Weeknote 1 – The Salazar Report

Another week here at ChefSteps and there’s a lot of new stuff going on. First of all: We made our goal for the t-shirts! Thanks to everyone for buying one (or three). If you missed out, don’t fret—it’s possible it’ll make a comeback someday if you demand it. And you will. Oh yes, you will. <whisper>chefsteps!</whisper>

We’re working on some big things coming up in the next couple of weeks—stay tuned! In the meantime, we’ve had a lot of good recipes come through, more than I can recall and more than I actually got to taste, but I can’t reiterate enough how damn good the fish and chips were. The fries alone are amazing and I kept eating them even though they were over-salted for the camera. Do yourself a favor and make some.

The view from my desk

I’ve been trying to familiarize myself with the store, make it easier to navigate and add some fun stuff that we find useful. If there’s anything that we’re using that you’re curious about, please ask us. We’re working on sourcing some other things that are hard to find, so keep an eye out for that as well.

Another thing I’ve been working on: Did you know you can scale recipes on our recipe pages? Click on any recipe and you can click into any quantity and change it and everything will scale automatically with it. It’s a little-known feature right now, and we’ve been working hard at making it more obvious and at the same time unobtrusive and useable.

Hey folks, have a good weekend and enjoy the holiday (for those in the States). See you next week!

Memorial Day Deal | Save 15% Off at the ChefSteps Store | Shop For Father’s Day!

Grilling season has arrived and we want to help you get ready with a 15% discount at our online store. Father’s Day is just around the corner and if you’ve got a cook in your life (include yourself) who has a serious hankering for a SousVide Supreme water oven, PolyScience immersion circulator or a smoking gun, now is a great time to fill up your cart and save some dough. You’ll want to serve some frosty blended drinks alongside that barbecue and we offer an amazing Waring blender that can cut an iceberg down to size. Are you finally ready for your own Minipack vacuum chamber sealer?

Enter coupon code MEMDAY15% at checkout. This offer is not valid on Amazon and Thermoworks products–deal ends on Monday, May 27, 2013 at 11:59 PM PDT. Put the money you save towards some nice food to grill and get ready for a wonderful summer.

Happy Memorial Day to all of you,
Chris, Grant, Ryan, and the rest of the ChefSteps team

 

We’re Back!

A new day, a new design. Hi, everybody. I’m Tim and I do design here at ChefSteps. I took a couple days to clean up the blog design over here so figured I’d might as well throw a new post up as well. As you can probably tell, we’ve been working on a lot of new things over on the main ChefSteps.com site as well over the past few weeks: features, designs, and improvements. We are stoked and ready to go, we have a ton more stuff we’d like to roll out soon!

We’ve been doing a lot of experiments on the website, and we’ll be doing more to test and see what you guys find most helpful (Also, please tell us!). If you have any questions, comments, or general feedback about the website, we’d love to hear it. In the meantime, enjoy the minimalist quiet of our new blog design!

We like to go around and whisper chefsteps! every once in a while; it’s really fun to say and I think it’s a great way to inception ourselves into the public. Try it! Go ahead, I’ll wait.

See?

One last thing: We have a t-shirt! We’re selling it at teespring.com/chefsteps and are so close to our goal! It ends tomorrow, so please spread the word! Thanks!

ChefSteps Forum | Cook Something Liquid from Something Solid

Grant Crilly’s Culinary Challenge 8 on the ChefSteps forum last week instructed participants to create a savory or sweet liquid dish (soups, shooters, cocktails, desserts, etc.) from one that is normally solid. Forum members were encouraged to use sous vide infusions, blenders, strainers, centrifuges, or any other clarification techniques that they could think of. We had some great posts describing the process behind developing some of the dishes, which is one of our favorite aspects of sharing information on our forum.

Grant, Chris and Ryan each picked their favorite dishes to feature on our Pinterest board.

Grant Crilly: My favorite entry this week was Johan Edstrom’s Asparagus Soup. I loved the agar filtration technique and the subtle marketing message that he included in the photo. Nice!

aparagus-infusion-Johan-Edstrom-Chefsteps

Chris Young: I chose new forum member Maria’s Har Gao/Xiao Long Baos. I am passionate about XLB and hope that Maria will continue experimenting with additional versions of the dish. I also want to give an honorable mention to Tim Sutherland for his great backstory on the Curdled Chunky Warm Fish Head Milkshake.

xiaolongbaos-maria-chefsteps
Ryan Matthew Smith: I picked Brian Douglas’ Scotch Eggs as my favorite this week. The vibrant color of the Sriracha really pops against the egg yolk.

sous-vide-Scotch-eggs-Brian-Douglas-ChefSteps

We are retooling the Culinary Challenge within the next few days and will make an announcement with the new format and schedule on the forum as soon as possible.

