Morkai

Question - The recipe simply says "add chicken" and the ingredient list is "1.5 lbs chicken thighs". Do you put in the thighs whole and break up later while eating? Did you slice the thighs into large chunks? Did you use skin on? My inclination would be to use boneless/skinless for easier eating and to cut them up. Anyone got any ideas?

We're planning to use a mixture of extra sharp cheddar, gruyere, and comte. There is Parmesan that is littered on the top. I am liking the idea of doing a MC-like citrate substitution. Once made and refrigerated, will it bake well? Hoping to keep that gooey Velveeta-like texture. Thanks all!

I am planning on making Michael Ruhlman's macaroni and cheese this weekend for a party. In the recipe, you make a soubise sauce with flour, butter, milk, and carmelized onions. You hand blend these all together (with some spices), and then add the grated cheese to the hot liquid to melt. Then you can mix in with the cooked pasta and keep overnight in the fridge. Then I remembered I have sodium citrate in the pantry. We like this recipe, but find that it's not as "cheesy" or "creamy" as we'd like it to be sometimes, especially after cooking. Would adding a dash of sodium citrate to the cheese/soubise mixture help keep it that classic cheesy texture? Even if it sat overnight in the fridge and was then baked? As I am making this along with smoking a couple pork butts for my girlfriend's co-workers, I really don't want to have a food disaster! Thanks all, Mork

I stumbled upon these short ribs recently at a local Korean grocery store. I noticed that they were labeled as choice grade, and certainly were surrounded by other packages of the same cut, but they appeared to have significantly better marbling. As in, they didn't look anything like the others - much, much, much more marbling. I am pretty certain these were mislabeled, and must be from a higher grade. Anyhow, I have never quite seen short ribs cut like this before, which, along with their significant marbling is making me question how to use them. They appear to be very thickly cut flanken short ribs. I was thinking of trying to remove the bones form each of the three pieces and cook the short ribs like steaks, to medium to let the fat render a bit. Any thoughts or suggestions? How is this cut normally used?

What'd you think of the fish? been wanting to try this.

Well, if it's not a crazy amount of trouble (don't want to put you through excess work), I would love if it you managed to jot down the amounts. My vision of custard, well, who knows what that will turn out like! Looks remarkable. Thanks for the advice!

spipet, that is a beautiful crust on that fish. Did you make the beer batter on your own, or did you use a recipe?

I am happy to report that Lobels reached out to me immediately and offered to send two new steaks on the spot. There are absolutely no complaints in the customer service department. I'll post some cooked pictures soon, I am sure they will be spot on.

Here are the steaks. The porterhouse has salt and pepper on it, so it may be more difficult to see, but I think you can see the clear thick striations throughout the strip portion that I fear will be tough. There's even a thin one that hugs the bone. As for the ribeye, it looks... fine. If this is what I saw a local butcher I would be satisfied, but this is supposed to be the creme de la creme. I certainly wouldn't think this was the "top 2%" of prime steaks, as Lobel's advertises. Simply by visual inspection, I would not think the ribeye here compares to the beauty posted above. Perhaps looks aren't everything.

Hi Rotuts. I'll try to take a photo tonight when I get home. I have lots of experience with sous-vide for steaks, but in some ways I feel that a steak like this deserves a "primal" technique. Risk of overcooking, but that's part of the challenge, isn't it? Man vs. meat. When I sous-vide I usually sear on the grill and quickly baste with melted butter with herbs and roasted garlic. I hear the calls to keep beef of this caliber "pure", using salt and pepper and little else. I usually prefer it my way

I recently came into possession of a 36 oz porterhouse and a 24 oz ribeye from Lobels. I cannot yet speak to the flavor, but I must say, at first glance I was disappointed by the looks of the meat. The strip section of the porterhouse looks to have a thick tendon running through the middle, the color is a pinkish hue, and the marbling seems fairly average. Considering the cost was $180.00+ for these two pieces of meat, I feel a bit let down. The ribeye looks better, but nothing like picture I have seen of Lobel's in the past. For instance, the following picture was uploaded by an eGullet member as representative of Lobel's quality: My steak does not look like that - though it is the same cut, same purveyor, and same size. That steak seems worthy of an $80.00 price tag. Regardless, I am trying to decide how to cook these. Right now I have the porterhouse in the fridge, heavily salted. It's either sous-vide then a char on the grill, or slow cooked on the cool side of the grill basted with butter/herbs/roasted garlic and then seared up near target temp. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I should proceed?

