rotuts

I decided it was time to try that Brie from Wisconsin : its been almost a week @ room temp. I had hoped it aged and got runny and very flavorful . It did not. sorry , bad iPhone focus . it has some brie // camembert flavor , but not a whole lot. its ' soft ripened cheese ' for sure , but only hints at B //C . it also did not ' run ' its my understanding that there are Brie //camembert cheezes that are made not to run vs run. Run is always better , for my tastes . what to do ? Naan-ish pizza : iPhone seems to have woken up after its nap. out of the AF add- ons. this was tasty , bu would have been tastier w the Real Deal B. Tj's has one , from FR of course , it has an orangish label , and looks a little beat up in their cheese case . I get the Ooziest one , and home age a bit. next time . what to do with the rest of this cheese ? nothing wrong with it , just not a lot , if any , funky-ness I think Ill make a Bronzo Penne layered bake, using a fresh pot of M.Hazen's tomato sauce , w red onion stick blended in and this cheese .

Its very difficult to accurately , in a scientific sense , if not impossible , to measure flavor. its subjective . its also temperature dependent . and overnight ' rest ' is simply a ... simple unit of time. Vivian Howard made an interesting point in her second show. She was making a casserole . One of the major units in the casserole was ground beef w alf dozen ground apices mixed in. she noted that after throughly mixing the burger , then cooking , you could taste the individual spice components. after letting the mixture rest overnight ( refrigerated of course ) then cooking , you tasted ' one ' flavor . its an interesting point . She's as pretty insightful and honest chef. Id say she tried both , and came to that conclusion . on the other hand , if you are braising for 3 hours , at a temp well above room temp , your flavors are probably evenly distributed . equilibrium is reached faster at higher temps. my feeling is that resting results in , at least , water soluble flavors , possibly also fat soluble ones moving back into meat , as the fibers relax at cooler temps . they probably also move back into say a cooked carrot , as the cellulose has degraded . but probably in vegetable terms , not that far.

echoing what @gfweb has said braise is probably more about the sauce , then the meat on its own. Id suggest always letting the braise cool , and be refrigerated overnight, where hopefully some of that flavor in the sauce re-enters the meat. also , ' tradition ' requires temps that have some bubbling . why not try a lower temp , 170 F ? and thus longer ? traditional cooking techniques , under expert hands , have been tasty for a long long time. but can be adapted , with fairly current knowledge , to yield a better result. and the fat you take off then next day , will not just be beef fat ( currently a Cure-All ) but flavored w other fat soluble flavors. why not use ( some ) of that for a steamed dumpling ?

@gfweb have you made GF short ribs ? vs grain finished ? @AlaMoi ditto above ? good tips here , my guess is that w a braise , independent of ' cut ' , there is going to be a big difference in results using the exact same cooking method , GF vs Grain finished .

@Victual Vignettes what were your SR's like before ? what type of meat did you use ? I would think that true grass fed beef presents difficulties w braising : it's leaner , and tougher than grain finished beef. All braises end up w meat , while tender , when tasted alone w/o the resulting sauce , can be dry and stringy if over cooked. its the nature of meat fibers contracting , making the sauce. start w a flavorful beef stock . if using wine , consider a dry-er version , as the sugars will concentrate as the wine evaporates. but you might want that sweetness. and let the braise cool , and use the nexxt day if you can . some of the stock re equilibrates w the meat. over all , I think you meat is too lean , and possibly over cooked. @Smithy has good refereces , above. P.S.: Ive only cooked GFB a couple of times , sirloin-ish cuts. I use SV as the method , @ 130 F specifically to minimize muscle contraction , and timed for tenderness. this got me flavorful tender meat . not sure if this helps.

@Midlife or , go back to that restaurant , and take a few pics ! I would.

@Smithy quite some time ago , when I used to bake I used an enamel coated cast iron skillet , ie heavy mass , and 10 " in the bottom rack , and threw in a couple of ice cubes. the cubes evaporated , so the door of the oven did not need to be opened again its was much easier than trying water in a very hot oven , and quicker.

Ive had various friends from the Middle East their version of tabbouli was always very green. I prefer T a la @Smithy. I think bulgur has interesting flavor , and texture .

back when that NYTime mag Rx was printed I doubt anyone had heard of panko. @weinoo you are correct , a little bit of sweetness . the ones i made way back then were quite nice. and it had to be a fresh box of CFs , as the aroma evaporates quickly from a box.

