nathanm

Well, how did it all turn out??

Namibia is a beautiful country. Most of it is very arid - it makes Nevada look lush by comparison. There is no river in the whole country (except on the borders) that runs year round. Most of the country is so arid that there are no plants. From the air it looks a bit like the moon. The exception to this is a narrow strip of land called the Caprivi strip, which is on the Zambezi - there the probelm is the opposite - the river floods and there can be too much water. Namibia was historically colonized by Germany, and to this day has a lot of very Germanic customs and a lot of contact to Germany (German tourists, German companies...). Cities like Windhoek and especially Swakopmund have strong German influence. Most meat and produce comes from South Africa, with some beef coming from Botswana. The South Africa vegetables and meat are pretty good - oryx and eland (ranched, not wild) steaks can be excellent. The avocados are great, as are most vegetables. There are a lot of South African sausages available, as well as local renditions of German sausages. Most food brands are South African - Black Cat peanut butter (like Skippy) or All Gold ketchup (very good, but a bit sweet). These date from the bad old days of apartheid when international brands could not do business in SA. More recently they have spread through Africa. It can be amazingly and blisteringly hot in Namibia. Like living in a convection oven. In my last trip it was 45C (113F) for three days straight, with a howling wind, blowing fine sand. It is called the "East Wind". you'll experience it at some point. Take some knives, cutting board, perhaps some spices. Mostly, take a sense of adventure - you should have fun.

His books and web site show very strong pride of ownership/discovery. Which is not a bad thing at all, but may have blinded him to other things. I will try to find out

I was at Can Roca two years ago, and I had the oyster. One thing I am curious about with L'Esguard is that I have ordered Micri, his supposedly miracle ingredient. In my hands at least, it was horrible - like a jar of wallpaper paste! Perhaps the jar I had was old or suffered in shipping. Or maybe I did something wrong, but I tried variations for weeks and eventually despaired of the stuff. I find the hydrocolloid gels more useful. So it would be very interesting to me to see it in the hands of the master. Maybe he does a great job with it.

OK, so priority wise, if I only have one major meal in Barcelona, which should it be? When is your stall in Boqueria open? I will try to stop by...

I will be visting Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza soon - are there any great restaurants there? I was there briefly last year, and there only seemed to be tourist restaurants (and that great), but perhaps I overlooked something.

Alas, I don't think that I will get farther south than Taragona, and possibly not farther south than Barcelona. Thanks for the recommendations however - maybe on a future trip. I will definitely try to make it to Espai Sucre. I will also be in the Balearic islands - Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza for several days - is there any place special there?

I am going to El Bulli in two weeks - it's great to get an introduction via these posts!

I'm eating at El Bulli in a couple weeks, and have some other meals to fill in. I have done this a couple times in the past, but I want to check on the latest / greatest. I would like to stay on the theme of high tech / cutting edge / modernist cuisine. A friend suggested the following places. DROLMA IN HOTEL MAJESTIC - BARCELONA HISPANIA – ARENYS DE MAR SANT PAU – SAN POL DE MAR L’ESGUARD – SANT ANDREU DE LLAVANERES LA GAMBA – PALAMOS EL CELLER DE CAN ROCA – GIRONA SA PUNTA – PALS EL ROSER – L’ESCALA Some of the suggestions above are more traditional food. However there are lots of other places in the area. There is lots of information in this forum, but it is hard a good sense of priority. I probably can only pick 2 or 3 places. I have been to Can Roca before, and it was great. L'Esguard seems to be controversal - some people love it, some hate it.

Time and temperature depend on what effect you want. If the meat is tender to begin with, and you want it medium rare, then 131F/55C. Time by the tables elswhere in the thread - probably a couple hours. If the meat needs to be tenderized a bit, then 24 - 48 hours at 131F/55C. Your lamb chop experiment was at 136F/58C. If you like that result, but it was not tender enough then try for 12 to 24 hours at that temp. I prefer to have the temp lower but that is just personal preference. The lamb I get in the US (including some from Australia or NZ) is pretty tender, but perhaps that is just the export meat. However if your chef normally boils the lamb, then he is expecting gray meat, and will be surprised by the pink medium rare look you get at that temp. In that case I would try 158F/70C for 8 hours. You could also try 176F/80C for 6-8 hours. I generally do lamb shanks and 70C for 12 hours. Shanks are tougher than leg meat. The higher the temperature, the more the meat will be tenderized and have a "stewed meat" texture. If you go for too long, then it will fall off the bone and be too tender to the point that it is falling apart. Unfortunately there isn't any single recommendation because it depends on two variables that I don't know: - How tough is your lamb to begin with? - What sort of texture effect do you want? Searing the outside in a very hot oven afterward should work very well.

