Deryn

I have never tried to cook a tenderloin as large as yours but, for a tenderloin/eye fillet about half the size, this is how I would cook it: Tie it up so it is an even thickness for the whole length (in other words make sure the tip is tucked under and secured), rub with salt and pepper, wrap it up tightly to set the shape, refrigerate for a few hours, remove the wrappings and bring to room temperature, and then sear well on all sides (including the ends). If you are crusting it with mustard and herbs or something similar, do that just before you put it in the oven. I would preheat the oven to 475-500 degrees Fahrenheit and when I put the meat in (with the rack positioned at the center height), I would drop the setting to 400F. Cook about 15-18 minutes TOTAL (not per pound) till it registers 120 degrees internal temperature for rare (I would take it to medium rare personally - to approximately 125 degrees) and then let rest for a minimum of 15 minutes tented before serving. You may have to adjust the timing for a larger cut of meat, especially if it is thicker rather than just longer than a smaller one might be but I would expect it to be more done than rare if you cook it for 15 minutes per pound which is what you say you have been told it needs. If you don't have a thermometer (they are cheap and I recommend you get one before you cook this because you have an expensive cut of meat and don't want to ruin it, I would guess!), then I suppose you could gauge the doneness by pressing the meat as you would a steak or cut into it a bit to see if it meets your desired results.

I can't help you with the perfect product most likely but I have a question - are you trying to save the tiny bits of chocolate for re-use? If not, why not just use a hot wet cloth to clean off the granite once you are done for the day?

It seems to me that Blue Apron has a target audience already - because apparently you are making some sales. And further it seems that the kind of information you are seeking might best be sourced from your actual customers - at least initially. I would hazard a guess that most people here are not your customers, nor very likely to be in future - because many of us already know how to cook, love to experiment with cooking, collect cookbooks and cooking paraphernalia, are good at improvising in the kitchen and read about/do our best to learn about cuisines around the world on an ongoing basis. Many of us are fearless when it comes to food and kitchens, and our larders are packed with ingredients from cuisines around the world. Most of us here probably don't want to be coddled as we prep a meal ... we want to explore on our own. If we don't know how to make something or can't quite imagine how something might taste, we often come here as a start to an extensive research project that will show us what is possible for us to achieve in our own homes or what we may like or not like. Or we just try it and sometimes report our successes or failures for others to read about and learn from. We may mail order for individual ingredients that are difficult to source locally if need be but (at least in my house) the more the better - I don't want to not have leftovers to use in a different way as my whims dictate. For me, sometimes the chase for exotic ingredients is as much fun as the final use of same. If you send me a teaspoon of dried oregano, I will feel cheated, not thrilled that I have nothing to store or throw out. I want those extra celery tops to throw in tomorrow's soup with the left over chicken bones. I want some extra saffron, a pile of thai peppers, much more of that forbidden rice than you sent that was exactly measured at 1/2 cup per person so tomorrow I can invent my own dinner from the leftovers. Who do you see as your customer base? Young, urban professionals with little time to cook or shop and/or who are bored with MickeyDs or even the local Asian restaurant offerings? College students (well, the rich ones anyway), bachelors and bachelorettes wanting to host a 'home made' dinner party in their first tiny, ill equipped apartments to impress their friends or family? I know that I have seen ads showing wives and husbands happily making these pre-measured meals in their designer kitchens together (family bonding time!) while the children play quietly in the family room beside them - but are those double income, young parents really most of your customers or do they usually just grab a pizza on the way home from a stressful work day? Have you broken into the market of elderly widowers who have just lost their wives and are just now trying to learn to cook for themselves? I think it more realistic that the first example or two that I listed are (and will always be) your real market - and they are the ones you should be talking to. I am just not sure that we are the demographic you should be talking to for answers to your questions, though I know, if you have specific things you want to know about once you have narrowed your topics, there is a lot of material here that can be used to flesh out whatever it is when you know what it is you want to know from us. I suggest you monitor carefully what kinds of dinners your own customers are actually buying from you and then ask them what THEY would like to cook but find difficult to try for whatever their reasons are. And find out those reasons - a tagine is not necessary to cook Moroccan dishes but they may not know that or they may want to buy a tagine for authenticity or table decoration purposes. What cuisines do they see as exotic? Have they always wanted to try a nut and bug based dish they have never heard about from darkest Africa? Or do they just want a decent version of Pad Thai - a name they are already familiar with but which has as many recipes as there are families in Thailand. Or do they just want to try a particular regional (US) dish they have never tried but which is full of familiar ingredients - a knock off perhaps of one done in a famous restaurant or area - but can't figure out how to do it in a small NYC apartment or don't want to spend a fortune and then find out they hate it? I think you think you know what it is you are trying to do/what you are seeking here - but I am not sure it is what you need. Perhaps you should rethink this a bit and then come back again with more specific questions.