As always, we’re thrilled to have new members joining the forum and participating in the challenges. Please share with your interested friends, as we extend our culinary community.

Cheers,
Grant, Chris, Ryan, and the rest of the ChefSteps team

ChefSteps Forum | Cooking with Coffee

Grant Crilly issued Culinary Challenge 7 last week on the ChefSteps forum. The objective was to prepare a dish—savory or sweet—utilizing sous vide techniques and coffee.

Grant, Chris and Ryan each picked their favorite dish to feature on our Pinterest board.

Grant Crilly: My favorite entry this week was Brian Douglas’ Sous Vide Coffee Panna Cotta. It was a great use of 4 simple components.I also appreciated that he originally tackled a blown sugar technique. Way to go, Brian!

 

Chris Young: New forum members Tim Sutherland and Andrew E both did really great work this week. I voted for Tim’s Coffee and Cigarette because of the extensive sharing he did of his entire development process. We’d love to see more of this kind of open source collaboration. Nicely done, Tim!

 

Ryan Matthew Smith: My pick this week is Andrew E’s Coffee Butter Poached Sous Vide Scallop Salad. Excellent arrangement on the plate and a great perspective on the the shot, plus it looks delicious!

We’re thrilled to have new members joining the forum and participating in the challenge—looking forward to seeing new creations and processes as are your fellow forum members!

I have posted Grant Crilly’s Culinary Challenge 8 on the ChefSteps forum. This week’s challenge is to make a savory or sweet liquid dish (soups, shooters, cocktails, desserts, etc.) that is normally solid. Use sous vide infusions, blenders, strainers, centrifuges (we are using ours for sure) or any other clarification techniques that you can think of. Consider using essential oils to create clear and interesting drinks and soups. You can have multiple layers based on densities, solids as garnishes and whatever else you can dream of.

Take the challenge in your own kitchen, then share your results via the ChefSteps forum. Describe the dish you have chosen and techniques used to make it. Describe where your idea or inspiration came from and what your plan of attack was, and finally, post your pictures.

The top 3 picks (sometimes we have a tie) will have the photos of their dishes posted on the ChefSteps Pinterest board. Please have your entry posted by Sunday. Good luck!

Cheers,
Grant, Chris, Ryan, and the rest of the ChefSteps team

ChefSteps Forum | Almost Like Grandma Used to Make

We asked Johan Edstrom, one of our most prolific forum members, to issue last week’s Culinary Challenge 6 on the ChefSteps forum. The objective was to cook something that your grandmother would have cooked and give it an update. Use new tools and techniques, juxtapose something old with something new, or simply plate your grandmother’s cooking in a contemporary way.

Johan, Chris and Grant each picked their favorite dish to feature on our Pinterest board.

Johan Edstrom: My favorite entry this week was Chris Koller’s Succotash. I liked the plate, the colors, and I wanted to eat it right away.

 

Chris Young: I chose Joshua Sharp’s modernist take on Salisbury Steak. It was a great nostalgic food idea, and it looks well executed.

Grant Crilly: My fave was Brian Douglas’ Better than Nintendo Cake. I cracked up at the story of the “Better than Nintendo Cake” name and it’s something that I haven’t seen before.

If you’re new to the forum and you haven’t participated in one of the culinary challenges, please join in this week. We’re eager to see your creations and so are your fellow forum members!

Grant has posted Culinary Challenge 7 on the ChefSteps forum. This week’s challenge is Something Coffee. Prepare a dish — savory or sweet — utilizing sous vide techniques and coffee. For example, consider using coffee for an infusion, broth, rub, smoking media, or a textural component. Your idea can be coffee anything!

Take the challenge in your own kitchen, then share your results via the ChefSteps forum. Describe the dish you have chosen and techniques used to make it. Describe where your idea or inspiration came from and what your plan of attack was, and finally, post your pictures.

