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Aesquire
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 01, 2020 - 06:42 am: | 
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Great! I was busboy & bar back at a Marriott for a few years in college. Kitchen staff were pros.
I'm learning to cook, late in life. America's Test Kitchen magazines rule!
BJ's Peruvian ground coffee is excellent. $13 for a 40 oz. bag. Quantum leap better than famous tv advertised coffee, & worth it. Even coffee snob buddy likes it, but complained it wasn't fresh ground. Drinks Maxwell House swill buddy thinks it's great. ( gave him a bag ) There's better, sure. Bang for the buck great in pre ground.
I'm looking forward to the next level, grinding my own.
But to start off the New Year, I'm doing a 1/3 pot of mixed Guatemalan home roasted from coffee nut friend, and Wegmans Ethiopian. ( not enough Guatemalan left for a pot )
I'm of the opinion that my coffee maker has a minimum load of "4" ( of 12 ) to do a decent brew. Based on coffee depth/fill in basket. I could be wrong on that, but everyone I ask agrees.
don't know what "4" is supposed to mean. 
It works out to 2+ mugs or 2 big camping mugs per "4" . I'll do that 3 times a day to keep the addiction from making me homicidal or headachy. ( gave up Coke for diet ) |
Aesquire
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 01, 2020 - 06:58 am: |
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Btw, coffee nut friend is a nurse. Cardiac ward, ER, Surgical, Hard core coffee nut, brews it extra stout & adds milk. Buys uncooked beans from individual plantations and can do the snob critique thing, with words like fruity, acidic, etc.
He's crazy. Great to know experts like that. I'm too cheap to go really expensive, and too picky to do bottom shelf bridge sweepings.
Correction. Wal-Mart brand Ethiopian! Their bottom shelf is horrid. Some of their upper-middle is quite good. Wegmans grocery store house brand is meh to quite good. The Kenyan is very tasty.
It's a new fanaticism for me. |
Aesquire
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 01, 2020 - 07:30 am: |
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Cast iron steak technique tip.
Preheat oven to 450f. with pan, ( dry, seasoned ) 15-20 minutes. Move pan to burner, on high ( to med high, depending on stove ) for 1-2 minutes. Pat dry steak seasoned ( salt, at least ) splash high smoke point oil into pan. Should shimmer immediately and perhaps smoke a bit. Add steak, laying away from you to prevent splash burns. ( I always get that wrong  )
Cook, untouched, 3-4 minutes, then flip, put pan in preheated oven, 3-4 minutes. Remove, put on butter/herbed butter, tent with foil for at least 5 minutes. ( another thing I get impatient with. It's worth it ) Serve.
The baste with butter technique may indeed be better. See videos recommended by Pwnzor.
But the above is fast, reliably consistent.
America's Test Kitchen also does a "flip every minute" technique that works well. Same time total, and gives you even cooking at the cost of attention, a little work, and timer punching.
Measure temperature to determine doneness. Time varies with thickness, stove/pan and desired doneness.
Tip#2
If you have a cast iron grill pan with ribs to make the grill marks? Pour kosher or big crystal salt into depressions between ribs,
( 1/3 to 3/4 full ) before heating & cooking. It reduces smoking, absorbs the fat drips & flavors the meat ( maybe ) and makes clean up easier. Paper towels, damp wad, cleans it right out while still hot. |
Pwnzor
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 01, 2020 - 08:47 am: |
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Coffee is gross. I've never found anything that left a worse after taste in my mouth that even toothpaste and listerine could not immediately get rid of. 
The one thing it's useful for is immediate bowel evacuation, so there's that.
There are a lot of correct ways to sear a piece of meat.
For ribs, I prefer to use the Searzall, because they're not flat and I can get into all the areas between the bones.
Steaks, I like the cast iron pan, with a close second being a hot bed of coals.
Pork shoulder or butt, I like the Searzall as well. Again, not flat pieces of meat.
When I prepare small pieces of a roast, sometimes I'll pat it all dry, then slice into medallions and fry them individually in the cast iron pan. The kids really like that because it increases the amount of crispy edges which are so highly favored.
Potatoes can benefit from a trip through the pan, as well. Getting them to perfect tenderness in the sous vide, and then flip them into the pan with some oil. Let them fry for 2 minutes, flip them over and repeat. Then drop them into a bowl with a couple of paper towels in the bottom to draw off a bit of the excess oil.... |
Aesquire
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 01, 2020 - 09:20 am: |
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Searzall? You cook with a FLAMETHROWER!!!???
Cool! Uh, groovy?
Great, another tool to want.
