mgaretz

Second attempt at the char siu sous vide experiment, and I am happy to report the dog didn't get to it this time! I took some pork tenderloin and used some packaged, dry char siu "mix" as a rub, then vacuum sealed and left to marinate in the fridge overnight. Then into the sous vide bath at 135F for 4 hours. Take out and pat dry and baste with honey. Then onto the super hot grill for a few minutes on each side to char. Afer removing the from the grill I rebasted the tops with honey and left them to cool, then sliced. Wow! Best char siu ever! Wonderfully tender and juicy, but still has all the other attributes of char siu. Whole before the final baste: Sliced:

It looks like this is the best place to post this question: I have "decent" knife skills, but one thing I haven't figured out how to stop from happening. When slicing round veggies, such as carrots, zuchinni, etc., invariably some of the cut pieces will roll or fall backwards into the chopping path, resulting in those pieces being cut further. This can also happen with say, celery, where the pieces build up on the blade as I am slicing and fall off into the knife path. (FYI my usual knife for these tasks is a Wusthoff Classic Santoku that has gratons - I never found the gratons actually did anything to prevent the veggies from sticking to the blade.) Is there something I am doing wrong?

Robirdstix that crawfish looks yummy! Is that potato in the center?

Last night we had salad with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and fennel from the CSA and carrots and celery. Along with top sirloin prepared sous vide and then finished on the grill - a little too long on one side as you can see:

Last night was pizza with home made low carb crust, sauce, fresh heirloom tomatoes from the CSA, chicken basil sausage (which I pre-browned), red bell pepper and mozarella. The cheese was Kraft shredded because the package states "zero grams of lactose per serving" which is not the same as lactose-free. When I asked Kraft how much was really there, they couldn't tell me. I am happy to report that two slices didn't have negative effect on this very intolerant person.

Well the plan last night was to make char siu sous vide and then use it in a stir fry. I used a packaged char siu marinade mix as a rub on one of those thin, cylindrical tenderloins and vacuum packed it and ket it "marinate" for 24 hours. Then 5 hours at 135F. I fired up the grill and basted the pork in honey while waiting for the grill to heat. I went outside to check the temp and it was only 200F - I had run out of propane. I keep a spare tank so I went back inside, set the pork on the dining room table (it's near the door to the patio) and changed the tank and fired up the grill again. I went back inside to wait for the grill to come back up to temp. There was an empty plate on the table and a guilty but happy-looking dog staring at me! Defrosted some shrimp and saved the dinner. I did cook the shrimp sous vide (25 minutes at 140F) and then tossed it in at the end. The shrimp was great this way. When I repeat the experiment, I'll take pictures. I was too depressed to snap the stir-fry. I was sooo looking forward to that pork!

Shelby's actually frying the chicken conventionally in Crisco and then finishing the chicken with a small amount of water in the pressure cooker. I got one of the Pressure Magic cookers (evidently made by Fagor) at a county fair. It works well, but I admit I haven't used it much - the TFal self-draining and filtering fryer is more convenient and I don't know that there's a huge difference in the final chicken when made with the same batter - leading me to believe the batter is the most important part, not the temperature of the oil beyond 375F.

When we went to Belgium two summers ago, I fell in love with this dish and ate it just about every chance I had. The best ones were made with either kriek or framboise - cherry or raspberry flavored lambics. Lindeman's framboise is pretty easy to find in the states, the kriek a touch harder but I like it better. I make mine in the slow cooker, the recipe is on my blog (see sig).

Fresh tomatoes from my Dad's garden inspired a summer favorite: cold shrimp with sliced veggies (avocado, cucumber, red pepper along with the tomatoes). This time, however, I did the shrimp sous vide. 140f for 40 minutes then into an ice bath to quick chill them. Once they were cold I removed them from the vacuum pouch, drained them and patted them dry, the chilled in the fridge until dinner. The shrimp was perfect - succulent and not hint of chewiness. They also seemed to retain their size better than my usual quick dunk in boiling water then chill method.

No pictures, I apologize. It was all consumed by the time I remembered. Tonight we had a plethora of things. For my wife and daughter I made free-range chicken meatballs, sauted in a little olive oil and served over pasta. I had a sous vide sirloin steak. It was a 2" thick piece of prime beef and was by far the best sous vide steak I have made yet. (Seasoned with McCormick "Montreal" steak rub, 130F for an hour, then seared on the BBQ.) Sides were roasted baby beets from the CSA (in olive oil with salt and pepper) served with their beet tops, steamed.

My red sauces always have some Marsala in them.

dcarch, that chuck roast looks great. How long and at what temperature did you cook it?

