FastTalkingHighTrousers

What's the point of the Red Seal? Every chef I know in Canada claims it's kind of useless. Why do some cooks get it?

Yeah, I can see how an employer insisting on formal training is knee-slappingly funny. ← The posting mentioned nothing about "formal training". A degree from the CIA and formal training are apples and oranges, my friend. Amusing indeed.

It's not totally clear - it's more like the colour of pale apple juice. I'm pretty sure, though, that if you start with tomato water it will come out totally clear. ← That's true! I've done it in the past with the water from different colored heirloom tomatoes, .15% agar and a superbag. The resulting liquid is "water clear" and is bursting with heirloom tomato deliciousness.

I've done everything from cooking beef, chicken and fish to order for ~<1hr. to cooking shorties and pork shoulder for 48hours. I've never done brisket ...not a big fan. I always season every protein I vacuum pack. Never have I pulled anything out of cryo that I would consider to be dried out.

I've always seasoned proteins I've either cooked via sous-vide or braise. I've never had a situation where my meat comes out dry due to seasoning. I would love more information about the threat of meat losing moisture do to seasoning. Should we therefore never season proteins before vac'ing? This notion is new to me.

Very well put, slkinsey. Maybe now we can put this baby to bed.

Ha! I used to purposefully do that in order to get under my old sous chefs skin. She would start screaming "Who f*cked the plastic wrap again?!".

Flap meat is cut from the loin, not the flank. It sits in the middle of the fat cap on the loin. Flank and hangar are 2 completely different whole muscles so no it is not possible that vacio is part hanger, part flank. If it is indeed just flap meat then it comes from up by the loin ... a great distance from either flank or hanger. ← "Flank and hangar are 2 completely different whole muscles so no it is not possible that vacio is part hanger, part flank." Can I get an amen on that? ← AMEN, brother! Testify to deliciousness!

Flap meat is cut from the loin, not the flank. It sits in the middle of the fat cap on the loin. Flank and hangar are 2 completely different whole muscles so no it is not possible that vacio is part hanger, part flank. If it is indeed just flap meat then it comes from up by the loin ... a great distance from either flank or hanger.

It'd make a fine chef's knife. You'll get used to the angle of the blade.

Nice! Sounds delicious when I'm done drooling it's time to call my man Vinnie at John Dewar and have him put some aside for me.

You should do the trotter recipe from MPW's White Heat: Trotters stuffed with chicken mousse, sweetbreads and dried morels. When he bones out his trotters, he doesn't mention retaining the meat. I say grind it and use it in the farce with the chicken mousse. He serves it with very loose potato puree and a cognac and madeira sauce. I used to work at John Dewar's in Wellesley. You in Boston? Enjoy the trotters!

There's no right or wrong way to eat sushi or sashimi. Just get it in your mouth as quickly as possible and enjoy.

I wish you good luck on your veg. sausage casing journey ... but I'm pretty sure you won't find what you need. Just pump the sausage mix into some synthetic casing, poach them, decase them and grill 'em. They won't have that snap your looking for but trying to make an entirely vegetarian sausage with the texture of meat sausage = square peg -> round hole.

If you've ever had the air dried kobe at French Laundry you wouldn't have to ask why.

I stand corrected! I never would have guessed it was 2 tenderloin tails. Looks tasty, either way.

It's an eye of round roast. You'll never see a whole tenderloin that only weighs 1.3lbs, let alone at that price. That's a common size for an eye round. It's common to see any cut of beef with a shape like a whole tenderloin being referred to as a filet. You'll see "butcher's filet" and even some people call hanger steaks "hanging filets". It's a great way to market a cheap cut as more than it really is.

You gotta be a cook before you can become a chef. Those are the hours that really kill you. Good luck but make sure you know what you're getting yourself into. Odds are good that you'll not be spending too much time with the family on your journey.

I like this one: 2 tablespoons dry mustard 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar 5 tablespoons milk 2 tablespoons cream 2 tablespoons hot water 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, lightly toasted 1/4 cup soy sauce 1 garlic clove, minced Blend and drink ... or dip some deliciousness in it.

Shove anchovies in mustard into the deeper slots of someone's knife roll and mash them up with a wodden spoon handle. Usually they don't notice until 3-4 days into it.

It's a chamber cryovac, for sure. I use mine similarly to remove air bubbles from solutions with hydrocolloids.

heidih: I always remove the green part ... don't know if that's a non-traditional move or not. Enjoy!

1 Tb pink peppercorns 1Tb black peppercorns 1Tb mustard seed 1 Tb coriander seed 1 Tb fennel seed 1 Tb cardamom seed ¼ cup sugar 2 garlic cloves, peeled 3 cups white wine vinegar Rind from watermelon, cut into chunks, fleshy pink part removed 1. Combine all ingredients except for watermelon rinds in a nonreactive saucepan with 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. 2. Place the rinds in a large plastic container. 3. Pour the boiling liquid over the rinds. Refrigerate and wait 2 weeks before serving. 4. Eat that deliciousness

I sv lamb liver. I cook it to 130F then blowtorch it

You asked for experts and I'm not even close to being one of those but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night (actually I didn't do that either) so I'll add my completely irrelevant and unsolicited opinion by saying that the main problem with using calcium chloride in reverse spheres (in my already admittedly non-expert opinion) is that it tastes nasty. Not bad. Not less than stellar. Plain ol' tastebud-offending bad. Of course I have previously admitted to the possibility that I just have some weird hypersensitivity to the stuff but I've gone down to levels that wouldn't even do the intended job and the stuff still made me wish I'd put something tastier (like a cod liver oil sorbet with extra turpentine) in my mouth. ← Ha! I was hoping my recent stay at a Holiday Inn would help me reach a solution to this problem, as well ... but I'm starting to think those commercials aren't entirely honest. I haven't had the foul-taste problem with reverse spheres you've run into. I'm sure enough of the stuff to any solution will taste pretty gross. Even if I can't figure this out, I'm having plenty of fun with the process either way. I was thinking I could make white wine spheres then carbonate them in my ISI with some soda chargers. Sort of a sparkling wine sphere. Thanks, everyone for the input!