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[cryptic]

New food item of the day for CrankyJay (new to me)...I got a jar of ghee...

This is part of my looking for healthy/alternative cooking oils.

I remember I used to buy that. Have you looked into cocconut oil as well?
I'll also render grass fed suet from a farm for other healthy fats as well. The only issue is the somewhat intense grassy flavor. It literally tastes like the smell from the cow farm, if that make's any sense; the nose and taste intertwine.

 

[thespot84]

To echo 2san, there seems to be very little peer reviewed research specific to the health effects of ghee. Hi smoke points are great, but other oils (soybean, canola, extra light olive) will achieve the same effect without the exposure to saturated fats.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_point

This study, specific to cardiovascular disease, is fairly inconclusive regarding the source of saturated fats when it tries to delineate between plant and butter saturated fats and their effects on cardiovascular disease.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22760560

I'm a skeptic, I'll admit, so the 'natural' and eastern stuff that comes out that's not peer reviewed instantly piques my suspicion. As was said, probably best to simply use something like ghee because it tastes good or works well in a specific application.

 

[nakedsushi]

Alright IronGAF...I need your help.

My local supermarket has a sushi counter where they make this seaweed salad that is basically seaweed, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil and a little sesame seed in it. It's fucking divine.

I would make a bunch myself but I don't know where they get that sea weed. It looks greener and fresher than the dried seaweed they have down the Asian aisle.

This is basically what the salad looks like...how do I get sea weed like this?

It's fresh wakame, so you're right that it's not exactly the same as the dried one. The dried one usually comes in long flat sheets. I can't find a picture, but sometimes I find the "fresh" wakame in plastic pouches in the refridgerated section. I've never made that type of seaweed salad before, so not sure how bright green those pouches are.

 

[CrankyJay]

I remember I used to buy that. Have you looked into cocconut oil as well?
I'll also render grass fed suet from a farm for other healthy fats as well. The only issue is the somewhat intense grassy flavor. It literally tastes like the smell from the cow farm, if that make's any sense; the nose and taste intertwine.

I did...but wasn't sure of the differences between extra virgin coconut oil and the regular kind. The problem with the regular kind is it was $18 for a giant jar. I'd rather buy a small jar to see if I'd even like it.

 

[CrankyJay]

It's fresh wakame, so you're right that it's not exactly the same as the dried one. The dried one usually comes in long flat sheets. I can't find a picture, but sometimes I find the "fresh" wakame in plastic pouches in the refridgerated section. I've never made that type of seaweed salad before, so not sure how bright green those pouches are.

Thanks for the name.

Looks like I'll have to hit up the Asian specialty store in my town, hopefully they have it.

 

[Avixph]

I bought two rib eye steaks today, how should I cook them IronGAF?

 

[TheExodu5]

I bought two rib eye steaks today, how should I cook them IronGAF?

My general preparation:

Take em out 3 hours beforehand. Salt at any point, either at least 1 hour beforehand or just before cooking (the latter creates a nice crust, while the former makes the meat very flavorful and juicy). Hot cast iron pan with a good frying oil (I use peanut oil). Finish off with butter. Use garlic and rosemary if you desire.

 

[Avixph]

My general preparation:

Take em out 3 hours beforehand. Salt at any point, either at least 1 hour beforehand or just before cooking (the latter creates a nice crust, while the former makes the meat very flavorful and juicy). Hot cast iron pan with a good frying oil (I use peanut oil). Finish off with butter. Use garlic and rosemary if you desire.

Thanks, but could thyme work instead of rosemary?

 

[TheExodu5]

Thanks, but could thyme work instead of rosemary?

Sure.

 

[Mackenzie 92]

Today was terrible(Lost my old cat of about 16/17 years this morning when found she'd passed in her sleep late last night, buried her in my shirt) and so was this meal---even if I'd been feeling better this would've been a damned wash. So much for a sorrow drowning meal...

Crumble: Not really one as I'm out of my backstock---some popped Sorghum seasoned with micro pepper/herbs.

Cheese: Bucheron Bougon Utter shit...like a mix of a brie gone bad and the least appealing of what blue cheeses I've had thus far on top of being a ridiculous mess.

Sorry about your cat. If it's any comfort, at least she went in her sleep with no apparent pain.

 

[nakedsushi]

Thanks for the name.

Looks like I'll have to hit up the Asian specialty store in my town, hopefully they have it.

I went to the Chinese market tonight and happened to see it. It was in the aisle with the tofu and kimchi and other refrigerated Asian stuff. Looks kinda like this (the green package):

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Thanks, but could thyme work instead of rosemary?

Dude thyme and butter with steak is a no brainer, go for it.

 

[TheExodu5]

Awww man sorry about your cat ElectricThunder.

