btbyrd

I saw it on the Dalton Ruhlman Facebook page. The code is good for a "one day flash sale," so I assume it's good for today only. I'm contemplating ordering another set of the mix-sized offset spoons... but the shipping is holding me back. It's not bad if you put in a large order and spread the fixed-costs over everything.

Dalton-Ruhlman flash sale -- 45% off with discount code "Santa." I should have waited... Black Friday/CyberMonday continues to disappoint.

Fat doesn't take long to rise to the surface if it's going to rise to the surface. All my stocks set up like jello and I just scrape the fat off the top. If you think, for whatever reason, that the stock just needs more time for the fat to rise up, just warm it through on the stovetop to 130F and hold it there for as long as you need to. Then chill down the entire pot (rather than pouring it off, which would agitate the fat) and scrape off the fat. I don't think that's going to help you because I don't think the problem is that it sets up too fast. But if that is the problem, this would solve it. Adding more water won't significantly alter the gel strength and will only serve to dilute the flavor.

If I need to sear anything that big, I put my baking steel on the grill and use it as a plancha. But really, the center cut of the tenderloin isn't that big and you could sear it in a large skillet. If you're dealing with a whole tenderloin, that's where Activa can come in handy. Trim the membranes, cut off the ends, dust with Activa and stick the ends back on and roll up in plastic wrap so the entire tenderloin is the same thickness. After a night in the fridge, you can cut it in half and have 2 pan-searable "center cut-looking" tenderloin roasts. That's the route I'd take if I was going to serve a tenderloin roast for the holidays.

Thanks for posting this -- it was a fun read! For now. They're working on an update that will allow you to control multiple Joules from the same device. I expect that update should be coming quite soon... they've been "working on it" for a while now and there are many people who'd like to buy a second (or third or fourth) Joule.

Some of the differences you're noticing may be down to the growing conditions, batch, or processing; I've found that dried pepper flakes can vary quite a bit even if they're the same variety. But thanks for posting about this variety; I hadn't heard of it before. I ran out of Aleppo pepper flakes a couple months ago and have been using Marash pepper flakes as a substitute. They're similar in flavor profile to Aleppo and come from the same region.

Aleppo peppers don't have to be grown in Aleppo. Turkish Aleppo pepper is widely available (at Penzys, The Spice House, and Amazon for example).

Just free shipping, but they're coming from Argentina and the normal cost of shipping is roughly the price of a pan. In March, shipping on the 23 and 27 cost me as much as the 27. (Yipe!)

Yep. I use mine on induction all the time. If you're just going to get one or two, I'd suggest the No. 27 and 23. That's what I started out with, and they're a good combo. When I got them, I thought -- as Rustwood did -- that I wouldn't want anything smaller than the 23. But then they went on sale again, and I got the two pans that are smaller than the 23... so there's that. But that's probably because of my poor impulse control. Anyway, the 23 and 27 are a great pair. Keep in mind that they're heavy (and have wide handles) so if you're a smaller person, they might not be ergonomic. But if you're comfortable using heavier cast iron pans, you'll be fine with the Dartos.

They come "seasoned-ish." There's a base layer of seasoning that keeps things from rusting, but Darto recommends giving them a proper seasoning by doing the oil-wipe/burnoff method a bunch of times. I start out with the "Cook's Illustrated/ATK" carbon steel seasoning method, which is to wash the pan and then fry potato skins with a heap of kosher salt in copious oil and move everything around a lot and grind the skins and salt around to get up any bits of manufacturing residue. Then I wash it out and do the oil-burn method a bunch of times. If you're not used to doing that, it's VERY important to get the layer of oil very thin. Once I put the thinly oiled pan on the heat, I keep an eye on it because as the pan gets hot, the oil will start to "sweat" and form beads (even if it was on in a very thin layer). At that point, I take a dry paper towel (that's been folded over a lot, so you've got some insulation for your hand... but you can use tongs, I guess) and run it around the inside of the pan to redistribute the oil and soak up residue. I think I got 8 or 9 layers on yesterday. I finish with an oil-free bake off in the oven at 450F for an hour to catch anything I missed and get a bit of seasoning on the exterior.

