Unpopular Poet

I have yet to cook a burger sous vide, mostly because of the convenience factor (my own that is), and also, because I rarely cook burgers anyway. I can tell you that I am not a fan of sous vide steak -- I prefer other methods (scorching hot mineral pan or steamed at 130, then seared) -- but that is all preference -- I simply didn't care for the sous vide steak -- that being the only item I didn't love to do sous vide. I also think that there is a small trend out there that is implying that if you sous vide, you are simply lazy or unable to do it otherwise, which I disagree with. At the end of the day, preference and time are what controls. Sous Vide is part of a huge set of tools to get to what we each determine to be perfect in our own minds and palates -- if someone isn't choosing to use it, they are using other tools -- and there is nothing wrong with that. But there is also nothing wrong with relying on sous vide. I am definitely going to make sous vide burgers this week though -- and finally get that grinder attachment out that has been sitting in its packaging for far too long. I assume the burger will be delicious -- but maybe not to my liking.

Thanks! So the servings of the lobster tail were pretty minimal -- but I found that the end result had a slightly less firm texture than a boiled lobster tail -- in a positive way. It was all in the flavor though -- at the end of the day, I had portioned the foie gras and was left over with some scraps -- I decided to seal them up running across the underside of the peeled lobster tails, along with a good tablespoon of clarified butter. The flavor was what made the difference -- but that was based on portioning -- a whole tail of this richness would have been almost too much -- I usually grill lobster tails -- and this was better -- the consistency was a very tender firm -- meaning it wasn't mushy -- slightly more tender than a nicely boiled or steamed tail.

So, this weekend, my Wife and I hosted a party which basically consisted of experimenting with Modernist techniques. I cook sous vide probably 3-4 times a week -- this was a time for experimentation -- and it was fun as hell. I had just recently gotten my MVS-35XP, and put it to work on my end -- I was in charge of sweetbreads, foie gras, venison shank, trout, beef heart and lobster. My wife was in charge of the salad and some deserts. Our friend also contributed some awesome dishes of shrimp and grits, smoked scallops with pickled chorizo, bacon and egg ice cream and some amazing cocktails. Here is the breakdown: My wife's absolutely amazing cucumber salad -- modeled off of a dish from the Alinea cookbook. Simply visually stunning as well as delicious. Sous vide beef heart with a red wine veal stock reduction, spinached whip cream with dehydrated spinach and Parmesan, served with a lobster tail sous vided with clarified butter and foie gras scraps. The sauce was basically the butter and melted foie from the bag. Venison shank served with mashed potatoes - nothing special there, except for perhaps the mashed potatoes. I had followed the Ideas in Food temp for the venison, and in hindsight, it would have been easier to handle if all of the connective tissue and fat had melted. The taste was there, but so much of it was wasted on removing the sinewy and chewy parts. Sweetbreads which were cooked sous vide, briefly fried and then served over a bed of day-lily stalks from the garden. Seared foie gras with a sauternes and cracked pepper duck marshmallow, served with red grape and sauternes sauce. Trout fused with prosciutto, cooked sous vide and then crisped in the left over foie gras fat (this was probably the most decadent fish I have ever had -- and will probably never happen again, as I can't see a scenario where I will have that much leftover fat from cooking off the foie gras. The trout was served with wilted spinach, but needed nothing. My wife's desert of bread pudding with smoke gel and other treats (also from Alinea I think) -- amazing. My buddy's bacon and egg ice cream with bloody mary celery. So damn good. Smoked Manhattans End of the Night Blues... Sorry for the long post -- this was something we had been working on for a while, and it came off without a hitch. I definitely had my fill of lots of things, and will not have to run out and buy a whole foie gras anytime soon. (Not pictured were the shrimp and grits, scallops and crispy skinned raw salmon.)

Well, I went ahead and ordered the MVS35XP from Polyscience yesterday -- It is being delivered today -- gotta love being within 20 miles of Polyscience. I am really, really excited to see the difference between the 2 (35XP vs. 31X) -- I feel like the pump should make a huge difference -- as well as the soft air, hot food and infusion cycle. PS - If anyone is in the Chicagoland area and has an interest in a MVS31X (which needs an oil change and pump cleaning which would cost about ~$250?), I would be happy to discuss a sale or interesting trade. It does have the gas inlet as well, but I have never used that. Otherwise, I am just going to put it up on craigslist at some point.

Kim -- Full disclosure -- I like Lemon Pepper as well -- I use to when I am feeling like a salad with grilled chicken breast -- something about it just works. No pictures from our dinner last night but I made escarole, beans and sausage. Had all of the ingredients and it turned out nicely.

horseflesh -- that was exactly what I wanted to hear -- Now if Polyscience would just call me back... EDIT: That came out whinny..didn't mean it that way. Just chomping at the bit!

For all of you Minipack MVS35XP owners out there -- how are you enjoying your machine -- I have the capability to possibly upgrade to it at this point and I am thinking that I will. I have a MVS31X, which is great, but I find that time and time again, anytime I do a hot or liquid application, I end up messing up the pump -- Currently the machine says it is pulling 99.9, but I know from experience is quite a bit less. Perhaps even in the low 90s. Thanks for the input....The other item I am looking at is the Polyscience 300 -- but I may be in the same boat with liquids and hot items.

