haresfur

Sounds nice. I've never seen it.

Not something I've played with but... I would think that another advantage of SV burgers is that you can pasteurize the meat without cooking it to death. This may or may not be important to you. Probably not if you grind your own meat. But I doubt you can get a rare or medium rare burger on the grill pasteurized. And what about rendering fat? That will happen to the outside gray zone in conventional grilling but perhaps not as much when you go from browned to pink with nothing between. But it seems to me that the fat-is-flavour people could make a nice fatty burger with a different mouth-feel and taste by SV to the point the fat is breaking down just the right amount.

I can't remember if I posted something about this to the soup or pressure cooker thread but I've been extracting leek juice in the pressure cooker instead of sous vide for the Vichyssoise or cauliflower-leek soup. The idea is to cut the leeks lengthwise and put in the bottom of the pressure cooker with just a little water. I put the potatoes or cauli over top and pressure cook. Cauliflower takes about 8 min on high. Crash cool and remove the cauliflower. Mash the leeks in a sieve over a bowl to get the juice. I haven't done the potato-enzyme stuff but I think you could after cooling them. For Cauliflower, I just blend with a stick blender then, if I'm feeling posh, sieve it. Add the juice, and season. Add water from the bottom of the PC to thin to taste. I think cream hides the leek flavour but YMMV. Yeah, so different method but IMO easier and much faster. You might lose a little flavour from the leeks to the water but the squeezings are still very concentrated.

Enough fat to be like confit?

Since my trivet disappeared (I'm not accusing anyone...), I've just been using one of those collapsible steel steamer baskets with the centre post removed. I have used US mason jars and they work fine.

Unfortunately named? I mean he said, "Fortune favours the brave" - shortly before getting taken out by Vesuvius, but if that isn't deserving of getting a drink named after you, what is?

Speaking of American Pale Ale, the latest offering at my office beer club was Beechworth Pale Ale. Here was a beer that on first sip I knew it would be hard for me to score. I mean it had a lot going for it, dry hopped, lots of hop bitterness and taste, bottle conditioned. I should like it, but I didn't. Way unbalanced, just a crappy version of what it should be, but yeah, way better than say, Victoria Bitter and all the insipid Australian lagers. To top it off, the copy on the label was over the top nonsense and the Ned Kelly "A"s on the label were silly. It did seem to get better by the end of the bottle so I graded it a generous 6.5 for taste and 8.5 for wank. You will have to click on the link to see the bottle, since I don't want to get in trouble with the eG copyright policy.

I think its down to $80 here. I would bet they are seeing increased competition from the designer rye whiskeys and felt a new label would get more attention. With their big backing, I don't think they are going to be beat on price/value. But they could still think there is more profit to be made if they bump the price some.

Off the stove and back into the pan. It was easier with an induction cooktop, though.

What did you think that extra tap was for?

Thanks, that is pretty vague on what makes the style distinctive, though. IIR the diacytl is what gives beer the buttery flavour that they associate with English Pale Ale, so this would imply that the difference is mainly in the yeast and perhaps softer water for the APA. And of course more hops, because American beer tends to the extremes. I still associate the citrusy hops with APA, which I think can be traced back to the early WA State microbrew, Grant's Scottish Ale (now sold out to some major and ironically in no way like a Scottish Ale, but that was good marketing). Incidentally, I think of English Pale Ale, especially real ale, as usually having a low ABV and lower hop bitterness leaning towards the malty. Must use English hop varieties or similar offshoots. The water hardness varies by region, of course so isn't anything that defines the style. I can't say buttery has jumped out at me but that doesn't mean it isn't there. BTW, I'm really not a style-Nazi but sometimes it helps to have an indication of what you should be getting. Context is everything and I find really estery beer more acceptable if it is a Scottish Ale than if I get a glass of something billed as something else.

That sounds odd to me. I mean, when I think of an American Pale Ale (interesting that that has become a distinct style here - is it considered one in the US these days?) Anyway, it seems to me that this is pretty much defined by Cascade hop flavour/aroma or perhaps a very close relative of Cascade. I mean if you put Hallertau or Goldings hops in, it wouldn't be much of an American Pale Ale IMO.

That certainly is an adult drink.

I'd file this under 'shit happens'. Like rotuts, I would suspect something in the aging which then was exacerbated by the rolling and low temperature cooking. Try again with unrolled meat and be sure your temperature is accurate. You are in the range where a degree or two can make a big difference to the pasteurization time. If you look back through the SV threads, I think there are a few examples of fairly random problems like this. If you still have the problem, cook the meat a different way or find a different butcher.

I guess the first very hot step is to kill surface pathogens. At what temperatures do the enzymes break down and at what temperature are they the most active?

I suppose you might lose some moisture - I didn't notice any drying around the cuts, though. On the other hand I would think you could get more smoke into the inside of the chiles.

For the record, tonight's supper was goat shanks SV at 60 C for 78 hrs meat removed and slightly shredded then added to vegetables (swede, carrot,, and fennel) roasted then slow cooked on low with a can of crushed tomatoes. Added the SV jus to the veg and mixed the meat in. Not photogenic but this is one for the meat eaters. The tendons were almost completely gone, the meat tender and very red (personally I'd go a couple of degrees higher but I'm sure many would prefer this temp). Rich. The goat shanks weren't at all gamy but certainly were meaty. I don't think you would mistake them for lamb and would be a good choice for someone who, say, wanted beef+. I don't think you could do better than SV for these shanks.

Blues band name.

You guessed correctly. Let us know how it works for you.

I just tried the method of removing the seeds before roasting and it worked really well.

Dubonnet = Carla Bruni

It won't be the same, but it might be good. Campari will add some sweetness. One way to find out.

Proving his point, I think. I'm not much of a Martini drinker but I think that it is a drink where the enjoyment is very sensitive to environmental variables like the ambiance, the weather, your mood, and probably the phase of the moon. I would at the very least try it again with a good friend or better yet made by a good friend or a qualified professional. It's harder to feel pampered when you are doing the work.

My MIL is visiting so we stocked up on Australian (tawny) port for her to make the visit more relaxing for everyone. I was left alone for supper so it seemed to be a good time to finally try a coffee cocktail. Nice. I'd maybe leave out the sugar next time and/or bump up the brandy a bit. I used Courvoisier so maybe something with a bit more assertiveness might be good to explore. A lighter hand with the nutmeg would have been smart, too.

FWW, isn't your home-made stock less expensive than boxed stock? Seems to me it would be less expensive to waste good stock with a bonus that you might end up with something nice.