Where my fellow cooks at???

[count2infinity]

It's not like the thread is overrun by top chef discussion, this past page had 25 posts... 5 about top chef (easily avoidable because they're all spoilered) and 3 about not wanting to talk about top chef. Top chef is a show about cooking, and belongs in this thread.

[BigMcK]

Can anyone suggest a recipe to cook a Top Chef?

Last time I tried, the dish was way too salty and tough.

[tifosi77]

Top Chef

Spoiler:

Gregory is officially back on track. Mei is slipping a bit, but I think she's going to bring it now that the pressure of making the finale is gone. I'm looking forward to what should be an excellent finale, between the 2 chefs I've wanted to see face off for most of the season.

Spoiler:

I agree with all of this. And I was very surprised that no one sort of chided Mei for doing another chef's very famous dish, altho I think Colicchio was kind of wise to her.

That last challenge really made me want to seek out Mexican markets to see if I can find huitlacoche (the corn fungus). I've had it a couple times, and it's delicious.

And to preempt the bellyaching about no cooking, I give you a dish I prepared in 2009, and have not made again since.....

Beet 'Ravioli' with Chèvre-Tarragon Filling and Pepper-Almond Sauce

[shmenguin]

I did tif's steak method...Freeze > sear > bake > sear

The 2nd sear was too long (should be a minute at most) and I baked it about 5 degrees too high, but this is without a doubt the best method I've done. The crust was fantastic and it was pink almost edge to edge - despite me screwing up the 2nd sear.

Will do again. And again.

[tifosi77]

So I've been wanting to try a Top Chef dish since I saw it presented, and finally got around to it last night.

This is a riff on Mei's riff on Julia Childs' 'Orange Duck'



Followed her recipe (as published on Bravo's website) for everything but the duck (which I cooked sous vide, of course, then seared) and the orange; for that, I made an orange juice fluid gel set with agar agar following the technique demonstrated by ChefSteps. (The recipe is part of a paid class, otherwise I'd share the video. They recommend low acyl gellan gum, but as luck would have it I was fresh out.) If I were to make this again tonight, I'd lose the peas and add crunch by making a crispy duck skin crumble. And I'd thicken the turnip puree (which isn't really even visible in the photo), as it just sort of added nothing to the dish in a textural sense. (The slight bitterness worked well with the sweet orange gel, tho.)

The orange gel and the jus were magical together.

[tifosi77]

I did tif's steak method...Freeze > sear > bake > sear

The 2nd sear was too long (should be a minute at most) and I baked it about 5 degrees too high, but this is without a doubt the best method I've done. The crust was fantastic and it was pink almost edge to edge - despite me screwing up the 2nd sear.

Will do again. And again.

Yes, that second sear won't take much time; it's easy to overdo it that second time around, because the meat is already hot. All you are doing is sort of 'refreshing' the crust so the textural contrast is at its best on the plate. If you have a really hot burner, you might be able to get away with 30 seconds or so per side... you can do 30 seconds total if you fry the steak afterwards, but even I will say that's perhaps a bridge too far for 99.9% of home cooks.

But on giving it a go! Glad you liked it.

[count2infinity]

The wife and I found ourselves going out almost every weekend for breakfast/brunch, and there aren't many good breakfast places in State College, so we were stuck with pretty much diner breakfast. As a new years resolution, we decided to make brunch every Sunday. We figured, we could make it better, cheaper, and we wouldn't leave brunch smelling like a diner. I've made quite a few things so far this year including frittatas, omelettes, pancakes... most of the typical stuff. Today, I went slightly outside the box. Made some buttermilk biscuits, took some reheated fried chicken left over from Friday and put that on the biscuit, drizzled with some maple syrup, added some cheddar cheese, a fried egg, and then dotted the egg with some sriracha. I wasn't 100% on how the maple syrup would work in there, but it was fantastic. The sweetness from that and the egg was enough to make it really feel like brunch. Definitely will be making that again. Sorry, no picture... ate it too quickly to do that.

edit: I also wanted to ask... why are biscuits round? The recipe I was using said to get a cup and cut out round biscuits and then try to recombine the scraps... they won't make quite as good biscuits, but they'll still be okay. Why not just cut squares so that you don't have scraps? That's why I did today and they turned out great.

[shmenguin]

I had a gray band of steak under one side of the crust on the re-sear. It also wasn't a very pretty crust. I learned my lesson on the other side.

I've also jumped off of the strip steak bandwagon and am firmly on team tenderloin at this point. I know I'm supposed to love the flavor boost from the fat, but the texture of the filet wins out.

[count2infinity]

That laugh...

[youtube][/youtube]

[shmenguin]

Just discovered homemade gnocchi and how it can make a gluten free household a happier place.

[Letang Is The Truth]

I did tif's steak method...Freeze > sear > bake > sear

The 2nd sear was too long (should be a minute at most) and I baked it about 5 degrees too high, but this is without a doubt the best method I've done. The crust was fantastic and it was pink almost edge to edge - despite me screwing up the 2nd sear.

Will do again. And again.

Yes, that second sear won't take much time; it's easy to overdo it that second time around, because the meat is already hot. All you are doing is sort of 'refreshing' the crust so the textural contrast is at its best on the plate. If you have a really hot burner, you might be able to get away with 30 seconds or so per side... you can do 30 seconds total if you fry the steak afterwards, but even I will say that's perhaps a bridge too far for 99.9% of home cooks.

