So I entered the Plato's Olive Oil photo contest on FB and would be pretty amazingly pumped to win. If you wouldn't mind voting for my pic, I'd appreciate it.

http://apps.facebook.com/462265587131681/

Would you please post the pic(s) here for the people who aren't on facebook?

I may have posted this before, but here ya go.

http://www.eatdrinkcheer.com/portfol...nnel-sausage-4

More pics (and recipe) there. This recipe is AMAZING, though my coworkers said the pic wasn't appetizing. I was pretty surprised to hear that tbh, but think my opinion was swayed by my having really, REALLY enjoyed eating it.

Yeah, that's not your best pic in this thread.

Yeah - it's a shame. It tasted as good as anything I've made (or had to be honest) in a long time. Like - sick good. So good in fact, that I ate it all before realizing that the way I shot it sucked.

God, now I'm all self conscious.

I think it needs to be shot with more background to add color as seen on this Serious Eats pic (which is VERY similar to the pic from the Mozza cookbook)




I really need to build a set for shooting - nice wood slab / marble / infinite background. Maybe this weekend.

No. If it is too thick, butterfly it,cut its thickness in half just don't go all the way through. Or pound it out, but butterflying is much easier.


Also you don't need a high heat to get it caramelized or crispy. Just have enough oil and don't flip it more than once.

when i first glanced at the picture I thought it was some kind of banana dessert, mostly owing to that one pesky noodle in the front that looks like a browning banana slice. now that i've seen what's in it the plate looks much more appetizing

I don't think that SE picture is really any better than yours; it seems as though this recipe's deliciousness just may not translate well to photographs.

I would eat the ass out of that, but it does look a little bit like tripe, which might be throwing people off.

I know there was some Olive Oil talk earlier ITT, but for a cooking n00b, what are the best options?

I usually brush the oil on top of chicken, toss potatoes in it, use it sometimes as a dipping sauce for fresh bread, and use safflower oil for searing steaks. Do I need to be using EVOO for this? What would you use just reg. Olive Oil for compared to EVOO? Speak to me about this like I've never cooked something before.

I'm in Dallas so I can bet I could find pretty much any kind of Olive Oil, so if there are any good recs that won't break the bank, I'd appreciate it.

This is what I currently use: http://www.pompeian.com/oil_page_extra_virgin.html

So I expect that I'm in the minority here, but I think olive oil is WAY overused and overrated in general. Don't get me wrong, I certainly enjoy a garlic, balsamic, olive oil combo on a sandwich, or olive oil drizzled on my pasta to finish, or even in some vinaigrettes (though I tend to use a more neutral oil quite a bit of the time), but I typically don't care for it in hot scenarios. This is partially due to the low smoke point (aka it burns easily and can leave some funky flavors), but it's also a fairly flavorful oil in general when compared to something like grapeseed, which isn't always an advantage. Sometimes you want the flavor of olive oil, but often times you want the flavor of whatever you're cooking to be pure and untainted, and oil is really just a tool that you use to facilitate heat transfer to get to a color / texture / mouthfeel.

For those reasons, my preferred oil is based on task; grapeseed (some vinaigrettes, searing), canola (searing), peanut (frying, pan or deep). In italian cooking however (which I've been feeling lately) olive oil is such a big part of the flavor profiles and culture in general that it needs to be used.

As far as brands, I really don't have anything to add sadly enough. After a long talk with the guys at Lucca - a really nice italian deli in SF, I picked up a $15 bottle of what they recommended, and to be honest, it was too flavorful for me. I didn't care for it alone and tend to reach for our Kirkland brand more than anything.

I'm guessing that's going to be unpopular given the discussion earlier, but that's where I'm at.

Extra light olive oil is good for when you use don't want a strong flavor. It's as flavorless as any other refined vegetable oil. It has quite a high smoke point and is good for searing and deep frying.

Good point! I've never actually tried the stuff for frying, mostly for because I can get a massive Kirkland canola or chinese peanut for super cheap. Perhaps I'll give it a shot next time I want to sear something.

Or I can do what I always mean to and never get to and just clarify a ton of butter.


