Chris Hennes

I saw this on Serious Eats this morning: McDonald's Canada has posted a video demonstrating the differences between a burger they picked up at the store and one done for a photo shoot. It's an interesting behind-the-scenes look, and to be honest I find myself not actually objecting to the techniques they use.

What do you want the backsplash for? I looks in that photo like the wok sits up above that level on those carts.

This past week I've been working on another batch of pastrami: I made the first batch with brisket, but nathanm commented that their favorite cut for this was short ribs. Finally a couple weeks ago there were a few nice pieces of rib available at my butcher so I gave the recipe another shot with them. While I still maintain that the pastrami made with brisket was superb, the additional fat in the ribs really took them to the next level. It's hard to imagine pastrami could get any better than this, but I'm going to have to find some Wagyu cheeks one of these days I think.

If you're in the mood for an herbed burger, check out the one in Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table. It's an excellent, albeit completely unconventional, recipe.

What's the diameter?

Since I posted the in-process shot above, here's a completely gratuitous plated dinner shot: 0.75% salt, 0.25% black pepper, sealed up rested in the fridge for five days, then SV@133°F, seared for a few seconds per side, served with Maître d'Hôtel Butter. It was a stunning piece of meat to begin with, just trying not to screw it up here: it worked.

Sure: to a point more power is always going to be better. But at $300, I think 750 Watts is very respectable, and will be completely adequate for nearly all residential sous vide uses. You can buy a lot of Nomikus for the price of a PolyScience unit.

Yes.

I mentioned my solution to the SideKIC depth sensitivity in our discussion here, but here's a photo of tonight's dinner-in-process:

Yes, I swear by paulraphael's blend: 0.75% salt and 0.25% black pepper.

There are three points you can season the meat, IMO: each works, but each requires different technique. First, you can season just before grinding. This has the advantage of allowing the grinding to distribute the meat, but the disadvantage of requiring extra care when forming the patties to avoid hockey-puck syndrome because the salt causes the beef to become stickier. This option is great if you are forming and cooking right away, not so great if you are grinding a couple hours ahead. Second, you can season just before forming: fresh-ground beef is relatively loose and mixing the seasoning in without overworking the meat is not that difficult, just sort of toss the beef with your fingers. You will want to form the patties immediately after this step. Third, you can season just before or just after cooking: this works best for thin patties. Thicker patties will be underseasoned in the middle and overseasoned at the edges. Regarding the contraction: make a shallow depression in the center of the burger so that the raw patty is thinner in the middle than in the edges, and make sure you don't overcook it.

Mmm, bacon and blue cheese burgers: one of the world's great foods.

I disagree: while you won't get great response time with it, 750 watts is capable of heating and maintaining temp in a 19L bath. Start with hot water if you don't want to wait.

Deli-style rye (recipe as written, five days in the fridge, baked in a Dutch Oven):

In wonder if maybe trying the milder cheeses isn't the answer: maybe the taste of a more piquant blue will decrease the tastes you don't care for.

I made a BBQ sauce with beer just the other day: a Carolina mustard-style sauce.

Genius.

That one gets cooked down a bit.

$170 USD.

I wonder how it will compare to the SideKIC (which I've been very happy with).

I've got a new setup for my SideKIC that has basically eliminated all evaporation problems for me: I just completed a 72h 144°F cook (short rib pastrami from Modernist Cuisine) and did not have to add any additional water during the cook. This works because the SideKIC is basically a rectangular cross-section: I simply took a regular Cambro lid (I used one that fits my 6 and 7.5 liter tubs) and cut a relatively tight-fitting hole in it for the SideKIC to poke through. When the lid is snapped tight a) you can fill the container higher than normal because there is no risk of overtopping it and b) there is only a little bit of gap around the unit, so very little evaporation occurs. It works like a charm.

Ah! I spent part of this morning trying to remember the bistro I wanted to recommend: l'Express was it. So, I third that recommendation.

It's sort of amazing to me how random this problem appears to be: I can pick up a batch of lemons, treat them the same way I treat them all the time (mesh bowl on the counter) and two days later half of them are covered in thick mold. Other times, only a single lemon seems affected, even if others are in contact with it. Most of the time, however, the lemons have no problems. I don't do anything differently! And FWIW, I just toss the offending lemons and rinse the remainder.

The list of foods that aren't crumbly and aren't messy when dropped is a short one indeed. Cubes of bread, maybe?

What, no one is suggesting Cabrales? One bite of that and all other blue cheeses will seem completely tame and not funky or musty at all by comparison. Viola, you are cured!