KennethT

I agree - the grow lights are definitely essential.. I forgot to mention that my tree has a 150W metal halide bulb perched over it... I actually wonder if it's strong enough...

I love cooking small birds - quail, squab, etc etc... and I find sous vide great for this - but, I've always been disappointed with some, especially squab. My feeling has always been that the squab we get in the US has very little flavor compared to its equivalent in France. I can't tell you how many restaurants I've been in France where the squab has had tons of flavor - then when I get back to the US, it's always relatively flavorless... So the other day, I started doing some research - it seems that the french birds are hung for several days post slaughter as a sort of dry-age, whereas, I gather, the US birds are not... so I first started thinking about dry-aging the squab for a few days in the refrigerator - but I don't know much about that (and it's for a different topic), so I decided to try to enzymatically accelerate it prior to cooking... I made 2 squab breasts (from the same bird) - both were seasoned equally, then seared on all sides, then put into 2 different bags. One bag was held at 100F for about an hour (the other in the refrigerator), then the temp of the bath was increased to 132F, and the second squab was added, and both cooked for about 1.5 hours (roughly - I didn't time it exactly) to cook medium-rare and pasteurize. The results were conclusive - upon a blind tasting, the accelerated squab breast was noticably more flavorful and slightly more tender! I will definitely do this again - but next time "age" it for 2-3 hours to see what happens...

I've been successfully growing a dwarf Bearss seedless lime tree in my NYC apartment for a few years... here are a few things I've learned... First - citrus HATE wet feet... they need really good drainage and like their roots to be kept on the dry side of moist... so that usually means for us indoor container growers is that we have to get a moisture meter ($10 at the home depot) which you stick in the soil down to the root level to measure moisture... you'll probably wind up watering about once a week with 1/4 to 1/2 gallon of water... Second - citrus are heavy nitrogen feeders - so they need a fertilizer with a formula of at least 2:1:1... I used the Miracid soil acidifier every time I watered... Also, most potting soils have peat or something else to retain water, so it's usually recommended to add a bunch of cedar or redwood shavings to the soil to lighten it up and increase the airflow. I don't know if this is a problem with Kaffir lime trees, but my Bearss would constantly get pest problems, like scales, which are easily treatable with a spray of horticultural oil mixed in water... then respray in 10 days to get the eggs which have hatched... finally, especially in winter, it's good to mist the tree once or twice a day with water to increase the humidity - or get a humidifier... With all that said, I STILL ran into problems every once in a while... I'd get wet spots in my dirt which would wind up killing the roots in the area... so I've switched my tree to a flood/drain hydroponic system and the tree is LOVING it!!! The roots sit in a mesh pot filled with "hydroton" which are expanded clay pellets, and a nutrient liquid is flooded into the pot every 2.5 hours or so... most hydroponics flood every half hour, but the citrus likes to dry out a bit in between waterings, and with a bit of tinkering, I've found that every 2.5 hours works pretty well... I may try to go every 3 hours, but haven't done it yet... they usually say to let it dry about an inch or so below the surface before reflooding. Now my roots are doing great (and are easily inspectable), and I have a lot less pest problems than before...

I think back at the time, I wound up doing it at 176F for about an hour... worked ok - the marrow came out in one piece and was nice and soft - but I think too much of the fat may have rendered out... I'd be curious to try it again a little differently...

Curry paste lasts a long time in the refrig. - maybe 6 months... I've had some in there for even longer, but my fridge is really cold (on the cusp of freezing) - but it does lose something after several months... You can definitely freeze it with no real loss of quality... typically, I use it in incrememnts of tablespoons - so you can scoop a bunch of tablespoons onto a sheet pan with wax paper and freeze... then, once frozen, put the frozen tablespoons in a zip lock bag...

I remember when I was emailing back and forth with the rep from Ajinomoto about Activa, he mentioned that salt will increase the proteins available for binding.. I wonder if that has anything to do with this? With more available proteins, I wonder if the glutaminases already present in the meat start to bind after a while? Then again, it's no problem if you grind with salt just prior to cooking - there will be no time for any enzyme activity... but if you were to grind, then hold for a day or two, who knows.... mmmmm hamburger sausage......

