dcarch

"---Anyone know what it is?" Regular pork deep frozen with thick frost on the surface? dcarch

Somehow in all recipes, all olive oil must be extra virgin, and all salt must be Kosher. dcarch

Salt keeps the rice dry, giving the illusions that the rice is so dry, therefore it can also keep the salt dry. Salt has what is known as Hygroscopy property, which means it has the ability to absorb moisture. dcarch

I wonder if there's a way to get some color and roasted-like flavor with the microwave. Maybe by zapping the squash after giving it a light coat of oil as was mentioned upthread with garlic and onions. They do make containers which will allow you to brown in a microwave. dcarch

Not that I've noticed. Perhaps The style I have come across and was referring to was what is commonly referred to as Chinkiang vinegar which is the only one I come across in the local shops.. Chinese vinegars are, I find, generally less acid and more mild in taste than what we may find in the west, although I wouldn't go so far to call them sweet. The one that I use is actually called sweet vinegar. It is sweeter than balsamic, I cook that with ginger and sesame oil for dipping. dcarch http://img.21food.com/20110609/product/1305783273207.jpg

"---Indeed vinegar, particularly black vinegar, ----" ​Aren't there two kinds of black vinegar? Sweet and not so sweet? dcarch

I can totally understand that you feel I am making this up. Tad's Steak, ( Not Ted's Steak) a NYC chain steak house, once came up with this insane idea when microwave ovens were first becoming popular. They opened a restaurant where patrons were give a menu. After selections were made, the meals were served to the patrons totally frozen. That's right, I said totally frozen. At each table there was a microwave oven for every two customers. The eaters would use the microwave to heat up their frozen meals. No. The restaurant was not in business very long. dcarch

You can buy duck web (uncooked) here in stores in NYC. They are like chicken feet except boneless. I have no idea how they manage to remove the bones. dcarch

Try out some battery operated ones then decide. dcarch

By wet, I meant water in the food composition. All food has water, including bread crumbs, flour, etc. In the air, water can be either steam (water droplets just below 212F) or moisture. Moisture is humidity and invisible and can be at any temperature, depending on pressure. Moisture becomes steam below dew point. You can see you breath in cold air. Therefore Alton Brown was probably talking about hot moist air, what we commonly call steam when water is boiling. dcarch

Not to say that I am better than Alton Brown. I can't seem to make sense of his theory. Perhaps I am stupid. 1. When hot oil hits wet food, the surface water vaporizes from boiling, which keeps the water layer below from boiling. 2. Whether hot oil is halfway or deep fry total immersion, the dough/breading is never hermetically sealing the meat, steam will always find a way out. I don't think KFC pan fries their chickens. They don't seem to have problems of the coating falling off. Perhaps the problem has to do with the following? 1. When you fry chicken with skin on, fat from the skin will make adhesion tricky. 2. Store bought salt water injected chickens give out to much water the moment they are heated. I will have to try AB's method the next time I feel like having fried chicken, just to see. dcarch

You do have to be aware of the following: Water boils at 212F, it prevents temperature getting higher than 212F. However, if you microwave food with a lot of oil or fat, that can be a problem for many plastic containers. Oil does not boil until over 400F. There is nothing to keep temperature below that if you microwave oil or fat. dcarch

Is Shark's fin soup still popular? dcarch

"Think of all the starving people in China!" No wonder, I am so starved looking at all those insanely delicious and beautiful dishes. Thank you for sharing. dcarch

EnriqueB"----A couple of questions: About how long do you boil the skin? And, what's the purpose of the pizza stone if it is cold and you put the meat side on it? To keep the meat cold so it does not overcook?" Thank you. You can boil the skin for a while to make sure it is well cooked. The fact that the meat is frozen, and for pork belly, which has a very thick layer of insulating fat under the skin prevents the meat from being overcooked. Yes, the pizza stone is for insulation the meat from the 400F heat. But it is not absolutely required. The baking time to puff up the skin is very short, and the aluminum foil acts as a heat reflector. dcarch

Franci, let me put it this way: If you use compressed air to increase pressure in your pressure cooker, but use no fire to change temperature, it will make no difference to the food, regardless how high the pressure is. When you have fire to increase pressure, it allows the boiling point of water to get higher, therefore higher temperature can be achieved. dcarch

Trust me, the method I mentioned above works. Works for nuts totally not cracked. Works for other nuts also, just adjust the jaws wider. dcarch

Pressure has nothing to do with cooking. Temperature does. Use a non-contact remote thermometer to check temperature when you vary the pressure. dcarch

I lived for a while not far from Katz's. Ate there regularly. They cut their massive sandwiches right in the middle. dcarch

Use a pair of locking pliers. The jaw opening of locking pliers is adjustable. This allows you to crack open the shell without crashing the nut inside. dcarch http://www.irwin.com/uploads/products/large/the-original-curved-jaw-locking-pliers-1126.jpg

Try a wok. 1. The large diameter of a wok minimizes splatter. 2. The round bottom allows large or small amount of frying. 3. The rack that sits on the wok allows draining of oil after frying. It works better than draining on paper towel because hot oil is more fluid. dcarch

An electric convection oven may not work as well. Electric ovens can only go up to 1,800 watts. So the oven's design is to seal as much as possible to conserve heat. That makes it not a good dehydrator. You can't leave the door a crack open because there is a switch to cut off power. I like pork belly sous vided at 150F, but that's a personal preference. Part of the fun is to hear that cracklin noise when you cut the skin. So don't cut it first. dcarch

This is true, not making it up. If you sneeze while eating spaghetti, there is a chance a strain of pasta can come out from your nose. So breaking it in half will make it less embarrassing if that happens. dcarch (watch the ending) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNhDGUGxEXI

Thanks rotus. The detailed method is posted on the Dinner thread. dcarch

another method would be here http://forums.egullet.org/topic/108508-siu-yook-roast-pork-belly/page-4 it has not failed me, and the discussions/experiments by prawncrackers and origamicrane were, IMO, very interesting. there are similarities between the methods in this thread and those of prawn..., like poking a zillion holes in the skin, and a jaccard is indispensable in this context. I have studied and tried those various methods. What I had intended to accomplish: 1. No skin treatment other than perforations. No vinegar, no salting, no vodka, etc. 2. When you buy roasted pork, they don't scrape the skin after roasting. 3. I want to have great cracklin pork skin, as well as meat that is not overcooked (sous vided). This method gives me all the above. dcarch