Where my fellow cooks at???

[Shyster]

Sous-vide and liquid nitrogen all for the same dessert? I figure something like this is what cooking at tofosi's house looks like:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3ef_1374106743

[tifosi77]

Haha, I wish! That sh|t's expensive.... and the be perfectly honest, I'm a little afraid to work with LN2. But hopefully sometime around the end of summer I'll be getting a couple immersion circulators and Cambro baths. I just don't know when I'll have the spare $2,000 to get a chamber vacuum sealer.

This video was shared a few weeks ago on the ChefSteps.com forum as we tried to figure out the ingredients. The restaurant is located around the corner from my company HQ in Roppongi Hills, Tokyo.

[count2infinity]

LN2 isn't bad to work with. gloves and a good thermos is all you need. i work with it on almost a daily basis... that's not in the kitchen though. It does just fine in Rubbermaid Tupperware too.

[tifosi77]

It looks like it's no big deal when I see chefs demo recipes. Proper safety precautions observed, I'm sure it's perfectly safe. I'm just paranoid about spilling it on myself and freezing my jeans to my junk or something. I suppose I could wear a leather butcher's apron...

ChefSteps is posting more and more content using LN2, so I may end up getting a Dewar. But most of what I'm interested in making that would use LN2 (ice creams and sorbets) can be accomplished nearly as well and as quickly using CO2/dry ice, and I'm not at all sketched out by that stuff.

[tifosi77]

you know what, this is making me think........ how exactly to you store it? I mean, I know you need a Thermos, but even if you put that in the freezer it's still going to be over 300°F warming than the boiling point. Does it boil away over time and simply evaporate into the container? If I get a 4 L Dewar and go to my local liquid nitrogen kwik-e-mart, how long will that last?

[count2infinity]

we have a tank of liquid nitrogen that is probably about 30 gallons or so. the boil-off is sent to the lasers in our lab to keep them cool, and the rest we take out to put in a dewar that's about 5 gallons or so. if the dewar is capped and full, i'd say it goes down by half in about a week or so since the dewar is cold to start. I'd say if you get a 4 L dewar it'd last a few days if capped and it's a good dewar.

[PensFanInDC]

Tonight's dessert

[tifosi77]

I don't know why so many of my food pics are always out of focus. Really annoying.

Scallops With Lentis (Two Ways) And Summer Tomato Salad With Herbs


Kind of a...... gross looking plate, really. Yech.

(And 'two ways' is what you call it when you are cooking red lentils and French lentils the same way and one of the pots gets too hot and you overcook the red lentils. You then make a puree.)

[Ben Klingston]

I don't know why so many of my food pics are always out of focus.

If I was about to eat most of the stuff you post on here, my hands would be trembling out of excitement also.

[bh]

I usually don't like making pork anything. I always cook it way too damn long. Dry, tough, and bland describe my usual efforts. Tonight I made a simple pork tenderloin roast, took it out when the thermometer hit 145 and holy crap was it good. No pics, but i was pretty proud of the meal. Don't overcook your pork, it's just not worth it. Now I want to try a brine.

[tifosi77]

Try taking it out a little lower (135-138) and tenting it under foil for 5-6 minutes before cutting. Residual cooking will carry over that temp to 145, which is about the max temp I'd want for tender.

Brining will change your life. Best way to do it (so you avoid an overly salty final product) is a technique called 'equilibrium brining'. Get the container you will hold the pork in while it brines on a scale and zero the scale (tare). Add the pork and just enough water to cover. Check that combined weight, measure between 1% and 2% of the water/pork weight in salt. Remove the pork, add the salt to the water and stir to dissolve. Return the pork to the brine, close/seal, then pop it in the fridge for at least 12 hours (24 would be ideal). You can leave that tender in the brine for days on end and it will never rise above the salinity of the solution. (This works for firmer-fleshed and fatty fish, too. But you only need about 20-30 minutes to hit equilibrium.)

It takes longer, but you end up with a uniform amount of brine throughout the product instead of heavily brined outer layer and barely brined interior with a middle bit that's more or less okay. (Hence the term 'equilibrium brining')

[tifosi77]

Been a busy couple of days...... planning an 'Asian night' dinner with some friends, and tested out a few of the recipes this weekend.

On Saturday we tried:

Spoiler:

Chawanmushi With Crab And Mushrooms


Tiá Tô Thịt Lợn Nuoc Cham
Pork Rolls with Perilla Leaves and Fish Sauce Accompaniment

Then on Sunday it was:

Spoiler:

Heirloom Tomatoes with Basil (not part of the Asian plan, but darn it heirloom tomatoes are delicious)


Sake (Salmon) 104 with Watercress Puree and Wasabi Cream


Matcha Gelato with Plum Sauce, Black Sesame and Mint

(My plate of this dish included a few drops of passion fruit vinegar.... which was outstanding! Such an unexpected and cool combination, savory vinegar in a sweet dessert.)

