UnConundrum

Figure I'll do pictures from time to time, instead of all at once.... so... here's the tzimmes I FINALLY decided on... And my wife thinks I'm nuts, but with 17 coming for the Seder, I ALWAYS like to have a back-up plan. So, last night, like I had nothing else to do, I smoked a whole chuck, about 20 pounds.... If you're interested in smoking, I did a graph of this "cook" and posted some info in the BigGreenEgg forum. You can see the graph HERE, and my explaination HERE.

Another thought.... how about yucca root? Should be available in any Spanish market. That's what tapioca is made from.

Uhhh, I'd say the answer may depend on how kosher... There's very, very little kosher food available to me, so we "bend" some rules... We feel any purely vegetarian product is ok for Passover... so.... if that works for you, how about agar agar? It's seaweed.

Well, size was definitely an issue. Had to give something up to make room, just like my water bath configuration. Actually, by most standards, I guess we have a big kitchen, quasi commercial. I just put mine on a stainless worktable I have. I used to keep my Tilia in the same place, and the area in front of the Tilia had to remain vacant so I had room for the bag of whatever I was sealing. Really, the chamber vacuum doesn't take up much if any more space than the Tila WITH the bag extended out of it, ready to seal.... but it clearly looks much bigger due to the height.

Can't tell you what's safe, but can give you an example.... I had cooked some short ribs, and our dinner plans changed, so I threw them, into the fridge (unopened vacuum bags). I then proceeded to forget about them, until I was making some soup about a month later. I took them out, and they smelled normal. Cut them up and added to the soup. Tasted fine, and no trips to the hospital. I would suggest that if you follow Nathan's charts, you're killing most the bad stuff in the bag. As long as you don't open it, it "should" stay for a reasonable amount of time... Sous-vide was originally devised for long term storage, similar to canning, but the rules for that are much different than what has been discussed in this thread. Simple answer is that it surely extends the fridge life of cooked meat if left unopened, but there are no stats to my knowledge on how long that extension is..... If you're in my situation, smell and taste first.

Melissa, I'm still searching. Did you ever make your recipe with a knaidel? I think I want something more savory than sweet. Yours sounds great for the High Holidays. I'm toying with making a recipe up. Want to use dried sweet cherries instead of the raisins or prunes, and baking the potatoes and carrots, then skinning them. Arrange the veggies with a well in the center and adding the knaidel mixture in the well, then pouring some chicken stock around the veggies.... Just no idea how much liquid to add... or if it needs to be covered... I'm guessing it does, so that means a deep pot... I'm feeding 17, so.... pretty heavy for at the table (I do have a 12 qt. La Cruset). Anyone have any suggestions?

I figured I was spending a ton, so a little more didn't matter. I went commercial with this unit. They have a great selection of bags, and I think good prices on them as well.

I bought a chanber vac about 8 months ago, and just love it. I now use it for all my stocks too, since it can do liquids. Bought some narrow bags and have 1/2 cup and 1 cup portions, as well as quart and multi quart for soup. Sorage is so much easier in the freezer with all these equal sized flat packages, that take up no more room than the material being stored

LOL, we'll have the great unveiling on Thursday I did take a picture of the Mandel bread ... here ya go:

Oy! Yesterday was the big push: 1. Made the stock for the chicken soup 2. Made red beet jam 3. Made the mandel bread 4. Made 4 half chickens sous-vide for the chicken eaters 5. Made the tomato cream soup with zucchini for the vegetarians (vegetable stock) Today: 1. Made way too much mandel bread and had to finish the 2nd bake today 2. Made the chicken soup 3. Sauteed mushrooms to go with the meal 4. Started looking for a tzimmes recipe (still not decided there). To do yet: 1. Clean and prep a vegetable (Monday/Tuesday) 2. Buy the fish for the vegetarians (Monday/Tuesday) 3. Make the tzimmes (probably Tuesday... isn't it better sitting a day?) 4. Make the roast (Wednesday) 5. Make a potato kugel (Wednesday) 6. Make the matzoh balls (Wednesday) 7. Relax (Thursday)

Elsie, If you want to add a different twist to the chicken, you can make a vino cotto, (an Italian cooked wine sauce), which is rather easy. Just get a bottle of Passover wine, concord grape, the sweet stuff, and add some diced dried figs. Reduce the wine until it's thick (remember it will get thicker yet as it cools). When it's at the right thickness, just strain it.... and you have your sauce. It's like a reduced balsamic.... Intense, sweet flavor.. a little goes a long way. Also, if you can inprovise a sous-vide setup, you could make sure those breasts don't dry out, and save yourself a lot of grief. We're having 17 (only a third of your group), and some don't eat red meat, so I cut two chickens into halves, seasoned them, bageed them in vacuum pouches, and sous-vided them yesterday. I've left them in the bag, and put them in the fridge. Wednesday, I'll throw them back in a water bath (still in the bag) to heat them up. I don't have to worry about them drying out, and I'll toss them under the broiler with some paprika and evo a couple minutes before I want to serve them... All the works done in advance.... If you sauce your breasts, you won't have to worry about browning them (that is if you go the sous-vide way).

