Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide by Thomas Keller
|
List Price: Our Price: $46.25 You Save: $28.75 (38%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $43.95 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide
Book Review: this might be a long review...
Summary: 5 Stars
the french laundry cookbook is one of my favorite books, but i thought id never be able to do most of the recipes in it when i first looked at it. after time, as my experience grew, and constantly referring back to the book, i find myself now able to do most of those dishes in it (though i havent tackled head-to-toe yet) and looked at the book more as a place to get ideas from. "under pressure" seems like the same type of book.
when i opened this book i felt the same experience i felt opening the french laundry. the books pretty much even look the same. neither are designed with the home cook in mind.
that said, most of the recipes can be replicated at home, given the right equipment. i seriously doubt anyone is going to buy a chamber vacuum sealer (costing up to or exceeding 5 grand) or an immersion circulator (costing over a grand) but there is hope for people on a budget, like myself.
i, myself, have been doing some sous-vide cooking at home and at work for about a year now. i tested the way the technique can change the texture and taste of food. the results i got ranged from disasterious to sublime. i never had a real guide to sous vide cooking (not being able to spend over 200 bucks for the only book printed on the subject). but now i do. but i dont have the expensive hardware that this book calls for, but im pretty sure i can get the same results they get on MOST of these dishes.
its true, food savers and chamber sealers are alot different. you cant get the results of a "compressed" watermelon (as in the steak tartare)using something you got at target, but you can get the same type of pork belly. with the old foodsavers, you werent able to seal food with a liquid (unless you froze it and then placed it with the food in the bag). the new ones, allow you to seal with liquids and marinades, so most of the recipes are do-able.
and it is true, a sous vide magic wont give the same results as a immersion circulator will give you as far as the poached egg is concerned. but it will allow you to get pretty much the same reults you would get from the braised veal cheeks.
i use a foodsaver V2860 and a Ranco temperature controller, with a plug-in electric burner at home (at work we got the Rational combi) and found it relatively easy to do the "glazed breast of pork with swiss chard, white wine poached granny smith apples and green mustard vinaigrette" at home.
and as far as the "molecular chemicals" used in this book, you can easily get them online from the places they refer to on the sources page in reasonable quantities. you wont need to buy a 50 lb bucket of transglutaminase in order to do them.
this book isnt for someone wanting to make a 30-minute meal. nor should it be. its for someone who takes food and cooking SERIOUSLY. as with the french laundry, this book is strictly dedicated with a serious hobbyist and the professional chef in mind.
Book Review: Obviously not for the "average" home cook. Rachael Ray fans need not apply
Summary: 5 Stars
After reading many of the reviews of this book, I must get one thing off my chest: Thomas Kelller's cooking isn't meant to be accessible. If you know anything about the man, his food and his restaurants, then this won't be a surprise. Also, sous-vide as a technique was never developed to be utilized in an average home kitchen. The recipes in this book are clear, concise and don't leave anything out. It assumes you are using extremely high quality ingredients and have the means to maintain a water bath at a precise temperature. Sous vide can be done at home with fantastic results if you put enough care into preparation, timing and temperature maintenance. A foodsaver can be used. However professional vacuum machines are able to extract much more air from the bags (and are able to "compress" food which a foodsaver cannot) and obviously a lab quality roner would give the most exacting results in terms of cooking times and temps. The photography in this book is stellar, as is all of Keller's book and to me the Bras-like plate presentations are much more creative and visually interesting than his previous books, French Laundry included. This would be more of a resource for professional chefs with the skill and equipment to able to replicate the doness of proteins and vegetables. The personal insights of the various sous-chefs of the Keller empire and Sabastien Rouxel, the executive pastry chef are also worth noting as they aren't long and derivative, yet give the reader a broad understanding of what it takes to work at such a high level as well as obvious insights into sous-vide techniques and their utilization in the kitchen for things other than low-temp cooking. To me this is the most approachable book on the subject of sous vide. Other books like Joan Roca's "Sous Vide" is not only very expensive, but is long on scientific explanation and very short on content (relative to the high price) and isn't very practical. Jordi Cruz's "Logical Cuisine" also delves into low temperature cooking using sous vide to infuse stocks with other flavors, but the book as a whole only partly covers the full possibilities of sous vide cooking and the section on the subject is quite short. This book does a terrific job of distilling the essence of sous-vide cooking to the basics and organizes it in a clear and easily read source, in my opinion it is the best book to read up on the subject of sous-vide cookingBook Review: No Apologies, this is not for home cooks.
