nickrey

I use Joel Robuchon's recommended temperature of 63.5C for 45 minutes. He is shown talking about the technique in this video. Robuchon likens this method of preparation to the Japanese onsen tamago. To open them, I use an egg opener to crack and take off the top of the shell. The cooked egg slides out through the hole.

Many thanks Chris. It was lots of fun watching over your shoulder for the past week. All this and the new sous vide index ... I stand in awe. Ps. What was that white stuff you put the champagne in? It's going to be 40 degrees here today (Celsius).

I tend to use home made chicken stock in most instances (including those where fish stock is called for). My other liquids of choice tend to centre on wine, vegetable nage, or any other form of flavoured liquid (water in which dried chillies have been soaked, etc). Really the only time I'll add water to a dish is if I've over-reduced it.

My understanding is that Australian producers were sending lobster in via Hong Kong and avoiding Chinese import duty. Needless to say, the Chinese are not happy about losing this revenue, ergo the ban.

Too piquant? Add sweetness or creaminess (eg. yoghurt) No depth of flavour at end of cooking? Add acid (vinegar), umami (ground dried mushrooms), and/or volatile herbs (basil, oregano, tarragon). Too Sweet? Add acid (sour) or piquant (hot: chili, pepper) Dull palate: Add salt Too salty? Add sour, sweet, and/or heat to lift all the flavour profile. Too sour? Add sweet and/or salt to balance out Notes: Elements such as Worcestershire sauce add both salty and sour Use acid appropriate to the region of origin of the dish you are cooking Same with salt [salt, fish sauce, parmesan cheese (salt and umami)]

It's fairly widespread. I know Heston Blumenthal suggests to add some salt to tonic water to experience the effect.

If pour over frying works, deep frying must as well. You'd just need to be very careful that the outside of the chicken piece was well dried to stop erupting oil going everywhere.

The quote Edge Pro gave me was around $45 for postage. I looked at the price and at the option of using stones, which can give an excellent result if used properly, and bought what you see above. An Edge Pro is another method of getting the angle right. It probably is a bit easier than using stones but I decided it would probably be too limiting. I purchased the kit from Chef's Armoury in Sydney for $265 (link here), which is less than the Apex 4 kit plus postage. I'm sure you can find cheaper if you look. For our North American brethren's information, we pay around twice as much as you or more for all kitchen equipment in Australia, very annoying but unfortunately a fact of life.

I use Japanese sharpening stones that are an artificial composite designed to simulate sharpening on real stones. I have three, one coarse (400), one fine (1000) and one very fine (3000). The 400 is used to recondition, the 1000 to sharpen, and the 3000 to polish. Most often I use the 1000 and 3000. Not being sufficiently confident in my ability to maintain a correct angle throughout sharpening, I use a plastic guide that has silicon inserts to maintain the correct angle. This is a Japanese product and keeps the knives at the appropriate angle for these types of knives (see picture).

Reading this on Boxing day here in Australia, I can only marvel at the multitasking involved in cooking and blogging at the same time! Chris when you get time, try Robuchon's method for creme Anglaise. As usual, it works out extremely well. It's one of those things that I'd always do stovetop rather than sous vide as it is fast and efficient once you have practiced it.

Lamb is exceptional when cooked sous vide. Given the temperatures involved, the uniform red colour can be a bot off-putting to some but the taste and texture is addiictive. Like Douglas, I cook it at 55C.

Try chicken breast at 60C. The tenderness and moistness of the meat is a very pleasant surprise.

Looking forward to hearing what you are cooking this week Chris. Let the games begin!

If so, Amazon have way underestimated the postage they charged me.

Perhaps I'm simple but I just use the recommended amounts (measuring cups of rice and corresponding water marks on the side of the cooker) across all the different types. Seems to come out fine.

Like all sous vide cooked meat, it doesn't need resting.

Nick, what were the temps & times for this pork? ETA: Ignore that. Here's the recipe a bit down the topic. As usual there are many variants depending on the cut used. For a quick meal in the evening I cook a pork fillet for at least an hour at 60C. This is then taken out of the bag, dried and wrapped in prosciutto/pancetta and then seared. I now tend to slice and serve on the cauliflower puree.It's a family favorite.

I'm thinking possibly Richard Kilgore as well.

I know you've done it now and don't ruin your salmon over my theories but I suspect the smoking after soaking would nullify any potential bad effects (may even help develop a pellice for the smoke to stick to).

One recommendation for soaking anchovies or herring to remove the salt is to soak them in milk or buttermilk. You'l probably need to leave it in the milk/water for a reasonable time as the salt is being leeched out by diffusion.

A pre-sear would definitely result in a decrease of surface bacteria on the meat. If you were going to jaccard it, this may then be beneficial; otherwise I agree with you. Save the sear for the meat afterwards and create a maillard effect for the sauce by separating the osmazome from the solids by heating in a pan. Then pour off the osmazome and subject those solids to some significant heat to create the maillard effect before continuing the sauce making in a conventional way.

Has anyone else downloaded the new Gordon Ramsay Cook With Me HD app? There are 56 recipes in all. They are coded by difficulty, season, a shopping and equipment list, and a wine suggestion. Each recipe is presented conventionally and all have a video of Gordon cooking it himself (cleverly edited to make it brief but cover all the steps). There are also 10 cooking tip videos, covering things such as slicing an onion, making caramel, zesting citrus, etc. On pressing the "cook this recipe," you are moved step by step through the recipe with a pictures of what needs to be done. I like the way it is presented and suspect that we will see clones of this one in the future. Cost is £4.99 (UK), $7.99 (US), €5.99 (Europe), and $9.99 (Australian).

Added to say that I looked at the truffle oil that I buy and it says it contains only truffles and olive oil. Smaller bottles by the same providore but not from the same manufacturer say "oil and truffle aroma." Dick I know you are totally right in the latter case.

Don't know what your food labelling laws are but if they put chemicals in, they have to put them on the label here or get into a lot of trouble. I only buy truffle oil that lists as ingredients truffles and oil and nothing else.

Definitely chill it. If you leave it warm, it will linger in the danger zone for far too long. Pop it into an ice bath. Then refrigerate. Transport to your MIL's in a chiller. You can reheat in warm water at the other end before searing. Just add hot water every so often to keep it above 55C.