jedovaty

Thanks for the information! As I mentioned in both my above posts, perhaps not clearly enough, I am not interested in making a vinegar this way. I'm trying to create the mother without a starter culture, similar to the way people makes a starter sourdough culture, or a ginger bug, etc. If you search for "how to make vinegar", nearly all results provide similar instruction to simply purchase Bragg's or some other vinegar with active cultures and go from there. Again, this is not what I want to do. My inner mad-scientist wants to do things the hard way Sadly, I haven't found any instructions or details/info on this yet. Thanks again for trying to help out, though, it's appreciated!

Thanks, TT and DT. I got rid of it. Now to continue waiting, hoping the mother will spontaneously will itself into existence some day. Funny how I cannot find any information on how to do this anywhere...!

Hi! Question 1: Check out the odd growth in my attempted vinegar mother in the photos.. what is it, should I throw it out, scoop it off and continue? Question 2: Is it possible to actually make one's own vinegar mother? Backstory for question 1: Having recently read the Noma guide to fermentation, I got this great idea that I would try to make my own vinegar mother. My inner mad scientist loves to do things the hard way. 20 year ago my father and I made and bottled wine from garden grapes. It's been stored in the basement since. I opened a bottle and it tasted astringent and had a sharp aroma similar to isopropyl alcohol, but still had some reminiscence to wine. According to everything I've read, it would be best to drop the alcohol level from typical wine to about half (I forget the percentages at the moment, it's been 4 months). I had no clue what alcohol level this wine was when we bottled it, since it was done seat of the pants style. Assuming it had typical wine alcohol volume, I diluted it with distilled water at 1:1 ratio. I also stuck a stone fish bubbler in there. The bubbler disintegrated in about 6 weeks, this was about 2.5 months ago. When I removed the bubbler back then, I tasted the liquid, just for laughs, and it was "meaty", in sort of a salami kind of way? Fun. Now, it's been left untouched since and I even forgot about it. Today I happened to go into the room, and saw the growth. I'm suspecting I contaminated the experiment with either the bubbler or the when I tasted the liquid (I may have double dipped... oops.. but I don't remember, and I don't think I'd do something that stupid, but, who knows). If it were the bubbler, not sure why the other jar is fine. Comment on Question 2: I know I can purchase a vinegar with live cultures and use that to start a mother. Not interested in doing this the easy way, and instead, would like to try to get one to spontaneously create itself from this old wine. Still have about 20 bottles to experiment with 🤪 Anyone have tips how to do this? Searching internet doesn't give much more useful information beyond buying something already live. I keep this in my downstairs spare bedroom, temp ranges 68-75F. Humidity is usually about 70%, but drops if I run the AC (as i have in the last couple weeks). Thanks for reading and any suggestions

Yes, I use salted butter The DL method uses sugar [davidliebovitz.com] during the turns, while the various youtube videos from france simply add all the sugar when the laminating butter is added (example here [youtube], there are several more with similar techniques, some of them super messy, don't care about tears, exposed butter, etc). I wonder if my sugar is too coarse? It's not fine, but rather large and granular, similar to demerrera. I'll take pictures of the wetness next time I try to make this.

Thanks all for the replies. I went a cautionary way and added a couple generous dallops of honey while creaming/mixing butter with less sugar, and it was indeed soft, and was pliable after set in the fridge. Thanks for this, that makes sense! I got the creaming idea for laminated dough by following the chef steps' kouign amann. Had no idea you could just mix the honey and butter. I am really curious now to try ghee with honey, since there's no water in ghee... hmmm I've been successful in making decent croissants over the last couple weeks, so I think my technique is improving. The moment I add sugar to the butter and/or dough, it starts to feel wet, and whether sitting in the fridge or on my counter, I can feel the moisture increasing. Moving the dough off my counter top leaves wet syrup spots. My relative humidity averages about 60%, I am coastal, less than 1/2 mile from the beach. We've had rain the last few weeks so it's been higher, even with the heater/conditioner running. For the kouign amann, I've tried traditional recipe variations (roll in butter with sugar into left over bread dough, followed by 2-3 rapid turns), as well as David Liebotvitz and Chefsteps. The Chefsteps technique by creaming ended up smearing all over my counter at the last turn, and was more puff pastry than anything. Best results were from the traditional method, as it's pretty quick, although, I still got syrup during the short, ~40min proof before bake.