That's the texture I have been searching for in my fried chicken. Do you mind sharing your process? I have been continually let down by recipes that sound promising only to end up with soggy texture after a few minutes, brittle hard crusts, or too-dark skin.

My copy arrives this afternoon. I am the biggest fan of fried chicken I know. Looking forward to trying this out - getting some decent buzz. Anyone have a copy or cooked from it? I'll post some thoughts after I work through it a bit. Wesbite here: http://www.friedandtruebook.com/

I'd love one. I doubt my landlord would approve.

Gotta admit, that chicken does look very moist. And the breading looks quite good. Unusually good for baked chicken tenders. Care to share your secret? Brine?

Jerk chicken with coconut rice and peas. Used Kenji Alt-Lopez's method from seriouseats.com where bay leaves and allspice berries are used to smoke the chicken in lieu of pimento wood. Given all the trouble, I would have rather had pimento wood. Still, turned out okay.

dcarch, beautiful. The first photo reminds me of my childhood, jumping on Koopa Troopas in Super Mario!

A few recent dinners. Michael Ruhlman's weeknight coq au vin. Shrimp and grits. Placki ziemniaczane z sosem grzybowym (potato pancake with mushroom sauce)

Polish Gołąbki.

I thought it was a terrific recipe and the flavor has improved after a couple of days of rest. I prepped the turkey two days before thanksgiving and used Active RM to bind the skin and meat. After removing the tenderloins I dusted them with the Activa and formed a nice little roll that I seasoned with cajun seasoning and cooked at the same time. The breast went pretty much from the circulator to the fryer which was a wok. That's interesting. I made the same for our Thanksgiving. I went basically from the circulator to the wok, and I found that by the time it was fried (about 8 minutes total), that the interior was overcooked. I noticed later that the recipes calls for putting the turchetta into an ice bath for 5 minutes, or running it under cool water for 10 before frying. I don't think this step was emphasized enough, and I was wondering if that was my problem, but it sounds like you did the same as I did and it was just fine.

Steve Irby: What did you think of the Turchetta? Did you cool it before you fried it?

Could you provide a little more detail about "icing the breasts"? I think I understand, but not completely.

I placed the order last Monday. Shipped on Friday. Estimated to arrive on Wednesday. Not so enthralled with customer service, but I understand it's a smaller operation. Sent an e-mail last Tuesday, still haven't received a response. From reading through this thread, I'm not alone with that situation.

I received an emailing explaining the delay. Perhaps you opted out of updates on kickstarter? I also have the Anova, but I'm thinking/hoping the Sansaire is going to be a more stable product. I don't see any certification stickers on the Anova, so I'm doubting they went through as thorough a process as Sansaire seems to be doing. I've only had the Anova for about a week. It works well enough, but it's a bit quirky (touch screen is finicky, random reboots, etc.). I pre-ordered it on their website, but wasn't part of the Kickstarter crowd. I just rechecked my e-mail and my spam folders but didn't receive anything. I know I wasn't an early adopter like those on Kickstarter, but I would hope I am still deserving of an e-mail! It may have been a simple oversight, but it's still disappointing to have to go looking for myself to be let down. Random reboots? Is that a common problem on the Anova? That indicates a massive food safety issue. I've been looking through the Anova thread and haven't come across that yet. That's a little unnerving!

I had the Sansaire ordered, and canceled upon news of this latest pushback. I guess these things are to be expected, but I planned to use mine for the holiday season. I went with the Anova. I have to admit, though I understand the need for a delay, and I understand the idea that this should be "expected," I am still a little annoyed at the way Sansaire is conducting business. When a company gives you an expected ship date of November 18th, they should inform you of a two month delay well before November 17th. The fact that the delay wasn't even emailed to those of us who pre-ordered, but instead posted on their blog the day before the announced ship date made the switch to Anova much easier.