I decided to finish up my stock of Tj's CR's today , and try to fix a couple of yesterdays short comings : yogurt // green onions added after the pic 1 ) more pecans on the lettuce is a must . Quite a few Campari's also nice I AF'd the CR from frozen 15 min 375 , then 400 until crispy 6 ++ more minutes . I also blotted the CR w paper towels . my conclusion is : for my taste , you have to get the batter very very crispy . as the CR is fully cooked go w max heat of your AF until that happens. further reflection : although I enjoyed the CR , as a previous poster noted : its mostly , maybe 53 % ++ batter. and make sure you plate it w something else that's interesting to eat. if you are a serious student of CR's , either from a local place , or making your own , you might be disappointed w this edition. Ill still get them , from time to time. just not very often , and not back to back.

@weinoo your pasta setup is not really that different than mine . your top Pot is my Fasta. your bottom Pot , is my final plate , where the mixing is done . tasty results all around. however , for the Bronzo penne , they seem to take more time than the recommended times in the Fasta Time-table. so , un til those get dialed in , Ill use the two pan method you have championed.

@TdeV I take it the gross look comes from something organic ? if so , something like EasyOff might work. https://www.easyoff.us/ you do have to e a bit careful with it. for organic issues , not rust. then after cleaning , re-season.

@Smithy sorry for not being clear . I used the AirFryer. just needed a bit higher temp than the recommended 350 F , and longer than 20 min from frozen Ill probably try the second Puck tonight, and see.

TJ's chile rellenos for dinner here : https://forums.egullet.org/topic/167297-dinner-2025/page/85/#comment-2460979

Tj's Fz chile rellenos : standard base of chopped fresh spinach , quite a bit . EVOO ( for mouth feel ) perimeter of Campari tomatoes . CT's get a dusting of Penzey's Pico NS seasoning . added toasted chopped pecans the Af's the CR : package says 15 - 20 min 350 . it was wrong 22 min got close , but next time , 375 for 15 , then 5 - 8 400 F Its Saturday , that means PBS cooking shows . VH adds a dollop of sourcream to things . I have none. so a dollop of yogurt. eats like this . I thought this would be good. turned out better than good. the yogurt was a quite nice addition . a few more pecans next time ( there are two CR's in each box , accompanied w an awful ' tomato [sic] ' sauce. the CR needs to be crispier and hotter . next time. if its under cooked , it can end up being a little greasy oily. quite nice . thank you , VH for the sour cream ' idea ' .

the second episode aired today in my area : Pasta https://www.scetv.org/watch/kitchen-curious fantastic show Ill be making the last bow tie casserole dish soon . I would have liked a bit more description on the crab dish , at that restaurant. then again , I am a big fan of VH. her dishes are a bit unusual , but in a most tasty way . bon appetite , for sure.

@Paul Bacino Wow ! and now Ive got the Dukes .

@Pete Fred Exactly right . while there are many fruit-pasty desserts , Apple based lead the pack.

I was @ Tj's this AM. I noted a pile of tote bags https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/trick-or-treat-mini-canvas-totes-081415 I dont know when they appeared , but no one was buying. those other ones created a stampede , and sold out briskly. Odd. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPocGAQDdP_/ https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/trader-joes-halloween-tote-bags/3961309/

@ElsieD good points. Im pleased you tried.

@Smithy sure Duke's ( recently purchased ) has a use by date of 5/24/26 Aldi brand ( 9 +++ months on my shelf , at least , if not more ) has a use by date of 4/4/26 . that's quite a difference , but then again , not sure what that means. it at least means Im not in any hurry to try them , freshly opened , any time soon. ' twang ' is a mystery flavor for me . but Ive got in now !

this is new to me : its from Wisconsin I will age it in a local Cave, i.e. a cabinet in the kitchen so MC doesn't get to interested in it if left on the counter for a week or so. will report when ready . Tj's has a camembert that is fantastic , from FR of course but though I might try this

@gfweb of note 1 ) of note 2 ) the Aldi may has been on the shelf for ' quite some time ' probably less than a year , say 9 months the Dukes is ' fresh ' from S&S note the use by dates .

@Dr. Teeth ' lettuce ? '

@ElsieD did you find the iPot repeat method ' interesting ? '