KennethT

Right... I knew I had seen it somewhere.... thanks!

Franci, what is in the top photo?

Pedro, I was thinking that it should be possible to empirically calculate the difference in efficiency between your waterbath and steam oven. Do you have any needle probes/foam tape that you can use to measure the core temp of a block of meat as it rises? If so, you can measure the temp rise at different oven temperatures while comparing to the expected results using SV Dash.... just a bit of homework...

Technically, steam is not < 100degC... that's 'fog'... steam is the clear, vapor form of water, which, when under pressure, can get extremely hot - over 600deg! So, if the machine does produce real steam, and not just hot fog, then when the steam condenses on the relatively colder meat, the most significant form of heat transfer is the latent heat of steam, which is what PedroG was talking about - it is much more powerful than just the circulation of hot water or hot vapor filled air. This is why steam at 150degC can burn much worse than touching metal heated to 150degC - the condensation of the steam releases a ton of heat all at once - much worse than any conduction burn. ETA: after reading Pedro's description again, though, at 55degC, the oven chamber wouldn't have steam in it anyway... it would be warm fog, which is water vapor that has already condensed - so I don't think the latent heat would be a factor.

Thanks Linda... I've read through Andrea Nguyen's blog too - I just didn't put it in my list because her site is more about cooking than eating out. I've also read Stickyrice, but as you say, it's about Hanoi... he did have a couple of posts on Saigon. Unfortunately, this trip is too short, so we can't travel all over - but my wife and I were in Hanoi about 10 years ago for a few days, and really really enjoyed it. One day we will go back and see how much has changed (I'm sure a lot!) but there are still a lot of places on our list where we haven't been yet.

I've been getting very excited planning for this trip. For those following along, here's a list of books/blogs that I've been perusing: Eating Viet Nam: dispatches from a blue plastic table, by Graham Holliday - this book is a collection of musings by a British expat as he lived in Viet Nam for several years... first half of the book is about Hanoi, the second half about Saigon. An excellent read - his descriptions of food are great, and he's got a great sense of humor as well. Legal Nomads blog: legalnomads.com - this is a blog by Jodi Ettenberg, who has been traveling non-stop for several years, writing about food. She has spent the past few winters in Saigon and has many detailed blog posts about her favorite spots. Eating Saigon blog: eatingsaigon.com - 2 guys who live in Saigon constantly eating and writing about street/local food! Everything I've read so far tells me to avoid the restaurants that are listed in the guidebooks - there are so many great local options which are better tasting, often healthier, and significantly cheaper! More bang for your Dong I'll put up more info as I find it - and, of course, if anyone else has recommendations, I'm all ears! I'll probably do a write-up of our eating adventures in early January, as we get home New Year's day, and it'll take a week or two to get back on schedule, and download all the photos....

That's hilarious.. I didn't see that part - I'll have to go through again and look for it!

I thought this was fascinating, on a couple of levels. I can see how this type of interaction can help build your brand among consumers. I didn't have time to watch the whole thing - just bits and pieces.... how did you feel that it worked with your timing? Did you feel like it was a distraction during the times you were busy?

OK - now it makes more sense of what you're trying to do. In that case, if you cook the belly whole, rapidly chill when done, and press. You can then remove from the bag, remove all the jelly/rendered fat, then trim to the desired sizes. Each piece should then be resealed in a new, small bag, and then repasteurized. If you repasteurize at 60C, the belly shouldn't give any more liquid, and it shouldn't change shape. Finally, rapidly chill in ice water and store at 34degF or lower for longest possible shelf life. When reheating, dependign on thickness, just flashing under the grill may not heat it all the way through - so it may be better to instruct people to put the bag in about 130degF water for 20 minutes or so, then remove from the bag, blot the skin dry with a paper towel, then flash under the broiler, or sear in a pan with hot oil (works better than a broiler).

I think it would be a lot easier to slice cleanly when it is cold. ETA: how long are you holding it after rebagging? Remember, once you take it out of the original bag used to cook, it is no longer pasteurized. Plus, if you then bag with a chamber vacuum, you must make sure that you keep it very cold so you do not have issues with C. Botulinum. If you want to hold it for an extended time, you can cook whole, then press/chill, then portion, rebag, and then cook to pasteurization at like 60C for a time adequate to pasteurize. Then rapidly chill.

As others have stated probably better than I can, I also would like comments but not ratings. Even with a suggested framework for ratings, I think it is difficult for most people to objectively look at a recipe for something that may not be to their taste (too sweet, too spicy, too salty), but may be consistent with the style of cooking or region of origin, and rate it highly. It is hard to wrap one's mind around the concept of rating something against what it is supposed to be, rather than your personal feelings about it. This gets even more complicated when the recipe is for something that you're not intimately familiar with - like something you've only had in a local restaurant once. Then your comparison is only to the 1 example, not to a giant sample of examples. This is even more complicated by availability and consistency of ingredients. Take chilis, for example. Of the same variety, some are much hotter than others. This makes it very hard to standardize a recipe - such as 3 grams thai bird chilis, chopped finely. That's why a lot of cuisines rely more on taste than recipes - this is a hard concept for a lot of people who are used to dealing with ingredients with little variation. I think that most of us here on eG are good enough cooks to know that you need to keep tasting to make sure a dish is heading in the direction you want, and not to follow a recipe blindly - but the problem is that the more specific a recipe is, the more the reader does not want to deviate from it - even though, in its specificity it is highly repeatable assuming consistent quality of ingredients.

