nickrey

A recipe for Primavera that I've always found very tasty is one given in Diane Seed's book The top one hundred pasta sauces. She recommends cooking each vegetable separately in boiling salted water until slightly under-cooked. Add these vegetables to a pan with melted butter when you put the pasta on to cook, heat for a few minutes then add cream plus pepper to taste and heat gently. Toss drained cooked pasta with parmesan and vegetables and that's it. The thing with primavera is that it requires the freshest baby vegetables. Their delicate taste and texture is the centrepiece of the dish. Any additional flavours are likely to smother the essence of the dish.

Welcome to eGullet! You have found an invaluable resource. From my experience on eGullet, there seem to be a lot of national differences in what people like and recommend. It seems a lot of US-based contributors (not all) are lukewarm about dishes that we in Australia find very appetising and appealing (and vice versa). If you like Testuya's ocean trout dishes and your good lady does as well, by all means try sous vide fish. Make sure, however, that you prepare her and others for it being noticeably cooler than pan fried fish. Moreover, it is still a part of a total: if you don't have an appropriate sauce, accompaniments and presentation, even the best cooked sous vide product will not be appealing. For more Australian cuts of meat, topside done at 56C comes out perfectly and any leftovers make a wonderful sandwich filling. Feel free to PM me if you need help setting up the controller with the Tiger cooker, it took me a while to get the settings correct.

I've had the Nobu Now cookbook for a while and decided to do a dish comprising grilled salmon, deep fried baby spinach leaves garnished with finely chopped spring onions and salmon roe. The sauce was a ponzu sauce with clarified butter. This photo shows the dish prior to applying the sauce.

Try this Japanese style dressing for natural oysters in the shell: Mirin based oyster sauce ½ cup mirin 1 tbsp teriyaki sauce 1 tsp wasabi 1 tsp cooking rice wine 1 tsp finely chopped ginger Serve over natural oysters.

Here's a simple start: -grind your pork adding no more than 10% fat. - Mix well with a modicum of salt plus coarse ground pepper plus fennel seeds (about 1 tablespoon per 1 lb of meat) plus finely chopped fresh garlic to taste (you can also use garlic granules if preferred, but NOT garlic salt.) plus herbs de Provence (about 1 teaspoon per pound). Make sure the mixture is well kneaded by hand. - Fill your grinder, mount your casing (making sure it is well rinsed and free of salt) and away you go. Be sure to hold the casing back a bit to ensure good full filling. Don't be tempted to do very long sausages at first, a foot or so is plenty until you get used to the process. - Tie off you sausages into convenient lengths and you're ready to fry. As a note to those who don't have a grinder/ stuffer you can buy the ground pork from a butcher/ market then mix as above. Then take a handful of the mixture, not too large & roll between your hand into a rough sausage shape. Place this on a piece of cling film & wrap the cling film around it. Now roll the cling film back & forth on a smooth surface pressing from the center. Unwrap and you have a reasonably shaped sausage. Not quite the real thing, but they fry up pretty well. ← One additional but vital point. Make sure the meat/mixture is cold throughout the process. If it heats up too much, the fat splits from the meat. When cooked the fat leaches off leaving behind most unpleasant chewy mince in bags.

What a dog's life! :-) Pépin (in his popular English-language La Technique, 1976) said this leftover minced beef can also make a good meatloaf "with addition of eggs, bread crumbs, and seasonings." ← When the meat was packed away in the fridge, it was rolled tightly in the sous vide bag. Even without the addition of binders, when cool it formed into something resembling meatloaf that could be cut with a knife into slices. I can see where Pepin would have come up with this concept. The cooked beef had a nice texture from the sous vide process but, as you would expect from what was done to it, tasted like a significant amount of the beef flavour had been leached out.

As it was an experiment, I just grabbed some lean beef mince from a local butcher, ensuring that it was pure mince with no added preservatives: of what cut, I'm not sure although topside is a favourite cut for mince here in Australia. The beauty of the technique is that you are not interested in texture but rather, for want of a better term, the "meat juice". The quote from Alexis Soyer I gave earlier says the older the better to get the true flavour of the meat but, like most stocks, I suspect that this will come to be made from whatever is available.

