takadi

Is there a downside to using Umai vs conventional air drying? Does contact with oxygen or growth of mold add an extra layer of flavor or does it take away from it?

Humidity is actually a little low, it should be at least 65% and up to 80%...it'll take a while to dry if it's higher but if it's too low, the outside will dry out before the center does and will form a barrier that will impede osmosis and keep the inside of the meat from drying out. Too high though and the outside will mold. For pancetta which doesn't require much drying time you'll be fine but I'm not sure how proscuitto will fare By the same token, as long as the temperatures aren't freezing, it's always better to have it lower, so the fats won't oxidize and become rancid. 50-60 F is ideal...especially if you want to hang your meats longer for more flavor development. So 2-3 months of the temps you listed are perfect. The videos you posted are using the Umai dry bag, which keeps everything in but lets water evaporate out. I've never used it before so I don't know how it compares to air drying...for things like pancetta it probably doesn't make a difference. There's a user on egullet named Jason Molinari who has extensive knowledge about cured meats and I've learned a ton from reading his posts and his blog. He might chime in here also. Here's a link to his blog. http://curedmeats.blogspot.com/

There are many striking almost eerie similarities between Chinese and Italian cuisine that you almost have to wonder. For instance, in taiwan they dry and salt mullet roe similar to bottarga. Ham making in China (ala jinhua and nuodeng) is also very similar to Italian hams.

I doubt this dynamic/sentiment has died out

Amazon Link "My First Cookbook" was literally my first cookbook, completely wore out the binding and edges on it. Truly formative

Umami is now accepted as a taste but I still don't feel like it's a "true" taste, at least in the same vein as the other four classical tastes. It's more of a sensation than anything else...the sensation of umami isn't really a sensory detection in the mouth but an experience that makes you want to eat more of something that has umami in it. In a way, it's like a drug and has euphoric drug like effects. The only thing I can conclude is that, like a drug, it doesn't really have diminishing returns where it reaches a certain threshold that makes food unpleasant...more of it will give you a more intense experience. The only definition of "too much" umami can take is when the umami is taken away...consistently eating foods super-rich in umami will make anything less taste that much worse. When everything that isn't laden with MSG begins to taste like water and cardboard, that's when there's too much umami in food

Well I went ahead a purchased the Waring Pistol Vac and it works pretty well. The biggest problem I have with it is that it works by sucking air through a small outlet on the upper right hand side of the bag. Because of this, you can't vacuum pack anything with too much liquid in it..if the liquid reaches the outlet, your gun sucks it up and it will cause performance issues and possibly damage. It makes me wonder why they didn't have some mechanism to reroute excess liquid or moisture. Time will tell how it works in the long run...I'm using this mainly for storage freezing so what I'm looking for is how well the gun's suction power lasts, how well the vacuum seal in the bags last, how well the bags protect against freezer burn and odors, and how many reuses I can get out of the bags before they stop working.

Seems like a good model. Unfortunately it also seems as though it doesn't measure out in ounces, though the ACP 500 which has .1 g resolution does. It also looks like it requires you to buy the calibration weights separately. Not huge problems however. Might just take the plunge and buy it. If I get it I'll let you know how it works I was actually looking into digiweigh models but some reviewers said that it required constant calibration and that even after calibration it would be off. Dirt cheap though.

Looking for a scale that has .01 g resolution and the number of choices out there is staggering. Mixed reviews all over the place. Anyone have any recommendations? I'm looking for something that has at least 100 g capacity. The price ranges on these make it difficult to tell which ones are actually good or junk. I've seen some 10 dollar ones get decent reviews and it makes the 50+ dollar ones look overpriced

I know in the book, the recipe for Duck Prosciutto calls for coating the duck breast in salt and leaving it for 24 hours. I've read through this thread and the number of days seems variable due to size, breed type, fat content etc. The only way to check the doneness of the cure is to press the meat and to inspect the color, which is a little too much guesswork for me. Does anyone have actual recommended salt percentages per meat weight for equilibrium curing instead of the salt box method?

Earthenware has extremely poor heat conductivity which makes it heat up very slowly but by the same token it also loses heat very slowly. Heavy earthenware/clay cookware thus has superior heat retention that makes it efficient over very long cook times. Some say that since clay is also porous so it holds in moisture better but this probably doesn't apply to glass or enamel glazed earthenware. But from the sounds of it, earthenware is probably just an historically authentic component of traditional clafoutis and isn't really necessary...nothing a heavy baking dish or cast iron won't be able to accomplish

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from reading this thread, the general conclusion I'm coming to is that any flour can be used, but cake flour is preferred and the higher the gluten content, the more alkaline solution should be added and/or more resting before stretching

Sounds like hyperbole. I'm pretty sure earthenware may be ideal but the same thing could be accomplished in any cast iron pan or ceramic baking dish.

