Chris Hennes

I don't know. It took about an hour and ten minutes to come up to 58C in a 59C bath, at which time I dropped the bath temp to 58C. We probably actually ate it about two hours later.

The Way to Cook is a far superior book in most ways. The only strike against it is that it doesn't take into account advances in our understanding of the science of cooking, which is what Lopez-Alt says he is attempting to do with this volume. Well, in my opinion the proof of the pudding is in the eating. So to that end I've made a few recipes from the book and so far they have been successful. Are they in any sense "better" than what you might get from The Way to Cook (or even Joy of Cooking)? Not so far, but I haven't really stretched it yet, either.

Is your argument that no one should ever bother giving cooking advice again, because it's been done?

Glazed Carrots (p. 453) For our main course last night I served sous vide ribeye (58 deg C, final sear in a hot skillet plus Searzall) topped with the Blue-Cheese Butter Seasoning (p. 326), and these carrots as a side. Once again I was going for a recognizable, well-loved dish, done well, and these carrots delivered. As my guests pointed out, it's something of a revelation to have properly cooked carrots when you're used to them either raw or mushy, and the glaze added just the right amount of sweetness to please everyone.

Roasted Pear Salad (p. 793) We had friends over for dinner last night and I wanted something "just exotic enough" -- that is, something that everyone would like, but wasn't too much like salad from a bag. This fit the bill nicely. I decided to serve the pears warm instead of letting them cool, and I replaced the frisee with mustard greens (I can almost never get frisee here). The Hazelnut Vinaigrette (p. 792) is delicious on it.

The chives were cut into 3" segments. I don't know what counts as young for a chive, but those have been growing since late spring.

Thanks for the link, Heidi, that's very interesting. I didn't find mine to be all that pungent smelling. I basically harvested them and then cooked them right away, so maybe it takes some time after cutting to develop?

I know several people around these parts have picked up a copy of J. Kenji López-Alt's The Food Lab, so I figured it was time to start cooking from it. Chopped Greek Salad (p. 836) This is an excellent rendition of Greek Salad, with great proportions of the various ingredients, and just the right amount of dressing. There's nothing Earth-shattering here, but it gets me off on a good foot with this cookbook.

I got Food52 Genius Recipes a couple weeks ago, and this is the first thing I've cooked from the print version... Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake Dorie Greenspan Available here I think this recipe actually appears in Around my French Table, too. It's an excellent apple cake, particularly interesting in that it doesn't have any spices in it. It is dense with apples, with just enough cake batter to hold everything together. Aesthetically it's a challenge to slice when it's warm, so I suggest letting it cool, then slicing, then reheating if you want it warm.

Stir-Fried Chinese Chives with Pork Slivers (p. 200) This was a simple stir-fry of pork marinated in Shaoxing and Chinese chives (plus a tiny bit of red pepper for color). I found the chives were surprisingly mild, I expected them to be more assertive in the dish. Is that typical of Chinese chives? Overall I liked the dish, though.

Ah, I see, the post formatting doesn't like the size monitor I am on, the tomatoes were getting wrapped around from the "melted Velveeta with Ro-tel tomatoes" in the Frito pie. So we are agreed!

I'll have to take issue with the tomatoes on the Chili Cheese Fries in that table. Raw onions, perhaps, but no tomatoes for me.

I had chili cheese fries for lunch at a new place near my office, Coneys and More. They were great, but it was hard for me to pin down exactly what I loved so much. The fries there are excellent, so that's a good start, but honestly the chili by itself is nothing to write home about. What makes good chili cheese fries? Or is that an oxymoron?

We've received word that member Kerry Beal's new "EZTemper" has been featured in this month's Dessert Professional... (Source: Dessert Professional Aug/Sept 2015 page 112)

Ah, I see. I think then that clearly 190 is crazy, but I think that's not a sous vide recipe but a more classic roasted porchetta. To keep the texture firm you are going to want a pretty low temperature I'd think. Even 160 sounds pretty high to me, I'd be more inclined to go with a lower temp and a much longer time. Maybe something more shoulder-like, say 62C/144F for 72 hours.

