Things that are making you happy*******food and drink edition******

[foodguy]

the thing i'm wondering about with those "heating" blenders: what's the texture like on the purees? seems to me that as long as the blender is running, it's also pumping air into the puree. fine if you want a really light foamy soup, but otherwise ... or is that not the way it works?

 

[mordecai]

A friend gave me a copy of the new El Bulli home cookbook. Looking forward to trying quite a few of the recipes.

 

[gomestar]

"the family meal"?

 

[mordecai]

yeah. there are photos of every step for marsupials like me.

 

[mgm9128]

I just today discovered the "rol-loc" feature on all rolls of saran wrap.

 

[gomestar]



yeah. there are photos of every step for marsupials like me.

cool. My brother got it for me two weeks ago, looks good.

 

[itsstillmatt]

It's good. My wife bought it and has decided to make one meal a week from it. A number of dishes have been excellent, one or two are just wrong as far as ratios.

 

[Rambo]



the thing i'm wondering about with those "heating" blenders: what's the texture like on the purees? seems to me that as long as the blender is running, it's also pumping air into the puree. fine if you want a really light foamy soup, but otherwise ... or is that not the way it works?

Somewhat. I haven't delved much into soups or sauces, mostly because I don't cook much. With my shakes, when I vary the speeds from high to low to better chop the frozen fruit (sometimes on the high speeds it'll spin the large chunks around the top without chopping them up) it will incorporate quite a bit of air into the shake. I could definitely see this becoming an issue as far as texture goes.

Personally, I don't think the Vitamix would be able to get it hot enough for a soup, but that's me.

 

[itsstillmatt]



Somewhat. I haven't delved much into soups or sauces, mostly because I don't cook much. With my shakes, when I vary the speeds from high to low to better chop the frozen fruit (sometimes on the high speeds it'll spin the large chunks around the top without chopping them up) it will incorporate quite a bit of air into the shake. I could definitely see this becoming an issue as far as texture goes.
Personally, I don't think the Vitamix would be able to get it hot enough for a soup, but that's me.

It can. We made an apple cheddar soup from their cookbook when we got it. It was hot as hell. Also gross.

 

[gomestar]

I tried it with some defrosted peas and a little water. I suppose there could be some interpretation to the word hot, but for me 3-4 or so minutes made it steam and for me steaming = hot. The top of inch or so was a bit foamy, the rest was nice.

 

[gomestar]



It can. We made an apple cheddar soup from their cookbook when we got it. It was hot as hell. Also gross.

I made a thai pumpkin something from the book last week, but I didn't do it long enough for heat. The soup was also gross. I'll stick to Robuchon for easy soup recipes.

 

[foodguy]



It's good. My wife bought it and has decided to make one meal a week from it. A number of dishes have been excellent, one or two are just wrong as far as ratios.

i haven't cooked from it, but just looking through it, it seemed the spanish stuff was the best to aim for. lots of stuff like spaghetti bolognese. and hamburgers. they eat simply, those kitchen slaves (er, stages).

 

[gomestar]

any recs for a basic Japanese cookbook?

 

[mordecai]



i haven't cooked from it, but just looking through it, it seemed the spanish stuff was the best to aim for. lots of stuff like spaghetti bolognese. and hamburgers. they eat simply, those kitchen slaves (er, stages).

i love the quantities

 

[itsstillmatt]



any recs for a basic Japanese cookbook?

Tsuji's book is really awesome. Every bit the equal of Julia Child's great book, or Escoffier, or whatever. Cannot recommend highly enough. There are a ton of things you can put together in ten minutes, and enough things to keep you challenged if you get really interested.