You're not missing anything. The process is geared for cook->serve, not cook->chill. I think their strategy is to emphasize that you don't need special equipment in addition to a circulator to cook sous vide. Which is true, but one of the main benefits of SV is batch cooking and long-term storage.

The free shipping offer on Darto carbon steel pans has been extended through December 30th. I can't emphasize enough how fast DHL ships these. My last order shipped on Tuesday and got here Thursday. The No. 15 and No. 20 arrived. Now the gang's all here!

Yes, they're suggesting that you use the pouches without sealing them. In most of their videos these days, you'll notice that they just clip the top of the bag to the water bath container rather than bothering to seal it. They recommend chamber vac bags because they're a tenth the cost of Foodsaver bags.

I just want to plug for the ChefSteps SV turkey recipes, which I did for my family this year (and have done in years past). The most hardcore is the dark meat roulade, where you bone out the thighs and legs, pull out the tendons, bind them with Activa, roll'em up and pop them in the bath. A quick deep fry at the end crisps up the skin evenly all the way around. I did that two years ago with great results, but will add that pulling the tendons out is a huge pain in the ass. CS lists this as an "optional" step, but I'd still strongly recommend it (even if it's not much fun). The new recipes for this year are fantastic and simple... break the bird down, pre-sear both the light and dark meat, and pop them in a bag with some salgar, herbs, and oil. Cook the dark meat for 12 hours, drop the temp, and add the white meat for another 12 hours. When it's time to go, give everything a final sear and go! I had a totally painless turkey-day experience this year because of it. I actually want to keep turkey breasts on hand now because they're super-delicious and easy to prepare this way. I'm seeing some legendary sandwiches and probably a Hot Brown in my future... Anyway, here's a video on the new "EASY TO DO WITH JOULE!" technique. And a link to the light meat and dark meat recipes.

I wish that when people posted questions about a particular recipe or technique, they'd go ahead and post the recipe or technique (or at least give some details) so that the replies don't devolve into irrelevancy. The Ko foie torchon begins by marinating claned liver in a mix of kosher salt, instacure no 1, bourbon, wine, and pepper. It sits in this mixture for up to 24 hours until it's rolled in cheesecloth and buried in salt for 18 hours, and then hung in the refrigerator for another 24. The cheesecloth is then removed and the torchon is wrapped in plastic wrap before being frozen. If you don't freeze it, you can cut it into a slices and serve it chilled. One of the points of this process is to draw out moisture from the foie as it cures to firm up the texture. As far as it goes, this is a conventional preparation, apart from the bourbon (where cognac would typically be used).

+1 on cooked. I'll sometimes even par-but-mostly-cook the rice and let it finish hydrating in the hot broth at the end.

Wrights is city bacon, and it's not especially smoky (and hardly smoky at all compared to Benton's, Broadbent's or Father's.) I don't think "horrible smoke flavor" that reminds someone of "the scent of an ashtray" is "the perfect way" to describe smokier bacon. And it's certainly not the way I'd describe Wright's bacon. If DDF got packaged that smelled/tasted that way, it was a defect and he got a bad batch. Good country bacon smells and tastes like a campfire. It's beautiful. But +1 on the prices for Benton's. Their bacon isn't expensive at all and it tastes delicious. Father's and Broadbent are also relatively inexpensive (and I love Father's country hams). The only problem is that while the product is cheap(ish), the shipping costs can be high. So it's best to place a big order and spread the shipping costs over a bunch of product. Speaking of which, lookie what just showed up on my doorstep... "End slices" are a tremendous value at $5 a lb. Some can be sort of gnarly looking, and they tend to be fattier than the leaner "proper" bacon, but they're ideal for sandwiches or making lardon or whatever application where you don't really care what it looks like. And frankly, I eat them just like normal bacon since I'm not precious about how the slices look. An even better value is the "bacon seasoning" which are the fatty tips that get sliced off the ends of the belly to make the rest of it easier to slice. They're a paltry TWO DOLLARS A POUND. I use those to make the Momofuku cookbook's ramen broth (which calls for a pound of Benton's) and as a seasoning for beans and greens. Pressure cook them with a couple quarts of water, and it makes for a great bacon stock to cook whatever you want with. (Sometimes I add kombu for a bacon dashi.) I do the same thing with Father's ham hocks, which are also dirt cheap. but I digress...

