Todd in Chicago

Did you do any research on your own? I've read repeatedly that you should never use the original packaging -- you have no guarantee that the plastic used is safe for high temps (meaning 55F or above), and there is always the possibility of small tears, punctures, or faulty seams that won't make themselves apparent until they've been in the bath for awhile... ETA: If you're buying from a local vendor that uses a chamber vacuum on the premises, then you're good to go. But it sounds like you're buying a prepacked brisket from who knows where. Just repack. Too late. Its already been in the SV for 12 hours. Water is crystal clear so no leaks but i dont know where it was packaged. Seems pretty thick plastic. 55F seems pretty unrealistic for a unsafe temperature. Average room temps are 70-80F. I figure most plastics have a melting temp way above 132F. I think any plastic that is food safe would not release toxins at that low of temps. For myself.... Bags come out to be about 10 us cents a bag, for my own piece of mind I would just reseal it. Cheers... Todd in Chicago

It was my first time too Yeah, the stuffing (except the cheese) was pre-cooked. I put down some bacon on a pan without preheating it, to render off some of the fat, once that was done I used that fat to saute some diced bell pepper and onions, with the herbs and garlic. The cool bacon was cut into pieces and put into that mixture. That was set aside to cool while I deboned the chicken. When the chicken was done, I mixed in the cheese with the stuffing mixture and stuffed the chicken. This would be where I make like rotuts and tie the chicken to hold the stuffing in, but I had to make do with the toothpicks and foil solution. I never actually worried about the cheese to be honest, I just assumed it would melt, and it does so quite nicely. Once the 3 SV hours were up I wiped down the bird and used the same bacon grease to crisp up the skin. The stuffing ingredients were just whatever I had in the fridge. If I had done some grocery shopping beforehand I would've maybe gone with mushrooms with the bacon and maybe some spinach. I got the deboning technique from a Jacques Pepin video on youtube. Was quite simple, even for a beginner like myself. Thanks for the tip, I watched the Pepin video last night. I really enjoyed it and I see a chicken deboning project in my future.... :-) Overall, I thought his show was pretty cool and ended up watching another one, in which he made fish quenelles, a cool shrimp dish with shrimp mousse, and a monkfish (roulade?). He has a very slow, fun style and gosh darn....makes it look so effortless. I enjoyed them. Thanks! Todd in Chicago

I just stopped and picked some up, haven't tried it yet but looks yum. Hey, for anyone interested, they'll only have it for January I've been told. Cheers..... Todd in Chicago

It was my first time too Yeah, the stuffing (except the cheese) was pre-cooked. I put down some bacon on a pan without preheating it, to render off some of the fat, once that was done I used that fat to saute some diced bell pepper and onions, with the herbs and garlic. The cool bacon was cut into pieces and put into that mixture. That was set aside to cool while I deboned the chicken. When the chicken was done, I mixed in the cheese with the stuffing mixture and stuffed the chicken. This would be where I make like rotuts and tie the chicken to hold the stuffing in, but I had to make do with the toothpicks and foil solution. I never actually worried about the cheese to be honest, I just assumed it would melt, and it does so quite nicely. Once the 3 SV hours were up I wiped down the bird and used the same bacon grease to crisp up the skin. The stuffing ingredients were just whatever I had in the fridge. If I had done some grocery shopping beforehand I would've maybe gone with mushrooms with the bacon and maybe some spinach. I got the deboning technique from a Jacques Pepin video on youtube. Was quite simple, even for a beginner like myself. Thanks for the inspiration! I'll look up that video. Cheers....Todd In Chicago

Thanks Rotuts....I think I asked you a similar question a while back, still need to try this. I'm starting to get hungry!! Todd in Chicago

I'll need to check that out...thanks for the tip. Blue Goats cheese.....this is cheese from Blue Goats? LOL.... Sounds delish, I may pick some up today. Todd in Chicago

