alanz

Although we have known them for almost a year, this was their first visit to our home, so it was a great way to spend time together.

We REALLY enjoy cooking with friends, especially experimenting with new recipes and techniques. Yesterday, two friends from our local community theater came to our house for a (long) day of cooking and eating. They arrived at 4p.m. and we paced preparing and consuming the courses slowly, over good conversation... Dessert was finished around midnight. Food was made and consumed in this order. Beverage: Sangria made with Beaujolais, muddled oranges and lemons, Cognac and Grand Marnier. Frozen grapes in lieu of ice cubes. Nibble 1: Smoked baby clams on blue cheese and cream cheese atop Sociable crackers. Nibble 2: Gravlax with black bread and cream cheese. Lauren and I prepared this 48 hours in advance, using a new recipe that calls for less salt, and the addition of lime zest to the fresh dill. Results were buttery consistency and lovely flavor. First course: We shucked and consumed 30 oysters, served with lemon wedges and cocktail sauce. Very briny, great texture, absolutely delicious. Second course: Caramelized Carrot Soup. From the Modernist Cuisine at Home cookbook, this wonderful soup is started in a pressure cooker using only carrots, butter and carrot juice. Spectacular, rich and... well, carroty. Main course: Sous vide cooked fish. Two types of fish (Arctic char and Chilean sea bass) cooked separately, but with the same poaching liquid (shallots, garlic, vegetable stock, butter and saffron). The sea bass was the star. Served with a tomato / basil compote. Salad course: (prepared after the main course) Mixed greens with bacon topped with parmesean/fennel fritters, and a buttermilk dressing. Served with asparagus spears cooked sous vide in balsamic dressing. Dessert: Blueberry clafoutis with whipped cream. Very ambitious, very delicious, great fun choreographing the dance of four cooks in and around our little kitchen. I will post photos soon.

dcarch, Many devices use 12volts DC to drive an inverter that produces 120 volts AC (and provide very clean sine wave power). So a UPS can use the incoming AC power to step down to 12 volts (or some other DC voltage, I think mine use two 12v batteries in series, producing 24 volts) and have that power feed the inverter and keep the batter charged. If the battery is wired in parallel to the incoming DC power, in the event of power loss, the battery continues to power the inverter. I'm not suggesting that this is how all UPS systems work, but think of it similar to a laptop computer that's plugged into the wall. When you remove the AC, it doesn't 'switch over' to an alternate power source... it simply lets the battery continue to power the laptop power circuitry, uninterrupted.

dcarch, Some UPS unit route their power through the battery (and often voltage conditioning circuit), so in effect the battery is always supplying the power, but is also in a constant state of recharge. In any event, even if there is a switchover, it's internal to the UPS, the attached appliance never sees any downtime.

gfweb, UPS stands for Uninterruptible Power Supply. There should be no time lag at all. As another member mentioned, the issue is that the battery in the UPS would likely only sustain the heating element for a few minutes, if at all (depending on the capacity of the UPS). When heating, the coil likely draws about the same as the copy machine mentioned.

Paul, I bought the 16in x 25ft roll from Homedepot, about $15 I would offer to give you some if you visited me here in NJ, but it would cost more than that in bridge tolls! I show my use of a 30 quart Coleman Excursion cooler towards the end of a video I made about my Anova configurations. Perhaps it will give you some ideas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTrYNEeH03I

I don't think they are putting the user manual on a thumb drive these days. The last unit I received had a paper manual. Anova would likely send you a file if you asked.

All I can say is that we haven't boiled a corned beef in the last 20 years. As mentioned, I'm not trying to make corned beef soup... look what happens to the flavor of a chicken's meat when cooked in water (it makes soup). So we've cooked CB (that we typically corn ourselves) in one of thee ways. Smoked (coated with ground black pepper and coriander seed, to make a pastrami-like result) Steamed Roasted (typically glazed at the end with a mixture of currant jelly, mustard, brown sugar)When we want cabbage and potatoes, we cook those separately. If we wanted saltier, corning spices in the vegetable water... we'd simply add those spices to the water. All I'm saying is that I see no reason to give up any beef flavor to the water. Your actual mileage may vary.

It's true that you don't get the broth. However you can look at it another way : the flavor stays in the meat instead of being lost to the 'soup'

DDF, I had never seen that size before... I just ordered a few and they will likely work out well.

Also keep in mind some other features which vary significantly from model to model: the width of the seal bar, the dimensions of the chamber, and external hose port. I like the 12" seal width of my VP112. I tend to use larger bags than I originally anticipated, so I also appreciate the length of the chamber. I wish the chamber height was a little taller, so it could accommodate a 16oz wide mouth mason jar (it's just a tiny bit too short for that). I use the external hose connection to vacuum seal mason jars... very handy storage containers.