I suppose one could see cleanup after cooking as part of the cooking process (and had I been offered a list of 'process' elements that included clean up, I probably would have picked that) but honestly it never occurred to me (even though it is necessary) because I consider that as a 'cleaning' task, not a 'cooking' task I guess. I hate cleaning. I love cooking. Even shopping for ingredients is, to my mind, a bit out of the scope of the actual cooking process, but, due to my location and the difficulty in obtaining ingredients quickly, I did mentally include that task as part of the cooking process and it is the most time consuming as a result. Since the question was deliberately vague, the answers may not be reliable.

Oh my gosh, Huiray ... please don't take what I said the wrong way (re-read my last sentence, please!). While what I wrote about my location and winter, etc. is true, it was all tongue in cheek to stop my drooling - but I guess it didn't come through on the flat page even though I added emoticons. My apologies if you misunderstood what was really a compliment and thanks to you, not a criticism of you or your post or your grocery haul. Thanks for the Crepes - thank you .. you explained it all better than I could. I am VERY happy for you that you can get such wonderful produce and meats, etc. where you are. I love looking at the pictures of them. Thank you for posting them. The other day I was fortunate enough to find some (not totally decrepit) lemongrass stalks at that store 70 miles from here ... that is a BIG treat, believe me. And it was also a bumper day because for the first time in at least a month, I also acquired a small bunch of flat leaf parsley (which is not easy to find around here because it seems people in this neck of the woods are stuck in the 70s and love their curly parsley so that is often the only thing one can find - and that often only in small plastic herb packs for $2.99). I also picked up a pack of baby bok choy and yu choy so my cart was aglow with green too. I am not complaining even though there are many days I miss living in places like Vancouver or even the DFW area where these basics are so commonplace you can find them in a corner store down the street. Here one enjoys the small pleasures and tries to feel grateful by recalling the day when the plane brought a crate of oranges into Frobisher Bay (now Iqaluit) years ago and the town celebrated at the sight of the first fresh thing to be seen on the shelves for weeks (even at a price that was 20 times what someone in Montreal, much less Miami, might pay for such a small gem). One learns to appreciate the 'small things' here, and those days when one has small but lovely surprises in the produce department. But, still ... I would trade you 3 fresh North Atlantic lobsters for a small bag of kaffir lime leaves.

I am sure we could be bought off with 'care packages'.

Anthemoney - I too love to know as much as I can about the foods people enjoy in all parts of the world, including regional differences even in countries whose food is familiar to me - and the reasons why those foods are prevalent and passed down over the years. I am glad my first reply didn't put you off completely (it wasn't meant to). I didn't mean to suggest that you go away or that your efforts here would be fruitless but merely that it would seem a monumental task to ask us to generally provide that kind of background in a nutshell in a single thread. Perhaps a bit more 'direction' from you would help. Maybe if you asked more specific questions about a particular culture or style of cooking or dish, some will be able to give you some background or point you to past posts that they think might be useful to you. I might recommend, though I am not sure it would be completely relevant to any particular dish/kit you want to provide background for, Luizhou's very fascinating Dong Art thread for instance (not to mention many others he has written which have given us all a lot of insight into Asian cooking, etc.).

Huiray - I think it should be illegal for you to post (especially with pictures, and especially in mid-winter) your latest glorious grocery finds in a forum where Canadians who live 70 miles from even a lousy Walmart grocery store can see them. There is no delivery service here either - not that I would actually like what they might send if there were. It is 'cabin fever' season up here ... so be kind, please. No telling what one in the grip of same might be driven to do to taste such tempting treats. Poor JoNorvelleWalker too - who only has a measured mile to go to the store seems to have returned battered and bruised ... and needed a tankful of rum to begin the recuperation process, presumably as a result of your recent posts. (But, lest you think I am not grateful, thank you very much for the drool-worthy pictures and the images of wonderful repasts they conjured up in my winter-addled brain). -

You have a lot of reading to do, Anthemoney. EGullet is full of what you seem to want to know because people from around the world have been talking about their ethnic food loves and travels and recipes for years here! I don't want to sound rude but there is a load of material here on this site already - waiting for you to find it. I may be wrong (someone will correct me if that is the case) but I am not sure most of us want to regurgitate a lot of it in this thread for what sounds like a commercial concern - that would be making us do the work for you, wouldn't it? That said, welcome aboard and I wish you well.

