gfweb

Ever Sous vide it?

Could you please supply the references for the above temperatures? Were the enzymes all from mammals? Some are way higher than the temperature that enzymes would function at in a living cow.

Potsticker salad with sesame/ginger/soy/rice vinegar dressing

No, just a zip loc bag. My 130F burger was indeed that red. The 135F burger was more a decided pink. My screaming hot steel pan crusted up the outside quickly. The inside had no time to benefit from much more cooking.

And the texture issue cannot be escaped. I suspect that even cooked optimally, whatever that turns out to be, the SV burger won't be what my mouth expects of a burger. So far they've felt like biting into a meatball, not a burger. I'm beginning to see why MC deep fries them as a final step to get a real good crunch on the things.

How do you find the farmed duck varies from the wild?

At risk of flaming by Southerners, I believe that there are those down South who actually like this stuff into adulthood (eg my wife). "Ambrosia Salad" is on the menu of many restaurants down there and I have seen adults order it.

Good judgement on your part! Marshmallows contaminate some of my wife's inexplicably favorite holiday dishes. They are all fit only for 8 year olds. Yuk.

I had to try it. 130F 45min, the temp/time suggested by MC at home. For me, the texture was too uncooked in the center Second try at 135F 45 min. At end of SV the internal temp was 130F. Still too uncooked feeling for me. Odd, since I like my burgers med rare when cooked traditionally. More fiddling is needed. I'm still not sold on SV burgers. An observation....there is no contraction of the burger whatsoever when cooked by SV (I know...like duh) and it might even swell a little. I will need to make flatter patties in the future...ie use less meat...which makes SV economical!

Great tutorial. Did that really take an hour to do?

Welcome!

I'd bet that you could get a very juicy SV burger even if the meat was 90% lean or higher. Anybody experiment with this already?

Kenji -endorsed http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2013/04/the-pizza-lab-combine-the-kettlepizza-and-the-baking-steel-for-the-ultimate-home-pizza-setup.html

Nice demo Soba! For me, I'd more finely dice the garlic and get less color on them. I despise burned garlic. Tex, I can't imagine that the veg at a pasta station isn't par(tially) cooked. Esp broccoli which is so fluffy only a small part of it actually touches the pan.

If I'm spending that kind of money it won't be for an oven with "pizza party" engraved in its bricks. Holy crap, what a marketing blunder. Call it something Italian..call it nothing. Don't call it Pizza Party unless it is part of Barbi's Dream Kitchen.

Boiled eggs take about 30 minutes to prepare and cool.

Nice indeed. Brings up the issue of SV of rolled meat again...where the outside of the meat is made into the inside which raises the risk of bacterial growth during the SV. Did you dip it in boiling water or anything prior to the transglutaminase? Any funny smells? I've done rolled meats with no blanch and no problem, but we've had discussions before about SV gone wrong in this sort of thing.

What did it smell like?

This from FDA a moment ago... http://www.fda.gov/Food/NewsEvents/ConstituentUpdates/default.htm Clarification on Using Wood Shelving in Artisanal Cheesemaking June 11, 2014 Recently, you may have heard some concerns suggesting the FDA has taken steps to end the long-standing practice in the cheesemaking industry of using wooden boards to age cheese. To be clear, we have not and are not prohibiting or banning the long-standing practice of using wood shelving in artisanal cheese. Nor does the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) require any such action. Reports to the contrary are not accurate. The agency’s regulations do not specifically address the use of shelving made of wood in cheesemaking, nor is there any FSMA requirement in effect that addresses this issue. Moreover, the FDA has not taken any enforcement action based solely on the use of wooden shelves. At issue is a January 2014 communication from the agency’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition to the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets’ Division of Milk Control and Dairy Services, which was sent in response to questions from New York State. The FDA recognizes that this communication has prompted concerns in the artisanal cheesemaking community. The communication was not intended as an official policy statement, but was provided as background information on the use of wooden shelving for aging cheeses and as an analysis of related scientific publications. Further, we recognize that the language used in this communication may have appeared more definitive than it should have, in light of the agency’s actual practices on this issue. The FDA has taken enforcement action in some situations where we have found the presence of Listeria monocytogenes at facilities that used such shelving. Since 2010, FDA inspections have found Listeria monocytogenes in more than 20 percent of inspections of artisanal cheesemakers. However, the FDA does not have data that directly associates these instances of contamination with the use of wood shelving. In the interest of public health, the FDA’s current regulations state that utensils and other surfaces that contact food must be “adequately cleanable” and “properly maintained.” Historically, the FDA has expressed concern about whether wood meets this requirement and these concerns have been noted in its inspectional findings. However, the FDA will engage with the artisanal cheesemaking community, state officials and others to learn more about current practices and discuss the safety of aging certain types of cheeses on wooden shelving, as well as to invite stakeholders to share any data or evidence they have gathered related to safety and the use of wood surfaces. We welcome this open dialogue. Additional Information: Code of Federal Regulations: 21CFR110.40 Equipment and Utensils

The regulatory mindset is hard to deal with. FDAs goal is complete safety of foods and drugs. Which sounds good until you realize that that is an impossibility and efforts to get there can have unanticipated bad consequences. At least the Food part of FDA has enough wisdom to re-evaluate a bad decision before too much damage is done.

Where can I get this beast?

My colder blacker heart was similarly warmed when my son was happy to get a decent kitchen in his new apartment. His churlish and slovenly former roommates put a damper on his cooking. I wouldn't have cooked in that shithole either.

Right. I'm not sure what temp kills spores...250F? Can be looked up.

How does the steam get to 300 degrees? That would kill spores if they stayed at that temp for a while. How long is a while...don't know. Boiling water won't do it, but a pressure cooker for about 15 minutes will.

Bacterial spores can survive steam. Bacillus cereus and Clostridium spp are spore formers that can cause food poisoning. Is it likely? Don't think so. More likely that bacterial gunk that builds up might clog the water to steam mechanism.