KennethT

One of the most effective (meaning giving the most yield) ways of rendering fat was discussed in Modernist Cuisine. It doesn't yield any crunchy bits (so Mrs. Liuzhou won't be happy, but you'll have a lot more fat for the effort). Basically, cut up the raw fat into small chunks and put in the blender and cover with water. Blend until you have a nice fat-shake, then put in a pan and simmer on the stovetop or in low oven. The solids will make a raft on top, and you'll have loads of beautiful rendered fat beneath. They've also taken the fat shake, put in a mason jar and put in the pressure cooker. IIRC, they also added some baking soda but I don't have the book in front of me so I can't check it. I think they found the pressure cooker method to yield the most neutral fat.

If it's of any consolation to you, I was maybe the pickiest child in the world. Somehow, in my late teens - early twenties things did a huge turnaround and now I am not picky at all (other than a stickler for quality) and in fact am very adventurous!

I usually do magret duck breast (from Moulard ducks) at 131F (55C) until pasteurized and they usually come out very good. I'll bump the temp up to 135F or so if I'm curing/smoking and then slicing and serving cold. Sorry - no experience with Gressingham ducks.

I'll sometimes add a little water to the onions to get them going... The water helps the onions cook through and soften before browning. I guess a lid would do the same thing, but sometimes I'm lazy and don't feel like clean something else...

Where does the pork cutlet come from? Is it the loin? If it's the loin,then I think your temp is too hot for too much time. I usually do pork loin at roughly 57C for as much time as it takes to pasteurize, depending on thickness. If it's everythin,it won't be that long - maybe a half hour? Best to either check the tables from the first SV thread (there's an index to it) or download the awesome Sous Vide Dash app if you have an iPhone or iPad. ETA: what is this "previously cooked" stuff? How/ why is it previously cooked?

I don't know if this qualifies, but I thought I once made "cane syrup" by adding water to Demerara sugar, then heating to thick syrup stage. Served with puffed pork rinds.... Tasted pretty good

Community gardens are great - there's a really good one not too far from my apt., but I don't know how much time commitment they'd need, and how much I have! BTW, Rod, a good thing to check is UrbanHydro.org - the Urban Hydroponics Growers Union... a bunch of people who are experimenting with trying to push the boundaries of urban gardening... Some of what they do is in yards, but some is completely indoors - in closets, 4'x4' tents, etc... it hasn't been updated in a while, but there was some interesting stuff there the last time I checked them out. I understand your lack of space and other issues - I'm just saying that if you want to do something bad enough, where there's a will, there's a way!

Rod, just because you live in an apartment, doesn't mean you can't have a nice garden. It's just different - maybe a little more work, maybe not. See my pics above? That's in a 800sqft. apartment in NYC. I have it a little easier because I have big, southern facing windows, but if I didn't, I would be using more lighting. Right now, I'm using lights to supplement the window lighting - especially for the lime tree and tomato plant. So far, the herbs/leafy greens don't need the extra light.. .I doubt they will anyway - I was growing Chinese Broccoli in the leafy herb area back in Feb/March and it grew great with no additional lights.

Wow!!!!

That's similar to what I did in the cooking issues forum post. I made a ravioli where mango was the dough, and a gazpacho was the center. The LMA pectin puree in high concentration (8% IIRC) worked great as a glue. If your fruit doesn't have much calcium, you'll need to add some in the form of cal. gluconate, or one of the other calcium sources.

There was a topic like this in the Cooking Issues forums... I wound up making a fruit glue out ofLMA pectin and mango purée. But you can use any fruit and add calcium as needed.

Last year I grew a Goose Creek tomato plant in the spot where the Robeson is now. Those were probably the best tomatoes I've ever had, but sadly they were unavailable this year, and unfortunately I didn't save any of the seeds. The GK was a good learning experience - once the plant got to be about 5 feet tall (up to the ceiling) I had the great idea to top it so it would stop growing..... Hmmffff it had other ideas and turned into a giant bush with tomatoes lurking everywhere. It took over the entire corner of the apartment and threatened to take over the whole thing until it roots grew into the nutrient fluid fill hole completely clogging it. One day I came home from work to a flood of about 15 gallons of nutrient liquid on the floor! It looked like a small pond in the middle of my living room. Suffice it to say Ihad no choice but to kill the plant to find and eventually fix the problem. Now, a few modifications to the system later and hopefully I won't have that experience again. So yes, it can definitely be a challenge, but it's lots of fun!

