Chud62120798

Wat? I thought this thread was about new strategies for homeland security...

That's hamburger..."hambugger" is a top secret movie in pre-production with top secret stars....all vegan and ....ow! stop hitting me...*thunk*

107 postings for a discussion about fast f*****g food. Now that's not just manky, it's boggin. Doesn't anyone want to talk about how they made their own fois gras without the significant other getting suspicious about the squealing and squalking coming from the walk in closet? P.S. The Great Aunt in Rhode Island used to make hamburgers by grinding up filet mignon. Go figure. P.S.S. Harvey's makes a Hambuger ....a beautiful thing.

I have a late eighteenth c pine armoire inherited from my father. He kept the alcohol, glasses, decanters, and stereo system in it. I do the same, as well as cases of beer, red plonk, and paper recycling. Gin, vodka, and schnaaps dwell in the freezer. The well scotch seems to be camping out on the kitchen counter this week, maybe I'm anticipating emergency kitchen surgery.

Hmmm...wait a minute...May=mosquitoes,no?But all great art requires a little suffering...maybe I should just be quiet and go back to my shake n bake...sorry.

I keep thinking of the book " Stanley Park" while reading this. What about pitching a tent and going to Micheal Staatlander's farm for some 5 star? Word has it you leave hungry though.

Oops, I really should check my posts for errors...Sorry.

Rent them if you can! Rent them! You can also rent the dishes, cutlery, and stemware and you don't have to clean them. Just scrape em off and place them in the boxes they came in. You will end up buying more than one chafer, and you have the problem with storage in the off season. I made a last minute chafer with a heavy ceramic plattersitting on a wok with water, the wok sitting on a the wok ring, and small tea candles on spare ceramic tiles underneath. Works great if you just need one meat platter. Disposable is just plain wrong, we can't keep chucking stuff into land fills.

You must... I have two, and they both are wingey. Gotta stay away from the dollar store equipment I guess.Hey, is there a chart somewhere on the net with pix of what constitutes rare, med rare and nuked? Meat porn...

BTW the second pull out meant the roast from the oven. I like to err on the side of rare. It's tragic to let a good cut of beef get away on you...as in over cooked.

I too would sear it first in a heavy cast iron pan, season it, and most importantly, throw away the thermometer, and use a Taylor instant read, one that doesn't sit in the meat. Those ones are not reliable, and if you follow their "benchmarks" you will end up with overcooked everthing, every time. If you must use it, the moment the needle starts to move, pull it out, and try the instant read. If it hits 120F, pull it out and let it sit.

However, if you aren't certain, take it back, a good butcher will always make sure you're happy with their product. Especially Whole Foods... you pay enough for it.

Sometime fresh pork can smell downright gamey. My theory is that factory farmed pork has created the expectation that fresh meat smells like nothing. I guess it depends on what the animals were fed, what breed they were,etc. The portugese Pork O Rama in my town sells lots of fresh pork at great prices, but their product has a distinctive pork funk, as opposed to the big chain grocery pork stores. Cook the heck out it after an acidic marinade...?

Hmmm how many more posts. I visited my family this weekend, and oddly enough, my brother had been in Montreal, and he came over with an entire smoked brisket from Schwartz's, which we steamed and consumed greedily. Now I have another taste baseline, and my attempt wasn't as bad as I thought, but not as good as it could be. I think the aging on the beef must be important, because the Montreal brisket's fat had that yummy beefy funk roast smell that you don't get with beef that hasn't aged as much. I'm no expert though.

I had to order salt peter from a drug store. The big chain store in my neighbourhood said their supplier only accepted big orders, so I went to a small Mom and Pop pharmacy. Don't say you're going to use it to teach the kids how to make gun powder because they don't think it's funny.

I can digitally photograph, but I don't know if I'm allowed to post. I have to cure another brisket, because I was not happy with the results. First, I didn't take into account the different thicknesses of the meat. The thinner part was a little over cured to my mind. I think maybe I should rinse the meat longer , kinda like baccalao, because the meat was a bit too salty. I didn't smoke it enough, but I was rushing, and I suppose that's a no no for this sort of thing. I used some black pepper that was radioactive it was so hot...oops.Also, I cut back on the coriander in the pre smoking rub, and added crushed juniper berries and fresh bay leaves. I got the coriander seeds at the corner Sri Lankan shop, and they were also strong, I feared they would kill any other flavours happening. It still was super tasty with home made sour dough bran bread. I know it should be rye, but I didn't have any rye flour at the time. In any case, I've eaten most of the brisket., and intend to try to cure and smoke another , and I'll try to post pix of it and I hope that one will be beautiful.

Thank You Chef Fowke! I'm going to smoke my cured double brisket today. Have the CDN Tire smoker box, and have the time to watch it, and replace spent chips. You know, I've often wondered about aluminium foil...Sure won't use it now... I am going to steam it in a wok lidded "gypsy pan" contraption on the stove. I think I'm going to add a little Zatarane's liquid crab boil seasoning to the water because I just can't leave well enough alone...

Thank you Chef Fowkes for your great experiment in smoked meat. I was in Montreal last week, reconnecting with a past life and went to Schwartz's. Now I am completely obsessed with trying to make my own smoked meat. My question is, as I do not have a smoker, only a large throbbing Broil King BBQ. Is there something stopping me from making a smoker out of cardboard like Alton Brown's? Also, is there anyone out there in Vacuum Land who knows of a good kosher butcher in Toronto? Cheers.