KennethT

I find that 185F does a good approximation to traditional braising texture, but I think the end product is more succulent... I've done Yucatan style pulled pork shoulder, BBQ ribs and duck confit (not reallya braise but I'll include it anyway) this way and they've all come out great... For times, a 2 pound boneless pork shoulder took about 8 hours... St. Louis cut ribs (not baby back) took about 6 hours and the duck confit (from Moulard ducks) took about 7 hours. I think there are definite advantages to doing these SV rather than a traditional braise - in addition to succulent texture... first is easy cleanup... and less marinating materials... especially for the confit - only a few tablespoons of fat is necessary for each leg, rather than a whole tub-full.... plus, you always end up with much more fat than you started, so you don't need to start with very much for a first confit project... plus, it's easier to infuse flavors - for ribs, only a 20 minute pre-smoke on a stovetop smoker is enough to make them nice and smoky... the same for the pulled pork...

In the same line of thinking, what if you used osmazome that's been heated to coagulate proteins and then strained - the resulting liquid is VERY flavorful... lately, I've been taking the extra 5 minutes when doing things sous vide to save the osmazome, pouring into a small cup, microwaving for 20 seconds, then straining and using to enhance the sauce... works very well... It has even been discussed somewhere on the eG (probably the sous vide thread) of getting some cheap meat, and cooking it just for the osmazome....

Typically, ER discusses adding piment d'espelette - typically recommending cayenne if you can't get it... piment d'espelette is not as spicy as cayenne, but has a subtle smokiness.... he also adds a couple of drops of tabasco for the same reasons you discuss... David Bouley says that most of his sauces now are based on juices rather than meat based stocks - he says he rarely uses meat based stocks anymore... now he uses mushroom water, or dashi, or other types of broths as bases and will thicken with a super-fine puree of shallots cooked for hours in redwine until dry then run through a tamis... or thickens with garlic treated in a similar way... he has moved away from thickening with roux or butter because it's not as healthy, and he feels that the fat coats your tongue and supresses more vibrant flavors...

Interesting - so is that to say that you will mix a 1:1 ratio of flour:water and then let sit in the fridge for 30-40 minutes, then add flour+yeast to bring the flour:water ratio to 100:70 (for 70% hydration)? Then you ferment after that - overnight? Sorry for all the questions - I'm very inexperienced when it comes to anything baking.... but I'm learning...

a 4% sugar solution would be a bacteria extravaganza. My guess is that precision isn't all that important and you could wing it easily. 1/4 tsp of honey or glucose syrup in a shot glass of water will get you in the ballpark. ← That's what I thought... glad to check it though.... Your guess is on the money - I used 2g glucose in 50g water... the biggest problem is that the glucose sticks to everything - so while I put 2g in my mixing container, probably 1.5 g stuck to the spoon.... plus, to get it to dissolve faster, I stuck the glucose/water mixture in the microwave for about 20 seconds to warm it up... I know I could put warm up the glucose too to get it to flow better, but it's in this big plastic tub that would take forever to warm up... oh well, I'll just have to think ahead each time I need it!

It wasn't just the bottom that was hard - the entire untopped portion of crust was uniformly hard - even the top which had very little excess flour.... also, most of the excess bench flour stayed on the bench... I made two small pizzas out of my dough experiment... the first one was ridiculous beginner's luck because it just slid off my peel (an upside down 1/4 sheet pan) onto my stone... the second one was more of a mess but it did make it off, miraculously... the second one convinced me to do the parchment paper trick the next time... For an autolysed dough - would I just mix the total volume of flour and water together first, and put in the fridge... then after 30 min. take out and add yeast and mix a bit more? How can the yeast be evenly distributed?

ok... so I need help... what am I doing wrong? My first attempt used King Arthur "Italian style" flour - http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/...tyle-flour-3-lb I mixed about 2 cups of dry flour with about a half teaspoon of SAF instant yeast, then mixed with water for a 70% hydration by weight, but it looked a little dry, so I added a bit more water so it would all come together so probably a 72-73% hydration... This was mixed in a large stainless steel bowl, covered with plastic wrap and fermented at room temp overnight for probably about 15 hours or so... Then, I poured the extremely wet and sticky dough into a ziplock bag (poured is not exactly accurate - more like scooped handfuls of dough and slopped into the bag) and let sit in the refrigerator (about 37F) for 7 days.... On the day of baking, I put a large terracotta saucer upside down in my cold oven - then set the temp of my oven to about 250 to gently preheat the stone... then cranked the heat to 500-550F and let it sit for over an hour.... My oven thermometer which has a max of 500 was reading way off the scale... I took the dough out of the refrigerator probably about 2 hours before use... and when I had my mise complete (first trial was filetti style - cherry tomatoes, buffala mozzerella, basil, EVO, salt) put a crapload of AP flour on my work board.... scooped out a large handful of extremely wet/sticky dough (which stuck to the bag, my forearms, seemingly everywhere) and put on the pile of flour - I then dusted the top of the blob with a generous dusting of AP flour and gave the dough a couple of folds before I nudged/stretched it with my fingertips... For King Arthur to claim their flour makes an extensible dough is an understatement - if I would have sneezed, the dough would have ripped apart... Then quickly throwing on the toppings and slid it onto my stone with great difficulty - I'll definitely try the parchment paper trick next time!!! But, to my surprise, I did not find a soft pillowy crust as a result... instead, the outside of the crust was hard like a crusty breadstick, while the inside was soft-ish... Baking time was approx. 7 minutes.... What did I do wrong? Help!!!!!

