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therippa

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    Sous Vide: Recipes, Techniques & Equipment (Part 7)

    in Cooking

    Posted

    If you go to Golden Gate Meat Co. on 7th street, not the ferry building but the main plant. Even though you aren't a restaurant just say that you'd like to fill out a credit app. Tell them you just want to do "Will call, C.O.D." So that means you pick it up and pay cash when you do. I don't they care if you're a restaurant or not because you aren't running on credit. It's literally 60% less than on the SRF website.

    Do you still have to buy things in wholesale quantities or is it more like buying something from Polarica?

    Who Skips Breakfast?

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted · Edited by therippa (log)

    The closest thing I've had to a regular breakfast in the last 10 years was the 4 months of smoothie making I did after getting my Vita-Mix. While I enjoyed having a smoothie every morning, I fell out of habit just by forgetting to assemble the ingredients the night before into the carafe and sticking it in the fridge (or in the case of the weekends, to drunk to remember or do so :biggrin: )

    I don't have time to put together anything in the morning. With major city traffic, I have to be out the door at 7:20am if I want my 5 mile trip to take less than 30 minutes. That gives me just enough time to wake up at 7:00, take a quick shower, and run out the door. Waking up before 7am doesn't jive with being a late-twenties bachelor.

    If after I get to work and settle in I'm still really hungry, I'll go grab a bagel or something.

    (edit: typo)

    Sous Vide: Recipes, Techniques & Equipment (Part 7)

    in Cooking

    Posted

    If he can find someone to go diving with, I'll have three of them tomorrow night. I was going to have him cook up one the old fashioned way, and I was going to sv the other two (one with butter in the bag). I still think I'm going to let it go for 24 hours to break down the collagen.

    Does anyone remember the reason why we only sv shellfish for 40 minutes or so?

    go-to cocktail for young ladies

    in Spirits & Cocktails

    Posted

    I think it's important just to have something to serve them other than beer. Keeping a bottle of club soda, tonic water, vodka, and a couple limes around can go a long way. Also, keep a bottle of Martini & Rossi Asti Spumante in the fridge...they'll prefer it to real champagne because it's sweeter. $8/bottle on sale and it makes you appear classy.

    Sous Vide: Recipes, Techniques & Equipment (Part 7)

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Has anyone here sous vide'd abalone? My friend dives for fresh ones and we were thinking of doing it. I read in McGee's book that abalone are tough because they use collagen as their energy source.

    I was thinking of jaccarding one and letting it cook at 140F for 24 hours like you would a tougher piece of meat. Do you think this time is too long? I know I'm only supposed to cook shellfish like lobster and scallops for like 30-40 minutes. I figured after that give it a quick pan sear and it *should* be the most tender abalone ever.

    I don't want to mess it up/waste it though, these might be the last ones he gets this season. Any thoughts?

    Bacon wrapped hot dog carts

    in California: Dining

    Posted

    They sell these in San Francisco and I love them! It's the first thing my parents request I make when I go home to visit them in PA. I think the secret ingredient is the mayo...it usually takes some convincing for people to put mayo on their hotdog but they never regret it.

    Sous Vide: Recipes, Techniques & Equipment (Part 7)

    in Cooking

    Posted · Edited by therippa (log)

    I'm going to be serving some very prime, 8-week dry aged shell steaks to a big group of people this weekend, and have borrowed an immersion circulator to make it happen (I'm going to think of it as a sous chef with two buttons and no mouth).

    My plan is to cook at 55°C with a little cultured butter in the bag, then sear on a griddle after brushing with a maillard-promoting glucose solution. I'll serve the steaks sliced on the bias across the grain, in strips a little less than 1/2" thick.

    I'm wondering about cooking time. Seems like anywhere from an hour to forever will work, but more time seems to equal more tenderness, and this is already a tender cut. At what point will I risk crossing over from tender to mushy?

    I'd cook it for 1.5-2 hours

    Whats the ratio for this glucose solution you speak of?

    1:30 light corn syrup to water

    (edited for clarity on glucose component)

    Suggested substitutions that are total BS

    in Cooking

    Posted · Edited by therippa (log)

    Health-motivated substitutions tend to be the worst. They also are often presented out of context. Sure, there are some recipes out there where substituting two egg whites for a whole egg will work. But there are others where that substitution will wreck the outcome. Ditto skim milk for whole milk, whole-wheat flour for white flour, etc.

    I agree about the eggs and the milk, etc.

    In my personal opinion, egg white omelets are a crime against humanity - at least that portion of it that eats omelets! :biggrin:

    My omelets tend to be extra rich, tender and silky. I use whole eggs plus extra yolks, a dash of cream and of course, butter.

    There is no adequate substitute.

    I have a roommate that substitutes vegan butter for regular butter in baking recipes. The results are flavorless, kind of greasy due to lack of emulsion, and don't brown properly.

    I've heard parsley for cilantro which I think is absurd. I know they look alike but their flavors could not be more different.

    Also, the classic buttermilk substitute works on some recipes but really is not an effective substitute in things like biscuits.

    The market by my house (that I try to avoid) keeps their flat-leaf parsley right next to their cilantro in the produce section. Three times I've come home after picking up supplies to find my parsley is in fact cilantro.

    Things from the professional kitchen that every home cook should have

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    Another vote for sheet pans...and not the kind you get at Target. I have a roommate moving out this weekend, and we each bought one 1/2 and one 1/4 sheet pan a couple years ago. She's taking hers with her, so I was saying to my other roommate how I have to run to the restaurant supply store to replace them. She said "well I have that (target, maybe even cheaper) sheet pan I brought when I moved in that's hidden somewhere in the kitchen". I just wanted to tell her that the one she brought is shit, and I'm buying new ones anyway.

    Advantage: Home Kitchen

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I don't think I can make a sorbet at home that is restaurant quality in texture, but the ice creams I make using the base recipe that's shared in the adhoc/tfl/bouchon cookbooks rival the stuff I've had in great restaurants, some industry friends of mine agree. Then again, it has $10 worth of high-fat dairy products and a dozen eggs in each quart, so of course it's going to be delicious :-)

    [SF] flour + water

    in California: Dining

    Posted

    I like flour+water...I think it captures the essence of the new restaurants opening up in the city (quality as well as look & feel wise).

    If the pig trotter cakes are on the menu, be sure to order them. Oh, and make sure to try a pizza with an egg on it...there's really nothing quite like it.

    Some people think it's overrated, and when it first opened in a sense it was just because it generated more hype than was deserved. I think their pizzas are better than A16, but slightly inferior to Pizzetta 211. However, I think the overall atmosphere is better than both so it's tops in my book.

    After you're done, walk a couple minutes west on 20th to Shotwells for a drink.

    Carolyn, care to chime in :wink:?

    Bad Smells in the Kitchen

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    The compost bin. I have one of those fancy containers with the charcoal filter on top, and it still stinks. I don't care what they say about it getting enough air, a pile of rotting food smells like a pile of rotting food. Instead of using the container we just use a brown paper bag when cooking meals that produce a lot of compost and take it to the container outside when we're done.

    Traditional Chinese cooking often has offensive smells. We have a nice little old Chinese lady living below us, and sometimes the smell of whatever she's making wofts up into our apartment and all I can imagine is her deep frying the smelliest part of the smelliest fish.

    I also have a roommate that often heats canned/frozen vegetarian meals from Trader Joe's. Those always smell.

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