KennethT

It also makes prepping for a large party really convenient... I've been mentioning on the cooking w/ MC thread about my prep for a party for 12 people tomorrow... With no helpers, I'll be serving 3 dishes, all of which are multi-component.. for example, the pork dish is a pulled pork patty with sliced belly, chorizo french toast, maple bacon dashi and puffed skin chip garnish. Without SV (and it's ability to start cooking things a week in advance) I'd never be able to pull this off.

I've been thinking about brining - the equilibrium brining, specifically. I've been brining pork belly for 2 days now (jaccarded first), and I've been checking the progress with a TDS meter which measures dissolved solids in parts per million. I've calculated what the final TDS should be once the brine and pork are at equilibrium, and it's getting there... but it's really slow. The book describes the movement of salt as a diffusion process, so if that's the case, do you think it would go faster if the system was at higher temperature? Which then brings up the logical conclusion that if I'm going to be cooking for 40 hours or so, can I cook the meat in the brine so that it will brine as it cooks?

OK - so I've started work on the dinner for next Saturday. After running around in the rain, I was able to get 2 pounds American Wagyu beef cheeks, 2# berkshire pork belly, some awesome smoky bacon, a whole berkshire pork shoulder (I cut into 3 2# portions), marrow bones, high quality kombu, and a bunch of beef chuck. First up: the pork belly had skin removed, and is being brined in a 0.7% equilibrium brine. My initial brine has a TDS measurement of 5870. The skin is being pressure cooked in some salty water to be puffed or crisped later. First question - in the parametric table on 3.172, it recommends a 72h soak followed by a 2h rinse and 24h rest. Is that for equilibrium brining or high concentration method? I'd imagine an equilibrium brine wouldn't need to be rested since it should already be at the proper salinity. But, if it does need resting, since it will be cooking SV for 40h at 144F, can you include the resting time in the cook time, or does it have to be sequential? The pork shoulder will go in 150F for 3 days starting tonight! The beef cheeks have the same temp (144F) as the pork belly, so they can be done together, starting with the cheeks, and putting the belly in midway through.

I have a Food Emporium across the street. It's awful... Simply awful. If you're ever looking for a bright green/sprouting potato, this is the place to go. I also have a Gristede's downstairs in the building... it's even worse...

Over the next week I'll be prepping for a dinner next Saturday. The menu so far, consists of: Risotto with asparagus/morels and mushroom jus Beef cheeks with bone marrow potato puree, potato gnocchi and rare beef jus Pork^5: Chorizo french toast, pulled pork patty, sliced pork belly, crisped skin and bacon water jus All proteins will be cooked SV in ziplocks (no chamber machine yet); beef then probably finished with propane torch, pork in a hot pan with rendered lard. I recently ordered a faucet aspirator (capable of 28.5"Hg vacuum, supposedly - we'll see!) I figured it was a cheap way to get some vacuum stuff going while I'm designing my GhettoVac chamber. I may throw a mango sorbet in the middle as a palette cleanser if the vac works ok....

back to the risotto discussion - when parcooking the rice, how much liquid should you use? In the parametric recipe, it doesn't specify liquid amounts for parcooking, and in the procedure, it says to boil the rice in liquid, then drain (I assume that toasting the rice in fat first is assumed and not specified). Also, do you save the drained liquid (which should have released starches in it) and use it for finishing? Lastly, if making the risotto with broth (I typically use a mild garlic broth for mine) do you use water for the parcook, and then broth for finishing, or broth for the whole thing? Thanks

I think low acyl gellan stays stable at high temps -although I think the gel will dry out. A while ago, we had a discussion in the cooking issues forums of how to keep the bones of a frenched rack of lamb white - the concensus was to dip in a gellan solution. Then, after grilling or searing, you can crack off the gellan like dried clay. Here's the link to the discussion: http://www.cookingissues.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=21 ETA link...

On my chamber first the chamber evacuates, then the sealer bar is pressed up against the red piece in the lid, then energized to make the seal. I believe that's how all chamber sealers work, since there aren't any evacuation channels in the bags. The bar is actuated pneumatically. Since drawing a vacuum will reverse the forces applied to the chamber walls of an autoclave, it's hard to know if the chamber will take it. It sounds like a fun project though. HTH, Larry It seems that the sealer bar is pressed up against the lid with a kind of air bladder - I guess if you have a sealed bladder partially filled with air, as the pressure decreases in the chamber, the bladder will "inflate" more pressing against the lid... I was planning on using a solenoid or something to move the sealing bar. just be careful that your "tank" is strong enough - the bigger the chamber, the more force will be pressing on it from all sides - and the numbers add up really quickly - a 12" square panel will have roughly 2000 pounds pushing against it (roughly 144 sq. in. at 14 psi).

