slkinsey
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Posts posted by slkinsey
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What else does one use a jam pot for???
Boiling wort for making beer. Not too many other things you can do with unlined copper. I suppose you could make a ton of caramel? The world's largest zabaglione? Traditionally, polenta is prepared in giant unlined copper vessels over an open fire.
The thing to remember is that copper is poisonous. Personally, I wouldn't use it for anything other than sugary stuff (which includes wort).
Would 40lbs. of Bar Keeper's Friend not be very difficult to store? How long would it last? I have the Falk Culinair pieces and a much larger collection of the Cop R Chef from All Clad, and a couple of Mauviel pieces. But I wonder if 40lbs is still an overkill. What say you?40 lbs would last a long time, for sure. But that's the beauty of it. BKF is useful for a zillion cleaning applications. Probably something you could store in a closet or something. The web site probably gives you some idea of the size of the container.
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Bergerka and I are in.
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I wonder if I could impose on you (or anyone else with a mind to help out) to WEIGH your fry pan and saute pans? None of the web sites give that information which is becoming increasingly useful to me as my joints become less so. I have a 9" Bourgeat evasee that I love, but I worry about the ease of handling anything larger/heavier.
My 11" Mauviel frypan weighs 5.5 pounds
My 11" Falk saucière (aka sauteuse evasée) weighs 8 pounds.
An 11" saute pan should weigh somewhere in between these weights, say, 7 pounds.
Definitely not for one handed flipping when full of food.
(NB: these are alll 2.5 mm)
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OK, Suvir... in one fell swoop you have acquired more Falk Culinair than I have.
Seriously, though, if sounds awesome. We await reports of your impressions. If you want to keep the finish bright, definitely go out and buy some Bar Keeper's Friend (and I just noticed you can buy a 40 lb container for 50 bucks on their web site) and some Scotch Brite pads.
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Spatchcocking makes a superior roast chicken. It just does.
Plus, it's fun to say.
Spatchcock Spatchcock Spatchcock Spatchcock Spatchcock Spatchcock Spatchcock Spatchcock Spatchcock Spatchcock Spatchcock Spatchcock
Spatchcock
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I don't even know if I'm a shiksa or a goy
Tana,
I can't beleive this got by. I'm just a country goy myself, but I'm guessing you're both. I don't have a Joy of Yiddish so I may be wrong. I'm sure somebody will enlighten us.
She's a shiksa.
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I am broadening my admittedly parochial Piemontese outlook and actually going to Venice and Bergamo this trip!
Bergamo is a cool town. Also the birthplace of Gaetano Donizetti, one of my favorite composers.
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"Derby Style" Bourbon Pecan Tart
This is my pecan tart from the NJ BBQ at Bobolink. Looks something like this.
For the Crust
- 1-1/2 c All-Purpose FLour
- 3/4 c Pastry Flour
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- 14 T Unsalted Butter, cut into 0.5 inch cubes
- 1 pkg Sour Cream (8 ounces)
For the Filling
- 1 c Lyle's Golden Syrup
- 3/4 c White Sugar
- 6 T Unsalted Butter
- 1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
- 2 T Arrowroot
- 2 Extra Large Eggs
- 4 Egg Yolks
- 3 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- 3 T Bourbon
- 1-1/4 c Roughly Chopped Pecans
For the Chocolate
- 1/4 c Bittersweet Belgian Chocolate
- 2 T Unsalted Butter
- 1/4 c Cream
For the Topping
- 1-1/2 c Whole Pecan Halves
- 6 T Unsalted Butter
- 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/4 c Lyle's Golden Syrup
- 1/2 c White Sugar
- 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
Crust
Place all ingredients except the sour cream in a bowl and put bowl in the freezer for at least one hour. Toss well to coat all butter cubes with flour.
Remove in bowl from freezer and turn onto pastry board. Roll ingredients with a rolling pin, flattening the butter cubes. Do this a few times, scraping the rolling pin as necessary. Return the mixture to the freezer for 15 minutes and repeat the process twice more. When finished, the butter and flour should look like a pile of torn up paper.
Add as much sour cream as is needed to get the dough to come together. Don't knead the dough. Just press it together and fold it over on itself to incorporate the sour cream. Return to the freezer for 15 minutes if it starts getting warm. "Turn" the dough at least 3 - 5 times as you're getting it to come together.
Once the dough comes together, wrap it in plastic and keep it in the freezer for a minimum of 30 minutes.
Roll out dough, place into tart pan with removable bottom and bake blind according to your favorite method.
Filling and Chocolate
Melt the butter, milk and chocolate together according to your favorite method. When smooth, thin and syrup-consistency, sprinkle across the base of the tart shell and spread around to make a thin layer of chocolate. Set aside or refrigerate.
Mix the arrowroot in the bourbon. Put the sugar, syrup, butter, and salt into a good saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 - 7 minutes. Take the pan off the heat for a few minutes. Stir in the bourbon/arrowroot mixture and the vanilla.
Mix the eggs together in a large bowl. Stir in the hot sugar mixture in a thin stream.
Put the chopped pecans in the baked tart shell and pour in the filling mixture. Bake in a 400F oven for 30 minutes.
