KennethT

I've never seen them in a store, but I did see them in a Thai restaurant in NY last summer...

What about a form of kueh? I know it's not typical in the US, but they're great in hot, sticky areas like Singapore and Malaysia... I don't know if it goes with your flavor profile, but sticky rice soaked in sweetened and slightly salty coconut cream is awesome! Pair it with some good fruit in season, ot toasted coconut/peanuts... Yum!

Topping up... Are there any BKK locals (or those who frequent it) on this board? I've read a lot about Jay Fai - all over the internet, and also in Chawadee Nualkhair's book - she consistently raves about the place both on her blog and in interviews she has done. Is this place as good as all this hype (and expense - it's supposedly one of the most expensive shophouse restaurants)? I'd love to get some other people's perspectives. She also seems to wax on and on about Isaan food... is Isaan food that popular in BKK or is it just her penchant for it? Are there any recommendations of other standout places? Not looking for trendy or modern restaurants - we're booked for Nahm for one night based on many recommendations, and will be stopping by Supanniga as well so I feel like we have that covered... Looking for advice for good curry, grilled items, stew, and of course noodles! (not all at once... we'll be there for about a week and have no problems travelling to different neighborhoods for a worthwhile cause!) Thank you!

IIRC, there was a lot of info about ribs in the original SV forum... http://forums.egullet.org/topic/136274-sous-vide-index/?p=1777784 ETA link

Has anyone had one? I've read all about them (how can you not, the hype is incredible!) but have no interest in getting a scalped one on Craigslist or time right now to waiti on a ridiculous line... but I'm curious if they're really as good as the hype insists...

nice... their soft shells are awesome...

Once the bag has been opened, then the standard "leftover" rules (not only to SV) apply - once the bag is opened, you're typically more concerned with spoilage bacteria than pathogenic ones - so even in a very cold refrigerator, I wouldn't want to keep anything longer than about a week. But with this situation, the nose knows best...

I've never had a problem with zip locks and freeze-thaw... and have had no issues with freezer burn either - I've had stuff in my chest freezer for over a year.

I agree - the salamander, or careful torch use is much better for crisping confit duck... I find that the pan is problematic not just because of the skin sticking (but that does happen), but also of uneven browning - the part that contacts the pan is very brown, but other parts get almost no browning at all.

If you have kuzu in chunks, just grind it in a spice or coffee grinder (or morter/pestle if you want to do it old school). I've found it powders very easily.

I took a cooking demo with David Bouley many years ago, and he was extolling the virtues of kuzu. At the time, he used it as a thickener for sauces - used in a similar way as cornstarch, but it was more stable. He made a slurry with some liquid, then added to the sauce, and brought to a boil. A little goes a long way... he didn't give measurements, but you can start with a small amount and see how it does - you can always add more if you want a thicker result.

Is it possible that your block is out of temper because of time spent at higher temp before your a/c turned on? If that's out of temper, then using it for seeding will not result in tempered final product. Can you try tempering it without seeding? It takes a little longer, but not a big deal in small quantities....

First - I agree with e_monster.. if you have a rotisserie that goes down that low, why play with SV at all? It's a lot of trouble to bag a big roast, SV, then chill, then retherm... If you are dead-set on SV, and like my ideas before - I would like to add that it seems that I'm not coming through clear. I would retherm completely in the rotisserie - not retherm at all SV - but, since the roast is already cooked, you only need to rotisserie so that the inside is warm, proper eating temperature... say 125degF. I'd assume that if you're starting from refrigerator temp, by the time the inside gets to 125F, you should have a decent crust on the outside. Of course, you will get some gradient this way, which is not always a bad thing.

I like the idea of cooking a few days earlier to 130F then quickly chilling in an ice water bath. But would i retherm it back in the sous vide to 125F? or retherm directly in the rottiserie to the target temp of 135F? It seems in that case why not just sous vide to 130F and let it drop 10 degrees before putting it into the rottiserie to climb up to 135F and build a crust.I was originally thinking to retherm it completely in the rotisserie to a target internal temp of 120-125. I would actually get the rotisserie going on the hot side, rather than keeping it cool, which will help get a nice crust, but remember, you just need to warm up the center, as it's already been cooked to 130. Also, according to MC, the showtime rotisserie is more like an oven than a true rotisserie - because the door keeps in heat... maybe you could keep the door open to keep it cooler around the meat while the one side (rotating) gets continually blasted with the infrared?

Is it possible to cook/chill the roast? Cook it to 130 for 12 hours SV, then as quick as possible chill to refrig. temp, then a couple hours in the rotisserie to crust/retherm to an internal temp of 120-125... just a thought

I've been doing something similar for doing Hainanese chicken rice after a trip to Singapore last year as it seems the good stalls do that. But HCR is typically boiled or poached as opposed to braised. But it too gets better and better with use. I was very upset when I had to thow it out after 6 months (being used every other week or so) because of weeklong power outage with Sandy.

I seem to remember MC having tables relating thickness to time charts. I know Nathan put them in the SV thread a long time ago. Before I got SVDash, I would use the EG thread and MC for temp recs, and then use Nathan's tables (which I printed a long time ago) to get times... Now, SV Dash makes it a lot easier and more accurate.

I've done SV asparagus in the past and I thought it came out quite well - especially if you have an application where you don't want the maillard flavors that come with grilling/saute/roasting etc... not there's anything wrong with those, and I do them more often than SV... I posted what I did a long time ago in the first SV thread.... See http://forums.egullet.org/topic/144275-sous-vide-recipes-techniques-equipment-2010/page__st__780__p__1761034#entry1761034 Doing it this way results in a 'crisp/tender' texture that I can't do any other way. Back then, I put butter in the bag, but lately I've been using olive oil.

You don't cut through bone at all iirc, just a bit of cartilage and flesh. That's right. If you do it the Pepin way, you don't even cut through cartilage, you just cut through sinew and flesh

The only thing I can imagine is that boiling cut potatoes releases more starch since there's more surface area... just a guess though.

You can't use a plastic bag of any kind, since it won't tolerate the heat. You can use a retort bag, but they're expensive, and not easily obtainable. You can use a metal or glass bowl, just make sure you keep it off the bottom of the pc with a rack.

I don't know about that particular Ostere, but I have burned out my share of Osters in the past. Also, knowing a thing or two about motors, I will say that power consumption does not always correlate to motor torque. Many times, though, the manufacturer will use the figure in their marketing because it sounds good.

I've seen a lot of ideas online about making a ghetto cold smoker using a coffee can, soldering iron and a thermostat (PID or non). I saw an interesting video of Jordi and Juan Roca smoking a cigar using some kind of hand pump, blowing the smoke into the bowl of a stand mixer while whipping cream to make a cigar infused whipped cream. The video was at the end of their Harvard lecture.

Astor is usually a good place to start since they have a wide variety. Sherry-Lehmann is usually a good bet if you're looking for something French. Just did a quick check - they have 3 different BdV! One of which is from Paul Jaboulet, an excellent Rhone producer.

I've done a lot of foie SV over the past few years - but slices, rather than the whole one. I always use a zip lock bag - but I use the one that has the one way valve with the hand pump since the foie is dry when it goes in the bag. One thing - foie floats! So you'll need something to weigh it down to keep it submerged.