Welcome to eGullet, Tere! You definitely belong here and I am looking forward to living vicariously through your posts about your life and your culinary adventures. I am already jealous of your Aga as well as the antique bread oven and your proximity to Wales. Such beautiful country. My father was born and raised in North Wales so that area is close to my heart.

I was at the grocery store today and a young lady (I estimate she was first year college age) was down one of the aisles (with mostly 'asian' sauces, etc.) trying to figure out 'ingredients' to buy so she could 'learn to cook'. She had absolutely NO idea what she was looking for - she just simply had decided it was time to learn to make something. All she seemed to know is that she didn't like anything spicy, but I gathered she liked Chinese food (though I doubt she has ever had any that in any way resembled an 'authentic' version of same). I noticed her looking at the prepared 'sauces' but she didn't even bother to read the labels - she just wanted to know what she should buy with some vague idea that she was going to 'cook' something. It was obvious that she was overwhelmed. I am not sure she had ever been in a grocery store before (at least since she was small enough to fit in the cart). Another shopper stopped by and began trying to tell the young lady about the sauces but I could see it was not helping much. The potential novice cook looked as though she was about ready to just forget the whole thing, and order take out. It really bothered me that she was so confused that she might never get beyond thinking about learning to cook. I told her, in passing, that she should just take a chance - buy something and try it out ... and TASTE, TASTE, TASTE as she went along. I wish I could have offered to spend a few hours with her and teach her how to put together a simple Chinese or other Asian type dish - but I would not have begun with the prepared sauce aisle - I would have started in the produce section. This anecdote is just to illustrate what is severely missing in the lives of many young people these days - basic 'home economics' lessons. Many didn't get those at home and the schools have opted out on that score as well it seems. So, yes, there is a need for something to help them out in that area I would say - since shopping appeared to be this youngster's (first) dilemma/area of most difficulty when it came to actually cooking 'something'. She frankly didn't have a clue, even where to start (other than she got herself to the store - which is laudable). I could have begun with my own shopping cart since I had just picked up some fresh lemongrass, limes, bok choy, king and shitaki mushrooms, yu choy, green onions, shallots, and several other Asian ingredients. The fact that many of the cashiers at the grocery stores don't even have any idea either about many of the produce items they shove through their automated checkout stands every day has long been something that I have noticed. I have often commented that cashiers should be given a short course in the produce section - and have to learn the names, best uses and tastes of every item sold there.

I have a question (or two) for you, SarahLee. Do you cook or bake at all? If so, for how long and how good at it would you say you are? You are vague about what kind of 'product' (virtual app? a physical machine? a better mousetrap? a microwave dinner?) you intend to 'design' - so which way are you going with this? I am sorry but I looked at your survey and I can't even answer the questions (or most of them). I agree with gfweb - I can't see how the few and very vague questions asked would help with the task you seemed to have outlined. And for someone like me, I don't think the questions are well worded to solicit the type of information you may need to design a product that I would guess is geared towards very young people primarily. I will tell you that I am 66 years old, female, and raised 3 children and more than 1 husband - all of whom I cooked for daily for many, many years. After all these years in the kitchen, I own way too many kitchen 'gadgets', many of them exorbitantly expensive, and absolutely need none of them but some are fun and timesaving from time to time. I read cookbooks for fun but rarely use recipes. I measure only when absolutely critical (more likely in baking - can't recall the last time I measured much of anything while cooking otherwise). Many years of experience mean that I can gauge quantities pretty well and I use a lot of kitchen science by intuition now. Of course, if I were to haul out my modernist cuisine ingredients (haven't for a while now), I would be using very precise measurements for those minute quantities. I eat at fast food restaurants perhaps once every few years and then only if travelling and there are no other options. I was raised in the day they didn't exist - ALL meals were at home.. The way to get kids to stop eating at fast food restaurants is to close them all and force people to eat at home again but what is the chance that is going to happen these days? I know there are younger people here on the board but many of us are 'old hands' in the kitchen. We regularly discuss (as I am sure you know since I am certain that you spent a lot of time reading to determine that this was a good place to post your survey request ... right?) new gadgets and techniques here. Have you tried the Instant Pot? Do you have a Searzall, a Thermomix, or a combi oven or do you have a freeze dryer? Have you checked out many of the newest gadgets that people are promoting on crowdsourcing sites - we do! We discuss mis en place and basic cooking techniques as well as complicated techniques and avant-garde cuisines (from all over the world). People talk about gadgets with apps that control them - and those who like those chime in and others say how little those would work in their world. We even talk about ready to eat foods and potato chip flavours, and the price of cauliflower, not to mention fast food restaurants (which is not a forum I am a major participant in but it is interesting at times). You can learn a lot here but you would have to stay a while and read ... and participate. And then spread the word that we are here and your target audience can come and ask questions about how to cook ... and perhaps they will get excited enough to try it. We would be happy to help them and answer their questions about cooking and all things culinary. That may be just the ticket to get them to stay home and cook!