I've done the experiment to extract ozmazome from mince. One kilo of mince was cooked sous vide for 14 hours at 56 C (133 F). It threw a relatively large amount of liquid. I snipped off the corner of the bag and removed the juice. Having the bag mostly intact, I could squeeze the mince to get as much juice out as possible. The resultant liquid went into a gravy jug. 1 kg gave around 150 ml of liquid along with another 50 ml of fat. I poured off as much as I could from under the fat. This went into a saucepan over relatively high heat to coagulate the proteins. This can be seen in the following four pictures. This was then filtered through doubled cheesecloth with this resultant residue. Some additional liquid was trapped in the gravy jug under a layer of fat, which I put in the fridge to set. I then poked a hole in the fat and poured off the residual juice. This was again heated and filtered. The resultant light brown/transparent liquid went into the fridge and solidified. The gel yielded from 1 kg of meat is 80g. The mince is destined for my dog. I'm not sure how this compares with the output from the extraction technique quoted above from Alexis Soyer but it seems relatively efficient. The taste of the ozmazome is pure essence of beef. I use it in sauces. Needless to say, it doesn't need to be reduced.

Thanks Jack, That was exactly what I was looking for. Interestingly when researching this on the web, I came across this quote which apparently addresses howsmatt's question. It is from 1850 and seems marvellous to me that new techniques lead us back to our heritage to again move forward. Extract from Alexis Soyer, “The Modern Housewife Or Menagere” 1850, copyright dated 1849, D. Appleton & Company (this is well out of copyright so am including the quote in full). “66. Pure Osmazome, Or Essence Of Meat Take two pounds of the flesh of any animal or bird (the older the better for obtaining the true flavor), as free from sinew as possible, and mince it well; place it in a Florence oil-flask, and cork it; put this in a saucepan filled with cold water, leaving the neck uncovered ; place it on the side of the fire until the water arrives at 160° Fahr., at which temperature it must remain for twenty minutes; then remove it, and strain the contents through a tammie, pressing the meat gently with a spoon; should it require to be kept for some time, put the liquor in a basin or cup, which place in the saucepan; subject it to a boiling heat until it is reduced to a consistency like treacle, removing the scum ; this, when cold, will become solid, and will keep for any number of years. Osmazome is known under various names in different cookery books, as "fumet, essence," etc, but which are obtained in a different way, which causes the gelatine to be produced with the osmazome; but, by the above plan, it is left in the meat, and the osmazome, with a small quantity of the albumen, is extracted, and the albumen is afterwards removed as the scum.” At 160F (or 71 C), the temperature used is higher than sous vide and I'm not sure how the essence solidifies without gelatine -- perhaps the gelatine is not really "removed" in the process. Perhaps we could use this process to create the ozmazome by long sous vide, discarding the meat used in its creation much as we do when making stock. Logic suggests that if the resultant liquid were to be dehydrated, we'd end up with a refined stock powder or, if pressed, a stock cube.

Can I follow this up? I find when you remove the scum, pour off and strain the liquid, this very clear liquid is almost pure beef flavour. Does anyone know what this is? What is the scum? The latter looks like the residue that you get in a pan when you don't have it hot enough to grill and it starts to stew in its own juices. My interest is that the clear liquid provides the basis for some of the best sauces I have made for beef.

One primary dish for these is marinated dried eggplants in oil (in Italian: "Melanzane secche sott'olio"). Ingredients: Dried eggplant Fresh Italian Parsley Garlic Vinegar Oil Basically, you boil them briefly (around two minutes) in a water/vinegar mix (20:1 ratio). Drain well and leave to dry (not back to where they were but just to a texture similar to grilled eggplant). Char, peel and seed red capsicum and cut into strips. Cut garlic into slices. Sterilise jars and put in a layer of eggplant followed by a layer of garlic, then a layer of capsicum, then fresh parsley. Continue layering until you reach the top of the jar. Cover with oil and leave to mature for around a month in a cool dark place (a cellar is ideal). Use as part of an antipasto plate, on pizzas, etc.

It's not quite fluffy but the custard texture can be whipped to make it very light. The Japanese make a savoury custard called Chawanmushi which contains an egg mixture, dashi stock, soy sauce, mirin and several other savory ingredients. Custardy/salty/fishy and can be eaten hot or cool. May be worth a try.

Thank you everyone for this thread. Spurred on by the descriptions, I decided to give enchiladas a go beyond the normal add meat to tortilla, roll, top with salsa and cheese and put under the broiler. The filling I used was inspired by David Ross' post. I took a lovely piece of chuck steak and cut it into largish piece. This was then marinated for around eight hours in the contents of a small bottle of beer, mexican oregano, garlic powder, smoked paprika, salt, pepper, and some water that ancho chilis had been soaked in. After the marinating, I diced a medium sized onion and softened and slightly browned it in some grapeseed oil. This was done in a pressure cooker to which I then added the whole of the beef/marinade mix. The lid was placed on and the cooker brought up to pressure. Because I was making shredded beef, I left it at full pressure for slightly over an hour and let it cool down naturally. I then took the lid off and boiled the contents down, stirring vigorously to break up the beef. The resulting shredded beef was moist but not sufficient to make the dish soggy. The sauce that I used was Rick Bayless' (Mexican Kitchen) simple red mole. All I can say is that if that mole was simple, the 'complex' one is likely to be a challenge. Preparing the corn tortilla comprised frying them individually in a layer of hot oil sufficient to cover them. I first took David Ross' advice and cooked them very briefly. Being distracted a bit later, I left one a bit longer. It wasn't deep fried but was starting to get a crunch. This turned out to be the texture that I preferred, particularly with the softened beef. On having fried each one, I blotted off the excess oil, filled it with the shredded beef, rolled it and placed it on a heated service plate. When the serve size was complete, I covered them with liberal amounts of the mole. No queso -- perhaps next time? They were delicious and quite unlike any enchiladas I've ever tasted. Mind you we don't have the range of south of the border places in Australia that you do in the US, although I've definitely tried most here. Next time they will be served with Mexican rice/beans/salad or some combination of these.

