dcarch

Reasonable comments, no apologies needed. Not to disagree with your views, just my own idiosyncrasies 1. Check weather report for next 10 days, and day of party. You don’t need do this step if you are not planning for a big party. 2. Deep cuts into pork and brush seasoning into cuts, and marinate for 48 hours. Standard for any cooking practice, not just for sous vide, if you want deeper flavor. 3. Freeze pork for 48 hours. You put your pork in the refrigerator, don’t you? I put it in the freezer. Takes about the same amount of time. 4. Vacuum bag pork. 10 minutes of work for me to start cooking the pork. A lot less work than most other cooking with pots and pans methods. No dish washing and scrubbing for me after cooking. 5. Sous vide pork at 141 F for 12 hours, 145 F for 8 hours and finish at 151 F for 8 hours. Refrigerate. Each temperature adjustment took me 10 seconds. Eliminating the need for sticking a thermometer many times to find (hopefully) the centers of a large cold pork with a big bone in the center and thick fat layers. Each time sticking the thermometer takes how long? How much microbes do you introduce into the uncooked center of the meat? How much temperature change each time you open the oven to check? As they say, “If you are looking, you are not cooking.” 6. Night time outside temperature was 51 F, cold smoke pork for 6 hours. I used a smoke tube. No work for 6 hours. 7. Day of party, low temperature pork in BBQ with smoke tube 175 F? 6 hours. 200 F for 4 hours, finally 500F 15 minutes. Since I knew the sous vide process garanteed me that the meat had been perfectly cooked inside and out. This final step really required no attention to do. 8. Pour boiling water over large ceramic platter to make platter hot, then plating and serve pork. I understand perfectly the descriptions above sound laborious, but in reality, I spent most of the time entertaining the guests while the huge pork was well timed and perfectly cooked. Basically, I am not a good cook like many of you are. To me sous vide is a tool for dummy cooks like me. No skill needed to avoid embarrassments of a failed big party. Thanks. dcarch

Very difficult to vacuum/bag/seal large wet meat without freezing first. dcarch

It was not very sophisticated, but carefully planned. 1. Check weather report for next 10 days, and day of party. 2. Deep cuts into pork and brush seasoning into cuts, and marinate for 48 hours. 3. Freeze pork for 48 hours. 4. Vacuum bag pork. 5. Sous vide pork at 141 F for 12 hours, 145 F for 8 hours and finish at 151 F for 8 hours. Refrigerate. 6. Night time outside temperature was 51 F, cold smoke pork for 6 hours. 7. Day of party, low temperature pork in BBQ with smoke tube 175 F? 6 hours. 200 F for 4 hours, finally 500F 15 minutes. 8. Pour boiling water over large ceramic platter to make platter hot, then plating and serve pork. dcarch

There was a discussion about not being able to vacuum seal a large bag using a regular home machine. I do it all the time. The picture shows how to bag a whole big pork shoulder. There is a discuss about sous vide being not a good cooking method. I sous vide the whole pork shoulder, butt, picnic directly from frozen all the time. I don't know any other way to do it, absolutely no overcooked meat or undercooked meat. I also do whole frozen (small) turkey. dcarch Sous vided and smoked

According to my confirmed scientific experiments and medical research, based on the AI calculations of the quantity and types of indoor plants you have shown, the annual cumulative CO2 absorbed and O2 generated indoors by the plants may add 7.239 years more to you life span. I advise you to adjust your retirement financial plan accordingly. dcarch 😁 😁 😁

How many pawpaw trees do you have? Years ago, I planted two pawpaw trees because pawpaws are not self-fertile. Just when they were about old enough to set fruit, one tree died!😒 So I am planting four more. I am not taking any chances.😋 dcarch

A friend gives me mooncakes every year because she and her family don't like them. I give her mooncakes to someone else because I don't like them either. This year I decided to make my own with my own recipe. Not bad results. Main idea was to use pistachio nut paste instead of lotus seed paste. The pictures show progress of my skill in the making. the 3rd and 4th one look like mooncakes. dcarch

