avaserfi

This is exactly what I do. I have a magnetized whiteboard on my freezer door. It has everything I keep in the freezer listed on it divided into categories which I developed over time. Examples are soups/stews, beef, pork, poultry, baked goods etc. Any time something is added or removed we update the list. Everything in the freezer is labeled with a name and date. On top of that I have divided the freezer into different sections where specific items are kept. So if I am looking for a stew I know to look in location X, while if I want to look for a raw meat I look in Y, while already cooked meat is in Z. This minimizes the amount of time I need to keep the freezer open too.

Nope, sociology. Cooking is a passion, so I always find an excuse.

About a week ago I had my preliminary oral exams as part of my PhD coursework. For my thesis defense I brought some tonka and chocolate scones that everyone really seemed to enjoy. Because cooking relaxes me, I decided to be a little more adventurous for the prelim defense. I made a vanilla bean cake, a cinnamon coffee syrup, a caramel mousse and a methocel F50 coffee meringue. I made everything the night before and tested it at home. I was very happy. Of course, it was extremely humid out and the next morning the methocel meringue was no longer light and crisp, but chewy (despite two desiccant packets in the container!). I scratched that and served everything else, along with some crepes I made out of frustration. A picture of the plate in its glory, before the chewy meringue. Now I am going back to the drawing board to figure out how to prevent the problem, if possible.

I got a Silvia used, dirt cheap. While its not perfect, with the right timing and work a great shot is possible. Although I like mine, I don't think I would happily pay MSRP on the machine. That said, a recent contender for best entry level machine is the Crossland CC1. New its costs as much as the Silvia, but with a far greater feature set. The machine is very new, but has a lot of potential for the price point. Here is a vendor video showing off the machine with the designer. It shows off the machine and some of its features.

There are companies that make high quality metal filters specifically designed for Chemex brewers, for example the Coava Kone. Also, while the Aeropress makes a very nice cup of coffee in the right hands, I would not say it approximates espresso or anything like espresso. The mechanics of brewing are extremely different between the two methods as is the final cup. I've heard the claim that an Aeropress produces an Americano like beverage and can agree to an extent, but anyone buying the Aeropress and expecting anything like an espresso is going to be disappointed.

Yes they are. I foraged some nice ones along with a few chanterelles over the weekend. Still waiting for the matsutakes to show up (I found one so it shouldn't be long). The chanterelles are fading now but they were crazy this year. I've been using them like crazy and still have about 10 lbs. that went in the freezer. Hated to do that to them but it seemed better than tossing 'em in the compost. Most mushrooms dehydrate very well, if you happen to have a dehydrator or need an excuse to get one.

Lye is the ingredient that is traditionally used for soft pretzel making. I'm not sure about hard, but think it is the same. According to the article I linked earlier, baking soda gets a similar effect to lye, but is not basic enough to get the right flavor profile and texture. In contrast, baked soda is.

That scallop dish looks wonderful. I especially love the idea of using sea beans to get that briney flavor in, complimenting the scallops. I really wish I had access to some of the markets you do...I'm lucky if we have fresh, in season fruit available!

I tend to do the same thing with any dumpling, including gnocchi. Shape and freeze on a tray, then move to a bag. Just toss directly in the steamer or boiling water and cook until done. I have noticed little to no quality degradation. That said, I have also prepared precooked gnocchi and froze them for a quick meal. It works well, but I don't think it is as good as cooking from frozen. I've been eating pelmeni and vareniki (the region's version of a pierogi) since I was a little kid - my parents are from the region. We always made a huge batch and froze the excess, cooking from frozen. It works very well with both store bought wrappers and homemade doughs. I still do it today, but now I always make the dough myself. We always ate pelmeni with sour cream and fresh cracked pepper. Vareniki with melted butter on lightly browned onions.

There are two reasons that I know of (at least I think I know): 1) Co2 dissolves into liquids more readily at cold temperatures. So, if you take an unopened room-temperature carbonated beverage and open it, more Co2 will escape when the pressure is released. 2) Nucleation points (imperfections that Co2 has access to) encourage vigorous bubbling. Ice is full of various imperfections which act as nucleation points causing the Co2 dissolve out of the liquid. What else did you want to know?

This thread makes me want to PID my Silvia. My setup, which I don't have any pictures of, is a V1 Silvia I got on Craigslist very cheap and a Cunill Tranquilo grinder. I use this most mornings, but also have an aeropress I will pull out for a more drip styled coffee.

The section covering the cookery of pork and possibility of food born illness explains why they say it is safe. Essentially, they hold that trichinella is no longer an issue in modern pork production. From my understanding this is mostly true, pastured pork from smaller farmers that don't use antibiotics as liberally as larger operations are more likely to have trichinella. Personally, I've cooked medium rare pork for years without issue. On Thursday at the restaurant I intern at we did a small staff tasting of whey fed pork and cooked the cut rare. It was delicious and surprisingly different. If you can cook at low temperature, such as in an immersion circulator, you can kill the trichinella by holding it at 54.4C/130F for about 30 minutes (according to US government guidelines). Alternatively, you can freeze the cut to kill the parasite.

