jaymer

Despite the other guy with foul language and an attitude, I wanted to say how much I appreciate your tips and suggestions! And I'd send that 5:30 pizza (on Page 2) back - but what do I know? I don't have a ton of posts under my name!

Then, another full case or retail packs from Sams (6 packs, 43.24lb), don't know if the box said Amick Farms or not. Same lighting as the original set. 1st picture - 6 breasts, 8.65 lbs (138 oz). Thats an avg 23 oz per breast. Nowhere near the white-striping, except in the one OBVIOUS breast. I threw half of that breast out. Only 1 in the case was "dark", shown in the 2nd pic. 4th pic shows how some breasts also contain some breast meat from the other side. This is waste, as I have to cut it off to remove the middle seam, so it reduces my yield. Overall, much better on the white-striping disease, but still more waste than I'd like.

OK, this was the next chicken after the case from RD. I planned to take EXACTLY the same pics, but it got late at night and wasn't going to be the same. A case of "retail packs" from Sams - from Amick Farms. (more in the next post)

How did they cook up? Well, during prep, you notice that they cut differently. If you were pre-cutting chicken fingers, then you can feel the knife "grinding" against something as opposed to just slicing into a smooth "normal" breast. I cooked some strips for fajitas, and its not possible to cut a cooked strip [thats going on a tortilla] with just a fork - its harder, springier, tougher. And when you bite cooked white-striped chicken, there's a mouth feel thats just not right. There is resistance - you feel/hear something in your head from your teeth thats not there on normal chicken - not like an apple slice - softer like a pear, but you know something's off. If a restaurant tried to use this for a center of the plate piece, like a chicken parm, or grilled chicken breast, the customer is definitely going to notice something. Problem is, the prep guy probably didn't care and the owner will never know cause the customer might not say anything. To be fair, if you're not cutting the chicken when raw, the prep guy can only go by training to see the white stripes - because the whole breast REALLY doesn't look that different to most prep guys, no offense. But hopefully you know what I mean. Anyway, what are you going to do, take half a case back to your supplier. Or multiple cases, cause its going to be there in every one I would imagine. This was the first time I had an ENTIRE CASE of this crap. Most of this chicken was ground up for chicken salad, so once its real small, I'm not sure you can tell. Although I didn't notice it in this case, in the past I almost threw up biting a piece of it from homemade chicken parm. I thought I had eliminated the bad pieces and my wife got some and when she said "I think you missed a piece" I tried to dismiss her - cause I thought she was imagining it, but then she made me try it and it was gross tasting as well. jaymer... PS _ I'm doing another case tomorrow - I think I might just buy a case from Sams Club - it comes in Member's Mark retail packs. Its $.35-.40 cents more / lb. but probably worth it.\ I will definitely take similar pics to compare.

A friend of mine sent me this 5 months ago - its his neighbor in Cincy Ohio area. pretty cool idea. was before the summer, so I don't know if they baked to death during the heat. jaymer...

Prepped about 25 lbs of random breasts the other day - here they are. Every piece in the 40b case was GIANT, and almost every one showed white stripes. These were purchased from Restaurant Depot - Tampa. Koch Foods chicken. jaymer...

ya, thats it. the comments at that link are a bunch a BS. but here https://www.buzzfeed.com/venessawong/our-giant-fast-growing-chickens-make-for-bad-meat-activists?utm_term=.dijOJXAR3#.ufVKA0dp2 multiple people talk about this situation thx - i honestly thought no one else knew about this issue

