BadRabbit

Sorry I wasn't more descriptive. I was looking for websites/blogs where people have systematically gone through a cookbook and made every recipe. Some are really good with step by step pictures and commentary. Some are just a series of short descriptions and ratings. The former is preferable but the latter can still be helpful if done well. I've used the French Laundry one Keith listed above. It's one of the best for step by step photographs and helpful descriptions from finished products. I've found them helpful because they are comprehensive which is where our "cooking with______" threads fall a little short. Often people gravitate to the same recipes and so you end up with 5 people talking about the same 3-4 recipes in those egullet conversations. Also, these websites can give you an idea of whether you want to get a cookbook or not. Some cookbooks are too involved for most home cooks and only have 2-3 accessible recipes and usually aren't worth my shelf space.

Since the Julie & Julia movie, I've noticed that there are quite a few websites set up similarly for other cookbooks (most better than Powell's version IMO). I've found them helpful on occasion to see if someone else's experience matches up with mine on a dish and are helpful when troubleshooting (similar to how we use the "Cooking With" threads here). Which of these websites have you read and are there any that you recommend? Edit: Correcting grammar

In what applications did you use the oranges?

The "muddiness" of freshwater fish is not the same for all species. Catfish taste especially muddy because they are mostly bottom feeders and therefore eat a lot of mud with their meals. Walleyes eat mostly other fish and to me taste as "clean" as a saltwater fish.

There aren't a lot of back issues indexed for some magazines but it seemed to work OK for me. I subscribe to a few magazine on EYB that I don't actually subscribe to in print because the magazine keeps their online recipe database updated frequently. For example, I no longer receive Food & Wine but I have them in EYB because all those recipes are readily available on the website.

I've been making preserved lemons for a while to use in my N. African food and was toying with the idea of doing some oranges as well. I was thinking of using a more tart variety like the Seville and maybe including some cardamom and coriander. Has anybody tried this? The fact that I don't see much on the web has me worried that perhaps oranges don't work out like lemons do. Anybody got any good uses for them when I'm done?

It's actually delicious in pesto.

Duncan, Are you offering a warranty of any kind? I didn't see it mentioned on the website.

To me they taste like carrots marinated in perfume. I have occassionally liked them in certain preparations but it usually requires a heavy glaze and roasting.

I used pure hickory because I cold smoked it which gives me better control over smoke content. It's easy to overdo hickory on a hot smoke so I usually blend hickory with apple or some other subtle flavored wood when using that method.

After I finished smoking, I let it sit for a day and then grilled some. It's pretty damned good though next time I'll probably increase all the other seasonings except the salt and garlic. The thyme is completely lost and I'd like to taste a little more paprika/chipotle. I did a blinded test with the whiskey using multiple dilutions and one that I had simmered for an hour and had added water back to at the end. The results: I could easily tell which ones were which. The simmered whiskey had none of the "hot" flavors of whiskey/alcohol but was still very woody and identifiable as bourbon. The others were much more alcoholic tasting but also more complex. Overall, I'm betting the additional complexity would be lost in the final product anyway. My next test will be to use full strength whiskey in the recipe and see if alcohol is that detrimental to taste/texture anyway to determine if it's worth the simmer step.

Most prepared mustards have pectin or other ingredients that make emulsions more stable.

Seconded. I make aioli all the time with olive oil without issue.

I don't think that the amount of salt used when making them at home really matters. The lemons can only take in so much salt and any process that completely covers them is going to get them to full saturation by the time they are ready. I think some of the commercial ones are pre blanched or at least rinsed heavily before they are packaged though so that could make a difference.

Agree with Mr Fox. I always blanch my preserved lemon in boiling water for 30 seconds before adding it to anything where too much salt is an issue.

Made the sausages last night and they are in the process of smoking. Pulled off some after 12 hrs but they didn't have the smoke level I wanted. I made a few changes to the original recipe: 1) Used trehalose instead of dextrose (and upped it to 11g) 2) I assumed the chipotle called for was powder and I had none so I used canned and quadrupled to 12g. Next time I may go for 15g to 20g as I could not really taste the chipotle in the final product. 3) Added crushed red pepper to half the recipe (about 3g) since I like mine hot and my wife does not. I will post pictures when they are finished smoking.

