gfweb

Way cheaper than the amount of gas it takes to heat up a cast iron pan!

Jo, are you near a Costco? They have great meats at a fair price. Their 'choice' is better than most 'prime' (at least around here) and they have that too. Costco is also a leader in meat safety with more stringent requirements than FDA or any state (from what I've read). I make a run to Costco every month or two and lay-in a supply of NY Strip and others...vacuum pack and freeze 'em, and t hen thaw as needed. We have a butcher or two in the area but both are thieves and the meat is no better than Costo's

Interesting question. But considering that my kitchen is just part of the agri-industrial complex, I can say that whatever I do waste (while trying not-to) is an infinitesimal fraction of good food that is tossed because of a blemish or because of some partially arbitrary sell-by date ( no I'm not talking about dairy or meat).

Looks bigger than 400 sqft! I can see how that would be plenty of space.

You are raising him/her right.

Dave W-That's breakfast! Needs twice as much sausage though, unless that one serving.

Got photos? Little houses fascinate me.

Kim, that looks like better than the average weiner.

If you sear the outside of a steak and then put in a 325F oven the inside will finish nicely to whatever temp you want. The time varies with the thickness. I'd guess 10 min for a 1.5 inch steak. It goes quickly toward the end so take multiple temps. I've never tried Shop-rite steaks. Acme, our market down here, has terrible steak. I get mine at costco and freeze a bunch. Though Angus is a legit cattle breed, what's marketed as Angus in the US is a heterogeneous mix of cattle that are loosely related to Angus but are >50% black ...in other words not a consistent type.

Even though I didn't understand it was pre-cooked (see above), SV is never a bad idea for reheating anything.

Fully-cooked eh? Well that's different. Never mind.

I don't understand bone-in chops. They are said to have more flavor. Because of the bone? Can't imagine how. The bone does make for uneven cooking and raises the price of the meat. I think I'd remove the bone and cook SV. (added) Here's Kenji"s thoughts http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/03/ask-the-food-lab-do-bones-add-flavor-to-meat-beef.html

I recall Ruhlman's piece about it. Aside from the fact that year-old nog sounds disgusting there is certainly no data on safety. Ruhlman in general takes a cavalier attitude toward food safety, leaving warm stock on the stove for days etc etc. But it probably won't kill you. And lots of people get sick over the holidays...why not one more reason?

Kim, Not fiddling at all. Here's the recipe... http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/11/turkey-porchetta-food-lab-recipe.html Basicly,...butterfly a turkey breast... make a sage/garlic/salt/peppercorn schmear and coat the slab of breast...wrap the breast in the skin that covered it (plus the skin from a drumstick)...truss it..bake at about 280F...when the internal temp hits 145 take it out of the oven and brown the skin in a pan with 1/8th inch oil (takes about 5 or 8 min of turning with tongs). Rest x 10 min. While resting, deglaze the browned bits in the pan with chicken or turkey stock...season with s/p..and thicken with Wondra.

Barilla no-boil lasagna sheets (brilliant product, thin good texture) Thought about tortillas but I didn't trust them to hold up boiling in liquid.

Mexican lasagna with chorizo, jalapeno, tomato, queso fresca. Cheese on top was queso hebra which looks and feels like mozzarella, and melts, but then gets leathery with continued baking. Que sabia? Tasted good anyway.

I'm not sure about the length of time to reach 120F, sounds very long to me. Factors to consider... If present, Botulism spores won't be deep in the meat, they'll be on top of it more or less, so they will get hot very quickly....in minutes to reach 120 in the SV bag. As long as the SVd bag remains sealed after cooking, the chilling and the second cook in the oven will be of an already pasteurized butt...and therefore no risk. According to the CDC there were fewer than 200 cases of botulism in 2012 and many of those were from home-canned and stored foods. I saw no mention of a sous vide-related case http://www.cdc.gov/nationalsurveillance/PDFs/Botulism_CSTE_2012.pdf

Fantastic meal RRO! I've missed seeing your food. I've done that porchetta SV in the past and then finished it in a pan of hot oil to crisp up the skin. Its a little better that way, but I didn't have the three hours it takes to cook it SV so I did it old school in a low oven.

Sound like duck leg confit, but with turkey. With duck the texture is firm but not rubbery or corned-tasting. If I salt beef or pork pre SV I do get a sense of cured meat, but not as blatant as a nitrate cure.

Turkey porchetta from a Kenji Alt recipe.

True enough. Certainly much more than an order of magnitude...more like 5 or 6, I'd bet. But botulism isn't the only food poisoning and who wants to get sick if a little good technique will prevent it?

If the meat is kept sealed in its sv bag and was cooked at a pasteurizing temp it will be safe until the bag is opened. At that point it can begin to grow whatever might've been introduced when the bag was opened. Easy solution is to do separate SV bags of meat for each day. How dangerous is the current method? Certainly you are alive and well, so the odds of food poisoning would seem to be low. But low probability things still happen given enough time.

Kim, pretty stuff! Whats in the cheese spread?

I tried the PC version. It was OK. Traditional was better. Adding base sped up the reaction, but even a tiny bit broke down the pectin into an onion slime. Not attractive or tasty. I'm pretty satisfied with the stove top or oven methods.