Rico

Also done. And I'm curious if you've got a specific garlic/coffee/chocolate number in mind. ETA: Ah - I now see the above mention of rubs. I am nonetheless intrigued

I'll throw another wow in there for good measure. That must have been quite an event - everything looks wonderful!

Baselard - that dish is gorgeous, and reminds me of the sorrel I decided to grow this year. I grew two plants from seed, only to discover that sorrel's intense flavor makes it far too challenging an ingredient for me to use with much frequency. Yup, I grew it before I knew what it tasted like. Carts before horses and such. All that to say, if I could assemble a dish like that, I'm sure I'd have no problems at all using up the stuff ... Dinner the other night from My Calabria - the Braciole (vraciole, I think is what they call it in the Calabrian dialect) with spaghetti. Had a bunch of garden veggies as well, so make a roasted garlic aioli (is that redundant if the garlic is roasted? How else do you describe it - roasted aioli?)

Reviving this thread; I know bacon is *so* 2009, but I might just be a slow learner. And I still like it. This is my fourth belly to cure, and its the first one I've been really happy with - that is to say, the first one I'm convinced beats most of the store-bought brands out there. Red pepper and bourbon were the highlights of the cure, and it was applewood smoked (a thick smoke) for four hours. It's summer here in Dallas, so the smoking was done at about 100 degrees, despite my best efforts to keep the chamber cool. No worse for the wear, as far as I can tell.

Don't be ashamed! We've all got some 'trashy' faves that we'll rarely admit to loving. Good on ya! Agreed! Heat up a can of Wolf brand and throw a few spoonfuls in a bag of Fritos and I'm in hog heaven - No shame here. High cholesterol, maybe, but no shame.

Okay, the calcium chloride seemed to work, but I didn't take into account my own lack of foresight when placing the ripening milk on top of the washing machine - much to my horror, I found the machine running not an hour later, giving the milk a good shake and ensuring no large curds formed. So now I'm ordering more of the culture the recipe calls for, and have found myself wondering also about this Crescenza recipe - she says this is a cheese that is traditionally made from raw milk and is left overnight to ripen. Her recipe, however, calls for pasteurized milk, calcium chloride, and rennet. This leads me to a few questions ... If I can get raw milk, should I just gently heat it to desired temp, add the cultures and let them do their thing? If I get pasteurized milk, it's likely only going to be ultra-pasteurized. I can't seem to find the low-temp-pasteurized stuff anywhere. Would that mean I'd need to add extra calcium chloride to the 1/4 teaspoon the recipe calls for (to 1/4 teaspoon regular-strength liquid rennet)? And last, how does calcium chloride affect cultures, if at all?

Prawncrackers, I've been spending some time thinking of a way to describe my admiration for that meal and preparation, and still am left with little but 'I want some'. Here in Dallas the local lobster supply is slim, but I've got a glut of tomatoes from the garden (not complaining), which means it's BLT season. I may be sick of them by the time August rolls around (but I doubt it) ...

Thanks, Nick. It's nice to know I can at least fall back to mozzarella when I need a confidence boost. I added the calcium chloride (dissolved in chlorine-free water), the culture, 2 drops rennet (also dissolved in chlorine-free water), and stirred gently. Didn't see any changes immediately. Should I have? The recipe says to wait 18 hours for the curds, so I imagine I shouldn't be worried. Right?

Okay, so I'm adding Calcium Chloride to the Cabecou - what I've read seems to have volume ratios, but I'm gathering that as small an amount as 1/8 teaspoon should do it for 2 quarts of goat milk ... will report back unless soon instructed otherwise. Meanwhile, though, my frustration got the best of me and I strayed. I made some mozzarella with a gallon of raw milk from a farm I'm lucky to have very near my house. Quick and easy, and paired with a tomato just pulled from the vine out back, it made for a nice lunch and a necessary success on this cheesemaking quest ...

Thanks, Nina - I have read that in a place or two, but the recipe calls specifically for pasteurized goats milk and omits any mention of calcium chloride - I've refrained from getting any for that reason; it seems like a too-obvious ingredient to accidentally leave out, right?

