jsolomon

Jason, some of us perusing the list don't generally have access to many neurons to scratch about champagne, so some examples would be in order, please.

Hmm, I wonder if Nebraska would make good champagne...

Salt. I could never face down a whole plate of the vile stuff. But, one time, I tried it on a plain cracker, and a whole new world opened up to me! Saltines! Whole grain crackers! Salt on my bread crusts when baking them. One time, I even tried putting it on my steak before grilling. I don't have to tell you in advance, what a difference that made. I still can't choke the stuff down raw, though.

Fried chicken. Beer/wine/liquor Spicy foods, especially sriracha Kale Fried rice

I haven't brewed beer in a while, but I just resurrected my fermentor with a batch of wine. Pinot grigiot. I will let you know how it goes (even though this is in the beer forum).

I just had one more thought. Try adding a crushed vitamin C tablet to your bread. That might help. As for numbers, etc, remember yeasts are one-celled organisms. They are [vaguely] simple and exist in large numbers for two reasons: they breed a gazillion times faster than rabbits, and if you look at them cross-eyed, they die. To wit, in some of the research I'm doing, we had to do a freeze-thaw study on yeast, when we did it, we found roughly one in ten cells survived--and that was being nice to them, keeping them wet and coddled with glycerin. The yeasts you've got are mostly sporulated for long-term storage which is a much rougher process. So, I wouldn't expect quite as high of a return on those.

It's an invading species in Nebraska, and our nature conservations guys are making a stink about it.

I'm having horrid little visions of someone balling up mashed potatoes and dropping it into LN2 with gravy so the outside is frozen and the inside is still hot and serving them to unsuspecting folks as a tapas item. Right next to the glowing pickle ornament at the bar. The Glowing Pickle Page Edit to add: For LN2 Ice cream, the recipes I saw on the web vacillated between equal amounts of mix and LN2 to 5 parts LN2 to 1 part ice cream mix. Most recipes called for 1 part mix, 2 parts LN2. I vaguely remember Dr. Carr making it with 2 parts mix and 1 part LN2. So, obviously, YMMV. But, I have to ask, after 10 years of lab-ratdom, are there that many lab-rats that you want to see naked, and shaved? I shudder at the thought of most of the ones I know.

It's not a swilling beer. It is quite good, though. I can usually get it for between 2.50 and 3.00 a can.

What I do, and all that I expect from anyone peddling food to me is practice good hygiene (personal and industrial). Keep your work surfaces clean. Keep your foodstuffs at the proper temperatures and away from gross filth. And, avoid cross-contamination. The problem is that when you start getting beyond keeping your work surfaces clean, dry, and at the proper temperature (ditto your foodstuffs), you start playing the game of diminishing returns. Since I don't have anything in the sous vide cooker realm currently, I don't have a whole lot of general information to pass along. I have gross generalities, and curiosities (like E. histolytica lifestyles, or Thermophillus and Thermococcus lifestyles). If I had a sous vide cooker? I'd probably make some rosemary short ribs like you did and see if I could culture anything from them. But without further work, I can't give a whole lot of information, because I don't have it at my fingertips. So, to answer your question, yes, you can, and the lower your sous vide temperature, the more appropriate it will be, especially for vegetables and fruits given the nature of their storage and transportation. A quick rinse in a large amount of acidulated water or quaternary ammonia containing water and then a rinse in clear water will definitely reduce your chance. But, so will a quick rinse in clear water. Both will help. The difference in how much they will help, I can't give you specifics on.

I stand corrected, but I still stand behind my statement that it's probably not effective against E. histolytica. The contact time doesn't seem to add up to the proper amount to be effective. However, the simple mechanical action of washing is going to be most effective because, well, those oocytes are in gross filth. So, remove the filth, remove the pathogen. Edit to further add: I don't think E. histolytica is going to be a horrid problem in sous vide cooking, though. It is not a free-living pathogen, so I'd be looking at other things. Bacillus strains, etc. I will check on E. histolytica's lifestyle and post back.

Way back in the obscured, misty recesses of my college career, I took a class called "Fine Food and Wine". I walked out of there very cocksure and full of knowledge. I was certain that I Knew It All. Of course, much time has passed since then, and I have learned that I know but a drop in the bucket of all there is to know about wine. Thus brings this current question. How is German bubbly? German sparking wine. My nephew, a very good gifter, produced a bottle of Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt, Deutscher Sekt, Traditionelle Flaschengarung. I know it is a 2002 Riesling Extra Dry bottle of bubbly, but I'm curious about people's experiences and expectations of a 3 year-old bottle of German bubbly.

It could be. Try using buttermilk or milk instead of water for one batch and see how that batch turns out.

Oh my, stand mixers shine when it comes to mixing breads. You really ought to try it. It shan't be nearly as daunting as you think. The best part about bread is that every time measurement is about an hour, so you can mix it, and go get lost for an hour, knead, get lost, bake, get not-so-lost. Simple as pie, and oh how your domicile will smell lovely.

It wouldn't really do a whole lot against E. histolytica. The oocytes E. histolytica produces that are the human-pathological form are fairly acid-resistant. Part of the reason that we don't dunk our foods in that type of solution is that most of our food cooking methods disinfect (or sterilize, depending on the method) the surface of the food--and usually the interior is sterile. Also, many pathogenic bacteria, and other flora, are pathogenic not because of themselves, but because of toxins they produce as they live on the food. What this means, is in small amounts, their presence doesn't really make any difference to us. In large amounts, they do.

How much salt does your dough call for? How is the quality of your water?

In a rich media, which I would say that most bread dough is, you can expect the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to have a fairly constant doubling time for about 24 hours if you keep the temperature around 30C. So, divide 24 hours by how many hours (or fractions) between degassing cycles, and you'll have your rough answer.

Yes, they can. Thermophilus bacteria are quite common. Good places to find them are at the center of compost heaps. The particular incubator I use to keep them alive is set at 60C. The problem is that those guys are spore formers. But, enough airing of my microbiologist unmentionables. I would suggest that if you are going to use fresh herbs you should thoroughly wash them, or briefly blanch them just before use. Try that once and see if it reduces your bag bloat.

I burnt two pans of potato-bread cinnamon rolls destined for my families Christmas dinner. GRRRRR! I must now start secretly plotting the demise of the Caloric brand oven.

Jack, how do you have leftover turkey drumsticks? The males in my clan make sure those are the first to go! For me, it depends on the group I'm visiting (or if I'm at my home). My parents: own 3 chest freezers. Turkey carcass gets stripped, breasts get sliced and frozen for sandwiches during fieldwork. Cranberries get eaten with turkey sandwiches over the next few days. Mashed potatoes get turned into double and triple batches of bread dough which get frozen and/or baked depending on the amount of family visiting. Stuffing gets eaten as midnight snacks. Pies are breakfast. My fiance's family: everything gets portioned up and sent out with visitors. My house: we start a bonfire in the grill and drink beer and nosh til the food is all gone, inviting the neighbors, friends, and Army buddies over if need be.

If it's completely covered? If the sink is a fairly standard kitchen size, I think it ought to be changed hourly or so for the first 4-6 hours. Every two-ish hours for the next 6-8, and then the final one, change when it occurs to you. If it's a larger sink, one approaching the size of your cooler, I would not worry too much about changing the water.

For me it would be moving into a house with 4.5 square feet of counter space and a caloric apartment-sized stove.

When you're at the Crescent Moon, try "Hopluia". It's a beer made at a brewery I used to consult at south of Lincoln. Amazing stuff if you like hopsy beers.

And, it's a damned shame. Some of us like the yeast left in our beer.

7 out of 11. I am a culinary clod.