A few years back, I had a love affair with some brand of toasted steel cut oats that I bought in large bags at Costco. They cooked up in minutes in the microwave and had a lovely toasted flavour and a great steel oat texture. Then Costco stopped carrying them. I really wish I could find those again but I can't even remember the brand name now. At any rate, I tend to go on 'binges' when it comes to some foods and oatmeal is one of them. I don't eat it for a year and then something gets me going again and I find myself eating a lot of it for a while before I taper off again. But, as I mentioned, I don't like anything (even milk) on oatmeal other than salt, so salt is the key for me - and right now, I can't have much salt. However, with these posts lately you have all got me thinking of oatmeal and developing a hankering for it. Oh dear.

I like the Honest Earth 'brand' (made by Idahoan I think, only available in a large box containing a number of smaller bags, at Costco) because their product doesn't have additives. One box lasts me many years so they are a good buy for me. A Washington Post taste test article (from a couple of years ago) also says their panel found my choice to be the highest rated (not that that influences me to any great degree). http://www.dailylocal.com/article/DL/20131127/LIFE/131129632

I agree with what Darienne said unfortunately. That information was recently published across Canada because some of the Dole and related products that 'may be' contaminated were also sold up here. You may to hold your breath a bit longer but since I am sure that not ALL the product was contaminated, you (one hopes) will be fine. However, to answer your second question - about whether one returns or just discards a food product that is recalled, I think that depends on the recall information. What the news indicated in Canada was that the salads/greens in question this time should just be thrown away. My opinion is that when distributors, etc. tell you to just throw away something it is NOT a 'recall' - because you get absolutely no benefit (except possibly not getting sick from a product they should have ensured was safe in the first place!) ... no money back, no replacement .. and they get away with shoddy handling/testing at relatively low cost to them. But, hey, that is just my humble opinion.

Another suggestion that might be useful for injecting flavour into (some) dishes to help in making lo/no salt dishes more palatable ... 'sundried' tomatoes (or the equivalent home oven 'dried' without salt or with very little salt - cooked down till all that lovely rich acidic flavour comes through in every bite). Tonight I made what turned out to be a soup-y 'multi-cultural' concoction with no salt at all. Believe me, you would not want the recipe - it was just everything healthy I could find around the house including garlic, ginger, red lentils and sprouted organic quinoa, spinach, mushrooms, a smattering of onions and peppers, and various east Indian spices cooked in the IP using plain water. Broth would have made this a decent soup I think but what I had involved too much salt so water it was. I wish I could say it was 'successful' (initially) ... it wasn't - more like a very bland gruel (not helped by using the soup function so it was probably a bit overcooked, and adding what seems to be way too much of the H20 stuff). Not my finest culinary hour but I didn't have guests so it was no big deal except that I was hungry and was determined not to waste it all if I could help it. So I tried doctoring it with lemon juice, and vinegar, more spices, loads of pepper and various Japanese pepper blends ... and nothing hit the spot till I added some sundried tomatoes as a last resort. Definitely still not the best soup I have ever eaten but at that point it was edible at least.

Thanks, Pan. I would be more likely to try your curried oatmeal suggestion than mixing it with yogourt I think. I am Welsh by heritage but I think I must have inherited a Scottish oatmeal gene somewhere along the line. We ate oatmeal almost every day in winter (which lasts a long time where I come from) when I was growing up and I was the only one in my family who ate it plain with just a bit of salt (either during the cooking process or sprinkled on top). Everyone else used sugar and milk, etc. I do like oatmeal cookies which are sweet but just aren't the same thing as oatmeal from a bowl in my warped mind.