A buddy chops a couple slices of on sale cheap bacon, fries them up, and cooks in the fat. The bacon goes to the dogs, what's left after he snacks on a bit.
His heart doctor isn't so thrilled with the technique, but it does make for tasty burgers.
Coffee is my caffeine addicted replacement for Coca cola and Mt. Dew. I haven't tried a decent diet low sugar soda. So to reduce empty sugar... It's coffee or tea. It's certainly an acquired taste, like beer or Scotch. Not for everyone. Coffee is it's own cult, no doubt. |
Aesquire
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 01, 2020 - 09:24 am: |
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Have you tried steak right in the coals?
And Alton Brown turned me on to using the Weber charcoal chimney starter as a extreme heat cooking tool. |
86129squids
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 01, 2020 - 12:24 pm: |
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Here's my fave potato recipe. New potatoes, ideally about silver dollar size, small, then this. Edit- Patrick, this is an ATK recipe.
Braised Red Potatoes with Lemon and Chives
Serves 4 to 6
1 1/2 pounds small red potatoes, unpeeled, halved
2 cups water
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 garlic cloves, peeled
3 sprigs fresh thyme
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives
1. Arrange potatoes in single layer, cut side down, in 12-inch nonstick skillet. Add water, butter, garlic, thyme, and salt and bring to simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer until potatoes are just tender, about 15 minutes.
2. Remove lid and use slotted spoon to transfer garlic to cutting board; discard thyme. Increase heat to medium-high and vigorously simmer, swirling pan occasionally, until water evaporates and butter starts to sizzle, 15 to 20 minutes. When cool enough to handle, mince garlic to paste. Transfer paste to bowl and stir in lemon juice and pepper.
3. Continue to cook potatoes, swirling pan frequently, until butter browns and cut sides of potatoes turn spotty brown, 4 to 6 minutes longer. Off heat, add garlic mixture and chives and toss to thoroughly coat. Serve immediately.
(Message edited by 86129squids on January 01, 2020) |
86129squids
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 01, 2020 - 12:38 pm: |
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Sitting here sipping my 2nd cup of French roast, black, per SOP in the AM. (Well, what I call AM.) Started my coffee habit in college, with Taster's Choice Instant, then graduated to a 2 cup Krups drip carafe. Now look at me. Camping at TWoS, with a jet-boil and a percolator, almost Heaven. Matthew, I'm surprised you're not a coffee guy, with your palate for whiskey and food. Oh! Just remembered I have some Buffalo Trace whiskey cream in the fridge, time to spike the coffee...
 
If you've not tried a coffee rub on pork or beef, you should. Weber makes a good one, The Spice Company as well. |
86129squids
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 01, 2020 - 12:56 pm: |
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Forgot to mention... my sweetie loves caviar. Born in the DR, her Mom knew the market, where to get smoked herring, and the ones packed with roe. When Mom would clean the fish, she'd hand Marcia the roe sack. I've not yet managed to get my fishmonger to source me anything like that yet, but I'm still trying.
What I DID manage was to get my Chef to source me some U of GA farm-raised, sustainable, Siberian sturgeon caviar. 2 ounces, with a bottle of Gerard Bertrand brut rose.
Made my honey very happy, while I shucked meself some blue point oysters watching the N'Awlins new year soiree. Yum!!!!!!!!!!!!
Next year I'm gonna just lay out a tasting board of as many different caviar I can find. Probably leave out the true Osetra, why spend $150 when I can get the U of GA stuff- half price, as good or better.
2020 is great so far. Except I gotta take my little boy Rocky in to trim his nails and dewclaws. Could be worse. |
Aesquire
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 01, 2020 - 01:31 pm: |
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Fish eggs? Enjoy, I'll pass. That's the best thing about food, Jack Spratt & his wife are both happy. You don't have to like everything.
If you use small 1" + potatoes in the above recipe, whole, and lightly press to break/flatten them after the simmer stage, flipping once halfway through the frying stage, it's good, too.
I use a Bodum French press for camping.
I might be getting one of these for camp this year.
https://www.bioliteenergy.com/products/firepit
The "rocket stove" version didn't fit our style, and the fire pit will be dependent on ages of children in camp. |
Aesquire
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 01, 2020 - 01:49 pm: |
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The Biolite business model is interesting.
They created a product that cuts indoor pollution, lung & heart disease, and fuel use in the insanely poor countries that use wood and manure to cook indoors. Plus charges cell phones and laptops where power lines don't exist and diesel generators are only for the wealthy and co-ops, at high fuel & fuel transportation costs.
Places where people walk 50 miles with a stick over their shoulders through the handles of Jerry cans full of fuel to charge their cell phone.