To you fellow caterers and restauranteurs who buy cases of chicken, have you noticed a trend of "bad chicken" in the last year or so, w.r.t. breasts that seem "harder" than normal, or discolored? When you cut into one of these, its definitely not the same texture as a "normal" breast. And if you're unlucky enough to taste one, you feel it hard and a weird taste. Last spring I was getting breasts from my local GFS Marketplace. While high on lots of stuff (unless you have a truck account with discounted SKUs), sometimes their market price is right in line with Restaurant Depot, but you don't have to buy entire cases to get the good price (pork loins, butts, odd packs of ribs, etc.). So I was getting cases of breasts and noticed and odd piece or two out of each 10-lb-group in the case which were as I described above. Not until after cooking (and tasting) did I realize something was really wrong. My wife asked me to taste a piece of her chicken parm and I almost heaved, while 3 others were fine. So i stopped getting stuff there after 3-4 cases, effectively switching growers, and hadn't noticed it again until this week with a case from RD. If you pound them (to tenderize and/or normalize thickness), you probably won't notice it. If you have a prep guy slicing breasts for chicken fingers, you probably won't be told about it because he most likely won't notice (or care). If you're cooking whole breasts (smoking, as I was), you don't notice at all until a customer would complain about it on his plate. (From splitting the two halves and trimming fat, you don't cut into them enough to experience the texture difference.) Only (in my exp.) if you handle each breast and notice a color diff (mine had lines, like the grain, very visible across the top) OR you are cubing/slicing each beast then you can actually feel a graininess through the knife as you cut. OK, enough rant. Hope to hear from someone who noticed this and found out how/why. I'm sorry I can't afford to buy "non-randoms" where this may not be an issue. I thought random only meant in the weight, and not the quality thx jaymer...

I appreciate all the ideas. I'm NOT interested in using "leftover chicken"... as stated in the first post. I'll have to look up a lot of these recipes, but I definitely have plenty to go on. BTW, Using this chicken on a pizza works fine. I have to say the easiest and really yummy option is to toss on salad - I'm finding I make a huge salad a lot more since I have a large supply of protein to add to it. Mostly I use cold, but sometimes I'll dice up dark meat and nuke for 1 min while I prepare the salad, then drain it and toss in. Easy, cheap, fast.

I have large amounts of SV chicken, both white (boneless, skinless breast) & dark (boneless, skinless thighs). I already use it for LOTS of stuff... from chicken to go in kids' lunches to quickly toss onto salad. Its super quick to stir fry/saute some onions/brocc and toss in chicken. Had chicken tacos last night - use a griddle and toast up strips of meat and tortillas. If we leave the thighs whole, my boy likes to toast buns & eat plain chicken sandwiches. Loves the thighs much more than breasts. Easy italian is a pan of hot sauce with tossed in cold white meat to warm in the sauce (flame off). Serve over pasta. Easy! Or I'll make a curry base and after ALL the veg/liquid is done, simply add a few lbs. of diced chicken and voila! But I'm running out of ideas... we don't need to be eating Pasta every meal and a lot of rice with the Indian. I'd like to find other flavor profiles to make where I can simply "add chicken at the end" and I've got a family meal. Remember the chicken is already cooked and stored cold. Thanks for [hopefully] some great ideas!!! Jaymer...

Toliver.... DING DING DING Thats where I saw it. Ours started making these horrid Brisket sandwiches with cole slaw... and it used that collar. Thanks, I'll ask them for some. Jaymer...

I probably could make a few as a test. But I need a 70-lb stock, longer than 11 inches, coated preferable (for grease/etc). I'll check with a print shop friend and see if he has something. I was just stunned I spent so long searching and couldn't find it. Maybe that rest. made their own also. Thanks!

Whew, thats a long topic! So i was watching a Triple-D episode where a restaurant owner made this tall sandwich... like a pork sandwich with cole slaw and other stuff. They assembled this paper-based "ring" (texture seemed like coated business card) and then put the bottom bun in it. Then proceeded to pack in the meat & toppings, then top bun. Customer removes the ring at their table. Keeps all the insides from falling out while building it in the kitchen. I've spent 40 minutes on google trying to find this item, or even an image of a sandwich made this way. I'm hoping someone here can find out how I can order some of these. Thx for the help Jaymer... PS Obviously, I'm not talking about std. deli wrap paper. And I'm not interested in just some wrap to enclose a sandwich before serving. Can't use a metal ring. Its going to be disposed of. If I want it to go around a 4-inch bun, thats pi * d for circumference, (3.14159*4), so its a cardboard piece thats probably 13-14 inches long and 2-3 inches high. It had a notch near each end so it locked into itself.

