Unpopular Poet
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Lisa -- not a worry at all, everything happens for a reason and I was elated as to how they turned out, so good enough for me!
Dan -
I would categorize the baby hot browns as a total failure that then rose from the ashes like glorious phoenix. In the end, I attempted to make the bacon cups suggested above -- I followed some online directions and unfortunately, the thickness of 1 pack of bacon to the next was not consistent -- so I only ended up with 16 bacon cups, as opposed to 32 -- I couldn't bring 16, so therefore I bailed on the bacon cups -- which is too bad, because they looked amazing. On the other hand, the rest came together -- I used some nice german brown bread -- both Pumpernickel and Bavarian Rye -- toasted them lightly, cut into squares and then topped with the sous vide turkey breast, then the oven roasted heirloom cherry tomato 1/2 -- which had also been broiled with some nice Parmingiano grated over the top. I also made a bechamel with gruyere (camembert was ruled too stinky for this crowd -- huh?) which I topped them with -- then a sliver of bacon and off to the races (after a slight warm up in the oven a while later). (I ended up not charging the sauce in the Isi -- the host ended up dropping off all of the pork loins for the party -- I ended up sous viding those as well for 5 hours and seared off in clarified butter -- awesome)
I wish I had a pic, but I don't. They were a huge hit though -- people basically went bananas for them -- at once point the people at my table asked if I could please grab the tray from the buffet table so they could have the rest - pretty funny actually. I was really frustrated at a number of points along the way -- basically wishing I had just followed the damn recipe for once -- but thank god I didn't -- the nice part was that everything I had reservations about ended up melding together -- the brown bread was a huge win -- initially I thought it was going to over power with blandness, but once the whole dish came together, the structure really held it together. I would absolutely make these again.
Thanks again for everyone and their thoughts -- total team effort.
Dan
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Tons of great ideas -- thanks everyone -- I think incorporating the bacon cups could add a nice twist -- there is sprinkled bacon on there anyway. So this is what I have come up with -- bacon cupped baby hot browns with sous vide turkey breast, oven dried heirloom cherry tomatoes and an isi foamed bechamel and Camembert (or gruyere) sauce. Looks close enough to the original recipe to be recognizable, but hopefully significantly more delicious.
Any thoughts? Is the camembert going to overpower everything else? Do I care?
Dan
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Does anyone have any experience with these derby snacks? I have been assigned these for a party and wondering if anyone has any tips. I was thinking I would confit the turkey leg and get some really nice tomatoes at the farmers market...but otherwise I am trying to stick with something relatively traditional or the host will kill me. Any experiences are much appreciated!
Thanks!
Dan
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My Big Green Egg pies never browned on top enough to make me happy....I wanted some true charring in spots. Broiler plus steel yields far superior results, for me. I have an average broiler, plain ol gas. Am upgrading to a BlueStar later this year, and I can't wait to use the steel with the BS infrared broiler.
That was going to be my next question -- I have a bluestar and I was wondering if the broiler (which is like a rocket) would really end up securing better results than my large BGE -- I am pretty excited to give it a try. I am going to make some pizza tonight and will try and do a side by side, as long as I can get a piece of steel.
Thanks
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I have really been waivering on one of these as well -- I have been obsessing all winter about building a brick oven in the backyard. From the members that have used it -- Is it worth the extra $20 for the bigger model?
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I followed the directions to the T -- boiling of potato skins for 15 minutes to remove the beeswax, heating up some oil for the initial seasoning, using a plastic scraper to pick up any bits that may have stuck (the food won't stick but sometimes a bit of something will -- like fond before deglazing lets say) and wiping it out with oil (i use grapeseed) after every use.
I did not season the entire pan, but the bottom and upper sides will eventually self season, from use and heat. The handles will eventually discolor from being in the oven (if you use it for that).
As far as the fried egg -- I can say for certain that it will absolutely do a fried egg -- I had one yesterday. The only precaution is that it takes a bit of time and there is an ever so slight learning curve -- the trick is not expecting nonstick on the first go round -- cook some meats and whatnot in it -- get it nice and seasoned, and then your eggs will slide right out. The only tip/trick is making sure you can lift the sides of the egg up and gently slide the pan, so it move around. It will just happen at some point in the seasoning and you will know you are there. I find that clarified butter (I use Ghee as well, same difference) is the best option for eggs -- you get a creamy, crispy, delicious egg every time. Plus omelettes are a breeze as well.
