped with pieces shaped like long bones (representing the deceased), and dusted with sugar.

We just happened to have a gorgeous skull stencil at The Cooking Lab, so we decided to put it to good use for our Pan de Muerto. We shaped our dough into a large boule (round) and dusted sugar over the stencil. The small notches around the bread’s edges represent traditional bone decorations. We then augmented the supernatural quality of our Pan de Muerto by adding clouds of liquid nitrogen.

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Pasta: A Retrospective

Posted on October 21, 2014 at 1:22 pm.

Written by Caren

Chances are, there’s a food holiday (and maybe even two or three) for every day of the year. While we like to celebrate amazing food regularly at Modernist Cuisine, we couldn’t let National Pasta Month come and go without acknowledging it. As the weather in Bellevue, Washington, turns gray and cold, a plate of Spaghetti alle Vongole or bowl of Shanghai Soup Dumplings sounds even more enticing than normal. And Mac and Cheese, Russian Pelmeni, Chicken Noodle Soup, and Rye Levain Noodles? Check, check, check, and check.

With noodles of all kinds on our minds, here is an homage to the delicious beauty of pasta.