Time for some BLT. My 2024 version, YMMV🙂 Bad year for home grown tomatoes due to weather, but there is always a need for BLTs. My BLTs: B - Bacon is what BLT all about. You need a massive amount of B. But we know what B can do to your waist line and arteries. So lots of fat is rendered off or cut off, leaving lots of guilt-free lean crispy meat which has the most B flavor. L - Pick the best leaves from your lettuce garden. Make sure there is not one drop of water on the leaves. T - You will have more than one BLT, right? So you need Green, yellow, red, pink, black --- tomatoes. Lots of tomatoes could mean soggy BLTs. 1/2 dehydrated tomatoes slices to make them less watery and concentrated flavor. B - Bread is obviously important. Toasted white bread is not the right texture and flavor for me. Naan bread is what I prefer. Lets see your versions 😊😋 dcarch

Squash greens are delicious. Pick them young. After cooking the fussy hair will all get very soft. dcarch

This is a beauty, according to it's mother. There are "Beauty Contests" for this kind of extraordinary beauties. I am sure this one will win a few contests. dcarch

I had the luck and pleasure of having been invited to enjoy some truly rare authentic old school Italian cuisines at these unique NYC establishments: Il Vagabondo, now closed. It had an indoor bocce court in the dining room. Tiro a Segno: Still in operation. Known as the “Privatest of all private clubs”. It actually has an indoor shooting range. A typical lunch or dinner takes at least four hours, not because they have slow workers. https://nypost.com/2024/05/17/us-news/inside-tiro-a-segno-the-private-nyc-club-with-a-gun-range/ dcarch

Thanks! Finally I now have a mental view of where they come from, each time as I enjoy the unique flavor imparted by black beans. Speaking of fermented black beans, another interesting and delicious seasoning ingredient I enjoy is fermented black olives. Are they made by the same people ? dcarch

Interesting. I am surprised that no one has done this? You can make sous vide bags practically any size and any shape, using sous vide plastic material. I have been doing this for very big items, like a turkey. I use an electric heat gun to weld sous vide sheets together to make bags. The bags come out leak-proof. dcarch

I am sure many of you can remember, a famous chef sous vided a whole pig, in a plastic garbage bag. dcarch

Death Valley, 132F air temperature a few days ago. How hot is 132F? I sous vide'd salmon at 132F. Too well done for me. Veggies from my garden. dcarch

I am not sure why gasohol makers do not add those stabilizers if they work. The 10 gallon gas tank I have has phase separated into gasoline and 1/4 water/ethanol. I am still trying to find out how I can properly dispose of them. dcarch

Gardening has been a disaster this past spring. 🥶 All machines to prepare the garden in spring were not working. The rototiller, the mower, the chainsaws, the tractor ---------!. Have you heard of "Phase Separation"? Gasohol, if the supplier is not careful in handling, or if your gas tanks are not that good, phase separation can happen and can ruin your engine operated tools. Anyone have advice to deal with this situation? My Honda rototiller manual says, "if you use gasohol, your warranty is voided". Here in NY, you can't buy regular gasoline. dcarch

A tiny knife sharpener? Shown upside down in the picture. dcarch

Garlic scapes from the garden. squid on Garlic scapes dcarch

Yes, Hosta shoots and Hosta blossom scapes are vegetables in some Asian countries. dcarch

Not very funny for whoever did this. After the picture taken, he/she had to eat scones for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday for a few weeks. dcarch 🙂 🙂

Hosta shoots are delicious, and free. Chicken with mushroom sauce on Hosta shoots. dcarch

Garlic scapes time. More to come. dcarch

I don't think Florida gets snow. dcarch 🙂

1. Develop a plan for summer outage and a plan for winter outage. 2. Develop a menu for power outage cooking. 3. If the restaurant has a parking lot, solar panels are nice. They keep the customer's cars cool in summer and your need to remove snow less in the winter. 4. If you have a truck, the truck generator with an invertor can give you some additional emergency power with a long extension cord. 5. You need to check your generator's specifications and see if it can work well with gasohol and the possible problem with "phase separation" with gasohol for all generators. 6. Review safety for dry ice use in enclosed areas. dcarch