slkinsey
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Posts posted by slkinsey
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What brand are you using, how much water are you cooking them in, and how often do you stir them?
Always a few will nest inside each other, but it shouldn't rise to the level of "many."
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I do it all the time when I use whites for cocktails or whatever. Just put them into a container and bung them into the freezer.
Keep in mind that thawed yolks will not have the same texture as they did before freezing (more "custardy" than runny). But they still work perfectly for egg yolk pasta, etc.
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For those of you who don't care to watch... the answer is that there is no detectable difference that would rise beyond the types of batch-to-batch differences seen in the old product.
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Not sure how "Bolognese" this is, but here's my recipe:
Sounds nice. But that's not in the Bolognese ballpark. What you have there is a tomato sauce with a bit of ground meat in it. Ragu Bolognese is a meat sauce with a touch of tomato in it (or none at all).
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Having watched all three parts, I have to say that this doesn't particularly seem very much like Ragu Bolognese to me. Rather it seems like some highly evolved version of "spag bol," the English bowdlerization of tagliatelle al ragù Bolognese (and for what it's worth, he's quite clear that he's riffing on the English dish, not the Italian one).
It's a meat sauce. And its served with pasta. And it has some similarities with Bolognese, but I can't imagine it tastes all that much like the real thing (this seems to be borne out by the taster who can detect the flavor of star anise). It's unclear to me what is to be gained from his methods if one would like to make an actual ragù Bolognese. Cut the star anise and all the herbs, to begin with. Cut the sherry vinegar and fish sauce and ketchup. And then what one is left with is a fairly traditional Bolognese, made with chopped pork and ground oxtail, that uses a kind of tomato compote rather than tomato paste or canned tomato product (although to my eye the amount that he uses would make the end product too tomato-ey, but then again maybe that's how it is in
England).
... [Jamie Oliver] cooked a whole rabbit in a pot with two cans of tomatoes, a whole onion, 2 whole carrots and a few other bits and bobs, then some stock or water. Cook that overnight at 110C (250F?), or use a crockpot, as you've been discussing, then in the morning, shredding all the meat off the rabbit carcasse, squeezing out the now soft onion flesh, mashing the carrots and finishing off with parmesan. I think combining this philosophy with the traditional ingredients and techniques (milk, wine).It sounds good, and very likely something that might be done, but might not be called a bolognese sauce in Italy . . .
Michaela is spot-on, I think. There are many different kinds of ragu. But not many different kinds of ragu Bolognese. It's a bit like saying, "Jamie Oliver made this really interesting chicken fried steak using catfish."
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Why is there no 3.0 mm copper cookware?
There is 3.0mm and thicker in tin-lined copper cookware. I rather imagine it becomes technically difficult to press-form copper-stainless bimetal into cookware shapes at greater thicknesses.
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For those that intended to use paste, Will you use the Pincage ( Toasting the paste ) method that was discussed a few threads ago, about frying tomato paste?
I don't bother for two reasons: (1) I don't use enough of it to make much difference either way; and (2) the sauce cooks long enough to transform the paste anyway.
The latter effect is even true of tomato-based sauces. At some point as I was learning my best friend Joe Graziano's mother's traditional long-cooked Italian-American "Sunday gravy" style sauce, I realized that a big part of getting the right flavor was to simmer the sauce long enough that it transformed from red to brick-red (i.e., some species of red-brown) due to Maillardization.
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I put them down flat on their sides, put one hand over the top and slice sideways through the middle with a serrated knife.
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Some vendors who offer discounts and free shipping: MetroKitchen
In re my remark above about knowing what you're getting, note the following in the offerings on this site:
Mauviel M'Heritage Style Copper Cookware1.5 to 2.0mm Copper Thickness | Stainless Steel Handles
Combining the best features of copper and stainless-steel, Cuprinox Style cookware features a lighter, 1.5mm copper exterior with an easy-to-clean stainless interior. The stainless-steel handles are lighter than cast-iron. Splayed sides help with pouring and serving. It also called the new Mauviel M'Heritage line.
Mauviel M'Heritage M'150C
1.5mm Copper Thickness | Cast Iron Handles
M'Heritage M'150C cookware has the traditional look of copper cookware which is the preference historically for consumers who purchase copper for their cooking needs.
Mauviel M'Heritage and M'tradition
Varying Copper Thickness | Brass Handles | Stainless Steel Interior | Straight Sides
The copper thickness of Mauviel Pour la Table ranges from 1.2 to- 2mm thick with brass handles and a stainless-steel interior for simple cleaning. Maviel copper is beautiful enough for cooking AND serving. You'll find the new M'heritage and M'tradition cookware in this line.
