Ranz

I'm in Durban, welcome to SA Will be in CT later this month, probably will visit some winefarms in Stellenbosch.

Holy wow Mark, that looks amazing. Short rib?

Pork ribs, sous vide, finished with BBQ sauce from MC, think it was Lexington style.

I am trying the Zuni method for chicken at this moment - the chicken will be dry-brined about 27 hours. How long do you dry brine steaks?It depends on the thickness of the steaks, but usually around 24 hours. The chicken I do for around 48.

Dry brining only draws moisture out initially but it is reabsorbed. I don't think it tastes like cured meat or the texture either but I suppose length has something to do with this. Kenji over at Serious Eat's is a proponent of it over a wet brine. I don't recall reading about injecton brining or why Modernist Cuisine prefers it but I'll have to go back and read it. That aside, I think brining in general is overrated, especially wet brines. I agree with this. My favourite method of roasting a chicken in the Zuni Cafe` method, which uses the dry brine. I've never had roast chicken that moist before I tried it, and the chicken doesn't taste cured at all. It's a big hit in my house, it gets requested often. That dry brine also works perfectly for me when I prepare steaks.

Aaaawkward...

Brined for about 12 hours with a 7% salt mixture that included some garlic and herbs, heated then added after it cooled. Sous Vide @ 66C for 36 hours with some butter, black pepper and a some dried herbs. Shocked in some ice in the sink, then laid skin-down in the fridge with some heavy weight on it. Then I experimented: I had a 1kg slab, which is a nice size. I cut it in half and bagged the two portions separately. The first batch I tried frying. It was OK, but nothing special. Not enough fat rendered out, and though I like the taste/mouthfeel of it (which I know a lot of people don't) it was still too much, and overpowered everything else. Also, maybe I didn't use enough oil, but the skin kept sticking to the pan. From that same piece I popped it into the oven under a hot grill (broiler?) to try and render off some of that fat. This attempt was much better, but still not enough for my liking. Last night I took the entire remaining half, and covered the sides - up to the skin - with foil, for some protection against overdrying. I then salted the skin quite heavily, after scoring it. Preheated the oven to around 210C and left it in for about 15-20 mins, then switched it to grill and browned the top. The last attempt was definitely the best. The meat is still tender from the sous vide, the fat had melted out but kept meat moist, and the skin was crispy. I would've liked it crispier, but it's a step in the right direction. Next time I'll turn the grill up to high and stick the skin as close as possible for a few minutes maybe. I really, really want to try the Serious Eats porchetta, but don't have the equipment or nerve yet

Chicken and mushroom pie: Sous Vide/Roasted Pork Belly:

Thai curry with peppers, spring onions, chicken (thighs and drumsticks done sous vide, then shredded) and red cabbage, finished with freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Beef short rib with polenta and a brown mushroom sauce made with mustard, onion, garlic and some cream.

You don't cut through bone at all iirc, just a bit of cartilage and flesh.

He's amazing. There's tons on Youtube, and I've spent many hours watching him. The man is pure class Yeah, I'm down to about 15 mins, but my problem is that I'm still saving up for a good knife. A really sharp knife will help a lot. I think I'll use your tip of breaking the bone before I start scraping, makes sense.

It was my first time too Yeah, the stuffing (except the cheese) was pre-cooked. I put down some bacon on a pan without preheating it, to render off some of the fat, once that was done I used that fat to saute some diced bell pepper and onions, with the herbs and garlic. The cool bacon was cut into pieces and put into that mixture. That was set aside to cool while I deboned the chicken. When the chicken was done, I mixed in the cheese with the stuffing mixture and stuffed the chicken. This would be where I make like rotuts and tie the chicken to hold the stuffing in, but I had to make do with the toothpicks and foil solution. I never actually worried about the cheese to be honest, I just assumed it would melt, and it does so quite nicely. Once the 3 SV hours were up I wiped down the bird and used the same bacon grease to crisp up the skin. The stuffing ingredients were just whatever I had in the fridge. If I had done some grocery shopping beforehand I would've maybe gone with mushrooms with the bacon and maybe some spinach. I got the deboning technique from a Jacques Pepin video on youtube. Was quite simple, even for a beginner like myself.

That was the plan, but I didn't realise we were out of twine. So I deboned, stuffed, then pushed in toothpicks to secure the shape. I then folded some aluminium foil and covered the area that had the toothpicks so they wouldn't puncture the bag. I used a gallon bag (I think) which fit the bird nicely, pushed the air out, then sucked out any remaining air with a straw. Very juicy. I could probably lower the temperature a tiny bit. Maybe 70-72C. The stuffing was bacon, onion, green bell pepper and Gouda, with some rosemary, parsley and thyme.

Try this one, it has never failed me.

I tried a chicken galatine last week and wasn't satisfied by roasting it, since the breast dried up way too much. So I sous vided the bird at 75C for three hours, then dried and browned it on a hot pan. Was much much better.

It's one of my favourite things to make. The juiciness of the meat (even the breast) is astounding. And about the skin... Don't worry, I understand What herbs did you stuff it with? I usually use rosemary thyme and parsley, with slivers of garlic.

You people make some gorgeous food. Peter, the colour on that roast is amazing.

Chicken Galantine, stuffed with spinach, spring onions, lemon zest and emental cheese. Finished with a pan sauce. Was delicious, but the white meat was a bit dry.

Pepin is amazing, and respected by so many not even into cooking. I've learned so much from his youtube videos as we don't get those broadcasts in South Africa, and the love he gets from Youtube comments from people who just watched his videos as children, even though they don't cook at all, is very heartwarming. I'm actually finally going to debone a whole chicken for the first time soon because of a Pepin video I found this morning. He makes it look so easy

Red wine braised beef short rib and Guinness braised beef short rib used to be two of my favourites, but I probably won't go back to braising short rib since I've tasted them done sous vide. If you have a sous vide apparatus, do it that way. If not, I used this recipe from epicurious, and the short ribs were very good, but once the gremolata was added, it was amazing. It made a huge difference. These braises are also not hard to do, and don't require a lot of active cooking time. One thing I'd advise (from this recipe) is if you don't trim your ribs of all fat, the liquid tends to be a bit fatty. However, I like the flavour it adds, so I leave some fat on, and remove the floating liquid fat from the braising liquid when the ribs are done.

I've done pork sausages SV and they were very good. Quick browning afterward. I prefer them, and even when making sausages normally I don't pierce them, too much flavour is lost this way. Just don't buy sausages that are too fatty and it'll be OK.

Zuni Chicken.

Excuse the plating, everyone was ravenous One man's poison and all that I love them, use them regularly, just wish they weren't so expensive here..

Chicken, mushroom and bell pepper pie.