Tell the ChefSteps development kitchen what to do next!

When we launched ChefSteps, one of our goals was to take a collaborative approach to developing new recipes and techniques that interest our community. Up until now, we've tried to pay close attention to the various comments we get through our forum and site. But today, we're taking a big step forward towards letting you directly influence the direction of ChefSteps by voting on which ideas our development kitchen should pursue.

So far as I know, no one has ever tried to create a community driven experimental kitchen and we're excited to see where this goes. If you're a registered ChefSteps member, then you can cast your vote on one of the five ideas we're thinking about pursuing at the moment here:

http://www.chefsteps.com/polls/vote-for-new-content

Want to see your choice win? Feel free to convince family and friends to sign-up with ChefSteps and vote for your choice.

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Nic_Sawa_32925

As most, I am new to Sous Vide. I was very captivated by the jellied bean as well as the different times for the short ribs. I am very curious about the possibilities, as far as flavor and texture go, in utilizing sous vide with regards to curing and preserves. The video with the strawberries and cryovacing them with the juice to infuse more flavor also made me wonder 1) why did I not think of this? and 2) what possibilities this brings to light!!! Any ideas for utilizing sous vide cryovacing or anything else towards the concepts of curing and or preserving foods would be awesome!!!!!

justinkent505

I would love to see one of your paid class options focus on Hydrocolloids. Perhaps with instructions on why you choose to use one of another and how one might get a better grasp on them so that we could use them more efficiently.

com-chefsteps

Aha! "community driven experimental kitchen" is as close to a mission statement as I've seen for CS. So far, I've just been along for the ride, but I'd be really pleased if that's the mission.

Chris_Young_80640

@Ted — This is definitely the direction I'd love to see things go. I think an open source, and collaborative experimental kitchen could radically change how we learn to cook, how ideas are shared, and accelerate the pace of innovation in cooking as well as simply raise the standard of cooking by removing barriers between those who know how and those who want to know how.

But it's ultimately up to everyone who is "along for the ride" to steer things in that direction by getting involved and sharing their knowledge. If we need better tools to make that easier, then we'll provide the resources and solve those problems.

adey73

is the Pressure Cooker course going to be ready soon?

polkachef74

Would love a class on breads!

Chris_Young_80640

@adey73 — Pressure cooking is under development, and I believe it will be ready before winter is over.

@Keith_Pietranczyk — Breads is a great idea. It's a big subject and where not quite ready to tackle it yet, but it will happen at some point.

polkachef74

@Chris Young Thanks Chris......I was talking to somebody it and even a cursory look at the subject would be a huge undertaking. However...I will be looking forward to what you come up with eventually!

adey73

what about the popular choices that come second in the votes; such as grow your own micro greens for instance?

Do they have a chance of being made content.

Chris_Young_80640

@adey — They have a chance. Perhaps they may not become a full-fledged course, but instead just a smaller free recipe or technique activity.

rene_vas_23725

hot siphon cocktails (coffee siphon).

com-chefsteps

sauce sheets, veils, solid sauces! Ny nemesis.

Jeff_32606

A class on forcemeats would be awesome. I've always wanted to learn how to make sausages, pates, terrines, etc.

tjdubas

I'm on board with @Ted, also I would love to see something with dehydrators. I don't have one myself but I can only imagine I can do more with it then make fruit leather and beef jerky. Also I really like the butchery videos, maybe a couple more of those.

crimsonfancy

Micro greens course please!

jondrak

Any chance of yearly or lifetime subscription fee instead of 39 for each course? Unfortunatelly I cant afford it now.

Would love to see the Micro greens course though.

ejf12009

Courses I'd like to see: cake baking/decorating/etc., modern pastry, egg techniques, introduction to <insert cuisine>, modern vegetarian, bread.

