BryanZ

For me it could've come from the herb I added to the bag. It was almost a metallic/sour/medicinal-herbal taste. Or then again it could've been bacteria growing in the slightly inflated bag, oh well. You live you learn. The egg is getting close to where I want it. The white is custardy in a way that's more gelatinous than a normally poached egg. The yolk is still firming up a little more than I'd like but it's not really set--I'd say it's like a yogurt consistency. And the egg flavor is very concentrated, much more so than an egg poached in water. I will post a picture of it later this afternoon. Merry Christmas everyone!

I'm slowly rediscovering parsnips. They're such a humble vegetable but so delicious and complex. How does one make pomegranate sorbet? I've got an extra pomegranate sitting around and a sister who makes all my ice creams and sorbets with nothing to do.

So the short ribs were in the bath at 56-57C for about 30 hours. I had done two batches, one with thyme, one without. I found that results were generally good, but I need to season more aggressively with salt and pepper--something I usually do but have been scared of in sous vide cooking. Anyway, my bag with thyme in it slightly inflated. I'm not sure how, perhaps the seal wasn't as good, but during the last 6 hours of the cooking it started to float to the surface. I weighted it down and hoped for the best. After taking both bags out, I found that the thyme bag had the slightly sour/metallic odor/taste that others have mentioned. This could be the thyme, the air in the bag, or something else entirely, but it was slightly disconcerting. I ended up eating both batches (though the thyme ones were clearly inferior), so if I don't post for the next couple days, know that I'm in the hospital with advanced food poisioning. The non-thyme bag was very tasty. The same texture of strip/sirloin steak that others have noted. I found the short ribs were somewhat dry though and more liquid leached from the meat into the bag than I had initially imagined. Regardless, they were quite good, not chewy like a seared short rib, nor pull apart tender like a braised one--they were also pleasantly pink in the middle. I just need more of a sauce to top them with or to put on the side. The finished product with parsnips and potatoes, zuchinni, and wild mushrooms Next up is another try with the eggs, then probably a rack of lamb or a duck breast, then a butter poached lobster tail to follow.

Christmas Eve dinner was: Asparagus with a truffle cream sauce. I didn't have any truffles on hand so I freely used the Dartagnan truffle butter and my truffle salt. I sprinkled this with some bread crumbs lightly fried/toasted in a bit of olive oil. Percyn beat me to the chase here, but I served beef short ribs sous vide as my first meat dish. I drizzled the short ribs with a super concentrated beef/ redwine jus. The accompaniments were mashed potatoes and parsnips, blanched then sauteed zuchinni, and a mixture of wild mushrooms--chanterelles, oysters, maitakes, and shiitakes--with red wine and demi glace. I'd also been inspired by the "dry-aging meat" thread so I picked up a little boneless rib roast and have parked that in my fridge for the past week. It was my first time dry aging and it was delicious. I also want to give a huge anti-shoutout to Smoking Loon Pinot Noir. I had bought this a few months back, thinking I would drink it at school as a crappy but drinkable sweet red, but ended up forgetting it at home. We poured it tonight, and, oh my god, it was terrible. One of the worst wines I've ever had in my 19 years.

Inspired by this thread I've been dry-aging a little boneless beef rib roast since about Monday in a single layer of cheese cloth. I roasted it tonight and it was very, very tasty. Since this was my first time dry-aging I went with USDA Choice beef as opposed to Prime (I didn't want to risk messing up at $50+ piece of meat). I plan to use this dry aging for all my future roasts. You do waste some meat, but I think it was worth it in the end. I ended up making a super conentrated red wine syrup by rendering out some of the dried fatty pieces. After aging for a week, I trimmed the thing. I had no idea how much to take off, so I just kind of winged it. Roasted at 325F with some Maldon salt, pepper, and some herbs de Provence until my thermometer said 120F. Pulled it from the oven, tented, and let rest for about 12 minutes. The temperature got up to 132F. I gave it a little crust with a 500F blast for about 7 minutes. It came out a lovely medium. This was a fun little experiment and a resounding success.

That's a hell of a shopping day. Your friend seems to be learning from a good teacher.

Looks great. My short ribs will be coming out in a couple hours. I'm hoping they look as good as yours.

I had been hoping that a gaf account would be forthcoming. A good read.

I've found that the slices cut from the "meatier" side of the fillet are less salty. All in all I'd say it was a successful first attempt.

