Ttogull

I had a dish at an Indian restaurant called Aloo Bhopli Mirchi that listed caramelized gram flour as an ingredient. It was terrific. Sadly, however, I cannot find a description of how the garam flour might have been caramelized. Indeed, a Google search using " caramelized gram flour" with the quote marks included only gives references to the restaurant where I had the dish. I'd like to learn how to caramelize gram flour for other potential dishes. My best guess at this point is that gram flour was used to make something akin to a roux. Does anybody have any suggestions or ideas? Thanks in advance.

I have cooked, or used as inspiration, many of the recipes from Blumenthal's books. For some reason, the way he does things really clicks with my taste buds. I think his "In Search of Perfection" books work better in tandem with watching his shows where I think he does a better job of explaining the whys behind the elaborate techniques. A few days ago, I had an extra boar belly. I decided to give long cook sous vide one more chance. For some reason, it has not appealed to me. It's a texture issue or something. I did lots of research, and found that Heston's recipe for pork belly called for a lower temp (140F) and less time (18 hours) than most. MCAH, for example, calls for 149F for 36 hours as the preferred time. I tried Heston's. Success! I loved it! It was tender, juicy, flavorful, and had just the right chew. The only seasoning came from a 10 hour brine followed by a 1 hour soaking with the water changed every 15 minutes. I think I now see a way forward with long time SV in a way that will appeal to me. I also made tandoor chicken using his chicken tikka masala recipe. I didn't make the masala sauce, and just grilled the chicken. It still took 2 days. Awesome-est chicken ever! Intense garlic, ginger, and masala. Juicy and fall apart tender. Being raised in Texas, I make a lot of chili and am super proud of it (never say a bad word about a Texan's chili). What could a Brit teach me? I followed quite a few of the ideas from his "Perfection" book and show. It took a couple of days to make, whereas I usually only need 8 hours or so. My wife has eaten my chili for 20 years. I put the Heston-inspired chili in front of her. "I'm sorry. You put a lot of time into this, and it's a lot of work. But THIS is REALLY good chili, and I hope you do it again." He even changed my daily pasta. I used to buy the ubiquitous Barilla brand , but his description of what he likes in pasta made me change. Now there is only one store I know of in my immediate area that carries brass-extruded, slow dried pasta. The cheapest is the Fresh Market brand, which they claim is made for them in Umbria.

Re:indyrob In my opinion, the largest set of "geeks" are self-proclaimed, those who buy a bunch of equipment hoping to be considered a true geek. Confusing cause with effect. See it in all walks of life. Yes, I'm a race car driver- I own 15 Ferraris, 2 Lambos, etc. Yes, I'm a trader, I have an ETrade account. As said above, tools do not make one a geek. But a true geek typically has a lot of tools, and uses each well.

Well, I thawed my heart, brined it in 8% salt content with pickling spices for 24 hours, and SVed for 24 hours in the best veal stock I've had at 174.9 for 24 hours as mentioned above. Seared some of it, but not all. My dog loved it. Which is fine with me because I thought it was terrible. Well, not terrible, but just not worth the $8 for the heart and the 48+ hours. Not to mention my wonderful veal stock. It was tender, not dry but not moist, and the non-seared parts were slightly better I guess because the meat part has little fat. The finished product looked just like pictures I've seen of others following the same technique. I wish I had grilled it instead of SVing it. It was so beautiful beforehand. Maybe this is a different topic, but the end result of this heart is what I've come to realize with long SV cooks: I don't seem to like it. I've eaten mostly short ribs SVed by pros, and I don't like them either. Too much uniformity in texture or something, which is sort of my main complaint with the heart. I smoke stuff for 18+ hours, I pressure cook stuff, braise stuff, etc. etc. and love it all, but cannot get on board with long term SV. I love short SV, like chicken, steak, pork chops, etc. I'd hate for this to be true as the SV concept is great.

@KeithW Although not entirely the same, the philosophy of some of the things you do is present in Adam Perry-Lang's book, "Charred and Scruffed." He also likes late seasoning and the mid-cook rest, but IIRC does not do it to the extent you do. That's a neat idea. As I mentioned before, he likes to put stuff directly on the coals. Having done it, I cannot grill pork or lamb chops any other way as it magnifies the Maillard flavors beyond belief. Another technique that might be of interest to you is what he calls "scruffing," which is scoring the surface of the meat at a bias. According to him, it gives more nooks and crannies to develop the Maillard flavors. He says something like "the meat won't be pretty, but you can't taste pretty." For some reason, I haven't tried it, but I should. This discussion has me longing for a hot summer day!

Yes, directly on them. Never on briquettes since those might have unnatural ingredients. Adam Perry-Lang discusses this in great detail. I tend to forget important steps that I've learned to do automatically with time. For instance, I always grab a piece of mail (why mail?) to fan the ashes off of the coals first. Even if you get ashes on the meat, it brushes right off. Sometimes coals stick to the meat, so you want to pluck them off with tongs before putting the meat on a cutting board. I learned this when grilling something and suddenly wondered where that beautiful cedar smell was coming from. It was my cutting board smoking!

