Absurdly, stupidly basic cooking questions (Part 2)

[Alex]

On 8/25/2022 at 11:37 AM, Annie_H said:

I thought I knew the only person on the planet that dis-likes celery. Very good friends now but when we first had them over for a bbq brunch 20 years ago, I noticed he picked out the celery from potato salad. Hates celery. 

I've not been without in my lifetime. If one is missing in a grocery order, it is a backup as one is already in the crisper.

Loving the Kumbu recipe. Must make asap. But I use nori in my furikake. 

Might have been my first solid food. My mother kept celery, carrot spears, blanched brussels and broccoli, in a fridge jar of water with pickles and bit of pickle juice for me. I would dip in mustard. So she put some mustard in the jar.--dipping made a mess. 

I start the ends in water Jan/Feb every year. Plant in a deck pot with other herbs. Grows like parsley. Big leaves and thin stems but intensely flavored. 

 

Nice. Looks like scallions and a leek in addition to the celery, yes?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I've not had pork in some weeks, and tonight I went looking for some porkchops.  What I found were $8.99 a pound, with "up to" 20 percent added water, salt, sugar, and spices.  I passed.  What I purchased was a much less expensive loin roast.  I gave up buying loin roasts years ago because I never could figure out how to cook these loin roasts satisfactorily without drying them out like shoe leather.

 

Reveled wisdom seems to be to start the loin roast at high heat for a few minutes then reduce heat to finish.  As an alternative I thought of slicing the roast into* chops and grilling.  Thoughts or suggestions?

 

This message has time value.

 

 

*admittedly tiny

 

[DesertTinker]

42 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I've not had pork in some weeks, and tonight I went looking for some porkchops.  What I found were $8.99 a pound, with "up to" 20 percent added water, salt, sugar, and spices.  I passed.  What I purchased was a much less expensive loin roast.  I gave up buying loin roasts years ago because I never could figure out how to cook these loin roasts satisfactorily without drying them out like shoe leather.

 

Reveled wisdom seems to be to start the loin roast at high heat for a few minutes then reduce heat to finish.  As an alternative I thought of slicing the roast into* chops and grilling.  Thoughts or suggestions?

 

This message has time value.

 

 

*admittedly tiny

 

Cut it into chops. That’s my preferred way to get pork loin chops. Often what look like a “matched set” of chops in the package turns out to be multiple thickness once opened.

Edited November 14, 2022 by DesertTinker
Clarity (log)

[TdeV]

12 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I've not had pork in some weeks, and tonight I went looking for some porkchops.  What I found were $8.99 a pound, with "up to" 20 percent added water, salt, sugar, and spices.  I passed.  What I purchased was a much less expensive loin roast.  I gave up buying loin roasts years ago because I never could figure out how to cook these loin roasts satisfactorily without drying them out like shoe leather.

 

Reveled wisdom seems to be to start the loin roast at high heat for a few minutes then reduce heat to finish.  As an alternative I thought of slicing the roast into* chops and grilling.  Thoughts or suggestions?

 

This message has time value.

 

 

*admittedly tiny

 

 

Sous vide?

[Anna N]

41 minutes ago, TdeV said:

 

Sous vide?

As I recall, pork loin does very well sous vide. I think @Shelbymastered it. 

[Shelby]

3 minutes ago, Anna N said:

As I recall, pork loin does very well sous vide. I think @Shelbymastered it. 

We almost always SV our pork loin.  It always turns out so tender and juicy.  We like 2 1/2 hours at 135F.  I usually don't even sear it afterwards.

[Katie Meadow]

Yes, pork loin is tender,, but I've never found it very flavorful. When I have it I usually cut it in very thin strips and marinate the living daylights out of it with garlic, soy, rice wine, etc. Then I use it in a stir-fry. Don't own a SV. 

[heidih]

3 minutes ago, Katie Meadow said:

Yes, pork loin is tender,, but I've never found it very flavorful. When I have it I usually cut it in very thin strips and marinate the living daylights out of it with garlic, soy, rice wine, etc. Then I use it in a stir-fry. Don't own a SV. 

My method as well. Plus I don't like hunks 'o meat on the plate

[Katie Meadow]

2 minutes ago, heidih said:

My method as well. Plus I don't like hunks 'o meat on the plate

OMG I'm a member of your tribe. I'm not wild about having big hunks of meat on my plate either. More and more I'm liking to make Asian things where protein isn't the star, just a participant. Even fish. I've recently been grilling it outside in foil packages with a variety of Asian sauces/spices (and butter!) and then serving it on short grain rice. It works and affords plenty of flavorful juices My rice cooker is getting a workout these days, and the minimal clean up with foil packets is a big bonus. 

 

[heidih]

42 minutes ago, Katie Meadow said:

OMG I'm a member of your tribe. I'm not wild about having big hunks of meat on my plate either. More and more I'm liking to make Asian things where protein isn't the star, just a participant. Even fish. I've recently been grilling it outside in foil packages with a variety of Asian sauces/spices (and butter!) and then serving it on short grain rice. It works and affords plenty of flavorful juices My rice cooker is getting a workout these days, and the minimal clean up with foil packets is a big bonus. 

 

 

42 minutes ago, Katie Meadow said:

OMG I'm a member of your tribe. I'm not wild about having big hunks of meat on my plate either. More and more I'm liking to make Asian things where protein isn't the star, just a participant. Even fish. I've recently been grilling it outside in foil packages with a variety of Asian sauces/spices (and butter!) and then serving it on short grain rice. It works and affords plenty of flavorful juices My rice cooker is getting a workout these days, and the minimal clean up with foil packets is a big bonus. 

