pounce
-
Posts
344 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Posts posted by pounce
-
-
I've been cooking steel cut oats in a rice cooker for a few years. Works great. I believe there are some other threads on the same topic.
2 parts water 1 part oats.
Some brands tend to "foam up" during cooking. if you have this kind of brand and its making a mess of your cooker by spewing out the steam hole or lid edges simple start the cooking process on the warm setting and let it set for a while. Maybe 30 minutes. After the warm soak start cooking.
When the cooker indicates done on the oats let it set in the warm setting another 10 minutes. Sometimes I throw in another 1 part of water and then let it set another 30 minutes for a more creamy texture.
It may sound odd, but I sometimes mix in a serving of unflavored protein isolate after cooking. You don't even notice it.
Clean up is simple if you remove contents and then let it set with the lid off. My nonstick $20 rice cooker wipes out when the oatmeal dries up.
-
For various reasons I'm interested in using Protein Isolate for nutrition and potential healthful benefits. I'm looking for some advice from people skilled in food chemistry or just plain well informed
. Protein isolate is non-denatured protein. From what I have read through normal web searching I've found that people think it perfectly acceptable to cook with isolate. However, I have to believe that heat will denature the proteins. Does anyone know or have an opinion on whether denaturing the protein would simply have the effect of changing its texture or would it also effect it's nutritional or antioxidant affects?Basically, I wont bother cooking with it if it reduces the value. Otherwise its very inexpensive protein and blends with anything.
BTW: I use bulk and NOW brand unflavored Whey Isolate.
-
I'm addicted to the vacuum fried JackFruit chips from Vietnam.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_fryer
The process is healthier due to the significantly lower amount of carcinogens created. There are some other threads with discussion on the topic if you are interested.
-
....can someone fill me in on ozone activated water? is this for real? i'm intrigued.
You can see it here:
There are some test results here:
http://www.tersano.com/testresults.php
Yes, you need to use the water immediately after creating it. You get about 90 cycles with one of the cartridges. I'm very pleased with the unit I got from Costco online. I use it for some laundry and don't even use soap. It's been really useful for getting the stink out of quick dry gym cloths. This makes me think it HAS to work on meat
-
OMG! You're right!
-
A better way would be to use something like Ozone-activated water rather than hot water or a blow torch.
Advantages:
- It's just water.
- It can be really cold so you don't drop the temp of your meat during treatment.
- Probably a lot more effective than heat on surfaces since you can keep it in contact for much longer without degrading the product.
- Another geeky product to own
I use a Lotus sanitizing thingy I got at Costco to make Ozone-activated water. I mostly use it for cleaning, but also use it for washing game that has been given to me and some veggies of unknown origins. For the truly obsessed you can get a small unit from a few sources that goes under the sink and dispenses Ozone-activated water at the sink like one of those hot water spigots. Do I think anyone would bother? I would because I already have one of these things. It's an option.
- It's just water.
-
Ok, so what amount of salt in the bag is going to dry out the meat (or anything else)? How much salt is too much for a given item for a given amount of time?
-
Salt in a SV bag will most certainly make meat (or anything else, for that matter) a lot less juicy, because of the osmosis.
This might not be an accurate statement. Taking brining for instance.
Brining makes cooked meat moister by hydrating the cells of its muscle tissue before cooking, via the process of osmosis, and by allowing the cells to hold on to the water while they are cooked, via the process of denaturation. The brine surrounding the cells has a higher concentration of salt than the fluid within the cells, but the cell fluid has a higher concentration of other solutes. This leads salt ions to enter the cell via diffusion. The increased salinity of the cell fluid causes the cell to absorb water from the brine via osmosis. The salt introduced into the cell also denatures its proteins. The proteins coagulate, forming a matrix which traps water molecules and holds them during cooking. This prevents the meat from drying out, or dehydrating. -
Fish tank or similar
Waterbed heater with thermostat control
Sandwich the heater under the tank. Heaters and tanks come in different sizes so you might need to play around a little with positioning the heater. I'd suggest putting a cloth between the glass and the heater to cushion the edges of the tank so they don't damage the heater.
Fill the tank with enough water that when you put your yogurt jars in it the water doesn't go over the rims. I use quart size mason jars and they work well.
Switch on the waterbed heater and dial in your desired temp. Most of these heaters only go to 100F.
The water is really going to help distribute and stabilize the heat.
This setup might only cost you $75 if you went with new equipment. If you used Craigslist or thrift stores or neighbors garages you could probably do it for free or very little.
-
however with the price of cheese its just damn expensive
How much? Maybe there is still an opportunity to cut your cheese costs.
-
In 2001, Lamb Weston brand Sweet Things® debut. Cut from the highest quality U.S.-grown, orange-flesh sweet potatoes, these Trim Fries and Platter Fries are processed with our patented Stealth® coating to deliver a smoother interior texture and crisper bite than any other frozen sweet potato fry on the market.
Hmm. I wondered from the ingredients if these were formed fries, but I found the above quote.
-
I'm thinking it's probably because the gelatin ratio is so low for this process that a traditional, well jellied stock is actually too high in gelatin. I've had my best results with liquids that are not far beyond a fluid gel when set. Of course that's just from personal observation, I'm certainly no expert on the subject.
That's exactly right.
Using this method of clarifying with a reduced stock has too much gelatin to be able to get a usable yield. You'll be left with 2T of consomme and a giant brick of jelly.
With a jus there's obviously much less gelatin so you get much more yield out of the consomme.
