Simon Lewinson

Tonight's dinner was sous vide duck leg confit with a mushroom and roasted garlic risotto. This was my first attempt at duck confit, and it was slightly too salty which contrasted with the subtle sweetness of the mushroom and roasted garlic risotto.

Nick, I was wondering how much liquid the salt extracts during the curing. Might try a spice pack in one of the bags. Thanks Simon

Hi all, I am a first timer with regard to making confit duck legs. Living out in the sticks, I cannot readily get fresh duck, so have procured some frozen white pekin duck legs. I have defrosted them, trimmed off the excess fat to render, salted them heavily with sea salt, bay leaves, thyme, garlic, juniper berries and pepper and vacuum sealed them. I intend to leave them to cure for twelve hours in the fridge, unpack and rinse then cook sous vide at 78 degrees C for 12 hours. The photos are just after packing. My main questions are: How much liquid should be extracted from the legs? Should I include further seasonings in the bags when cooking? Is 12 hours curing adequate? How long should I let it rest before consumption? I have trawled the forums and google, and I am finding so much conflicting information. Thanks Simon

Fresh pineapple contains bromelain, an enzyme that digests protein. Similarly, kiwi fruit contains actinidain and papaya has papain. Bromelain is inactivated at about 70 degrees C, and the same goes for papain and actinidain, but I am unsure of the exact temperatures. I have some vague memory that chili will inactivate bromelain but cannot fine a reference yet. Update - our molecular friend Heston Blumenthal has used chili to inactivate bromelain - google is thy friend. Agar and some other gelling agents are unaffected by these enzymes as they are not protein based. Hope this helps Simon

Another view is that health and wellbeing are closely linekd to feeling good. My take is that, in moderation, anything that you enjoy has a beneficial effect, even if only by improving how you feel. "If it feels good, tastes good or is fun, it is either illegal, immoral or bad for your health."

My $0.02, not having cooked veal cheeks sous vide, would be to base the sauce on something lighter such as white wine / dijon mustard. Reduce the wine to remove alcohol, assemble in bag and my best guess would be 80 degrees C for somewhere between 4 and 6 hours. Let us know how it goes. Simon

If you are interested, here is a link to the pork belly recipe. http://forums.egullet.org/topic/136275-sous-vide-recipes-techniques-equipment-2013/?p=1916696 Simon

Inspired by a local cooking competition show, My Kitchen Rules, I decided to try and make Vietnamese caramel pork belly, sous vide style. The original recipe http://au.tv.yahoo.com/my-kitchen-rules/recipes/recipe/-/16683428/pork-belly-with-caramel-sauce-chinese-steamed-buns-and-asian-salad/ and http://svkitchen.com/?p=3694 gave me a good head start, and I ended up with the following recipe. 1Kg pork belly, cut into two pieces 80ml Cheong Chan caramel sauce 60ml kecap manis 100ml fish sauce 1 star anise, broken 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper 1 stalk lemongrass, sliced finely 1 Thai red chili, descended and sliced finely 4 eschalotts, sliced finely Put each piece of pork belly into a vacuum bag and lay the sliced ingredients on both skin and flesh sides of the pork belly. Crumble half of the star anise into each bag. Mix the sauces and pepper and taste for balance of sweet, salty and bitter then add half to each bag. Vacuum seal hard (>99%) and refrigerate for 24 hours to marinate. Cook sous vide at 80 degrees C for 10 hours. Serve with steamed asian greens and rice garnished with coriander leaves and vietnamese mint. The second bag was pressed flat in the fridge and I made some Banh Mi for lunch today http://forums.egullet.org/topic/143083-cook-off-60-banh-mi/?p=1916693

Yet another attempt at Banh Mi for lunch today. Preparation work was making a batch of mayonnaise with eggs fresh from the chicken coop, vacuum pickling slices of cucumber and carrot and slicing up the sous vide Vietnamese caramel pork belly that I cooked a couple of days ago. Yesterday's job was to make some chicken liver pâté. Two dozen par-bake mini dinner rolls were duly baked and cut, home made mayonnaise spread inside the top, pâté on he bottom. Pickled carrot and cucumber, a sprig of coriander, a couple of leaves of Vietnamese mint and then some thinly sliced pork belly. Sprinkle lightly with some light soy sauce and let the piranhas descend. Thankfully I managed to get a photo before my 17 year old son devoured over half of them. The complexity added by the caramel pork belly was fantastic, hints of lemongrass and chili with subtle bitter and sweet notes from the caramel sauce made this a real hit. Simon

