paulraphael

I'm not convinced this is an issue. I have a weak home stove, but for most fish don't even use the highest heat if cooking all the way in a pan. Unlike with most meats where all the way up isn't even high enough. I suspect if if it won't release, there are other issues, like the fish being adequately dry, or the pan adequately preheated. I cook even thin fish like trout, skin on, on a stainless surface without sticking. You have to be more precise about everything than with non-stick, but it rewards you with a slightly crisper and better browned skin.

One other minor trick. If you dust the fish at the last minute to promote release and crisp skin, try wondra flour. This is wheat flour with modified (pre-gelatinized) starch, so it doesn't need long cooking to dissolve or to lose the raw flour taste. I learned this from the kitchen at Le Bernardin but haven't tried it on my own.

The last part that Anna mentions seems to be the biggest secret. If everyone knew that, the market for non-stick pans would collapse. Leave the fish alone! When the surface browns adequately, it will release. Having the right tools is helpful as long as you remember they're not crowbars. You shouldn't ever be prying the fish off the pan. I like a standard fish spat (I use it for everything, but it really shines on fish and pancakes) and often use this with a straight or offset pastry spatula in my other hand. Having a second spat let's you support a delicate fish while turning. For smaller things, the pastry spat may be all you need. I learned the utility of these from alums of Thomas Keller's and Grant Achatz's kitchens. They use them exclusively.

SV Dash is amazing. No pictures, no recipes. It calculates and graphs time/temperature based on the all the parameters you tell it. It also gives the pasteurization curves.

I sent a link to my notes by p.m.. Sounds like you know what to do. I don't like to salt before cooking s.v., because I almost always use the bag juices as a sauce foundation, and they get too salty. And in some cases with longer cooks, pre-salting can start to cure the meat and give odd flavors an textures. So I just salt before searing. If you're using a vacuum machine you don't need to add anything to the bag. I use ziplocks, so I generally add a bit of stock or beurre monté.

I don't know why it wouldn't work. The most important thing is that their releasing the API to developers, so we may see lots of apps for this. The guy who develops SV Dash already said he's chomping at the bit to support it.

Well, I got this from a source that may not be trustworthy in this context ... a conversation with Jerry Greenfield of Ben & Jerry's. He said that Haagen Dazs molecularly alters milk proteins to act as emulsifiers and stabilizers. I've never been able to confirm this with routine interwebs research. It seems more plausible that they're doing something more like Jeni's process. It would let them keep an old-timey looking ingredients list ... the molecular modifications would probably require the word "modified" somewhere. And we know that Jenni's process actually exists!

Since the exact temperature of reheat isn't important, I often just you hot water from the tap. It's 125F where I live, and quite a bit warmer some places.

Yes! And I'm also saying that preference likely has more to do with how a technique was used than with the technique itself—especially with something like s.v. that gives so much control over so many variables. A lot of bad or mediocre food gets made s.v., just as with grilling, baking, and every other technique. It doesn't make sense to blame the technique without looking first at how it was used. This is especially true for something like s.v., which offers all those variables, and is often used to cook the interior while another method is used for the exterior.

NY or Ribeye? I'd pick whichever is your favorite. I think 1.5" thick is about perfect for sv steaks. Thin enough that the cook isn't too long, thick enough that the middle doesn't get effected noticeably by the searing. If you put it in a bath that's 1°C hotter than you want the meat to be, it should be about perfect in 1:45.

Very interesting. I think you're right about the sow's-ear-to-silk-purse idea. It's about turning tough cuts into tender ones, not cheap tender ones into expensive tender ones. But I don't want to make assumptions about Unpopular Poet's steak. People get results that are hard to explain out of every cooking method.

Interesting, Jo, thanks for posting. When I was corresponding with him about ice cream the blender never came up, so I'm guessing it's a new trick of his. I haven't tried it. I'm not feeling a lack of smoothness and creaminess, anyway. An extra blending step isn't high on the list. Really cool about J.B.B.'s ice cream. I wonder if she got the concentrated skim milk technique from commercial ice makers (like Hagen Dazs, who don't use stabilizers). I'm curious about the pasteurization laws the Modern Farmer article complains about. Most ice cream making methods re-pasteurize the ingredients. Maybe the authorities don't count this.