So I finally got around to taking pics of my urban garden.. very small, but considering there's only 2 of us, it works out well - plus part of it is still in progress.. the nice thing about doing things indoors is that you can continue to start and plant things all year long... This is a Paul Robeson heirloom tomato - it's about 2-3 weeks old. Got the start from Laurel's. This weekend, I'm going to attach a string to the ceiling and train it up the string as support. It should produce about 5-6 tomatoes a week for the next 8-10 months. Dwarf lime tree - probably about 7 years old - bears standard sized limes. It was having root rot problems for a while until I discovered the miracle of Hygrozyme, and now it's much better and it's the first time I'm letting it fruit in about a year. L-R: Rouge Grenobloise Batavian lettuce - I actually harvested half of the head last Monday, and it's basically grown back to full size since then; Basil; Thai basil. On the way (not pictured) is rosemary, french thyme, fl parsely, more lettuce, tarragon, cilantro, etc... In the past, in this setup, I grew Gailan, bok choi, arugula and some oddities like chocolate mint, variegated lemon geranium, coconut geranium, and lime thyme. Mint is a bad idea in this setup because the roots wind up taking over the whole trough.

I'm sure it was posted at some point before, but I can't find it now.... anyone have good temp for turkey breast that will be sliced cold and used for sandwiches?

I've had green mango in Thailand - it's awesome, especially when dusted with salt, chili powder and a little sugar, or dipped into fermented shrimp paste... wish I could find it here...

frozen crawfish tails are very common, and I'm sure they're not frozen with LN. All of the frozen ones I've seen are completely precooked in the shell, then shelled and frozen. BTW, when I make a Louisiana style crawfish boil, I could eat 5 pounds of crawfish by myself!

I assume you're talking about potted cilantro, grown indoors, right? If so, I've found that the biggest thing that gets it to bolt is if it gets too hot. Contrary to what I've always heard - that cilantro likes full sun - I've had best indoor results when I keep it in partial sun, and I keep a fan on it so it doesn't get too hot. I find over 78degF or so, and it bolts. ETA: re: insecticide, I like a product called Azamax (made by General Hydroponics) or any other version/brand of azadirachtin. It is OMRI listed, and has no residue, so it can be used even on the day of harvest. It can be used as a foliar spray, but also as a root drench, and is effective on most pests from aphids, mites, scales, etc. I have an indoor lime tree that this stuff has saved over and over again. It's a little expensive, but to me, totally worth it.

Right - even if vacuum sealed again, 2 days in the refrigerator should be no problem...

If the meal is only 2 days away and your refrigerator is moderately cold, I'd say that you're fine leaving in the fridge as is. I would probably wrap each portion in a few layers of plastic wrap and leave in the fridge...

What type of sheet are you looking for? What is the structure like? Is it flexible or brittle? Chewy or soft or crisp?

I wonder if the fishy smell was coming from a slight rancidity of the pork fat, since it was in the freezer for so long, effectively unwrapped?

Thanks for the responses so far... Weinoo - I knew that Despana used a ciabatta for their bocadillos, but I haven't tried them yet and didn't realize that they were different than the standard ciabatta (which has a more dense, chewier crust). I actually had a very nice version at Boqueria recently which had a nice, crisp light crust, but I neglected to ask them for their source. Thanks for the info Joe, but if I can source a well made RTE product, I'd rather use that rather than making my own at this point in time... but I'll definitely keep the info on hand in case I get more time and want to have some fun!

eG member Scottyboy does just this in the SF area, and from his foodblog, his stuff looks great!

I'm on the hunt for "Catalan" style bread - I don't know what else to call it... I guess it's sort of like a ciabatta, but very light with a crisp crust - not dense or chewy.

82C is very high for pork. What cut are you using? I like chicken wings cooked in a 62C bath for 12 hours, then fried. I tend to do legs and thighs in a 64C bath for 1.5 hours. Chicken wings at 60C for 24 hours is incredible - you can actually slide the bones out afterwards,making a boneless wing. Just be careful, the meat is really delicate!