dcarch

The thinking of curing meat on the moon (or in vacuum) is a little lunatic. :-) Unless you like crispy crunchy Prosciutto. ​Oxygen free does not mean vacuum. dcarch

Truffles, caviar, foie gras, and Saffron. dcarch

Dried shrimp is in XO sauce recipes. Conpoy is very expensive. I don't know how much conpoy you actually get in XO sauce you buy. dcarch

Cinder-ella it is not. I am sure it can cook something. To me, 2 hour max for steaks is not sous vide. Automatic sensing food thickness? Come on! I have seen machines which use laser beams to sense meat thickness for cutting and trimming. This thing cooks best if your food is flat. dcarch

Based on the fact that scallops are 90% water, the fresh scallops which are dried to make the large conpoys must be the size of a dinner plate. Dried shrimps can be a good sub. for conpoy. dcarch

"---I find it very interesting that in the custom of "egg cracking" only one egg will crack. It seems to defy the laws of physics,---" Not really. ​According to the law of physics, when two objects collide, identical force will be acting on both objects. Why only one egg will crack? Because it is not possible to have two identical eggs. Happy Easter! dcarch

Make meat balls in less time. dcarch

I do this all the time to make what I called "Super Stock". With beef, or chicken or pork, just use pressure cooker to pressure steam the bones and meat. At the end, you will get a lot of pure concentrated stock. The difference is at 176F, you get very little juice, vs. at pressure cooker temperature. After the "Super Stock", then I add water to make the second ba6tch of regular stock. All takes a couple of hours. dcarch

BBQ is considered unhealthy in many parts of China. That's why they steam buns and bread. Steamed ribs in black bean sauce, wonderful! dcarch

BBQ + BBQ Guru is almost sous vide BBQ. My smoker is PID controlled. dcarch

212F. Exact boiling point of water. Water cannot bubble (simmer) until it gets to 212F. First you see bubbles forming at below 212F, that can be dissolved air being driven out at lower than 212F. Then the bottom of the pot gets barely at 212F and water starts to boil, but the bubbles of steam will get smaller as they rise pass thru water near the top which is colder than the bottom's 212F due to evaporative cooling. dcarch

Shorter members have less warpage. Shorter span is stronger against bending. dcarch

Work has been hectic. Still cooking, and viewing everyone's amazing creations. So here are we go, a bunch of meals haven't had a chance to contribute here: dcarch --------------------------------------------------------------- Fat Tuesday, shrimps on dirty rice Crispy fried wings for Valentine's Day Spaghetti Meatballs MC Mac& Cheese with black garlic

Not completely. The mouth feel quality of starch in bread gets better when it is warm and moist. Longer toasting time allows the steam and heat to reach deeper inside into the bread. Otherwise you can just burn the toast on your stove burner, or use a torch. It will take seconds. Cold old bread does not taste good. dcarch

That is strange. Toasters mostly use resistive heating elements. The older the heating elements are, the hotter they get, then they get burned out. Perhap it works the opposite way with people, the older you get, the more impatient you become? (just kidding, OK?) dcarch

Try this folks. Get rice noodles, or rice sheets/paper and soak in water with some fish sauce and whatever seasoning you like. Dry them completely 100%. Add food coloring, if that turns you on. Fry at 385 F to 400 F. Don't make too much. they really puff up huge. dcarch

If blanching garlic 10 times is so important, guarantee you someone would be selling an automatic machine for that, and markets would be selling pre-blanched garlic. dcarch

Probably a practice promoted by the milk industry. I like garlic taste. That's I use garlic. Never realized that garlic has raw bitter taste. dcarch

That mushroom "MSG" is a very effective mushroom favor booster, 1/4 teaspoon in a quart is all you need. It's like a turbo-charger for your engine. dcarch

How do you taste fat? Fat is not water soluble like the other tastes. If it is a taste, can you use it as a seasoning like the other tastes? (OK OK, people use bacon like they use seasonings ) Is hot pepper spicy a taste? What about the taste of alcohol? What difference does it make what you call it? dcarch .

Sorry! Didn't see your question until today. Simple. Real simple. Makes snacking more enjoyable, especially when you have friends. After boiling, roll the skin into a roll and refrigerate. (not freeze). Next day, slice the rolls into thin slices and dehydrate, etc. dcarch

Some mushrooms (supermarket) have no flavor and no aroma. Dried mushrooms have good flavor, but not much aroma. Fresh shiitake has lots of aroma and flavor, including the stems. Put the stems in a coffee grounder and turn them into a paste. Add that to your liquid. Secrete ingredient - Asian markets have mushroom extract powder. One pinch is all you need. It's like mushroom MSG. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_sMbBX-uOWbQ/THMeIra3zJI/AAAAAAAACFw/UyhfYg0EhTk/s1600/IMG_7387.JPG Truffles have the most aroma :-). dcarch

Some like salted butter on toasts. Some like unsalted butter on toasts. It is a pain to add salt on buttered toasts. dcarch

Made a few dishes for Valentine's Day. Basically what I had in the freezer. Main theme dish is the shrimp dish, because many shrimps are monogamous. What have you cooked? Or you are just too lazy and ate out? :-) dcarch Snow crab on hot salted blocks sous vided chciken Some veggies

An air compress will not work well. A compressor gives you low volume of high pressure air. A blower gives you lower pressure but much higher volume air. More volume = more oxygen = hotter burn. A good hair dryer will well. dcarch