inventolux

Are you sure about this temperature, inventolux? I'd be wary of chicken cooked only to 135F, and especially wary if it was held there for a long time. It's a wonderful environment for growing bacteria. You must consider what is extracted when any water containing product(chicken is around 80% water) is heated above 120f. Steam is produced and that is the unforeseen element in the bag that does most of the cooking. The beauty of the bag technique is if you werent cooking inside a sealed environment, the steam would evaporate and you would lose flavor. Anyone who says steam doesnt have flavor, doesnt know what they are talking about. Thats what we smell wonderful things when we cook delicious meals at home. Steam DOES have flavor. And steam is amost always hotter than boiling water depending on its density. Even if the water temperature is only 135f. There are many reactions happening inside the pouch, steam is only one of many. If you have ever recieved a steam burn, you know the hard way that steam can be much hotter than water. An extreme example would be the steam tip on an espresso/cappucino maker. The water to create the steam frother isnt actually boiling, its under pressure in a sealed environment. The pouch technique is a much less extreme situation but still follows the same basic principles. The chicken example is a good one. Try this recipe, we used it at CT's and nobody ever got sick. Take 1 chicken breast and season it with S&P Place onto plastic wrap Pour 6 tb buttermilk onto chix Add 1 clove of crushed garlic, 1/2 diced shallot, 2 slices of lemon peel, and 2 sprigs of thyme wrap up 4 to 6 times and tie with kitchen string like a roast Poach at 135f for 25 to 30 minutes Let rest for 5 minutes. Perfectly cooked chicken

Would a few suggestions be appropriate? In any good vintage, I think the following wines would meet your stated criteria: Hirtzberger, Honivogl Knoll, Vinothekenfullung Alzinger, Liebenberg F.X. Pichler, "M" Brundlmayer, Lamm and Alte Reben Nigl, Alte Reben and assoted producers making out of the Achleiten Vineyard. There are many others, but these would be my choices for aging in virtually any vintage. Best, Jim Thanks jim, I have had the pichler and it was outstanding. Great post.

12 Months??????? That blows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Question. Is this the same co. that will release it in the UK? Thanks for the info Yes tan, they will be responsible for all releases in the english language.

If you use the technique above, the accountability to human error is reduced greatly. Because the temperature of "just below simmering water" is around 135f, the temperature inside the bag where little or no water is present will be well below that. Even if you accidently boil the water, the oil inside the pouches will remain well below the temperature of oil in a pot using the oven method at the ovens lowest setting of 200F. The other variable in the oven method is how much flavor are you losing with an unsealed container? When the pouch method is used, you lose no flavor at all. If you cool the legs in the pouch, the cooling and contracting (things contract and absorb when they cool) process causes the confit oil to shoot back into the legs. Any flavor from herbs that are added to the bags during the cooking process are kept where they belong, inside the bag and inside the legs. Bottom line: Try both methods for yourself, use it for braising meats, confit leeks, buttermilk poached pheasant breast or whatever, skys the limit. You will find "pouch cooking" can replace so many other now obselete techniques. If you need another reason to try using it consider this: what clean-up is left after poaching a pouch?

I had lunch with Terry earlier this week and I told him about eGullet. Perhaps he'll peek in. Who knew you were supposed to age them? I had one that was 17 years old while I was visiting chateaunuf du pape earlier this year. It was amazing, I have been looking for some with 10 years on them and have been out of luck. The gruner scene is really one of fascination for me. I see it as becoming as popular as white burgundy in the future. For the price of new gruvelts, you can achieve some wonderful complex flavor profiles with age.

Take the seasoned/rendered legs with about 6 tablespoons of duck fat and place each one indiviually on a large piece of plastic wrap. Wrap it up in about 4 separate layers of plastic wrap. Tie each package with kitchen string. Poach all of the packeages in water that is just below simmering for about 3 hours or until fork tender. Confit duck leg using little duck fat. It will even be a lot more flavorful than the usual technique. Its a pseudo - sous vide method and it works quite well if you dont have one of these.

