therippa

Recipes cooked/methods used so far.. Pistachio Pesto Everyone here was right, it was a great hit Cooking a pizza on a steel plate I ordered the Baking Steel from kickstarter when it was available, and had a bring-your-own-toppings pizza party last week. I used Serious Eat's fermented dough recipe, and had success with the steel, but the crust still didn't bubble and char quite like I had hoped it would. Here are some pics - http://imgur.com/a/dp95c Turkey Breast I'm going to be sous-viding the thanksgiving turkey again this year, so over the weekend I made the turkey breast recipe (along side with a standard 5% brined sous-vide'd turkey breast for comparison). The recipe calls for you to remove the skin, and I learned why - when finishing the breast off in a hot skillet to sear the skin, the sugars from the apple juice/milk solution burn. While it didn't take away from the flavor, the appearance wasn't so great. The turkey itself was delicious, juicy with a definite hint of apple to it, but I think it would be more reserved for a "turkey meal", not thanksgiving. The traditional roasted flavor of the standard brined turkey breast won the taste contest with my girlfriend, so that's what I'll be serving at her parent's house in a few weeks.

Isn't there a pressure-relief safety feature? I usually charge my ISI soda siphon with 2 chargers, and about 5% of the last charger will come rushing out because it's just a teeny bit too much pressure. I imagine you could add chargers until bean foam starts unwantedly spraying all over your counter top, but you don't have to worry about it exploding

Scanpan sell a set of two, that share the same lid. Consdiering the price, it works well - you get a big one for stocks, and a small one for smaller meals - eg perfect for the carrot soup. I meant I already have an 11-quart pressure cooker I use for stocks. That's too big to make carrot soup or risotto for two.

What size pressure cooker is everyone using? I have an 11-quart I use for stocks and such, but that is way too big for most of these recipes. I'm assuming 6-quart is ideal?

This lists the differences... http://blog.medellitin.com/2012/07/polyscience-sous-vide-professional.html "The Creative can heat a 20 liter bath to a maximum temperature of 99ºC within 0.1ºC, and has a fixed flow rate of 6 liters per minute. Contrast that to the SVP Chef which can heat a 30 liter bath to a maximum temperature of 100ºC within 0.07ºC, and has a variable flow rate of up to 12 liters per minute. According to the website, the Creative takes up the same amount of space as the Chef (14.125 x 3.875 x 7.375 in), but is significantly lighter (5.5 pounds versus 9.5 pounds)."

Polyscience just announced a "consumer" immersion circulator priced at $499 http://www.cuisinetechnology.com/sousvide-creative.php

I've done wild beaver tail (the beginning feel of the meat was quite similar to shanks) at 140F for 48 hours and it broke down ALL connective tissue and let me get every last bit of meat from the bone.

I recently had a chamomile old-fashioned at Two Sisters Bar & Books in San Francisco. It was like a normal old fashioned, but with chamomile added and they substituted the sugar for honey. It was delicious.

You can get ultrasperse-3 here - http://www.modernistpantry.com/ultra-sperse-3.html They ship anywhere in the world.

Found this on Cutlery and More today - http://www.cutleryandmore.com/chefn/bananza-banana-slicer-p121676 Seriously?!

I found the link to the parody attached to an article on Serious Eats showing this video...granted though, their recipe for beef stew is quite simpler, and the one they are talking about in this video is from the Bouchon cookbook.

Came across this and thought you guys would like it - http://www.iwritefunny.com/2011/11/29/cooks-illustrated-the-day-i-killed-a-man/

I've been a lurker on this thread for a while, so I thought I'm chime in...and maybe bring it back from the dead while I'm at it. In San Francisco I'm lucky to have a couple of bars that make an honest Old Fashioned...they are strong but not overpowering, don't have seltzer water, and aren't like a muddled fruit cocktail with a splash of whiskey in them. After many trips to The Alembic, I started paying close attention to how they make them, since I could never get it quite right at home. So, fueled by a couple of them tonight, I thought I'd share my recipe that is strongly influenced, or perhaps somewhat stolen, from said bar... 1. Place 3/4 teaspoon of sugar, two or three dashes of bitters, and 2 ounces of good bourbon in a glass, swirl with a spoon until the sugar has dissolved. 2. Using a vegetable peeler, peel off a slice of the lemon skin from one end to the other. Twist over the bourbon mix, and then wipe the inside rim of the glass with it. Leave it in the glass. 3. Add 4 standard sized ice cubes, swirl with a spoon 25 times to melt the ice a little and mellow it. 4. Drink up!

Thanks, I got my dad that knife for father's day a couple years back, he loves it too. I let the second loin rest longer, there was much less loss...though even with all that juice on the cutting board, it was still verrrrry moist

FWIW, I have never had any trouble traveling with my circulator in my carry-on baggage. I would never think of packing it in checked baggage. I certainly would have survived the way I originally had it packed, but yes, next time I'm going to take it carry-on...might even buy one of their travel bags for it.