I love doing pork tenderloin... but I cook my pork to 137F, which is a bit pink, and really moist and juicy... I also usually leave it in for about an hour or so... I don't really time it - I just make sure it's more than the calculated time should be... I don't brine either, but rub with a bit of s/p and some cumin... then in the bag with a couple of tablespoons of chipotle in adobo puree... At the end, I'll take the bag out of the water, slather the sauce from the bag all over the pork, then hit it with the torch... then a little more slathering, then more torch until I get a nice crust...

Roy - I'd recommend extending the cooking time on the pork chops to try to get them tenderer... Try 8-10 hours first - it should be more tender than 2-3 hours... if not enough, keep increasing the time. I do a flank steak for 36 hours, and it comes out as tender as filet mignon. A jaccard will also help a bit...

I assume the shelf life of the Non-Extra-Fat SV confit would be the same as the standard SV confit since the bag is keeping the air-less environment, rather than the fat... I actually just had some confit that I made a year ago - and I'm still here! I wonder if the NEF SV confit would have the similar "huskiness" that the normal confit gets after aging for a few weeks (more as time goes on)? I'd assume it would, as the confit would be sitting in its own fat that was rendered during cooking, but again - who knows if this fat even contributes to that huskiness?

If you go straight to the bath from the freezer, rather than room temp or fridge temp, what adjustments do you make to the cooking time to account for this? I really don't worry about the time difference for the flank steak because I'm cooking it for 36 hours... so an extra half hour or so wouldn't make a difference... but, if you're cooking something for less time, I'd use Douglas Baldwin's pages - he has two charts comparing time to reach temp. from 41F and from 0F... http://amath.colorado.edu/~baldwind/sous-vide.html - about a quarter down from the top are Tables 2.3 and 2.4... In general, it really depends on thickness - for instance, the difference in time for 10mm thick is 2 minutes, but for 25mm it's 12 minutes, and 50mm it's 46 minutes.

My friend uses the thermomix all the time for cooking (as opposed to baking) - all kinds of mashed root vegetables, soups, sauces, baby food... He's got a problem now, though... he just got an error code 39 and doesn't know how to fix it... any ideas??

I've had no problems seasoning a piece of meat, vacuuming then freezing and storing for months on end... I do this all the time with flank steak - 1 flank steak gives me 4 portions... I portion, jaccard, season then bag/seal and freeze... then I just throw straight into the bath when I'm ready to cook...

One time, my wife and I were headed to PDH on Mott... when we got there, the line was so long, and that was for people with reservations! So we walked around the corner and into a place with decent looking ducks hanging in the window... the place was filled with Chinese people (always a good sign).. you can get a whole duck for $30-40 - I forget which, but somewhere around there... when you get a whole duck, they serve the breast meat and skin with steamed buns and house made hoisin sauce, then there's a second course consisting of the rest of the duck picked off the carcass and served with a stir-fry with vegetables. It's a very bare bones place - but the duck has been excellent the few times I've been there (probably 4 times over the last year and a half). Plus, quite a bargain compared to PDH. The place is called Hsin Wong - it's on the corner of Mott and Bayard - it has the yellow sign and has the ducks and char siu hanging in the window.