I have been unsuccessful in searching for some gruners with some good ageability. I would like them to be in the 5 to 10 year maturation range. Does anyone have any links or info that could possibly help me out? Thanks a bunch.

Its evolution. Its inevitable. Its the best thing we can possibly do for ourselves as gastronomers. The alternative is far more costly........not evolving........that as we can guess from our history on planet earth is just not an option. I foresee the dissipation of most classical techniques by the time our kids are old and gray. There is no good reason why we all should continue dining and living according to the rules of the past. Im not saying what Ducasee is doing is wrong, im just saying if you want to season your bechamel tomorrow with some miso instead of fleur de sel, why wouldnt you give it a try? What/who will it hurt? Someones dead ancestors that lived 100 years ago that preferred to use rigid guidelines that constrict creativity? If that is the case then perhaps we should all go back to using the pony express for mail delivery. At one point that was very important to our culture. Everything has to change at some point.

My wife works for Wiley Publishing. Wiley will be the publishing firm that will produce El Bulli's cookbook/cd rom combo for the american market. She expects it to be ready in english in approximately 12 to 14 months and will cost about $225.00. Save up your money because that cost is expected to rise. Until then, you will have to enjoy it in spanish. Sorry.

Trotter wont do it.

Hello Jancis, First of all, I would like to say I really enjoy all of your books especially your Oxford Companion to North America. My question is related to the major influx of pacific rim techniques. Do you feel winemakers here in the states may begin more production of high acid friendly wines mimicking the gruners of austria or the dry rieslings of germany? Its my belief that since nearly 23% of the worlds population exists in Asia, we may need to accomodate the needs of these culinary practices. Winemaking as we know is not a common practice in asia, however I feel there is a growing need to pair well with the complexities of asian gastronomy, and what is currently available to us is not as adequate as say french cuisine. Thank you very much for your involvement in egullet. Omar

When I was working at Charlies, we spent about $250,000.000 a year on fish directly fed-exed from japan. As luck would have it, Masamoto's factory was located next door to the seafood supplier. Our chef de cuisine asked the fish supplier if he would be willing to purchase some knives from time to time and just place them in the bottom of a seafood box. They still do this today. Because the fish supplier already purchases knives from his neighbor, he gets them at cost. The cost we ended up paying after the fish suppliers mark-up for the Masamoto Honyaki Gyokuhakuko Yanagi Sashimi (33cm) was $245.00. The same exact knife at korin is $871.20. I wouldnt quite call it price gouging, I would label that as rape. But there is nothing chefs can do about it yet.

If he is fat and is a foodie, then we may have a chairman of the board. I second the motion.

Where is it located? What time does it start?

not if you're not planning on grilling. i usually put them on the range. doesn't take very long at all. but this is a neat idea. what else can we think of to put on a pile of coal? that picture, btw, is beautiful. i might frame it. Whole eggplants. Wait till they are soft and use pulp as a soup thickener.

Cake flour that isnt made from cakes

It was in french. I dont speak french.

How do you reconcile this truism with "a watched pot never boils"? I know people who can boil water but who can't cook. Thats impossible!

How slow is slow?

What is a "snakebite"?

How about taking a loaf of smoked bread and slicing it thinly, drying out in an oven overnight, then pulverizing it into a "bread flour", then using that "bread flour" to make the next "smoked loaf". Klingons love that stuff. Ive seen em eat it man, they're all over it. Now if these klingons are true conniseurs, one may consider the alternative: Ok, take some kaitifi and deep fry it until its a beautiful CGB. Then puree it with bread starter. Then take the double smoked Kaitifi loaf and cut it into cubes. Brown the cubes in butter, soak the browned cubes in the kaitifi/starter puree, then bake at 350F until smoked kaitifi cubes are crispy on the outside, and smoky/gooey on the inside. Miniature Double Smoked Kaitifi Loafs.

You can smoke it then bake it inside bread to create kaitifi smoked bread.

If you have one of these then we can talk.

Point taken, stricken from the board. All apologies.

Web stalking is a lonely crime.