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What should I buy first?

Lauren_29873

Hi ChefSteps and Community!

My name is Lauren and I'm currently an undergraduate at the University of Washington. I am in the process of writing my senior thesis, which in a nutshell is centered around food and cooking. I received a research scholarship through my major for this project, part of which I will be using to try some of the recipes from ChefSteps and the Modernist Cuisine books. I am writing to ask for advice on what tools and equipment I should purchase in order to be able to try out the most recipes. With around $300, what would be the first things you recommend I buy to get started? (Apart from the basics of a fairly well-stocked kitchen).

Nice to meet you all! Thanks everyone at ChefSteps for providing inspiration for my thesis!

Lauren

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Comments

Tim_Sutherland_52834

What recipes do you want to do?

If you want to try the sous vide recipes, then a circulator would make your life easier. If you want to try the pressure cooker recipes then a pressure cooker would be needed. With $300 you could only really get one of them.

If I was in your situation, and assuming you will continue to cook with this equipment after the thesis, I would purchase a pressure cooker, a good digital thermometer, and metric scales 500g at 0.01g and 5kg at 1g. With this set up you can do most if not all of the recipes in MC@H in a normal kitchen.

Brendan_Lee_56950

I'm not ashamed to admit I own and frequently use a POS pressure cooker I got for $15 and while it's not a kuhn rikon I still get pretty decent results. But I agree, a circulator will be needed if you intend on doing any significant sous vide cooking, scales are a must, as is some sort of blender or immersion blender capable of making good purees.

Aside from that, you may want to invest in some xanthan gum, agar agar, and gelatin, all of which can be had at a well stocked grocery store for very little money. Modernist Pantry will be a good place to look for more specialized hydrocolloids.

DiggingDogFarm_65362

In terms of equipment, you should be able to easily get a circulator and a whipping siphon or a pressure cooker for about $300.00

If you're patient and look for deals on eBay and the like you can probably find a good deal on both a whipping siphon and a pressure cooker....giving you an immersion circulator, whipping siphon and a pressure cooker for about $300.00 total.

You may be able to avoid spending a big bunch of cash on common modernist ingredients by picking up small packets of xanthan, agar agar (at Asian markets) and gelatin (at any grocery store.)

Hodgson Mill Xanthan Packets 45 cents each. You may find these in a local natural foods store.

Anova Immersion circulator $199 plus shipping.

8 liter Stainless Steel Hawkins Pressure Cooker $95.00. I have three Hawkins pressure cookers and they work just fine ....they can even be operated without "venting."

Hey, I'm frugal!

~Martin

DiggingDogFarm_65362

These folks have good deals on brand spankin' new whippin' siphons...but as I said above...you can often find great deals on eBay....I've paid as little as ~$35.00 for new iSi stainless steel whippin' siphons.

seijoed

This has worked darn well so far, http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/Fagor-Rapid-Express-6-Quart-Stainless-Steel-Pressure-Cooker-Set/1010769302?device=c&network=g&matchtype=&mcid=PS_googlepla_nonbrand_kitchenelectrics_&gclid=CNnP2KOm1r0CFYtDMgodUi8AJQ

With the anova - yes you have a great setup.

I second scouring Asian markets for Agar and such.

Jack_Mayer_85396

Anova or SansAire would be a good choice for a circulator. The Fagor is a good choice for a pressure cooker at a nice price. Scales and a good thermometer are also essential.

seijoed

The small high accuracy scale is really cheap right now, just looked at the store.

Matt_67991

And for stuff like scale and thermometer, if you can't fit them into your budget, you can always buy them yourself for personal use. They're very useful, everyone should have them, and you certainly won't regret the purchase.

Lauren_29873

Thanks for all your suggestions! I will definitely be using everything post thesis as well so appreciate the advice.

prince_of_porcelain

My list isn't all that different than what's been said already. I'd start with scales. You should be able to get a high accuracy scale and a high capacity scale for about $30 total on Amazon. Without those, it's a non-starter and I consider that a must have.

Next I'd get a decent digital thermometer with a probe. I use one I've had for years that I got for <$20. It isn't great, but it works and is accurate.

I'd probably go for a pressure cooker over a circulator, even though I use my circulator more often. You can improvise your way to low temperature cooking - just giving up a little bit of accuracy and a lot of convenience, but I'm not aware of any way to replicate a pressure cooker without one. (By the way, I use a pressure canner that is probably older than I am - but I got it free from a friend of a friend. I am confident it could give @Brendan's a run for the money for POS Pressure Cooker Champion. I'd love a Kuhn, but I make do with this.) Another $50 - $80 here, unless you want to hit thrift shops and hope to get lucky.

Next up, I'd get a whipping siphon. It's got a lot of versatility and you can't easily replicate it's effect. Isi is the standard, but you could probably get a decent option from someone like Mosa for ~$60 (including some chargers - nice link from @DiggingDogFarm above that I'll be using when I need more!).

I think you could probably get workable equipment for $150 - $180 to cover all of these basis. If you are like me, you will want better equipment, but you can live with it at this level for quite a while. The rest of it, I'd budget on ingredients. There are likely to be a number of specialty items you want. I'd recommend Modernist Pantry as you can get small quantities (50g) of just about anything you need. It's a fairly affordable way to get a wide range of hydrocolloids to work with, but it adds up fast. If you can get an item locally (Xanthan, Agar, Guar, Citric Acid, Malic Acid are the ones I've seen) you are probably better off that way.

If you have anything left over, a couple other options to consider: Some sort of sieve/filter setup might be advisable. I've been using a cheap mesh strainer and filter paper or cheesecloth depending on the application, but it's something I use all the time. A good MAPP/Propane torch is another tool I break out regularly. A smoker is nice to have available, but you may be better off hacking together a short term setup to stay within budget. I am assuming you already have a blender of some sort.

And you may as well start saving for a circulator, because once you start down the path, you'll want one. And then there's a chamber vacuum, maybe a centrifuge, rotovap, LN2 dewar, and on and on.

Anyway, let us know how it goes...post pictures of your setup when you get it, and the dishes you create!!

DiggingDogFarm_65362

FWIW, The Spice House now carries small quantities of some modernist ingredients (I know many folks order their herbs and spices from there)......

http://www.thespicehouse.com/spices-by-category/molecular-gastronomy-ingredients

rasmus.haglund

I would prioritize buying a pressure cooker instead of a sous vide machine if you had to choose. While a sous vide circulator is very handy, you could get pretty good results with a thermometer and a big pot of water. This works for recipes that aren't that sensitive to temperature differences, and cook in under a few hours. A pressure cooker or a wipping siphon is harder to emulate in other ways.

Mike_Minh_Truong_54120