The toxin is not alive, but it is destroyed by heat. A lot less heat than it takes to kill the spores, but still a substantial amount. 80C for 10 minutes is the usual recommendation, although like all such reactions one can go for a longer amount of time at lower temp (to a point), or a shorter time at higher temp.

The great thing about artichokes SV is that they don't discolor. I agree that barigoule style is great this way...

← When in doubt, throw it out! Botulism is possible but unlikely in that circumstance. Clostridium perfringens is a possibility that is more likely - it takes heat better, and is more acid tolerant. It has been implicated in cases where a large piece of meat (ham or turkey) is allowed to cool too slowly. To reply to a comment about toxins in the thread It sounds like the short ribs were at reasonable temperature for a while, then 4 hours at a dangerous temperature. The first period of time would kill all of the bacteria - that isn't an issue. The problem are spores - which are formed by many bacteria, including Clostridium botulinum (botulism) and Clostridium perfringens. The spores are really hard to kill - you need very high temp for a long time. That's why you typically use a pressure cooker when doing canning. The danger here is that spores germinated and then grew in the 4 hours that the ribs were at dangerously low temperatures. Toxins are then formed by the bacteria. The toxins are the thing that you watch out for in the case of anaerobic spore forming bacteria like either of the Clostridium. However, unlike a comment in the thread, the toxins ARE destroyed by heat. Botulism toxin (by the way, it is the same stuff in Botox injections for cosmetic purposes) is destroyed by about 10 minutes at 80C. Finally, remember that human body temperature is 37C, and lots of bugs that makes us sick grow best around that temperature. So you do not want to leave things at that temperature or below for very long.

It's true - I don't know of a good source of shrink bags at retail. Cryovac makes them for industrial food packaging, and I got some samples from them. It is a bit bizarre actually that nobody seems to resell them, even in butcher supply catalogs. They are useful for cases where you want to mold something or hold it together.

Sous vide has an advantage for steak only under some circumstances: - When you want perfect temperature all the way through. - If you want to tenderize the meat The temperature issue occurs because SV has much better temperature control. You don't need careful timing, and can have a bunch of steaks ready ahead of time sitting at the right temperature. On most grills just a small time difference will make a huge temperature difference. My favorite temperature for steak is 125F/52C but that is a matter of taste. You can go higher to 130F/55C, or lower to 120F/49C. At temps below 130F, limit cooking time to less than 4 hours. If you have a thin steak, then you have to be careful that the searing does not overcook it. The thinner the meat, the more heat if you want to sear without overcooking. A torch works well - play the flame directly on the meat, and not for very long. Or, freeze the meat, sear while frozen (with torch or super high heat) then cook SV. Obviously, it is possible to cook a steak many ways.... it depends on whether the temperature control, and lack of gray overcooked zone matter to you. Most steak is a TENDER cut of meat, because it is typically cooked fast. If you want to tenderize the meat - for example use a cut of beef that is normally too tough for steak, then SV can be used. In that case you want to cook for a long time to break down the collagen, but keep the temperature low enough that you don't overcook the meat. Normally fairly tough but flavorful meat like short ribs, or flat iron steak, or other cuts can be made as tender as fillet. If that is what you want - some people don't. The time and temperature depend on the cut and the degree of tenderness. Duck breast is very similar to steak, with the one big difference being the skin. You can cook duck breast rare to medium rare at the same sort of temperatures (120F/49C to 130F/55C). Some duck breast - particularly the large maigret de canard from moulard ducks (from fois gras production) are tough and benefit from some time. Searing duck skin is a whole topic unto itself. If you sear up front it will be soggy after SV. Searing afterward is much better, because it can be crispy, but you need to be careful about overheating the meat. The suggestion to remove the skin and crisp separately works very well. Scald the skin in boiling water for a minute, then put it between two silpats, with weights on top and roast at 350F until rendered and crispy.

Whoops, I realize that I did not answer the question about going straight from the freezer. In general, it is actually preferred to go straight from the freezer. You want to spend as little time as possible between 40F and 130F. Defrosting in a water bath is faster than defrosting in the fridge or on the counter - due to the heating element, and due to higher heat transfer from water than air.