So I have recently purchased Artisan Cheese Making at Home, and of course first came here to find all relevant cheese making knowledge my fellow eG'ers had bequeathed unto the forums. And I'll start with the first question, hoping someone has some insight! I'm making the cabecou from the book; it's a marinated goat cheese. Or, at least, it's supposed to be. What I'm getting is milk that's not coagulating. The recipe calls for: 1 drop liquid rennet (regular strength) diluted in 5 TBSP cool, unchlorinated water (check). 1/4 teaspoon mesophilic culture (check) 2 quarts goat milk (I am using Meyenberg, which is all I can find at the stores - Whole foods, Central Market, all of them. I can drive an hour to get some raw stuff, but I'm hoping that won't be necessary. One of my fears is that the high temps of pasteurization precludes the development of curds, but it appears others have had a decent amount of success with this particular milk) And there are more ingredients to the recipe, but those are the only ones relevant to the current problem. I am heating the milk in a double boiler, slowly, to 75F (on the third try I tried 86F), adding the culture, waiting five minutes, whisking it in thoroughly but gently, then immediately adding the rennet in a similar fashion. I cover, but not airtight, and place the bowl in my utility room, which is registering between 70-73 degrees F. 18 hours later, I have milk. Maybe with a few dots that happened to cling together, but they fall apart even when gently ladled over butter muslin. So am I cheese cursed or what?

There's a place here that serves their scallops with a ancho oil. The flavor is spicy, sweet and smoky, and the bright, vivid red really gives the appearance a colorful pop. Plus, the oil's pretty easy to make and save for later use (it's great on grilled corn, too) ...

What was the whisk made of (I'm reading 'stainless pot, whisk ...' as 'stainless pot, also a whisk'; if the whisk is also stainless then the question is moot, of course)? Perhaps an aluminum whisk would have reacted to the lemon juice? That's my best guess.

Actually, I believe that would be considered well done. Kidding.

In the several attempts with my KA stuffer attachment I had the same experience you describe, and like Chris, I ultimately relented and bought a dedicated stuffer. FWIW, I got a 5-pound piston stuffer, and for me, at least, it makes a world of difference. I really would have a hard time overstating how much it improved my final results.

Just a quick question for those with more science knowledge than myself - how long would the pressure-cooked garlic confit last in the freezer in pint-sized canning jars? I would love to quintuple the recipe and have enough for a long, long time ...

Just out of curiosity ... Want to switch freezers?

Tomatoes are not in season in Dallas right now. Which makes looking at those BLT photos nothing short of torturous. Those are beautiful.

RRO - 110 Fahrenheit? Geez. That's killer. If there is a way to make it bearable, though, it appears that you've found it. The dish looks great, and the color just pops, you know? For dinner last night I made some shrimp skewers that had been marinating in a Vietnamese-style ... marinade ... Fish Sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, honey, rice vinegar, garlic and thai chilies. Dipping sauce in the bowl the back.

Wow - thank you all for the kind words! I wish I could take credit for the idea of using beef cheeks, but alas, it was gleaned from Volume 3 of Modernist Cuisine. It is remarkably good, and I'll be making it again, perhaps weekly. Went with cherry wood for the smoke.

Pastrami for dinner. Just sliced pastrami. Made the beef cheek version and, after six days' worth of preparation and waiting, I just wanted to eat pure, unadulterated pastrami.

I think Rotuts was referring to the blocks at the top of each sealed packet. Looks like seasoning on top of an ice cube, or something like that ... Quite curious, myself.

Okay, so assuming I do the frozen bouillon cube (brilliant idea, by the way) sans salt, then 113 for 30 mins should do it, correct? With a touch of salt after removal? Scottyboy, I would do the olive oil, but I want to stay as true to the original recipe as possible (yes, while changing the entire technique. My rules are arbitrary and illogical), at least this time. But will mine still look like yours? Because I'd like for that to happen. (Edited because I can't spell bouillon. Or receiver, strangely enough. But the receiver part isn't relevant.)

I've got a dinner party this weekend, and there's a recipe for a poached halibut with warm vinaigrette such-and-such (the vinaigrette part's not that important). The thing is this: I've got a bunch of courses, and was wondering if I could convert this particular recipe into a sous-vide approach by sealing the halibut in with the court bouillon and keeping it in the SV. The potential issues I'd have are this: 1. I believe 130 is too high for halibut, right? But It's no good to keep it at temperatures below that for extended periods, correct? Would a good solution be to just pre-seal them and then drop them in after the first course or so? 2. To what degree would an extended time in the court bouillon negatively affect the fish? A poaching time of 6 or 7 minutes is obviously a lot shorter than the time it would spend sealed in the bag. It's a pretty standard court boullion: water, aromatics, boquet garni, wine and salt. I'm sure there are aspects I haven't considered, but all that to say, any help would be very ... helpful (hat tip to Graham Chapman).

I've been doing loads of lazy lurking in lieu of actual participation - for shame, I know, but it's so easy to merely meander through in the food on this thread! I got a steak-like cut from the chuck the other day from my butcher. Threw it in the SVS for an hour at 141 and seared it before the chimichurri. It was good, but still had a little too much chew; going to try a significantly longer time at a little lower temp next time. The flavor is killer, though. Marinated bell peppers in the back. Edited because, despite the fact that I have been on egullet for years, I have only just now figured out how to post links to photos. See what I mean about this lazy thing?