Interesting... I wonder how they ground the peanuts into a powder without it turning to peanut butter? I wonder if this is the ground left-over de-fatted peanuts after making peanut oil?

I guess the question is what is it? Is it peanuts somehow ground into a fine powder, or is it peanut butter mixed with N-Zorbit (tapioca maltodextrin) which absorbs fats and turns the peanut butter into powder? If it is the N-Zorbit variety, it should not affect your dry ingredients very much since it dissolves in water - it doesn't absorb it like flour would. That's why, if you put the peanut butter powder of this variety on your tongue, it instantaneously 'melts' back into peanut butter. If this is what you have, using this in a baked good would be a waste of money - it would be cheaper to just add a little bit of peanut butter - the powder is also used as a bulking agent, so most of the volume of the powder is actually pretty flavorless, and dissolves completely in any non-fat liquid. So, if you added the powder to a mixture that also had any amount of liquid (like eggs), the powder would turn back into the peanut butter it was made from - albeit a lot less than you'd expect from the amount of powder added.

Different types of wines use bottles of different dimensions. For instance, a Burgundy bottle will have a larger diameter than a Bordeaux botle. And a German Riesling will be skinnier and taller than either of those...

I have a form of psoriasis, and have scaly lesions on my hands. I wear good, thick elbow length rubber gloves when washing dishes so I don't get the very hot water all over them, or the detergent. I don't bother with gloves while I'm cooking - but if I get anything on my hands, I'll just wipe them dry on a towel and keep going, unless I'm worried about x-contamination. But i try to organize things so I deal with raw meats separately, so I only have to wash my hands once.

I find the best way to balance the intense heat without modifying the chile flavor too much is by adding a bit of sugar, as recommended above. But, that changes the sweetness profile, right? So, I like to use palm sugar - which still takes the edge off the heat, but is not as sweet as normal granulated sugar and it does a good job of blending into the background.

I've stated this before, but my preference is for the hose torch: http://www.bernzomatic.com/product/bz8250ht-trigger-start-hose-torch/ The propane canister hangs from your belt, and the torch has a large, swirl flame which gets really hot (and I've never detected any torch taste in years of use). Plus, the torch works just fine upside down or at any angle, no matter how filled the canister is.

I'm sorry I can't answer your question directly, since I haven't been in a food court in BKK, although I've heard that many of them are quite good. 2.5 days in BKK is not a lot of time, as transportation is not very efficient, unless everywhere you plan to go is directly by a skytrain stop... To give you some other options - a couple of years ago, I made a detailed food based trip report here: http://www.fodors.com/community/asia/bkk-for-a-couple-of-foodies.cfm

I'm sorry to hear about Blanca... I was there about a year and a half ago (late spring or early summer) and I thought it was the best meal of the year (that I had had). So much of the produce was grown on their property, a range of cooking styles, they do their own dry aging of game, etc... I agree that Michelin star ratings are ridiculous in NYC, especially when compared to areas like Paris, different 3* in the countryside of France, and parts of Northern Spain - I'm looking at you Can Roca. Talk about grade inflation - to me, Per Se should have no more than 2* and that's being generous. Daniel should have 1*, but 5 forks and knives (for comfort).

I also think a slice of really good NY pizza is in order! Weinoo, any suggestions?

Most sushi places tend to have very mediocre quality sea urchin... Cosme, at the time, used extremely high quality sea urchin, and the combination with the salsa, bone marrow and corny tostada was a great effect..

So I just received some (rather unsolicited) restaurant recommendations from my hotel. It started when they emailed me to see if we had any dietary restrictions or allergies they should know about since breakfast is included with the room. I just mentioned that we were interested in having non-western foods, and like to focus on local specialties. So, I get a response that she is thrilled we are interested in "trying Vietnamese food" and gave these recommendations below... anyone have any experience with them? Cuc Gach Quan Vietnam House Lemongrass

Sorry to hear about this... In the couple of times I had been there in the past, I thought the uni tostada was the best thing on the menu...

Thanks sartoric... and welcome to eGullet! I'm so glad I could help you find this great place.

My wife and I will be traveling to Saigon at the end of December for about 7 days. Does anyone (local or visitor alike) have any suggestions? We are not interested in recommendations for any places of Western or non-Vietnamese cuisines - we would like to focus on the local specialties as much as possible. As some eGulleteers may know from reading my trip report of our July trip to Singapore, we enjoy eating street/shophouse food - but, we are certainly open to visiting a nice restaurant if it is worthwhile.... Thanks in advance! Edit for trip duration