avaserfi

No, not caramelized at all, if I do it right: they are supposed to remain white, according to the recipe. And no beef stock on hand, alas. I'm trying to think of things I could fry them up with: presumably they will completely disintegrate, so that has to be OK in the dish. Bacon jam. Alternatively, I think it would work very well in a fried root veg cake (potato/turnip etc.).

Onions poached in butter for two hours? Delicious. I expect they would be pretty caramelized. Mix up a quick French Onion soup? Of course they're probably also running it through some sort of sieve/strainer or maybe even a giant food mill. We never bother. A high powered blender is more than sufficient assuming everything is cooked properly.

There are some books out there. The shop I work in has found The Art of Beef Cutting: A Meat Professional's Guide to Butchering and Merchandising pretty useful. What exactly are you looking for, you can probably find butcher how to videos online if you know the name too.

I'm pretty interested in Mugaritz: A Natural Science of Cooking and while not a cookbook, I do think Get Jiro! will be pretty fun.

It really depends on the cuts you get. I can tell you what we do at the butcher shop I work at with some of my favorite cuts though. Granted, we use Mangalitsa (the real Kobe of the pork world), Red Wattle and crosses between the two (my personal favorite. If you get any large portions of shoulder with skin on, porchetta is my go to. Collar steaks (the neck roll often turned into coppa) is phenomenal, probably one of my favorite cuts of pork, cooked just like a steak or pork chop. Seared hard Med-rare - works well cooked low temperature as well. Salt pepper and olive oil. Belly I would confit or turn to bacon. Just some examples, once you get the cuts in it will be easier to say.

I also heat a cast iron (or blue steel) skillet until it is smoking then add the oil and immediately the meat. If you add the oil first you will heat the smoke point of the oil long before reaching a desirable temperature for searing post sous-vide.

I froze the cheesecake in the molds to prevent any damage when I unmolded them. The final product is extremely tender and is hard to unmold at refrigerator temperatures.

Mine had thickened considerably by the time I removed it from the bath.

I served this as a cheese course/dessert combo. To make it, I set a mixture of a nice quality honey (100%) and water (100%) with agar (0.8%) and guar gum (0.4%) adding the inlays as desired right before it set. To serve, I just heated it up in a warm oven. I used both agar and guar to get a more tender texture than using agar alone which allows for a heat stable gel, but one that is more brittle than I find pleasant for such an application. Full recipe is here: http://www.consumedgourmet.com/2011/12/honey-terrine.html

I don't know if this counts, but I recently made a honey terrine. Tupelo honey, walnuts, dates and blue cheese inlay with a balsamic and bacon garnish around the terrine. Served hot.

It really depends on who is making the pancetta. I've been to some establishments where the butchers don't hang pancetta long enough for it to be labeled as ready to eat. It is cured and hung until a 20-25% weight loss is achieved, rather than the normal 30% for cured meats, then sold as "raw." When we make pancetta at the butcher/charcuterie place I work at we also tend to hang for shorter times. I think it is because most Americans tend to cook their pancetta.

It sounded to high for me, too, that's why I asked. But 60 °C might not denature the egg proteins in the panade enough to keep the finished pâté together. Or at least that's the one thing keeping me from going 60 °C I don't think that the duck/lamb combo is that gamey, but I guess that depends on one's meat preference. I've noted the livery note once with beef shanks that were cooked 72 hours at 54.5 °C, but that might have just been intense beef smell (they were cooked without any seasoning, which I don'T do anymore). I will let you know how the pâté turns out. I've got some silicon molds I'd like to use - I hope they are not crushed to badly by the vacuuming process. I didn't notice the egg on my quick glance. They will probably need a higher temperature for the whites to set. I would probably use some alternative ingredients for the panade and avoid the egg.

I make a sous vide pork belly char siu occasionally. The final product is different than the traditional method, but delicious and especially crispy if care is taken. I prefer not using a packet, but make the seasonings myself. The pork's texture is easily changed by adjusting the cook time and temperature. http://www.consumedgourmet.com/2011/09/pork-belly-char-siu.html Sous vide pate is pretty easy too. I change the temperature depending on the ingredients and the final texture I want. I don't think I would a duck and lamb pate to 70C, that seems to high. Maybe around 60-65C, with that recipe I would probably shoot closer to 60C. Occasionally, I have found gamey meat cooked low temp is becomes livery or has the gamey notes are accentuated. So you might want to cook to a core of 65C or so, but in a 70C bath. http://www.consumedgourmet.com/2011/08/country-pate.html

I'm waiting for it to be available on a non-Apple device. According to Nick Kokonas twitter account will happen at some point. That said, everything I have heard about the book suggests it is very impressive.

I recently picked up a few wine based liqueurs/apertifs such as Cardamaro Amaro, Lillet and Dubonnet Rouge. When I bought the amaro, I was told that after opening it I should store refrigerated and consumed within six months. Is this really the case? If so, how do you determine what should be stored refrigerated and has a shelf life once open? Port/Sherry? Vermouth? Lastly, if this is the case is there an alternative storage method? Refrigerator space is limited.

I ended up buying a 750 of the yellow Chartreuse a few hours after posting the question and seeing that there aren't really any good alternatives. I figure it will last me a while and doesn't go bad, so we bit the bullet. When I need some green Chartreuse, I will do the same. Thanks for the advice.

Today I went to the liquor store setting off on my quest to mix my way through the Joy of Mixology to learn more about the craft and slowly build a bar. I was planning on buying yellow Chartreuse at the very least, but the price ($65 for yellow and $57 for green) had me think twice. Are there more affordable alternatives?

A rolled piece piece of plastic wrap works very well at pushing excess meat out without being forced out itself.

I've finally decided to start working more with cocktails so I decided to get some essentials - The Bitter Truth bitters travelers pack (celery, old time, orange, creole and Jerry Thomas bitters) and their grapefruit bitters. Also some Cardamaro Amaro.

I recently used this technique to remove the starch from arborio and add it to a risotto nero using forbidden rice risotto. Since forbidden rice doesn't really have much starch, using the arborio rice starch to fortify the forbidden rice risotto offered a lot to the dish. The final results were rich, creamy and delicious. I didn't add any cream or anything else to the final product. Just starch rinsed stock and rice. I've also done similar things making "risotto" out of vegetables, such as cauliflower.

Tonight I made a gin and tonic with kaffir lime juice. A very nice change of pace, much more floral than I have had before. If only I could find the limes more often.

I've been exchanging emails with Nortindal to get a little more information on the subject. According to their customer support, the squid ink packets are best stored at room temperature and are good for 4 years from the manufacturing date which is stamped on each package. Once opened, the packets will keep 30 days refrigerated.

That is the company. I just looked at the packages a little more closely and noticed some fine print in Spanish. The fine print says to consume the contents within four years of production. There is a date stamped in white on the packet right next to the statement. I originally thought it was the expiration, but now I'm thinking it might be the production date.

I recently came across some small packets of squid ink and since I haven't seen any around before, I picked up a few. I was wondering if anyone knows what the shelf life of squid ink is refrigerated in these little packets. Searching online finds a range of indefinitely (what I was told when I purchased it) to six months. In the meantime, I am thinking up fun ideas for working with squid ink.

Has any­one had issues scal­ing the pasta por­tion of this recipe? If I fol­low the 100 grams pasta/300 grams water/160 grams cheese mix­ture scal­ing I have no prob­lems, but if I dou­ble those num­bers it takes far too long for the liq­uid to be absorbed result­ing in a watery mac and cheese or over­cooked pasta.