Chris Hennes

Thanks for the suggestion - it is good to start with a little confidence-builder, especially in something as daunting as confections. I am happy to report a success with that recipe: I do have a question regarding chocolate tempering, though. I used the seeding method, and I think it worked out fine, but I had trouble determining when the chocolate was properly tempered. The book just says "it sets up quickly and is shiny" - my question is, how quickly, and how shiny? Are there different levels of being in temper, or is it an all-or-nothing proposition? I took my time with it and made sure to agitate the chocolate a lot, and I used a thermapen to make sure I was in the temperature ranges specified in the book, but since this was my first time I wasn't sure what exactly I was looking to achieve...

I agree - I think it's funny the way we think about cost. Even when I use peanut oil, and I'm doing large batches so using maybe $10 worth of oil, I'm making enough food to feed, say, 10 people. So that's like $1 each for the oil if I don't even re-use it once. It's a lot of oil, and it feels like a lot of money when you have to buy a 3 gallon jug for $25, but when you actually work out the math it's not really that outrageous. I spend way, way more on protein. And chocolate.

You must have better ventilation than me - I wish I could smoke stuff inside, but there is just no way... So I keep my smoker immediately outside the door to my deck - i don't have to go outside to get to it, just open the door. But in January in Pennsylvania, it's still mighty cold!

So my wife got sick of my current pork belly obsession and figured I should get obsessed with something that she actually likes: so, toward that end, I got a copy of "Chocolates and Confections" for Christmas. As I am completely new to this world, coming from a bread baking and charcuterie background, and as I have no special equipment (I have the standard stuff, but nothing specialized to confections, i.e. no guitar cutter, no molds, no vibrating table, no cute little paintbrushes... ), can you recommend a good place to start? What recipe should an absolute confectionary beginner begin with? (apologies if this has already been covered in this thread... I didn't get any hits on a search for "beginner" or "newbie" or "I'm dumb and want to make wonderful things!")

That was my first thought as well - no salt is mentioned in the ingredients list, and I cannot think of anything else that would cause the bellies to *not* give off a pretty substantial amount of liquid. I too have been using vacuum bags (just the Reynolds ones) and still always get plenty of juices released to create the brine around the belly.

This is part of the reason I prefer to use a dutch oven and thermometer to using a deep fryer - home deep fryers are generally limited to heating the oil to 375 or 400, so it is difficult to allow for the food bringing the temperature down and you are therefore required to fry in small batches. If you overheat the oil in the stockpot you can basically deep fry as much stuff at a time as you want.

I will take a shot at it...... A cigar is pretty dry when you put it in and take it out. It doesn't change much... A sausage (etc) is very moist when you put it in. Will the "brick" be able to absorb the moisture from the sausage as it goes from very moist to pretty dry???. It doesn't seem like the same mechanisim at play...You are keeping a cigar stable in moisture content vs drying a sausage(etc).. Bud ← That's a great point that I am guilty of forgetting about. It seems that do really do it right you need a way of doing a fair bit of dehumidification, in addition to adding in humidity. I wonder how much published research there is into the effect of humidity on the curing process. It seems like there is a wealth of anecdotal evidence, XX% is optimal, etc. but how much variation is OK? How much is beneficial? I think that for hams, for example, you want the temperature to vary over the year. Is the same true with humidity? I know there is no such thing as too much control, but how much control is enough? The engineer in me wants a humidity and temperature monitor as well as a device capable of increasing and decreasing both to a tight tolerance, but I have no idea if that is really necessary.

This thread is great - I don't know how I've missed it. My current avatar is a photo my wife took of me grinning wildly and hugging a fresh pork belly from Niman Ranch . That pretty much tells you everything you need to know about me and my attitude towards pork belly!

thanks i will buy a bag (aka sack bitday gbalert! haha) of these sounds well.... good! s ← Apparently I am missing something, or am simply completely lacking as a foodie. I think making good fries at home is a lot of work -- just cutting up a potato and double-frying it does not a good fry make. Hence, my near-complete reliance on frozen, additive-laden, non-Keller-approved grocery store fries. I simply have not been able to replicate the required ultra-crisp exterior/soft interior, well-balanced flavor that I desire. My homemade fries have always turned out too greasy, too soft, to bland, too inadequate... ack! I am jealous of the collection of fry-mavens here - maybe someday I too can join your ranks!

Sometimes there are other reasons for a preference for overcooked meat: it is generally preferable to undercooked, anyway (not that I believe such a thing exists ). My wife had a raw chicken encounter at some TGIMcFunster-type restaurant growing up and insists on all proteins except fish being overcooked ("well done" does not begin to describe it...). I forgive her this and cook hers to her preference because she seems to have a reasonable explanation. Not that I didn't try to convince her to try the Waygu carpaccio at Morimoto the other night...

Wow. Just, wow. That is very thorough for a couple guys conducting a taste-test. I never thought of using mason jars to do the storage - that's a nice idea, since in my experience plastic is much too porous for any kind of long-term storage of something as strongly-scented as coffee.

