Chris Amirault

Wow: I hadn't thought of it until you wrote that, but I could use the Sous Vide Supreme to do just what you described....

Great topic -- especially with winter holidays coming. The prep depends on the item and your ability to control the things that degrade it, most particularly air, moisture, acids, and temperature. Par-cooking is possible for a lot of things, especially if you can ice them down quickly and stop the cooking. So for your patatas bravas: making the sofrito and aioli (or allioli if you're sticking to your Catalan roots ) in advance and holding it for a day would be fine, especially with a coating of olive oil across the top of the sauces. I'd boil, steam or cook sous vide the potatoes, then ice down and seal carefully (no need if you SVed 'em). As for crispy skins, you're likely to get a crispier skin if you dry the skins and them cook them quickly in your oil; it's pretty likely that you can get them even crispier using this method since the potato will have cooled and become more firm, allowing you a more time to crisp the skins before the potatoes fall apart.

Dave Arnold over at CookingIssues.com likes the ziploks too.

Hoisted by the eG Foodblog petard! I ask because I'd love to find some way to have steel-cut Irish oatmeal (like McCann's) ready in the morning, but I've never put my mind to figuring out how to do it. Sounds like a good idea for a topic.... So what sort of chemicals do you have in your MG battery, Matt?

I adore steel-cut Irish oats like McCann's, and in a perfect world I'd have 'em ready to go every morning when I stumbled down the stairs. However, I don't really know how to do the overnight thing well. Does anyone have a good method? I have a Zojirushi fuzzy logic rice cooker; would the congee setting work overnight? Ratios? Help?!?

Hi Chris! I have to say that I've been happy with my FoodSaver (click here for information) and think that there's no need for a home user to upgrade to anything much more than that. MartinH, thanks for that write-up. It's extremely useful. What Nick wrote above is my procedure for those juices when I'm feeling virtuous. More often than not, however, my "sauce" isn't classical French but is a quick rustic one with sautéed onions or tomato sauce. So I just fine strain the contents of the bag, push the stuff in the strainer through the mesh, and add the stuff all at once into whatever sauce base I'm making. I'll also add that LTLT-cooked proteins with a lot of collagen in them -- skin, bones, tendons -- have thickening properties that mean that you can skip the cornstarch etc.

Eager to see more, Matthew. What kind of oatmeal is that?

Don't you want to cut away that spongy fat? Or is the photo playing tricks?

I think weighting = keep 'em submerged. It's not like weighting a curing salmon or a paté.

Count me among the greenly envious. I have only seen fresh green peppercorns in Thailand. The two dishes Bruce references are great, but I also think that, if you're comfortable working with rice noodles, you can do a simple noodle dish using the green peppercorns with some protein (chicken, shrimp, pork), some greens, some allium (onion, garlic, scallion), and some basil. Oil, sugar, fish sauce... taste and adjust.

Does cooking somehow affect this phenomenon? After all, those of us who believe that there's a difference in proteins that have been brined with ingredients other than salt don't just eat brined meat; we eat brined and cooked meat. Is it possible that these limited surface effects caused during brining expand their reach during cooking?

The collagen definitely softened: the only remaining sinews were at the very base of the shank where the muscles become slender and the tendon connects.

From time to time the eGullet Society reviews and updates the Member Agreement to reflect current technology and to clarify and/or expand on the rules that govern our interactions as Society members. I'm writing today to let you know that we have posted an updated agreement regarding Decorum and Topicality, the bulk of which focuses on streamlining and simplifying the language of the Agreement. In addition, we have unified the language regarding posts about an organization with which the poster is affiliated, requiring disclosure of the affiliation regardless of whether the organization is commercial, not-for-profit, or personal (e.g. posting about your blog). Likewise, the same topicality and no-advertising clauses apply in all cases, commercial, not-for-profit, or personal: you may post about organizations or websites you are affiliated with when such a post is on-topic for the discussion, but not purely for the purpose of advertising. You can read the full text here. Don't hesitate to PM a forum manager if you have questions, as always.

Ditto here -- and I always flip and manipulate the bellies to distribute the cure, which would be difficult to do if they're in the same bag.

How do people organize their planning? I've been using a google doc the last few years, and then print everything up for the last two or three days. One other organizational question for those with big (8 or more?) groups. Do you do family style in bowls that are passed, or do you have a sideboard loaded up with stuff? I'm trying to figure that part out too....

What are people putting in their bowls for Thanksgiving? Dave, I'm talkin' to you, sir.

Yes, that's it exactly. So it's about lower proof, and not "adding water" per se.

I make a batch every few months and plow through it accordingly. It is very, very forgiving as stresa concerning temp and humidity.

Can we get a full knife battery photograph with labels? S'il vous plait?

Roasted chile pepper or allspice.

Very interested to read your report. I read somewhere -- NY Times? Imbibe? -- a quotation of Audrey's about the importance of water to aroma. I wasn't sure how to understand that in relation to proof; the quotation seemed to imply that adding water, whatever the initial proof, promoted greater aromatic intensity, a bit like the drops of water one adds to neat scotch. What's going on there? I mean, does adding water create some reaction of import besides dilution?

How would you characterize the effects of age on these remarkable, old bottlings?

If that's bad, I don't wanna be good....

MattyC, what is rosemary smoked turkey exactly? In another development, I'm definitely serving beer for Thanksgiving this year.

I think I may go for two or three options. I have a lot of beer fans coming, and I think a selection might work well. Doodad, what porter recs do you have?