Archive for October, 2009
Some Fancy Fried Chicken
Perry Street Restaurant Serves Up Famous Fried Chicken
In New York City they make a fried chicken so crunchy it even stands up to gravy!
Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, famous for some of the finest restaurants around the world and whom you might have seen as a guest judge on Top Chef, serves an iSi-carbonated, batter-fried chicken at his restaurant Perry St.
A few months ago Jean-Georges’s 27-year old son Cedric took over the restaurant as executive chef but promises, “I won’t get rid of the fried chicken! You don’t need to worry about that.”
The deboned and seared chicken is dipped in whipper-made batter charged with CO2 and infused with Thai chili, Schechuan peppercorns, and ginger before getting fried to super crunchy perfection. Topped off with smoked chicken gravy and fresh lemon zest, this is aint no ordinary fried chicken but it sure is delicious.
We’ll try to get Cedric to share Perry St’s extremely popular fried chicken recipe with us. In the meantime, see and hear the making and crunching of their famous fried chicken on Vimeo for The Feedbag:
VIDEO: The Feedbag makes Fried Chicken at Perry St. Restaurant
For more love and photos of Perry St.’s fried chicken, visit Serious Eats.
Perry St., 176 Perry Street, New York, NY, 10014, (212) 352-1900
The Skinny on Fat
What’s the Difference Between Heavy, Whipping, and Light Cream?
Our recipes specify heavy cream to make your life a little easier. Whipped cream needs to start with liquid cream that’s at least 30% fat. That’s so the whipped in air stays in stable little bubbles suspended among fat droplets.
But if you go to the dairy section of your grocery store, you’ll find a lot of cartons and bottles labeled with the word “cream.” There are so many that you might just pick up the wrong kind or worse yet, walk out without any.
In the U.S. the fat content in cream varies:
Heavy Cream (often labeled Heavy Whipping Cream): 36% fat or more
Whipping Cream (often labeled Light Whipping Cream): 30 to 36% fat
Light Cream: 18 to 30% fat
Half-and-Half: 10.5 to 18% fat
And just in case you were wondering about milk:
Whole Milk: 3.25% fat
2% Milk (often labeled Reduced Fat): 2% fat
1% Milk (often labeled Low Fat): 1% fat
Skim Milk (often labeled Fat Free): 0 to 0.5% fat
Can you remember all that at the store? Us neither. We make it easy and just say use heavy cream because it always whips up light and fluffy. If you use yogurt or cream cheese, just get whole milk kinds too.
You can whip up any brand but we especially like the fresh and delicious products from Country Dairy, Farmers’ Creamery, and Traderspoint Creamery.
You’ll see egg whites and gelatin in our recipes for mousses and foams which also stabilize air bubbles like heavy cream.
And remember, your iSi Creative Whip makes five times more whipped cream than you can whip by hand. So a spoonful of our whipped cream is less than spoonful of hand whipped cream and a whole lot less than liquid cream – and that’s the real skinny on fat!
No Ordinary Mayo
Highlighting Homemade Flavored Mayonnaise from around the World
Homemade mayonnaise serves up international flavors with the squeeze of the trigger on your iSi Creative Whip. Mayonnaise is said to have been invented in either France or England but is now loved around the world.
In Provence and Catalonia, it’s aïoli, made with olive oil and garlic, served with seafood platters and grilled vegetables. (more…)
Whipped Cream Variations: Not Just Vanilla Anymore
Ideas for Flavored Whipped Cream — Sweet or Savory!
With whipped cream so fluffy and fresh, there’s no such thing as plain whipped cream. But there are a world of possibilities beyond simply sweetened or even vanilla whipped cream.
Europeans often don’t sweeten their whipped cream, preferring theirs au naturel. But for us with sweet-tooths (and salt-tooths too), the iSi Creative Whip provides endless flavor possibilities.
Cream and Soda
The Versatile Creative Whip – Cream & Soda Chargers in One
One of the most exciting new things about your Creative Whip is that it’s the first iSi whipper for the home chef that lets you use both cream and soda chargers. You can make whipped cream and carbonated beverages, and that’s just the beginning.
In the excitement of playing with your latest kitchen tool, you might get your cream and soda chargers mixed up but it’s easy to tell them apart. iSi has conveniently color coded them for you. Cream chargers are silver-tinted (although they look more purplish-pink to me) while soda chargers are gold-tinted.
So what makes them different? Cream (N20) chargers create a creamy mouthfeel which makes them the perfect choice for whipped creams, foams, sauces, desserts, and the majority of your whipping needs. Soda (CO2) chargers are for carbonating only but the right choice for tempura batter, drinks, and garnishes where you want to create fizzy bubbles.
And remember, iSi chargers are made of high-quality steel so they’re 100% recyclable. Plus they never expire so it’s a good idea to keep a few spare boxes on-hand and ready for your next culinary inspiration.
