chord

April 4, 2019

I have a sous vide question, and I hope this is a good place to ask it.

Yesterday, I cooked a chicken leg quarter SV from frozen for 2 hours @ 160 F. When I took the chicken out of the water, the juices inside were blood-red (see picture). I know that this is myoglobin and the chicken tasted just fine. However, I was wondering why this happened as I've never seen it before. I've cooked other leg quarters SV as well, and in fact, some of the other quarters were from the exact same package as this one. I believe I cooked those other quarters at slightly higher temps (165 F instead of 160 F). Also, this quarter was in the freezer for about four months prior to cooking.

Any idea why the juices turned red? Cooking temp? Freezer storage? Happenstance?

April 3, 2019

Chicken with red lentils and a parsley-celery salad

April 1, 2019

For this weekend I made two quick Italian recipes using pantry staples.

Saturday evening was pasta carbonara using the NYTimes recipe.

Sunday evening was pasta e ceci using the Smitten Kitchen recipe.

March 30, 2019

I made a pot of vegetable soup several days back to clean out my refrigerator. I've since used the leftovers as a base for a few variations.

Clockwise from T-L: veg soup; with lentils and sausage; with ditalini; and with buttermilk and tortellini

March 28, 2019

Sausage, roasted broccoli, scalloped potatoes

March 21, 2019

shrimp and mushrooms over polenta

March 19, 2019

A bit of an experiment for me. I made avocado "fries" using the cold oil method, with cornmeal-coated avocado slices barely covered in oil and simmered at a low temperature until done. They turned out well, the coating was crunchy with no hint of greasiness.

But in the end, I'm not sure if all the fuss was worth it. I think I prefer avocados raw, e.g. as guacamole, or in smoothies, or with just a squeeze of lime and a sprinkle of salt.

March 17, 2019

5 hours ago, andiesenji said:

Have you ever tried the Mae Ploy Sweet Chili Sauce? The first time I tried it I bought a small bottle - lasted 3 days. I went back and got a larger bottle and went through that rapidly so I began buying 6 bottles at a time so I always had a supply.

I have mixed it with my homemade mustard to smear on pork roasts and slabs of ribs, mixed it with mayo (homemade) for a spicy salad dressing - amazing on fruit salads, mixed it with creamy horseradish sauce for dipping vegetable tempura, various fries, fish ( I am limited to freshwater because of an iodine allergy) and I apply it straight to rice, grains, beans, mixtures of same and kedgeree. Anywhere you want some spiciness. I even put it on vanilla ice cream and it was good.

The other day I reduced a combination of sweet chili sauce, soy sauce, and chili paste to use as as a glaze for chicken thighs. It came out quite well.

March 15, 2019

Big Salad

Leftover chicken, Irish Porter cheddar, roasted cauliflower, carrots, spring onions and mixed greens

March 14, 2019

Sweet chili chicken and blistered shishito peppers over udon noodle soup

March 13, 2019

4 hours ago, kayb said:

When all else fails -- Amazon.

Thanks, but at over $17 for a small jar, that's too pricey for me. I used to pick them up at the Upper West Side Fairway for just a few dollars.

I've tried a few local Italian / European grocers, but so far no luck.

March 13, 2019

Since I've moved to Denver I've been having trouble finding a couple of condiments. One of them is a really decent dijon mustard. The only French dijon for sale in these parts seems to be Maille. It's not my favorite, and it's really pricey. I've seen small jars on sale for $6. World Market has slightly better prices (and larger jars), but I've been looking for an alternative. I know ATK rates Grey Poupon highly but it tastes rather insipid to me, as do most of the U.S.A. made "gourmet" dijons I see in supermarkets.

Then the other day, I bought the French-made dijon and whole grain mustard at Trader Joe's and they were both excellent and very reasonably priced at well under $2 a bottle.

(The other condiment I haven't been able to find are salt-packed capers. Still no luck there.)

March 13, 2019

One thing I would consider is whether I would want the kitchen to be its own room or if I wanted a sort of "great room" concept with an integrated kitchen.