How about using labels for SousVide bags in the freezer? My freezer is a "disaster" - I have it jam packed with frozen sousvide bagged pre-cooked items, as well the regular freezer denizens. My freezer is becoming so difficult to work with that I'm considering a making a small MS Access database program to track my inventory. I was thinking that when I cook items, I could log the info in the database, such as: Bag #, temp, time, seasonings, as well as classifications such as: Poultry, Beef, Pork, and sub-categories such as Ribs, Shoulder. I would also have the date the item was cooked. This would allow me to say something like....hmmmm...whats for dinner tonight? Pull up my program and look up my inventory to "put a meal together"....Ah...proteins....pork tenderloin...I see I also have some carrots, and some asparagus soup. Perfect! I could then also better track my time and temperature combinations to achieve the results that I like best. Also, I would then go and mark as "Used" the items that have been consumed. I tend to do "batch cooking" so that I can store items in my freezer. When entering new items into the database during a batch cooking session, I'm envisioning being able to print a label out to a small device such as a P-Touch so that I could affix that label to the bag. It would include the attributes such as date cooked, etc. that I've listed above. Does anyone recommend a device that could be attached to the computer as a printer, and then that label survive the freezer? Currently I simply use a Sharpie - but to be honest, I have terrible handwriting and tend to be a bit haphazard when I'm labeling 23 bags of Tasso ham (for example)... . I believe the database would solve that part, and being able to print out a label that is consistent across bags would seem to help. Cheers....Todd in Chicago I love your idea, Todd in Chicago. For cross-platform and mobile compatibility, I might take your idea and code in PHP and MySQL. I would be happy to share that code with you, if you'd like it. From your post, I envisaged a database structure with automatically-generated (indexed) item number, date, meat type, meat cut, temp, time, notes. Linked tables for meat type and meat cuts, so these could be entered separately and linked to multiple items. It would be easy to generate a CSS stylesheet which turned a record into a label. You could, also, just label the pouch with the item number and look up the database for more information if you are in a hurry. I'm about to test the Brother PT-2730 using laminated labels to see how it works in my kitchen, specifically for sous vide pouches in the freezer. BHSimon I don't have any real programming ability (hence using MS Access), but if you'd want a collaborator on the open source project, I'd love to be able to provide some input. Let me know or DM me.Cheers....Todd in Chicago For anyone interested in this topic, see this post in the sous vide topic: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/136275-sous-vide-recipes-techniques-equipment-2013/page__st__60__p__1905769#entry1905769 Cheers...Todd In Chicago

That was the plan, but I didn't realise we were out of twine. So I deboned, stuffed, then pushed in toothpicks to secure the shape. I then folded some aluminium foil and covered the area that had the toothpicks so they wouldn't puncture the bag. I used a gallon bag (I think) which fit the bird nicely, pushed the air out, then sucked out any remaining air with a straw. Very juicy. I could probably lower the temperature a tiny bit. Maybe 70-72C. The stuffing was bacon, onion, green bell pepper and Gouda, with some rosemary, parsley and thyme. I've never myself yet tried a "stuffed" SV entrée. Whay happens with the cheese? I'm assuming the bacon was pre-cooked? How about the bell pepper? If you could list some specific steps, that would be great. Sounds really good! Cheers.... Todd in Chicago

Thanks for the heads up; purchased on last night. Woohoo! Ordered mine in Yellow! Todd in Chicago

Fellow eGullet members and sous vide enthusiasts… During a conversation under the “Labels” topic that was started by Chris Hennes on July 10, 2010, I (from the USA) posted a question on November 25, 2012 about what labels or label printers would be a good fit for labeling bags for the sous vide technique, as my freezer was full of sous vide bags that had haphazard labeling, if there was any labeling at all. Check out the post for a chuckle if you'd like. I also made a comment that I was thinking of writing a database to keep track of the bags in my freezer as well as my cooking attempts. Well someone from “down under” (BHSimon) posted a reply who was also very keen in the same thing, but doing it online so that other eGullet members could take advantage of it – and after a few PM’s and then emails, a plan was hatched to create a web-based tool that would do just that. Over the past month and a half or so, BHSimon and Todd in Chicago have collaborated to create this web-based tool. We have been working diligently on this program and are very proud of it and think this is a great way for us to give back to the eGullet community which has provided so much to both of us in terms of learning and conversing with our fellow sous vide enthusiasts. The site we are working on is now ready for pilot, and we are looking for 5 pilot users to “kick the tires” if you will, and see what falls out. As soon as the kinks are worked out, we would open registration for anyone who is interested. I personally have been using this since it was first in some usable state, and it is PERFECT for me! BHSimon also shares the passion for the program and we are super excited about it. If you are interested, please send an email to webmaster@modernistcookingdb.com and request to be added to the pilot list. At this point we are restricting registration to the first 5 users who would like to be in the pilot. Although we are mostly looking for “defects” in the current program, please provide any input or requests which you think would make the program useful. All requests will be evaluated for feasibility for future implementation. If you apply to pilot, you will receive within 48 hours an email back indicating that you are free to register. We hope that you enjoy the program and find it as useful as we do! Thanks, best wishes, and happy sous viding! Todd in Chicago and BHSimon

