Unpopular Poet

Good Morning everyone -- As previously discussed in the Kitchen Photos Forum, I am going to start a forum on the progress of my Kitchen Rehab -- Old photos of my kitchen can be found here: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/148589-kitchen-photos/?p=1971912 - That kitchen, as you can see below, is gone. This process has been challenging to say the least -- Working in our living room with just a microwave and induction burner has been fun -- kind of like camping since we don't have heat right now either and it is starting to get cold at night! We are hoping to be done by around Thanksgiving, but I am not planning on cooking this year. Some highlights of the future kitchen will be soapstone countertops, a butcher block island, a wolf steam oven and bluestar salamander (both of which have been sitting in my garage for better than a year). We are hoping this is our last remodel for a very, very long time!

Good morning everyone -- it has been a while -- This is probably the worst time to cook a pig's head, since I have no kitchen due to a impending rehab, but I was able to get a berkshire belly, shoulder and took the head as part of my haul. The butcher was kind enough to debone it for me, since I have very little resources and I went ahead and tied and seasoned it. I am pretty sure my neighbors were on the ready to call the police, since I was shaving the head and scorching off the hair on my front porch...I definitely got some puzzled looks! Does anyone have any favorite times and temps for cooking it - I plan on serving it sliced thin, along with some various cured meats. Thanks!

Ok cool -- as soon as the kitchen demo begins, I will start a new topic. Host's note: that new topic can be found here: Kitchen Rehab Photos and Progress

So, after a year of working on plans and the construction loan, which was then followed up with 15 weeks to get a permit, our addition with kitchen remodel began demo on Wednesday. It is going to be very exciting to see it all come together -- for now we are definitely keeping our Bluestar stove, adding a Bluestar salamander (which we drove from Chicago to DC to pick up a year ago) and a Wolf Steam oven, which I bought on super sale at a local appliance store. For now, our old kitchen is mostly intact while we wait to get under roof on the addition, at which point I will be cooking exclusively sous vide/grill for a couple months. Which, isn't so bad....More pictures to come as it goes along. I was thinking perhaps it would be better to start a whole new topic...makes sense? Any interest?

+ 1 for the Combi.

I am definitely late to the discussion, but I exclusively use clarified butter for steak, if I am using any oil at all. A ribeye in a ripping hot mineral pan will render enough fat for yorkshire pudding...

The 65 degree egg made this salad. Duck fat crispies from rendering from Friday's dinner also helped..

gfweb -- I really, really like Ideas in Food, so I would assume that this is also pretty amazing. I am on hiatus from buying cookbooks at the moment, but I can tell you that I have thumbed through it and am definitely impressed as usual by these guys. It is next on deck for my collection...

So, after rendering the fat for probably 45 minutes, I slightly browned it on the sides and placed in a ~250-275 (I decreased the temp from 275 to 250 after 30 minutes) degree oven in a pan with fat, thyme and a whole garlic bulb with the top sliced off for the better part of 2 hours. I let it sit for 25 minutes before carving. This was not an everyday pork roast by anyone's standards -- it was pure gluttony. The end result was something between a pork roast and a wonderfully roasted belly. The meat itself was basically super tender and moist. The fat cap was very flavorful and crispy - the cap picked up a nice saltiness and thyme flavor from the basting. The bones were super tasty (only 2 on the plate because I ate one of them mid carving...) as well. The pictures are pretty blah, but you get the idea. Taking BKEats advice on lemon, I served it on a bed of arugula tossed with capers, shallots and a lemon/olive oil dressing. It cut the fattiness really well. btbyrd -- next time I will absolutely cut them into chops and do that. I can't wait for my next camping trip....

@ Baron -- I agree -- the price was way out in the stratosphere -- but I knew I was grossly overpaying at the time I bought it -- I just wanted to try it out... There is no skin -- I have so far been able to successfully render a ton of the fat off the top, after cutting the crosshatch into it. What rests on top now, as it roasts away in a very low oven, is a nice crispy golden brown cap that will undoubtedly be delicious. I simply salt and peppered the pork and added some whole thyme and some garlic to the pan. I have been spooning the fat and basting once every 20 minutes or so and it is getting close to optimum temp.

@ Baron -- the price per pound was around $18/19 a pound -- obviously super high for pork, but fine for a single use today. The skin has already been removed from the piece, so I am out of luck on removing it to make crackling. I have scored the skin all around and plan on roasting the whole piece with the fat intact - It is going to obviously be super fatty, but that was anticipated. This may end up being a really expensive bust out, but thats fine -- I had just never seen a fat cap this large on a piece of pork before and I had to give it a shot. Thanks to everybody for the responses -- I think Sous Vide would have been interesting, if I had a whole lot more time... Have a great Sunday! Dan

Good morning! After a wonderful brunch at Publican in Chicago this morning, I ran over to Publican Quality Meats next door and couldn't resist picking up this pork porterhouse roast for dinner tonight. I have never cooked pork with a fat cap like this and was wondering what the consensus would be -- should I sous vide and finish by crisping the skin (after cross hatching), should I season it, start it in a pan and finish it in the oven or put it on the big green egg at about 275-300 and just let it go? Tough choices...thanks for the help! Dan

