ElsieD

Not having a solar oven, I used the microwave to do the initial 4 pieces. They took forever, and was a serious hands on operation what with the turning, blotting, etc. DH said it was tasty but "very chewy". Today I did the rest in the oven at 185F with a spoon stuck in the door so moisture could escape. Picture below, missing are the microwave ones which I did not include as they look the same. DH said it was really good but "not jerky". He thinks, and I agree, that it should be thinner. So I will try this again but I will stick the meat in the freezer first to really firm it up, and then slice it thinly on the electric slicer to something shy of 1/4" unless someone tells me otherwise. I am thinking I might try eye of round. I realize it is not as "beefy" tasting but I think it would make nice thin slices. I will use the oven again (205 F with the spoon stuck in the door brought it to about 185 F) and we shall see how that goes. If it turns out really well, I may spring for a dehydrator. Hard to believe this was 1 1/2 pounds of flank steak.

Thank you both. I have read both articles and so I will split the batch and dry half in the microwave and the other half in the oven. It would seem that the MC method and the MC@H methods differ in several aspects according to the article Deryn linked to. MC says to cut with the grain 5 mm thick. MC@H says to cut against the grain, 12 mm thick. The MC@H also calls for the following additions to the marinade: maple syrup, Worcestershire sauce and cayenne pepper. I wonder if the difference in thickness is related to whether the meat is cut with or across the grain? I know when I was cutting it I wondered if it wasn't too thick, but then, I have never tried making jerky before, so what do I know? One comment I found interesting in the oven dried article - someone suggested pinning the strips to the oven racks with clothing pins. Might be a cleaner way to dry this stuff, especially if you line the oven floor. I am thinking of trying this although my pins are plastic so am not altogether sure that's a good idea. In any event, I will post the results here in case someone else comes along and is interested in following this particular recipe. It sure is expensive to buy the stuff already prepared.

No, it is in my "to make" file, one of, um, many.

http://svkitchen.com/?p=4674 Does this help?

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I am still sitting on the fence, so to speak. This afternoon I was going through Modernist Cuisine at Home when I saw a recipe for Microwaved Beef Jerky. As I wanted the dehydrator mainly for jerky making purposes, I asked if anyone had followed this method for making jerky on the Beef Jerky thread. I'll be curious to see what, if anything, gets posted.

I was flipping through the pages of Modernist Cuisine at Home when I came across a recipe for Microwaved Beef Jerky. Has anyone tried making jerky using this technique?

I have tried a few more things. The freeze dried berries are good but I would not buy them there again as I can buy them here. We really liked the mustard and prefer it to our usual Maille brand so will bring back some more. The Thai sauce was good, we had it last night with fish. The coffee was so sweet it made my teeth ache so I threw it out. I should have looked more closely at the label. Finally, I did not think the apricots were anything special and they were pretty mangled. Did I get the wrong ones? Apricots came recommended on this thread and TJs had several different ones so maybe I picked the wrong ones up? There isn't a lot left to try from my little shopping expedition. We have left bruschetta, garlic mustard aioli sauce, crystallized ginger and some Chcken Korean Kalbi sausages that I picked up because they looked interesting. We are going back down there next week and will stop at TJ's again on the way home. Mainly, I plan to replenish the items we really liked and look for a few things that were not there the first time. I also noted a few people had some cheese suggestions and I will be jotting them down for reference as well. Any other suggestions are welcomed.

So what was the answer?

Here's another one: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2005/08/long-live-the-k/

Franci, thanks for the links to the two videos. I watched both of them and then found an English "how to", not a video, more like a pictorial with pictures by the same fellow on the vivalafocaccia.com site. This was very helpful. John T, thank you for your very helpful explanation. I did misread the dough thickness. You said your dough arose from 1cm to 15mm which I misread as 1cm to 15 cm. Quite a difference! I am going to try it again, and will start by making the poolish tonight. I now have a much better idea of what to expect.

A couple of questions. Do you know the gluten content of the flour you used? If you can tell me, I will try to get something similar. I used AP flour. Secondly, did your bread rise by a factor of 15 or is that a typo? You said you had 4 rounds - any idea about the circumference of those rounds? As a point of clarification, I did stretch the dough a bit, but mostly flattened it using my hands. Anyway, I want to make this again so if you could answer these questions I would be grateful.

I made the Genovese Focaccia today as per Franci's recipe and instructions. She was also kind enough to answer some additional questions I had in emails I sent to her. As far as I know, the only thing I did wrong was I forgot to put the salt on top before it went in the oven. The bread is somewhat uneven due to my dough stretching skills or lack thereof. In the thin spots, the bread is almost cracker-like, very crispy. The flavour is very good, but in all honesty, I prefer a more traditional, somewhat thicker focaccia. I'd like to make this again but put all the dough in one half sheet pan. I know this will not be "Genovese" focaccia but sometimes I like to do things just because I can.

I think, Rotuts, that you must be the unofficial eGullet cheerleader!

Here i am again, well short of a week. On Monday night I went to take my steak out of the vacuum pack and oopsie, it was wrapped in cheesecloth. Step 2 had been performed ahead of step 1. So I figured the best thing to do was to eat it so I cooked it sous vide for an hour at 132. You could definitely taste that something had happened to the steak in that it seemed beefier. Tenderness was not an issue as it was a Prime cut to begin with. I will try it again doing it the "right" way when I next want a steak.

I am in awe of what you guys create. Some of these pieces are absolutely stunning.

That looks like one mighty fine meal.

Wish I knew. I'd sure patronize them.

Not sure what you're asking. Care to elaborate?

Thank you, Franci, I will be making this and will report back. Two questions - I don't have any malt syrup, is there an acceptable substitute? And secondly, can I scale this recipe to make half the amount? Thank you.

Tried pork chops last night for 1 hour at 140F. Much, much better. They were a centre cut though, not sirloin, so I still don't know if the type of cut makes any difference.

I would love to try it. It looks delicious.

What is a CRAFT moment?

Next up we have the following: Giant Peruvian Inca Corn - I'm almost afraid to say this given how many people like this, but this didn't do anything for us. I don't really know why, but it just didn't. Speculoos cookies - good, not great. Sweet Sriracha Uncured Bacon Jerky - I don't eat jerky but my husband does and he loved, loved, loved this stuff. It's one of the reasons I am thinking of getting a dehydrator. Definitely on the "to get again list" as is, Siriracha Roasted Garlic Barbecue Sauce - this was outasight good. We loved this sauce and pan on stocking up.

Excellent article. Given that it was written 9 years ago and the programming is even worse now than it was then, he should write an updated column.

So my steak, a strip loin, has thawed and I have just applied a thin film of fish sauce to both sides and around the edges. That RB 40 sure is pungent. I put one of those finger bandages over the finger I used to spread the sauce around and I still had to thoroughly wash my hands afterwards to get rid of the fishy smell. I'll report back in a week.