I made photos of the steps along the way, and perhaps I'll post them one day, but here's the result. Note that because I don't use any saltpeter in my corning mix, the meat stays brown instead of pink.

Ok, here's the scoop. I vacuum sealed each of the tongues with spices for corning and a little water. I had scored the skin, so that the spices could more easily penetrate the meat. Kept them in the refrigerator for 10 days, turning each bag once per day. Today I cooked the first tongue by thoroughly rinsing it in water, then placing into a pressure cooker with some onions, carrots, peppercorns, garlic powder, and a few bay leaves. Cooked at 15psi for 45 minutes, then into ice water. The skin came off vey easily, and I removed the gland below the tongue and scraped off most of the fat and remaining taste buds with a knife. It's now back in the ice bath, and we will decide how to prepare it for dinner. My wife and I each tasted a slice, and not unexpectedly, it has the flavor of a lovely corned beef... Delicious. I may also do the second tongue in e pressure cooker, or I might try smoking it... I will decide after a day or two of snow melting.

And I agree that with the time/temperature charts or apps, that measuring the temps is a convenience. I do like using the thermometer when SVing fish... It lets me cook at slightly higher temps and still take it out at optimal temperature. It simply takes the guesswork out of the process. Fortunately, high quality thermometers aren't that pricey.

I would think that the needle probe is easier to deal with than the thicker probe. I have use the thicker ones for years when making BBQ. I have not tried to use the thicker probes through the foam tape, but it will likely work ok. The needle probe is ideal.

Agreed... the tiny needle probe is a pleasure to use. I have these two items from Thermoworks.com, a very nice combination. MTC Mini Handheld Thermocouple Meter, Type K THS-113-181 Miniature Needle Probe 39 type K"

I've been using the JB Prince tape, seems to work well

I adapted a battery powered drill/screwdriver to turn my Kyocera (same as the Skerton) grinder. It's trivial to do it, and makes using the grinder a pleasure. After I came up with the modification, I saw that someone else had the same idea and had already posted it on YouTube. I'm taking it one step further, but his mod might give you some ideas. Take a look at his video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xohgxk4sG3A

I like the idea of cutting the tongue into several pieces... would make it easier for flavorings (brines, smoke, etc) to penetrate. Considering that I'll likely be slicing thin anyway, there's a lot to be said for not keeping it whole. I'm thinking much along the same lines as separating the parts of a turkey so you can cook each part optimally... no need to keep the bird intact during roasting, except for the showmanship of the "oooh, ahhhh" before carving. Anyone else cut up a tongue before cooking to facilitate any particular goal?

I am leaning towards pressure cooking one tongue, and corning/SV the second one. When I corn whole briskets, I stab the hell out of the brisket and use a dry rub (with the meat in a vacuum bag, under weight in the fridge) instead of a brine. This takes about a week instead of 3 weeks for the brine. I also do not use any chemical preservatives (which really only make the meat pink). So I will look into adapting the technique for the tongue. fun stuff!

Not surprisingly, I ordered an electric food slicer this morning. Yes, we have a chamber vacuum sealer, but the pressure I was mentioning was referring to cooking in a pressure cooker

I too think that deli tongue may very well be corned before cooking (as is pastrami and corned beef) I saw the tongue and cheek recipe a few days ago... worth considering. I agree about sous vide keeping all the flavor in the bag... considering that tongue is pretty delicate in flavor, but using pressure to help infuse the meat with other seasonings could be a very good thing. These are our FIRST two tongues to experiment with, and likely there will be more going forward. Should be fun! Keep the comments coming, let's inspire a few of us to cook this often overlooked piece of beef, and we'll share our results.

I forgot to mention, that I'm not insistent on sous vide... pressure cooking is another option I would like to explore. Any excuse to play with the toys!

My bride and I enjoy a great pastrami and hot tongue sandwich from a local kosher deli. We've only cooked one tongue before, and that was years ago. It was a pre-smoked beef tongue, and we simply simmered it for a long while... the results were a yawn. We have lots of techniques and equipment available to use, including smoking, pickling, corning, vacuum sealing, pressure cooking and sous vide. So tomorrow I should receive two fresh beef tongues from our local prime butcher. I would like sous vide to be part of the process. Given this prime meat, what would you do to do it justice? Go straight to sous vide? Should I corn it first? Smoke it (before or after cooking)? Perhaps use different techniques on each piece of meat? Your thoughts are appreciated.

This past weekend, I was talking to my bride about our possibly making tripe for the first time. Any wonderful recipes? (I saw a Bizarre Foods episode about Morocco that had some that looked tasty)