Thanks, Abra! Actually, I didn't cook it at all, which is probably why it kept its color! Basically, I chopped up to Granny Smith apples and threw them in the food processor with the juice of one lemon and a couple teaspoons of sugar, then added about a tablespoon of water. Zoom - instant applesauce! Probably more like apple puree... I covered it with plastic wrap (pressing it down to touch the puree, so as not expose it to air) and put it in the fridge while I made the latkes...the sitting time really helped it, I have to say. But no cooking! Lazy applesauce, let's call it. ← If one wants to get a little more involved with the no-cook applesauce/relish, I suggest substituting apple cider for the water. I also might suggest adding a bit more of water/cider/liquid of your choice, as it's easier to get a more silken texture in a food processor or blender. It might be a bit too watery so you can strain through a couple layers of cheese cloth to get the desired consistency. Not only will you have great applesauce but a freshly infused little bowl of apple cider

Of course, I'm seasoning everything before it's going in the pouch. I decided to wait to sear the short ribs until after. I've given this some thought, as it seems that that the browning reaction might add to the flavor of the ribs during the cooking process. nathanm, the sous vide sage of sorts, does not do this pre searing, however, so I decided not to. When I do more red meat I will sear beforehand and see if it makes any difference. Naturally, I plan to sear when theyre done. I actually did put some olive oil in the pouch with salmom. I just think I over peppered the damn thing. Still it was tasty. My Foodsaver also sucks out ANYTHING moist very quickly. I didn't expect this, so I'll be freezing cubes of infused olive oil, stocks, basic reduction sauces, etc. I poached them for about 40 minutes but they weren't in the water bath so my temperature control wasn't as precise. They jumped to like 152F a couple times so that might've been what set the centers. This dish was inspired by a poached egg dish I had at wd-50 that was completely mindblowing. The egg was silkenly custardy and really captured the quintessential "eggyness" (as sous vide tends to do). I will try the eggs again today, at around 135F, the same temp that my short ribs are in at. Peeling them was very tricky and they weren't exactly pretty but I'm working on it. Perhaps I should shock them in cold water after the cooking???

Boneless short ribs are in the bath today at 55/56C in preparation for dinner on Christmas Eve. I froze some super concentrated beef jus/stock that I made from the bones of the ribs. One bag has thyme in it, one does not. We'll see how the herb penetrates through the meat in the 30+ hour cooking process. You can see the little pucks of frozen beef goodness.

Made some Earl Grey and clementine gravlax a couple days ago and just unwrapped it today. This was my first time making gravlax and it is relatively tasty, but too salty. The flavors of the tea and the citrus come through beautifully but the salt overpowers the flavor of the fish itself. I think that I oversalted the fish or perhaps cured for too long since the fish was drier and firmer than I thought it would be. Next time I'll add less salt and go for like a 36 hour cure. Out of the plastic wrap Rinsed Sliced

I haven't posted any food I've cooked here since the summer. But now that I'm home I plan to resume full force posting. Dinner tonight was Sous Vide Part I: Seafood to the Maxxx

I've decided to start my own sous vide topic since I didn't want to hijack the "sous vide recipes" thread. If any moderator deems that this should be moved into something else, please feel free to do so. I think that my trials may prove valuable to others interested in sous vide cooking. Anyway, I'm home from colllege on winter break and am ready to tackle sous vide cooking. After reading through most of the eG threads on sous vide cooking I decided to purchase the requisite equipment a home cook might procure through eBay, QVC, or any other mixed-merchandise retailer. I hope to learn during my experiments and hope others chime in with advice, encouragement, suggestions, etc. I'm willing to try pretty much anything. The beginning of the madness can be seen here. In this post you'll find my equipment and a thread filled with a wealth of information on sous vide cooking. Tonight I tackled a few types of seafood at 46C with mixed success: Before: Scallops "U6-8" aka really huge shrimp Wild Alaskan King Salmon Eggs poaching at around 150F per Wylie from wd-50 I poached the seafood for about 45 minutes per nathanm's amazing charts in the sous vide recipes thread. I didn't really plate anything prettily since this was to be a pretty methodical tasting of the sous vide results. After: I found that the shrimp didn't quite turn all pink so I had to bust out the heat gun to finish most of them off. I also very quickly sauteed a couple of them over really high heat to bring a little bit of crispiness to the outer layer. I found that this worked quite well and yielded a very firm, very concentrated shrimp flavor with a pleasing but subtle texture difference. The scallops were my personal favorite. I quickly chilled them after the sous vide process then sauteed them very quickly (as per www.ideasinfood.com a fantastic food blog). This yielded a great, firm, custardy interior, but I think I should've cranked the heat higher in the searing process, as I would've liked more browning. I guess I was a little anxious and wanted to start eating. As others have notes, this salmon was very, very interesting. As you can tell, the cooked version doesn't look that different than the uncooked version. Still, it flaked very, umm, seductively. I felt the pepper I added somewhat overwhelmed the fish and it needed some soy sauce to round out the flavors. In general, the sous vide seafood turned out pretty well. I very much enjoyed the results, though my tasters, while loving the pure flavors, were ambivalent toward the textures that the process provided. For now, I'm blaming their subpar, uneducated palates, but I suppose I probably should consider catering to the tastes of others I was thinking that a really cool idea might be pre-slicing the salmon and scallops into nigiri zushi-style pieces and then cooking them sous vide in that form. The seafood on beds of vinegared rice might be more accesible to diners unaccustomed to slicing into a piece of salmon or scallops sous vide. Dressing this neo-sushi with a little sea salt and yuzu would be very, very tasty, I think. Finally, the eggs didn't quite turn out exactly how I wanted them to. They were still damn tasty but just not as gelatinous and runny as I had wanted. Next time I'll try poaching at 130F instead. Regardless, I used the eggs to top a kick ass salad of baby frisee, crisp bacon, and a dressing made from maple syrup, rendered bacon fat, and apple cider vinegar.