Interestingly enough, I have found Maggi sauce mostly in Mexican markets in my neighborhoods, and indeed in the cooks kitchen while on vacation in Mexico. I actually recently just bought some from a Mexican market as a recipe I had for poblano mole called for it. I have also found it in an Chinese market near Chinatown here in Chicago. Cheers and good luck!! Todd in Chicago

LOL!! ScottyBoy.....why do I always do that to myself! Let's see, some folks are coming over for dinner....let's try a new temp/time combo! Doh!!! Todd in Chicago

How about using labels for SousVide bags in the freezer? My freezer is a "disaster" - I have it jam packed with frozen sousvide bagged pre-cooked items, as well the regular freezer denizens. My freezer is becoming so difficult to work with that I'm considering a making a small MS Access database program to track my inventory. I was thinking that when I cook items, I could log the info in the database, such as: Bag #, temp, time, seasonings, as well as classifications such as: Poultry, Beef, Pork, and sub-categories such as Ribs, Shoulder. I would also have the date the item was cooked. This would allow me to say something like....hmmmm...whats for dinner tonight? Pull up my program and look up my inventory to "put a meal together"....Ah...proteins....pork tenderloin...I see I also have some carrots, and some asparagus soup. Perfect! I could then also better track my time and temperature combinations to achieve the results that I like best. Also, I would then go and mark as "Used" the items that have been consumed. I tend to do "batch cooking" so that I can store items in my freezer. When entering new items into the database during a batch cooking session, I'm envisioning being able to print a label out to a small device such as a P-Touch so that I could affix that label to the bag. It would include the attributes such as date cooked, etc. that I've listed above. Does anyone recommend a device that could be attached to the computer as a printer, and then that label survive the freezer? Currently I simply use a Sharpie - but to be honest, I have terrible handwriting and tend to be a bit haphazard when I'm labeling 23 bags of Tasso ham (for example)... . I believe the database would solve that part, and being able to print out a label that is consistent across bags would seem to help. Cheers....Todd in Chicago I love your idea, Todd in Chicago. For cross-platform and mobile compatibility, I might take your idea and code in PHP and MySQL. I would be happy to share that code with you, if you'd like it. From your post, I envisaged a database structure with automatically-generated (indexed) item number, date, meat type, meat cut, temp, time, notes. Linked tables for meat type and meat cuts, so these could be entered separately and linked to multiple items. It would be easy to generate a CSS stylesheet which turned a record into a label. You could, also, just label the pouch with the item number and look up the database for more information if you are in a hurry. I'm about to test the Brother PT-2730 using laminated labels to see how it works in my kitchen, specifically for sous vide pouches in the freezer. BHSimon I don't have any real programming ability (hence using MS Access), but if you'd want a collaborator on the open source project, I'd love to be able to provide some input. Let me know or DM me.Cheers....Todd in Chicago

I don't think I've made a non-SousVide hamburger at home in about 2 years!! My wife loves those burgers! Todd in Chicago