My wife called Reynolds and the rep said no, absolutely not. They are not designed to be heated. Of course, the box says they are microwave safe... I, however, am never one to take manufacturer's reps at their word, so I tried it anyway. First, I took a bag and filled it with food colored water. I put that in a sous vide bath at 180 deg. F (I think... check the sous vide thread, it's in there). After 10 hours there was no leakage from the bag, so that told me they could withstand the punishment without completely disolving. But, since I'm kinda paranoid about leaching plastic into my food, I took one of their slow cooker bags and used it to line the inside of the vacuum bag. I did sous vide chicken breast this way with no trouble at all.

So I've had mine for a couple weeks now, and I still love it, and I'm still on the first set of batteries (this is after sealing and resealing probably over a hundred cycles in the gallon bags). The ability to package up a large batch of, say, sausages into a single bag, freeze them, then take one out and re-seal it, vacuum and all, is fantastic. They are also more compact than storing things in tupperware, so I actually have more room in my freezer now. They also came along at a perfect time for me: this month I am very busy and had to make a lot of our meals ahead: they're all vacu-sealed in the freezer, ready to go. I still want a food saver to try some serious sous vide, but for my purposes, this thing is great.

I make a thick veloute (use twice as much roux as normal), process the chicken to a very fine mince (that's the way my wife likes it...) and add it in, add some sauteed aromatics (usually just onions and celery, but sometimes peppers as well), chill overnight, form small balls (approx. 1/8 cup), bread, fry, freeze. Not much of a recipe, I know, but it's easy . I'm looking forward to this cook-off so I can pick up some new tricks.

Has anyone tried using an electric humidifier from a humidor? I know they come in various sizes/capacities, and allow a decent amount of control. It seems to me that humidity is a critical factor, and that the trial-and-error approach could end up destroying a lot of potentially good product. I've seen the small electric models for around $100, and considering how much the protein can cost, and how much time you invest in it, I am thinking it might be worth it. Of course, I no longer have room for the mini fridge I was planning on picking up since replacing its home with an industrial meat slicer!

Ore-ida extra crispy steak fries are secretly laced with crack. At least, that is the only explanation I can come up with for my unholy addiction to them. When making homemade fries I follow the Cook's Illustrated technique of removing a lot of the starch from the potatoes, then adding some back on in the form of cornstarch. Crispy and wonderful, but I think that Ore-Ida still has me beat. Still working at that...

Bah! It's the holiday season... three gallons of peanut oil set me back almost $30 yesterday. Ouch. But so worth it. We actually eat chicken croquettes (or Chicken crockies as we generally refer to them ) a lot this time of year because I am too busy to cook most weekdays. You can make them ahead (including deep frying) and freeze them, then reheat them in the oven. Whip up some mashed potatoes and voila! instant weeknight "frozen dinner."

Is the yellowish hue at the center normal in home-cured coppa? I think if I saw that my first time making it I would be freaked out... yellow meat doesn't seem like a good thing.

Here are some images from the latest adventure: Boudin blanc: Hot-smoked Andouille: Smoking the Salmon in the Ghetto Smoker 4000:

This past weekend I made the boudin blanc and the hot-smoked andouille. I am still not sure what to make of the blanc -- it is totally unlike the sausage I am used to eating. I think using hog casings was a mistake - the filling is so soft that I end up just cutting it out of the casing to eat. Maybe sheep casing would be better. The hot-smoked andouille is fantastic - my new favorite recipe in the book. They also look great - I love the mahogany color you get from hot-smoking. I also made the smoked salmon, since it was cool here on Monday (smoker temp hovered at about 50 degrees the whole time). I used wild-caught salmon (wow, pricey!) and it turned out beautifully.

I suspect that after a week and a half it doesn't even pass the "smell test" -- throw it out. No sense risking getting ill over a few dollars' worth of chicken stock.

Y'all have made me curious, now... are they one of the ones showing on the company's webpage?

This is a great demo -thanks. That cake looks great - what is the filling?

OK, OK... I'm dumb. I obviously didn't think this cooking strategy all the way through. I was imagining vacuum-bagging the whole lobster

But now I will be torn!! Bacon Egg and Cheese or Chicken!?! Also, while I agree that the Al Fresco sausages are good, and are definitely better for you than the BEC, it can be hard to resist on a busy morning... McD's is convenience food. If it tastes good too, then we win! I can't recall offhand, but do the McDonalds' in Hawaii have Spam on anything? I figured the pineapple might be for tourists (doesn't diminish it goodness, as far as I am concerned!), but I remember seeing Spam everyplace else. I would totally eat a red bean paste pie - I love that stuff, and the apple pies are too sweet for me. I haven't seen the Angus Burger in any market I've been to yet, but I don't eat non-breakfast very often at McDs so I'm not sure it will affect me anyway.