And to pay to reduce the labor to eat & communicate and learn, in the poorest places on Earth, the Biolite company sells pretty versions of their products to yuppie rich folk who camp, or are too lazy to walk from their private beach to the mansion, to charge their phones... And us, too.
So you can feel virtuous feeding twigs into your cool toy to make coffee and charge the Kindle so you can read Call of The Wild, on location, on vacation, in you have to walk here Alaska, knowing some African or Indian mothers and children aren't going to die of lung cancer, & You helped.
That does not suck. |
Aesquire
| | Posted on Thursday, January 09, 2020 - 06:27 pm: |
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I searched for sous vide hard boiled eggs.
After a bunchaton of videos, I figured out it's the wrong tool. Eggs are very time and temperature dependent, that's why some? culinary schools start out with egg recipes.
A sous vide gizmo is perfect for Pasteurized eggs. Raw cookie dough is back on the menu!
The whites and yolks cook at different temperatures. To hard or soft boil eggs you also have to figure heat transfer speed through the whites. Boiling them in water can use a hot start technique, which simplifies timing, but risks cracking shells. I've long used the cold start technique, which can vary a bit in perfection depending on how long it takes to bring the mass of pot, water, & eggs to a boil, since the cooking process begins before you reach a boil. But seldom cracks the eggs.
Eggs and water to cover in pot, cold, bring to boil. Remove from heat & rest covered 11 minutes. Remove eggs to ice water or cold water bath to stop cooking. Works great, but you do have to monitor the pot to know when to remove from heat & start timer.
Sous vide eggs can take over an hour, and you still have timing issues, since you can either overcook, or if temperatures are too low, have horrid runny whites, even with yolks at the desired texture. The worst of all worlds. Timing is still a thing ( unavoidable, apparently, with all techniques, but at least it's just set one timer ) and texture can be both runny and tough at the same time. I understand wanting liquid or semi liquid yolks for toast, etc. But no one wants snot like whites.
Enter the Aroma rice cooker/steamer. ( ARC-914SBD ) 2 cups water in pot, eggs in steamer basket, set to "steam" 8-10 minutes. ( yolk texture soft to hard... Plus more time at high altitude )
Cooker chimes, remove eggs to cold water bath ( I just use a bowl under the faucet on a cold trickle while I peel ) done. One gizmo, one timer setting, one procedure, and soft boiled is just a lower timer setting. Perfect eggs.
I'm sure even the cheapest rice cooker or even a steamer basket on the stove can get the same results, you just have to experiment to get the timing right.
I'll never boil eggs again. It's the Age of Steam! |
Ourdee
| | Posted on Thursday, January 09, 2020 - 07:03 pm: |
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Easiest peeling perfect hard boiled in the Instapot. |
H0gwash
| | Posted on Thursday, January 09, 2020 - 07:14 pm: |
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IMHO all freshly roasted coffee is about the same, and locally roasted stuff will be about a month fresher than anything that comes from a warehouse. I had many coffee snob friends who were happy with the little $10 cuisinart grinders, but follow where your tongue takes you.
I gave up trying hard/soft boiled eggs in the sous vide. Next time I see the little Eggies things at the thrift store I'm trying that.
(Message edited by h0gwash on January 09, 2020) |
Aesquire
| | Posted on Thursday, January 09, 2020 - 08:40 pm: |
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Ooh! Ooh! Tell me how! New Instapot & got no idea how to use!
What's the technique? Pressure cooker?
Hogg, it's just that for eggs, it may be the wrong tool. Cooking is all temperatures and times and rates of change chemistry.
The egg is a culinary challenge, since no matter how you apply heat, it has to flow inward and changes the chemistry, which changes the speed of heat transfer. ( except microwave ovens..blech! ) I would guess the sous vide cooks too slowly? Doesn't heat the whites enough before the yoke is done?
Water, or better, steam, transfers heat to the outside of the egg evenly and quickly. X time at y temperature sets the whole egg in a heat implosion.
For ease of peeling, immediately and still warm. Under warm running water If you doing 6 or more. |
Aesquire
| | Posted on Thursday, January 09, 2020 - 08:50 pm: |
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Re: coffee
I'm just starting & not snob level yet. I'll try the local roasters. Rochester is a good city for that.
Good bud loves his Cuisinart grinder, on his second one in 14 years. |
86129squids
| | Posted on Friday, January 10, 2020 - 01:22 am: |
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Patrick- by definition "hard boiled eggs" and "sous vide" exclude each other. ATK recently had a neat piece IIRC on foolproof poached eggs. Maybe IRW.
Seems I remember that it's best to work with room temperature, fresh eggs for delicate cooking. It is pretty fascinating to figure out how to get each result just right.
