btbyrd

Have you ever met short ribs, brisket, cheek, or oxtail?

Okay, so +1 on adding fat. Tonight, in an attempt to have a quick dinner, I made the first off-the-shelf canned soup I've made in years -- a tomato bisque. Sweet Jesus, they added so much sugar to it that it tasted like borderline tomato sorbet base. I'm not against adding sugar to counteract acidic ingredients like tomatoes and help round out the flavor, but this was insane. So I upped the salt content to round things out (salt, fish sauce, usukuchi soy sauce) and then added some cider vinegar for brightness. That balanced everything out, but while the intensity of flavors was balanced, the salt/sugar were still too intense. So I added in a swirl of cream and a couple pats of butter and things finally reached an acceptable level. It was a lot of doctoring for a can of soup, but oh-so necessary.

Dilution is the only solution. I make soup with unseasoned homemade stock and (mostly) only season at the end. If I'm sauteeing aromatics or something, I can season along the way without running the risk of making the broth too salty. Seasoning at the end is the easiest way to ensure that you have the salt/acid balance right. If you season too early, or if you use off-the-shelf chicken stock, the soup will lose volume as it sits there and get saltier and saltier. Another advantage of using stock rather than broth is that you can reduce it down if you want to amp up the flavor (without amping up the sodium content). I add herbacious notes about 25 minute out before I want to serve, remove them, season with salt/fish-sauce/soy-sauce and add some brightness in with sherry vinegar or lemon juice.

Cook's Science has a lengthy piece on koji in which they talk about letting koji fuzz grow on meat for flavor purposes. The Nordic Food Lab uses koji in many of their fermentations as a source of exogenous enzymes. They use it to make fish sauce and to cure anchovies, for example. Unrelated but sort of related... The MC "shortcut" emulating dry aged flavor is to brush the steak lightly with fish sauce, seal it in a bag, and let it marinate for three days.

The motor is designed so that it doesn't base RPMs on voltage; it'll work worldwide (you just have to use it with a transformer).

A few years ago Michael Ruhlman paired up with fellow Clevelander Mac Dalton to design an array of kitchen tools. I figured that eGullet could use a thread dedicated to discussing them. Dalton-Ruhlman's first product was an offset spoon designed for basting. Ruhlman apparently used to bend his Kunz spoons so they'd be better at the task, and realized that the world would be a better place if there was an offset spoon crafted for all your basting needs. In the years since, they've expanded their offerings to include other types of spoon -- offset and not -- including the "Badass Egg Spoon." Here's a shot of my Ruhlman spoon collection: From the top left we have a set of the offset soup spoons and three somewhat normal sizes of the offset spoon. The medium sized offset spoon is apparently comparable in size to the Kunz; the offset spoon on the far right is quite large and is suitable for serving things family-style. Beneath them is the BAE spoon and the offset serving spoon. I've had the BAE and the 3 non-soup offset spoons for a couple years; the soup and serving spoons just arrived, so I don't have much experience with them. One thing that I can say is that I was astonished by the size of the offset serving spoon. It is giant. It's the biggest spoon in my kitchen for sure... and it's longer than my 8oz Rosle ladle (shown below for size comparison purposes). It really is closer to a ladle than a serving spoon... for actually serving most things, the large offset is probably a better size. I mean, it's freaking giant. It's very well made and I'm sure I'll use it for some things (like serving dishes from a larger pot or dutch oven) but it's definitely in ladle territory in terms of sheer size. What's the point of offset spoons? Well, they really do make basting easier -- which was the way this whole thing started. But what I really came to love about them is the way the spoons will rest on the edge of a pan, dish, or bowl without sliding in. And the build on these spoons is just right... they're SOLID and have a good weight to them and behave more or less exactly how I'd like them to. Here's the product video demonstrating the 3 offset basting/tasting/whatever spoons: The Badass Egg Spoon is also a quality product. It's a large perforated spoon whose holes are just large enough to drain off the loose white from an egg without letting the firm white through. So you can crack an egg into it, drain the crap off, and then poach a beautiful egg. But I must confess that I don't make poached eggs that often (though I now make them a lot more often than I used to). I do, however, use the spoon all the time... it's a great size and shape for anything you'd want a perforated spoon to do. Ironically, I use it a lot of times to pick sous vide "poached" eggs out of my circulator bath. But I also use it to serve greens, beans, and other things cooked in liquid that you don't want to serve as a soup. Here's the product video for the egg spoon: I haven't yet put the soup spoons or serving spoon through their proper paces, but I anticipate that they'll perform splendidly. Did I mention that the serving spoon is BIG? They're a bit pricey at retail (and his shipping prices are quite high, but he's apparently working on that) but he runs promos around the holidays and Mother's Day that bring the prices into line. Even without the discount, the prices are competitive with the Kunz spoon (which I haven't used, but now don't feel the need for... though I'll probably get one eventually because I can't help myself). I also have a set of the acacia wood paddles, the meat mallet, and the "all strain" cloths (which apparently aren't available anymore). I rate them all highly and may post about them later. Anyway, if you've used these spoons or any of the other Dalton-Ruhlman products, give us your impressions.

And I always get them over easy at a diner. Unless it's Waffle House, in which case I always get their "cheese eggs." There's something magic about eggs scrambled with processed cheese...

I can't believe I'm the first to say sous vide/low-temp eggs. I love the meltingly soft yolk textures you get around 64C. Not runny, not set... gooey like honey. I also like the super-slow, lots of butter scramble. Heston does his in a double boiler, but I do them in a pan on the Vollrath Mirage Pro induction hob set to 65C. They take a good amount of time, but the creamy/custardy texture is worth it. It's also hard to argue with a proper poached egg.

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...