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My mom had these pans -- they were a bit light for my liking, but at that cost, its tough to argue. I had a problem with the "oven safeness" of them, because I found most things require something a bit more than 350. It all depends on what your use will be -- they are definitely workable for that price though --
For me, I have begun switching out all of my nonstick for debuyer's mineral pans -- the upfront work is definitely a pain -- lots of time seasoning -- but once they are properly seasoned, I find that there is nothing in the world that can beat them -- they are basically the perfect combo of nonstick and metal -- searing better than even cast iron in my opinion, and gentle enough to cook sunny side up eggs in them. Its the seasoning and care that is the hard part -- lots and lots of time to get to that sweet spot -- but like I said - once you are there, you will forever be amazed by the results. Here is a picture of a steak I cooked in one of them the other night -- the light on that pic is terrible, but the rib-eye was absolutely perfect -- the pan gets so hot that basically, you never end up with the large gray ring -- but you get the complexity of the crust that sous vide post searing just doesn't get (IMHO).
These are absolutely induction friendly too.
Sorry if this was off topic slightly, but just thought I would throw in my 2 cents.
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A "friend" of mine once thought he would do me a favor and instead of picking up limes and lemons, picked up some misting spray bottles of that lemon and lime type stuff above. Made a vodka soda taste like vodka furniture polish...absolutely delicious and fresh, if you are a maple table.
Here's a link
http://www.collinschicago.com/collinstm-flavor-sprays-lemon-twist-mist.html
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Does anyone have any experience with these ovens? http://www.brickwoodovens.com/index.html
I find my large BGE to be slightly small for making pizzas -- there is too much heat loss in my experience.
The cost of this oven is about the same as an XL BGE -- (which in reality, I believe only to be worth to me it for the pizza making - everything else has always been accomplished on my large)
Any thoughts or experiences with the brickwood ovens?
I am thinking summer project.
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I have the All Clad with the "stovetop to cooker insert" that you can sear in -- that's a nice option, but I would definitely say that its not really a must have -- I must say however, that the insert is pretty cheap and like 1980s Teflon, has started to chip and scratch in a couple of places -- but that hasn't had a negative effect (and this is not due to metal scraping against it).
I would say that another option I would prefer if I was to buy another one would be more temperature control -- not just high, low and warm.
Overall, I would say that the All Clad works, but the insert is slightly cheap, and for the price compared to other slow cookers, is grossly overpriced. I do not have the one from the BB&B site -- I received the one I have from WS (as a gift mind you). Here is the link:
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/all-clad-deluxe-slow-cooker-with-aluminum-insert/
I appears that this one is slightly bigger. A whole extra 1/2 quart for $100!
If not for the insert, this would probably be pretty close to worth it.
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Ok, I suppose this post belongs somewhere else, but I thought I would share it, since I mentioned it in my last post about infusion. So this Saturday, we headed over to Tallgrass in Lockport, IL for dinner. Fantastic meal -- but that aside, I had prepared the frozen compressed graham crackers I spoke about above. I ended up making a delicious fudge filling (out of milk chocolate, knob creek, butter, marshmallow, nutella, chopped banana, and marscapone) which I then liberally spread across a graham cracker that was layered with sliced marshmallows. The sandwich was built, then was vacuum sealed -- 3 different attempts -- 1 @ 99.9 (which disintegrated), 1 @ 95 and 1 @ 90. The 95 and 90 compressed well and were tossed in a deep freeze for the rest of the day. I ended up making sous vide brioche bread pudding with toasted marshmallow infused cream (got the idea from MSK from a post 2 years ago -- Thanks!) to go with it and made a sauce out of the remaining fudge. The bread pudding might have cooked a bit long, but it was still good. Needed something crunchy. I had a bit of wine at dinner, so not my prettiest work, but man it was delicious. The compressed smores were really great and since the graham crackers tend to defrost relatively quickly, I found the consistency to be very nice, not brain freeze frozen. They cut nicely with a chinese cleaver. Overall, I discovered that you cannot hydrate the graham crackers -- even if you hydrate, then deep freeze them -- it just was way too hard to work with it.
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Patrick -- those cannellinis look marvelous and remind me that I need toget back to work on my vegetarian version of beans and escarole! Now...what do I replace the sausage with....