Summary: 5 Stars
I see some disgruntled reviews here which I think are misleading, mainly by people who feel misled.
To begin with, this book is not intended to be "dumbed down" for the everyday home cook. It is for professionals, and very ambitious home cooks. The recipes are directly from 2 of the top restaurants in the country/world, and as such, they are not simple. That being said, they are detailed and descriptive, and explain everything you will need to do in order to prepare these dishes.
As for tech requirements. Yes, a water circulator would be nice, as would a chamber vac machine. But, not all of us are so lucky. As we do in professional kitchens, make do with what you have. Wal-mart carries a basic home vac machine, which will work for most of the recipes, but if you do not have one try a Ziploc. Fill it, submerge in water and seal. (Heston Blumenthal uses a bag and a vacuum cleaner as well I believe). Water circulator. They do a great job at keep a constant temp in a water bath, but so does a large pot. A digital thermo can be had for 20 bucks (probably right here on amazon), and you are one your way to Michelin stars.
As for molecular gastronomy chemicals...yes some are a little odd, but think how strange gelatin would be where we not familiar with it. Think, a hydrocolloid derived from animal hooves be denaturing it. Many of these new thickeners and binders are readily available, just as gelatin sheets and salt are, and for those that are harder to find, there is a list of suppliers in the book for all of the items which may be less common.
Best of luck to those ready to give it a try. But, be warned, this is not a Mark Bittman book. Have fun. Oh, and yeah, the book is great, with detailed recipes, precise details, and great photos.
Book Review: Morons
Summary: 5 Stars
First, this is a rant. Second, this book is amazing and beautiful; a first of its kind and should be revered as such. Thomas Keller has been my go-to authority on cuisine for as long as I've know of him. I just received my copy of this book and I am absolutely thrilled. I will make this review very short, but I must respond to a few of the negative comments. Someone complained that this book was part of a trendy fad and that they were disappointed that Keller would endorse said fad. Well, moron, sous vide is not a fad as it has been popular in Europe for over thirty years. Also, someone complained that this book includes ingredients not easily obtained. You too are a moron and don't deserve to own this book. If you are serious about cooking and exploring the your personal unknowns then you can easily find these products on sites such as willpowder or simply google which ever hydrocolloid you need, you will surely find it. Also, some have raised the safety implications of cooking sous vide. If you have actually looked into the book and READ a little you may see the 3-4 pages of sous vide safety with each type of bacteria handled separately. I cannot wait to cook from this book. If you are a home cook and you don't have a vacuum sealer or an immersion circulator (I have neither) then you could simply buy the siploc vacuum bags and use a calibrated thermometer to achieve great results. There is a great description of a "ghetto sous vide" technique in the book Momofuku. Check it out.Book Review: Professional and Prophetic
Summary: 5 Stars
You know the pleasure you get from standing behind the stove while the aromas of -let's say- sweating onions and garlic wrap around you? Well those great cooking smells and all of their kin come at the expense of flavor in your food when it hits the plate. Suppose you could somehow trap all those aromas and taste them all it once, wouldn't you want to?
That's the promise of sous vide cooking. For most of us, this beautiful book will have to be like a catalog of sensations that we can look forward to. Right now, this technique remains (pretty much) in the realm of professional kitchens. Imagine being able to bring a steak up to serving temperature and have the entire piece of meat be medium rare. Or imagine short ribs that aren't gray and carrots that taste raw and chew cooked.
In a few years, the equipment and supplies necessary to vacuum-pack food and then cook it precisely will be available for the home kitchen. In the meantime, these recipes stand like luscious fables for the amateur and a call to action for the pro.
Lynn Hoffman, author of the highly pressured novel, bang BANG