There are lots of possibilities. I only learned how to cook in the past few years, so I remember making comments like yours and what I did to fix things. But I fixed things for ME, and what I did for me might not be what YOU want. But for me going to a steakhouse is pointless because I make something I like better. First, the meat can be an issue, but not necessarily the grade. I know a lot of people are fans of Costo, but in my experience mass produced beef can be rather bland. One time I got ribeye to make a faux hot pot I like from a Halal butcher. Then I realized I hadn't gotten enough, and picked up more at the nearby chain grocery store. I intentionally kept them separate, but treated them identically. The difference was amazingly clear. I've had the same experience with lamb, chicken, and produce. I recommend oing to farmers markets, farms, good butchers, anybody who gets beef from a happy animal. Second, I m not sure what you mean by oak lump. Natural charcoal, as I understand, contains no wood flavors since that is all lost while making charcoal. So, it seems oak lump charcoal would give as much flavor as any other hardwood charcoal. I do not use briquettes for short cooks like steaks, veggies, etc. I have used wood chunks in a chimney starter -real wood - and let them burn down to coals, and this does give nice smokiness. My favorite, though, is to start a chimney of hardwood charcoal and then a few minutes before dumping throw in a couple of wood chunks. My favorite is mesquite, but everything is good. This gives the convenience of charcoal with plenty of smoke flavor on short cooks. Third, I divide the cook into two to three stages, depending on the meat. The first is searing. I like a hot, hot, hot grill for this. As hot as I can get it. At a minimum, I dump the charcoals into the two holders you can by from Weber designed for indirect grilling. But I keep them together and use them for direct. Why? Because it raises the charcoal to where it is just underneath the grate. Basically he width of he grate is the distance between my meat and the coals. Depending on my mood, however, I'll eliminate the grate too and just lay he steak on the coals. Check Adam Perry-Lang's pinching method for this. Pork chops this way are stunning. From there, the remaining stages are simply backing the meat up away from the heat to get the interior to temp. If I lay directly on he coals, stage 2 might be putting in the grate and direct grilling. Stage 3 might be putting the meat on the cool side. You might get responses about sous vide, etc. I agree with the advantages of sous vide, and frequently do it myself. Based on my experience, however, the advantages of sous vide will be elusive if you cannot cook a steak using just a grill. I am at least 93% happy with a simple grilled steak; sous vide just adds a little awesomeness. One more thing - as discussed in Modernist Cuisine, you want smoke from fat dripping on coals. I've cooked lamb chops directly on coals, and you need firemen's equipment to get through all the smoke. But they are so tasty... Edit: I forgot to mention, placing meat on the coals will not give flare ups because there is not enough oxygen between the meat and the coals. But sometimes there is enough smoke to make you think the whole neighborhood is in flames...

Ok, I've had this dish on my brain lately, and I recently found out it is made with crab stock. But I think shrimp stock would be good too. It's Heston Blumenthal's crab risotto, which apparently is topped by crab ice cream. Shrimp risotto with shrimp ice cream? I think it could work. The recipe for crab ice cream is available since he published it in a UK paper, and the only surprise ingredient is crab stock.

My initial thought was the same. After all, annatto is a natural coloring agent. This is something I know from trying to avoid artificial colors for my kid. IIRC, it gives cheddar its usual yellow color. BUT my Mexican chorizo is red, and I do not use annatto. I do not know of any recipes that call for annatto, but maybe I missed them. Edit: ha ha, your update about the Filipino version appeared while I was typing.

Chorizo is different all over the world. Some places it is cured, and other places it is fresh. I am not aware of any special SW US chorizo, so I assume it could have been almost anything. Here in the NE US, chorizo by default is the Spanish version. Mexican chorizo typically has vinegar. It also often uses the ancho chili pepper. The ancho chili pepper gives it it's redness. I make my own Mexican chorizo, and also use anchos in my chili con carne and other dishes. They are a beautiful red with sufficient amounts of anchos. I do not know why the other chorizo you had was brown. Paprika is a popular choice of pepper for other types, but I do not use it much and do not know if it does or does not retain its red color.

Thank you for your reply to my previous question - that is good news indeed! I just realized your first statement is also helpful to me. How long do you think stock left in the fridge with a layer of fat will stay fresh? I made stock for soup about a week ago, put it in the fridge, and never got around to using it (forgot about it, really). It has a good 1/2-inch or more of fat on top, and has not been touched. I'd like to use it this upcoming week, but generally I draw the line at a week.

I've often wondered if this was possible - I have always worried that the shock of the hot stock hitting the room-temperature glass might break it. Am I worrying for no reason? I have never canned something, but I do like Mason jars for storage. I do suppose, though, that putting a Mason jar of hot stock in an ice bath to cool would be a concern. Right?

I don't care for them, but "frijoles borrachos" (drunken beans) are quite popular in the Southwest US. Typically beer is used.

Anyway, Keller suggests 79.4C for 24 hours for a calf's heart. That's a starting point I guess. Please post here if you get a better recommendation as I have a frozen heart I plan to SV soon. Edit: I forgot to mention that a quick sear is also an amazing way to cook heart. I bought one from a Halal butcher, and he prepared it for me "the way we do it in my custom." Basically he trimmed it for me. Put it on skewers with nothing but salt and pepper and cooked just past rare. Amazing.