ALSO - thank you everyone who voted for my pic! I actually won the photo contest, and it really made my weekend! Thanks again.

One should only flip once is a very popular myth.
Snipe covered it pretty well. However, if you still want to use olive oil for general cooking purposes( anything at or below medium heat) go with regular olive oil. Save extra virgin olive oil for adding a little something special to a dish after you're done cooking it.

Heat can easily destroy all the complex flavors of EVOO...and the distinct, complex flavor of EVOO is the only good reason to fork over the extra dough to buy it rather than purchasing some other, cheaper, more versatile oil.

Also, don't be afraid of cooking with butter. Real butter, in moderation of course, isn't unhealthy like media has made out to be. What you should be wary of, is highly processed unnatural crap, like some of the commonly used cooking oils. Go with unsalted butter btw. Unsalted butter will give you better control over how much salt goes into your cooking.

Currently have a sirloin roast (~4 lbs) in the sous vide rig at 56 C. Will update tomorrow when it's done, with pics. Going to let it go ~16 hours, use it for roast beef. Anyone else do tough, relatively lean cuts of beef medium rare? Thoughts?

Have a tri-tip that was on sale, rubbed up and in the oven overnight. set at 250, but temp is more like 225.
Have done brisket flats this way, but this is the first tri-tip.

You only cooked the brisket to medium rare in the oven? How thin did you slice it? (Tri-tip I see medium rare all the time)

No, I cook the brisket like you would in a smoker. Just no smoke.
To 190 or when tender.

The tri-tip is an experiment. I've braised them before to good effect. Now trying this. Brisket flats get expensive.

Moroccan saffron chicken is a good recipe and so is moroccan chicken with preserve lemons and olives. When I stop being lazy I plan on making my version of it to post itt

Here's the sirloin roast results. Seared, then cooked at 56 C for 15 hours. Had to cut the roast into two pieces. The roast itself is several muscles, which definitely have different appearances, tastes, and textures.







If you look at the piece on the left, you can see the two different muscles. The one on the bottom was considerably more tender. The cut doesn't have enough fat to consider cooking at too much higher of a temp. It's not bad, but not my favorite thing.

Next on tap is pork country style ribs.

The level of doneness looks nice Neema. Sorry to hear it didn't turn out how you'd envisioned.

I may have a questionable project today. Been trying to figure out what to make since last night as I've defrosted some really nice tiger prawns I got at Costco a couple weeks back. Considering a few things, but current leader is shrimp ravioli with garlic puree and bacon crumble. Was also thinking of trying to make a play on shrimp and grits w/ bacon in ravioli form, but dunno if grits will make for the creamy mouthfeel I'm looking for in the ravioli. Might go with a basil oil instead or alongside garlic puree? Idk.

Really want a great looking, tasting, original dish for my next post.

Just made fish tacos with homemade avocado.

Avocado was loosely based off this recipe

It was ok, I've definitely had better, but it was my first time making it.

I recooked tilapia I'd grilled before in grapeseed oil w/ green peppers, onions, cilantrol, serrano, cumin, sea salt, pepper

I put a layer of guac on whole grain tortilla, sprinkled a minimal amount of cheese, put on some of the tilapia/veg mix, then added a little romaine and tomato.

So this didn't work so good. It got dry and stringy. tastes good. not enough connective tissue to break down.

Mmmmm, harira

for future reference avocado is the vegetable you use to make guacamole, so there's no such thing as "homemade avocado". also unless you have very small hands you're using too large of a tortilla for your taco. those size tortillas are usually used for burritos or quesadillas, whereas you'll want a smaller size if you're going to be eating it as a taco. a minor thing but similar to using specific types of pasta with different sauces (here it's about filling-to-tortilla ratio whereas with pasta it's about how the shape interacts with the sauce).

if you didn't actually eat it like a taco and rolled it into a burrito you'd definitely need more filling.

Whoops - that was a typo. I am familiar with avocado and guacamole and which is which.

I put a layer of guac on whole grain tortilla

I split the tortilla in two and made two what ended up being sorta wraps - I couldn't get whole grain in a smaller size and decided to split it up. They ended up being pretty full and more filling would've been impossible to manage.