 

[ElectricThunder]

Thanks for the condolences all---gonna keep at things best I can and not shut down in the wake of it....Saturday will see my first Ash cheese.

 

[Spectrum128]

Thanks for the condolences all---gonna keep at things best I can and not shut down in the wake of it....Saturday will see my first Ash cheese.

Sorry to hear about that mate, I'm a lurker in this thread but your posts always make me smile. Except for the last one of course.

 

[Snkfanatic]

Thanks for the condolences all---gonna keep at things best I can and not shut down in the wake of it....Saturday will see my first Ash cheese.

So sorry about your Cat, sounds like she had a long loved life.

 

[ElectricThunder]

Yeah, there was many a time where she was my kitchen buddy while I was working on the pizzas and stuff those generally lonely Saturday nights waiting in the chair for me to sit down and peering over at it all while in my lap. Her and her brother managed to cheat death twice before as a a pair, but it was out of my hands literally for the first time this time versus those 2, and I can only hope he continues to live boldly as the eating machine he is.

Definitely going to try and get the other cats welcomed in on the Saturday's to come.


Cooking isn't just throwing ingredients together and following a recipe---the company you keep while doing that and eating makes quite an impact too.


Don't have a pic of both her and pizza at the same time, but this is her that you can picture juxtaposed with Pizza with her bro asleep.

 

[TheExodu5]

Made pulled pork for my first time over the weekend. Improvised a dry rub that ended out working great:

Chilli powder
Allspice
Clove
Cinnamon
Brown sugar
White sugar
Salt
Pepper

I don't know if that's very traditional for a dry rub, but man it worked really well.

Cooked 3.5lbs of pork shoulder at 225F (or whatever my oven thinks 225F is) for 4 hours in my dutch oven with a ramekin of water and it literally fell apart as I took it out. Chopped it up and used some regular barbecue sauce and it turned out great. I made some gravy as well with the drippings and made some hot pulled pork sandwhiches...holy shit it was delicious. Here's a pic of that last sandwhich:

I'm going to be repeating again this weekend, but for a crowd of people. Roughly the same rub (no measurements), but with a bit of paprika this time as well. Picked up some President's Choice "Smoking Stampede" barbecue sauces as well. One is tequila habanero, and it's ridiculously tasty. The other is beer chipotle...not bad but not as good. Will be bringing both, though, because the habanero one is quite spicy. Will report on how it turns out.

 

[thespot84]

Made pulled pork for my first time over the weekend. Improvised a dry rub that ended out working great:

Chilli powder
Allspice
Clove
Cinnamon
Brown sugar
White sugar
Salt
Pepper

I don't know if that's very traditional for a dry rub, but man it worked really well.

Cooked 3.5lbs of pork shoulder at 225F (or whatever my oven thinks 225F is) for 4 hours in my dutch oven with a ramekin of water and it literally fell apart as I took it out. Chopped it up and used some regular barbecue sauce and it turned out great. I made some gravy as well with the drippings and made some hot pulled pork sandwhiches...holy shit it was delicious. Here's a pic of that last sandwhich:

I'm going to be repeating again this weekend, but for a crowd of people. Roughly the same rub (no measurements), but with a bit of paprika this time as well. Picked up some President's Choice "Smoking Stampede" barbecue sauces as well. One is tequila habanero, and it's ridiculously tasty. The other is beer chipotle...not bad but not as good. Will be bringing both, though, because the habanero one is quite spicy. Will report on how it turns out.

Looks awesome. in terms of time put in and product out (cooking value, i suppose) pulled pork is bar far the best and easiest thing I've ever made

 

[Avixph]

The rib eye was cooked medium well, it flaked apart easily.

 

[Etrian Oddity]

Balling on a budget:

So simple, yet so good.

 

[TheExodu5]

The rib eye was cooked medium well, it flaked apart easily.

Were you trying to cook it medium well? It takes some practice to be consistent with your steaks. One piece of advice I can give you is to touch your steaks before you take them out. Let them rest for 5 minutes and then note how they're cooked. After a while you'll learn what the touch should feel like for how you like your steak.

Looks awesome. in terms of time put in and product out (cooking value, i suppose) pulled pork is bar far the best and easiest thing I've ever made

No kidding. So easy to make. So cheap. So much flavor. Pork shoulder was on sale for $1/lb here so I picked up like 20 lbs worth. I can make like 30 good sized sandwiches with that.

 

[Shawsie64]

So that steak thread got me craving a nice steak.. I went and found a beautiful 800 gram rib eye from a local butcher and brought it home. I sprinkled some rough sea salt on it and preceded to vacuum seal it and put in my waterbath @ 55c (131F) and left it for 21 hours.. I was a bit worried leaving it that long as it was the first time I've cooked a steak at that length. After I took it out I dried it and re-seasoned with salt and chucked in a super hot skillet with some grape seed oil. When I took it out I finished the hard to reach places with my butane torch (in the process semi melting the dab of butter on the top).