First - I'd like to say that I am very excited to hear plans to have an "El Bulli"esque restaurant in NYC. I've been wishing for this for a long time! With that said, I think the reason this type of restaurant hasn't been done in NY yet is because it would be too difficult to not lose your shirt without having to charge a fortune. NY is a very odd market - I've lived here all my life and associate with many different types of people who go to these types of restaurants - all for different reasons. I think the biggest problem in NYC restaurants is real estate prices - I'm sure your rent in midtown is going to be huge. If you're not planning on turning tables and will be seating in the European style, I think your prices should be dictated by how much the real estate costs (plus all the other overhead) divided by the number of seats. Alain Ducasse did something similar to this at ADNY. Per Se is slightly different - while they're not turning tables, it's not explicit that the table is yours for the evening - it's very possible that they could have someone in a table at 6:00, and then another party at 9 or 9:30. Also, I find that most diners in NYC don't like the idea of spending an entire evening at the table in a restaurant. Don't get me wrong, this is something that I personally love, and travel to Europe for a few times a year... but most people in NY get antsy after 2 - 2.5 hours... While I'm sure there are plenty of people like me who'd love the experience you are presenting, I know a lot more who would be looking to leave halfway through. Finally, as I'm sure you're aware, I think most NYC restaurants menu prices are too low, and are being subsidized by the wine sales. This is especially evident in a place like Daniel where you can see some bottles priced at 4-5x retail prices. To me, it borders on criminal extortion that a restaurant would sell a $30 bottle of Cote Chalonnaise for $150... or a $65 Chateauneuf du Pape for $260.... and that's not even talking about the markups on Grand Cru type stuff...

That sounds really interesting - do you have experience binding skin to meat? I've done it with duck breast where I've removed the skin, shaved off most of the fat and then glued it back on... Fat and skin don't have much available proteins to bind... so the rep at Ajinomoto recommended using the GS in a slurry rather than the RM for that application... hope it goes well...

Joesan - interesting - I do something similar, but have always found it a pain to portion the stock when it's cold and gelled - it's a semi-firm gel when it's cold... so I typically scrape the fat off the top when it's cold, then reheat slightly just so that it's liquid, then portion, re-chill and freeze...

hmmm... the biggest problem I have in retaining clarity is getting the liquid out once I get down to the level of the bones in the pot. My first several ladels of stock removed off the top of the pot are perfectly clear - like consomme.. when I have to start tipping the pot and/or slightly moving spent bones or removing spent bones, the liquid always gets a little cloudy from stuff that comes off the bones and mixes with the liquid... maybe this stuff would settle out in a little time, but I haven't tried that... but with regards to the quote above, I wonder if I put everything in a big cheesecloth bag, then when finished, just lift out the bag, let the liquid drain out (no squeezing) and the remains should be untainted...

I rinse the bones first and make sure all the organs (kidneys, etc) are scraped out to try to "minimize" the impurities... that would be another experiment - maybe the rinsing isn't even necessary? I certainly won't be able to get to that experiment for QUITE a while - my freezer has no space for it!! Scuba - there was a lot of scum on the bottom and sides of the pot - but none of this had emulsified into the liquid, which is the important thing... even when I used to skim, there would be plenty of scum still on the bottom and sides of the pot... it's hard to tell if there's more now that I haven't skimmed - I didn't usually pay attention to exactly how much there was in the past.

So, in the interest of science, I conducted an experiment last night. As I wrote above, I typically put my rinsed chicken backs, necks, wingtips and feet (if I've got them) into the pot and add water until I"m about 1.5-2" from the top of the pc (much fuller than the manufacturer recommends, but it works for me)... I then bring up to a simmer over high heat, skimming as impurities rise to the surface. This usually takes about an hour of me standing over the pot, skimming skimming skimming... After most of the gunk has risen to the surface, I add the mirepoix and sachet ingredients (I don't actually bother making a sachet since I can't remove it in the middle anyway), cover and gently simmer under full pressure for an hour... then let naturally cool... the result is a perfectly clear stock that is very gelatinous.... Last night, I decided to forgoe the skimming step as an experiment to see if the stock would remain as clear as normal... so rinsed chicken, mirepoix, sachet went into the pot, then covered with cold water to the normal level. Put on the cover, and set over high heat - once full pressure was attained, I regulated the heat to keep at a low simmer at full pressure.... The results: Just as clear as with the skimming!!! And all the fat rendered out stayed right on top - no emulsification!!! After removing the liquid as gently as possible, the bones just fell apart when barely touched - great gelatin extraction... So that's it - no more skimming for me... while it doesn't really save that much time (because the water has to come up to a simmer anyway), at least I don't have to be standing over it the whole time...