Gotcha. Is the result clear?
-
One thing I noticed is that I seem to always be doing the ghetto version of things...
In the video he shows a centrifuge and mentions it clarifies stock. Here is my version @ £120. I also dries jeans very nicely
http://www.creda.co.uk/macro/productprint....r=261&prmenbr=2
adey73, do you have the needle probe for the thermometer? Do you use it during the cooking time? I'm curious what you are using the plug the hole you make.
-
Perfect for gelatin filtration.
I'm confused by your statements. You want to make a jus with less gelatin by cooking the bones for less time then you want to add gelatin so you can use the filtration method? Why would you want less gelatin in your jus/stock to use the gel, freeze, thaw method of clarifying the liquid?
-
I hope Nathan doesn't mind, but there is a great video of Nathan talking at a TED conference about various topics, but maybe halfway through he talks about and shows some images of experimenting with cooking temps for beef. I thought others might be interested.
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/271
The whole video is very interesting, but if you want to skip to the cooking part and skip the whale sex, search for aliens and the invisibility cloak stuff head to about 8 minutes into the segment.
-
...a decent thermometer and a pot of water is all you need.
Agreed, even though I do use the waterbath. If you have one it's easy. If you don't it's not all that difficult and what most people do anyway.
-
There is a good discussion on Chowhound:
-
How about a simple case:
3 ft of 1/4" vinyl tubing direct connected through an adapter to a vacuum gage or manometer.
Measure steady state low-side pressure after 1 minute of pump operation.
I had an 8' piece of 1/4 hose I didn't want to cut so I left it at 8'. A FS handheld Wine Saver vacuum unit showed 24 hg at 1 minute. A FS v1085 showed 22.5hg at 1 minute. A venturi vacuum I have registered 27.8hg at 1 minute.
The vacuum gauge I used was an inexpensive automotive vacuum/pressure gauge.
I generally use the Wine Saver unit with the FS canisters, wine stoppers and Handi-Vac bags.
-
How about a simple case:
3 ft of 1/4" vinyl tubing direct connected through an adapter to a vacuum gage or manometer.
Measure steady state low-side pressure after 1 minute of pump operation.
Can you state a hypothesis or your expected result of this test?
I'm not sure what it's proving or disproving so I am curious about what this test means to you.
-
What's the issue at hand? You can "outgas" liquids with a FS canister and FS vacuum without lowering the "atmosphere" to one that would cause a boil at room temps.
If someone can state a test for the equipment I can run it.
-
My FS machines have been tested up over 28hg.
-
Its less the power of the vacuum and more the method of vacuum that makes the difference. FS machines can actually pull a very strong vacuum.
-
You may wonder why I am doing this. Many times I have people over when it is little or impossible to cook shortly before the meal.
I think in this case you can get a lot of use out of just doing your cooking in advance and vacuum packing the meal. When you have guests bring the packs up to temp in a bath. Not really SV as we know the term today, but you get what you are looking for... Braised or otherwise meals in a short period of time without cooking in front of our guests.
I have maybe 20 different meals in the freezer packed up. Some SV and some not. All are vacuum packed. All come back to temp in a bath of water either in my SV gear or a simple pot on the stove. Cut the top off the bag and plate.
One thing I haven’t worked on is the transformation of connective tissue to gelatin. What relationship is there, if any, between the temperature at which it is cooked and the texture of the meat?Up thread there are discussions about converting collagen to gelatin. Basically, when you lower the temp it takes longer. That's why you see long SV times for meats with lots of connective tissue.
On the flip side you can cook something like Salmon and have a rare or uncooked look, but a cooked like texture due to exact temp control.
-
I cook it Sous Vide at 130f for 24 hours. Slice it thick and eat it cold with horseradish.
Did you brown it before (or after) cooking? I tried eye of round sous vide and still found it lacking in flavour - it was sort of one dimensional if that makes sense. Texture was great though. My next trial is going to be a combination of the CI method with sous vide. Figure that way I'll get the best of both worlds. Flavour and texture. First thing I need is a bigger water bath.
It just goes into the bag out of the package. I think I've settled on just using lots of salt and pepper in the bag, but I have also tried a few different methods of adding smoke flavor. I've used the powdered smoke from The Spice House and Colgin liquid smoke. They were both nice, but I still preferred the plain salt and pepper approach. Like I mentioned I just eat it cold in thick slices with horseradish. Its also great for sandwich meat. I have not served this warm, but I think you could SV then slice think and sear like a steak for some off airplane/cafeteria food looking grub
I do understand your 1 dimensional comment. I think if you don't go crazy with spices the only other thing you can try is aging it first to get some flavor. I don't do this because I can't seem to find an eye around here that hasn't been through a jaccard before I get it. I am very hesitant to mess around with meat that has had lots of little piercings. If I found an eye that wasn't pre-tenderized I'd try dry aging it.I might approach a 2 stage by taking a frozen eye and broiling it being careful to keep turning it to get some color on it then throw it in the bath. Maybe 127F for 24 hours. Or maybe the opposite. SV then freeze and broil/BBQ and then bring up to serving temp in the bath before serving. It's still asking a lot of this cut.
Additional Uses for Rice Cookers
in Cooking
Posted
I wasn't actually responding to your comment. Just adding its easy to clean up the rice cooker if you let it dry out.
Quickly as to not go off topic too far...
Benefits to Protein Isolate:
Benefits to it being unflavored? No sweeteners so you can make it savory or any flavor you want. Mixed with Oatmeal it tastes like oatmeal