There are several answers - two official answers and one unofficial The official FDA food code tables say that 90 minutes at 130F sterilizes. Longer times do as well, so at 130F there is no question of food safety as long as you hold it for at least 90 minutes at 130F. The FDA official food code tables do not go lower than 130F. The color, texture and taste are different at 130F. I do this for some cuts of beef, but 125F is where I would cook a steak. The official FDA position is that you need to cook the interior of a steak at all - the exterior has to be heated to 145F. The reason is that the interior of muscle meats is sterile anyway. All of the stuff about core temperature makes no sense with a steak or roast. This is why it is legal to serve a completely rare steak. There is also an FDA rule that food can be in the so-called danger zone between 40F and 140F for up to 4 hours. I usually sear meat after sous vide, but if you are going to consider really long cooking times at low temp it is better from a food safety point of view to sear first. So, you are within the official rules if you: - Sear the meat before putting it in the bag. This is a food safety sear, and all it has to get is grey on the outside - you don't need to brown it then. - Seal and cook for up to 4 hours at 125F - Or, if you are willing to tolerate the higher temperature cook at 130F for at least 90 minutes, and at that point you can cook it as long as you like. That is the official answer. Unofficially here is some information. Food safety is virtually all about exterior contamination. This is particularly true for beef. Searing the meat first is helpful in that regard. I usually sear first if I am using a cooking time that does not sterilize. Anything else you put in the bag should also be heated first. People will sometimes put fresh herbs in that come from the garden. These should be heated above 140F for 12 minutes prior to using if you want to sterilize them. 125F is above the temperature for reproduction for just about all pathogens. So there is probably little practical danger with an 8 hour cooking period for beef at 125F if you sear first. However, please realize that 8 hours at 125F is outside the FDA food code regulations, so it is not officially correct for a restaurant. Even for a private individual it is not officially correct, so you're on your own. I'm not guaranteeing anything (except that it is outside the official rules). Of course you're also on your own whenever you eat salad or other raw food! The last big food safety scare in the US was E. coli in spinach.

Not all European books are expensive, even if there are great chefs involved. The key issue is that there is a high end portion of the market that is willing to spend more money on a cookbook. European authors and publishers actively cater to that high end market by producing cookbooks with more expensive production values, and list prices to match. In the US publisher and authors act like that portion of the market just does not exist. Of course there is also a low end section of the cookbook market in Europe, which is very similar to the US cookbook market. Indeed, most cookbooks (by say number sold) are undoubtedly in that category. I don't doubt that there are some expensive books that cheat or chisel on the production values like paper and so forth. That always happens.

What about barbecue? Or breakfast?

I eat at El Bulli every year, but I have never been to Kansas City. However, I think that I may be able to spend a day there soon. My plan is to drive from one place to another to eat and sample - not a normal meal, but stop at a couple of places to get a taste of the famous food. I've read for years about Arthur Bryant's and Gates' Barbecue so I thought I'd stop there. Also Stroud's Fried Chicken, since that is famous too. I could easily imagine that the current KC cognoscenti may tell me that these places are not what they use to be, so I should skip one or more of them. Or perhaps there is a third or fourth stop that I have to make.... I would appreciate suggestions!

I will be in St Louis for a couple days and I want to experience the best food available there. That includes local specialties: Barbecue or fried chicken, catfish or other local dishes. I seem to recall that pig snout sandwiches are a St Louis specialty but maybe I have that wrong. I am also interested in any other great dining experiences - including high end or haute cuisine. I would really appreciate any recommendations!

I will be in Durham, NC soon and will have at least one dinner, and possibily lunch and breakfast free to explore. What is the best eating in the area? I am interested in the best food experience there. I love real southern barbeque. Or fried chicken. Or other traditional southern food.... or if there is a more fancy high end restaurant, or ethnic food - whatever is GREAT.

There are tables and FDA recommended times elsewhere in the post. 60C for about 1.5 hours to 2 hours should be OK, and is accepted in some FDA documents posted elsewhere in the thread. Not all health inspectors know this - they are very poorly informed about the reality of food safety. Your "botulinum cook" step does absolutely nothing for food safety, especially not against Clostridium botulinum or botulism. This explained elsewhere in the thread. If you eat the chicken breast without storing it in vacuum there is NO threat of botulism. If you store the chicken breast in a vacuum bag at low temperature (34F/1C) then FDA says you can keep it a week with no botulism threat. Botulism is a threat if you either store for longer than that, or store warmer than that. There is an FDA time table for other temperatures. So, in most cases for sous vide botulism is not a concern. BUT, you should know that if there is a concern, your "botulinum cook" is not sufficient. 1 min at 90C is NOWHERE NEAR enough to kill the spores. Whether your customers like the color, taste and texture is a different issue from food safety. Many people are used to overcooked chicken!

This varies a lot depending on the model. I have some that are very quiet (VWR, Lauda), and some that are medium (Fisher) and some that are noisy (Cole Parmer). However even within those brands it varies a lot. The noise comes from the pump motor. Water baths without a pump are totally silent, but you miss the benefit of the circulation which keeps the temperature even. This should work just fine. Having the water slightly acidic will not hurt the water bath, nor will it affect the bags. However, you might be better off getting a water filter and filtering your water.

AC is a really good example that shows high end books are possible in the US market. However, if you went to a typical magazine publisher and said "hey, let's do a hard cover magazine" they'd think you were crazy. But the AC guys seem to make it work.... The other points you make are good - overseas is where everybody prints.