How did the canned escargot work out? I'm on a similar quest now...

so if you could only grow one tomato plant, which variety would it be? I'm growing a Goose Creek heirloom tomato in my small NYC apartment - it's been growing happily since last May or so and it's still producing quite a bit of fruit - although it has definitely taken over the corner of the apartment where it lives... i imagine it will start slowing fruit production over the next few months as it will be getting close to a year of fruiting around then. I'm debating whether to clone it and start over with the same variety or try a new one. To be honest, this tomato has the best flavor of any tomato I've had - intense tomato, acidic and sweet at teh same time... I'd like to stick with a indeterminate variety since my wife and I can only consume a few tomatoes per week, which is what my plant keeps providing - whereas a determinate would provide basically the whole crop all at once...

I would be a little hesitant to throw a whole frozen crab into the deep fryer... I'd imagine it would thoroughly redecorate the kitchen, as well as possibly burn the crap out of you as the melting water explodes out of the oil. I'd try completely defrosting, then dry as much as possible with paper towels... dust with wondra flour or cornstarch and deep fry.... I'd be curious how it turns out - please post the results!

I've been growing Goose Creek for the past half-year or so hydroponically in my apartment windowsill. I got the original plant from Laurel's. This is an exceptional tomato - intense flavor, baseball sized fruits great for eating raw with a touch of salt, or warmed... Very happy with it and would highly recommend it.

Please tell me that you picked up a couple of de Bellota chorizo from the jamon guy by the entrance to the Bocqueria! They're inexpensive, vacuum packed (safe for customs - especially when buried in teh luggage) and amazing. They'll keep unrefrigerated for about a year if unopened...

I second Jamonissimo... if nothing else just to smuggle home some real artisanal jamon de bellota... (they have some sliced and vacuum packed and will last unrefrigerated for a few days). Personally, the jamon from the extremadura region was mine and my wife's favorite.. so complex... it's worth the trip from NY alone... they also do an excellent pan con tomate, and if you're having a snack there, you can get a sampler plate of all 4 regions of bellota for a pretty modest price. Last summer, my wife and I had the extreme pleasure of El Bulli and Can Roca... both were amazing experiences... if you've never been to Can Roca, I would recommend adding the "Return to Havana" dessert to the tasting menu if it's still available - don't worry, it won't be too much food, and I thought it was just so interesting, it's hard to pass up. The smell of the tobacco infused cream stuck in my head for days! Also, I wouldn't get too anxious over El Bulli... when I found out that I had a reservation last year, my heart practically stopped and for months, I was trying not to think about it because I didn't want to be let down... however, it was the most incredible restaurant experience in my life - not just because of the extremely innovative, and tasty parade of dishes - but also the service was so warm and inviting and detail oriented - they missed nothing. My wife is a wine student (currently a candidate for MW) which I mentioned in my email to EB prior to getting the reservation, and when we arrived, they actually remembered it (without looking at any paperwork) and we had a lengthy discussion with their sommalier who also showed us around their kitchen a bit... then we ordered a lovely Lopez de Heredia (white) from an older vintage (which they offered at a great price, btw) and without calling attention to it, the sommalier would constantly take it in and out of the ice bucket to make sure it was not too cold, but not too warm. I just happened to notice it out of the corner of my eye from time to time... who else does that or would even think of that? What I was most surprised about at EB was the accessibility of most of the dishes... I was led to believe that there were to be 30-odd courses of "space food" or whatever, but in actuality, most of the dishes seemed quite "simple" - even though they were not. All were tasty, and many deeply satisfying. We still talk about that evening to this day... Although thinking about it now - I really shouldn't give advice on what to order - with the group you're travelling with, I'm sure you'll be treated extremely well with lots of extra dishes!!!

thanks!

Wow! Thanks so much! Those pics were just what I was looking for... absolutely perfect! I didn't realize how thick the cover is - it looks to be about 1/2 - 5/8 inch (13-16mm) thick, right?

Can anyone take a picture or two of the sealing bar and the top bar of your vacuum chamber? Thanks!

Kenneth, Thanks. I did make note of your times and temperature but also noted that you found the finished asparagus a little too "crunchy". Have you tried it again and reached a texture you approve of? I will try again today with a lower temperature and shorter time. Again, thanks. Anna - I usually use 155F for about 12 minutes now... but I also usually peel the asparagus unless they're super-skinny... I think the skins take a lot more heat to soften than the interior... and, not to mention that the asparagus in the store is typically pretty old (very old by Robuchon standards, who says that asparagus becomes a different (and inferior) vegetable 24 hours after it's picked!) Unfortunately, I don't have access to his purveyors so we do with what we have... Anyway, when peeled and cooked, I like my asparagus texture to bend when held at the end, but not flop over... so I like some toothfullness (is that a word?) but not crunchy.... I think the skins have a lot to do with the extra time/temp necessary to soften though...