It is a tough call for me -- I have really gone up and down on sous vide ribeye -- It all depends on the actual cut -- perfect uniform doneness is not everything in my opinion -- I feel like a scorching hot mineral pan, with some clarified butter and a brief oven finish is always going to be my preferred steak -- It might not be exactly rare-medium rare all the way through, but it has that flavor that a sous vide ribeye never achieves -- I did steam and then sear some steaks sometime ago, and those were quite good -- a nice in between of sous vide and standard sear. I feel like being able to pre-salt when I am cooking in the pan gives me more of the flavor I am looking for. To each his own though. There is no wrong way, assuming you are happy with the results.

I guess the other thing I will say is that I have not had one seal break on either my old MVS31 or my current 35 -- I would constantly lose seals with my old vacuum sealer - to the point where I almost avoided sous vide cooking...obviously, that was a garbage sealer -- but when it came time, I super prioritized and went for the chamber....

I have to say I am confused about the problems regarding sealing liquid -- my MVS35 just does it, no problems. I totally get that you can't allow it to boil away in the wrong circumstances, but if you have it in the right sized bag, and that bag isn't filled too much, there won't be a boil over anyway. I routinely pack measured out stock and then lay it flat for freezing -- makes for a very efficient use of space in the freezer, and with the high vacuum, a much longer stay in the freezer. Sealing hot liquids can lead to a mess, but once again, as said above, if you pay attention, you are not going to have any problems. I guess the whole reason I bought a chamber sealer was for the versatility and ease of use..which I absolutely have.

Andrea - I have some experience with backstraps cooked sous vide. Last winter my friend shot a couple deer and we took the backstraps and vacuum packed them 1. with salt and pepper only, and one with red wine, rosemary and some salt and pepper. They were both served in a grappa blueberry sauce with demi glace. The backstraps had the most wonderful texture out of the bath -- probably more like liver than a traditionally prepared and seared backstrap. I know that we cooked them at 125 for 1 hour -- short cook with low temp, as we are both rare venison people. Fantastic results though. I would say that the non-marinaded backstrap was actually better, as it retained that specific venison flavor.

rotuts -- the creamed peas were pretty simple -- made a really thick bechamel, added frozen peas...seasoned with salt and pepper. katace -- would love to see the steak when it is done as well -- I would also like to hear how the stick of butter worked out -- I have basically reverted to "dry" bags when it comes to steaks these days (thanks to some needed guidance sometime back from paulraphael). In the bag, no seasoning, seared in a really hot iron pan in clarified butter after the bath and then seasoned with sea salt and pepper. Sometimes I will baste but that depends if I have a sprig of thyme or rosemary to baste with.

I will start with a recent meal -- 4 hours at 60 degrees skirt steak. Pretty certain I will never have skirt steak any other way, ever again. Finished off by searing it in smoking clarified butter -- the edges were almost deep fried. Served with creamed peas and roasted potatoes.

Anna -- that looks strikingly familiar to the Frittata I made for breakfast. It turned out delicious.

rotuts -- looks great. Reminds me that I need to start using my Steam Boy for more than toast..although I must say that the toast is quite delicious.

On Friday night I had the good fortune of coming across some beautiful bone in strips. I put them in the bath for a good hour and change and then went at them with the Searzall. I think it was my first fail. I could not get the same results as previous and trying to work on 2 steaks proved almost comical. I should note that these steaks were beautifully marbled and I brushed them with clarified butter while seazalling. The fan on my hood was on full blast and the kitchen was still pretty smoky. I loved the results on 1 rib steak and some other items (*glepore -- I did have good luck with salmon skin btw) but the 2 steak were less than ideal. Maybe I need to be more patient. I also did run into the slightly gassy flavor on the NY strips. I have to say that a rip roaringly hot mineral pan with smoking clarified butter does the job much better, and with about the same amount of smoke. I am still a fan, but will not be relying on it for steaks moving forward.

My experience with Sunday gravy growing up which I now call my own is that an all day gravy is there and ready to eat -- it sits and sits because it can -- Our family tradition was a fairly simple one - ground pork, parsley, tomatoes, paste, garlic, sat and pepper -- and then basil in the last 10 minutes before you eat to brighten it up. I think it is more tradition than necessity -- but I like the tradition. I have not had the baby food experience, but could see where that would be gross.

Here is my first go with the Searzall...I have to say that I am pretty impressed. Nice ribeye cooked at 130 for a couple hours, then hit with the searzall, then salted. Fantastic. For future use, I am going to brush the steak with melted clarified butter, so I get some of that butter sear flavor on it, but otherwise, I am pretty happy with the results.

I will have to try that next time. I think my favorite part about sous vide short rib is that about 6-8 oz serving is the perfect amount -- much less than with a conventional steak.

Rotuts -- 144. I actually did a whole piece, which is going to be dinner tonight....