First pizza on the Egg this year. It was running slightly hot, but that turned out to be good. Fresh Mozz, Serano ham, spinach and a goose egg broken over with about 3 minutes to go. Delicious.

Ann - Soba is right -- I cooked it sous vide for 90 minutes -- I basically doubled the normal 45 minutes I use for a standard hen egg at 142...the results were sublime. I do have to say however, that the cost benefit analysis of duck egg vs. goose egg dictates that in the future I will just have 2 duck eggs, as fun as the goose egg was. I bought them at my local farmer's market for the price of $3 each. The duck eggs go for $7 a dozen. I found the flavor to be equally as delicious as a duck egg.

1 goose egg, cooked for 90 minutes at 142 degrees, over some nice toast. Perfect. Sorry for the glare in the photo!

Ham sandwich from the last of the Easter leftovers. The ham is so much better in Iowa.

I grabbed this today -- I will hopefully have some time coming up to contribute.

We were in DC this weekend, and made a nice dinner for our friends that were hosting -- only got a picture of the steak, but also made lobster risotto and grilled broccoli rabe.

Well, as an update to my salamander desires, I took the plunge and grabbed a Bluestar Salamander off of eBay and drove from Chicago to DC to pick it up this weekend. I am in the process of preparing for a kitchen remodel, so I am slowly collecting the major pieces to lighten the blow come groundbreaking...I am pretty friggin excited about this thing -- it is patiently waiting in my garage....

That meatloaf sandwich is beautiful. Absolutely perfect.

A lovely sous vide rack of lamb, finished on the sear burner on the grill, steamed Okinawa Potatoes with gray sea salt and chamber infused, grilled zucchini. I rarely make lamb, so this was my first foray into sous vide lamb. Doubtful I will ever cook it anything but sous vide in the future. The picture and plating are pretty lousy, but the food was delicious.

Update: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/03/12/289455986/water-to-wine-machine-sound-too-good-to-be-true-it-is Just a marketing scheme.

I also have totally random issues with my MVS31X - My issues seems to stem from the machine's display getting stuck on a digit, say 94.5, and the machine running until error -- That is, unless I gently tap the display, at which point it will jump up, eventually to 99.1 and count up from there. I just had the entire vacuum pump professionally cleaned after it died last fall, and this new and interesting issue has arisen. It basically worked like a charm for 2 months and then this came up. I haven't heard of too many other problems with people and their minipacks -- I wonder if I got a touchy machine -- It isn't as if I use it all the time either -- I probably use it 5 times (max) a week. @danelks -- Maybe we both have wiring issues with our machines? That is really the only thing I can come up with.

The grill was happy tonight. Grilled ribeye, grilled radicchio and a tomato, spinach and potato hash.

The middle pieces of thin crust pizza are, for lack of a better term, soggy on the top portion that the tomato sauce is applied to -- the crust is soaked with the sauce and a nice thin layer of corn meal that bakes to the bottom confirms the very flavor that is chicago thin crust -- it is a nice soft, thin crust, with a corn meal finish which is very distinct. To call it bad/not real pizza is a fundamental misunderstanding of how delicious Chicago thin crust is, and pretty ridiculous to boot. Have you never had this type of pizza?

I was referencing soggy middle pieces in thin crust. Delicious.

I love pizza because it brings out so many opinions -- I love the soggy crust of a good square cut -- especially those middle pieces with nothing but your own sheer will that is keeping them together -- I get portability -- but as far as eating the square cut with a fork and knife -- that isn't really necessary -- you can always fold it over. All of this talk is making pizza the choice for lunch or dinner tonight for sure.

Well, square cut pizza is not meant for walking and eating -- but you can pile pieces on top of each other to make a sandwich, but I don't think I would walk around with that. Is portability now the determinant for pizza? Square cut has something for everyone -- some people like the outside crust, some people don't. We give choices here! I remember when we were kids and we asked my grandfather to cut a pizza in triangles -- just like pizza hut -- he simply shook his head and then had to draw a picture for himself to remember to cut it that way. I get that New Yorkers will always claim that their pizza is the end all be all -- I just disagree. Also, if the outside crust on the Chicago Pizza you were having didn't literally disintegrate, you are probably right -- it wasn't crispy enough...

Why doesn't Chicago thin crust ever get mentioned? Honestly, growing up, I had deep dish maybe 5 times -- but I did eat thin crust, square cut pizza all the time. Is that not pizza as well? I think if you took a survey of people in and around Chicago eating pizza, it would be thin crust, square cut all the time -- and it is done in a specific way at places like Salernos and at my grandfather's old place, Uncle Pete's -- I could care less about Deep Dish (except for Burt's Pizza --- got tell Burt it isn't pizza...) -- but I do care about a good, thin crust cut into squares. I will take that over NY pizza any day.

The last of the pork belly. My wife did some outstanding work here.