As you can see, it would be quite easy for someone to buy a piece of this stuff thinking they are getting "the real thing at a great price" when actually they are getting an inferior product. I've even seen other web vendors claiming that the Mauviel stainless lined copper with a stainless steel handle was 2.5mm thickness when in fact it is only 2.0mm.
Given the existence of these lines, it is even more difficult to tell when you are getting the real thing on an eBay or Craig's List sale. In fact, while that extra 0.5mm of thickness will make a difference in performance, it's actually quite difficult to detect in person, so it's not easy to know you're getting the real thing even at a thrift store unless you bring calipers with you.
MetroKitchen also offers the following blatantly false description: "All-Clad Cop-R-Chef cookware has a thick copper exterior for quick heating and cooking" (All-Clad Cop-R-Chef actually has a thin exterior layer of copper, a thick internal layer of aluminum and an internal layer of stainless steel -- the thermal benefit from the copper is effectively zero and it is only for show).
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ScoopKW gives pretty good advice. The main thing is to make sure you are actually getting 2.5mm stainless lined copper. There are a number of makers who also produce stainless lined copper cookware at less than 2.5mm (2.0mm is quite common from the major manufacturers). And of course there is tin lined copper, which just isn't comparable. All-Clad, I should hasten to point out, does not make any cookware with 2.5mm of copper.
Once you have 2.5mm stainless lined copper, ScoopKW is correct that there isn't much difference. Ideed, they all get their metal from Falk Culinaire, who developed and own the patent on the process to bond stainless to copper for this use.
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Sam - Is it correct that you don't add any canned tomatoes or tomato puree, just the tomato paste?
Correct. Ragù Bolognese is not a tomato-ey sauce at all.
I was just curious of.. rabbit would be an acceptable protein?My mother in law (now deceased), swore by the recipe she learned in Northern California from families in the large immigrant Italian population. Rabbit was one of the proteins. My memory is hazy but I seem to recall at least 5 different meats.
The problem with coniglio (rabbit -- generally cultivated) is that it is a fairly tender and lean meat, and tends to dry out with extended cooking. Lepre (hare -- generally wild) is tougher and gamier, although probably not much fattier, and might do better at this sort of thing. But I doubt it would be all that great. Imagine making a long-cooked ragù of ground chicken thighs and you get some idea. Now... I have an Italian friend whose grandmother used to save the ears from all the rabbits she cooked, and when she had enough of them she would make a long-cooked rabbit ear ragù. Lots of gelatin in ears.
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My process for Ragù Bolognese hasn't changed much from the one I posted back in 2003:
Cream is too rich for this dish, IMO. I soften a fine dice of onion, carrots and celery (at 2:1:1) in copious amounts of evoo and butter (at 1:1), then throw in home ground beef, veal, pork and pancetta (at 3:3:3:1). Once the meats have lost their red color, in goes white wine to barely cover. After that cooks out, in goes plenty of milk, several Parmigiano rinds from the freezer and maybe a tablespoon of tomato paste. This simmers for several hours (often in the Crock Pot). Towards the end, I'll add a tiny grating of nutmeg and correct the seasonings. It's done when the fat starts to separate from the meat. I might swirl in a little butter just before serving.To my mind, the three critical things are 1. grinding your own meat; 2. using milk as the primary liquid; and 3. going easy on the tomato.
I have found the Crock Pot to be the ideal cooking vessel for ragù: you can turn it on, walk away for 3-4 hours and come back to finish it up.
Lately, I've more often made a "white ragù" (i.e., no tomato product at all) using home-ground lamb shank meat, and including fennel in the vegetable base. I take the fennel fronds and run them through the VitaPrep with some Parmigiano-Reggiano, olive oil and a touch of garlic to make a kind of "fennel frond pesto" which I then swirl through the pasta as I'm dishing it up. No complaints.
Ragù freezes really well in vacuum bags.
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I think Modernist Cuisine says something about venison to the effect that enzymes present in the meat tend to make it mushy with the longer timeframes of equilibrium cooking, and therefore for venison it's better to cook it for a shorter period of time in a water bath that is hotter than your desired core temp. This means you have to really keep your eye on the clock. I don't have my copy of MC in front of me so I can't be more specific.
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From 1992 to 2003 I owned a beer and wine brewing shop . . . In 1994 I wrote and published what is still the definitive (but now very dated) guide to using hops in craft brewing.
