Chris Hennes

The implication here seems to be that "by feel" = "imprecise" but I'd argue that the opposite is true. Since the true quantity we'd like to measure when making bread is the dough elasticity, anything else we try to measure precisely is just a proxy (e.g. flour-to-water ratios are designed to give a specific dough hydration and texture, but depend on the flour and local humidity levels, etc.). In this case, "measuring" the elasticity by feeling the dough is as precise as you can get.

I was going to vote croissants as well, but on further consideration I think that it's actually the PB&Js.

I can't be there for dinner Sunday, and may be iffy on lunch (depends on flights).

I haven't been to Houston for years: how's the fine dining scene there these days? Anyone have any particular favorites in the special-occasion genre?

Those cheez packets that come with the Kraft Dinner count as a condiment when you sprinkle them on popcorn, don't they? Those.

Dry-Fried Chicken (gan bian ji) (p. 243) I think this is the best version of gan bian ji that I've ever had: at least, the best I've ever made. The layering of flavors and spiciness was excellent. I'm still adapting to the texture of whole Szechuan peppercorns, however: I love the flavor blast when you bite into one, but some of mine still had the little black bead in the middle. Do you all pick through and remove those beads before using them? This was also the first I've used the chili bean paste, apparently (the jar was still sealed): that is a great flavor as well. My only question about the dish was regarding cooking time... admittedly I cut my chicken smaller than the recipe suggests, but 5 minutes of stir-frying over high heat and then 15 minutes over medium seems like a really long time to cook chicken. My wife loved it, but it was definitely a bit dry for my taste. How long do you all find yourself cooking this style of dish? Is the chicken supposed to remain moist, or is its dryness part of the dish?

Good point about the canned pumpkin, Andie - I have no access to pie pumpkins that taste any better than the canned stuff, I gave up trying.

The recent topic on White Grapefruit got me thinking about my favorite way to eat citrus: as suprêmes. I was never a huge fan of peeling oranges and still having all that membrane left when you ate them, so when I learned how to suprême I never looked back. Recently, though, I've watched TV chefs cutting supremes in a number of different ways, and was wondering which is best. My technique is (after peeling the fruit with a paring knife) to hold the fruit in my left hand and the paring knife in my right, then to cut straight along the membrane on the right side of a segment. When the knife "bottoms out" I rotate it so that the blade sort of scoops under the corner of the supreme and pops up the other side of the membrane. How do you cut yours?

I have gotten to the point of literally purchasing the Muir Glen whole tomatoes by the case. They are a great base for winter pasta sauces, or even tomato soup.

Who's been doing sous vide with a rice cooker?

Does anyone else deliberately use too large a pan, to maximize the crunchy top part? I usually make half-batches but use the same sized pan. The topping is the best part!

Even if true, I wonder if it matters. If you ate exactly the same quantity of fruit/vegetable unblended, I bet you would still get all the nutrients you need for the day. With most (all?) vitamins and minerals I am aware of, there is no benefit to getting more than your body actually needs, so even if they are "bioavailable" you still won't use them.

Last weekend in July is much better for me, but I can make first weekend in August work if need be.

Speaking to the gadget that natasha1270 mentions: I'm a little concerned about that negative review at W-S... if you have to basically pre-grind the spices, what is the point? What spices are you thinking you want this for?

Mexican chorizo's flavor is completely dominated by those spices, so while of course there will be some differences in yours, I think that the end product will still be recognizable as chorizo.

Interesting point: I was thinking that using the water bath would help to rise the dough more evenly by thawing it faster, but maybe the opposite would occur. This is a dough that gets punched down after the first rise, so I don't think its fragility will matter: popping it out of the bag and shaping it will act as that punch-down, I think. Edited to clarify what I mean.

The color of the salume was more or less normal, and to be honest I didn't really taste "orange": it had a very distinct fresh-herb note to it, but of course it was a dry-cured item, so that impression was not, in fact, fresh herbs (at least, I don't think so). And yes, it was good.

I've frozen the dough I'm talking about here a number of times, so that's not an issue: generally you just need to increase the yeast quantities a bit to make up for die-off. Or allow a longer rise, same effect. As for the size of the bag, I think that would be pretty easy to calculate: if you want the dough to double in size during the rise you just make sure that you only occupy half the volume of the bag with the dough, right? Then, when the bag is full the dough is fully risen: take it out, shape it, proof it in the bread pan, and bake. One pan to clean. Of course you could do the same thing straight out of the freezer with no SV rig at all, but if you already have the rig out and set up for a meal, it gives the possibility of precisely controlling the temperature the dough rises at. If I could cut a many-hour thaw-and-rise to one (or even less) for basically no cost, why not? The heat transfer from the water bath will thaw the frozen dough much faster than setting it out on the counter or in a proofing chamber. It would be slick to just let it rise in there as well.

I had dinner last night at a restaurant whose charcuterie plate had, among other selections, something they just called "spiced orange": it was a relatively homogeneous pork salume with little visible fat, and a really interesting herbal note to it. Is anyone aware of a precedent for this type of salami, and does anyone have a recipe for something that might fit this description?

Really, I'd suggest that the sort of breads I'm talking about take 90 minutes tops for the first rise. Then you'd pull it, shape it, and bake it. The ulterior motive here is this (well, besides the purely academic "can it be done" thing): what if you could make up some bread dough, freeze it in big FS bags, and then pop it into the SVS to rise when you want bread? Yeah, it only saves one container to clean, but if you are already going to be using the SV rig later that day for dinner, it might be convenient. And, well, nerdy as hell, which appeals to the engineer in me.

The first strategy probably goes without saying: if you have a group of colleagues who share at least some of your desire to get some real food, splitting a cab between six people usually brings the price down into the mass-transit order of magnitude. Your meal will still be cheaper than eating at the conference center, land of the $5 apple and $10 hot dog. This works especially well in cities like Dallas, where traffic is not horrific and good food is usually within a few miles. I suggest that when dining out, you go out as late as practical, which also drives the cost of the cab ride down (minimized traffic), and has the added benefit of opening up some local places that are packed 6-8 but thin out around 9.

Do you suppose you could use SV equipment to get to the optimal rise temperature for bread dough? For breads where the flavor is in the additions, rather than the flour/water/yeast alchemy (which generally wants a slow rise), I was wondering if you could bag up your dough and pop it in the SVS for the appropriate length of time, set at precisely the optimal temperature for yeast growth. You'd have to forcibly submerge the bag of course, but would this work?

When I said I couldn't compare it to other places in Orlando, I meant that literally. The place we stay has a kitchen, I cook most of my own meals (admittedly, a lot of PB&J on this trip, not here long enough to do anything real): The Ravenous Pig is literally the only local restaurant I have eaten at. My meal there last night was quite good: I think their Gruyere Biscuits are overrated, heavy, and overwrought, but the charcuterie tray, shrimp and grits, and steak frites were all very good (in particular the steak, which was a very flavorful cut from Niman Ranch). The cocktails were OK as well.

I'm in Orlando for a conference right now, and have a reservation at the Ravenous Pig tonight: while I can't compare it to other things in Orlando, I think it holds its own as a very good American "gastropub."

Presumably this is why he's looking for something that's already cryovac'ed. Right, I think trying to figure out the cooking time might be a problem. Also, since it's already cryovac'ed you can't add any seasonings to the bag, which could give you a very expensive bag full of bland, poorly-cooked, very expensive beef. I would not really expect the bubbles to be a problem: I suspect that if you averaged over time you'd see that most of the time it's just water in contact with the bag, not air.