Made some pasta with the chestnut flour for last night's dinner. Used about 2/3 plain flour and 1/3 chestnut flour with fresh eggs, salt and a small amount of local EVOO. After resting the dough for half an hour I tried to roll it out and found that it did not like being rolled out too thin. Change of plan and I made some really rustic stracci. Cooked them and served with browned sage butter and shaved pecorino. Final result was windflower but I don't think that I will be making my own chestnut flour again! Tonight there were more chestnuts picked, steamed and peeled for a batch of sweet chestnut purée. Now to decide how best to use it. Simon

I would never use those two words in the same sentence, let alone same paragraph without a couple of expletives Simon

Add in salt and alcohol as preservatives and it is no wonder that we are living longer Simon

Yep, toasted or roasted! Need to fire the editor (me) Simon

Hi, our chooks (chickens to foreigners) lay eggs with the most beautiful orange yolks. They are free range, feeding on bugs and weeds in the back yard and get some grain as well. Cannot beat fresh eggs that are less than 1 hour old fried in real butter for breakfast! Simon

Nina, that is pretty much the same as what I used. Only thing that I can think is that the chestnuts should not be tasted before making the flour. I will need to do some more research. Simon

Nina, the castagnaccio was not bad, but I think that something was missing from the recipe that I used from here http://thriftytuscany.com/chestnut-cake-castagnaccio-recipe. The texture was extremely crumbly and almost falling apart whenever you tried to pick it up. The colour was a light golden brown with small cracks on the surface. The flavour was quite subtle and went well with the prosciutto, pecorino and home made basil and cashew pesto. I would love suggestions on better recipes to try. Simon

Hi all, on the spur of the moment I fired up the oven for a spot of baking this morning. I do not normally bake much - I leave it to my nearly 14 year old daughter. Banana bread and castagnaccio (see http://forums.egullet.org/topic/144823-chestnuts/?p=1915458 for the chestnut provenance) are on the menu. Just as the banana bread came out of the oven, No 1 son (nearly 17 and always hungry) came into the kitchen and raided it as I was getting my iPhone for photos. Lunch will be the castagnaccio with antipasto Simon

Three loaves of banana bread out of the oven. No 1 son has already eaten half of a loaf as a post breakfast snack. Castagnaccio in the oven - subbed pine nuts with macadamia nuts because I can only get the crappy Chinese ones locally. Added heaps of fresh rosemary and used freshly pressed local extra virgin olive oil. Lunch will be some antipasto with the castagnaccio and a glass to three of vino. Why does time run so slowly? Will post photos and taste report soon

Sounds like a baking morning! Castagnaccio and banana bread it will be. I do not bake much and leave it to my nearly 14 year old daughter who loves it. I should have enough flour left to make a batch of chestnut pasta. Simon

Nina, I was thinking along that line but wanted others opinions. Thanks

Update. The chestnuts have been roasted, shelled, chopped, dried and ground into 350 grams of flour. Only pity is that it looks like such a small amount, but should make some wonderful pasta. I promise to post updates, either in this thread or the dinner 2013 thread about its final destiny. What do you think about chestnut and porcini fettuccine served with sage buerre noisette and pecorino? I will pick more tomorrow if time permits. Simon

This morning I spent 5 minutes collecting these beauties. There is over 1kg. I am roasting them and plan to try making some braised pork and chestnut ravioli tomorrow. I have cooked the pork shanks sous vide with garlic, ginger and soy sauce. Simon

Keith_W, living out in the sticks has a load of advantages, but getting some cuts of meat is not one of them. I have to drive nearly 100 kilometers to get beef cheeks and decent pork belly! For any Asian groceries more esoteric than soy sauce or rice noodles, I need to drive for nearly 4 hours to get down to Melbourne. Was at the Queen Vic on the weekend and stocked up on beef ribs, pork shanks, Vietnamese mint and assorted Asian mushrooms. On the flip side, I went outside and picked nearly 2 Kg of chestnuts from out the front of my neighbors house. I also get free venison from a friend that hunts regularly. I used to live in Suburban Melbourne, but would not swap living in rural North Eastern Victoria for the convenience of shopping. Simon

Dinner tonight were much awaited beef short ribs. I have read so much about them and finally managed to by some here Downunder. Marinated for a few hours in some BBQ sauce (doctored commercial stuff) then cooked for 48 hours at 58 degrees C. Unbagged and seared on a red hot BBQ then served with a reduction of the bag sauce and BBQ corn on the cob. Texture was fantastic, juicy and tender but still firm. This will definitely go on the list for another try. Would love suggestions on brining to enhance the flavour. Sorry but no photos as the piranhas descended upon them before I had a chance to serve and take a picture. Simon

Have fun - they are quite rich and one cheek with some mash is a good feed. Another favourite of mine is pork shanks or belly with ginger, garlic, shiitake and soy for 10 hours at 80 degrees C. Simon