I only see citric acid and some preservatives in chaokoh, no emulsifiers like guar gum. Do the former ingredients prevent the cream from cracking?

I went to whole foods today and alas I finally found the grassmilk! Tried it and it's very mild and has substantial mouthfeel. Flavor-wise I really can't tell the difference...there's no off flavors like I find with conventional milk or cooked milk flavors with ultra-pasteurized milk so I guess that's good. It's very clean tasting

I attempted to make green curry last week and I totally forgot about this thread. Ended up burning half the "cream" in attempt to crack it and just ended up using another can and frying the paste in vegetable oil. Used Chaokoh brand. Was pretty good in the end but I do want to learn how to crack the cream without burning it I bought some grated frozen coconut and some of the shredded "young" coconut and I'm going to try making milk from those and seeing how it cracks

I live near DC. What's the other brand of milk called?

If I drank grass fed milk and changed nothing else about my diet, it would be nowhere near the amount of DHA/EPA to have any real beneficial effects. But changing this aspect of my diet as well as countless other aspects of my diet will gradually increase my omega 3 to omega 6 ratio, which is my goal. Yes eating more cold water fish (which I am) is the biggest step to take, but I see no reason to give up my dairy or meat to accomplish my goals when simple changes of sourcing can make all the difference.

I'm aware of EPA and DHA. I'm taking fish oil supplements right now but I'd like to switch my diet over to one that is much higher in omega 3's so I don't have to...

Ha.. I *just* read that article a few minutes ago, saw someone post it on facebook

http://organicvalley.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/367 "Like any lactating mammal, humans included, a cow's nutritional and energy needs greatly increase when she produces milk. Grassmilk cows are provided with the highest quality organic fresh pasture grasses and legumes (such as alfalfa and clover) in summer, dried grasses and legumes in the winter, and supplements in the form of minerals, vitamins, and molasses year-round. Molasses is produced by crushing the leaves of cane grass." I'm unsure what they mean by legumes...that could mean a lot of things. Do they consider soybeans a legume or a grain? Also does feeding grain straw affect nutritional content the same way that grain like corn does? Is grain straw nutritional similar to grasses to where it makes no difference? Also by their wording it seems like the extent of their supplementation is limited to vitamins, minerals, and molasses. Lots of interesting things to consider here...I'd probably be interested in emailing them or researching more into the topic.

Cows consuming dried forage like hay doesn't compromise the integrity of the "100 percent grass fed" label to me. The main benefit of 100 percent grass fed milk as opposed to other milk is the fat content, which contains a substantially higher omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acid ratio, which changes drastically when the cows are fed any types of grain. I do wonder what the supplements are, but I highly doubt what they give has even a negligible effect on the grass fed label

I think France is phasing it out completely but according to what I've read so far, which isn't that much, there isn't much evidence suggesting that the levels of BPA that we are exposed to are significant for effects on reproductive and endocrine systems to happen. Though the evidence does show that on animal tests higher levels do cause disorders in sexual dimorphic traits in the reproductive system and the brain. I think a lot of the bans and regulations are, to quote, purely "cosmetic"

I buy Nature by Nature a lot. I was not aware that it was 100 percent grassfed, just pastured. Diggingdogfarm - according to their site, how they define themselves as "100 percent grassfed" is that they don't supplement their feed at any time with grains or legumes. How true this is, I'm not sure. I did find this little tidbit here though that has to do with California's labeling laws. http://organicvalley.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/366 So apparently in California, their 2% cannot be labeled 100 percent grassfed because there is a level of milk solids that must be in the milk and they add that from conventionally fed sources

http://www.organicvalley.coop/products/milk/grassmilk/ It seems that Organic Valley some time recently launched 100 percent grassfed non-homogenized milk. They also have raw cheddar made from said milk. This to my knowledge is the only commercially available 100 percent grass fed milk (or so they claim it to be 100 percent). It says on their website that it's available at Whole Foods but I have not seen this in any recent trip I've made. Is this a regional thing? Is it seasonal? For those who have tried it, how is the taste and quality compared to other grassfed milk or other organic dairy products? Is the price reasonable?