What kind of Weber? Kettle? (I can only hope!) Or Bullet? ← Kettle

Thanks Jack, Another comprehensive resource. One comment: when I view the document, it seems to have put a very small part of the pictures on a separate page. As a consequence your 8 page PDF comes out as 16 pages when opened. I look forward to the next instalment of the series.

Latest update. When putting the tortilla on the pan, I've found that to keep it flat, it is better to use a sweeping motion level with the cooking surface. Problem is that my cast-iron frying pan has about 2-inch sloped sides. Anyone who cooks can see what's coming... burnt wrists! After a number of burns on my wrist due to miscalculated drops, I've invested in a comal (you can see one in the excellent instructional pictorial provided above by Jmahl). Smart people these South Americans [edited in light of Jmahl's comment below], they've made a cooking instrument ideally suited to the task! I even got it for $9.95 here in Australia (from this company for any Australians who might be interested). US based people could be able to get it for even less. Now to those enchilada cook-off recipes...

I use my Weber BBQ with a low heat indirect fire and soaked hickory wood chips -- the product is delicious.

I don't use it as a meat marinade but will use a small amount in Chili con Carne to add another flavour note. As the original in many cases was cooked over open-wood fires, I tend to think of it as a nod to authenticity that cannot be achieved otherwise in a typical domestic kitchen.

Everyday words but vital steps. And don't they just sound more exciting in Italian?

That dish looks superb Mike

Thanks for reviving this thread, it has been enlightening reading. I was very interested to see that no-one referred to the stages of making risotto, each of which is important in the final dish. First there is the soffritto, which is frying the onion and other aromatic flavour elements. These should be softened and not browned. Next, as has been said, is the tostura where rice is added and stirred in the hot oil until each grain is covered with oil. Add wine just after this stage and cook it off (some variants add the wine and the rice at the same time and cook until the rice is dry and oiled). Next comes la cottura: the adding of the stock a portion at a time and stirring until it is incorporated. Taste towards the end of adding your allotted amount of stock. It should still have a bit of bite as the cooking will continue for a few minutes after you take it off the heat. Take it off too early and it will be crunchy; too late and it will be mushy. Next comes the resting. This is where it goes from ever so slightly hard in the centre to perfectly al dente. Skipping this step is a sure fire step to getting the texture wrong. Lastly there is the mantecatura in which olive oil/butter and parmesan are added for extra body and richness. This is stirred vigorously in with a wooden spoon to assimilate the ingredients into the dish and will have reached the perfect stage when the stirring becomes more difficult. Add other ingredients (asparagus and/or chicken or prawns or strawberry puree; or whatever you desire) at the appropriate time during each of these stages for them to be cooked as you want.

Check out this link. It may inform your experiments. I think the secret will be not to expect it to come out like grilled or fried squid. Try looking for recipes that use poached squid: it will best be used in these.

Just saw this. If you look at the attachment there are two grooves cut into it. What has happened is that they have loosened through being put on and off. You can squeeze it gently with pliers so that it will grip well again. Once my Bamix wouldn't turn any more. I contacted the distributor and they said it was a simple matter of screwing off the bottom round attachment and putting some oil in. It worked like a charm. These are really an industrial strength type item.

I think this is truly a genetic issue, whereby those with a certain gene taste soap when they taste cilantro. Much the same way I cannot bear to be near a vase of paperwhites (white narcissus?). To me, they smell like a mixture of flea powder and another substance I choose not to mention. To others, they smell fine. My wife experiences a similar effect with daffodils, which I consider to have the most benign, spring-like smell possible. If she smelled what I do, there's no way they would repulse her. But it must be genetic. She likes paperwhites fine. My stepmother cannot stand even a bit of cilantro. ← Is it possible that they are supertasters?

Adding an acid is not only about stopping a dead zone but also adding some high notes. Try it "as well as" rather than "instead of" and I think you'll be happy with the results.