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Ok, So I went back and took specific measurements for the sumo tangerines -- after some playing around, I discovered that first and foremost, only the sweetest of tangerines should be used. I combined the following: 1 tablespoon of honey, 1 1/4 tablespoon aquavit, just over 1/2 a tablespoon of champagne vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon of garlic chili paste and a healthy pinch of herbs de provence and salt. If the tangerine isn't very sweet, then a touch of sugar as well. Whisked all together, then 99.9 + 30 -- twice actually worked better. There is so little liquid that while it definitely boiled, it never boiled over. These proportions allow for the tangerine to remain relevant, while the rest of the flavors really shined through -- same as before -- vinegar, tangerine and chili up front, herbs on the back.
My next project is going to be somewhat absurd -- I am trying to concoct a frozen banana, fluff, and nutella (with some booze perhaps as well) mixture which will then be spread between two graham crackers which have been "hydrated" with a booze butter to allow for pliability. It will all be compressed into a sandwich and then frozen to create a frozen sandwich. Might be a total waste of time but who knows. Is this a total waste of time?
Cheers
Dan -
Bob -- I simply bagged the items and set it on the liquid tray and went to 99.9 + 30 seconds -- the liquid boiled in the bag, but as I did very little (4 strawberries/1 tangerine) in a decent sized bag, I found that the liquid boiled, but didn't boil out, mainly because the bag was larger enough to contain the liquid -- of which there actually was very little (perhaps a 1/4 of a cup maybe a bit more). As far as the smashing of the fruit, It was nicely compressed, but not smashed -- the tangerines changed color to a deeper color and were slightly more firm. As far as the ratios go I would say the following is a close representation --
for the strawberries -- I used 1-2 tablespoons of the following -- dark chocolate infused balsamic, murphy's and cream. I added a few drops of sriracha and a few turns of the pink salt grinder. Overall, I would say that this needs some tweaking -- it was definitely good, but could be much better -- perhaps some better balsamic, and actually more sriracha (the idea to add sriracha came from when I once topped very cold red grapes with a healthy drop of sriracha to emulate red peppers -- if you close your eyes, it is really amazing how much they taste like a fresh red pepper). I whisked all of the ingredients and added to the 10X13 bag and ran it at 99.9 +30. Then to the freezer for 20 minutes.
for the tangerines -- 1 tablespoon each of the white wine vinegar and the honey, 1.5 of aquavit (I used northshore aquavit which is not anything like the Norwegian aquavits - but still close enough), 1/2 a tablespoon of herbs de provence and just a tiny bit (maybe 1/2 a teaspoon at most) of chili garlic paste. I am not positive of the ratios -- I basically eyeballed it at the time and now I am trying to work backwards.
I am going to experiment on more stuff tonight -- I will take notes and report anything interesting.
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Now I'm just being annoying. I wanted to post another experiment -- Tangerines infused with aquavit, chili paste, white wine vinegar, honey and herbs de Provence -- Now, I really liked the strawberries, but these were simply incredible. Same as before -- 99.99 + 30 (no freezer time) and popped in a bowl straight from the bag -- I am relatively certain that these were one of the most complex, interesting dishes I have ever made in 3 minutes -- the entire tangerine's consistency changed to firm yet bursting with juice. Upon first bite, the champagne vinegar and chili really burst, almost like a dressing with the tangerine juice -- it was immediately followed by a nice herb finish, clearly from the aqauvit and herbs de Provence. I think these tangerines, coupled with some roasted beets and marscapone could be a wonderful salad. I would even say that the mix that remains in the bag could be blended with some nice olive oil and served as the dressing over the beets if wanted. These were definitely a keeper.
Dan
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Ok, so as one final update and first experiment -- Last night I knew that I wouldn't be cooking anything but I was dying to test out the MVS-31X (besides sealing a bag of water, which just made me happy) so I decided to try my hand at fruit infusion -- so I looked in the fridge and tried some strawberries (halved) infused with dark chocolate, balsamic, murphy's irish stout, thyme, Himalayan pink salt, cream and some sriracha (couple drops). I bagged it up and sealed it at 99.9 + 30 seconds of additional vacuum time. I threw them in the freezer for 15-20 minutes and waited for my wife to get home. Holy cow! This recipe needs some tweaking for sure, but I am amazed at how in depth the flavors were in just that short period of time. The thyme and balsamic sang out with each bite while the cream simply made it luscious and pleasant. The chocolate and sriracha were slightly noticeable on the back end with the whole thing finishing with another bright burst of thyme -- really interesting and delightful. I need to mess around with the ratios, and see what I can accomplish, but I have had some additional thoughts -- maybe cantaloupe infused with rendered prosciutto fat and white wine vinegar? Thanks again to Bob for making this possible -- as I told him -- my wife is thanking him now too!