A perfectly poached egg, with perfect Hollandaise, over smoked salmon, maybe caviar as a heavy garnish, on a fresh English muffin...
 
We recently had to "doctor up" two different batches of deviled eggs, from two close friends, who just don't have the knack for it. Now I've gotta call my sis to confer with her about our Mom's recipe... I think I remember it, but I want to be sure. |
Aesquire
| | Posted on Friday, January 10, 2020 - 02:48 am: |
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When you've got a hammer, you think everything looks like a nail. ( not really true, I see dishing and rivets, but...hobbies! )
Example, food processor is very good for pork sausage, where you Want to work the meat to get a "snap". But use care with burgers, which you don't want to over work. To keep them tender.
I may need to do a flow chart. "Did you want it paste?"
I'm going to have to watch a bunch of pressure cooker stuff, now.
I did get a tip on Instapots from my sister, the silicone gasket can retain onion odor so keep an extra, color coded, for all dishes with onions. And gave me a 3 pack in white, black & blue. |
Ourdee
| | Posted on Friday, January 10, 2020 - 11:58 am: |
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I still need to acquire the extra gasket set. |
Aesquire
| | Posted on Friday, January 10, 2020 - 12:59 pm: |
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I learned Christmas shopping @ Bed, Bath & Beyond that there's a whole industry of accessories for the Instapot. Including an egg holder.
So... Magic hard boiled egg recipe?
I actually tried over 7 different ATK omelette recipies. My favorite egg dish? Including the crazy one where you separate the yolks, whip the whites to a soft peak, fold them back together, then cook. Yep, fluffy. And I get to clean the Kitchenaid, 2 bowls, plate, skillet, spatula... That was interesting, but not worth it.
I now use A composite of 2 other recipes, 75% of the fluffy, 110% flavor, 1 bowl & fork...
A friend who spends hours gleefully making chili, cutting up the beef, searing, sweating the onion, etc. hates to bake. I told him about the ATK recipe for roast chicken where you peel back the skin & butter the bird, then pull the skin back on to get crispy. "Too much work!" was his anguished cry.
Yeah, he does that now & brags on it. |
86129squids
| | Posted on Friday, January 10, 2020 - 01:14 pm: |
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Forgot to mention, Hogs- if you try those "eggie" doodads, don't spend too much $$$ on them. They do work, just take care on sealing them up. And spray them with cooking oil before cracking eggs into them. They can be a b*tch to clean, soaking is best.
Patrick- man do I miss Christopher Kimball on ATK, which I guess they're calling "Cook's Country" now. They've really dumbed down the show, and the two blondes hosting now are extra smarmy. He does have his own show now, but my local PBS Create only shows the blondes ad nauseam, then Martha ad nauseam, then that insufferable Britich baking show. Never see Stellino anymore, nor "Hooks, Lies and Alibis", LOVE that crazy Cajun. Every now and then the goofy black guy from N'Awlins shows, and luckily Simply Ming is pretty regular. C'est la vie I guess.
Rant over, happy cooking! |
86129squids
| | Posted on Friday, January 10, 2020 - 01:18 pm: |
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Also, all youn's Christmas cooks- got my seed order in for the garden the other day...Yay! If anyone is working a garden and needs/wants some of the most fascinating heirloom varieties, check out rareseeds.com . You won't believe what they've got.
It'll be like Christmas all over again when that package arrives! |
Ourdee
| | Posted on Friday, January 10, 2020 - 01:22 pm: |
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Including an egg holder. I use the little aluminum rack that came with the Instant Pot for eggs. Will fit a dozen.
I think of eggs as a polymer when I am cleaning up. |
H0gwash
| | Posted on Friday, January 10, 2020 - 03:11 pm: |
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I'll try hardboiled eggs in the rice cooker and the eggy things if I find at the thrift store on the corner. I've had a lot of success with spray oil on silicone forms, so maybe there is a silcone version on the web. That potato recipe is interesting for the handling of the garlic and blanching the potatoes, I'll try that one too.
(Message edited by h0gwash on January 10, 2020) |
Hootowl
| | Posted on Friday, January 10, 2020 - 03:45 pm: |
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A vegetable steamer basket works well, too. Inch of water, boiling, drop in the basket, cover. Reduce heat and let cook for 13 minutes. Remove to ice bath. Shells damn dear fall off. |
Crusty
| | Posted on Friday, January 10, 2020 - 04:03 pm: |
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That's too much work to prepare something that comes out of a chicken's bum. |
Aesquire
| | Posted on Saturday, January 11, 2020 - 07:06 am: |
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