jackal10

I've fired my brick bread oven with charcoal. Charcoal gets much hotter than wood. Works OK, but monsterously expensive, and with little wood smoke flavour. Need maybe four large sacks per firing for a 3ft x 3ft oven. Need to keep the fire burning for four hours or so.

Old full carbone Sabatier au Carbone

Hurrah! Bravo! Without seasonal produce nothing is fresh and exciting. Explain that the produce is not of the quality you require out of season, and you won't compromise your reputation. There are wonderful pastries made with preserved, dried or candied fruits for when the sun don't shine, and they are lovely in themselves and their season...even the humble jam tart with the jam just begining to caramalise around the edges...without having to resort to out-of season produce

Following Florence Lin, the baked dough has 4 Tbs fat, the steamed one without fat. My baked Bao had thin crusts because I rolled the dough thin and used lots of filling. If I'd used thicker dough and less filling, which if making commercially I would as dough is a lot cheaper than filling, then the crust would be thicker, and more like a bread roll or a sandwich.

Thyme honey is not new. It even features in a Rx Stout/Nero Wolfe recipe "Corn cakes with wild thyme honey". Very good they are too. Stirring some thyme leaves into a good runny honey is also interesting

Very many thanks to all for the helpful replies. The stuff certainly has broad beans (and their skins) in it - definate texture Its pretty powerful stuff, so a little goes a long way, but definately a useful addition in th hot sauce pantheon.

I think steamed Bao have a different dough - less rich without eggs or butter. Traditionally the dough is thicker, both for structural integrity of the soft dough, and also to diistinguish from the steamed dumpling type. If the dough is very thin when steamed it doesn't seem like a bread dough, but just a thick ordinary wrapper.

Bel Phori house in Drumond St for the veggies, or even better Sabras in Willesden Green...

T baked off the buns I had retarded overnight in the fridge. Not a lot of difference, but more of the sourdough flavour in the dough, and note the fine bubbles in the crust that are characteristic of retarded doughs. I may have over-filled these a bit. OK What is the next challenge?

The references to the US FDA regulations in Nathan's excellent post above are good ammunition to help convince EHO inspectors. They give specific time/temperature processing tables. They say "Since refrigeration alone does not guarantee safety from pathogenic microorganisms, additional growth barriers must be provided. Growth barriers are provided by hurdles such as low pH, aw, or short shelf life, and constant monitoring of the temperature. Any one hurdle, or a combination of several, may be used with refrigeration to control pathogenic outgrowth." A restaurant or home use of water baths and sous-vide techniques, where the food is being prepared for immediate consumption is rather different from a food manufacturer preparing food for retail sale, or for long storage and use under uncontrolled conditions.

In the spirit of inquiry I baked half off, and have retarded the other half in the firdge to bake tomorrow. We will see if there is any difference in the crust. These baked about 30 mins at 400F, with a burst of steam at the beginning (half a cup of water flung onto the hot oven floor) to gelatanise and crisp the crust. Filling is quite chunky and while moist, not gloopy, but a good texture. I used some of the Chilli Pixian Fermented Bean Paste in the marinade for the char sui, with some of the left over marinade to moisten the filling, and the flavour (and a little of the chilli) come through deliciously. The bread is what one would expect from a rich dough. Crust crisp and thin. Maybe too much filling and not centred. I've no idea how authentic these are, but they taste good! Had them for supper with a bowl of chicken soup.

Those look good, Wendy! I use silicone baking parchment. I'm making baked bao, essentially the recipe I posted above. To a baker it looks like a very rich dough - all those eggs, butter and sugar, so I expect it to be slow moving. Thce Char Sui got a bit overcooked, but still OK. I like the texture contrast given by the chewy skin. The filling has onions, shitake mushrooms and young leeks. Slaked cornflour is in the mug just in shot. The ones on the bottom are the left over dough. Just now waiting for them to double - maybe another hour, then eggwash and bake. I'm wondering if I should retard them in the refrigerator overnight, and bake tomorrow which is what I would do for conventional bread. to give a finer crust.

Many many thanks Nathanm, That is one of the best and most informative posts I have seen in a long time. I have been looking for those references...

OK...I'll make mine tomorrow. Baked or steamed? At the moment I'm inclining to baked..Meantime the pork is marinating and the sourdough starter starting overnight: The pork is belly strips cos I like the fat and the skin, and they were on special...

