avaserfi

You bought a whole shoulder? That is perfect for experimenting. Seam butcher it separating each and every muscle (I know, easier said that done, but even if you haven't done it before some careful persistence will get you close enough). Once butchered cook each muscle as a tender piece and a hard piece, then compare. Yes, more firm and toothsome, but even so I have never found something tough or unpalatable. In some cases, I have also found the more intense. I've always thought a 72hour short rib loses some beefiness.

The shoulder has a number of muscles. I probably wouldn't run any as high as 82C, but would adjust temperature depending on which muscle I was using. I just cooked pork shoulder with achiote paste for a cochinita pibil sous-vide. First time to cook shoulder, I did not differentiate between the different muscles. Avaserfi, do you think there is much of a difference on how the different muscles should be cooked? I put the bath at 60ºC and two bags, the first one removed after 48 hours, the second after 72 hours. 72 hours was too much, meat lost more liquid and was a bit mushy. 48 hours was very good, but I may try shorter (24 or 36) next time. I haven't experimented with this as much as I would like, but there are a number of very different muscles in the shoulder that respond differently to cooking. My favorite cut of pork, the collar is great seared and I would never take it longer than 24 hours at 60C, probably closer to 6-12 hours. A small part of the jowl steak often makes it into the shoulder too, I like this at about 5 hours at 60C. Beyond those cuts, when cooking shoulder traditionally, I rarely consider treating each muscle differently and have not had the opportunity to do so when cooking low temperature. It would be interesting to take a small portion of each muscle in the shoulder and bag them separately to see the effects of cooking time and temperature. Considering that the shoulder houses muscles with the same anatomical structure as the beef flat iron and the teres major, which I suspect would work better with shorter cook times, it might be a worth while experiment. That said, if you get a cross section of shoulder, these pieces would make up a relatively small portion of the meat cooked. I can say, lately I have been experimenting with shorter cook times for most cuts and have strongly preferred the shorter cook times. For example, I find a 16hr 56C short rib far preferable in flavor and texture to the more common 72 hour short rib, but I have yet to do any real experiments with pork shoulder.

My go to with heart is beef jerky. The texture is great and it has a slight offal flavor when finished, but it isn't overwhelming. That said seared is great too, as long as it isn't overcooked and chewy. I like it fairly rare, any more and I find it gets rubbery.

Chicharon.

Nothing fancy today, just a quick phone picture. Dinner/snack at work. We got a whole cow in today and as I love to find when butchering, there was a small unsellable piece of dry-aged hanger. Seared and basted in marrow. Delicious.

82C is very high for pork. What cut are you using? I like chicken wings cooked in a 62C bath for 12 hours, then fried. I tend to do legs and thighs in a 64C bath for 1.5 hours. Its 1 piece from the shoulder and 1 piece of belly. I wanted to experiment with this: http://egullet.org/p1672174 Keller is doing his at 82.2 for 12h The shoulder has a number of muscles. I probably wouldn't run any as high as 82C, but would adjust temperature depending on which muscle I was using. I prefer belly done at 60C for 40 hours. Pork belly confit and rillets. Both were done at 60C for 40 hours. I just whipped the scraps after I squared off the piece of belly.

duck breast and skin / bruleed sweet potato / almonds / sweet potato-tonka-espresso puree

82C is very high for pork. What cut are you using? I like chicken wings cooked in a 62C bath for 12 hours, then fried. I tend to do legs and thighs in a 64C bath for 1.5 hours.

From my understanding, that is normal operation.

Not last night, but I finally had a chance to pull the picture and write up the recipe etc. Kombu Wrapped 16hr 56C Short Ribs / Puffed Short Grain Rice / Flash Fried Broccoli / Mushroom and Beef Broth / Fish Sauce

I'm not sure I understand the purpose of such a coating. How would it actually help with any cutting tasks?

I always try to carry a small notebook with me, any ideas get written down. I occasionally flip through the book for inspiration and any final recipes or techniques get turned into a viewable HTML file on my computer using similar formatting to the recipes in Modernist Cuisine.

