Just found this thread and went through every page the other day while watching a bunch of cooking stuff. So much food porn itt, it!! I'm excited to get into cooking. My dad kill's it when he smokes sausages, bacon, etc. I'm gonna start learning and posting.

Blue Apron stuff doesn't come frozen (at least mine hasn't)

I think they deliver everywhere so they might be frozen in rural places, but I would be pissed if I had to completely defrost something I knew was being delivered that day.

Mine come with ice packs - it sucks for same day but is good since many meals aren't cooked for a good 3-5 days (I live in suburbs)

Looks like my sourdough is ready. It was about two thirds full when I fed it this morning, and now it's overflowing. Guess I'll have to make something with it tomorrow

When the starter is active it should double in size after feeding. Because of that the container should only really be about 1/3 full when you feed.

Are you discarding some before you feed? I usually keep mine weighing around a constant 200g and when I feed or remove some to use, I'll take out 100g and feed it with another 100g of 50/50 water/flour mix.

Also, make sure you let that thing go for a couple weeks before you try to bake with it regardless of what it's doing. That flour has picked up all sorts of nasties from the air, and you need to give the yeast and lactobacillus to colonize the flour fully and kill off anything else living in there. You'll probably know that it's no good by the smell when you put a dough together, but maybe not. Just make sure you've given the starter sufficient time to wage a microbial holocaust before you try to bake with it.

I was following a series on serious eats, and I don't think they recommended throwing any of it out. I didn't in any event, regardless of what it said. I sort of gave it little stir last night to deflate it a bit, but it still had exploded out of the jar this morning, so I went ahead and threw together a lean dough, just about 65-70% hydration if I remember my math right, and 3% salt. It's been about 10 days, hope that's long enough froegg, because I just ate a slice.



Cooked it on a half inch steel plate. Got working on something and forget to check it, pulled it a little late, internal temperature of 210. Really hard crust. Ate it with a little blue cheese I had left over. Not a bad first effort I do say, even if it was a little crunchy.

I'm not sure how much starter I was supposed to use, but I only had 85 grams of flour left, so I ended up using 200 grams of the starter. I'll have to try a slice now without the cheese to really taste the bread

Looks good. There's a bread thread somewhere that you might be interested in.

I had to stop baking it regularly as the 'just a taste' slice very quickly turned into the whole loaf gone (usually with a mountain of cheese).

That's how it is in my household too. Every time I bake bread, half of it is gone within minutes because the whole family wants a slice (or two) of warm bread.

after some testing phase i'm gonna convert my whole knife set to japanese knives which are just so much superior yet just barely more expensive.
really really recommend it, good cutting performance(&endurance) makes all the difference in the kitchen.
that's how the carbonext looks like now(just after sharpening + a little thinning so you can really see difference)


really love the oxidation. not a fan of the santoku form though i gotta say, ill just use it instead of a petty.
gonna go
-random parer 90mm(dick for like 30$, a better japanese one isn't necessary for that)
-carbonext santoku 180mm(above, 100$)
-Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan Kurouchi Shirogami #2 Wa-Gyuto 240mm(140$)
-Hiromoto "SLD Tool Steel" Honesuki 145mm(boning, 70$)

essentials for just under 350$(+50$ for a combi stone) is pretty great tbh if you look at how expensive those crappy sets are

a 300mm Sujihiki or Yanagiba will follow(probably either furinkazan or carbonext series)

The general rule I work by is that every time you feed it you should give it an equal amount of flour to what it currently contains. I keep mine at 50/50 flour/water, so I feed it with it's own weight as a 50/50 mix. The problem with not throwing any away is that as you feed it like this it will grow exponentially (unless you're removing amounts constantly for breadmaking).

I generally keep mine at about 200g, and when I feed it I'll throw half away and feed it with 50g water, 50g flour.

Now that mine is well established I keep it in the fridge and just feed once a week.

In any case, your loaf looks good!

Yeah, I definitely ate the whole loaf for lunch, it could be a problem if I make it too often. Think I'll try pizza this weekend sometime

ChefSteps Premium is on sale today for $24 (down from $39). I pulled the trigger because I've probably gotten $24 worth of entertainment out of watching all their YouTube videos and I figure it's basically the price of a cookbook, which I have tons of.

Speaking of chefsteps, I made their "can't F**k it" up fried chicken. So simple, and flat out delicious. Its the best fried chicken ive ever had.

Also FYI, its a lifetime membership. In full disclosure though, there's not a ton of content with it, mostly its just the lesson text, and the videos are all available through youtube.

The earlier pay content, and there was a fair amount, is available to Premium members. Examples would include the whipping siphon course, sous vide beyond the basics, coffee, tender cuts (while simple, I actually learned something, and cooked with this knowledge), Fluid gels, macaroons. The videos to these courses are NOT available on Youtube (as far as I know). I really got a lot out of the whipping siphon and tender cuts courses.

I'm thinking of investing in this cooking thermometer(Maverick ET-732 Redi-Check):
http://amazingribs.com/bbq_equipment...732-redi-check

Anyone have any experience with it? I'm a cooking noob, and for $60 it seems like it will be really helpful.

I have a charcoal grill that I haven't used before. I plan on cooking this for the first grill on this BBQ:
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2...ak-recipe.html

Maverick thermometers are awesome. I recommend getting some extra probes because you'll need them eventually. Related, test your probes against boiling and ice water every few months.

I have the ET-733 thermometer. It's fantastic for grilling or smoking and I also use it in the oven. I don't know what length probes the 732 has, but for the 733 I'd buy an extra, longer probe. Gives you more flexibility where to put the thermometer.

I just checked, they're unlisted videos. So i guess i could send them to somebody if i wanted to (and i had in the past, which is why i thought they were freely available), just people can't find them by searching for them.

came up with a good midnight snack. will make again.

roasted brussels sprouts with poached egg and garlic chili sauce (store bought sriracha brand)

Looks great

30-hr sous vide rump roast, 132*. Rubbed w Dijon, garlic, salt, pepper. Seared pre and post sv.



Served w potatoes, creamed chard, horseradish sauce.

Looks great Wyman!