Dave the Cook

We're closing down this particular kitchen. If you're interested in the next phase of Rob's journey, head over here for the rest of the story, and a bit of a (potential) treat.

Those of us that have been following Rob Connoley's (aka gfron1) trek from home cook to down-and-literally-dirty locavore James Beard-semi-finalist chef are justifiably proud of his well-deserved transformation to a published author, which he has faithfully detailed in an earlier topic. If you're not familiar with his story, I urge you to catch up, then come back here, because we're ready to move on to the next step. Rob's book, Acorns & Cattails: A Modern Foraging Cookbook of Forest, Farm & Field, is finally, officially available. This alone is awesome news, and you should totally order your copy today. Or . . . . . . we want to continue the conversation about Rob, his book and his future plans in this topic. And just to up the awesomeness, Rob is offering a free book to a randomly selected participant here. Simply post a question or comment in this topic between now and 11:59 p.m. CST (US), 13 September 2016 and you'll be eligible to "win," based on a random drawing to be conducted, with each participant getting one chance, not including Society volunteers (and Rob himself. Multiple posts will not improve your chances, so don't get overheated.) The winner will be announced on 14 September. Rob will be along shortly to add his encouragement and whatever late-breaking news he has -- he's busy guy these days, so be patient -- but there's no need to wait to post questions or comments. P.S. And if you don't win, you should still get this book.

No disrespect to Jay, but he didn't write this piece. It was written by Leo Benedictus.

We tried this: Grilled Pork and Peaches from NY Times Cooking. Well, we wanted to, but couldn't find peaches that weren't rock hard (yes, we live in Georgia; go figure, but it is pretty late in the season), so had to settle for decidedly non-local nectarines (they're really peaches anyway). Then we couldn't find the suggested pork butt in a two-pound size -- everything was four pounds and up, and I didn't want to bother the meat dudes. So we settled for, well, they're called "shoulder country ribs" here, but I think it's one of those cuts that goes by different names in various parts of the US. Anyway, it was pretty good, though the technique of using a pan over a hot fire created the most amazing mess, leading me to have to reseason a cast-iron skillet. The technique of "a burn that is not burned" is a little tricky, but worth the try if you can cook outside. Sorry, no photos, but I'm sure you'll believe me when I assert that what we made looked exactly like what's in the Times' version. Right. Another dish -- this one more of a straightforward success -- was watermelon sorbet. The recipe started with this, from Alton Brown. It seemed to us like he missed a couple of tricks, so we tweaked a bit to come up with: 18 ounces watermelon 1.5 oz lime juice 1 oz gin (Beefeater) 9 oz white sugar Puree the melon, then add everything else and process to combine and dissolve the sugar. Chill, then freeze in an ice cream maker. This was great. It tasted, if possible, more like watermelon than watermelon itself -- maybe a little too sweet, but well worth another try.

I suppose it depends on why you're looking for an alternative to bleach. Plain old vinegar is pretty effective, though it doesn't kill staph and doesn't work on all types of salmonella. Then there are quats, but those are mildly controversial.

A few weeks ago, we did the twice-baked-potato thing. Since I was building a fire anyway, I made it two-level and baked the potatoes on the cooler side of the grill before removing, cooling and stuffing them. We put them back on the grate to warm them up after stuffing.. The smokiness was a nice twist on what was already a good dish -- good enough that I don't remember what else I grilled that day.

@Deryn, for reference, you might check out this recipe from Serious Eats. It's for lemon ice cream, which we made last week. (If we make it again, we'll skip the candied lemons, which really just got in the way of a pretty good ice cream.) Of course, there are some differences between lemon and orange-pineapple, but maybe this recipe will help direct your thinking, as it shows a way to get good citrus flavor into a custard base. Another thought about the additional liquid that pineapple would bring to the party: maybe dice it and roast it to evaporate the water? Then stir those bits into the ice cream right at the end of the freezing process.

I'm with rotuts. Maybe 145°F for 24 hours. Nothing wrong with fall-off-the-bone doneness, if that's what you like. But 165°/12 hours doesn't make the technique shine; it's just an easy way to get traditional results (again, nothing wrong with that).

