FeChef

You caught right, I did not mention in my original post about double searing, mainly because I am/was freezing after pasteurization. The second sear would come after "rethermalization" before serving.

I prefer to sear first, then SV, then sear again after because it develops a better crust and more robust flavors. Its my opinion and nobody will ever change that. That said, sometimes i want to vacuum pack and freeze so its more convienent to sear first, SV, then chill/vac/freeze. Thanks for the opinions on food safety. Im more inclined to side with furzzy on this mainly because ive been doing it for so long with no ill results. Actually I had one bad incident with SV raw frozen short ribs for 48 hours at 132F. There must have been some bacteria on the short ribs before they were frozen and it grew during that 48 hour bath. If i would have thawed, and seared them first, I probably would have killed that bacteria and it never would have been spoiled after those 48 hours. Another reason i sear first.

Thats funny, Im not a fan of raisins in food, but my favorite cereal is Kellog's 2 scoops raisin bran. Its in fact the only raisin and bran flake cereal brand i like. Also, the raisins in Kellog's are always soft and chewy. Maybe the raisins you had were out of date.

I agree that thai beef salad does look good. Reminds me of those teriyaki beef sticks you get at chinese restaurants, ive eaten leftovers cold and they were still good. To be honest I wouldnt even consider a salad a "salad" without lettuce, so yeah, if its a salad without lettuce, I probably would enjoy it.

I guess im in the minority here, but im not a huge salad fan. Chicken cesar salad and ham in a chef's salad is about as far as i go with meat in a salad. One problem i have with using a good cut like ribeye is, cold steak isnt something i enjoy eating, Secondly, warm foods will make the lettuce wilt, which totally ruins a salad for me. Anywhay to each his/her own, sorry to stir the pot.

I agree with the fajita's, but please dont waist such a good cut of meat on a salad. Salad should be reserved for cheap $1.99/lb chicken breast (healthy) for chicken ceasar salads. You could also let them ribeye strips cool and slice very thin for steak/cheese steak sandwiches, hell if you made fajita's and have leftover green peppers and onions, you could take some provolone cheese and make philly cheese steaks.

rotuts, with pork and chicken, a few hours in a 4% salt water brine does wonders with the sous vide method. Generally people say not to salt meats like beef since the salt draws juices out of it. But people dont normally brine beef, and when you brine pork or chicken its does the opposite and retains the juices. If you worried about being salty, 4% is on the lower side of most brines, but if your concerned, just rinse the ribs off good after you remove them from the brine.

I would like to know how long activa RM last if immediately opened and vacuum packed and deep frozen. I still have like 50g of it in my freezer from like 3-4 months ago. I hate to waste it, yet i would hate to ruin a bunch of meat if the meat glue doesnt set.

I have been partially grilling at high temps and rapidly chilling meats and poultry, then holding in the fridge for final pastuerization cooking later in the day for awhile now, and honestly thought this was safe due to the high grill temps killing off surface bacteria instantly, and rapidly chilling in below 35F degrees ice water, then stored in a roughly 37F degree fridge. Now im reading this is not safe and food should be pastuerized immediately before chilling. Have i been dodging a bullet this whole time, or is my method on the border line of safe/dangerous? Im using sous vide method for pastuerization. Following douglas baldwins temp/time charts.

Tried. When i mentioned panko they acted like they never heard of it. Broken english doesnt help matters either. Even asked them last time i was in the area if i could buy a few orders worth uncooked and take it home, they declined. Told me they could sell me there standard breaded chunk version uncooked though. Unwilling to communicate with me about it anymore, i didnt even bother to ask if they make it fresh or frozen and if i could pay them in advance for a bunch and have them freeze overnight. Its a lost cause and i either figure it out myself or only get it when im in that area which im lucky to pass by every few months.

I dont know if its the sauce that does this, but the chicken is very soft in the area's you dont see those little bits, but the bits are very crunchy and seem to stay crunchy no matter how long the chicken stays in the sauce. Except overnight leftovers (if there ever is any).