You've stumped me. Ribeyes are fabulous, and 2 hours isn't too long. When you get into much longer cooking times, a cut like that can become too tender (this is when people complain about mushiness) and it can also lose so much juice that it gets dry. But I don't know why you were getting dry steaks at those times.

How long were you cooking for? Could you describe the steaks (cut, thickness) and the cooking methodology? It's not so surprising to dry out steaks when cooking s.v., under certain circumstances.

What didn't you like about the s.v. steak? I'm interested especially in the difference between s.v. and the steak steamed before searing. This last method sounds like what combi oven or cvap oven does, and the only practical difference between these and s.v. is that they require a really freakin' expensive oven.

If you use the new grinder, I suspect you'll love the burger no matter how you cook it! That makes such a big difference it won't be a fair test ...

Baron! I would agree with you that "perfection" is largely subjective. I would doubt, however, that in a blind taste test, anyone here would include a ring of dried-out, overcooked meat in their personal definition. This is one of the things s.v. offers a solution to. Of course, you could use s.v. to achieve exactly this quality, if you so desired. And you'd be able to do it precisely and do it every time. It's quite friendly that way: imagine your version of perfection, then design a s.v. process that will achieve it. I'm skeptical about people "unlearning" how to cook because of s.v.. I don't know of anyone who's picked it up as a beginner's method. Personally, I find it's improved the cooking I do by other methods. It's taught me things about what happens at spefici temperatures, and with small variations in time, which would be very difficult to learn otherwise. When food is in the oven or on a grill there are just so many variables, and kitchen thermometers can only be in one place at a time (and aren't impressively accurate).

Michael Laiskonis has a new blog. Here's one of the best summaries of ice cream science I've seen. Michael taught me a lot of what I know about ice cream. I'm happy to see him in a primarily educational role now at ICE.

Custard actually sets at a wide range of temperatures, depending on the concentration of egg yolks, the final thickness you want, and possibly other factors also. The sense we get from traditional custard making that it just snaps into being thick at a certain temperature isn't quite right.

I actually do have trouble with statements about disliking sous-vide meat. It's not because I'm arguing with anyone's tastes; it's that I don't think there are any innate characterstics to sous-vide meat. Sous-vide* is just one of a handful of means of getting very precise temperature control in a humid cooking environment, for food that may or may not be finished by some other method. There are some conventional ways of using sous-vide cooking that some people may not like. The most popular way to to cook meat to a low level of doneness, with a low temperature delta, so you get rare or medium rare edge from edge to edge. I happen to like this. I you don't, you're not obligated to use it this way. Dryness? It's possible, especially with meat that's been tenderized with long cooking times. But it's not a characteristic of the process. You can also achieve more juiciness than what's possible with any other method. I believe we could verify that or any other of these claims by blind taste test. There are certainly some limitations for certain kinds of food. I like salmon and black bass cooked with the skin on; I haven't found a satisfactory way to do this sous-vide. I can't get anything similar to roasted vegetables. It's generally impractical for a big roast or joint. *this is a lousy name for the process, because we're not talking about vacuum sealing as much as water bath temperature control

I'd suggest identifying the qualities of the meat that you dislike. Forget about how it was cooked, and just consider what you'd like to change. You can almost always design a sous-vide process that will cook the meat exactly the way you like. And then you can do it precisely and repeatably. You may dislike the typical habits of people who cook sous-vide, but those don't represent all the choices available. To illustrate, I bet I could make you a horrible burger by any method!

Mitch, we should join forces and do a burger lab. There are some other cuts I want to experiment with. We could also compare cooking methods, or just do to eliminate cooking variables. This would be, you know, for the greater good.

6 years ago in this thread I asked about Blundstones. I've got 3 pairs now and love them. Non-slip industrial soles, good protection, and they look good. Not exactly fashionable, but they're classics kind of like doc martens or chuck taylors. I wear them to work, out at night, and have worn them cooking all day at home or the occasional times i've cooked in commercial kitchens. They're my most comfortable shoes. Not a ton of support, but plenty of room for insoles or orthotics. Also good in the rain and snow.

Yeah, I think everything else falls many notches below that. The fresh grind part might even be the most important. Even though I'm a big geek for tweaking the meat cuts. I've gotten some pretty nice burgers out of chuck from the supermarket. Edited to add: I think I found Jeffrey ... word is that he's at Staubitz meats in Brooklyn.

Here's a short post on s.v. burgers by Kenji at Seious Eats.