dcarch

Corned beef comes with thick layers of fat. Insisted of throwing them out, I make them into crispy corned beef fat cracklins. Amazing taste! I say better than bacon. Corned beef with potatoes topped with corned beef cracklins powder. dcarch Sous vided corned beef is indeed fork tender.

"------I trimmed off all the external fat----" Save the fat. I will post something later using corned beef fat. dcarch

May I go off topic for Scottyboy? Speaking of Costa Rica. Interesting true story. Many years ago, I made an ecological trip to San Jose, Costa Rica. I stayed at the Villa Blanca Hotel up in the cloud forest. It was Christmas time, and there was not too many staff there because there were very few tourists there, only the manger who also was doing the cooking because the chef was out, as well as front desk duties, and a couple of kitchen helpers. I complained many times to the manger on how nice the hotel was but how lousy the food was in the hotel and in Costa Rica in general. I made many suggestions to him on how things could be improved. I also cooked a couple of meals with him in the kitchen. New Years Day, the last day of my stay, I asked the helper how much I should tip the manager. He told me there was no need to tip him. “ He is the owner, also the former Costa Rican president Rodrigo Carazo Odio” President Odio couldn’t get me a cab because of the Holiday. So he drove me to the airport. That one hour trip took two hours because it was going thru a cloud forest. We keep in touch by e, mail until a couple of years ago he passed away. dcarch

Asparagus peeler works great for carrots too. dcarch

I have been to Paris a few times, but your wonderful write up is going to get me to go there a few more times! Thank you so much. Fantastic photographs, BTW! dcarch

Interesting. No coffee served? dcarch

Pretty much typical boiled corned beef texture. Falling apart, but not tender. The fibers are very tough, not very edible unless thinly sliced against the grain. dcarch

Did an experiment with store bought corned beef. Using the same batch of pre-made corned beef with all fat completely removed. For corned beef: Sous vided corned beef (48 hours at 140 F):before, 29.98 oz, sous vided 19.73 oz, 34.19 % shrinkage (10.25 oz lost) Boiled corned beef :before, 29.84 oz, boiled, 14.42 oz, 51.68% shrinkage (15.42 oz lost) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sous vided corn beef, Very tender, pulled pork style, no need to against-grain thin cut. dcarch

UV cannot penetrate food. Even oxygen and ozone blocks UV. That's why to sanitize food deep, radiation is used. I use UV (55 watts) to sanitize meat when I dry-age beef. dcarch

Measuring liquid with an IR thermometer is tricky. You should try to measure without liquid. Also, if you are using a cast iron pan, cast iron thickness is not very uniform and temperature distribution varies. dcarch

Amazing food everyone! From Kim’s waffles to mm84321’s truffles ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some simple food, dcarch Sous vide chicken drumstick, butterflied. Sous vide duck drumsticks, butterflied.

Beans for breakfast. Beans for lunch. Beans for dinner. Coffee was fantastic. dcarch

Anyone else likes eating squid insides? dcarch

It does not matter how much you paid for a toaster oven. They are all limited by the maximum allowed electric outlet capacity, which is about 1,800 watts in the USA. dcarch

Add another couple bags of cement and a few rebars, and you will have a good tornado shelter. :-) dcarch

Sous vided corned beef shrinks a lot less. dcarch

huiray : Lovely dinners from all, both complex and simple. @ dcarch - just wondering, how do you keep the food warm while doing all that fantastic plating (surely it takes some time) and photography (yet more time)? Actually, If you look at my dishes, I seldom spend much time on them. I don't do anything fancy, just mostly piling the ingredients. When photographing, I always have the identical setup, a top view and a side view. I don't spend anytime in composition. Lighting is identical in all my shots. Flip one switch, click, click, I am done. Before I plate, the plate is in the microwave with some water, and the plate will be boiling hot for the food. Thanks for asking. BTW, very lovely photographed "Shui Kow" dumplings. dcarch

Thanks guys. Those mini eggplants are creamy, mild and delicious. Those stems are beet stems. I like cooking beet leaves and stems separate becuase they require diffferent cooking time. dcarch

[Moderator note: Well, that was quick! This topic became too large for our servers to handle, so we've divided it up; the earlier part of the discussion is here: Dinner! 2013 (Part 1)] More than 150 amazing dishes have been posted since I last posted! Here are a few my recent ones. dcarch Smoked pork chops Mussels on mini eggplants Sous Vided Chicken Marsala with crispy skin, mini eggplants, bok choy, on orzo

I have made good risotto with all kinds of grains, including regular rice, wild rice, couscous, ---- all without adding Arborio rice. I think if you made couscous, you made pasta. You are not wrong. But it eats like risotto. :-) dcarch

I have made good risotto with all kinds of grains, including regular rice, wild rice, couscous, ---- all without adding Arborio rice. dcarch Sous Vide Chicken Breast on Wild Rice Risotto

I wonder what Mr. Graham Kerr's views are on this topic. dcarch For the very young members, Graham Kerr = The Galloping Gourmet.

Are you using an electric stove? A round bottom wok touching an electric heating element can give you very hot center, but not hot enough everywhere else. Have you tried a wok ring? dcarch

I have no idea what I was doing, but the rice was good. dcarch

Happy St. Valentine everyone! dcarch Sous vide rosemary leg of lamb Sous vide chicken breasts, Meyer lemon mushroom sauce