Had a wonderful meal here last night. A party of four, two ordered the extended tasting and the other two ordered a variety of apps and mains. Service was knowledgeable (and asked the kitchen if they weren't sure) and the food was superb. The extended omakase was very well portioned. I left full, but not stuffed. 1) White seaweed salad - the seaweed had the texture of a crunchy/slippery noodle. Served in a fairly acidic vinaigrette made with rice wine vinegar, miso and kombu if I recall correctly. 2) Sushimi with some housemade sauces (tuna, salmon, makerel and one other fish that escapes me). 3) Yellow tail crudo 4) Black angus/wagyu beef cross cooked tableside 5) tempura (shrimp, sweet purple potato, shiso leaf, enoki) 6) sake steamed clams 7) black pig, glazed 8) sushi rolls - salmon and California. 9) short green soba bolognese. 10) soba ice cream with soy powder and black honey The others at the table also had a steamed purple potato dish, some kaobocha squash, pork dumplings, a potato/yam and shrimp dish and the soba sampler.

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll have to look into them. As for Austin, I think there is some great food there. That said, I think the Houston food scene is quickly becoming much more interesting, but this is a topic for another thread.

I just found out that I'll probably be in San Antonio in late April with some family. I don't know too much about the area, being much more familiar with Austin and Houston. The last discussion looks a few years old. Does anyone have any recommendations for good restaurants and bars? I don't care about the view and am not too picky on service. I'm interested in good food, especially if it isn't something I can find in Austin or Houston. Thanks.

Exactly. The rest with traditional searing allows the contracted muscle fibers to relax. The muscle fiber contracts from prolonged exposure to the high heat. Cooking sous vide doesn't have the same effect, unless the final sear is long enough to contract the muscle fibers significantly beyond the surface which tends to negate the effects of sous vide cooking. Hardold McGee covers the topic of juice release when searing very well in his books The Curious Cook and On Food and Cooking.

My absolute favorite cut of beef is the hanger. In fact, my favorite days are when we get a whole cow in at work. As soon as I get to butcher the short loin, I pull out the small bit of hanger that often finds its way left in the subprimal from the slaughter house (most of it is found in the plate) and we have a small staff snack. Most of the time this portion isn't good enough looking to sell (the cows we get are 20+ days dry aged and this portion of the hanger is left exposed), but they are delicious. If cooking the hanger sous vide, I would (and have) cook the hanger at 55-56C for an hour or until cooked through, season and then sear it very hard. Slice thinly against the grain and serve. Hanger steaks are intensely beefy, but aren't the most tender cut of meat because of their grain structure, so they need to be sliced similar to flank before serving.

I used a mixture of bacon fat, potato flakes, potato starch and water for the shell. Mixed together and spread thinly, then baked. Once the top was crisp and the piece was easy to move whole I cut it to size and carefully wrapped it around the handle of a metal whisk (best I had). Back into the oven until completely crisp. There was enough bacon fat in the mix so that I was essentially frying it in the oven. The filling is riced russets, sour cream, chives, black pepper and salt. I piped the filling into the shells and served immediately. The cheese whiz was adapted from MC, but is basically a thick cheese emulsion charged in an ISI. The exact recipe is here, I would copy paste it but some of the code won't transfer making the recipe illegible.

Twice baked potatoes The shell: With stuffing and homemade cheese whiz:

I can't quite remember the brand, but it was a nice Italian pinot gris. I know it was a fairly dry white wine

A little late, but: monk fish / risotto milanese arancini / parmesan filata / crisped prosciutto / tomato-saffron fluid gel / pea puree.

If the sausage was hot smoked it is already cooked through (probably to at least 155F/68C) and you only need to heat it up (i.e., no rare sausage for you), then crisp it. If it was cured and cold smoked (unlikely for a breakfast sausage) then you are in a different situation. I find I prefer the texture of a sausage cooked at 60C/140F for about two hours, then fried until crispy.

Any update on an Android version? I just got a tablet and this looks like a good tool to have around.

I suspect most use a mixture of their fingers, spoons, plating tweezers and small off-set spatulas. Hemostats don't offer the same level of control.

I seal sausage, cook at 60C/140F then flash fry (205C/400F) to crisp the skin. Easily the best results I've ever had.