Excellent Adventures on Manitoulin ...continued

[Kerry Beal]

Tonight's dinner 'under contruction' - one anova at 90 C - the other at 54.

Fired up the little BGE and gave this flat iron a little colour.

Sous vide carrots.

Look at that gorgeous rare!

Used the residual heat to char my tomatillos - they will spend the night in the fridge and when I have some onions in the house - shall make them into salsa verde.

[rotuts]

Duel-ing Anova's

Excellent. will re-do the winter budget.

[Kerry Beal]

Found some half price bananas at the supermarket that were almost ready for banana bread. So last night I made two loaves - one will go to the ER today - the other to the neighbours in the condo below ours. They took care of our herbs while we were back in the city.

This am I made the Fine Cooking Bakeshop muffins - I have some frozen strawberries left over from the summer and added a couple of the bananas sliced up.

I was worried about getting them out because they are designed to overflow the pan - but I had Pam'd the one well and the other is kind of non stick. Only two casualties.

These should feed folks for rounds this morning.

[Darienne]

And so the local staff is overjoyed that you are back... :wub:

[Kerry Beal]

I'm sure they will be - I'll bet that haven't had a thing to eat since I left!

[gfweb]

They've been dieting since your last visit.

[rotuts]

those muffin 'tops' look terrific. I love 'tops'

wish there were a way to just make Tops.

[Anna N]

Good morning! Not sure how much cooking you will see from me today as I may need to grocery shop first and I had some housekeeping chores to tackle this morning. But here's brunch:

A portobella cap wiped clean, gills scraped out and discarded and the the cap brushed with olive oil and gently sauteed in a covered pan. The wonderful farm-fresh eggs were quickly scrambled with some sharp cheddar and piled onto the mushroom cap.

[rotuts]

BTW: can those SV carrots be 'torched' after the SV for a little browning?

Time and Temp for the SV Carrots?

many thanks

[Kerry Beal]

those muffin 'tops' look terrific. I love 'tops' wish there were a way to just make Tops.

I have a muffin tin for those - but not here.

[Kerry Beal]

Home from the ER for a few minutes - scrambled up a couple of eggs with cheese - dab of hoisin sauce. Excuse half eaten - the pictures I took first were sadly out of focus.

[rotuts]

I have a muffin tin for those

i used to. but they never came out as good as 'true tops' never could figure out why. baking time and temp must have been off for just the tops.

should you ever get back to "tops" and they work well for you, id love to see and learn about them.

[Anna N]

BTW: can those SV carrots be 'torched' after the SV for a little browning?

Time and Temp for the SV Carrots?

many thanks

Sure. I have tossed them in a hot pan with some butter on more than one occasion. I am sure you could torch them but my macho inclinations are very poorly developed when it comes to loud noises accompanying flame-throwing devices. This time I cooked them at 90C for 25 minutes. You really need to guestimate time and then check to see if they are "bendy" or if they meet your own doneness criteria.

[Toliver]

Thanks for posting about your trip. They make for a good read.

My question is, so how do duck eggs taste compared to chicken eggs? And do they lend themselves better towards certain dishes than regular chicken eggs?

[Anna N]

Thanks for posting about your trip. They make for a good read.

My question is, so how do duck eggs taste compared to chicken eggs? And do they lend themselves better towards certain dishes than regular chicken eggs?

We have not yet explored the duck eggs and only just learned that they were a gift from the husband of the lady who supplies our gorgeous chicken eggs. We are open to suggestions as to how to make the most of this unexpected gift.

[gfweb]

I'd imagine a duck's diet would affect the egg taste. Not sure I'd want a fish-fed duck.

[rotuts]

Im of the school of thought that the flavor of the egg itself has little to do with the diet, as its a "protected space" much like the brain is.

just because they eat something, it does not necessarily those flavor compounds pass the blood-brain barrier nor Im guessing a similar barrier for the egg. They of course might flavor the meat, skin, etc. those are not protected spaces.

there have been many studies that suggest the flavor of the free range egg is not very different from the supermarket egg from time to time Ive had supermarket eggs that taste very very eggy. Cant imagine that Hen had different 'Take-Out'

eggs do taste different, but I think thats the genetics of the Hen. I expect to be a minority on this.

now: cook those duck eggs as simply as possible so you can taste the difference. Im guessing it will be in the yolk, so sunny side up for starters?