I haven't done brisket, but sources that I trust suggest much longer times. Modernist Cuisine prescribes a 7-hour smoke at 149°F followed by sous-vide bath at 146°F for 72 hours. It's worth noting that they're after exactly what you say you want: a facsimile of Texas-style barbecue. ChefSteps recommends 154°F for 24 hours. However, they brine it, apply a glaze of liquid smoke (and a couple of other things) and finish it in the oven. Without having tried it, the recipe sounds as much like pastrami as smoked brisket. Nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't sound quite like what you're after. Having said that, the cook time alone says to me that your brisket might benefit from a longer swim in the hot bath.

Where, please?

When I saw their assertion that salt evaporated, I quit reading.

We don't do many casseroles, either. But recently, we found Kenji's Tuna-Noodle Casserole to be very high on the reward-to-effort ratio, and much lighter than the traditional versions.

I'm not opposed to MSG, either. However, it's worth pointing out that, along with mushrooms (and presumably mushroom extract), autolyzed yeast extract and hydrolyzed soy protein are significant sources of glutamates.

As a place to start, the New York Times' remaining four-stars are EMP, Le Bernardin, Sushi Nakazawa, Jean Georges and Del Posto. Of course, Wells also liked Senor Frog.

Bar Keepers Friend will remove most rust. Once you've done that, you'll want to reseason your pan.

If you click on the photo of the Gourmia, you'll get several more pictures. One of them shows it clipped to a pot with a pretty serious lip on it. I usually use a 16-qt. stock pot or the bottom of our 6L pressure cooker. I think I once had to resort to a 22-qt Cambro, but i can't remember what for, and I was almost certainly being over-cautious about maintaining good circulation. The point is, you probably already have what you need.

+1 on the chicken breast. That's what convinced us.

Having said that, if you're not interested in a lot of byplay and theorizing and just want to jump in with some times and temps, ChefSteps just released a week-long intro-to-sous-vide set of recipes and techniques. I've found Chef Steps to be pretty reliable.

I'd venture to say that you're already there. I mean, here.

I have a PID controller with a slow-cooker, but that setup is extremely slow to come to temp, as well as to recover. In teaching cooling classes, I've also used the Sous Vide Supreme (and the bafflingly sized SVS Demi), as well as the Nomiku. As Chris says, most devices on the market now work pretty well, so it's really just a matter of price. If you have a little patience, and you're in the US, the Anova goes on sale pretty regularly, for the flimsiest of excuses. I got mine last year for $100, based on a Father's Day discount.

What I remember from bottled Italian dressing is the oil-vinegar combination, along with fairly sharp garlic (probably from its powdered form), and general herbage -- nothing overtly basil-like. But it seems to me that there's other stuff in bottled dressings that might avail: gums and so forth that will assist in cling and assure enhanced viscosity. Those things might be as important to a recipe as any specific flavor.

When I worked on a restaurant line -- a lifetime ago -- this was a significant part of the traditional hangover cure.

I don't subscribe to any food magazines, and you can make of that what you will. But my advice to cooks just starting out is to subscribe -- or check at your library -- two or three years' worth of Cooks Illustrated. It gets repetitive, and you'll tire of the straw-man construction of their narratives, but there's lots of "here's why this works" stuff (along with some canards that even Christopher Kimball won't admit to). Then move on to Fine Cooking, which, despite a less ambitious editorial program of late, is still solid stuff. After those, you know enough to choose the next step for yourself.

In addition to its wetness, crappy ice often includes small pieces that melt more quickly when stirred or shaken, leading to an overly diluted product. I think your best bet is a decent cooler with a perforated hotel pan to hold the ice and let it drain. Large holes will let you shake the little chunks out and at the same time bring the bigger pieces to the top (I forget what that principle is called, but it applies, in my experience).

I don't know which food they should revolve around, but I can tell you when they should be. I was thinking about this the other night while explaining the true origins of Cinco de Mayo to a student, and how it was, well, as Jason explains. In the US, CdM comes conveniently about halfway between two other food-related holidays: about six weeks after St. Patrick's Day, and four weeks before Independence Day (or Canada Day, for that matter). After that, we don't have another food holiday occasion until Labor Day (for those not in the States, the first Monday in September). So there's mos def an opportunity to wedge an occasion into early August. Then, food-holiday-wise, it's dry until Canadian Thanksgiving (second Monday in October) or --even worse -- US Thanksgiving (late November). Seems like we need a floating holiday on a Friday in late September.