Tim_Roth_78505

I'd love to see some tests on using endogenous enzymes in foods for pre-processing. I recently ran some tests with yams pre-cooked at 60 or 70 C to see if I could get interesting interplay between pectin methylesterases and amylases and the results were pretty dramatic. This is definitely something I don't see much outside of industry literature, and I think it could be cool to find alternatives to purchasing all of your enzymes from specialty shops (not that there's anything wrong with that!).

mikey_64652

The science of Hand Pulled Noodles.

elliot_42918

A class on breads, perhaps one of the recipe developments on sourdough or just a general bread-making course

Brendan_Lee_56950

I would like to see a short course on how sous vide or modern techniques can be used to prolong the shelf life of ingredients. I think it would not only be practical but it would be another way to upsell sous vide.

Mike_Minh_Truong_54120

Hi Chefsteps Team,

1. Pizza Course

2. Outdoor Grill and Smoking course.

3. Burger Course ( Should be combined with #2 above)

4. Cutting Basics (julienne, etc.)

Martin_Cheung_21050

Really enjoyed the shopping for ingredients part of meat course. Perhaps a mini course on how to shop for other ingredients like produce and fruit?

Tim_Sutherland_52834

While it is not sexy, the basics in a kitchen of food safety - how to lay out a fridge (raw at the bottom, etc); how to clean hands/work area/cutting boards/cooking utensils/etc; how to food shop (refrigerated/freezer section last, have a cooler in the car - although Alton Brown did covers this a few times in Good Eats).

Matt_67991

I agree Tim, definitely not sexy, but very important.

Nicky_J_17040

breaking down animal sides into the primal cuts. and portioning restaurant/home cuts from there.

com-chefsteps

I've commented here before, but have new thoughts. I don't intend to complain here, because I'm enjoying CS a lot and frankly don't have much to complain about. What I do have to complain about, I know you have heard and are addressing (forum stuff etc.)

I've noticed I'm visiting Chefsteps less frequently. In part that's due to the (explained and understandable) slowdown in recipes. I have no problem paying for content although I have not yet.

I'm also getting frustrated because when I see an awesome recipe and try it, my poor plating skills make the awesome recipe look amateur and dumb. I've made the chicken roulade three times now; I duplicate the appearance of the chicken pucks, but I'm not skilled enough to adjust the co-recipes and have it look good. So either I paint-by-numbers duplicate the CS chicken-mushroom-caviar exactly and feel like a bit of a fraud, or I can try to design it myself (junior high art class). I know that Nouvelle means sauce pond under protein, and I've heard of B.U.F.F. although I don't really understand it. Sometimes, I draw it on paper ahead of time. But my food still ends up looking like this:

I know what that sausage reminds me of!

Or this:

that's only three ingredients: polenta, sausage, greens. I know there's a way to plate that pretty (starting with a white plate would have helped). The components themselves are fine - I like the square polenta (nice and neat), the sausage is cut and browned, the greens aren't leaking water everywhere.

I think that CS' awesome strength is that you often, impressively, find a way to teach basics and advanced in the same recipe. Blini are no more complex than pancakes if you just need to eat. But then you add these pro tips (cold pan!) and whoosh, beautiful! Also see: coffee butter steak, carrots and yolk, etc., etc.)

com-chefsteps

In short, teach me how to use a food ring and to wipe drips with my vodka rag because I can't seem to do it.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

@Ted, I think it has been discussed before, I'd like to see it as well.

I (can't plate either) follow a lot of picture streams - look at professional stuff,

it is still hard, especially when you serve dinner as opposed to say one

classy dish after another.

Playing with Ketchup as I think @Ren suggested is a great idea, using

"stuff" out of the fridge to play with textures and color another one.

com-chefsteps

Agreed, it has, and I have seen and used demos in the videos. I'm even fairly sure that one of the videos has a "use it like this, or like this, or like this" element which was fantastic (or reference today's texture-for-tartare video). Maybe I'm talking about plate design - something in the global style, or something that teaches habits that are obvious to pros but not clear to lay folks (plate wiping with lemon juice or vodka is the best example I can think of at the moment). The Rule Guideline of Odd Numbers.