Consolidated List Of Modernist Ingredients

Frank_Borik_441776

Hi,

My name is Frank, and I'm very interested in all the recipes and techniques that are being shown at Chef Steps. One thing in particular is the bent towards modernist cooking. However, ordering these ingredients as I come by them can be inconvenient because (a), they take a few days to get to me, and I want to cook tonight, and (b) I have to pay a shipping charge if I only order one or two. Is there a complete list of all the modernist ingredients that are used by Chef Steps? Ideally, one would hope to have a matrix where you would have the ingredient, and then all of the recipes it's included in. Any help would be appreciated.

Frank.

tshewman

The modernist ingredients are typically broken down by technique instead of recipe. The reason for this in part may be that you can use more than one type of ingredient, or in some cases some aren't required at all. Purees are a good example where depending on the product, a modernist ingredient may or may not be helpful/needed. A fluid gel can be made with agar or gellan (or others). If you know how you are going to want to create certain dishes, you can order in advance and have plenty left over for the next time (same technique different ingredient). A decent set of starters would be xanthan, gellan, agar for emulsifiers, thickeners etc for purees, fluid gels etc. If you want to work more with dairy, consider the carageenans (iota and kappa), if you want to create foams, egg white powder, methylcellulose etc (you can also use some of the others already listed), for spherification, calciums and sodium citrate etc etc. Perhaps look at some recipes and and create a list and go from there. Just food for thought.