I tried this method for the first time this evening... success!!! I tried it on a dish I do every few weeks - flank steak cooked 131F for about 36 hours - I find it's still a bit tough after 24, 36 hours is a bit better... Typically, I would remove from the bag, blot with paper towels, sprinkle with wondra flour, then sear in a smoking pan with grapeseed oil or peanut oil (high smoke point).... Tonight, I tried a medium hot pan (grapeseed oil was not smoking) and a 4% glucose wash.... I found out the hard way that less is more with this application as the first side was a little wet and splattered all over the place when it hit the medium-hot oil... but still, in very little time, I got great color and since the heat was lower, it didn't cook through more than 1mm or so... I was thinking about making a big jar of 4% wash that way I don't have to mix it fresh every time I need it... do you think I should refrigerate it after mixing or can I keep it sealed in the cupboard?

Pat O's hurricane is like cough syrup on steroids... yum.... Did you hang out by the flaming fountain??? Classic... It's a shame you were there in August after live crawfish season... while Acme is touristy and reknowned for their oysters (deservedly so), they have IMO the best boiled crawfish in the french quarter - great boil flavor, big, plump, juicy crawfish.... and I think I've sampled every crawfish in hte immediate area... I can't wait until next year's season starts!!!!

I agree with the concensus that behind the stovetop may not be the best place for the spices... I also keep my spices in the magnetic canisters - but I bought a 24 x 36" white board from staples and hung it on a wall in the corner... that way, I put just about all of my spices in there and i don't have to make choices! One thing I find about the canisters is that they tend to get a little sticky and hard to open sometimes... Some things I use a lot that you don't have up there are coriander and cumin, herbs de provence... and piment d'espelette... don't know what I'd do without it!! I guess it all has to do with whatever you use the most...

success!!!! I tried again using Dave's quick agar method (no freezing - just set in ice bath until set, then break up the curds and press through cheesecloth).. it worked great - I now have a pale greenish clear mint water that has a great mint aroma... A few things that I think helped: Vit C powder when pureeing the mint... plus I used a food processor rather than the blender - no, it didn't puree the mint as thoroughly, but the food processor didn't cook my mint while doing it... Tri - I think your idea of using gelatin is a great one - but one person who will be (hopefully) enjoying the mint water is vegetarian and while there technically wouldn't be any gelatin in the water, I don't know how much of a sticking point it would be if she knew that gelatin was used in the process... Thanks for the help! Ken Edited to correct my crappy grammar

John, thanks for the link... I had actually read those articles in the past, which sparked my idea for the clear mint liquid... I think my biggest problem is that the mint cooked in the blender and oxidized - the resulting brown liquid, while being minty, did have an oxidized note - you don't have that problem with OJ because there's already so many anti-oxidants in it... but thinking about it - if you cut up a bunch of mint and leave it out, what happens? It turns brown at the edges... like an apple...

So, yesterday, I tried to make a clear mint liquid using agar filtration. The resulting 'consomme' which came from the dripping agar puck was "clear" but it was also brown!!! It has an intense mint smell... I think one problem started when I was pureeing the mint in the blender - I think the speed of the blender actually cooked the mint a bit - because when I went to strain the liquid it was quite warm... but the mint puree was a dark green color... To mix with the agar, I heated the agar with a small quantity of boiling water, then, when dissolved, I mixed this hot water/agar mix into my strained warm mint liquid. Then put into a plastic bag and froze.... After frozen, I put the pieces into a strainer lined with cheesecloth and waited - about an hour later, I checked it, and what was dripping out was a clear brown liquid... by now, all dripping has stopped and I'm left with a dark green sludge in the strainer, and clear brown mint liquid... I guess the mint liquid oxidized... should I have added some VitC powder or something to my puree to keep it from oxidizing? What else could I have done to prevent this?? I'm still figuring out how to post the pics here - but there's a folder in the ImageGullet with them...

Thanks... are they intended to be eaten raw, or slightly cooked? Also, what are they supposed to taste like?

I recently got a gift of some greek caper leaves, packed in brine... the question is - what to do with them? I haven't tasted them yet, but I gather they taste like capers, but there's a bitterness to them... Any ideas?

I've seen different types of butters (salted, unsalted, goat's milk butter) etc... or lardo that's been infused with rosemary, then whipped and piped into the dish... or olive oil with olives pureed into the oil...

I like the idea of a somewhat varied menu... plus, I think the idea of a steak tasting is fantastic - so people can compare a grass-fed to standard or wagyu or maybe even different aging times - which I know can be logistically difficult, but with computerized inventory management, I don't see why it couldn't be manageable....

