PeterLG

Find out what he likes to eat when he goes to a restaurant to grab a good (not too fancy) bite. Given the Texas, this could be BBQ, Nachos Supreme, Pulled pork BBQ, a great burger or something. Then tell him that "this stuff is easy to make", show him how to make that so that it tastes like a million bucks and keep him engaged in the process? Emphasize on how this is stuff that real me do :-) Have a couple of beers while the meat is on the BBQ and don't push the cooking aspect too much.<br /><br />

I do the same. Or if I'm in a hurry and don't have time to reduce, I'll just save the strained tomato water and serve later as 'spicy gazpacho' opening in a chilled shot glass with a cilantro leaf or lime zest. Works surprisingly well O:-)

Any thoughts or counter arguments/research to this: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/cooked-meats Would be silly if you couldn't brown meat properly at a high temp.

How about getting a tenderloin, but adding flavour by filling it and wrapping it. One of my favourites is filling with basil leaves, garlic, pine seeds and parmesan, then wrapping the whole thing with thin prosciutto slices.

Lunch today. Deep fried shrimp w/ sweet chili, cilantro & lime twist. Siphon Batter & breadcrumbs combo for the crust.

Farro is wheat, right? I'm referring to whole grain rice that hasn't been skinned & polished.

While I realize this may be blasphemy, but... Any good recipes out there for whole grain risotto? I'm not cooking much with traditional rice, and I really like the mouthfeel and bite that you get out of using organic whole grains. The downside is that you need to compensate with time (about 40 minutes instead of 18), and be pretty generous with butter and parmesan to create a proper emulsion in the end. PC makes it (obv) faster, but at least in my experiments with that you end up easily breaking the rice and while good, the results feels slightly like porridge instead of risotto. Anyone else experimenting with this? Any hints, recipes or references that you'd recommend to reach the optimal results.

Finished a dinner for 9. Really happy with the menu. I was thinking Scallops & fennel foam for the appetizer but The Wife wanted Mango & Avocado + Shrimp, so I had to improvise :-) Hors d'oeuvres: o Foie Gras toasts w/ Chives & Balsamico reduction o Crayfish toasts w/ Sour Cream, Shallots & Dill Wine: Fleury Organic Champagne Appetizer: o Green Salad: Romaine & Iceberg with Shrimp, Avocado, Mango & Cilantro. (cont. Champagne) Main: o Truffle Risotto, topped w/ Chives & Parmigiano o Filet Mignon w/ Red Wine sauce (salted, room temp for 2h, then sauteed in butter and held in 70C oven until 53,5C) o Tomato, Rocket, Basil & Pine seeds w/ Balsamico reduction La Raia Large (an awesome Barbera from Piemonte) Post: o Cheese plate with Roquefort (walnut), Brebiou (Fig jam), Old Gouda (Cranbelly gelee) Churchill Reserve Post Dessert: o Macarons (various) o Lind't chocolate (various) Portal 2000 Colheita Espresso & Sambuca (and yes, the guests wanted to sample port wines - otherwise would've probably gone with a good Sauternes for the cheese plate).

Planning out the next kitchen and thinking about going with the Gaggenau CL 491 induction cooktop. Anyone have experiences with this? Recommendations?

Pork ragu on the menu today (making a larger batch, since it freezes so well). Ground pork, pan fried pancetta, red wine and lots of thyme & garlic. Bunch of parmesan rinds going in too. Tried doing half normally and the other half in a pressure cooker. Surprisingly I liked the non-PC version better.

Looks absolutely delicious. Mind sharing more details? Wagyu done sous vide + blowtorch? The crumble on the egg?

Huh? Because in classic braise, the meat is left in the liquid and it's simply not possible to sear after even if you'd want to (or at least it would be pretty complicated to take the meat out, then dry the surfaces so that you'd get a reasonable sear).

Couple of salads from summer. Caprese with Buffalo Mozzarella, Spanish dry-cured pork, balsamico reduction. Same theme. Romaine w/ Prosciutto & Mozzarella

Pizza for dinner today. Salami, olives, organic mozzarella w/ garlic oil drizzle and fresh basil. Made a bunch of dough, which is now in separate plastic containers raising in the fridge for 3-4 more days.

dcarch, incredible plating. Inspiring, wonderfully creative and unconventional stuff.

Appreciate the warm welcome. It was semi-perfect. Surprisingly small amount of liquid in the bag after the sous vide, so the result was pretty juicy. Anyways, this was my first shot at doing a whole roast sous vide, so yeah could try 54C next time. I like filet mignon in the 52-53C core temp range, but sirloin seems to work better for me a few degrees higher. Why six hours? Isn't there a risk of just making the meat "mushy" with longer times (since there's very little collagen)?

Sunday Dinner was sous vide roast. Created a dry rub with rosemary, crushed juniper berries, thyme, kosher salt & pepper. Vacuum sealed the whole sirloin steak (1.1kg) with the rub and held at 1C for 24 hours to marinate. Then about four hours in a 56C sousvide waterbath. Dried the surface & browned with a MAPP blowtorch. Sliced thin, dressed lightly w/ redwine sauce & and served with salad. Slicing. Nice even color from practically edge to edge. And ready to serve.