Hi: what happens if I cream butter with honey? Will the butter hold up, chilled? Or just be a soft mess? I would just try it, however, I only have a little precious expensive local honey on hand. Purpose is to play with laminated doughs... Sugar doesn't have the water it it, but it is hygroscopic (and when I add it to, say my kouign amann dough, the dough starts weeping syrup pretty quick). Honey already has the water in it. Hmm.. thanks for your input

Hi, thank you for the replies. I went ahead and gave it a shot this weekend. The meat was antelope, haha, sorry about missing an important piece, D'OH! It was already quite tender after smashing to about 1/8" , so I did not do a long sous vide, only an hour at 132F. Resulting texture of the meat was tender and moist, if a tiny bit chewy. As long as I didn't breathe, it tasted like a mild meat.. the "rusty" aroma of this meat was a bit off putting, maybe next time a marinade in something acidic would be helpful. I've got one pound of "ground select" left, I don't think it is ground yet, so I need to figure out what to do with it (not chili or spaghetti).

HI there: A friend of mine went hunting and gifted me some stew meat. I'm not a fan of stew, so I'm thinking of doing something else with this very lean protein. Would using a tenderizing hammer to pound out stew meat and fry it up like schnitzel be any good, or too chewy? Or maybe pound it out, then sous vide at lower temp for 24+ hours, then fry? I know other options could be to run it through a grinder, or make chili (which is just another way of making stew), etc. Thanks for reading :)

I ran one of the choice steaks through a 4 hour bath at 128F, then seared on my grill. It helped the texture a little, but that could've been placebo. Wasn't mushy or like sawdust, which has happened sometimes when done too long. I am curious to try a side-by-side test, will do it next month. Seeing that I've now had three full rib eyes with this same "tough" texture, I've drawn the conclusion the butcher's environment causes the meat to dry out, and this is supported by the loss in mass to ~40%+. Thanks all for the help

Hi there, to explain my comment: I recently purchased flour in bulk, and researched how to store it. I've had issues in the past, even with air-tight containers, in that bugs (I guess they are called weevils?) infesting the flour after 6 months or so. It seems this can happen with other grains, too, such as rice, though I've not had that problem. Research suggested freezing for various periods of time if not until ready for use, depending on size of the container. Other suggestions included adding bay leaves to the containers, vac sealing, etc. So perhaps the suggestion to freeze includes this in addition to possible spoilage. I wonder how they would respond if someone contacted them asking why they instruct it.

Got it, I could just use the fridge as a spare (I don't really want to get into charcuterie or cheeses now). Maybe I'll get a fridge/freezer, since I really would like more freezer space. And a chamber vac sealer, and few other toys Paul: I know what you are talking about, even with internet and questionable photo calibrations, you are correct, these don't have that ruby-red color (and neither did the other two) - not sure why. The fat pieces I trimmed were an off-white, almost yellow, especially the 60-day choice. Good eye on the knife! Sadly, I'm terrible at sharpening (have been trying to get it right almost 10 years now), and I cannot tell if it is double or single bevel. But I still do everything with it! I am going to try a longer water bath anyway, just to see what happens, I've never actually gone past 2 hours with a ribeye before.

It might be to kill the bugs/weevils.

Okay, thanks, then you all have addressed my question: dry aged steak should be tender. I did the longer timeline mostly out of curiosity, and I did like it quite a bit. The butcher I go to may offer bone-in ribeye, but I'm not sure. They have porterhouse steaks, but I guess when I asked for ribeye, they must debone it since in each case that's how I'd received it. I'm sure if I ask, they could order it if they don't have it. I researched the dry-aging process a couple years ago; however, backed down due to limited space. What I recall most purchase the cuts at the warehouses like costco -- but those all come boneless and cryovacced as rotuts stated. Next step therefore is to cave in and get a second fridge/freezer dedicated to aging my own, and just find a way to make room for it. I'm trying to think of other uses for the fridge, since it's just me and one of these ribeyes lasts a year. Just for laughs, attached pictures show the prime cut post trimming. I cut the large fat tip off and rendered it down thinking I could use it like duck fat - but no, it's way too strong for my tastes not sure what else to do with it. Did not take photos of the choice, however, at least half of it had fairly decent marbling.

