Steve Irby

Great prep photo. Mise en place in the plural or at my house Out of Chaos Comes Order.

Thanks to all for the informative posts. Of course it's the great photos that are the hook and between Ann, Anna and Kerry lots of incentive to adopt new methods . I didn't realize what a high hydration dough was until reading this post and via link to portions of the Forkish book on google. I made bread today that I've made many times over the years that includes a biga and is about 80% hydration. I incorporated some new techniques such as autolyse of the water and flour and the bread turned out to the the best ever. It had great height and crumb. And for Kerry, that photo is from the side of the loaf!

Oyster salad with buttermilk dressing and watermelon radishes. We were in New Orleans a few months ago and had this salad at MiLa. This is my reasonable facsimile and it is really tasty. For the dressing I used a Ina Garten recipe with a substitution of tarragon for the basil. I shucked the oysters and dusted with a very fine corn meal and flash fried.

Great posts. Shelby I too took the plunge for the first time and roasted up a piece of belly that I had dry brined for 4 days with the intent to smoke it on the grill. I decided to change course and cooked it in the oven after reading this post. The pork came from a tamworth hog that I butchered last fall and the skin came out really crunchy without the soda step. I was a little sloppy in the scoring process but lordy is that pork tasty.

Great, great meals being posted after the Christmas lull. It's been pretty cold on the Gulf Coast so a couple of days ago I made a big batch of Chill-Umbo. It's a true garbage can gumbo with cappicolla, pulled pork, tasso and smoked sausage plus a few chicken scraps . The base is a standard dark roux with a gelatinous pork stock . Add some cajun seasoning, mexican seasoning , okra, black beans, white beans, chili beans, garbanzos and viola! Chilumbo. Last night - I'm still working on variations to the perfect roast chicken. Judy Rogers recipe with the paprika rub suggested by Patrick Amory. This afternoon we had friends for dinner so I prepared a few dishes from "friends" Heston Blumenthal - Braised chicken with sherry and Jamie Oliver - Crosata di Fiche.

Here's an interesting article on the impact of single service pods. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/dining/single-serve-coffee-brewers-make-convenience-costly.html?_r=0. We switched to the french press method a couple of years ago after our Krups coffee maker died and we've been very pleased with the results. The HB is certainly a nice looking brewer and I hope it's hitting the spot for you.

Definitely a photo worth posting. Very nice loaf. What website did you go to for the recipe?

Ann_T great looking bread and pizza. I've started making bread after a lay off of many years. A nice loaf cost about $6-$7 so I thought I'll make bread and upgrade my beer. This loaf is Pan Bigio from Carol Fields book made with a starter and 2:1 ratio of bread flour to whole wheat. It makes great toast. Anna_N beautiful ciabatta. I'll try that later in the week or the coccodrillo variation posted by Jon.

Okay, we polished off the rest of the oysters tonight. Probably about 4 dozen raw and finished with a fried oyster and catfish Poboy.

We got a great 50# sack of oysters from Capano Bay, Texas. A little on the small side but very salty. So far we had them raw, rockefeller and char grilled. And Chocolate Espresso Torte from Jody Adams cookbook. And a picture of Christmas Cornetti

I think the standard being referred is one atmosphere or 29.92 inches of mercury. As you get more familiar with the machine you will see that the time it takes to reach the target vacuum is primarily a function of how much space is taken up by the object being vacuumed.

Cornetti with some prepared with almond paste. The recipe is from Carol Fields The Italian Baker and has become a Christmas tradition.

My condolences.

Merry Christmas to all. Dinner tonight was my take on Salmon Rockefeller as prepared by a local restaurant. Grits with Gruyere, wilted spinach with Pernod, topped with grilled salmon, fried oysters and hollandaise. I think it's the start of a new Christmas tradition.

It's been pretty chilly for us folks in the Florida panhandle so comfort food is in order. Lentils and lamb with sun dried tomatoes, parsley and green onion. The french lentils were cooked in turkey broth and seasoned pretty aggressively with a harissa blend from World Spice with additional coriander, cumin and fenugreek.

Thanks, this is the first time I cooked the leaves and stems and the dish turned out to be really tasty. I got a giant cauliflower (6#) at the farmers market with the leaves attached. I cut the leaves from the stems and sliced the leaves thinly. I chopped the stems in the food processor with lots of fresh baby vidalia onions and garlic. I sauteed the stem mix in bacon fat till they started to soften then added the julienned leaves and cooked the mixture until they sweated down. I had some pickled pork in the freezer that I cubed, browned and added to the greens. All the ingredients were combined, with addition of chicken stock, and baked in a casserole dish for about an hour.

Supper tonight was a little bit of this and that. Roast chicken using Judy Rodgers recipe. And a few dishes based on produce from our local farmers market. White sweet potatoes with satsuma and bourbon honey glaze, turnips and greens with guanciale, and baked cauliflower leaves and stems with pickled pork.

I guess this is my Judy Rogers tribute. Two chickens, both under three pounds, roasted using her recipe. Straight forward perfection. And the pan drippings are such a bonus.

Thanks for the link. I teared up also.

The liquid is released from the legs as they cooked and is probably not carryover from prep. Most juice evaporates but what is left is SDT (so damn tasty). The gelatin is fantastic in sauces or to moisten rillettes. As long as the fat cap is in place it will keep for quite a while, at least as long as the confit meat.

Thanks for taking one for the team. Thy look like there worth the scars.

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.

No particular reason. The cauliflower is cooked sous vide with white wine, olive oil, butter, roasted garlic and red pepper flakes which adds additional flavor prior to roasting. The whole head also makes a nice presentation and retains its warmth.

I cooked a 2.75# fryer tonight that I prepared from Judy Rogers Zuni Cafe Cookbook recipe. I let it sit in the refrigerator for two days and roasted at 475 for about 45 minutes. By far the best chicken I have ever had. Not the best photo but definitely the best bird. Don't try this without a strong vent hood as it will set off the fire alarms for sure.

Here's a few photo's from the past week. Seafood gumbo Sous vide turkey porchetta from Seriouseats.com Postage stamp ravioli with robiola cheese. I'm still working on the roasted cauliflower Lamb ribs Salmon cured with a little kashmiri curry