Duvel

The city of Braunschweig certainly agrees on the Mettwurst version 😋 (click)

Just a disclaimer: generally accepted in the US … in its birth land it is more of a coarse salami (a soft subtype of Mettwurst) …

Specifically chicken livers I love as yakitori - grilled over very hot coals until seared & pinkish inside, brushed with tare, a few seconds more just to get few scorched spots … and enjoyed together with some sake.

A good balance is about 3 parts fried minced meat to 1 part liver sausage to 1.5 parts stiff bechamel. The liver sausage melts into the mixture and - together with the bechamel - lends a kind of smooth & creamy gameyness to the dish. I find it quite pleasant …

I understand that Braunschweiger in a US context refers to a kind of liver sausage. In that case you could use it as the base for a Banh Mi, a filling for puff pastry pieces together with sautéed apples and caramelized onions, or mixed with fried minced meat and a healthy dose of bechamel in filled Canelons pasta …

Could you elaborate on that mole ? I haven’t encountered a pink one yet …

First I thought it gives me the finger. But on closer inspection I found it looks more like a festive version of Mr. Hankey …

A grilled cheese & ham sandwich (with wonderful Raclette cheese) and a tomato salad …

I did the leg twice - first time perfect, second time the exact opposite. Same procedure - so there must be an issue with the meat itself. Same hunter I purchased from … Regardless if “direct” enzymatic reaction or mediated by microorganisms, on a short timescale I am sure you’ll be fine. There is very little difference between a 30 min SV stint and a 30 min stay in a medium oven …

I think the theory is that when the bullet does travel through the abdominal cavity (is that the word ?!), it may transfer minuscule amounts of bacteria with it into muscle tissue. Now, I do not fully subscribe to that theory, but I had a perfect leg of venison turn into some liver-tasting mushy mess in about 6h, so I really can’t recommend that course of action …

Of course, @Shelby is the mistress of this topic, but this is my limited experience: sous vide with venison can be tricky. Sometimes the bullet (that renders a deer an ex-deer) cross-contaminates other parts of the body and SV then turns it into a mushy heap. I did not have that experience with tenderloin, but leg and it ain’t nice. I usually sear hard on all sides (after trimming) and use a low oven (140 oC) to get it to the desired doneness (which in the case of tenderloin you can easily feel by pressing). I also turned the seared tenderloin very successfully into a “Venison Wellington” (or “VW” 🤗) …

Leftover “Ramen” on the assembly line. Pho Ga stock (unsalted), amped up with tare from the freezer, with SV chicken (briefly fried and coated in a teriyaki-ish sauce), an 6.3 min egg and some smoked tofu. Dried wakame under the pasta. Chives & nori for the visual appeal … No complaints.

One of the last glorious autumn days of this year. Temperatures are single digit, but the sun is still powerful and in the bright sunshine one hardly needs a jacket. We went with my parents to the center of Weinheim and enjoyed the scenery, before they left for Lower Saxony. At night only leftovers. Canelons are Catalan filled pasta rolls, stuffed with whatever you have left from the big roast on Sundays. We didn’t had that, but roasted pork belly, sous vide chicken breast, Mett & onions from two breakfasts, a veal rib and half a Leberwurst all went into the meatgrinder and together with a thick bechamel made for very tasty filling. So, comfort food at its best that - while impossible to make look good in a photograph - certainly hit the spot for all three of us …

Affirmative. I think that “pumpernickel” in the States is mostly perceived as a flavor (and I get the idea behind that, see below). German pumpernickel is a very specific bread, essentially cracked whole rye (with bran), soaked then pressed into a loaf and steamed for the better part of a day. The result is a brick, with savory caramel overtones and a very, very hearty consistency (the latter is essentially the off-putting part for me). The flavor profile isn’t that bad and something you can transfer to other items, e.g. by using toasted rye flour, caramel, chocolate powder, … Maybe I should give these hybrids a go, but why waste one of the very few and wholeheartedly felt food aversions that I have 🤗 (that being said I’d have one of your bagels in an instant)

I just read the recipe. Maybe I am missing something, but you can just do the searing in a non-stick pan, and then do the braise part with the veggies in the Le Creuset (w/ baking paper, if this is the point where it “sticks”) …

Would a piece of baking paper at the bottom of the Le Creuset fix the issue ..?

I hear you - Soto Ayam was one the choices I gave them, while the final one was Kotteri Tori Ramen (like Tenkaippin). I supplied them with pictures and short descriptions, and after conversation over dinner I think they chose Pho because it didn’t contain egg (which seemingly they had plenty for breakfast during their holiday). My wife and son would have gone for the Ramen while I was actually also thinking Pho or Soto Ayam because I wanted something spicy …

My parents are stopping by on their way back from their Palatinate holiday. Temperatures have dropped significantly in the last two days, so when I asked them what they would like to have for dinner both requested “chicken soup, maybe Asian” … I gave a few options and my mom chose Phở Gà. I prepared about 4 L of aromatic stock over the course of the morning and made some SV chicken breast as inlay (plus rice noodles, spring onion and bean sprouts). Herbs & everything else for tweaking the soup was served separately. It was quite a success. My fathers had thirds and asked to take some of the remaining stock home 😊

The other day I purchased a nice slab of pork belly to make Dong Po Rou. Unfortunately, a mixture of mid-morning hunger pangs and a general and enduring laziness got the better of me. I found myself scoring and salting that pork belly and making roasted pork belly with Knödel & mango Sauerkraut in between two virtual meetings … It definitely helped with the hunger, but accentuated my laziness. I almost fell asleep during the 14.00h call 🙄

Yes, you fry the chicken and everything else afterwards in that oil. It’s a one-pot preparation 😉

Not to derail this thread, but what you are describing is (also) basically the characteristics of a cooked, cooled and reheated pie, no ? Is that part of the equation ?

Does it have to in a classic NYC pie ? I had very few authentic ones …

Yes - I think it is a common technique, especially for the group of “red-braised” dishes to intensify the color. As the sugar doesn’t dissolve in the oil you can nicely watch the process …

Sure. I use this recipe as a base, with a few tweaks: Chop up ~600 g boneless chicken thighs or about 1 kg of bone-in chicken parts. Heat a big good gluck of neutral oil, add 1 tbsp sugar and caramelize. Once nicely brown, add all the chicken plus half a tbsp of salt, some MSG and a couple of peeled ginger slices. Fry for a minute, then add a tbsp of Doubanjiang. Fry briefly, then add cassia bark, two large star anise (or three small), one cracked black cardamom pod and 1 heaped tbsp of Sichuan peppercorns. Add 200 ml unsalted chicken stock and about 400 g of large potato cubes and cook for 30 min at low heat. You want a lazy simmer … After 30 min add 3-4 chopped up spring onions and a few chilies (dried facing heaven ones if available) Cook for 15 min more and add 6-8 whole peeled garlic cloves. At this point I adjust the saltiness. Potatoes should be soft by now. After about 15 more minutes you can add some sliced bell pepper or some fried aubergine slices. I do if have either of them - in that case I let the cook for maybe 10 min more until reasonably softened … Enjoy !

Thanks, I missed that. My version is a bit different when it comes to the details, but all in all we agree on Da Pan Ji …