jayt90

Ruhlman discussed heritage and commercial bellies in the blog: http://ruhlman.com/?s=pork+belly+ Look at the third photo. I'll be looking for a commercial pork belly with bone in, as meaty and fatty as possible. I'll be using a pressure cooker, as it is the anti-sous vide and bears some similarity to slow roasting. The dry steam penetrates effectively at 225 F - 250 F, and there is no turbulence on the bottom as long as the steam release is quiet, not hissing. Since the vessel is sealed, moistness is retained while the collagen breaks down.

Great idea! PC for me, finished under a broiler. Hope to refine this (skin part of a butt).

Dense roasts should not be too big or thick in a pressure cooker; the outside will be done sooner than the inside. PC would be my choice if the tongue is no more than 3" thick. That would finish in an hour, and I find that a no brainer compared to 48 hr. in sv. The inch of broth in the bottom of the PC can be used for sauce or soup.

I am always interested in soy sauces other than my favored Kikkoman or Yamasa, but I can find no reference to Red Boat at all. Does it exist?

I was looking for a Mennonite soup recipe online but didn't find it. Maybe Edna Staebler wrote about it, just a guess. Chicken feet are the main ingredient, and handfuls of fresh savory a necessary flavoring. Very rich flavor, food that shmecks! I did find an interesting Jamaican recipe, with okra and a Scotch bonnet. http://www.jamaicatravelandculture.com/food_and_drink/chicken-foot-soup.htm

Russets are fine, but thick skinned, dirty colored, and somewhat bland. Kennebec is my choice, smaller, perfect oval, thin skinned, and flavorful. They are difficult to find, but worth it.

Diana, I buy AP and whole wheat flour at Costco, London Ont., plus Robin Hood Best For Bread multigrain at Loblaw RCSS. I believe these are all Cargill brands now, and 5 Roses is in the same group. I'm not fond of the whole wheat flavor, but I really like RH multigrain. My best loaves are half AP and half multigrain. Many bakers like Arva Flourmills for bread, but it is costlier, and you have to be near London Ont. I'll be working on the whole wheat flavor problem. Any tips will be helpful. Costco AP with Robin Hood Best For Bread Muiltigrain

Reviving this, as we don't know how your ribs turned out, and no one commented on pressure cooking ribs in a tomato based braise. If the recipe suggests a 2 hour braise, then 50 minutes in the PC will be enough. The intense 250 F steam heat, with no escape, will penetrate the collagen in the ribs, loosening and melting it before the meat gets stringy. Give it a quick release, and finish under a broiler, basting with the sauce until you have the finish you want. Beef spare ribs are excellent this way, too.

It is disappointing to see serious home cooks using these products, which have absolutely no relationship to Escoffier or even Ruhlman. I use chicken carcasses from an Asian store @ $1/lb. I'll put that stock, (just 45 min. in a PC,) against any commercial product.

I think the secret to this dish was the fairly intense braising liquid in the PC stage. It was a reduced, gelatinous brown stock. It was made from a variety of left overs, chicken carcass, turkey neck, and some beef bones. My substitute for Ruhlman's veal stock. For the finish: Out of the PC, rested to separate fat from braise, and under the broiler with a generous basting of the braise. This came about when I had a 6 lb large shoulder roast to divide and freeze. I separated the muscles, (Euro style butchering) and was left with one boneless chop, one roast with the bone, and the strip of skin, 2" thick with striated fatty meat layers. Since I do not do sous vide, this part cried out for PC cooking. From your suggestion, I may try carnitas with the remaining small roast.

Pressured Pork I pressure cooked the skin portion of a pork shoulder roast, for .75 hour. I finished it under the broiler or 15 minutes, and served with a reduction of the braising liquid. Not really crispy, but unctuous and nicely melted meat.

Pressure cook, .75 hour @ 250 F.

Tajine.

Does anyone have information on the cleaning process for root vegetables? Naive, maybe, but I assume water rinses for potatoes, carrots,yams, radishes, onions etc. I have heard that potatoes can be irradiated without displaying this on the label. Is there anything else they can do?

Were there spots on the liver? Was it government inspected? Something seems amiss. I'd give it one last chance by koshering

The rollmops guide above was timely for me, as I had two rainbow trout fillets to marinate. Since riffs were encouraged, I made a few changes. No coriander or Romanian spices on hand, so I used pepper, bay leaves, onion, thyme and parsley, with Heinz cider vinegar, after the initial brining. I have just checked them after 4 days curing in the fruit cellar, and compared to a commercial herring in my fridge, Feature brand. The Heinz marinade is much more mellow than the harsh but sweet Feature herring in wine marinade. The trout is firmer, almost chewy while Feature herring chunks are soft. More time in the fridge may alter the trout. I couldn't roll the fairly broad trout fillets, so they are cut in chunks, skin on. Photograph to come, in a few days when they are ready for a nice light lunch.

If weather permits, a Weber kettle will produce a perfect tenderloin in 15 minutes. Use a small bag of briquets (7 lb) and wait for a red hot coal bed. Sear the tenderloin on all sides, 1 - 2 minutes. Put the lid on and close dampers, top and bottom. There will be smoke and steam for a minute or two as the coals are extinguished (no oxygen). The residual heat in the kettle will continue to roast the beef. Pull the lid and the tenderloin at 10 - 12 minutes. The tenderloin will be rare with some medium rare at the narrow end.

New England cream based chowders may not hold up very well,even if the seafood is added at order time. Maybe keep a vegetable/potato stock on simmer, and refrigerate cream and seafood until the soup is ordered, then quickly combine all three over heat. The basic New York chowder (tomatoes, stock and vegetbles) should be fine on low simmer for hours, then add seafood at the end. Basic broth for miso soup will stay stable and clear on a bare simmer, then add garnishes and noodles. Pho would go together the same way, but the stock is more ambitious than dashi.

I just bought the Ivan Ramen book and am going to try and make this Shio Ramen. I'm curious Molinari why you pressure cooked the broth when Ivan said it's very important not to let the broth boil (except when he asks you) and keep the temp at 176F and keep it at medium heat for 5 hours. It seems to me I could sous vide the sofrito to make things easier, and perhaps sous vide the broth at 176F as well. What are your thoughts? Pressure cooking does not boil the broth. The surface is still at 250 F and 16 psi. 2 hours at 16 psi and 250 F would cook as thoroughly as 5 hours simmering, but there would be no surface distrbance and the broth will remain clear.

Anadromous trout would be brown trout. Sea trout on the east coast is also known as weakfish, spotted seatrout, and speck, but not brown trout. Do you have a photo of your fish?

Source for this golden rice? There is golden rice in Africa but it is GMO. Or, do you have white ricewith a gold colored spice?

Yes, there is something special about the best Indian basmati, aged in caves, like Tilda.

My favorite white rice is medium or short grain Calrose sushi rice. I started with a small Japanese package, just for sushi or sashimi. but now I buy large California sacks in the supermarket or Asian store for general use. There is a brown version but I'm not fond of it. White Calrose has a unique if bland flavor and reheats well. Many long grain rices like basmati seem to go dry and mealy on reheating. I use a small Tiger rice cooker. There are lots of good brands available, mostly designed in Japan, and they simplify the cooking process considerably.

Just a literary short cut for Montreal Smoked Meat spices, which derive from Romanian Jewish immigrants recipes.

By pink salt, you mean curing salt, right? Yes. I actually used Readycure, a white curing product made in Canada, which is a good strength (weak) for rubbing. Pink salt is hard to find in Ontario. The cured and slightly smoked eye of round is dense with a fairly intense flavor. Surprised me.