[columbia]

(High-end) balsamic vinegar is very good on strawberries.

[BigMcK]

We had a 12lb rotisserie turkey for dinner last night that had been brined for 24 hrs in a 3/4 cup sea salt and 2 gallon water mix. I put enough apple wood chips in the smoker box that produced a nice 30 minute smoke. Perfect flavor and juicy meat.

Tif, have you been to Farmshop in Brentwood? If so, your thoughts? http://farmshopla.com/#

[Letang Is The Truth]

(High-end) balsamic vinegar is very good on strawberries.

[Shyster]

I usually don't like making pork anything. I always cook it way too damn long. Dry, tough, and bland describe my usual efforts. Tonight I made a simple pork tenderloin roast, took it out when the thermometer hit 145 and holy crap was it good. No pics, but i was pretty proud of the meal. Don't overcook your pork, it's just not worth it. Now I want to try a brine.

With the way modern pigs have been bred to be low-fat, I usually stay away from the loin and tenderloin and chops made therefrom. One basically needs to brine them or do something similar in order to keep them from being too dry. My favorite cuts of pork all involve the shoulder: country-style ribs (either bone-in or boneless), blade steaks, Boston butts, and picnic shoulders. Most of these necessarily require low-and-slow cooking methods, but the results IMO are much more flavorful than the relatively bland loin and tenderloin.

[tifosi77]

(High-end) balsamic vinegar is very good on strawberries.

But aceto balsamico isn't very sour like normal vinegars. In fact, proper tradizionale is very sweet and is sometimes drunk (sipped) by itself as a digestivo. No, this was a real make-the-back-of-your-mouth-salivate, savory profile.

[columbia]

WorldCat cookbook finder:
http://experimental.worldcat.org/xfinde ... inder.html

[Shyster]

This weekend, I had both some leftover fried chicken and half a loaf of bread to dispose of. Having heard of the concept of “chicken and waffles,” I figured that chicken and French toast must be pretty close, so I went ahead and created that meal. With maple syrup and everything. It was actually really good, and the fried chicken actually worked well with the maple flavor.

[tifosi77]

Oh my god......... if you're ever in Los Angeles seek out Roscoe's House of Chicken & Waffles. I am not hugely into soul food, but that place is so good.

[Godric]

Okay, so I have to cook dinner for someone. Its a girl. I really like this girl.

I have moderately advanced culinary skill and knowledge. (Was raised by 2 off the boat Italian Immigrants, my brother was a Chef at Montour Country Club for like 5 years and taught me knife skills)

She is a vegan. I'm not a vegan.

I aiming to impress, I'm talking Appetizer + Dinner + Dessert + Drinks = Profit? She is coming over to give input on this project we are working on (I talked about this in the Music thread)

I know how to cook awesome for myself... If you are an athlete/gym goer and you are bulking... ****.... I'll cook some of the best meals you can conceive but if you are a VEGAN??? Rice and Juice from my Vitamix lol?

If anyone has any ideas... ****. I'm all ears.

She is coming over on Saturday.

#PagingThePowersOfLGP Tif, Columbia, ANYONE!

Edit:
Disclaimer: I don't eat Soy, Cashews or Corn. Anything else I'll eat.

[Shyster]

Okay, so I have to cook dinner for someone. Its a girl. I really like this girl.

She is a vegan. I'm not a vegan.

My first suggestion is to give up. It's not going to work out. I would probably have an easier time trying to date an avowed socialist than I would dating a vegan. You can mutually decide to not talk about something, but what you eat is what you eat.

My second suggestion would be a pasta dish. Something like pesto would be vegan, right?

[shafnutz05]

Okay, so I have to cook dinner for someone. Its a girl. I really like this girl.

She is a vegan. I'm not a vegan.

My first suggestion is to give up. It's not going to work out. I would probably have an easier time trying to date an avowed socialist than I would dating a vegan. You can mutually decide to not talk about something, but what you eat is what you eat.

I am inclined to agree, that is a major compatibility issue. More so, I would argue, than politics or religion combined.

[columbia]

Smoking is another one....getting nagged about that was never fun.

[GSdrums87]

Don't listen to them, Godric. You whip up a red sauce pasta and a dairy-free chocolate cake and then show her that just because she doesn't eat animals don't mean that goose down comforter ain't getting occupied TONIGHT.