Foodie - The Food Thread - For Our Food Lovers!

punkin

Picked up a bucket for the sous vide rig today from Bunnings for thirty five fun tickets.

Modified the lid and she's a beauty. All fits in there for storage and at 20 litres it's perfectly sized for the Anova.

punkin

A mate killed a young Dorper on his farm the other day and gave me half. The loinies came up very well indeed. Marinaded in rosemary, garlic, black peppercorns, juniper, celery seeds, olive oil and balsamic.

punkin

Feels strange putting Monday Nights dinner on Sunday morning, but there it is.

68C for 36 hours i reckon unless advised other wise.

Beef Shortribs seemed the logical first meal in the new rig. Liberal dose of my S+P and into the bag naked.

mark85

Looks good. At that temp it should be juicy and tender but with a good meaty texture. Gonna finish them on the grill?

I tried to do short ribs at 55c for 48 hours as an experiment. This kind of treatment does wonders for cheap lean cuts of beef like topside leaving them tender but still a beautiful red medium rare, but the connective tissue in the ribs didn't break down under the low temp and it was tough. Live and learn...

I did some langoustines the other day in the bath. Now, shellfish is my new favourite

punkin

Yeah, i'll brown them. Probably in a pan to save firing up the charcoal kettle. There is about 3 years of cobwebs on the gas BBQ, it just doesn't get a look in any more. I'd hate to put 85 spiders out of a home just for 5 mins cooking.

GD50

@punkin you need a mid week Webber Q . They work well when you don't want to light up the heaven charcoal cooker. Ever tried binchotan charcoal ?

punkin

I have got a little $20 charcoal tabletop kettle but it's no simpler to light a chimney and cook on that than it is on the bigger kettle so it never gets used and also has 86 spiders..

I'm thinking a culinary blowtorch is in my future.

I haven't cooked on the million dollar charcoal, but saw a whole lot that looked like that in the alleys in China, and ate a lot of food from it (well i guess i did cook on it there).

Unsensibel

At friends from Brazil. Picanha steaks. Mmmmmmmhhhh

punkin

First batch of jerky is out and air drying now. Second batch is in the smoker.

GD50

They say Gidgee charcoal is nearly as good but I don't know if you can buy that commercially. You would almost be in Gidgee country up there. You know a piece of binchotan when come across it as it sounds like glass when banged together.

Did not know what picanha steak was but on checking sounds great.

punkin

I can get gidgee, last lot of charcoal i bought a pallet of 18kg bags from Tennco in Sydney. Too long ago to remember what it was but i think it was gidgee.

Unsensibel

I was told it's expensive in BR and AUS but relatively inexpensive here in the US

punkin

They turned out fantastic. Tender and juicy and not quite the texture of braised but not the texture of soft steak either. Kind of in between. They had a nice rosiness inside and you had to be fairly careful how you picked them up with tongs or they fell apart. Right on the edge and the temp was really good as was the time. Taste was phenomenal and just with my trademark S+P in the bag then quick brown on top cause she wanted it in hot oil in a pan

Pa_bon

Looks good punkin..........

Smaug

Yeah I just love when all the connective tissue simply releases.

punkin

Crocodile nuggets and chips.

punkin

Hand pulled noodles.

punkin

Pork dumplings made at the table.

Unsensibel

Hhhhmmmmm..... loving dim sum. When they're made the right way, you get a big swallow of broth in the dumpling.

punkin

Yes exactly. These ones are a specialty of Tianjin. We had them again at a streetside restaurant last night and they were better again. They have a pork mince filling with a piece of black fungus and a small prawn in each one.

Off to Wenzhou today where the food is different again.

Sunshine

Smaug

Is that for the young princes Sunshine?

Whats in the middle?

Sunshine

yeah, for her. :) there was light chocolate bisquit with with dark chocolate cream in the upper cake and death by chocolate cake with milk chocolate cream in the under part. Did not last long though ;)

Pa_bon

Death by chocolate! Mmmmmmmmmm

GD50

Got my Japanese Konro BBQ a few days ago and 12 kg genuine jap binchotan charcoal. Apart from the BBQ being smaller than I expected ( but on use it's good ) it worked a treat on its first run.

What was amazing was the charcoal. Looks and sounds like glass when clinked or dropped. Little say max 2" dia logs but mostly 1 1/4". Lit it up for 20 min burnt for 40 min cooked for 20 min then put the charcoal in water to put it out. The logs had hardly changed in size and good to go again. They are supposed to burn for 5 hours with lots of heat and zero spitting or smoke.

Won't be able to afford to buy more but it sure is good. Can't locate gidgee charcoal in South Oz yet. Pictures next time.

punkin

Sous vide last night, simple steak and potatoes.

Butter potatoes done at 87C for one hour then warmed for half an hour before serving at 54C with the steak;

Sous Vide Butter-Poached Potatoes

And used this guide to do rare ribeyes at 54C for 2 hours;

The Food Lab's Complete Guide to Sous Vide Steak

Finished the steak in a screaming hot pan with some duck fat and then did a sauce with shallot, capers, green peppercorns and pepper and salt with some white wine and cream.

Pa_bon

Looks good Punkin. You sure you didn't miss your calling?

punkin

Like the rest of my hobbies i think i'd loose the joy in it once i took it up for a living and had to do what other people want me to do.

punkin

I upgraded the buttered potatoes sous vide and swapped out the butter for duck fat for my fish and chips.

punkin

Did sous vide spuds again and added balsamic to the butter. Best yet.

Coca Cola Sous vide chook legs.