I like cold smoking because it eliminates the possibility of overcooking and I can control the smoke better. If somethings not smoky enough, I can just keep it on for longer. I cold smoke all my sausage and bacon. My thought on the whiskey is that you can keep more of the whiskey flavor by reducing and adding water back. I understand that all the alcohol is not going away but you can make significant reductions over a long simmer. I'll taste it at the end against a watered down whiskey to decide if it's worth the effort in the future. Well yes if you've got the setup, cold smoking would be preferred. I don't, at least not ready to go. I can't imagine you'd be able to cook a distilled spirit that long without altering its flavor pretty significantly, after all everything in the bottle has already proved that it is volatile as it passed through a still, except maybe the woody compounds. I'd be interested to hear what you find in trying it. I am guessing it will change the flavor a bit but we'll see. I've cooked with whiskey in long braises before and it definitely doesn't produce bad flavors. I'm hoping any changes will not be negative ones. If you need a cold smoke setup, I highly recommend the A-maze-n smoker generators. You can use them in a grill, a smoker or even just a cardboard box with holes cut in it and a rack inside. Best $40 I've spent in a while. http://www.amazenproducts.com/

I like cold smoking because it eliminates the possibility of overcooking and I can control the smoke better. If somethings not smoky enough, I can just keep it on for longer. I cold smoke all my sausage and bacon. My thought on the whiskey is that you can keep more of the whiskey flavor by reducing and adding water back. I understand that all the alcohol is not going away but you can make significant reductions over a long simmer. I'll taste it at the end against a watered down whiskey to decide if it's worth the effort in the future.

I freeze all my fresh herbs that I don't use immediately . Afterwards, they are worthless for salads but perfectly fine for using in sauces. My red sauce virtually always has frozen basil in it as I save my fresh for things like caprese. If you vacuum pack the herbs before you freeze them, I've found that they keep for 6 months or more. I also agree with the above sentiment that all dried herbs are not created equal. Edited to add: vacuum packing

I'm either going to go straight water or I may reduce some whiskey to remove some of the alcohol and then add water back. I just noticed that this recipe has a really long cold smoke (1 full day). That's a lot of cycles on my a-maze-n smoke generator. I may pull some after 16 hours (2 cycles) and some after 24 (3 cycles) to determine whether I think it really needs the full 24 hrs.

This is the one I think I may go with. It's pretty fatty but still utilizes a high ratio of venison. I will probably swap out the dextrose with trehalose and I'll leave out the Sodium Erythorbate. http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/VenisonSmokedSausage.pdf Also, I wonder about the whiskey. I've never put something that high proof in a sausage.

I have a considerable amount of venison scraps from ends of loins. I plan to make some deer sausage and need a recipe that will get me started from a seasoning and overall % point. These are things I plan to include but do not necessarily have to be in the base recipe: Fatty pork butt Pork back fat Trehalose for sweetening (also for its water retention and freezing attributes) Possibly milk powder as additional binder/water retainer ( I need some guidance on %) Also toying with the idea of adding some bacon I tried the Ruhlman recipe but did not like it smoked (I liked it OK unsmoked) and thought it was a little too far for me to use as my base. I don't want to spend several days/batches to adjust it to my liking.

Delta T Calulaction? When I said I was new at this I meant "brand new", I have made steaks one time, 3 soft boiled eggs (loved them) and a dozen hard boiled eggs Now searching for Delta T... Delta-T just means there is a difference between target temp and the bath temp. There are programs and website calculators that can do the calculation for you (e.g. Sousvide dash).

You may be correct on the temp difference issue though I think the gradient would still be far less prominent than on a traditionally cooked steak. My concern with the adding the other steak after cooking the first steak completely method is that it will effectively double cooking time. That may or may not be an issue for the OP but I like to cook some cuts long enough to get some texture change. Doubling the time would make that duration unreasonably long for steaks (and may cause problems for the steak that's in the longest).

You could set your rig to her temp and then figure out how long you need to cook yours with a delta-T calculation. Or you can just cook hers longer on teh grill though that would mean a bit of the benefit of cooking sous-vide would be lost.