Jump to content

RichP

participating member
  • Posts

    12
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by RichP

  1. I did just this when I was in NYC for the day last Saturday. I walked in at 6:30 and was seated right away. It may have had something to do with the city being cleared out for the holiday weekend, but it was no trouble getting in. I would definitely reccommend a visit based on my experience. If you are dining alone, there are plenty of small plates on the menu, so you can try a variety of things without breaking the bank. And the pork buns so live up to the hype. I ordered more for dessert.
  2. RichP

    Ground Beef Tacos

    I usually make up a cumin based spice mixture with chili powder (ancho is nice), paprika, coriander, garlic powder, etc. Seems like it's a bit different every time I make it. Chipotles add heat and smokiness that I love. Smoked paprika will give you the smokiness without the heat if needed.
  3. I keep mine under the counter on a shelf inside the island. And I still pull it out on a regular basis for all sorts of things because of its versatility and relative ease of clean up (particularly when compared with a food processor). Here are a few typical uses: Dough Hook - easy fast pizza dough, 5 min prep +1hr rest (or in the fridge overnight if planning ahead), other breads, etc Paddle - obvious baking uses, but also for mixing sausage (per Ruhlman/Polcyn) Whisk - egg whites, whipped cream, homemade butter (aka a "whipped cream oops"). Hand mixers work here too, of course, but for things that take some time I prefer to let the KA do the work so I can multitask better. And the grinder is my go-to play with the KA. Burgers, sausage, meatloaf, etc. Gives you control of texture, and confidence in the quality and handling safety of your food. And ground turkey never tasted so good.
  4. I am salivating, having just eaten this dish for the first time in China recently. Would you mind posting the recipe?
  5. Likewise, I found a small tub of hog casings packed in salt at a local grocery shop (lucky find!). I've been using them for over a year, and they are still fine. I just make sure to add a bit of salt to keep them covered when needed.
  6. Oh, and as long ad you did everything right, it could very well be incredible!
  7. Wrap your wet wood chips in a small packet of aluminum foil and then poke a few holes in it. Throw this packet right on the hot briquets. I've found that this gets more smoke out of the chips than putting them directly on the fire. In my cheap smoker, they tend to dry out quickly and stop smoking pretty fast otherwise. Wrapped in foil, I can get a solid 45 minutes of smoke out of a small handful of chips. I smoked some bacon last weekend and this was key for me - I only had to run outside twice in the freezing cold! This should work well for the sawdust as well. There is no need to soak the sawdust.
  8. Nice job recording the process cleglue! So, what did you think of the results? What would you compare the flavor to? Would you formulate the recipe the same next time, or make some changes? I'm looking to try my first dry cured sausage soon, but I'm still trying to decide on a good base recipe.
  9. That's funny... I have a slab of fatback that has been curing in the fridge for about a week now. I also modeled my recipe after Jason's, and went with a 25% brine after reading that he felt it was a little too salty at 30%. Not sure how much difference that will make (of if I would be able to tell the difference - I have never eaten lardo either) but... I did not add any additional curing agents (cure #1 or #2), electing for a kosher salt only brine. I wasn't too worried about the herbs or garlic, as I would be stashing this in the back of the fridge to cure (I did add the herbs and garlic to the boiling brine, but it did not boil long enough to consider them sterilized). The salt percentage of the brine and cold temperature should be enough of a barrier to prevent botulism growth. At least, that was what I was thinking at the time. A hunk of Berkshire fatback. It wasn't as uniform in thickness as I would have liked. In the brine I used a couple of butter knives to weigh the fatback down to keep it submerged.
  10. On the contrary, this is just the kind of info I'm looking for. Thanks! Speaking of tang, I seem to recall that some posters in this forum were unhappy with the amount of sourness in a salami product when using the F-RM-52 bactoferm culture. Has anyone acheived better results using one of the alternative cultures (I realize that this is a matter of personal taste)? The amount of dextrose affects this characteristic also, right? Since the dextrose provides food for the bacteria, does the rate of reproduction change as the amount of dextrose is changed? Is this lever off limits due to safety issues (i.e. the need to maintain certain bacterial levels to ensure proper pH)?
  11. Thanks dougal and jmolinari for the quick feedback. It's nice to be part of the "institution" now, rather than continuing to toil away in solitary confinement If I understand correctly then, nitrites are responsible for 3 things - killing bugs, retaining color, and creating that "cured" flavor. Nitrate must be converted to nitrite in order to be effective against bugs, and this can only occur through interaction with bacteria. Any non-reacted nitrate will remain in the finished product. Sound right? dougal, I have experienced the tangy "cured" flavor before from using cure #1 (nitrites only). Is there a difference between that flavor and the flavor of residual nitrates? Also, without the purposful addition of good bacteria (i.e. bactoferm culture for a salami), you would have to rely on naturally occuring bacteria in the air and meat in order to transform the nitrates into nitrites for them to be useful. I imagine that the success rate of this transformation will vary considerably across unique environments. It seems that for the bresaola example, then, that you could acheive all necessary curing functions using cure #1. Is cure #2 recommended only for an additional layer of safety?
  12. Sorry to dig this quote so far out of the archives, but this seems like a fundamental principle that isn't quite clear to me and I'm trying to sort it out. In general, I feel like I have the basic grasp of using nitrites as a preventative measure against botulism. Ruhlman also advocates using nitrites to affect flavor, so it seems that there may be times when you may want to add them even though they may not be necessary for safety (corned beef is a prime example). Using nitrates in ground meat products also makes sense, as the "time release" effect ensures safety over prolonged aging periods. But I get confused when it comes to whole muscles. Ruhlman states above that neither nitrites nor nitrates are needed, as the conditions for botulism toxin development are not present. However, in the book, the Brasaola recipe calls for cure #2 (nitrites and nitrates), which seems to be unnecessary, unless it is being added for flavor only. If this is the case though, why wouldn't you just use cure #1? In contrast, the guanciale cure in the (updated) book calls for ordinary kosher salt only, although the directions state that cure #1 can be added for flavor if desired. Both of these are aged for the same amount of time, 3 weeks. Upthread, jmolinari also mentioned using cure #2 in his bresaola. But his method involves stuffing the bresaola into a casing. Perhaps in this case, the use of cure #2 is necessary for safety as the surface is not in direct contact with the outside air (oxygen) during its long aging time. Anyone have any thoughts to help clarify appropriate use of these curing agents beyond what's already been said? Thanks!
×
×
  • Create New...