nickrey

The concept of throwing everything in a pan or pressure cooker and cooking it homogeneously can lead to a muddying of taste and texture. For this reason many chefs prepare elements separately and then combine them in the final product. If you want an element of marination you can combine, refrigerate, and reheat. Since I got my first sous vide cooker, I've often cooked a protein to my desired texture and then combined it with a separately prepared sauce which often includes vegetables. If I'm adding mushrooms I'll most often fry them separately in butter to give a better crunch. Heston Blumenthal and others will often add onions at different stages of the cooking process to allow for complexity in taste/texture. The key is understanding your ingredients, how they respond to cooking, and how they will combine to achieve the end product you are after. If I want coherent chunks which retain texture and taste of the initial ingredient, I'll typically use sous vide followed by an extremely hot sear. If I want shredded meat for whatever reason, I'll use a pressure cooker.

I just purchased the Coi cookbook. For some reason we get some books in Australia before they're released in the US. All I can say is wow. This is food at the bleeding edge with taste and texture combinations that make sense but that you wouldn't think of in a blue moon. Patterson writes very well and it is a good read as well as an excellent cook book. It is a degustation dish type cookbook which uses restaurant equipment without apology. Buy it for the gastro-porn photography or to cook from, but do buy it.

You might enjoy The Geometry of Pasta which covers matching shape to sauce or The Encyclopedia of Pasta.

I tried some Pleasant Ridge Reserve cheese from Wisconsin the other day. It is a very pleasant semi-hard cheese in the line of Beaufort made from unpasteurised cow's milk. It's definitely worth a taste if you like this style of cheese. Their website is here. I just looked this up before posting and can relate that it's not only my opinion that this is a seriously good cheese. Apparently it won the American Cheese society's annual competition in 2010, being named best of show.

If you want European styling in a good and relatively cheap knife, how about a Mundial. The link is to a 6 inch chef's knife and is fully forged rather than stamped.

I have done short ribs many times, And i can say with certainty @ 135F, they need only 36 hours to become tender. Not fall apart tender, but tender like a filet mignon @ 135F for 4 hours. Could be a difference between the corn-fed beef you use and the grass-fed beef that I use or perhaps we have a different definition of tender. I think this amply demonstrates that hard and fast rules are not the answer and people need to explore what works best for them individually.

It would be three inch lengths, which makes it easier to eat. Chinese cooking uses similar piece sizes. Get your butcher to cut them using a bandsaw. As the thickness of the meat being cooked doesn't change with shorter pieces it shouldn't affect the cooking time.

Try Global knives, they're light and are easier to use for someone with a smaller hand.

I bought myself a pressure canner from Amazon and had it delivered to me in Australia. My source for Mason jars and canning accessories on-line here in Australia is redback trading. I also agree that it should be called preserving as I put my produce into jars, not cans.

I've got the Benriner from Japan. It also has cutting inserts that allow you to make finer spirals.

There is a lot written on this across the threads. To summarise, yes it is possible to pasteurise eggs without cooking them by way of a temperature controlled water bath (I hesitate to call it sous vide because there is no vacuum involved). It is also important not to leave them overly long in the bath as the egg will be affected so you need to balance temperature and time. A 2003 scientific paper says 75 minutes at 57C (135F) (link here) will achieve the desired outcome.

Welcome to eGullet Shelly. That is lovely looking meat. On the original question, blackp did a trial of sous vide first, smoke second; smoke first, sous vide second; and smoke only with bacon. Smoke first, sous vide second was the least preferred. I was a participant in the blind taste trial. His post is here.

Agar agar melts at 85C.

Actually the lamb looks extremely well cooked. It is hard for people who do not understand what sous vide cooking is and how it works to understand what it does to meat. With high heat seared meat if you want it rare it is typically overcooked on the outside and undercooked in the middle. With sous vide cooked meat there is no gradient (apart from a sear on the outside). This lamb would be very moist and succulent; cooked but not spoiled and not at all grainy. People who don't tend to like it are used to conventionally cooked meat and all its idiosyncrasies (and dare I say faults?) The slight tears in the texture would be from slicing. I've had overcooked sous vide meat (failed experiments) and it is more homogeneous in texture than this and unpleasantly mushy.

Asparagus in season here. Simple dinner of seared asparagus, scallops, and Romesco sauce.

That is one very pretty dish Baselerd. It's got a real Asia meets South Pacific feel.

Just got my copy of "Le Livre Blanc" which features the cooking of Anne Sophie Pic, France's only currently cooking female 3* Michelin chef (the last to earn the title was in 1933). Made up a quick version of her John dory with mint, black truffle shavings and asparagus. The favour combination is delicate despite the liberal use of mint. Cookng the fish was interesting too as it involved putting the fish sous vide into an 83C water bath for only a few minutes and then moving it to a 52C holding bath.

Typically water or wine. One lets the food shine without interference, the other enhances the eating experience if it is well chosen. I typically reserve beer for use as an aperitif unless I'm having pizza or spicy foods such as curries. For specific types of food, I'll have a related beverage (e.g. green tea with Chinese food/Yum Cha; or lassi with curries). Drinking milk or various overly sweetened beverages would to my mind only serve to detract from the eating experience.

Somehow the reorganisation of the topic on the forums means that the extremely valuable sous vide index is practically impossible to find unless you know what you are searching for. Check out this link. The hyperlink index given there will lead you through most of your questions about sous vide cooking in more depth than any of the cookbooks available.

I always snap garlic presses. A knife side is perfect but like Prawncrackers I don't use my Damascus patterned Japanese knives for this task. Chinese cleavers or European knives are perfect and are not damaged at all.

With around 1000 cookbooks, I've run out of space to store more. e-cookbooks cost less and take up no real estate. If you're worried about damaging your e-reader, put it in a ziplock bag; problem solved.

But is there any benefit? If not, it's just another useless habit.

Yep, like Chinese cars just removed the European ones from the market.

One upcoming title in Filipino cooking is "7000 Islands." Description here. Amazon pre-order here.

Mine is winging its way from Amazon US, can't wait for it to arrive.