I'm not a biochemist or food scientist or hygenist, but with that disclaimer a) Keep it clean. If the food is not contaminated there is less to go wrong, and less drastic methods are needed. If you put bad food in, you get bad food out. Many pathogens excrete toxins, and if the food is bad to begin with while you may kill the pathogen, you wont destroy the toxin. b) Acid environments are more toxic to pathogens than neutral or alkaline, so include some lemon juice, vinegar or wine if possible c) Cooking sous-vide is pastaurising the food, assuming the seal is good, and the food cooked long and hot enough (at least 60C/140F for 12 minutes) Heston Blumenthal in this article says "Last week I wrote about pathogenic or bacterial contamination of meat. The trouble is that, with intensive farming and mass food production, it is far too easy for food to become contaminated. But careful cooking can eliminate this problem. If you want to pasteurise food in order to kill bacteria, all you need do is bring it to an internal temperature of 60C, but that is not quite the end of the story. There are two critical considerations here. First, the whole piece of food - be it poultry, game, meat, fish, cheese or prepared dish - must be brought to that temperature and must be held at it for a minimum of 12 minutes. Interestingly, you can achieve the same pasteurisation even at a lower temperature - you just need to maintain the internal temperature for longer. For example, at 58C pasteurisation takes 45 minutes, so a small difference in temperature makes a huge difference to the cooking time. At Reading University, they have an amazing computer programme that can track your bacteria of choice - salmonella, campylobacter, listeria, E coli - and tell you how long you need to hold it at a particular temperature to make it safe. " Normal food advise is to take it though the "danger zone", that is temperatures above 7C and below 60C or so as quickly as possible, especially around normal body temperatures, and many food regulations specify not more than 2 hours in the danger zone before or after cooking. In the case of sous vide, this means that the food should be brought to the cooking temperature within 2 hours of preperation and leaving refrigeration. Once cooked above 60C for at least 12 minutes it is pastaurised with the bacterial counts much reduced although not completely sterile. Treat like fresh food, and consume within 2 hours of opening the bag, unless further heated above 60C. Very long cooking can also lead slow chemical changes including oxidation, although the amount of oxygen available in the sous-vide bag is limited, some will migrate through the plastic, Maillard reactions, leading to browning and caramel like tastes, and some fats and oils can degrade with time and temperature. None of these changes are directly biologically harmful with some desirable and deliberate, but others can make the food taste off, or change texture.

Good article. You might make the point that watre baths with sous vide are the preferred cooking method for long-time low temperature cooking - typically 45C for fish and 58C for meat. Hard to get this by any othre method, and in particular steam ovens tend to be too hot My favorite and local manufacturer is http://www.grantlaboratory.com/product_select.html

67 Yquem to some people I had let the house to, while I was away. This was many years ago.

Passing theough the local Chinese supermarket I impulse bought something labelled "Pixian Fermented Broad Bean". Is is a lovely woven bamboo container, but inside is a plastic bag of brown goo. It was about $4 Contents say Chili, Horsebean, Water, Flour, Salt Directions: USe for sauted and braised ish and is indespensable as complementary seasoning. Can anyone interpret please? What is a complementary seasoning? I guess its szechuen cuisine, and the stuff is used like miso paste. Is this correct? What else does one do with it? Are there any traditional dishes? How does it keep, once opened. Does it need to go in a jar in the fridge (I see its already past its sell by date). It was with new year stuff - is it seasonal or associated with any special occaison? Thanks...