The ones with the actual plastic zipper do leak a little bit... I use the ZipLoc Heavy Duty Freezer bags - with 2 blue/pink seals... there is no actual zipper... and I've used them at 185F for 8 hours with no leaking or mechanical stress problems... They're made from Polyethylene so there shouldn't be a problem with leaching chemicals - although it's hard to get a straight answer out of SC Johnson... I'm debating/looking around at having an independent test lab test a few bags under some varied situations... From what I understand, usually it's the hard plastics (like tupperware) that are prone to leaching because they require plasticizers to make them stiff... the flexible bags or saran wrap don't seem to have those chemicals in them... plus, as I've said in some other posts, I know several NYC restaurants that exclusively use ZipLoc bags for their sous vide and haven't had any problems.

You can put your slices into a ziplock bag (much cheaper than foodsaver bags) and just press the air out before zipping closed. If you want to make sure no air is in, you can plunge the bag (with the zipper open) into a pot (or sink) of water - the water will help push the air out very uniformly, then with the top of the bag at the waterline, you zipper the bag. Another idea (which takes a little more thought in the beginning) is to portion your brisket (in chunks, not slices) before initially cooking into portions that you would want later, putting each portion in its own bag. Once fully cooked, you can rapidly chill all the pieces you don't want to eat immediately in an ice bath and either keep in the fridge per Douglas Baldwin's info on his site, or freeze. Then, when you want to reheat, just set your circulator to 125degF or so, and put in your single serving bag - either directly from frozen or refrigerator. The warm waterbath is certainly the best way to defrost anything!

Lately, I've been a big fan of using plain ZipLoc freezer bags... there are actually many restaurants in NYC using them for SV... getting the air out is no problem - just fill the sink or a pot with water and with the top of the bag open, submerge the bag into the water up to the neck where it seals... the water will push all the air out of the bag (it may take a little jostling) - then while the bag is in the water, seal the zipper and you've got a bag with no air in it. This works especially well when you're sealing liquid in the bag - when you're cooking vegetables in a cuisson, or meats in a marinade. I personally know of a well known restaurant in NYC that used to use a chamber vacuum, and has now switched to Ziploc bags - initially becasue of DOH reasons, but now, the chef says that even if they were allowed to use the chamber vacuum, they'd still use the Ziplocs.

If you want dinner around the theatre district, I would recommend Esca - IF you like seafood and fish, because that's all they have... in general, I would recommend their crudo, appetizers and pastas... while the mains are good and well executed, I think they are not as good as the other stuff on the menu... I don't know when you're planning on being here - so I don't even know if you'd have time to make a reservation - you'd probably need about 3 weeks... As for the other night, what type of food are you looking for? To me, one of the best things about NYC is that practically everything is available. As a lifelong NYer, I would heartily recommend Katz's for the pastrami sandwich... to me, there is certainly none better - make sure you get it on rye with mustard (the only way to eat pastrami, IMO)... I would be curious to hear what people had to say about Junior's for cheesecake - back in the day (when they were only in Brooklyn) people would make pilgrimages for their cheesecake... now they have a restaurant/store in manhattan - but I've never been..

I've been meaning to make chicken stock for a while now... as I wrote above, I usually skim first, then cover and cook... but for the sake of science, this time I won't bother with skimming and throw everything in at once.. I'll report on my findings.. but I don't know if I'll get to it until this weekend or possibly even next weekend...

You can get whole and half lobes of raw duck Foie Gras at Citarella... if you only need a small piece, Ottomanelli sells rougly 2 ounce slices of raw HVFG for like $5 each... it's really like $40 per pound, but the weight works out to be roughly $5 each... which I think is a great deal unless you have need for a whole lobe of foie... Citarella also has roughly 1 pound jars of duck fat, and may have goose pate in the case with the smoked salmon. I don't know about goose fat... but you can get Ottomanelli to get a goose, and you'll have plenty of fat to render!