@caroled I'm a bit hesitant to keep that going as you describe. Heck, I don't even like adding a freshly reheated batch into the same container of older collards that have been sitting on the serving line. For example, if I put a couple of quarts of collards on the lunch line (and of course they are held at safe temp), and if I have some left over come dinner, I don't want to add my "fresh" collards into that "older" juice. The lunch ones are still delicious... just "older". So I don't want to degrade the fresh batch. If I cooked collards in "old" collard juice, then I think it would affect the flavor of that batch. But thats just a wild guess. True, I AM looking to find something neat to do with leftover "old" juice... but it just seems wrong to start fresh collards off that way. thx J

This is from/for my restaurant. I use a 12 gallon tilt steam kettle to cook a batch... only about half full. I used a Zojirushi rice maker with washed, white CALROSE to try my first batch with collard juice. The grains were not mushy, but they were very sticky. Maybe some oil or butter might have helped. Surprisingly, I like the flavor from using our leftover green bean juice more. Even after adding 8oz of collard juice to the cooked rice (and a Tbsp of salt) it wasn't really that good. still looking... thx @caroled - I cook them weekly. I guess I could roll that liquid into the next batch. @ttogull - I don't cook many beans from scratch, but it would be interesting to see how much flavor (if any) got into the beans.

We make our collards from homemade chicken stock, with a little more water added. No bones, but we do add pulled pork, so its not vegan. After collards are served, I'd LOVE to find some way of using the remaining juice - I can easily have 3-4 quarts that we normally throw away. We recently started making white Calrose rice with 100% GREEN BEAN Juice - and thats really yummy. After that rice (was 3 cups dry rice) finishes, I normally add another 8 oz. of additional green bean juice just to "lubricate" the rice a bit. If it stays on heat for an hour it will get sticky, but its delish right away. I have my first batch on now with collard juice, but I'm hoping y'all can give me some more ideas. thx J

blackp - RE: Pork Bellies I cured a slab using the Buckboard Bacon product - 12 days also. I'd rather make my own cure (for economic reasons) - if your cure recipe is something you can send me, I'd love to see it. After curing/washing, I used a half sheet pan and put it on my smoker for 30 mins, then directly back into my walkin cooler. I "smoked" it 4 times, each time chilling it after. Since our smoker runs at 225 during the day, I didn't want to cook it, just get some smoke on it. I've only sliced it and pan fried it. Its salty, and yummy. Still have a piece in a bag, so I could easily SV it. Its raw pork still. Q: You say you've cooked them. How do you eat yours? Cold? How are you heating it, since its edible as it is. I can't speak as to whether or not the SV step of bacon is even worth it. Since you've got a smoker, maybe try this - we take commercial (did it with the sliced belly too) bacon, place it on a removable rack, put a rub on 1 side and smoke it for an hour. Chill it, then its easily reheated (we put it on a 500deg pizza stone for 15 secs) for breakfast, sandwiches, salads, burger, etc. I'm QUITE happy with that method and quality - so I'm wondering what the SV benefit is. PS _ while it can be placed directly on the smoker rack, we feel that 1) you lose time/smoke/heat while loading the pit, vs. just dropping in a rack w/20 pieces already laid out, 2) the bacon cooks "harsher" on the racks in the pit cause they are already hot, and the bacon pre-loaded on a oven rack cooks more gently and doesn't wrinkle/shrink as much. thx jaymer...

I hadn't thought about cold smoking it. I figured I'd just throw it on the pit during normal operating hours for 1-2 hours @ 225deg. But since we're closed Sun/Mon, I'd have plenty of time to smoke it at a lower pit temp. What time/temp do you suggest? Then I'd bag/chill it in ice bath, and SV it at a future date. Jaymer...

Also probably good cooked whole to temperature, then chilled and sliced for roast beef sandwiches. I had looked at various SV recipes and did not find Top Round, so I tried it like other cuts. I'll reduce the time. Since we usually have it around, it made sense to try it. We ALWAYS have raw brisket, but I can't seem to make myself SV it - our smoked brisket is just too awesome. It is on my list to do though, probably smoked/rubbed first then into a bag for SV. We use top round for exactly what you said - smoke it and slice it for our deli sandwiches. thx for the reply jaymer...