Topping
While the tart is baking, spread the pecan halves on a cookie sheet, add 3 tablespoons of butter, sprinkle on the salt and put in the oven. When nicely roasted (7 - 10 minutes), pull the sheet out and set aside.
When the roasted pecan halves are out of the oven, cook the syrup and sugar on the stove for 5 minutes. Time this so the sugar mixture will be hot when the tart is ready to come out of the oven.
After the 30 minutes of baking are over, pull out the tart and set aside. Mix the roasted pecan halves with the hot sugar mixture and spread across the surface of the tart. Return the tart to the oven and bake for 10 minutes more. Check the tart at 5 minutes to make sure the pecans aren't getting too dark and remove early if necessary.
Serve with unsweetened whipped cream and a big glass of Booker's bourbon on plenty of ice.
Keywords: Dessert, Expert, Tart, American
( RG616 )
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All this talk of spatchcocking (sounds like an odd medieval sport, but whatever...) has made me think that perhaps one of the masters of this might consider doing an eGCI short course with photos. Anyone?
Soon as I get my hands on a digital camera, I'll do just that.
How fun to tell people you spatchcocked over the weekend and let them guess just what the heck it was you did. Heh.I think "spatchcock" should be an eGullet slogan. Like maybe the logo thongs could say "spatchcock this."
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Spatchcock it.
This means simply that you cut out the backbone with kitchen shears and flatten the chicken out. Alternatively, you can cut through the breastbone with a knife and flatten it out the other way.
Once spatchcocked, you can throw it skin side down in a hot pan to brown the skin before flipping it over and finishing in the oven.
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Dave, what I've heard about the koshering process from a variety of sources is that meat needs to be made kosher through brining because brining "draws out the blood."
Although I am by no means an expert on Kosher law, this does not seem to be entirely accurate. Brine is a solution of liquid and salt. Something that is "brined" is soaked in such a solution.
Kosher law, and I'm going on what I read here, does not specify that meats be brined. Rather, they are soaked in tepid water for at least half an hour, the idea being, I gather, to soak it until the water no longer becomes reddened by the "blood" (actually probably myoglobin and dissolved minerals). After that, the water is drained away, salt is applied to every surface of the meat and the meat is placed where the "blood" can easily drain off. After an hour of salting, the salt is shaken off and the meat is rinsed three times (hopefully under the supervision of a G-d-fearing woman).
I would call this "salting" rather than "brining." As revealed in this thread, not everyone in these forums would agree with me. Call me conservative, but I hold that brining requires brine.
Does brining indeed draw out the blood? And if so, does it draw it all out, or just some of it?I had always understood that there was no blood in the flesh of animals slaughtered by modern methods anyway. I have placed quotes around "blood" above because I think the salt part of koshering doesn't actually remove any blood. Perhaps one of the meat biz people can chime in here about whether there is any actual blood in meat. Regardless, I am at a complete loss as to any scientific explanation for how salting could "draw blood" out of meat.
The more I poke around the Internet reading about this, the more I think that many of the koshering procedures are designed to eliminate the appearance of blood or things that seem like they might be blood. For example, it's not clear to me that kashering (broiling, more or less) will really get rid of any blood that is potentially in a liver... but I imagine it makes the liver seem less "bloody."
And is there anything actually kosher about kosher salt, or is it called kosher salt only because it's used in the koshering process?No on one and yes on two. According to the site I referenced at the top, "the salt should not be as fine as flour, as it would dissolve too quickly and would not properly drain the blood. Neither should the salt be too coarse as it may drop from the meat. The salt should be of medium size, like that used for cooking, and should be kept dry enough to be easily sprinkled."
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I agree that paying the bill via multiple credit cards or a combination of multiple credit cards and cash shouldn't be a big deal. That said, I think it should be the responsibility of the diners to divide the bill, and not the restaurant staff.
As for taking separate orders for everyone at the table... Of course, in certain restaurants (diners come to mind) it's not a big deal to do a separate bill for everyone in a party of six as though they were six individual customers. In that case, the customers should not expect that all the food will arrive at the same time, etc. For other restaurants it is a bigger deal... Maybe it's a pizza place where everyone will be eating from one pizza. No reason the restaurant should have to do the math of splitting the bill. Maybe it's a higher-end restaurant where it is an important part of the service to coordinate the orders for the entire table so they arrive on time, etc.
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By the time all the Italophiles on these boards finish telling you about their favorite places and making sure you know to "ask for my good friend so-and-so" you should be in for one hell of an awesome trip!
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Just out of curiosity, are you locked into doing Roma, Firenze/Toscana and Venezia in two weeks? Personally, I think you'd have a much better chance of soaking up Italian culture if you did something like 10 days in Firenze/Toscana with a car (in which case, as previously mentioned, I suggest you stay at an agriturismo or similar place outside the city) and then the last 4 days in Roma. With a car, you can easily day-trip around Toscana and also get to know the city well by using the Firenze area as your home base.
Three cities in two weeks makes for a fairly hectic schedule and doesn't allow you much time to get a feel for the place.