Next Tuesday is Burns Night. Some hae meat and canna eat And some wad eat that want it But we hae meat and we can eat And sae the Lord be thankit I have arranged a small dinner: Cocky-leekie Soup Fillet of Scotch Salmon with Highland Cream The Haggis w Chappit Tatities and Bashed Neeps Roast Scottish Beef with Traditional Yorkshire Pudding Roast Potatoes Bouquetiere of Seasonal Vegetables Cranachan (raspberries, oatmeal,cream) Coffee Combe de Grinou Bergerac reception Balland Sancerre 2003 1973 Speyside malt Ch Kirwan 1990 Serriger Saarsteiner Riesling Auslese 1990 Ode to a Haggis Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o' the pudding-race! Aboon them a' yet tak your place, Painch, tripe, or thairm: Weel are ye wordy o'a grace As lang's my arm. The groaning trencher there ye fill, Your hurdies like a distant hill, Your pin was help to mend a mill In time o'need, While thro' your pores the dews distil Like amber bead. His knife see rustic Labour dight, An' cut you up wi' ready sleight, Trenching your gushing entrails bright, Like ony ditch; And then, O what a glorious sight, Warm-reekin', rich! Then, horn for horn, they stretch an' strive: Deil tak the hindmost! on they drive, Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve Are bent like drums; Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive, Bethankit! hums. Is there that owre his French ragout Or olio that wad staw a sow, Or fricassee wad make her spew Wi' perfect sconner, Looks down wi' sneering, scornfu' view On sic a dinner? Poor devil! see him owre his trash, As feckles as wither'd rash, His spindle shank, a guid whip-lash; His nieve a nit; Thro' blody flood or field to dash, O how unfit! But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed, The trembling earth resounds his tread. Clap in his walie nieve a blade, He'll mak it whissle; An' legs an' arms, an' hands will sned, Like taps o' trissle. Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care, And dish them out their bill o' fare, Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware That jaups in luggies; But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer Gie her a haggis! Moderator's note: the poems quoted herein are in the public domain

Smoked salmon, dill cream cheese Onion confit Rillette (esp potted beef) Blue cheese cream egg and onion mayo

They are not horseradish (Armoracia spp) - I grow it and the root is yellower and a different shape - more like a parsnip The leaf form is different, especially the young leaves, which are almost like fern. Could they be daikon or mooli? Radish (Raphanus satavius) family. Also called Chinese or Japanese radish. Use like celeriac - grate mix with remoulade sauce, or in asian dishes You can use the leaves like spinach, but they are a bit tough and slightly hairy, so better cooked.

Canned is a lot easier Alternatively use fresh butternut squash, like super pumpkin Pumpkin pie is better without the pumpkin Pumpkins themselves are only good for carving...

We are in the middle of the country, with septic tank drainage, so its definately no oil down the drains or it will end up in the pond eventually. No garbage disposal unit either. We have compost bins and a big shredder for most of the bio-degradable. The resulting compost, after about a year, is great soild conditioner. Neighbors have pigs and chickens... The occaisional bonfire for some of the rest Waste oil tends to get burnt. . However the local council runs its own good recycling, with profits to the community - green waste (cardboard and other bio-degradable including kichen scraps) is picked up free from every two weeks, with ordinary trash on the other week. Newspapers and bottles are also picked up seperately from the kerbside weekly. The council provides free wheely bins, and free composters to any that need.

The rate the collagen dissolves is strongly temperature dependant - the hotter the faster, but then the drier is the resulting meat. Hotter in an open pan also results in the evaporation of more liquid (and the lighter aromatics). However its all the same chemistry. Another factor is the thickness of the meat, which governs the time it takes for the centre to get up to temperature. Remember the collagen is the connecting tissue; you also have to consider the degredation of the muscle fibres, and the hotter they get the dryer and stringier the result. Pressure cookers get hotter than braising in an open pan. but to my taste make the meat dry. Tender, yes, but dry and stringy. Double wrapping pans in foil etc are just ways of holding down the temperature. You can braise at medium rare temperature, say 55C/140F. Some chefs cook meat sous-vide at this temperature in a water bath for days. If you have a resonably constant temperature setting try it - its fairly easy to do. Myself, I don't like the effect I think it results in a sort of meat paste with tough lumps in it. This is because while the muscle fibres don't go dry and stringy, only the thin inter-fibre collagen dissolves resulting in super-soft meat with little basic texture, and the larger bits of collagen such as the sinews, nerves, small blood vessels don't fully dissolve leaving little hard knots in the soft matrix of muscle fibres.

Smoked salmon and cream cheese. Scambled egg chives Apple +butter + brown sugar (very good) The Chez Panisse "Pasta, Pizza and Calzone" book has many excellent suggestions, including fresh truffle, Wild Mushrooms, Fennel and Mussels, Potato and Pesto, Duck Confit with onion etc Personally I like: Thin and crispy base, Tomato sauce, onion, green pepper, anchovy (optional and not too salt), lots of cheese, and a raw egg in the centre under the cheese before going in the oven White Pizza: olive oil and garlic, Mozz, no tomato