I went to Perry St. for a very enjoyable lunch today, transit strike notwithstanding. Anyway, I found my visit to be very similar to gaf's account from earlier this autumn. The thought behind and execution of all the dishes we had was very good, if not quite excellent or transcedent. I found myself remarking that the ideas put forth in Perry St.'s cuisine are quintessentially Jean Georges but still accessible to the competent home cook. With that said, I'm excited to duplicate the flash-fried snapper skin, bonito mayonaise, and yuzu cured pickles in dishes of my own. For starters I sampled the red snapper sashimi, pepper crab dumplings, and pumpkin confit. All three dishes were different but all displayed great range of sweet and acidic flavors--a Jean George trademark. Entrees included a roasted arctic char with steamed maitake mushrooms and an imaginative tuna burger. The steamed maitakes were a welcome change from the roasted and sauteed versions that appear on most menus. The tuna burger was surprisingly satisfying, evoking flavors of Japan in an undeniably Western application. Dessert was the oatmeal souffle, a dish that consisted of a light, oatmeal-flavored souffle topping over a small bowl of cooked apples. Nothing ground-breaking here but, again, very satisfying--familiar flavors, reimagined. Service was competent but relaxed. The space is immediately serene and relaxing while still maintaining an air of minimalist elegance. I wish, however, that they offered tasting menus. This is the only thing that might keep me from coming back sooner. It is worth nothing that lunch here is quite a bit more expensive than the $12/plate deal at Jean Georges (the flagship). If one craves a taste of Jean Georges' cuisine as it was meant to be enjoyed but doesn't want to deal with much of the pomp and circumstance of the Columbus Circle restaurant, then Perry St. is an admirable dining choice.

This is kind of off topic but one of service differences between lunch and dinner at Jean Georges is that at lunch they don't pour their olive oil. I'm not sure what it's called, but I looked it up at one point and it was quite expensive. This idea is somewhat similar to the Manni olive oil at Gilt, I suppose.

So I got my water bath tonight (though unfortunately it arrived at my house after dinner). Anyway, after cleaning it with every solvent I had on hand, I attempted to set it up on my counter. I warn you, it's not a good idea to move a water bath when filled (it's 25 lbs without water and who knows how much when filled). Needless to say, I drenched myself, my countertop, my floor, etc. Some have asked as to this water bath's condition and ability to maintain temperature. So far it seems pretty good. A little tempermental with the control knob (it's not exactly calibrated perfectly), but I think once I've got it at a set temperature it will stay there. I've only had it for a couple hours, so I'm still working that out. I'll be posting my attempts at scallops, jumbo shrimp, wild salmon, duck breast, short rib, and god-knows-what-else sous vide over the coming days. For now, here's my equipment: Foodsaver v1205 with extended vacuum and instant seal. I decided that these two features were important and finding a model that had both these and a reasonable price was quite annoying. The water bath with my thermometer inside it. I need to get that temperature down to 45 C.

I purchased a VWR 1203. I looked up its specs. online and it looks pretty legitimate. It's not a circulator though, but I don't think that should be too much of an issue. I paid $150 + $25 shipping for it. Not super cheap but a hell of lot less expensive than if I had bought it new or tried to use a used equipment reseller. This unit does not have a return policy on it. I did correspond with the seller, however, and he informed me that the unit does hold temperature etc. One wonders why a lab would throw out a perfectly good hot water bath, but I'm banking on some good luck. On a separate note I have a sous vide questions that I haven't seen discussed yet: How does one cook something like a duck breast sous vide? Does one have to render out the fat first, or will the sous vide cooking process provide sufficient temperatures to melt that fat away? Any suggestions?

Just called, they're taking reservations a week at a time for now. ie. If you call today you only get reservations for this week. Same thing for next week.

So I'm going on the 2nd of January. Incidentally, only 2 days after a meal at Alinea. Should be interesting to see how the two compare. I'm quite excited.

Lunch is certainly more casual than dinner. With that said, one might be able to get away with taking pictures during lunch (when there's also more natural lightiing). But the room is so small that at dinner it might be somewhat obnoxious.

I'd really like to see how you set up your shots. The lighting angles, background, etc.

Good idea with the heat gun. I've got a couple of those lying around, so I'll give them a try. My water bath from eBay is currently in transit--in Kansas now-- and should be here by the end of the week. I'm anxious to start experimenting.

On Thanksgiving I did a twice-cooked duck. Steamed for about 40 minutes in some water with aromatics. Then roasted for about an hour at 425 (I think). I glazed it with a pomegranate, honey, and soy thing. It was a kind of a trite presentation (not exactly cutting edge) but very tasty all the same. I suggest some sort of sweet and salty glaze to baste the duck with when it's roasting.