Hmm, Mortadella consistency is going to be a challenge if you are looking to keep the head on one piece, since Mortadella itself is an emulsified sausage. I can't think of how to turn something that is ultimately a conglomeration of firm muscle (the jowls) plus fat (snout) and collagen (ears) plus skin into anything along those lines. The only time I've had pig's head that was sliceable the way you describe, it was cured, not cooked. Have you considered head cheese, or are you really hoping to keep it whole?

In the head you've got several different types of meat: normally I'd think you'd want to treat the jowls separate from the ears, for example. So I'm not sure there is an "optimal" temp for the whole thing. What end texture are you hoping to achieve?

Enchiladas Potosinas (p. 116) Cheesy Enchilada Pockets I did not actually have these enchiladas for dinner. What I had, in the end, were sopes made with the same ingredients. The problems began early, when the recipe called for the blending of three soaked guajillo chiles with three tablespoons of the soaking liquid. I gave it a shot, of course, but no surprise that three tablespoons of liquid was not anywhere near enough to get things moving in my blender. I wound up getting something sort of resembling motion in there at about six tablespoons, so I buzzed it for a while and then strained it. I'm not as dumb as I look, I obviously wasn't going to add that much liquid to my masa, so I decided to go with three tablespoons of the puree, which seemed to me to be a pretty conservative approach. Not conservative enough, as it turned out. The recipe stated that at this point the masa would be "sticky" -- mine was probably more "soft" than "sticky" but it didn't seem so far out there, anyway. I let it rest as instructed, and then followed what seemed to be normal tortilla-making instructions in the recipe, pressing the dough out between two sheets of plastic, then (attempting to) peel it away and slide it onto the griddle. Well, there was to be no "peeling away" of the plastic. The dough was simply too soft, and refused to release. I tried a number of different tricks (making them thicker, greasing the plastic, even pressing them out on the griddle itself with the bottom of a pot). Nothing worked. So I gave up and turned them into sopes. Which were delicious, by the way.

Champurrado (p. 55) Thickened Mexican Hot Chocolate Not much to look at of course, but this was a pretty good hot chocolate. The thickened texture was interesting, and the flavor of the cinnamon (Rancho Gordo Canela, of course) was quite prominent. I used the Taza Puro dark chocolate, which I like a lot. All told I didn't find the finished product to be quite as rich as the description led me to expect, but since my normal hot chocolate starts with a heavy cream ganache, maybe my expectations are skewed.

Pasta with Ancho Chiles, Mushrooms and Garlic (p. 178) The last chapter of the book contains recipes she has developed upon her return to the US, but obviously heavily influenced by her time in Mexico City. This is a very saucy, intensely flavorful pasta dish, with almost as much sauce as there is pasta. Overall I like it, though I was a bit heavy-handed with the salt this go-around.

I adapt short rib recipes to chuck all the time. And by "adapt" I mean I just make them with chuck (typically cut into large cubes).

What style of pizza are we talking about here?

What sort of sauces do they do with the pork? In my part of the world it's next to find anything but the tomato/molasses variety, which can be good, but will never be my favorite.

Is it predominantly tacos, or does it span the usual gamut of a US Mexican restuarant?

Cochinita Pibil (p. 121) Slow-Cooked Citrusy Pork This was amazing. The best cochinita pibil I've ever had, and one of the best things I've ever cooked. In her version of the dish Téllez first has you salt and pepper the pork and roast it in banana leaves without any other sauce. Honestly, I almost stopped after that step the pork was so good just roasted in the banana leaves. Instead, I carried on with the recipe and made the citrus and achiote sauce and gently simmered the pork in it before serving with pickled red onions and a ludicrously spicy habanero salsa. I am so glad there are leftovers. I sense a midnight snack coming. This recipe is worth the price of admission.