I've been discovering buckwheat over last year or so, this stuff is amazing and quite versatile, you can do everything from porridge to noodles and waffles (like with many of the seeds/grains, but this has such a unique "green" flavor making it more fun).

I don't know the humidity or temp of the butcher's aging fridge, I will ask them, but I'm pretty sure they are using correct metrics - it's Beef Palace in HB. The meat cuts are without bone, and about 17-18 lbs at start, and roughly 10-11lbs when I pick them up. Interesting, I'll try a longer time in the water bath this weekend. I haven't heard the term "deckle" before, and looked it up though still not clear what section that is when looking at these steaks. Mine have both the cap and eye. Some of the pieces have gristle between the two (along the fat eye - my terminology isn't exact, hope you understand). The gristly part is, of course, very chewy, but the rest of the meat tends to be on the tougher side. Appreciate the responses, thank you all.

Hi there: I am looking for opinions: should long-term dry aged rib eye have a tender/melting texture, or should it be a bit chewy/tough? Over the last couple years, I have asked my local beef butcher to dry-age a full rib eye for me - first was 45 days, next was ~52, and final was ~60. I have the butcher do it because I simply don't have room for a second fridge. The first two were prime grade (45 and ~52), the third (~60) was choice grade. These are corn-finished cows. Soon as I bring the trimmed pieces home (roughly 11 pounds each), I slice them up into roughly 1.5 inch thickness, vac seal, then freeze. I will generally sous-vide at 128-130F for a couple hours, then sear on high heat (sometimes with butter, sometimes without). Super tasty, funky-licious, but always a bit tough, and the choice comes out rather dry. I've also tried a few reverse sear with my grill. Everything I've read in the past, suggests they should be tender, probably can almost be cut with a spoon. Please don't take the above as a complaint, I'm just wondering whether my results are normal

Oh, this is a good idea, thank you. I'll pour off the peanut oil if I'm using purchased peanut butter, and replace with cacao butter I have on hand. I wasn't looking forward to using more powdered sugar, it's already so sweet and has that weird texture from the starch.

Thanks, Kerry. I just eyeballed it until I got a peanut butter that was workable and met my tastes. I'd say about 1/2 cup PB, 1/3-1/4c powdered sugar, a 1/2t vanilla paste, pinch of salt. The PB was pretty oily, and hard to work with, probably should have used more powdered sugar or added some starch.

Hi: I'm making some homemade peanut butter cups, but shaping them like bon bons instead. I don't have bon bon molds, so instead I'm dipping the peanut butter centers into tempered chocolate. As the chocolate coating sets, it contracts and my soft peanut butter center squirts out a little. Is there a way to prevent this, or do I need to do a second dipping? I've tried with both frozen and room temp centers (although peanut butter with a little vanilla, salt, and powdered sugar doesn't seem to freeze at all).

Hi there: Short version: I don't get all the hubbub with dashi. It's nice, and makes my miso soup taste great. Rant: I don't see many recipes on the internet that highlight "ichiban dashi" (first one), other than simmering some veggies. Everything I read about dashi suggests the first is magical and amazing, and not to be used in regular cooking like rice, miso, etc. I decided to ignore it and use it in miso soup. Haters gonna hate. Long version: While browsing a nearby grocery store, I came across "dried matsutake" mushrooms. Never heard of them. $128/lb price tag (this is a small handful, cost $8). Had to try it. They are sitting here in front of me. Reading up on recipes, the most common I find for this mushroom is a simple rice dish. They make dashi, then use that with the soy/sake/mirin to make rice. I'll be trying that. What pushed me over the edge to post this, however, is that I see this alot: dashi, then mix with that trio in a lot of recipes.. I don't get it? I find soy, mirin/sake to be so overpowering, there's no way the dashi will even come through. What's it's purpose here? Simply tradition? Hopefully all this makes sense Thanks for your time! PS: as many of you know, there are multiple variations of dashi, and I've played with many of them, using both quality and crappy ingredients, sous vide, chanting in reverse gregorian while grating petrified fish blocks on wood soaked in logs, even some vegan variations. My intent here is not how to make dashi, but rather, find a use for it other than miso soup.