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Some people I know run the Podere Toricella agriturismo right outside of Firenze. Cool place in the country, an easy drive away from Firenze. They make wine and olive oil, among other things. Should be interesting things happening around the time you'll be there. Nice place to stay and probably cheaper than staying in the city. I know several interesting restaurants and day trip-type places in and around Firenze I can tip you to when your plans firm up.
I know you're mostly interested in food-type places, but given that you have an interest in music and you'll be traveling around the birthplace of opera... you might think of taking in a performance in Firenze, Roma (also see here) and Venezia (also see here). Some pretty interesting possibilities and some very beautiful buildings.
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Can you provide a link, or more information? I'm not certain that this meets the definiton of brining.
As the delegated SSB for this lesson, I think it's crucial that we not use brining and marinating as if they were interchageable. They're not.
Dave, look here. I linked to this recipe from this page, which attributed the recipe to Patrick O'Connell.
Sounds like brining to me.
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I suppose if I pan fried breaded/flour pork chops anymore, I'd treat them the same way.
Why don't you do that any more? Prefer to smother 'em in onions?
Most of the leaner cuts of pig these days are awful, unless you're willing to pay premium princes (actually I'm more willing than able). Pork chops have my heart broken one too many times. I'm sorry (snif), I just can't talk about it any more . . .
I know what you mean. If they're cheap pork chops, I really only like them thin cut and smothered (in either onions, mushrooms or both). I brown them off over really high heat, then put them aside as I deglaze and make the onions and/or mushrooms. When that's ready, I put the pork chops back in just long enough to heat them through. Seems to keep them tender and moist.
For a real pork chop experience, I am lucky enough to have an old-fashioned full-service butcher nearby. When I want double cut pork chops, he pulls a whole fat-covered bone-in loin of pork out of the walk-in and asks how I want 'em. Not cheap, but certainly not expensive (although obviously I'm talking relative to NYC prices here). I usually brine these for around 2-3 hours before pan searing and finishing in the oven. They've never let me down even once. Nothing like it next to some cheddar cheese grits and sauteed bitter greens dressed with hot pepper vinegar.
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I suppose if I pan fried breaded/flour pork chops anymore, I'd treat them the same way.
Why don't you do that any more? Prefer to smother 'em in onions?
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However, I dislike the taste of the sugar in the chicken meat itself...
Just for the record, I don't usually include sugar in the brine for the entire brining period. A good idea to try is to mix in some light corn syrup into the brine for the last hour or so. The sugar then penetrates the skin and the very beginning of the flesh only. It does give the skin a "lacquered" effect that can be difficult to get by other means.
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I certainly don't want to overdo it, as I want moist barbecue, not moist ham. At what point does the pork to ham transition occur?
You should be able to brine a 200 pound whole hog for 24 - 48 hours with little concern that it will get "hammy."
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My question is: in your experience, does adding sugar to the brine help facilitate browning during roasting?
In my experience, it does.
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Dave, I think it really depends on how long you leave the meat in the brine and how strong the flavor is in the brine. I have used herb flavorings steeped in the brine, lemon juice and chili pepper in the brine, and also garlic brines. All of these flavors penetrated deeply, as was evident by tasting some of the flesh near the bone. Part of the secret, I think, is that the flavoring agent has to be really strong in the brine.
I do think your molecular size hypothesis makes sense. For eample, I wonder if it might be the case that pigment molecules are too large or otherwise not able to be carried deep into flesh. When I have brined chicken with chili peppers, the chili flavor was carried deep into the flesh but very little of the red color. The red color ended up mostly on the skin and the outside of the flesh.
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You definitely do not want to be heating up an enameled cast iron pan to maximum temperature. What you want is regular, cheap "raw" cast iron.
As I think I mentioned in my cookware article, if you heat a seasoned cast iron too hot, the seasoning will start to burn. This is not good, as it can screw up the seasoning for other, non-steak uses.
On the other hand, you do want the cast iron pan to be screaming hot. Or, more to the point, you want the pan to be so hot the steak screams when you throw it in the pan. For super high heat cooking applications like this, it makes sense to acquire the largest cast iron pan you can get and simply keep it unseasoned. This means that you wash and scour the pan out completely after every use and then wipe it down with a thin coat of oil to keep it from rusting until the next time you use it. With an unseasoned cast iron pan, you don't have to worry about burning the seasoning and creating more smoke than necessary. Cast iron is incredibly cheap, so it's not a big deal to have a dedicated meat-searing pan.
As for heating the pan in the oven as opposed to the stove top... I prefer to heat mine on the stove top. A 500 F oven can only heat the pan up to 500 F. When you slap a room temperature steak in there, the temperature will drop below 500 F as heat is transferred from the pan to the steak. What I like to do is put the empty pan on the stove for a long time until it is screaming hot (a lot hotter than 500 F), throw the steak in there and then toss the pan under the broiler for a few minutes per side (time depending on thickness).
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i'd like to take this moment to suggest that fink looks a lot like the "other" guitarist from styx.
just a thought.
Oh my God, you're right!
Roasting a Chicken
in Cooking
Posted
I usually just go ahead and remove the ribcage when I spatchcock. That results in a boneless breast with wings attached and bone-in legs.