The top 3 picks (sometimes we have a tie) will have the photos of their dishes posted on the ChefSteps Pinterest board. Please have your entry posted by Sunday. We’re looking forward to being heavily caffeinated (as usual) while we enjoy your entries.

Cheers,
Grant, Chris, Ryan, and the rest of the ChefSteps team.

Puff the Magic Sorbet Dragon

Although we’re passionate about making modernist cooking techniques more accessible and relevant to home cooks, we also like to pull out all the stops and have some fun once in a while.

Here’s our recipe for Aerated Green Apple Sorbet:

We know this recipe calls for a vacuum chamber sealer and plenty of liquid nitrogen, which aren’t commonplace kitchen tools or ingredients, but even if it isn’t something you’ll actually do at home, we hope you’ll enjoy learning about how we prepare this dish. If you do have the means to prepare this recipe, the sorbet is sure to surprise guests both visually and texturally. It’s one of Grant Crilly’s favorites and can be adapted to a grape, wine, whiskey or pretty much whatever you can think of version. It is a very versatile dish. Besides, who doesn’t want to puff out a little dragon smoke like our friend, Tim Ferriss?

Tim-Ferris-enjoying-aerated-sorbet-ChefSteps

Enjoy!
Chris Young, Grant Crilly, and Ryan Matthew Smith

Disclaimer: Liquid nitrogen is very dangerous. Use at your own risk or with a trained professional.

ChefSteps Forum | Around the World in 8 Days

Chris Young issued last week’s Culinary Challenge 5 on the ChefSteps forum. The objective was to embrace the spirit of being a novice by trying to cook another culture’s cuisine using both traditional and modernist techniques.

Our forum members took up the challenge to push their skills and posted some compelling dishes. Chris, Grant and Ryan each picked their favorite dish to feature on our Pinterest board.

Chris Young: My favorite entry this week is Chris Koller’s Spanakopita with Homemade Sous Vide Tzatziki. I wouldn’t have thought of doing a Greek entry and now that I’ve seen it, I think it’s brilliant. Looks absolutely delicious; contemporary and nostalgic at the same time. Well done, Chris!

Grant Crilly: I also chose Chris Koller’s Spanakopita. That sh*t looks bomb! Super beautiful filo, as a chef I like the way he pulled from existing tried and true recipes so he could focus on his newer technique alone. Smart. It rarely works out to try ten new things at once. it’s very difficult to learn that way. One focused step at a time is the way to go!

 

Ryan Matthew Smith: I chose Brian Douglas’ Groudnut Porridge with Plum and Kashata this week. I like his composition and clean presentation, plus it looks delicious.

We were all really impressed with the dishes that were submitted. Honorable mentions go out to Nor’Eastern for taking on the challenge of spherification with Soy Caviar and to Jim for making us drool with his Sous Vide Octopus Salad.

Chris Young has posted Culinary Challenge 6 on the ChefSteps forum. This week’s challenge was offered up by Johan Edstrom, one of our most active forum members. The objective is to cook something that your grandmother would have cooked, but give it an update. Take advantage of new tools and techniques, juxtapose something old with something new, or simply plate your grandmother’s cooking in a contemporary way. Johan will be choosing one of the top three posts this week along with the usual suspects at ChefSteps.

Take the challenge in your own kitchen, then share your results via the ChefSteps forum. Describe the dish you have chosen and techniques used to make it. Describe where your idea or inspiration came from and what your plan of attack was, and finally, post your pictures.

The top 3 picks (sometimes we have a tie) will get their photos posted on ChefSteps’ Pinterest board. Please have your entry posted by Sunday. We’re looking forward to seeing some updated blasts from the past!

Cheers,
Grant, Chris, Ryan, and the rest of the ChefSteps team.

Holidays Got You Down? Cheer Up With A Little Red Wine!

It’s that time of year again…you’re desperate to find the perfect way to express your appreciation to those influential people in your life. What gesture will really pay tribute to the courageous, caring individuals whose ideals keep you going day after day?

We are talking about Presidents’ Day, right?

Well, whether it’s Presidents’ Day or that other holiday with all the hearts and chocolates floating around, you can impress your loved ones and pay tribute (use some gorgeous Washington state pears) by making this recipe for Red Wine Poached Pear.

Happy Valentine’s and Presidents’ Day from
Chris, Grant, Ryan and the rest of the ChefSteps team.

 

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