Tacos. Sear and shred the legs. Warm your tortillas over a flame or in a skillet. Brush on some hoisin sauce, add the duck, and garnish with your choice of toppings. Shaved radish, pickled red onions, and a brunoise of jalapeno and yellow/red bell peppers work well. Or go with a shredded/julienne-peeler-thing mix of cucumber, carrot, and dikon. Or whatever.

This spatula is a close to ideal tool for getting product out of the bottom of a blender jar. (Edit: Other colors may be cheaper. Check out other colors if you're looking to save a couple bucks.) Blenders in general aren't that great for processing hard solids into pastes without added steps (like soaking nuts or what have you). The ChefSteps pistachio butter starts out using a Vitamix to turn pistashios and sugar into a powder, but they move that mixture to a conche to reduce the particle size to a smooth paste. Making something that smooth would be impossible in a blender. Getting smooth hummus shouldn't be a problem; smooth pistachio paste -- not so much.

I like the No. 23 quite a lot. In the past, I'd used the No 27 for omelettes, but made one in the No 23 after reading your question and it worked even better. Because the omelette was thicker, it didn't tear like it often does in the 27. (I must confess that my omelette skills aren't as good as I'd like them to be.) The 23 is still relatively heavy for a pan of its size, but it's definitely much more manageable than a size up. The No 23 weighs 1545g or 3lb 6.55oz ; the No 27 weighs 2121g or 4lb 10.8oz. But the weight is going to be an issue with any carbon steel pan, so that's not a Darto-specific issue.

My order arrived and it's spoon city up in my place. I got 8 of the offset soup spoons (and they slipped an extra one in by accident) along with the offset serving spoon. The serving spoon is HUGE. I think I'm going to like the soup soons as well. And I like the meat mallet quite a bit. (It should do the job nicely). The only thing I'm sad about now is that realized I should have ordered another set of the smaller offset spoons. I freaking love those, and having another small, medium, and large one on hand would be quite nice. But now that I'm all Ruhlman-ed up, I don't know that I'll be ordering any time soon. The shipping's too high if you're just ordering a set of the spoons. If you're ordering $100+ of stuff, it doesn't seem so unreasonable. I'd be nice if he shipped some of the smaller items via USPS Priority in flat rate boxes.

The Argentine company Darto is offering free worldwide shipping on their excellent carbon steel pans. I have the No. 27 and the No. 23 and love them; I'll probably pick up a couple more thanks to the free shipping. Their DHL international service is FAST, by the way. I think I got mine four days after I placed the order. I love cooking with carbon steel, and I especially love the design of the Dartos; they're made from a single piece of metal,so there are no rivets or welds for gunk to get caught up in. Here's some hot, buttery basting porn featuring the No. 27: I first found out about them from the folks at ChefSteps. They rock a Darto in this pan-sauce video:

Put some spoons in the bag.

Curing foie changes its texture, flavor, appearance, and safety. Whether it's safe and whether it's delicious are different matters. Properly prepared torchons are safer than untreated raw product, but eating raw foie isn't especially risky compared to eating other raw animal products. From an eating standpoint, frozen, untreated, grated foie gras is going to be much different than grated, cured torchon. I'd actually want to eat the latter. The former, not so much. Especially if the "cook" was too lazy to de-vein it.

Humbug aside, I bought a couple sets of the Ruhlman acacia wooden paddles, the meat mallet, 8 of the offset soup soons, and the offset serving spoon. That's a buncho spoons n' paddles. And a mallet. FYI, it can be cheaper to buy the paddles a la carte than buying the bundle of 3. The set of "one small + one medium" plus the single large "spanker" is cheaper than the bundle.