I cooked several TOP INSIDE ROUND pieces, 1 inch thick, and at 12 hours they came out YUCKY mushy. Took one bite, couldn't eat it and spit it out. Tried several times. Other foods have turned out fine (incl. eggs), so I'm not questioning my temps. or equipment accuracy. Unfortunately, I didn't document this and its been a month or so and I can't remember. But I'm sure it was at 125F or 135F, but I remember the meat looked a lot more cooked than it should. Is there a reason this cut wouldn't work as well as Sirloin? thx jaymer...

thanks. i'll try that this week. jaymer...

DOUGAL Well, we go directly from SV to plate [or SV to torch, then plate] so it seemed a logical test to try to inject some "setting" heat on the outside and see if it helped. I just wanted to publish my findings while I had a camera and verifiable results. I'm not a fan of the 75C/measuring method - so in a sense I was already in a intermediate hold at 60C. I have to say though, one thing not tried is chilling them. Will have to do that and see if a reheat will work - I have no idea how long that will take but won't I be back to the same issue as initial cooking? That is, I have to warm up the yolk so its not ice cold and I don't want it to set, so If I'm in hotter water than my preferred yolk (62.2C per Baldwin) I still have to rely on formulas of time/circum/temp. Given a pasteurized egg pre-cooked, I wonder how long it takes to get back to 62.2C in a 62.2C bath?

Pedro, I have tried that. Its a real pain, measuring crap every time. And then you have to eat them right away since they keep cooking - kinda tough in a commercial setting, don't you think? Would be easier to cook on a flattop grill. David, you mean remove them from the egg and dump them into boiling water, right? I'm not sure what that'll buy me if the more liquid white just runs away. I'm not worried about the white that is already set. I have no experience in poaching eggs. These were NOT fresh eggs.

I've read most of the SV material available. Even Kyhmos' post references Balwins pics, and they are two years old. Not much in the way of recent info [that I have found] for the perfect SV egg. I wasn't against the 62.2 egg from Balwin, and I'd like to use those in my restaurant, but the runny white is kinda a putoff - and yes, I've seen the 4 stages of protein temps. Since I'm cooking a bunch of other stuff at 60C, I thought I'd try to SV eggs at that "standard" temp in my shop, and then boil them to see if I could get some outside heat into them to help set the white. Here's my results with 5 eggs each boiled at 100C for a period of time after the 90 minute 60C water bath. There was about 45 seconds after removal from the bath until the eggs went into the 100C water. Each egg was about 30 sec intervals. 1st pic (upper left) is the closest to just doing a 62.2 egg to begin with. The main thing I noticed was when opened, there was a thin layer of egg white still stuck inside the shell. It all came off uniformly, so its hard to notice - you can actually see a shiny surface inside the shell, which is the white glistening. I was happy with the first egg and looking forward to the next ones, until the egg shell started sticking - something I had NEVER experienced doing 62.6 eggs. After the 3rd egg and seeing a set yellow, I was bummed and you can see the 4th and 5th eggs couldn't even have the shells removed properly to be anywhere close to presentable. In summary, I added my tests to see if a better egg could be made to solve the runny white issue, but to no avail. For now, I'll have to continue to crack open on a side plate and then move to the final presentation to get that yucky ovomucoid off the plate.

I looked at Douglas' pdf on egg cooking times. I have to think that if a tiny .5 cm difference in circumference requires a 40-50 sec increase in cooking time (for example), then there's got to be an even greater difference in cooking 2 eggs or 8 eggs since the 8 cold eggs will greatly (i say greatly, but I have not measured it) drop the water bath temp initially. Am i missing something? (like maybe I didn't read the entire thread) Is the table for 1 egg at a time? Whats the formula for scaling to multiple eggs? For me personally, I'm looking for runny yellow - like Kyhmos @ 40 min http://blog.khymos.org/2011/04/23/perfect-egg-yolks-part-2/#more-2897 thx jaymer...