How about using labels for SousVide bags in the freezer? My freezer is a "disaster" - I have it jam packed with frozen sousvide bagged pre-cooked items, as well the regular freezer denizens. My freezer is becoming so difficult to work with that I'm considering a making a small MS Access database program to track my inventory. I was thinking that when I cook items, I could log the info in the database, such as: Bag #, temp, time, seasonings, as well as classifications such as: Poultry, Beef, Pork, and sub-categories such as Ribs, Shoulder. I would also have the date the item was cooked. This would allow me to say something like....hmmmm...whats for dinner tonight? Pull up my program and look up my inventory to "put a meal together"....Ah...proteins....pork tenderloin...I see I also have some carrots, and some asparagus soup. Perfect! I could then also better track my time and temperature combinations to achieve the results that I like best. Also, I would then go and mark as "Used" the items that have been consumed. I tend to do "batch cooking" so that I can store items in my freezer. When entering new items into the database during a batch cooking session, I'm envisioning being able to print a label out to a small device such as a P-Touch so that I could affix that label to the bag. It would include the attributes such as date cooked, etc. that I've listed above. Does anyone recommend a device that could be attached to the computer as a printer, and then that label survive the freezer? Currently I simply use a Sharpie - but to be honest, I have terrible handwriting and tend to be a bit haphazard when I'm labeling 23 bags of Tasso ham (for example)... . I believe the database would solve that part, and being able to print out a label that is consistent across bags would seem to help. Cheers....Todd in Chicago

And then of course.....there is the belly chop! Check this out: http://frombellytobacon.com/2011/03/01/the-belly-chop/ Cheers....Todd in Chicago

Very interesting - so did you actually use the second stock "as is" or are saving it use with/in addition to water for your next batch. I also made a quadruple batch of the vegetable stock and should last me a while. But next time, I think I'll do as you did and then reserve the second stock to add as water or in addition to water next time. Todd in Chicago

I did not use fresh bay leaves - seems like trying to find a needled in a haystack. A Whole Foods associate told me that they sometimes have them, but the info seemed sketchy. I've used dried bay leaves and halved the amount. I'll have to see how they came out. Cheers.....Todd in Chicago

wow, that looks great and easy! any chance for the measurements? my book is still on the way! thanks! I made a batch of this yesterday evening and can't wait to try it! When I was at the butcher, I just asked for about 3.5 lbs. of pork belly and ended up close to 3.3 lbs. Wow...I guess I wasn't paying that much attention or thinking clearly because I didn't catch in your post that you made 1/2 a batch....3.3 lbs. of pork belly is quite a bit! I was almost thinking it wouldn't all fit in my PC, but it did with no problem. The house does fill with a very aromatic smell when making this. I'll have make up batches of this and store it in the freezer, as pork belly being as rich as it is, 3.3 lbs. will last quite a while for a household of 2! I'll report back on my initial tasting and subsequent tasting to see how the freezing process impacts the dish. Cheers....Todd in Chicago

Very interesting post. We live about 4 blocks from there and passed by last Saturday and......it didn't look that busy. I thought.....hmmm....that was strange. When we were there before people were standing in line before they even opened the doors! :-( Sad to hear about that experience, hopefully that was just a "bad night" and not just symbolic of the new "normal". Todd in Chicago

Very interested in the apple/parnsip soup, please let us know how it comes out! Todd in Chicago

Wow! What an awesome idea.....I don't have a silpat, but I may get one just to try this out. I "bought" a pre-made baguette pan, but it is much shorter than yours. Love the idea. Todd in Chicago EDIT: P.S. What temp and for how long do you normally bake?

Amen brother Rotuts! I belong to the church of "cook a bunch of stuff and fill your freezer up"! Speaking of which, a run to the local grocery store was made today to start to stock up my depleted freezer. Chicken thighs and breasts, hamburgers (yes, I sousvide them!), a pork roast, parsnips, celery root, potatos, carrots, leeks....and I may have forgotten a few things. Need to go back and get some lamb and beef, but was not happy what I saw in that dept. The next week will be fun cooking all these! Cheers... Todd in Chicago

There is so much "free" good stuff out there in terms of audio and video on the web. Something I stumbled across which I thought was awesome was The Stella Culinary School podcast. I have a somewhat longish commute (about an hour each way) and listened to this whole series. Look it up on the web....I think it's amazing that we have these great people who put this content out there for "free". Unbelieveable that I can listen to "How to make stock" on my ride home! Todd in Chicago

Ah! Mine just came in today! I'll have to start flippin' through the pages tomorrow! Todd in Chicago