Like I said in the original post, when we had the leftovers last night I made a mushroom sauce and that improved them a lot. People over in the sous vide forum made some suggestions - higher temp and/or longer time. But next time, I think I will try a different cut. Now that brisket is an "in" cut, it sells for the same price as sirloin! I do want to try a london broil (top round).

Tonight we tried sous vide brisket. It was about 2lb 6 ozs after trimming all the fat away (and it was extremely lean to begin with). Sous vide at 130F for 44 hours - no seasoning in the bag, just the meat. Then a quick sear on the BBQ: The whole piece after searing: And after slicing: We ate it plain, no sauce, just with salt and pepper. It wasn't dry but not real juicy either. It was tender for brisket, but not meltingly tender as I had hoped. The taste was, well, brisket. Nothing amazing. When we eat the leftovers I plan to make a mushroom sauce.

Tonight we tried sous vide brisket. It was about 2lb 6 ozs after trimming all the fat away (and it was extremely lean to begin with). Sous vide at 130F for 44 hours - no seasoning in the bag, just the meat. Then a quick sear on the BBQ: The whole piece after searing: And after slicing: We ate it plain, no sauce, just with salt and pepper. It wasn't dry but not real juicy either. It was tender for brisket, but not meltingly tender as I had hoped. The taste was, well, brisket. Nothing amazing. When we eat the leftovers I plan to make a mushroom sauce.

Thanks. I also plan to make char siu sous vide. My plan is to use one of those skinny tenderloins and use the dry packaged char siu mix as a dry rub, letting the juice from the loin and the time in the bath marinate it. (Plan is 4 hours at 130F per a suggestion from Douglas Baldwin.) Then remove, baste with honey and char on the BBQ.

At the county fair yesterday, on a whim, I bought a sushi "maker". I have a mat/roll but I have never tried it. Anyway, the booklet that came with the gadget suggested putting the vinegar, salt and sugar into the rice cooker with the water and rice. But looking at my books and the web, no one else recommends this (and some say not to do it). Has anyone tried it? One other question (observation): If we must use short grain rice because it's sticky, why does everyone recommend rinsing the starch off the rice so thoroughly? (I have found for making long grain rice like basmati in my rice cooker, I can't tell the difference if I rinse it or not, so I never do any more.) Thoughts?

When the CSA gives you summer squash, japanese eggplant and sweet peppers.... you make ratatouille! The colors looked so nice in the pan before I added the tomato, I had to take a shot:

Last night we had baby backs sous vide at 143f for 22 hours then finished on the grill. Yummy!

Seems like there's a new sous vide setup on the market - the AquaChef - it sells for about $200 plus shipping. You can see it here. Clearly it's a deep fryer reprogrammed for the sous vide temperature range. (I was wondering how long it would before someone did this to a fryer/slow cooker with temp control like the Hamilton Beach/electric pressure cooker.) I'm not about to trade my SVS for one of these, but anyone have any experience with one?

vengroff - did your iPad app ever come out? I couldn't locate it in the app store.

My SV Supreme arrived yesterday - for a quick trial I did some "poached" eggs using Douglas Baldwin's basic instructions - 148F for 45 minutes. The whites were just a tad runny but perfectly acceptable and better yet, my wife loved them. When I told her we were having the eggs for dinner (served over leftover 3-bean vegetarian chili) she was very happy but she was a bit taken back when I brought the eggs, still in the shell, to the table. "You don't mean poached eggs, you mean soft-boiled eggs," she said. "Nope. Poached." "But they're still in the shell. Poached eggs are made in water," she explained. I cracked one and poured it out onto my chili and she was amazed. Tomorrow night - sirloin!

No, it's not quite that easy. First, egg yolk is about 26% fat, so 12% fat poultry meat probably isn't a good reference. Two, the cocktail of Salmonella species for those experiments may not have even include Salmonella enteritidis. I'll let the board know if I find something useful in the literature. Wow! Thanks Douglas.

If i remember correctly Modernist Cuisine calls for ~2 hours at 131 deg. for pasteurizing eggs. I did it with my circulator, but just to be on the safe side i used 132 (circulators and thermometers have measurement error..thought it would be good to be just a touch higher, and i don't know if they'll ever pasteurize below 131...i forget what the tables in MC list), which partially cooked the whites, they not look hazed. they're fine for cooking with, but not clear and perfect like the purchased pasteurized eggs. As I understand it, the purchased pasteurized eggs only have the shells pasteurized and not the internals. That gets rid of near all the risk, but I figured if I have the equipment, why not remove all of the risk? Did you try to whip them? My primary interest is in using them to make mousse.

I've taken the plunge and ordered a Sous Vide Supreme. Has anyone used sous vide to pasteurize eggs instead of cooking them? I'm thinking that the proper amount of time and the correct temperature should work. (I'm talking about really pasteurizing the entire egg, not just the shell.)