The result was simply the best steak I've eaten.. Succulent, perfect medium rare and a beautiful crust!

21 hours seems like a long time but when you put it in after dinner one night your dinner is pretty much done for the next day!

Here's some shitty compressed ipad pictures:

 

[Haly]

Wow it just falls apart.

 

[CrystalGemini]

NIIICCCCCCEEEEEEEE......

 

[Zyzyxxz]

So that steak thread got me craving a nice steak.. I went and found a beautiful 800 gram rib eye from a local butcher and brought it home. I sprinkled some rough sea salt on it and preceded to vacuum seal it and put in my waterbath @ 55c (131F) and left it for 21 hours.. I was a bit worried leaving it that long as it was the first time I've cooked a steak at that length. After I took it out I dried it and re-seasoned with salt and chucked in a super hot skillet with some grape seed oil. When I took it out I finished the hard to reach places with my butane torch (in the process semi melting the dab of butter on the top).

Why 21 hours though? Longterm cooking in sous vide is meant for breaking apart muscle fibers but with a steak I don't think you want to turn it into shredded meat. Personally I think it's pointless to sous vide a ribeye for 21 hours unless it was a prime rib roasts which is a different beast but at least it looks perfectly cooked.

 

[Shawsie64]

Why 21 hours though? Longterm cooking in sous vide is meant for breaking apart muscle fibers but with a steak I don't think you want to turn it into shredded meat. Personally I think it's pointless to sous vide a ribeye for 21 hours unless it was a prime rib roasts which is a different beast but at least it looks perfectly cooked.

I was emulating Heston's 24 hour steak (which he does in an oven) and thought i'd try it using a precise temp. His method calls for 24 hours @ 50 degrees in an oven.. Usually I only bring ribeye up to temp and reserve long cooking times for tough cuts.. Hence why I was a bit worried also about the long cooking time but the results blew me away, it was far from shredded meat (which I feared). Overall an experiment I was very happy with!

 

[CrankyJay]

Why 21 hours though? Longterm cooking in sous vide is meant for breaking apart muscle fibers but with a steak I don't think you want to turn it into shredded meat. Personally I think it's pointless to sous vide a ribeye for 21 hours unless it was a prime rib roasts which is a different beast but at least it looks perfectly cooked.

That doesn't look too broken down to me.

Damn you sous vide people...just another toy I'll need to get okayed with the wife.

 

[nitewulf]

We made Paella Valenciana this weekend for our friends. It was awesome, flavorful, brothy, comforting. We polished off like 7 bottles of wine while cooking, during dinner and afterwards. Fantastic.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

That doesn't look too broken down to me.

Damn you sous vide people...just another toy I'll need to get okayed with the wife.

Depending on the temperature it can take up to 3 days, but steak doesn't really need long term cooking. I've done short rib for 48 and 72 hours and the difference is immense at 145F. Texture goes from steak to really good pastrami.

 

[Shawsie64]

That doesn't look too broken down to me.

Damn you sous vide people...just another toy I'll need to get okayed with the wife.

Yeah it wasn't broken down at all, still tasted like a traditional steak and the texture was fantastic.. Been thinking about it since I cooked it :lol.

My sous vide setup consists of a cheap decent sized rice cooker and a temperature controller, its quite accurate (to 0.01c degrees).

Whole set-up cost me $150. I have a vacuum sealer but generally I just use the Archimedes principle most of the time as I never have vacuum bags handy.

 

[Shawsie64]

We made Paella Valenciana this weekend for our friends. It was awesome, flavorful, brothy, comforting. We polished off like 7 bottles of wine while cooking, during dinner and afterwards. Fantastic.

That looks great!

 

[Gr1mLock]

My blendtec blender arrived in the mail today. Dear lord this thing could shred a log into dust. It was pricey for sure but definitely worth the money.

 

[Ether_Snake]

Depending on the temperature it can take up to 3 days, but steak doesn't really need long term cooking. I've done short rib for 48 and 72 hours and the difference is immense at 145F. Texture goes from steak to really good pastrami.

What about heating bills?:/

 

[Yes Boss!]

My blendtec blender arrived in the mail today. Dear lord this thing could shred a log into dust. It was pricey for sure but definitely worth the money.

I've been blender browsing the last few days. Looking to replace my trusty Waring with something full-commercial. I've go my eye on either a Vitamix or restaurant Waring. I mainly use a blender to process food for cooking (rather than a food processor). How would you say a Blendtec would stack up? I'm also digging the Robot-coupe Blixer, but it is perhaps a little too pricey.

 

[Silkworm]

My blendtec blender arrived in the mail today. Dear lord this thing could shred a log into dust. It was pricey for sure but definitely worth the money.