We started holding the seder at our home about 10 years ago as it was just too much for my mother anymore (she's now 84). Although I'm an avid cook, I've never tackled a tzimmes. My memories of my mother's includes sweet potatoes, carrots, potatoes, and a Knaidel. I could improvise, or use one of the many recipes on the web, (Like this page) but I was wondering what's your favorite? BTW, at current count, the group will be 18 this year

Yep, that's the one. Let us know what you think...

No, I'd take a rough guess and say it sits at least twice as many people, and some room for bigger groups.

A few years ago, there was a great little restaurant called Le Petit Margaux off of St. Dennis, on Villeneuve. The owners moved out to the Eastern Townships for a few years, and they've now returned and opened Le Margaux at 5058 Parc, near Laurier. I stopped in last night and gotta say it was really great for the prices. I started off with foie gras served with grapes and apples for $15, followed by a little salad with smoked duck breast, and my main was three cuts of lamb (tenderloin, sweetbreads, and leg confit) for $22. The wine list is rather limited, but the prices are only doubled, not tripled like so many other restaurants. I highly recommend you stop in if you have a chance

Steve, The problem is from the other direction, enabling you to find whatever recipe you want from your browser. Right now, we're limited to only one web site at a time... eGullet, or epicurious, or whatever. With microformats, or other structured languages, web developers are able to crawl or scrape other web sites to find recipes they might not otherwise recognize. By using a structured format, the web developer is inviting the scraping and saying "Hey, I have recipes here that I'm willing to share !". The use of the structured format doesn't control what's in the recipe, whether it's a list of ingredients, or prose, but it identifies the elements of the recipe. For example, it tells another developer what the name of the recipe is, how many servings, who the author is, etc, in a way that would be uniform from web site to web site. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to search every recipe in the world (that was offered to be shared) with one search engine? It's a dream, but things like micro formats would make that possible.

My pleasure. Please keep me posted on any conclusions you come to. I wouldn't have know about that site but for our project. I don't read much and I might miss a post, so please pm me.

Conner, Funny you should post, now, as we're playing with writing a new website devoted to recipe storage with a web 2.0 approach. We've been thinking about the recipe format too, but think things should towards microformats. Maybe you should check out http://microformats.org/wiki/recipe-examples, a site we found yesterday. Seems to me like they're addressing your points there..... What do you think?

I believe NathanM posted the fda guidelines. Why aren't they good enough for NYC? I think this is bull....

Thanks for the suggestions guys. MACARONI'S is closed for lunch, Paloma sounded great, but it is a bit of a distance from where we're meeting. Sounds like it will be The Grey Lodge. Do I need reservations for a 1:00 ish lunch?

We love to visit Montreal, and, of course, Schwartz's rules Actually, they do smoke briskets, not the plate which is a true pastrami. And no, corned beef isn't close. It's a very different product, although the same cut of beef. Schwartz's actually will sell their spices. If you go to their web site Schwartz's here they have a link to "Buy our spices." My take on getting close, with their own spices would be to get a good brisket, packer cut, and trim well. Schmere with a whole grain mustard, and then season heavily with their spices. Let sit in the fridge overnight. Bring to room temperature. I'm a Big Green Egg fan, so I'd smoke it at a 200 - 225 dome temperature till internal temp is about 185 (this can take 12 or more hours). Wrap in foil, and let rest in an insulated chest for at least an hour. Comes out pretty darn close.....

Friday monring, I'm meeting an internet friend and his wife for the first time. A professional in the field, he's offered to give me some knife sharpening lessons, and insists that he will not accept payment. Sooooo, I'd like to find a nice restaurant in the area to treat him and his wife. He lives near the triangle where Holme Avenue, Wilits Road, and Acadamy Road meet, right off Frankford Avenue... Maybe someplace nice for a late lunch (we're meeting at 11:00)? I'd prefer something close to him, as I'll be traveling close to 2 hours each way.... Thanks in advance.

The circulating models are much more efficient. The moving water transfers the heat better, just like a convection oven is more efficient than a standard model. I use mine to chill as well... When I make stock or something that I've cooked but not want to refridgerate, I put the pot of stock in my water bath, fill the bath with ice and water, and lower the lauda temp. It's amazing how quickly it will bring the temp down as compared to the pot just sitting on the counter.

Alan, a termostat will kick off on temperature, regardless of the volume of water involved. If it reaches the temp, it will turn off. I serioulsy doubt any aquarium heater could reach the needed temperatures.... the fish would cook.... I bought a circulating waterbath on ebay for $100.... you've gotta just keep watching. BTW, I bought an under the bar ice chest on which I mounted my lauda... the insulated sides help with the fuel charges. I then cut out a piece of styrofoam as a lid....

I doubt you could bet the water heaters to reach a hot enough temp.