I lived in my last apartment for 14 years and had a galley kitchen that was separate from the living room. When I moved, I hated that almost all the apartments I was looking at featured integrated kitchens. But after having lived with a great room kitchen for several months, I've discovered that I kind of like it. I can keep an eye on what I'm cooking while still sitting on my couch and I'm also not isolated by myself in the kitchen when I have guests over.

March 13, 2019

Interesting. I've not noticed any off-taste, but I'm still an SV neophyte. I think I've only made steak three or four times. I'll need to do some experimenting.

March 13, 2019

1 hour ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

The sous vide steak was bagged with a bit of garlic powder and a few drops of liquid smoke. Then salted for an hour while drying after removal from the bag. The grilled steak was seasoned only with salt and then rested for an hour.

I cooked and ate the grilled steak first, for what it's worth, speaking as a quondam protein chemist.

Is there a reason why you didn't salt the SV steak in the bag? I've always salted everything before adding it to the water bath, mainly because that's what most of the recipes I see do.

March 12, 2019

Cod SV
Cold oil fries
Celery heart and parsley salad

March 9, 2019

On 1/18/2019 at 11:55 AM, lemniscate said:

I hope dredging up an old thread topic is not frowned upon, but I just tried some Quillo Fried Egg flavored Potato Chips, from Spain, so qualifies as international flavor. Picked them up on whim at World Market. They taste Just Like fried eggs to my palate. I like them. $3.99 a bag, smallish bag. The other flavors stocked were White Truffle and Spanish Ham. I'm planning my return trip to grab those for a try. I still have a coupon.

I'm about a month and a half late, but I just saw this post. I actually tried the Quillo White Truffle flavor about six months ago, also bought at World Market. I bought them for some pre-dinner nibbles at a small dinner party I hosted. They were quite good and everyone enjoyed them, but they were too rich to eat a whole bag's worth.

March 8, 2019

3 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

I would never have thought of cornbread for strata! What a great idea. It looks and sounds marvelous! Care to share the recipe?

Thank you. I had made some cornbread the other day that was a bit on the dry side, and it definitely wasn't improving with age. There wasn't much left, but I really dislike food waste so I didn't want to just throw it away. I googled a few ideas, e.g. cornbread crumbs or croutons, but the idea of a strata appealed the most.

In addition to the cornbread, I used two medium sized eggs and I had the tomatoes, deli ham and swiss on-hand so I added those in. I don't normally keep milk or cream around because I don't use much of it, but I do have buttermilk powder from Bob's Red Mill, so I used that in conjunction in with some almond milk, just enough to soak everything. Salt and pepper of course, as well as nutmeg. After letting it sit overnight, I baked it for about a half hour at 350 F.

I was hungry and started to eat it immediately after taking it out of the oven, right after taking this picture. It was a bit soupy (which you can see in the pic if you look closely), so I should have let it rest for about ten minutes. It tasted better as I continued to eat as more of the liquids were absorbed into the bread.

I think a strata is an excellent use of old cornbread and I'll definitely make this again if I have leftovers. But, it didn't quite have the same custardy texture compared to a strata made with regular bread.

March 8, 2019

Tomato soup with sausage, mushroom, and radish greens plus garlic bread

March 8, 2019

Cornbread strata with ham, tomato, and swiss cheese

March 6, 2019

4 hours ago, liuzhou said:

I've seen that same sauce packet in supermarkets here in China, but never bought it. Not a big fan of Japanese curry.

It's definitely an acquired taste. I'd never made it before, but I'd eaten it many times when I lived in New York. The boxed curry was nowhere near as complex as the versions I had at Go Go Curry or Curry-Ya, but it wasn't bad at all for a hearty dinner without much effort. At some point I'll try another brand, after some googling it seems that S&B doesn't rank all that highly in taste tests.

March 6, 2019

4 hours ago, Paul Bacino said:

@chord--we like that curry packet too. Not sure we get the hot?

This was my first time making it, so I can't really compare it to any other version. I wouldn't have called it hot though, at least not in the sense of being spicy. Perhaps this version has more curry powder than the standard variety.