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Baselerd

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Everything posted by Baselerd

  1. My favorite simple way of cooking them is to grill them in sweet glaze until just charred.
  2. Thanks. I used Granny smith apples, and shaved them paper-thin on a mandoline. Then I coated them with simple syrup, dehydrated at 105 F overnight (pressed between two mesh sheets again). Mine did not discolor. Seems like lemon juice would work. I also used this food preservative from time to time (I didn't with these chips though) - it is essentially just ascorbic acid/vitamin, which prevents browning of vegetables. You can usually find the stuff in supermarkets, and to use it I just dissolve it in a small amount of water and brush onto the fruits.
  3. Thanks - the fennel chips were pretty tasty, and very easy to make. The recipe has you slice the bulb as thinly as possible (I used a mandoline), brush with simple syrup, and dehydrate overnight. I set my dehydrator to 120 F, seemed to work well without discoloring the chips, and i layed them between two mesh sheets to keep them flat during the process. Luckily, there's a sushi restaurant near me that doesn't mind selling some of their sashimi meat in blocks. If it weren't for that, I don't think I would even be able to get Hamachi (unless I ordered online).
  4. Do you think it is due to the evil chains, or improved worldwide communication and transportation infrastructure? I think many more aspects of our culture are being homogenized other than food.
  5. That prime rib looks delicious. Nice photography too. Here's something I made out of The Uchi Cookbook recently: Hamachi sashimi, apple-curry gastrique, kimchi oil, dehydrated apple chips, dehydrated fennel chips, shaved fennel, green apple slices, fennel pollen.
  6. Baselerd

    Worms in fish

    To be honest I'm not sure - hopefully someone more knowledgeable on the subject can chime in.
  7. Baselerd

    Worms in fish

    I don't think you can just throw any fish into the freezer if you want to preserve it. From what I understand, most "sushi-grade" meat is flash frozen in a deep freezer. The lower temperatures ensure that the parasites are killed quickly and prevent the formation of large ice crystals in the flesh (large crystals = bad meat when thawed). Most standard household freezers don't go below -10 F, whereas some of the deep freezers can go beyond -30 F.
  8. Cool article. I always liked to do the same to succotash, which I suppose isn't too different than ratatouille.
  9. One of my daughter's favorite cheeses. Better than butter is the tag line at our house. Yeah it was actually the first time I've tried it. I thought it was quite good - extremely creamy.
  10. Probably doesn't need to be said - but that lobster dinner looks fantastic mm84321. Here's a little after-dinner cheese plate: Délice de Bourgogne, candied almonds, cherries, almond crumble, strawberry fluid gel, and freeze dried strawberries.
  11. Ann_T that peach shortcake looks delicious. I recently made some Indian coconut rice pudding, tried to fancy it up a little by serving it with some golden raisin puree, candied pistachio crumble, and cardamom ice cream.
  12. Baselerd

    Savory mousses

    IIRC, cream is used for mousses because the emulsified butterfat solidifies at refrigeration temperatures, which helps allow the mousse to hold it's shape. Are you trying to make a set mousse? Warm or cold? If you have access to a copy of the Modernist Cuisine, on page 4-278 they have a nice table of stabilizers you can add to virtually any liquid to make a thick or set foam. I would imagine a good place to start would be to add some of these ingredients to spinach juice and charge them in a siphon.
  13. Thanks - yeah the strawberry-angostura combination is one I'll keep in the back of my head from now on ... the flavors work real well together.
  14. I recently put together this plated dessert - got a huge batch of strawberries and had to make use of them. I used a few recipes from ChefSteps, the almond cream custard was a standout - it was incredibly easy to make and had some of the best texture of any custard I can remember. The sorbet had a fairly high amount of alcohol (from the bitters) which ended up being slightly on the strong side (I would cut back to 2/3 the amount of bitters), but the texture was very soft and scoop-able even after several days in the freezer. -Strawberry-angostura sorbet (recipe from Chefsteps) -Almond cream custard (recipe from Chefsteps) -Greek yogurt foam (250g greek yogurt, 150 g heavy cream, 25 g honey, 25 g sugar all combined and put in ISI whip) -Candied almonds -Strawberry fluid gel -Strawberry paper (dehydrated strawberry coulis) -Almond shortbread crumble -Freeze-dried strawberry powder -Fresh strawberries
  15. Baselerd