But on giving it a go! Glad you liked it.

interesting.

how long do you freeze for? and how long is the initial sear? also, what temperature do you usually use to bake? i feel i always keep my oven a little too high

[mac5155]

Spoiler:

trollface.jpg


Thank you

[shmenguin]

I did tif's steak method...Freeze > sear > bake > sear

The 2nd sear was too long (should be a minute at most) and I baked it about 5 degrees too high, but this is without a doubt the best method I've done. The crust was fantastic and it was pink almost edge to edge - despite me screwing up the 2nd sear.

Will do again. And again.

Yes, that second sear won't take much time; it's easy to overdo it that second time around, because the meat is already hot. All you are doing is sort of 'refreshing' the crust so the textural contrast is at its best on the plate. If you have a really hot burner, you might be able to get away with 30 seconds or so per side... you can do 30 seconds total if you fry the steak afterwards, but even I will say that's perhaps a bridge too far for 99.9% of home cooks.

But on giving it a go! Glad you liked it.

interesting.

how long do you freeze for? and how long is the initial sear? also, what temperature do you usually use to bake? i feel i always keep my oven a little too high

i froze them for about 90 minutes. uncovered, with plenty of salt. the initial sear is 3 minutes or so per side. maybe less if you get the pan screaming hot. you do it until they look right, basically. i bake them at 275, but only because i don't want to wait around all day. generally, the lower temp, the better. how long to bake depends on a lot of things. definitely get a meat thermometer. very little moisture seeped out, even when i used a probe thermometer.

[SoupOrSam]

I never got around to posting a picture of that recipe of the simply pan roasted in a skillet I did a few weeks back. (in this case turkey thigh)

Excellent. Yummy.

[tifosi77]

I did tif's steak method...Freeze > sear > bake > sear

The 2nd sear was too long (should be a minute at most) and I baked it about 5 degrees too high, but this is without a doubt the best method I've done. The crust was fantastic and it was pink almost edge to edge - despite me screwing up the 2nd sear.

Will do again. And again.

Yes, that second sear won't take much time; it's easy to overdo it that second time around, because the meat is already hot. All you are doing is sort of 'refreshing' the crust so the textural contrast is at its best on the plate. If you have a really hot burner, you might be able to get away with 30 seconds or so per side... you can do 30 seconds total if you fry the steak afterwards, but even I will say that's perhaps a bridge too far for 99.9% of home cooks.

But on giving it a go! Glad you liked it.

interesting.

how long do you freeze for? and how long is the initial sear? also, what temperature do you usually use to bake? i feel i always keep my oven a little too high

You don't really have to freeze the meat, you can go straight out of the fridge. But popping it in the freezer for maybe 10 minutes prior will give you an added squidge factor.

I like to cook the product as close to the desired doneness temperature as I can. My current oven only goes about as low as 150°F, so there's going to be a tiny bit of overcooking on anything but ribs or shoulder roasts. (Which is why I'm fully on the sous vide wagon) Invest in a good thermocouple with a needle insert so you can monitor the temp. Since the cooking temp is low, there will be little to no carryover. Just take it out, re-sear (so more than about 30 seconds a side if you have a really hot burner), let it rest for 5 minutes, then slice away.

[tifosi77]

Sunday dinner... Pork Tenderloin With Green Peas

[Letang Is The Truth]

How long Do you keep it in the oven at 150?

[viva la ben]

Fans of cooking/travel shows should check out *pizza* That's Delicious featuring Action Bronson on Vice.

[shmenguin]

until the internal temp is right...which depends on your taste. tif probably likes 125. i like somewhere between 130 and 135

[tifosi77]

If it's a nice aged ribeye, I'll do 120, but generally 125-130 is acceptable. If cooking sous vide (or in an oven at that temp), I like to hold it there for a couple hours to give the fat time to become not gloopy.

If you're cooking in a low oven that's a few degrees above desired doneness, you don't really have that option. Eventually the meat will reach equilibrium with the oven temp, which means it will be overcooked. So if I'm doing the low temp oven technique, I'll cook it to a slightly higher core temp than I normally prefer (130-135, which is still rare-to-med rare) in order to make sure the fat is at least somewhat rendered.

If you're doing the slow oven method, I recommend a temp of about 150 F. The amount of time you'll need to cook to doneness varies with the thickness of the product and your oven's ability to maintain a consistent temp, but figure anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes. That's plenty of time to prepare delicious sauces and accompaniments for your meal.

Pork is pretty much universally brined and cooked to ~145 F regardless of cut. (Ribs notwithstanding)

[mac5155]

I made homemade "Nashville Hot fried chicken" yesterday. I really wish it wasn't soo bad for you because it was absolutely delicious.

[tifosi77]

I want to go to that place; they showed it on Sean Brock's 'Mind Of A Chef' series and it looked outstanding.

[columbia]

I made homemade "Nashville Hot fried chicken" yesterday. I really wish it wasn't soo bad for you because it was absolutely delicious.

Fried chicken is never a bad idea.

[mac5155]

Just looked it up, Sean went to Prince's. I have been to Hattie B's and 400 degrees, but not Prince's. Hattie B's was phenomenal. 400 degrees was just OK, they focused more on insane hotness than good flavor.

Here's the recipe we replicated:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/hatt ... icken.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mac5155]

I made homemade "Nashville Hot fried chicken" yesterday. I really wish it wasn't soo bad for you because it was absolutely delicious.

Fried chicken is never a bad idea.

It is when you down a breast, thigh, and leg by yourself, which have a lard based coating