Congrats on the Blendtec Blender! It's probably a better blender than the Breville I suggested, or at least I hope so for the price the Blendtecs seem to be going for. I can't justify to myself on spending ~$350-400 for a blender I'll not likely use that often, but if you're going to be using it often, then I can see the benefit of getting a really good one like a Blendtec or Vitamix Hope you have all kinds of good results with your new blender!

 

[Shawsie64]

What about heating bills?:/

I cant speak for Zyzyxxz' setup and whilst I haven't tested my particular setup, this test claims it draws 8 W to maintain temperature.

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article/289/Sous-Vide-Cooking-at-Home-Setup-Guide

In fact, the rice cooker with PID controller is the most efficient (in terms of water and power consumption) sous vide setup I have tested. (The average measured power draw to sustain a temperature of 55°C (131°F) in my large rice cooker with the Auber PID controller is about 8 W!)

 

[Keen]

Small kitchen and apartment upgrade.

The kitchen is sort of narrow, but the view from the apartment makes up for it. And I have a balcony with sun from early until sunset.

Kitchen

I have an oven and a dishwasher!!

View from kitchen window

 

[Etrian Oddity]

Slightly cramped; but that view is to die for.

Also, since the kitchen is so small, I bet you could get into a real rhythm after some time spent cooking there.

 

[Gr1mLock]

Congrats on the Blendtec Blender! It's probably a better blender than the Breville I suggested, or at least I hope so for the price the Blendtecs seem to be going for. I can't justify to myself on spending ~$350-400 for a blender I'll not likely use that often, but if you're going to be using it often, then I can see the benefit of getting a really good one like a Blendtec or Vitamix Hope you have all kinds of good results with your new blender!

Thank you. I will be using it often for sure. Chewing vegetables is for suckers. All my nutrition will now be in sludge form.

 

[Snkfanatic]

Awesome view Keen! Kitchen looks cozy to me.

 

[BriareosGAF]

Nice countertops, too! How do you like them? Our kitchen is coming up for reno soon, the counter-tops are the big question for me (we've already replaced all of the appliances).

 

[Keen]

For reference, here's my old kitchen.

I've only been here for a couple of days, but the counters seem fine.

 

[Yes Boss!]

Made some very spicy and very citrusy chana masala for breakfast. Packed it full with dried mango and pomegranate powder and fresh lime juice. Actually made it yesterday, but it sets up all nice spice-like in the fridge for at least 24 hours. Love vegetarian cooking...made a huge batch for about $3, including all the fresh tomatoes and cilantro peppers and onions.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

^ That looks good and healthy.

I've been trying to learn as much about Thai cooking for my new venture, so I've been trying to perfect jungle curry (Kaeng Pa) which is a Northern Thai curry.

Ingredients: Chicken leg meat, thai eggplant, krachai, green peppercorns, kaffir lime leaves, red curry paste.

Been trying to work on the bar menu as well so this is a prototype of a beet salad I'm working on.

Red and golden beets, pistachio dressing, blood orange supremes, mizuna, feta cheese

 

[Harry Potter]

Got a new toy, Shun chefs knife.

What would you guys recommend I buy for keeping it sharp?

 

[ElectricThunder]

Definitely surpasses last time, a great meal.

Meat: Boar's Head Hard Salami Nice in general, but apparently I need to adjust the rack height and whatnot as it was overly wanting to burn at the ends for some odd reason.

Cheese: Morbier Au Lait Cru Ash Cheese Fantastic on all fronts, and I really ended up enjoying the ash component as it adds something that is rather like smokiness---yet at the same time a bit different.

Still crumbleless---blast you local stores~

 

[Etrian Oddity]

Got a new toy, Shun chefs knife.

What would you guys recommend I buy for keeping it sharp?

Perhaps a waterstone? I'm still very ignorant in knives since I'm a neophyte, but I would presume you would get the same kind of sharpening stone used for other bocho.

I could be wrong though.

 

[thespot84]

Perhaps a waterstone? I'm still very ignorant in knives since I'm a neophyte, but I would presume you would get the same kind of sharpening stone used for other bocho.

I could be wrong though.

use a honing steel (one hard enough for your particular knife) pretty much every time you use it. don't cut anything other than food. don't put it in the dishwasher.

All that and I'd be surprised if you had to sharpen it before a year is up, maybe longer.

 

[Avixph]

Were you trying to cook it medium well? It takes some practice to be consistent with your steaks. One piece of advice I can give you is to touch your steaks before you take them out. Let them rest for 5 minutes and then note how they're cooked. After a while you'll learn what the touch should feel like for how you like your steak.



No kidding. So easy to make. So cheap. So much flavor. Pork shoulder was on sale for $1/lb here so I picked up like 20 lbs worth. I can make like 30 good sized sandwiches with that.

Yeah I wanted it to be medium well.