Hi: I have heard of a few diet restrictions in certain indian regions, including no foods like onions/garlic since they come from inside the ground. I looked up the Iskon standards. Bummer that it excludes mushrooms, because mushroom soup would be a great idea. Can you have potatos? I don't see them included or excluded. I was also going to suggest miso soup without the bonito (fish flakes), but it appears soy beans are prohibited. It also appears lentils are prohibited? Oh boy, that's tough because lentil soup can be delicious. If potatoes can be included, consider potato soup. Also, how about various squash soups, such as zucchini? My central-euro culture has a wonderful squash/zuccini soup that's made with a little fresh dill. These are the soft squashes, similar to bitter melon, but, not so bitter. You can explore other squash varieties, too, they may be called "gourd" in some areas (think pumpkin, butternut squash, etc). What about carrots, or celery? Other soups to consider: green bean, split pea soup, watercress, cabbage, cauliflower. You can do these like plain soup, like a stew, or even "cream of..". You might also consider multiple vegetable in one soup; for example, green bean with caulflower, or tomato with watercress. Or put them all together and make a chili As far as raw-tasting, are you allowed to broil the veggies first? Maybe do that with the asparagus, broil it to pre-cook, instead of sauteeing. Then put that into water and continue your regular cooking, blending to make it a cream of roasted asparagus soup :)!

Hi: how about mimicking left overs? First cook/grill it near blue/rare level, cool it down in the freezer/fridge, then slice thin and fry on some butter to get it well done? The chill/reheat process then is something akin to stew meat (you know how it gets super tough the next day, and you have to reheat it hotter than it was before you first cooked it to make it tender again), so you'll still end up with tender meat. Additionally, if it's a sufficiently fatty steak, this will give it some tasty maillards. Perhaps a variation here is to slice it up, maybe the broadside, and fry that up to maximize the maillards... Or ask the butcher to run through a tenderizer...?

Oh, I totally forgot about this. FeChef, thanks, I didn't mention in my original post, but I've done the double fry method, and results are same, things do get soggy (I tried it a few times actually, things like french fries, chicken karaage, and schnitzel). After the recent cauliflower experiments, it's likely the moisture causing my problems, with batter/technique second. That said, I'm going to give double fry a second try next time, and, I'll throw potato flour into the mix of experiments.

Hi: just reporting back a modicum of success. First attempt was cauliflower. Baked under just tender, then dipped into a fairly runny batter mix of cornstarch, rice flower, baking powder, vodka, and bubbly water - starch, flour, and liquids all same volume. This went immediately into oil near 400F. Although a lot of the batter came off in the oil, the texture was exactly what I was looking for, with a very very light battering, crispy. It retained the crisp for at least five minutes, while I finished the rest of the batch, then into oven for about 20 minutes. It was still good out of the oven, but didn't have quite the same crackle. No big, best ever! Clearly removing the moisture was the key here. We tried raw sweet onion rings in the same batter, this was the bomb. Because of the runny batter, it left a lot of "open space" on the onion so it creating this neat structure of exposed onion, batter interlinked with some batter and onion, and then batter. Doing this one again for sure, the open structure allowed any steam to escape. Finally, tried a small piece of fish. Immediate results were great, but after about 3-4 minutes, the crispy batter became soft. Into the oven for 20 minutes, and meh, didn't help much. Took it back to the oven after overnight fridge, and the crispy returns. Going to try with chicken thighs and tenders next time - I plan on sous-vide + karaage style marinade, then chill, remove the excess marinade, let "dry" overnight in fridge, then try frying in same batter as above. Or, perhaps I'll use vodka instead of sake+mirin in the marinade, then just mix that with katakuriko powder. Hmmm. Thanks again for the help everyone.

Thank you TC, I have a few large liquor stores around or simply order online, so I'll put that Kentucky distiller on the list. If I can fry up something that stays crispy or crunchy for more than a couple minutes, maybe I'll try a fry off between a high priced one and a cheap one another day. So much to do, so little time. I'm beginning to wonder, maybe with something like veggies: would roasting first be helpful, reduce a bit of moisture? Get them sort of al-dente, especially the tougher ones, before frying? Low and slow, vs fast and hot? Or perhaps a few days in the freezer, sort of a half-arsed freeze dry might be interesting tactic <- this might be better alternate for proteins. Freeze some sous vided chicken or pork?