I was thinking about serving a little Iberico ham for a friend's birthday coming up in a few days... what's the best way to serve it? I know that Robuchon does it on grilled bread with a fine dice of tomato and microbasil... but I don't think that that's traditional... Is it more traditional to grill the bread slices, then rub a tomato over the surface? Any other ideas?

I also like striped bass, but another good one is black bass... I actually find that it is better SV than any other method because it is so easy to overcook... I think I did it at 117F the last time and it came out great - moist, flaked perfectly... I think you can usually get it at the Lobster Place for $8.99pp....

Interesting... back in a thread from 2005, WD said that it was a cold set product and that they mix, extrude, then set in refrig overnight and poach the next day... 646522 is his eGullet name.... here's what he wrote back then: And then later that day: I wonder if he's still doing it that way, or doing it differently now, more than 4 years later.... ETA to try to make the quotes more obvious...

My first two experiments with Ajimoto Activa transglutaminase GS are complete - one a complete success, the other an utter failure... Experiment number one is Frankenduck... I took 2 pekin duck breasts, removed the skin/fat from each, and completely removed all tendons, ligaments, connective tissue and tenderloins.... once the removal was complete, I brushed on my slurry (1:4 by weight) and glued the 2 reconstructed breasts together with the detendoned tenderloins, then glued one piece of skin with most of the fat sliced away on top. Wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight... The result, when sliced across the breast, the seams are invisible and it is impossible to tell that this was ever 2 pieces of meat! Even the fat/skin glued on perfectly... what a great product.... The failure was an attempt at the now infamous shrimp noodles... I was planning on pureeing shrimp, run through a tamis, then combine with the slurry and flatten the paste between 2 sheets of plastic wrap... then, when bonded, i would cut the "noodles" with a knife - like making fettucine by hand from a sheet of dough... the problem was that the shrimp didn't bond - so the next day, I took off the plastic wrap only to find that my paste is still, well... pastey.... In defense of the TG, I didn't weigh howmuch shrimp I had, or how much slurry I added to the shrimp - I did it by eye... also, the slurry was the left-over slurry from the duck which had sat in the refrig. for about 24 hours prior to shrimp... basically, I did the duck one evening, and put the remainder of the slurry into the refrig... the next evening, I checked outthe duck and was so pleased I said "what else can I glue???"... after searching the freezer and refrigerator, the only protein I had readily available was the shrimp... it thought about doing a shrimp steak or other Frankenshrimp idea... but just decided to puree it and try the noodles... So anyway, there are a couple of areas for error here... I'll try it again with fresh TG and measured weights to have a better trial...

I'd like to thank everyone here for turning my wife and me on to Allegretti... we went last night, and it was excellent, both for the price, and regardless of price. I know it's summertime, and restaurants are typically less full, but including ours, there were 7 tables occupied all evening... such a shame - I really hope this place can survive this! Here's what we had: Grilled quail: It was perfectly cooked - nice and charred on the outside and rare on the inside - just the way it should be, IMO... it came with a lovely salad of cucumber and shaved celery witha yogurt dressing... Prawns on a stick (not the actual name): here, there were 3 shrimp (all perfectly cooked) on a rosemary spear, served with a variety of baby vegetables in a sauce I don't remember what was in it - but it was delicious and addictive. Tagliatelle with shrimp, octopus, calamari, etc... the octopus was maybe the most tender I've ever had.. and all other items cooked perfectly as well - I'm sure they must have cooked all seafood items separately and combined at the end... pasta was nicely al dente, with another addictive sauce Branzino with stuffed calamari- I feel a bit like a broken record, but the fish and calamari were both perfectly cooked - the fish was juicy, flaky, and the skin was nice a crisp... the calamari tender with a very tasty stuff, I don't happen to remember - but I remember it was great too.... All together with a lovely $32 rose from Provence.... We will definitely be returning here!

I bought 10 pounds of the same thing from CajunGrocer a while ago... I found the same problem - many of the shrimp have thin shells, or rough shells and are pretty hard to peel... Once I finish this amount, I don't knowif I'd get them again... they do have a nice shrimpy taste to them, though...

Yep... I actually got unbelievably lucky... my wife and I had talked about going back to UPN one last time before the rumored close - we were debating going this weekend or next... turned out we had some time on Sunday and decided to head down there around 7:30... turned out, we were the last people on line when thye came out and said that after us, they were to run out of dough!!! What crazy insane luck is that! I had to have that filetti one more time - and it was good to be able to finally convince my wife, who prior to this said the margherita was her favorite... now it's a tie... I hope Motorino can get that same dough -I loved his dough!!!

BKF is good, but I've found that a much easier solution to getting rid of the polymerized fat on hte inside is to fill the pan with water, dump in a bunch of baking soda, and let boil for 10-20 minutes.... Comes out factory clean with virtually no elbow grease... plus, the baking soda residue gets all over the stovetop, which when you wipe it away cleans that too... hehe... I don't know if this is ok with non-stick though...