 

My aversion is from childhood - never ending beef steak and roasts butcher dad brought home - hey free....  I do enjoy things like well seasoned pork butt slow roasted to falling apart and lamb shanks.  I was so surprised when my Viet born friend and cooking mentor who is a great cook (and eater) expressed affection for prime rib. To her  - a '75 evacuee it was a luxury I think.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

On 11/14/2022 at 12:17 PM, Shelby said:

We almost always SV our pork loin.  It always turns out so tender and juicy.  We like 2 1/2 hours at 135F.  I usually don't even sear it afterwards.

 

I finally cooked the pork loin...

 

 

Three hours (I was aiming for two and a half hours, but you know how mai tais are) in the APO at 59C.  Then seared ten minutes at 250C.

 

 

[Shelby]

10 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I finally cooked the pork loin...

 

 

Three hours (I was aiming for two and a half hours, but you know how mai tais are) in the APO at 59C.  Then seared ten minutes at 250C.

 

 

That looks delicious!  

[TdeV]

In a pot of broth or water, what is the temperature of "gentle simmer"?

 

 

 

Edited November 25, 2022 by TdeV
Spelling! (log)

[Tropicalsenior]

18 minutes ago, TdeV said:

In a bot of broth or water, what is the temperature of "gentle simmer"?

I got out of pot of water and my instant read thermometer and what I consider a gentle simmer is bubbles just barely breaking the surface. My instant read was at 204 °. We are at about 4,000 ft altitude.

[ElsieD]

32 minutes ago, TdeV said:

In a bot of broth or water, what is the temperature of "gentle simmer"?

I think of it as 4 or 5 lazy bubbles breaking the surface.

[TdeV]

Thanks. @ElsieD, I have a thermometer to program, so I am looking for the actual temperature. We're at 760' elevation, but I'm not sure how to translate how that changes boiling temp.

[Smithy]

7 minutes ago, TdeV said:

Thanks. @ElsieD, I have a thermometer to program, so I am looking for the actual temperature. We're at 760' elevation, but I'm not sure how to translate how that changes boiling temp.

 

According to the USDA, the boiling point of water drops 1 degree F per 500' of altitude, so you'd be looking at 210.5F assuming standard atmospheric pressure.

[TdeV]

15 minutes ago, Smithy said:

According to the USDA, the boiling point of water drops 1 degree F per 500' of altitude, so you'd be looking at 210.5F assuming standard atmospheric pressure.

 

Thanks, Smithy. That's the boiling point of water for me, then? If so, what is a gently simmer?

Edited November 25, 2022 by TdeV (log)

[Smithy]

14 minutes ago, TdeV said:

 

Thanks, Smithy. That's the boiling point of water for me, then? If so, what is a gently simmer?

 

That would be the boiling point for water at your altitude, yes. I'm not sure how much less for a gentle simmer. 1 F lower? I'm just guessing, sorry. Maybe someone else has measured how close to the boiling point water has to be before it starts simmering. I doubt it can be much lower.

 

Edited to add: boy, was I wrong about that!! Read on!

[Tropicalsenior]

4 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

what I consider a gentle simmer is bubbles just barely breaking the surface. My instant read was at 204 °.

That was the temperature of gentle simmer for me. I make cottage cheese every week and the directions are for it to come almost to simmer and just as bubbles start to break on the surface the temperature is at 197°.

I don't know if it is just my imagination but to me, the viscosity of the liquid seems to affect the temperature at which it maintains a simmer.

Edited November 25, 2022 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[Smithy]

8 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

That was the temperature of gentle simmer for me. I make cottage cheese every week and the directions are for it to come almost to simmer and just as bubbles start to break on the surface the temperature is at 197°.

I don't know if it is just my imagination but to me, the viscosity of the liquid seems to affect the temperature at which it maintains a simmer.

 

The viscosity would definitely affect the simmering point, as well as the boiling point. Thanks for your measurements.

 

According to Thermpro (who, as I type this, is having a Black Friday sale)

Quote

There are three main types of simmers to keep in mind:

1. Slow simmers are generally closer to 185 degrees and characterized by a lack of motion. Bubbles will be barely visible and the water won’t move much at all, making this a good choice for many dishes that require longer, slower cooking.
2. Regular simmers happen around 195 degrees and have the characteristic tiny streams of bubbles.
3. Rapid simmers tend to be around 205 degrees, which still puts them a few degrees short of a typical boil. While rapid simmers and boils do both have a lot of movement, the easiest way to tell them apart is that rapid simmer still tends to have tiny streams of bubbles, whereas boils have much larger individual bubbles.

 

Other websites have similar numbers. Getting back to the altitude question: I'd extrapolate from the boiling point rule to make a simmer rule. So @TdeV's altitude of 760' should require a gentle simmer at 183.5F.

[ElsieD]

I am making some smoked salmon mousse tomorrow.  Can I freeze some of it?  It will have plain gelatin in it.

[TdeV]

@ElsieD, does it use cream? I have always read that cream doesn't freeze well.

[AlaMoi]

toss the temperature idea in the dumper and go with eyeball observation.

 

a simmer has gentle but regular "bubbles"

a boil has vigorous continuous "bubbles"

a hard boil has very energetic explosive "bubbles"

 

it's really not that hard - cooktops have "knobs" - turn down the heat, turn up the heat. 

it's not "heat on" vs "heat off"

[Tropicalsenior]

8 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Can I freeze some of it?  It will have plain gelatin in it.

https://www.freezeit.co.uk/can-you-freeze-gelatin/