You're the guy who started up HopTech! Wow, that takes me back around 15 years. I might have your book, and I certainly bought some hops off you back then.
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I created something similar by simply bending a stainless steel cooling rack.
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Nice. Must check it out.
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I think there is a recipe in there where a pork roast or some such thing gets the LN2/deep fryer treatment.
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Might it work better to do it stovetop with 3 inches of oil in a dutch oven or stock pot? Granted, you don't have the "set it/forget it" temperature control feature of a dedicated fryer.
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What generalities have you observed as to the LN2 freezing times, frying times and frying temperatures in MC? I would think that if 30 seconds LN2 freeze/60 seconds 450F fry provides the crust they want while protecting the interior from cooking, then that's that. Maybe they figured it out via trial and error. But I'm not sure why these times and temperatures wouldn't work for everything. Needless to say, thicker or thinner crusts would mean a reduction in the freezing and frying times.
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I don't have my copy in front of me, but I believe the Modernist Cuisine burger is cooked to 54.5C/130F, then fully immersed in LN2 for 30 seconds, then deep fried at 235C/450F for 60 seconds.
Using the small amounts of LN2 you used, as well as the low temperature of your fryer, appear to be major limitations.
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We ALWAYS have raw brisket, but I can't seem to make myself SV it - our smoked brisket is just too awesome. It is on my list to do though, probably smoked/rubbed first then into a bag for SV.
That's the idea. Cold-smoke it for around 6 hours, then cook it SV for 48 hours.
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Well, there are the stone ice cubes
They make dandy little paper weights, too. AND they're cheaper than the 'luxury ice'.So is that a resounding "No Thanks!" on the stone ice cubes?
They didn't really impress me either.
They're also terrible at chilling the drink.
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In your case, you want the ice to melt a good bit anyway.
In bars nowadays, it's common practice when making an Old Fashioned-type drink to stir the cocktail on ice until it is chilled, then pour it into the glass over fresh ice.
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These are good points to make. The only thing I'll say about the melting properties of spherical ice (or, rather, big ice in general) is that the liquid is usually already pre-chilled (and pre-diluted for that matter) before it is put into the glass with the big piece of ice. So the big piece of ice is not so much there to lower the temperature of the liquid as it is to maintain the temperature of the liquid.
eG Cook-Off 57: Bolognese Sauce
in Cooking
Posted · Edited by slkinsey (log)
I don't mean to single out David, of course. He is by no means alone in these feelings and practices. It's just convenient to quote his remarks because they are emblematic of something I find fairly typical among those who are used to eating Italian-American food, and who perhaps as a result have certain notions about what "Italian pasta sauce" is supposed to taste like -- which is to say: tomato-based and highly spiced for the most part (unless it completely breaks away into something like carbonara or pesto). A preference for dry herb flavor has especially become a common expectation because using lots of dried herbs has become a way for restaurants and manufacturers of jarred sauces to obscure the lower quality of their base products. And, of course, when one becomes habituated to a certain flavor profile in a certain dish, any retreat from that can seem bland (for example, Calabrians, who have an especially spicy cuisine, are known to bring little containers of dried pepper with them because non-spicy food seems bland). The result has been that many people have come to expect and desire certain flavors in an "Italian pasta sauce" that are not really the point of ragu Bolognese.
This is a reason, I think, why so many are tempted to add herbs and extra tomatoes to dishes like ragu Bolognese which would otherwise seem bland to them. It's because the rich meatiness of ragu Bolognese doesn't taste like what they have come to expect out of an Italian pasta sauce. It's not dissimilar from those for whom "pizza sauce" is a highly flavored, dry-herbed cooked tomato sauce, and who find the Neapolitan base of crushed tomatoes and sea salt bland and uninteresting. This is especially interesting to me because the same people don't generally find, say, beef Stroganoff over egg noodles to be bland and in need of punching up with herbs and extra garlic. Most likely, I think, it's because we have the conception of beef Stroganoff as being rich and meaty and not highly spiced. I would argue, by the way, that tagliatelle al ragu Bolognese has more in common with beef Stroganoff on egg noodles than it does with strongly flavored tomato-based Italian pasta dishes like bucatini all'amatriciana and spaghetti alla putanesca and Italian-American red sauce. So, for me personally anyway, when we start thinking of tagliatelle al ragu Bolognese under a separate paradigm than the one we use to think about these highly spiced/flavored tomato-based pasta dishes, suddenly it doesn't seem like it needs extra tomato, spices, garlic, whatever.