Can you please explain this flour. Google images shows no indication that this chestnut flour mention would produce any texture difference then all purpose flour.

Im sorry, I forgot to post that ive tried panko aswell. First try was a milk/flour batter, then coated in panko, second try was going straight from the egg white/cornstarch, then panko. Both were tasty, but nothing like the pictures. If you ever had coconut shrimp you would know the texture, and to be honest after i tried, i thought to myself and then gave myself a face palm. I will fix my original post to include panko.

puffed rice is similar to rice krispies. But puffed rice is more uniform in shape. Suppose they crushed the puffed rice in something like a mortar and pestle to make the coating/flour for the chicken. Some rice bits would be broken into smaller chunks and not completely pulverized, providing an explanation as to why some rice bits are smaller than others. Yes I have already tried crushing them up. It comes out looking nothing like the pictures. Ive also tried a mixture of rice krispies (crushed) and flour. Still nothing like the pics.

puffed rice is similar to rice krispies. But puffed rice is more uniform in shape.

I am at wits end here. I have been trying for years to reproduce the same texture of this general tso chicken breading that i used to get at a "no longer local" chinese restaurant. Its not your typical big chunks of chicken coated with breading bigger then the chunk of chicken inside. This restaurant uses there melt in your mouth tender thin white meat chicken strips that you usually get with the popular dish "chicken w/broccoli" The breading is a very light coating with little crunchy bits that resemble "rice crispies" The soft tenderness of the chicken and the little crunchy bits is just an amazing texture contrast. I have tried for years to achieve this texture with no luck. Here i will mention things i have tried: Velveting with egg white/cornstarch= no dice dusting with cornstarch/flour mixture= no dice dusting with wondra flour= no dice moistening chicken and coating in rice crispy/flour mixture= no dice And my last attempt involved spraying water onto a cookie sheet with flour and sifting out the tiny flour balls and letting them harden and coating chicken with them. Seemed to be on the right track but still wasnt it. Does anyone have any ideas? Here is some pics i took of the dish last time i was there.

Downunder and out in the sticks, we have a butcher that sells locally raised wagyu beef. His ground beef, made into burgers, is to die for! It has the flavour that I remember from my youth (way too many years ago) and is beefy beyond anything else I have tasted.Simon I wish i could say the same. My memorys on burgers from my youth were identical to eddie murphy's delirious. And the ground beef always had little gristle balls in every bite. Needless to say i hated homemade hamburgers growing up.

The browning on my omelette was not by mistake. I like that slightly crisp outside with a hearty dish like this. You almost need it to hold all of the heavy ingredients in. Also, this was a meal for two, theres 6 eggs in it.

Chili, cheese, and bacon omlette w/homefries. hotsauce on the side.

On the subject of price for prime chuck, my guess is it most likely cost more then choice ny strip or ribeye, and in my opinion, even select ny strip that i can get everyday for $3.97/lb is better then choice chuck, and probably better then prime chuck aswell. Of course this is my opinion and i would never buy prime low end cuts unless it was just as cheap as choice. But im curious to know if people really buy into this hype.

Fresh early morning caught catfish out on the lake lightly dusted with flour,salt,pepper pan seared in a cast iron skillet in browned butter. Scrambled eggs on the side.

Thought you were going to stick to just buying it? Its so cheap it probably would cost me more to grow it.

Couldnt agree more. There is a fine line you cross when you go from (and im being modest here) $10/lb for choice ribeye vs $20/lb + for prime ribeye. Is it really worth 2x as much? I personally think not, and could not enjoy eating it knowing i payed that much. Now the price difference from select to choice is more reasonable when were talking only a few dollars per pound more.

One of my favorite soups is Ham, potato, and green bean soup. Also Ham, potato, and cabbage soup.

I tend to believe this aswell. This also explains the inconsistency with sous vide cheap cuts like top round. Some come out dry where others may come out more moist and tender. I always make sure when i get a good deal on top round that its labeled choice grade. If its not labeled its most likely select or no grade.