KennethT

What is sand ginger? How does it differ from regular ginger or it's more herbal/medicinal cousin galangal?

BTW - when I was young, my parents would routinely make roasts that were long past their birthday (not 12 years, but maybe two or three)... and we didn't have a vacuum sealer, but my father always wrapped things very well in plastic wrap and plastic bags, and they sat at the bottom of a large, non-self-defrosting chest freezer that was kept really cold - around -15F.

I've heard that 2007 was a great vintage for beef tenderloin.... hehe

I thought about taking some photos, but got busy and it slipped my mind. SV followed by deep fry is great... but before I go back to that, I'll do some more CSO experiments

OK - I'll try this next...

OK - I can finally join in on this conversation as my unit arrived today. After an initial cleaning, the first thing I tried were skin on chicken thighs... something I make all the time, but in a hybrid pan fry /oven roast. When I do it my traditional way, I fry skin side down over medium to medium-high heat for like 20 minutes to render most of the fat... the pan then goes into the oven at like 400F for 13 minutes. What comes out is perfectly cooked meat and skin that has all fat rendered, and is shatteringly (is that a word?) crisp - it's a chicken cracker. So, with those expectations, I figured I'd use the new CSO - and I thought I'd use 300 bake-steam for 60 minutes as the manual, and many here, have recommended. One thing I also did, which I do sometimes when I have time, is presalt the thighs and leave uncovered in the fridge for at least an hour to dry the skin. I saw the skin bubbling after about 40 minutes or so, and after a few minutes more, decided to drop the temp to 250 since I was still waiting for the rice cooker to finish up its job... I took the thighs out at a total of about 52 minutes and what resulted was completely overcooked meat, and the skin, while nicely rendered, was not crisp at all and was rather unpleasant. More experiments must follow... (probably not this week though)... I'd also like to hear people's thoughts as to my results. I'm thinking the next step is to try a hybrid system - maybe 300 steam bake for 20 minutes, then raise the temp to 450 until the skin looks done?

just an update... there is another branch that recently opened on St. Marks between 1st and 2nd (I think... possibly 1st and A) - it's its own storefront in this location.

We've been going to this banh mi in the East Village (St Marks between 1st and A) for years, but for some reason, I've never written about it... It's a tiny subterranean place, but they put out some really good food... probably the best banh mi that I've had in NYC... granted, the bread is not like it was in Saigon, but it's not anywhere that I've found, but they do a decent job slightly toasting it to make it a little similar... but their flavors are great... The Pilot (lemongrass chicken)

According to other posts in this (and previous) thread(s), as well as the "do I need" thread, the CSO is great for reheating leftovers, and melting butter is no problem either. I can't remember if I have ever heated milk or reheated a cup of coffee, nor eaten a "TV" meal since 1982 when it was a novelty to me... not that there's anything wrong with it, but just not something I do. As I wrote in the "do I need thread," my wife and I only use the microwave for a very select few things, some of which I've been experimenting with over the last few days - like defrosting frozen coconut milk or stock in my sous vide bath which lives on my limited real estate countertop.... which has worked great... I'm a convert for those... so now, I just need to try the other stuff - like defrosting frozen bread-type items like english muffins, which is the default breakfast for my wife.

Alright, even though we're in pre-moving mode, I just bit the bullet and got one... due to arrive on Wednesday. I got it now rather than after we've moved primarily to test out the various things that we'd typically use a microwave for - to make sure we don't need to actually get a microwave.... I'm looking forward to putting it through its paces!

I'm so glad that so many have added to this discussion... I'm basically sold on the idea that I don't need a microwave... Whew! One less thing to worry about!

I don't use the microwave for much, but for what I do use it for I can't imagine using anything else - defrosting frozen stock and quickly thawing frozen bread products prior to toasting (my wife uses it every day to defrost an english muffin). I'm interested what one would use instead of the microwave for these things - I'll be renovating a new apartment and I'm on the fence as to whether I need a microwave or not (it currently doesn't have one)... btw, I make popcorn (probably most people's #1 microwave use) on the stove top....

There are some Iwatani butane burners that put out 15K BTUs! That's about as good as any non-commercial burner would be (which would require ridiculous venting).

Have you ever used the grind feature? I'm wondering if this would work better for making curry pastes than a blender or normal food processor as it might replicate a mortar/pestle better...

I'm having trouble thinking of that many plants in general where the plant itself is used as well as its seeds... Fennel is the only one that comes to mind at the moment (but I'm still a bit foggy after waking up not too long ago)

some cultures call both the leaves and the seeds "coriander"... sometimes it will be differentiated by saying coriander leaves/stems/roots, etc.

I routinely (once a week) cook salmon in a similar way - I use a bath temp of 115F and cook to a core temp of 102 using sous vide dash to determine timing based on thickness. It comes out just the way we like it every single time.

A friend from the Loire once told me that Savennieres is not for drinking, but for pouring on oysters! All that malic acid....

YES!!!!!!!

I wish there was a "YAY!!!" button... I'll be very glad to see you out of there for more than one reason! Hope tomorrow goes as easily as possible!

Was the rice you made sticky rice (aka glutinous rice)? I assume so since you mentioned that it had to be soaked for 10 hours... When I make sticky rice, I steam it (post soak) in a standard steamer insert in a pot for 20 minutes. I usually don't make that much (just for 2 people) so I can spread it flat in a layer about 1" thick so I don't need to flip it. After 20 min, I take it off the heat and let it sit covered over the hot water (no longer steaming) for another 10 minutes, and it comes out perfect. I've always been curious about using one of those Lanna baskets, but I don't make nearly enough sticky rice to make the storage space it requires worthwhile (I live in a small apartment)...

@rotuts is right - pasteurization kills just about all the bacteria that is present, but not the spores. So, in the danger zone, spores can activate and create more bacteria.

I don't know anything about staying in Lodi, but there are some very good wines from there... Shameless plug of a recent article written by my wife about some Lodi wines... http://damewine.com/2019/07/what-is-success/

@JoNorvelleWalker When I first saw the top photo, I thought you were deep frying in an ice bucket!

Huh. All the ones I've seen in Manhattan Chinatown are like the durian - frozen and defrosted. Which markets have you found them in?