How many waterbaths do you have??? I'd hate to tie mine up for 40 days at 140F!!!

I too have never made it, but the internet suggests that if you soak the rice beforehand, steaming only takes 20-30 minutes. I make Thai style sticky rice from time to time during mango season for mango/sticky rice... I had a thai cooking teacher in Chiang Mai send me instructions which are just what emannths said: soak glutinous rice overnight, drain. Then steam 25-30 minutes. I usually use my rice cooker as a steamer (it has a steaming basket taht I just cover with cheesecloth) when doing the steaming part for convenience. Comes out great every time. She gave me much more detailed information depending on the age of the rice, moisture content, etc. (whcih determines soaking time) but basically all the sticky rice we get here is the same... old. It's not like over there where you can go to teh market and see the rice vendor with 1 mo., 3 mo, 6 mo, etc... ages of different types of rice.

Mitch, the skin you talk about reminds me of confit skin, minus tons of salt... Since it cooked for so long in the moist environment, I'd be sure it was quite gelatinous and would puff up really well if fried or cooked at high heat between two silpats.... mmmm.... crispy skin....

I did the retrograded potato puree last night. I've done this in similar ways before (as posted on other threads) but I've always had problems, and, it's always been a real pain in the neck. Doing it the MC way was really convenient and easy, and it was probably the best potato puree I've had yet... I didn't even knock myself out to do it the "upgraded" way with the potato flakes or ultrasperse... just potatoes and butter, but still great potato flavor. What I liked is that previously, I had been told to cook the potatoes in their skin, and then, once cooked, peel them while still hot - which is a real PITA... MC recommends peeling first, but reserving the peels and putting them in the retrograde water/cooking water to save their flavor... and much easier! Also, I always thought you had to retrograde the potatoes dry with no water - just in the vacuum bag... but MC recommends retrograding in 400% water, which also made things easier. It was a little unclear what to do with the retrograde water once you drained the potatoes to cool them. I saved the retrograde water, and after the potatoes were cool, put the water in a pot and brought to a boil, and cooked the potatoes in the retrograde water... whether that was proper or not I don't know - but it worked... I did have to add a bit of water halfway through the 15-20 min. cook time though to replace evaporation. After cooking, I saved that water again - to dilute the puree as needed later on... but as it aged for the afternoon, it turned brownish, so when I added it back, the potatoes went from white, to slightly gray... Still very very tasty, but I think I have to find a way to store the water without the browning... maybe I'll rebag it to keep the excess air out of it.. but I don't know if the browning is oxidative or enzymatic - something tells me it's not enzymatic, since it was boiling for 20 minutes - that should have killed all the enzymes... next time I'll add a little vit. C powder to it to see if that stops the browning...

I find 83C way too hot for asparagus... In the old SV thread I posted my asparagus time/temp - it was something like 155F for 8-10 min. I think... I'll have to recheck... I also checked out Modernist Cuisine which recommended something similar to my results... I'll have to check it when I get home though... ETA: OK - just checked the old post (the index is great!!!) - it was 150F for 8 min. Here's the link

It would be helpful if that posting was either a sticky or was the first entry in one or more of the "Modernist Cuisine" threads. Right - I did that with another error I found - the word "check" was used for what I think should have been "cheek" as in "beef check".... I just feel bad if lots of people are finding the same errors and PMing Nathan with them leaves him innundated with similar messages, wasting a lot of his time. I also think we should have an error/typo/correction page that way all the errors can be found in one place to eliminate the possible redundancy. That way, the authors just have to check one page once in a while to see if anything has been added, and can respond with any necessary clarification if they wish.

I'm a little confused over something - maybe someone can help clarify... In 3-99, there's a parametric poultry sous vide table... it says that to cook pheasant breast to medium rare, cook to 133F core temp and hold for 35 min. to pasteurize. However, it recommends (as their preference) to cook to medium, cook to 129F core temp, and hold 2h17m to pasteurize. Am I missing something? Also, all other temps in that table increase from medium rare to medium (as expected) except for the pheasant breast... Is this a typo? To further complicate the issue, in 5-137, there's a recipe for SV guinea hen that in step 6 recommends cooking the breasts to 129F core, then hold 12min. for pasteurization, as opposed to 2h17m as recommended in the table on 3-99. Plus, we know from the sous vide thread that it takes much longer to pasteurize at 129F than 12 minutes!