Paul Kierstead

I've tried a few varieties of fish and, strictly IMO, a few degrees can make a pretty big difference in fish. For example, for the Mahi-mahi I was cooking, 60C was relatively dry but 58C was quite nice; both were unseared. From my general experience with fish, I'd say 60.5 + sear would make most varieties fairly dry ( don't know if you seared or not) and 60.5 without sear would make some fairly dry and leave others ok. I don't think you need a large movement in temperature to get significantly improved results.

The density of ice (water in its frozen state...) is around 0.917. Of course, was the fish flash frozen and then packed, or packed and frozen? Likely the former to prevent damage.

I find the "Pro-omega" eggs (here, anyway, basically a lot of flax in the chicken feed) have much much richer colour then your run of the mill eggs, which are barely pale yellow. My pasta has a rich colour as a result.

You are mixing numbers. Unless I know how many meals that covers, those numbers are meaningless. For example, $11,000 over 11,000 meals would, indeed, be quite a disaster when there is only $0.85 per meal. $11,000 over 1,100,000 meals would only be $0.01 per meal, a change in costs of less than 1%. Absolute numbers are meaningless, especially when the absolute budget is not given. To be very very clear: I am not accusing you of any kind of dishonesty, but quoting absolute numbers is almost always disingenuous, because it is designed to make things sound "big", when in fact it may not be big at all in the scope of things. So I still don't know if those beans are expensive or not. To clarify: I cannot tell if the numbers applied directly to your scenario of a $13M budget or not (i.e. do the scale to the number of meals you were serving). As to making it affordable, the larger question is: What is the value to society of the food you serve people? Not an easy question, but much larger then "can I make the current budge make sense"

Pretty hard to get a handle on those numbers; they could be a lot of money, or hardly any at all. For example, what increase in fees/taxes (or however those places pay for school lunches) would that correspond to, percentage wise, per tax payer? Or how much is it per student? Or, at the very least, what percentage change is that in the lunch budget?

In my experience, 2 degrees F would make a difference in fish, but admittedly no where near one big enough to cause disappointment.[Moderator note: This topic continues here: Sous Vide: Recipes, Techniques & Equipment (Part 7)]

Ah, well then, that definitely wouldn't explain the whole pink thing then But it might contribute to the dryness. I find a really good sear renders off quite a bit of fat near the surface and definitely helps make things moist. And tasty

Also, of course, searing technique could affect doneness.

Your numbers are looking pretty good. It is a very good thing to check, especially if you are doing long cooks at low temps, or are having results which don't "seem right".

Well, if you want to graph it super accurately, those would be fine. But what I'd look for right off the bat is just a general temperature offset, which is not uncommon. Then look for linearity problems by multiple samples. I would be surprised if there were strong linearity problems.

Well, I just tried some short ribs. Wow, those were ridiculously good. I've never had such short ribs; by far, the best beef thing to come out of the sous-vide yet. These will be repeated. 45h @ 56C, went in with a little S&P&garlic powder. Most fat trimmed on the way in. Seared in grill pan + torch afterwords; made sure some fat rendered and moistened everything. Reduced bag juice with some W sauce, poured over.

Resolution (or precision) does not translate to accuracy. Your bath could easily have a temperature offset. I'd check with a few friends for a good thermometer (hopefully checked recently) and try it out; it might be right, or wrong, but is definitely worth checking.

Have you cross checked the temperature? I find that 55C results in meat more then a little pink. Of course, I haven't done it for 48h (but will this evening when I pull out some short ribs), but have for 24h.

Patrik, that is seriously cool. I just squeezed 3 short ribs into my poor rice cooker and have been contemplating how to get more capacity; that is seriously good idea you have going there, especially the source of the coil. I'd be curious how the pump holds up. I may have to contemplate.

I don't have any general guidance. About the only thing I go by is to start fatty fish at a bit of a lower temp then lean fish. The real outlier -- tuna -- I don't do sous-vide (I love it seared too much). Fish can be cooked -- and loved -- in a huge variety of ways, and I think the only way to get your way is to experiment. If the fish is a bit too firm and dry (and falls apart out of the bag), I'd say it is too hot. If it is a bit too wet, or squishy, it is too cool. A degree or two is a fairly big change, so you don't want to change it much. I usually use Douglas Baldwin's pasteurization times, more or less, so I wouldn't consider an hour to be a long time in the bath, though I've never cooked much beyond an hour or drastically shorter (maybe 1/2 is my shortest), so I am not sure about the impact of smaller variations of time on texture. I never marinate fish (just a personal choice). Sometimes I S&P before cooking, sometimes after. Occasionally I use a touch of garlic powder before. Usually, if I wish to dress the flavour, I use a sauce. The thing about fish is that peoples concept of a "fish dish" varies pretty wildly. In my experience, most people like fish pretty buried in other flavours. I actually like fish, as fish, so my preference may not align with others well. I like the taste of fish. Of course, it has to be served with the right things; if you serve it with very strongly flavoured dishes, the fish will be extremely bland; it has to be a balanced meal.