There is some degradation once the meat is frozen and stored. Ice crystals form and break cell walls, releasing juices. The longer an item is frozen the more damage will occur as the ice crystals increase in size. This happens in most home freezers, especially those with self-defrost cycles. From my experience, it affects both raw and cooked meats. I tend to rely on stews, soups for quick from frozen meals. Also, I often make an excess of sauce to make a quick meal from frozen. This works especially well with things like mac and cheese where the sauce can be frozen. Sure, the whole meal isn't frozen, but there is little to no quality loss this way.

Harold McGee talks about used baked soda to get very similar results. The baking process increases the alkalinity significantly. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/dining/15curious.html

I've used wine, juice and various beers all to good effect. I am pretty sure the liquid makes the cheese less thick when heated, so it is more creamy and gooey.

I've thought about trying this out as well, but haven't had a chance. Douglas Baldwin does have a sous vide creme brulee video on youtube, so I would expect cheesecake to work as well. edited for spelling

I've made the recipe with king trumpets, enoki and oyster mushrooms. Each mushroom takes a different amount of time to cook and has a different final flavor, but are all good. The enoki were the simplest to shape, trumpets second and the oysters were a pain, but looked great. The end result is a tasty vegetarian/vegan alternative to BBQ, but I don't think it is as good as the real thing. Accepting that the dish isn't trying to compete with traditional BBQ and is something else, I think it stands on its own very well especially considering how easy it is. If you do make it, using a great BBQ sauce really helps.

That was my first time. My best advice is try it to get a feel for it. I was worried about burning the food, but that didn't happen. I just paid close attention and carefully and slowly moved the torch to encourage even browning. You left out the most important part.... how was it!? Phenomenal. It came out better than expected. I am definitely doing it again.

My first attempt at char siu tonight. Marinated the pork belly for 12 hours, then 62C for 40 hours and chilled. Skinned, glazed then charred with a torch which also reheated the belly. Last LTLT dish for a while. This was when the FMM died about 30 hours in, fortunately I was in the kitchen, the last 10 hours were stove top, but I was able to maintain +/-2 degrees C A fun shot of the torch in action:

Using fig juice and a good blue as the base for the cheese would be pretty tasty.

Yes the scaling is correct for 200 g of salt. There is a typo. There should be 20 grams of coriander seeds, not 20 seeds. Good luck, Paul Thanks, Paul! I assume the books include a suggested amount of the cure mix per kg of meat? I'm a bit wary because the 41.5 g per duck leg seem to be too precise to be simple per item estimates. Greetings, Peter If I recall correctly, the recipe in MC calls for a scaling of 18% cure and 100% duck. So the legs probably weighed about 230.5 grams in the linked post.

So it sounds like the options haven't changed much. For me, the SV Supreme isn't an option, I would prefer avoiding another large appliance that isn't hugely versatile. Out of curiosity, because it seems there a number of SV Magic owners on eGullet, has anyone ever had problems with theirs? What about the heating element FMM? For full disclosure, I have owned a SVM/FMM for approximately 6 months. Over this time period, I have experienced a mechanical failure of the SVM itself resulting in drifting temperature readings (the SVM was promptly replaced and mechanical failure verified). Just recently, my FMM has been causing my GFCI outlets to go off rendering the FMM unusable. I have been offered the option of replacing the FMM with the newest design or returning my setup for a refund. At this point I am leaning strongly toward refund because of the issues I have had with the setup. That said, I've never read of a bad experience with a SVM/FMM combo aside from my own and am conflicted about a coarse of action. A circulator would be nice, but they are a little too pricey for me.

I used brioche, about 3/4" thick slices. I soaked in a shallow pool of equal parts egg and milk for about 30 seconds per side. I cooked in a pan in butter at approximately pancake temperature. I like to fry my toast at a higher temperature - pancakes around 350F or so, french toast closer to 400-450F. I like a very crispy crust and custardy center. I would also reduce soak time some as it sounds like you might not like the custard center as much as me.

Some idea of what you did might help. What type of bread did you use, how did you soak it and what was the composition of your custard? I make a custard that is scaled so that the weight of egg is 40% of the weight of the milk (you can see my whole process here). I dip and soak a rich buttery brioche (1.25cm/0.5inch thick slices) for thirty seconds per side, then fry in butter and if necessary finish in the oven. If possible, you can use a chamber vacuum sealer to increase the thickness of the bread without getting a soggy crust and to infuse even more custard into the bread making for a richer, creamer center. I prefer doing this, but it isn't always possible. Below is a 6.4cm/2.5inches round that is 3.8cm/1.5inches tall. I wouldn't suggest such a tall piece without a chamber vacuum sealer because the custard won't make it to the center.

I've tried looking around a little bit, but haven't been able to find a recent discussion on the current state of LTLT cooking equipment. It looks like my setup has bit the dust and I'm doing research into options so I can get back in the game. As of right now there don't seem to be a huge amount, at least from what I can find. Is there anything out there besides my short list below? PID controller - for a rice/slow cooker or it can be coupled with a heating element (Auberins or SVM style) Sous Vide Supreme - water oven Polyscience Professional - immersion circulator I like the flexibility of something more along the lines of a circulator/PID controller as opposed to a water oven, but I don't know if there are other options out there.