I was suggesting you use the crock pot for sous-vide, y'know, because you said you don't use it much. I thought an enameled dutch oven was just called an enameled dutch oven. I may google this a bit if I can't sleep.

Don't forget the enameled coating is non reactive, but it's more likely to crack than regular cast iron.

Mom called hers a french oven so that's what I do. But yeah it's an enameled dutch oven.

Tried my first sous vide experiment tonight. Chicken breast, came out great, didn't even touch the sauce I'd made for it cause the chicken was so damn good. I'll definitely try more recipes, but I'm wondering about the upper temp limit I want to use.

The setup I'm using is a rice cooker and cheap ziploc bags (I'm in China so quality can be difficult). Recipes I've seen for sous vide veggies have temps in the 180 F range; should I worry about the plastic bag at that kind of temp?

i know they aren't exactly alike, but i don't really touch my slow cooker now i have a le creuset (insert stuff about le creuset being overpriced here)

I was about to say that it's probably fine to spend a lot on something like that since it will last forever. But then I looked at le creuset's web page and WTF a seven and a half quart french oven costs $305?

But I still kind of want one.

Guys,

Since we have some beginners in here as well as all the pros, here's a step by step of something I just made again that I've posted before in the steak thread. Cheap, easy, and delicious. You just need to get it started a few hours before you want to eat.

Honey BBQ Oven Short Ribs

Short ribs. I don't remember how much they cost, but they are pretty cheap. This is about 3lbs.


Mix up some spices. The combo in the recipe is pretty good. I like mine a little spicier so I add more cayenne, and I also add more garlic powder. Rub the spices all over the short ribs.


Cover w/ foil and cook at 300 for ~2.5hrs. I prefer them a little meatier tasting, so I go closer to 2 hours. If you like them really soft/fall off the bone, you can go longer. Move the ribs around, flip them over, etc to get them all covered w/ the delicious spicy drippings. Then drizzle honey over the ribs (I sometimes use brown sugar or bbq sauce instead, they all work great). I make sure to get some on the sides as well. Uncover and cook another 15 minutes at 425.

I have too many pictures to post. Will definitely be getting some of my heirloom bruschetta pics up at some point and have tons of old ones to go through.

Ruhlman's Twenty is a great, great book. Any cook aspiring to become better should read it, IMO. The first chapter is especially important.

Not that I would know anything about this, but if you search around you may find an incredible PDF scan of all of the volumes, OCRed, straightened out and everything. I would approximately never buy this book series (the home version will be another story), so I don't think it's a lost sale to the authors or anything... if anything it convinced me to jump on the home version once it comes out in October.

I actually didn't bother to calibrate. I know that the precision of sous vide is one of it's charms, but if you're going to do things like crust a steak post sous vide, you're accepting some level of 'feel' in the process anyway, and temperature variance beyond 1 or 2 degrees, so I figured my RTD is close enough. I've been pleased with the results thus far.


I took the plunge and picked up a VP112. I know it's total overkill, but I like nice objects and an only a moderately responsible kidult.

Strangely, however, I noticed yesterday that the garlic that I vacuum sealed last weak, while still sealed, has lost it's vacuum. What I mean by that is that it was a nice, tight package where all the cloves were compressed when I first sealed it, however now there is a noticeable amount of gas in the bag. When I squeeze the bag however, it feels air tight with none of the gas escaping.

Does garlic outgas? Very strange.

I have a Le Creuset as well, but then again, please see comments above regarding "moderately responsible kidult".

Btw - I believe "French Oven" is simply a marketing term created by Le Creuset to differentiate their product.

When I was first married the wife and I became obsessed with Le Cruset and collected quite a few pieces. They are in great condition after nearly 25 years of moderate use. But now you can buy relatively inexpensive enamel cast iron cookware. I just got a 8 liter French Oven for $60 on sale and it is great. I mean I cant really say there is a difference in the cooking results from this imitation one over my smaller Le Cruset. I love Le Cruset but I think they are really overpriced compared to what you can get for less money these days.

EDIT: Just went to take a photo of my new French Oven and there is a chip out of the enamel on the handle!!!! So maybe not as good as Le Cruset...............

I use my vitamix everyday. Here is my standard recipe.

(2 servings)

1 banana
1 avacado
couple handfuls greens (spinach, parsley, kale, etc)
spoon of coconut oil
~2 cups of berries (usually blueberries with whatever else)
~1 cup of water

Just a quick grunch after reading the first couple posts. I ****ing love fennel.

I'll try to post some stuff ITT at some point.

Yeah, did some grilled fennel pork chops this weekend. Easiest thing in the world and absolutely delicious. Then got hungry last night, had some pork tenderloin hanging around, and pan fried up some fennel rubbed tenderloin.

Really, this fennel rub has quickly become my favorite way to do pork, and it's simple beyond belief.

I'll probably cut the salt by 1/3 - 1/2 for pork chops or pan fried tenderloin, however, depending on your taste for salt. I used as is at the BBQ, and while everyone loved the chops (the crust was amazing - it's been a while since I grilled chops and was very pleased) - I thought it was flavorful, but a bit salty.

**** you and your delicious ****ing short ribs el d

now I'll be thinking of them while I eat this pork loin I'll ruin

Give fennel crusted pork loin medallions a shot. They're easy and delicious.

Yes, I make a crusted pork loin pretty frequently. I usually improvise a rub out of salt, pepper, fennel, red pepper flake, cumin, paprika and a tiny amount of cinnamon. The cinnamon is subtle but it adds a nice twist.

Sometimes I'll throw in some garlic powder and other random things too.

Sear the loin in oil, finish in oven, cut into medallions. om nom nom

Do any of you cook with asafoetida?

Looking to experiment with the devil's dung.

ETA: Also called hing. Roy?

I'd never even heard of it until your post o_0

oh man, i just made some delicious stuffed chicken breasts with a delicious and simple tomato sauce tonight. posting this so i remember to post the recipe later

noob question, are smoothies made like this different than say bolthouse farms smoothies? i went through a phase about 6 months ago of wanting to add smoothies to my diet and tried to drink a bolthouse farm smoothie (tried a few different ones) in the morning or at lunch and it seemed like i couldn't digest them properly (ie. had to run to bathroom for emergencies multiple times a day after drinking one).


i dont normally eat fruits so maybe it just takes a few weeks/months of getting used to? i gave up on my smoothie experiment after 2 weeks :/

tuna steak, spicy tomato sauce, couscous, salad

Looks nice, I love couscous, salad and tomato sauce but I can never do tuna steak without it tasting (how do i say this without looking too stupid) too fishy.

Kudos

Awesome, can't wait to read more about this - I also just ordered the book. I've taken a few basic butchery and meat preservation classes but so far have only done terrines and confit (just ate my duck confit that had been sitting for ~3 months this past week, it was divine).

I just moved into a house from an apartment and actually think I can create a storage medium for curing, so I'm getting geared up. I am a little bit afraid of killing old people with botulism though and would love tips/suggestions.

I have some saffron threads that I was going to use in a recipe that I don't remember and never ended up making. Stuff is ridic expensive. Any ideas For a reasonably easy recipe that uses saffron?

I just don't want to waste an expensive ingredient on some recipe I can't taste it.

Indian or middle eastern cooking. Tagine perhaps? you can usually taste it in rice or rice dishes (pilaf, pilau, kabsa, biryani etc) perhaps?