its been a long time since ive had one. much 'richer' than a chicken's

Edited October 7, 2013 by rotuts (log)

[gfweb]

Im of the school of thought that the flavor of the egg itself has little to do with the diet, as its a "protected space" much like the brain is.

just because they eat something, it does not necessarily those flavor compounds pass the blood-brain barrier nor Im guessing a similar barrier for the egg. They of course might flavor the meat, skin, etc. those are not protected spaces.

there have been many studies that suggest the flavor of the free range egg is not very different from the supermarket egg from time to time Ive had supermarket eggs that taste very very eggy. Cant imagine that Hen had different 'Take-Out'

eggs do taste different, but I think thats the genetics of the Hen. I expect to be a minority on this.

now: cook those duck eggs as simply as possible so you can taste the difference. Im guessing it will be in the yolk, so sunny side up for starters?

its been a long time since ive had one. much 'richer' than a chicken's

Not claiming specific knowledge here, but the egg has to get built with protein and fat that come from the diet of momma duck so dietary influences certainly reach the egg and might well affect the taste.

I'm sure somebody on eG actually knows.

[rotuts]

not to highjack this delicious thread:

so dietary influences certainly reach the egg

perhaps perhaps not. the egg has a very different job to do than the rest of the chicken. its very possible that its therefore protected, partially or not, from the oddeties of day to day life.

Ive seen studies where different eggs from chickens w different diets blindly tasted the same. now ... the color of the yolk is a different matter, and does not support my ideas. but the pigments might be more related to species and sub-species than diet.

perhaps an Eggs War could be started in a new thread? get your Armour out!

[Anna N]

So seeing a brief break in the emerg line-up Kerry came back to the townhouse via the grocery store. I asked for a few things including either chicken breasts or pork chops for tonight. The butcher is on vacation and his assistant said he wasn't all that comfortable custom cutting meat. Kerry said she saw a finger amputation requiring emergency treatment in her future while watching him! But he managed to keep all his fingers. Now he just needs a class or two in measuring. Kerry asked for 1 1/2 inch chops!

These are MONSTERS.

[heidih]

Duck eggs have been discussed a few times. When we have kept ducks I recall the eggs having a stronger taste. One co-worker swore by them in her cakes.

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/89793-duck-eggs/

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/142782-duck-eggs-what-is-the-best-way-to-cook-them

[FrogPrincesse]

Thanks for posting about your trip. They make for a good read.

My question is, so how do duck eggs taste compared to chicken eggs? And do they lend themselves better towards certain dishes than regular chicken eggs?

We have not yet explored the duck eggs and only just learned that they were a gift from the husband of the lady who supplies our gorgeous chicken eggs. We are open to suggestions as to how to make the most of this unexpected gift.

Duck eggs indeed have a richer taste and a higher yolk to white ratio. I love they sunny side up, on top of asparagus when in season (asparagus Milanese), or on top of a croque madame. Delish!

Edited October 7, 2013 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[gfweb]

not to highjack this delicious thread:

so dietary influences certainly reach the egg

perhaps perhaps not. the egg has a very different job to do than the rest of the chicken. its very possible that its therefore protected, partially or not, from the oddeties of day to day life.

If not from the mom's diet where do the building blocks of the egg come from then?

The privileged nature of the egg/womb is an immunological isolation to keep mom from rejecting her antigenically different offspring like a mismatched transplant. It isn't a chemical isolation, otherwise teratogens wouldn't cause birth defects.

This isn't to say diet changes an egg's taste, just that it might.

[Anna N]

Duck eggs have been discussed a few times. When we have kept ducks I recall the eggs having a stronger taste. One co-worker swore by them in her cakes.

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/89793-duck-eggs/

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/142782-duck-eggs-what-is-the-best-way-to-cook-them

Thanks for the links, Heidi.

[Anna N]

So we were just about to plate up when Kerry was called in to emerg. As she left I heard her mutter something about "in labour". And she was gone. Expecting it to be a long, long night for her I ate alone

Monster pork chop that had been sous-vided and finished on the little green egg accompanied by roasted grape tomatoes, asparagus, a little garlic and some lovely olives that we got from the Owen Sound Farmers' market.

I had just put down my cutlery when Kerry got back. Baby apparently decent enough to make an appearance almost immediately without Kerry's aid and comfort.