    Goose liver terrine

    I made a foie gras terrine recently using the roughly the same method as the OP and was able to produce a very smooth terrine with only the tamis. I de-veined the liver before curing, but when pressing the liver through the tamis I caught a few pieces I had missed. My guess is that I could've caught all the veins in the tamis, but it would make it more difficult to press the liver through.
  16. Last night I made some ramen. I generally followed the Momofuku recipe for the broth, but used the pressure cooker instead. For toppings I added some stir-fried corn, bamboo shoots, soft boiled egg, and brined sous vide chicken breast (144 F).
  17. As far as fresh herbs go, I've had the best luck waiting till after the PC step. For example, when I make PC tomato and basil soup I'll cook onions, garlic, fresh tomatoes, a bunch of sun-dried tomatoes, etc in the pressure cooker. Once cooked, I'll puree the contents of the pressure cooker, and (while still hot) throw in a bunch of bruised fresh basil and let it cool to room temp, then strain. That gives you the nice fresh basil flavor without dulling it.
  18. That chocolate pound cake looks delicious - here's a recipe I made from the Uchi Cookbook: sake custard, brown butter sorbet, hazelnut crumble, and ginger consomme:
  19. Most of the upscale restaurants around here do try and give a more club-like atmosphere - with loud music and cocktail lounge waiting areas. To be honest, I kind of like it though - and I even have trouble filtering out background noise sometimes. Going to a noisy, popular restaurant just feels like more of an occasion to me than sitting in a quiet restaurant.
  20. I could be wrong, but I believe the brine is mainly to flavor the meat and make the texture firm up a bit. I don't think either the brine's strength or the low-temp cooking is enough to pasteurize the food. I used sashimi grade salmon, so I wasn't as concerned...
  21. Rico - it's funny I had actually planted that sorrel before I knew how it tasted as well. While it tastes strong, I found that it goes well with a lot of dishes to bring a nice acidity and crunch. Here's a dish I made from this ChefSteps recipe: sous vide salmon, watercress puree, ginger cream, and pickled onions. The salmon recipe was simply amazing, I had never cooked it in such a way (brined, sous vide @ 104F for 1 hour, then chilled for 6 hours).
  22. Pan-seared scallops, salsify puree, crispy fried salsify, and sorrel. I had never cooked with salsify before - does it always have sticky skin?
  23. Not exactly what you're looking for - but I always just buy the freeze-dried whole corn snacks and blend it to a powder with a high-powered blender. Then just sift it through a sieve to get rid of any larger pieces.
  24. I am in the exact same situation as you - I love cooking nice food but have to plan it around my work schedule. I know you say you don't want to, but the cook-chill method is amazing for this purpose. Example: I will seal a large batch of pork belly in multiple bags (one bag for each night), cook for 72 hours @ 140 F, chill, and store in the fridge. Instead of using an proper ice bath, I've started using my ice cream maker's freezer bowl, it's much less hassle than using an ice bath. If I leave my water bath on during the day, I get home and all I have to do is place a single bag in the water bath to reheat, and then sear on the stove top. This approach is not only extremely convenient, but every night's leftovers are of very high quality. If you still don't want to use the cook-chill method, one recipe (brine based off the momofuku cookbook) I've always come back to that has convenient timing is: Sous vide confit chicken thigh (skin on): -Trim chicken and debone -Brine the chicken 1-5 hours in 4 cups water, .5 cup salt, .5 cup sugar, and any other seasonings you want (scale the brine if you have more chicken, I've always tried for a 1:1 ratio of brine to meat by weight) -Rinse off, seal in bag with fat/oil of your choice (rendered bacon fat or duck fat is great) and let it sit in the fridge overnight (only for convenience). Its also good to throw in fresh herbs, spices, or bacon. -Before you go to work in the morning, drop the bags in the water bath for 8 hours @ 140-150 F. -When you get home, simply sear the chicken thighs, skin side down until crispy (3 minutes or so) -This also is a good temperature range for soft-boiled eggs, alot of the time I'll drop an egg in the bath with the chicken for 45 minutes to have chicken and eggs, with rice or some veggies. -Cold smoking the chicken prior to bagging (ala Momofuku cookbook) makes it even more delicious, although definitely more labor intensive
  25. I would strongly recommend The Uchi Cookbook. The book is very focused on Japanese-American fusion, with a strong modern twist. I have cooked out of the book quite a bit and have enjoyed it a ton, and as an added bonus it has some really awesome desserts. Some of the recipes may be a bit on the challenging side, however. Here's a link to a preview of the book as well.
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