Cheese Wizard
Bring out the Fun with this Cheez Whiz Recipe
Top Chef‘s inventive Richard Blais makes his own “Cheese Wizard” and serves it from one of many iSi whippers at Flip Burger Boutique in Atlanta. The Philly burger “wit whiz” – as the sandwich that inspired it is ordered in Philadelphia – can be found on the menu filled with unique creations.
The original Cheez Whiz out of a jar is a cousin to Easy Cheese sprayed out of a can. While our tastes have mostly outgrown processed foods we have not outgrown the fun. Richard shared his recipe via a Twitter DM (private direct message) for his Cheese Wizard served at Flip.
CHEESE WIZARD by Chef Richard Blais
Ingredients for 1 pint Creative Whip:
200 grams whole milk
100 grams Velveeta
100 grams white cheddar
3 drops roast beef extract
Procedure:
Heat milk to a bare simmer. Add Velveeta and cheddar. Stir until melted. Strain. Cool. Pour into a 1 pint Creative Whip. Charge with 3 cream chargers. Shake 3 to 5 times. Test consistency. Serve on your own Philly sandwich inspired burger!
Note:
You can also use your favorite real cheese in a Mornay sauce (just a fancy name for cheese sauce). Just let it chill before you pour it into your iSi Creative Whip. Charge with one cream charger. Shake three to five times. Test its consistency. Serve on burgers or baked potatoes, steamed broccoli or roasted cauliflower, toasted baguette slices or just plain crackers.
Traditional Sweetened Whipped Cream
Nothing Beats Homemade Whipped Cream
You’re just seconds away from clouds of pure deliciousness.
Nothing beats the flavor and freshness of real whipped cream.
Ingredients for 1 pint Creative Whip:
1 pint (2 cups) chilled heavy cream (38% butterfat)
2 tablespoons powdered sugar*
1 teaspoons vanilla extract (optional)
Procedure:
Add sugar and vanilla extract to heavy cream and swirl or stir to dissolve completely. Screw on one iSi cream charger and shake 3 to 5 times, depending on desired consistency. Use immediately or refrigerate for up to 10 days until needed.
*Note: Other natural sweeteners, artificial sweeteners, flavored syrups or liqueurs can used as an alternative. Just make sure the sweetener is completely dissolved before charging.
White Chocolate Mocha Mousse
White Chocolate Mocha Mousse Recipe
Ingredients for a 1 pint iSi Creative Whip:
150 gr white chocolate, finely chopped
250 ml heavy cream
100 ml milk
3 tablespoons coarsely ground coffee beans
Creme de Cacao to taste
Preparation:
Mix coffee with half the cream and refrigerate for at least six hours or overnight. In a microwave-safe bowl, warm remaining cream and milk until hot but not boiling. Add chopped white chocolate and stir to melt. If needed, heat mixture for a few additional seconds in the microwave until all the chocolate is melted. Add coffee-infused cream, Creme de Cacao to taste, and stain through a fine mesh sieve. Pour into a 1 pint iSi Creative Whip and chill for at least 2 hours. Screw on one iSi cream charger and shake vigorously before serving.
Carbonated Fruits & Vegetables 101
Photo courtesy of V. Wasik/StarChefs.com
Did you know you can use your iSi Creative Whip to carbonate fruit and vegetables? What’s that, you ask? Imagine orange segments, watermelon chunks, strawberries, raspberries, grapes, cherry tomatoes, or even cucumber slices in which all the juice is fizzy. Why carbonate? Think of the difference between a glass of still water and soda water on your tastebuds. Plus it’s really, really fun!
Pick fresh, juicy seasonal fruits and vegetables. Fruits with high water content work best. This fall and winter, in addition to juicy pears and Concord grapes, try pomegranate seeds and ripe persimmons too.
Peel your fruit or veg as needed, cut into bite-sized pieces, or with pomegranates, remove the seeds.
Fill your Creative Whip bottle. Screw on the head.
Screw on one iSi soda charger.
Rotate the bottle around a bit to tumble the contents around a bit. Chill overnight to carbonate.
When you’re ready to serve, press the lever down to release all the gas from the bottle. Now you can unscrew the head.
Serve your fizzy fruit or veg immediately. This makes a for simple but fun salad or garnish or drop into festive cocktails for an unexpected little surprise.
Enter to win your very own WHIP ME t-shirt!
We’d love to hear from you. Share your own recipes and iSi Creative Whip experiences with us and enter to win your very own saucy little WHIP ME tee (they fit great and we have both men’s and ladies styles). At the end of each month, we’ll pick a lucky winner and post their entry online… because we believe creativity is worth sharing. Email us at customerservice@isinorthamerica.com. We look forward to hearing from you!