Kenji Lopez-Alt: Genius

 

I've been reading this guy for a little while now, both on Serious Eats and his own site, and I've always come away impressed.  That's probably because he's impressive: an MIT grad and former chef, he comes at food with a decidedly scientific approach.  He's currently getting some press on his experiment to gauge the longevity of a McDonald's hamburger, following on the rumor a woman who has had one, largely unchanged in appearance, for 12 years.  Stuff like that is interesting, but far more useful are his innovative videos on knife skills, poaching eggs, and other handy tips.  What motivated me to drop the "G-bomb" however, was this piece about sous-vide cooking using plastic baggies and a beer cooler: absolutely genius.  I've always had an abstract interest in sous-vide, but the equipment required is prohibitively expensive.  Lopez-Alt's solution, like all brilliant ones, is simple: keeping in mind the fact that a beer cooler is basically just an insulator, he uses one to cook sous-vide, keeping his water bath at a near constant temperature.  This line sums things up perfectly: "Sous-vide cooker + vacuum sealer = $570; Beer cooler + plastic baggies = $22."  Genius.