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One quick update -- thanks to Bob Jueneman, I am now the happy owner of an MVS-31X. Thanks to everyone who helped me through this process of choosing which chamber sealer is right for me. I am so excited to get cooking....Thanks again to everyone! Updates to come!
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The dent was already leading to a separation. I brought it to a copper smith who has experience with cookware, and he is going to pound out the dent, re-tin and make it new. For the price, all in, it is well worth it as an added piece to my collection. I needed a nice fish poaching vessel, so I suppose this is the top of the game. I did get a kick out of the salesperson at Williams Sonoma who told me it was a french roasting pan. Actually dangerous advise....Obviously, I was well aware that searing off a nice piece of beef and cooking at high temp would result in something not so tasty and most likely metallic...
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So, today was a fortuitous day in the realm of cookware. I stumbled across this Turbotiere for about 90% off due to a dent in the bottom. Luckily, I have a friend who is a metal worker who is happy to fix it. I guess my question is -- besides poaching whole turbot filets, what do you think its best used for? I assume its fair game for just about anything that's not too acidic....what do you think?
Dan
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This was my first attempt at the Modernist Cuisine Omelette -- wow -- what a difference an ISI makes with Eggs. I can honestly say that the hour this took was well worth it.
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I don't think there is a port on either the VP210 or VP215 -- one other question -- has anyone had any luck using these as an external vacuum sealer by using a foodsaver bag outside of the chamber? I have seen the minipack used, but never the VP210/VP215. I have decided that I am going to create a sous vide station in my basement. Probably best to hide some of this stuff from people who don't understand it (not my wife, of course -- she's down with it all). Its also why I keep my wine at the office
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I don't know -- is that a positive or a negative? I would think a positive, only from the standpoint that it would take less time to reach the maximum vacuum the machine can reach. Thoughts?
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I am glad to hear it -- I feel like some things are pure frivolity cooking/eating wise for the at home chef (see: PacoJet or perhaps a Champagne Sabre) but this chamber sealer will, without a doubt enhance my family's enjoyment of life through better cooking....plus I get to do all of the fun things I have wanted to do for years and couldn't (without extreme frustration that is). I actually think its worth it for the ability to easily make sous vide scrambled eggs whenever I want now -- I had a fight with my vacuum sealer every time I tried before. I'll let everyone know when I pull the trigger!
Dan
The Ultimate Roast Chicken
in Cooking
Posted
Desired final cooking temperature: From a Fahrenheit point of view, I would go 140ish breast/150ish dark with a nice rest. A bit pink in the dark meat, but delicious. I usually just go by touch though, I find that it really depends on the type of chicken.
- Stuffing: No.
- Trussing: No.
- Cooking position: Spatchcock
- Cooking time: Medium High direct grilling, followed by 400 degree indirect until finished.
- Heat source: the weber or BGE
- Seasoning: I vacuum seal the chicken (99.9%) after it is spatchcocked with a wet marinade of lemon juice, olive oil, pressed garlic cloves, salt, pepper, chili garlic oil, herbs -- sometimes I add a teaspoon or so of champagne vinegar.
As far as the type of chicken, it is usually something from our local farmer's market or butcher -- I can't recall the names presently.
These results are always fantastic -- after a short stay in the bag, the chicken is super moist and flavorful. Perhaps it is not technically a roasted chicken, but I find it to be absolutely phenomenal.
For the roast chicken in the oven, its simply breast side up in a le creuset oval casserole dish, trussed or not, depending on mood, not brined or marinaded, stuffed very gingerly with lemon wedges, garlic cloves and onions, rubbed down with olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs de provence and roasted at 425 (conventional gas oven) for 15 minutes and then 375 until done (145/155ish), rested for 20 minutes. the bottom gets nice and crispy, the top as well, its a fine chicken with little to no prep.