If you genuinely like fish (not just a good fried flavour), I think you'll find sous-vide incredible. We have fish done sous-vide several times every week. Tonight it was Tilapia. We do sometimes make a sauce (last week, a mango salsa) but often just with a little S&P & lemon. Different species like slighly different temperatures; for example, Mahi-mahi seems to like 58, but I think the Tilapia wants 58.5 or 59. We shall see.

I seen some pork side ribs in a big pack for dirt cheap, so bought them hoping for a plan later Yesterday, tried doing a rack sous-vide; I used Baldwin's instructions and rub as a starting point. Did the brine overnight, then the sousvide during the day (80 C for about 11 hours). I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. I smoke ribs a lot during the summer and wasn't expecting a lot out of this technique (especially since I didn't have the greatest of luck with the smoking of side ribs, only back ribs). They don't taste the same as smoked, but they were extremely good with a little BBQ sauce. Very very succulent and moist and flavourful; a duck confit type texture and moistness (and richness of flavour). I'll likely use the meat for pulled-pork style sandwiches this evening, but I think I can foresee it in salads and just plain alone too.

I'm also curious about the role ash plays. Does all the loose ash get airborne in some fanning before the food is placed, or is there some other effect?

Tonight, made the buttermilk fried chicken. My g/f always said she didn't really "get" fried chicken; it was ok, but no more than that. After having this she said "Now I see what the obsession with fried chicken is all about". Absolutely fantastic. I will make again.

Again, there is no law against you drinking raw milk. Outside of some narcotics, there are no laws about what you eat/drink etc. Look, you can poke yourself in the eye all day and it is legal. If I poke you in the eye, it is a different story. The protection laws are about the obligations of sellers, not what you can drink. There is a worthwhile discussion to be had about that, but throwing in the hysteria of "The government can't tell me what to drink!!!" not only doesn't add to the discourse, but is also untrue; they are NOT telling you that you can't drink raw milk. They are telling you that you can't sell it. The regulations about selling things are there for orderly society and to prevent undue harm from irresponsible (*), dishonest or malicious sellers; whether this one is necessary or not is interesting, but it isn't about what you are allowed to drink. (*) where irresponsible may just mean they have not sufficiently informed the consumer. Or they are sloppy.

Well than you'll be happy to know there isn't a single place which regulates the drinking of raw milk.

I've made the scallops several times. I use the giant scallops and buy the best local ones I can find (dry); they run about $3/scallop here (seafood is expensive in general here). That recipe is all technique. Heat control is absolutely key. It took me a couple of times to hit it just right and results are still not as reliable as I would like, but they are actually pretty good each time. Last time I served it on some Frisée; the was an error, it was too bitter. In all the previous times I served it on some apricot preserves (essentially apricot purée). I also bought a super thin flipper just because of that recipe. I now serve scallops fearlessly to guests.

That is unfortunate, rickster; I've made that 4 times or so and it has worked everytime. I wonder what the variances are. I do cook it for the recommended period. I should note that I use Halibut, but that shouldn't make much difference. The only time my crust approached 'oily' was once when I did crowded the pan too much and there wasn't enough heat (I should have used 2 pans). Of course, oily is a matter of taste, so all my results could have been oily. Haven't ever had the coating even come close to falling off. I do leave the coating down in the pan.

I guess it kind of begs the question: Is boiled then peeled different then peeled than boiled, nutrition/taste/texture wise? How does cut (in pieces, or just scored) affect it? If they aren't all equivalent, then her method may have merit.

My latest from Ad Hoc was the Glazed Sweet Potatoes. Visible in this, rather poor I'm afraid, picture. They were extremely good. As shown, they were served with steak (sous-vide, then seared 30s/side) and braised bok choi. The bok choi was a good match. The steak was an OK match. We had a fairly sweet red wine with it; it was not as sweet with the potatoes; I don't think you would want a dry wine with something so sweet. These will, for sure, get made again.