Followup from cooking the venison loin sous vide... I used the Modernist Cuisine method of setting the water bath to 149 and cooking to a core temp of 133. I was able to use the awesome Sous Vide Dash app for the iPad to correctly estimate exactly how long it would take to come to that temp. The beautiful results are below... My family and I agreed that it was the best venison we've ever had, and we also agreed it was one of the best pieces of meat we'd ever had. I ended up cooking another loin like this a few days later. In more unfortunate news, some inept jackass TSA agent took it upon himself to repack my suitcase, moving the immersion circulator I had laying on its side packed around soft clothes so it was screen-up at the top of the suitcase. Here's what it looked like when I arrived at my parent's house Polyscience will be replacing the screen and not charging me for the labor, and I have to open a complaint with TSA to try to recoup the money [edited for clarity]

The manual ziplock pump works great for me and I prefer it over my foodsaver. If I could do it all over again I would have skipped spending $200 on the foodsaver, used the manual ziploc system, and eventually saved up for a chamber sealer.

Yes, this is wild as well. Whenever my dad get a deer he makes some jerky and then grinds the rest of it for loose sausage...I'm going to try to wow him with this

Per Modernist Cuisine, you don't want to cook venison SV using the equilibrium temperature technique. It takes too long, and becomes mushy (due to enzyme activity I think) and gamy. So in order to cook it more quickly, you set the water bath higher than the target temperature and pull it out according to a strict timetable (and let it rest). Thanks, I missed that apparently...will have to consult MC again when I get home.

Does anyone here have experience cooking venison loin sous vide? I want to know if time is a factor, as in if I leave it in too long the meat gets that "livery" flavor or becomes too gamey.

Yes, I have duck fat and all that in the bag. I feel their temp for the breast (160) is too high though. I don't want to remove the skin, it crisps up fine for me in a very hot oven. My problem isn't how to sous vide the turkey, I've got that down, it's more the ideal way to keep it warm/reheat it and keep the skin somewhat crisp

My friends and I are having an "orphan" thanksgiving, and I volunteered to do the turkey (my pleasure to do so). The original plan was for about 15 people, but the invite list soon ballooned to about 23. I knew that even if I roasted the big bird, I'd still have to make an extra turkey breast, and I decided I'd sous vide it. After referring to the times and temp Dave Arnold at Cooking Issues found worked best for him, I sous vide'd a turkey breast Saturday night as a test to make sure it would come out like I wanted it to. I ended up doing 2.5 hours (pasteurization time) at 64c, and finished by throwing it in a 500 oven for about 20 minutes. Results were great, meat was delicious and juicy, skin was crisp (although that didn't last for long, but I've come to expect that). It came out so well I've decided I'm going to sous vide all of it...I'm going to bag the breasts and cook at 64c, bag the legs and cook them at 65c after the breasts are done (or perhaps confit them). Here's my dilemma...transporting to the party and re-heating/roasting As far as I can tell I have two options, with pros and cons...can anyone think of a better solutions? Solution #1: roast at my house, bring to the party completely cooked. PROS: Less work to do at the party, I know my oven and it's roasting habits well CONS: Skin will not be crisp when served, risk overcooking when reheating in oven at party Solution #2 (what I think I'm going to do): bring turkey in sous vide bags in cooler to maintain temp, roast at party PROS: Skin will be crisper? (but will still have to sit and rest while other food is warmed in oven post-roast) CONS: Turkey will sit tented in foil while other side dishes brought are warmed in the oven Other solutions I've thought of have been searing the turkey on the stovetop, but I imagine the burners will be occupied with things like mashed potatoes and the gravy I'm also bringing. Does anyone have any thoughts or modifications that would streamline this a little more?

You might be able to preserve your investment with the purchase of a couple of 'Ove' Gloves. Long ago I used welding gloves for their intended purpose and they're about keeping external, airborne slag from hitting your skin. Not for holding hot things. The Nomex Ove' Gloves are no good at protecting against hot liquids, but are good with dry ambient heat. Together, they could be a good pairing. When I need to hold something REALLY hot I put on an ove glove and then one of the non-insulated welding gloves over it. This is a completely heat-proof solution, I've been able to hold things that were hot enough to make the leather smoke a little a felt no heat inside the glove.

After reading this I went to home depot and bought two pairs of different welding gloves to try out since I've been unhappy with my current oven gloves getting too hot. Tested them out with a sheet pan in the oven at 375 for 10 minutes picking it up wearing my old mitt on one hand and the welding glove on the other. The welding gloves were burning my one hand before I could even feel heat on the old mitt hand. I'm returning them to home depot today. Is there a specific brand/model of welding glove you use? This is the same problem I had with welding gloves, you need to get the heavy duty ones with insulation, not just heavy leather. They do not sell these kind at home depot.

I was making clarified butter and wasn't paying attention, so it burned. I usually just pour small amounts of fat down the sink (I know, but hey, I rent), but this time I said I'll do the right thing and pour it off into a can so it could cool down and then throw it away. I poured it into an empty soda can and left it in the sink. A couple minutes later I had to rinse something off and a little water splashed into the can. It started making popping noises and jumping around a little bit. I leaned over to look into it and suddenly it all blows out of the top of the can. Luckily I wear glasses so I didn't get scalding hot butter in my eyes. My kitchen was COVERED with butter, it took forever to clean up.