I used a thermometer when I tested mine, Palo. The ding and the thermometer reading at 350 most likely happened within a few seconds of each other - since it took me that long to open the oven and check the thermometer. The heat up time and accuracy of this particular oven seem to be pretty good. Thanks for helping me remember to check the former. This oven has only 2 'features' I don't like - you have to remember to push the start button after you set it (my Jenn-air down south doesn't require that step so I forget all the time) and I find it is not really big enough to fit in a turkey or other large cut of meat that requires my roasting pan and anything else in any size container at the same time so I have often wished for a double oven for the first time in my life despite it having 3 racks (one of which is useless if I want to fit in any kind of pan - other than maybe cookie sheets I guess - while all are inserted, so it resides on the floor permanently!) The cavity is definitely smaller than the one on my Jenn-air. A bit off topic but it makes me wonder if ovens weren't downsized a bit on purpose to get us to buy two at a time. I have never needed a second oven just to be able to cook at different temperatures ... guess I learned the art of culinary timing/organization many years ago when no one had more than one oven.

I am not sure how the apple peeler/slicer idea would work with things like zucchini but they do certainly work with harder veg and fruit such as those you mentioned, Bojana. They create a spiral however and that may be hard to 'unwind' without breakage. Here is a link to one like the one AlaMoi showed pictures of, for sale on Amazon. Apple peeler

I have several pairs similar to the ones you are suggesting are good, rotuts. Most were bought originally to save my elderly father from slipping when he went out - and they all work very well (though some are harder to get on and off easily). My problem is that I always forget to put them on. Jaymes, if you ever visit the DFW area during an ice storm, you would probably appreciate a pair of those too. Actually, when I think about it, I probably used mine more when I lived in TX than I ever have up north.

Thanks for the pictures, chefmd. The day looks delightful there. Here I am watching the tail end of Jonas wag at us (we are getting maybe a half inch of the fluttery white stuff to cap our current foot or two) as he passes south of this peninsula on his journey east so the sky is still a bit grey but at least the winds are light for a change. I am amazed at how much meat is back on the shelves there so quickly. But, then I guess there are probably filled warehouses in the DC area so the truck treks are not as long as they are out here. In this Nova Scotia food wilderness, where food must be trucked in from a minimum of 70 miles away and deliveries are scheduled just once a week to our small grocery store, we are out of various items (fresh produce, meats, breads, milk/eggs/cheese) on a regular basis even if there is no snow storm on any given delivery day. Add in a storm and you will just wait till next week unless you can either make it yourself (from ingredients already on hand) or you already have foods stored in various ways (dehydrated, canned, frozen, freeze-dried) you can use instead of the 'fresh' stuff you might ordinarily run to the store for. My 'larder' is always stocked full to overflowing. Interestingly, the 'natives' here still buy up almost everything left if a storm of any kind is forecast in the next day or two. Always amazes me.

Oatmeal without salt is a problem for me since I don't put anything on oatmeal except salt. I have never liked it with anything sweet and I don't use milk. Right now I have to reduce salt too though so oatmeal is probably out as well since, without any salt at all, I find it very difficult to eat. I will just have to try my own flakey salt-on-top solution I guess or forego it entirely for now. Thanks for all the links everyone.

Kenmore Elite single wall oven - inherited when I bought the house but suspect it is about 5 years old as well. Just tried heating it up to 350 since honestly I didn't really know how long it takes as I am usually busy doing other stuff and either just set it and put stuff in or walk away and when I notice it is up to speed, put in whatever was supposed to go into a preheated oven. It took almost exactly 10 minutes - give or take a few seconds. I wonder if perhaps your broil element isn't working properly? My oven shows that the broil element comes on periodically to help the heating process, as well as indicating when just the bottom element is being used.

I am filling up several boxes with snow to send to Shelby, accompanied by a bottle of maple syrup. chefmd - I will be interested to hear if grocery stores that were sold out on Friday before the storm have managed to resupply their shelves by this morning ... were trucks able to get there?

This post says what I intuitively thought might work for broccoli in the IP: http://icantbelieveimadethat.blogspot.ca/2016/01/how-to-steam-fresh-broccoli-in-instant.html ... and that is 0 minutes steam, quick release. Hope you added some stock and perhaps a touch of cream and/or cheese and at least have a nice pot of broccoli soup now, Anna. oops .. I think I replied to a very old post by mistake. My bad. I thought I was on the last page.