Joan Roca El Cellar Del Con Roca sole

10% salt brine for 4 minutes
put 2 filets together for a thicker piece.  They will bind.
sole 5 minutes at 55C sous vide

sole fumet made at 60C

Video

Joan Roca El Cellar Del Con Roca Asparagus and eggs

Joan Roca  El Cellar Del Con Roca Asparagus and eggs

cook ends at 85C for 35 minutes  add t using stems to make asparagus ice cream

eggs:  63C for 30 minutes to give yoke fluid texture. scrape off egg white.  add a bit of olive oil and salt.

to assemble:  champaign, egg yoke mixture, ice cream, truffle, leaves of oxalis (wood Sorrel)

Video

The Perfect Egg

57C or 135F fully paturization 1 hour
62Cor 144F for perfect egg, eggs bennadick but hold at 1-2 dreggrees lower so it doesn't keep cooking
63C  not yet set, fully liquid for consume
64C fully set egg yoke
65-66Cmouldable egg
70C hard boiled egg

chorbohydrates, fat, and protein

Sugar is a form of carbohydrate. 2 parts sugar will dissolve in 1 part sugar. 

Fantastic brussel sprouts receipt from Chef Ryan Shelton of the Palo Alto Grill in California:

http://chefshelton.blogspot.com/2013/08/fried-brussels-sprouts-brown-sugar.html

Sous Vide Turkey

Breast.  Spices sage, butter 30 grams, sage, pepper, temperature 146F or 63C cook for 2.5 hours or more
Turkey Leg: Same spices.  Temperature 176F or 80C cook for 8-10 hours

Cool in ice bath 1 hour

Reheat at 146F/63C

Pat skin dry and broil till brown about 5-6 mins

How to make a brine for chickent, turkey

Use 20 parts water to 1 part salt.

Also a good way to distribute salt exactly over fish before cooking.

Removing the skin from tomatoes

It takes time and a lot of work to get a pot of water boiling, then doing a cross hatch with a knife on the end of the tomato, then plopping in the boiling water for a minute (too little and the skin won't come off, too much and it seems like the flesh gets mushy), then putting them in an ice bath and then peeling each tomato.

I hit them with a kitchen torch or butane torch (I use an Iwatani) to blacken the skin and then stick them in the freezer or ice bath.  Or just hold them with tongs under running cold water and the skins come right off.  It seems but I can't be sure, the torch gives them a bit of roasted flavor.

I have to find Heston Blumenthal's scientific paper on the flavor of tomatoes primarily coming from the pulp that we were all taught to throw away to see what loosing the skin means.  Does getting rid of the skin enables a smoother sauce? Is it because the skin does not break down?  Is there any flavor in the skin?  Is that why everybody does it?  (I've taken the skin and placed it on a plate with a bit of oil sprayed on it so it doesn't stck and put it in the microwave (GE) at power 2 out of 10 for a couple of 10 minute spurts.  This dehydrates them and then I can grind and sprinkle like tomato powder.)

Speaking of the torch.  I am waiting for the torch attachment that David Arnold's March 2013 blog talks about that diffuses the flame. It looks like this will accomplish the mallard reaction better than the raw flame.  It also reduces the possibility of infusing the food with a propane or butane flavor.  If that actually happens. Why someone hasn't come up with a small IR (Infrared) screw-on, say 1 to 2 inches in diameter?  It could eliminate the salamander broiler.  See: http://www.cookingissues.com/2013/03/17/patent-pending/

Some might say this is a crazy idea but I am sure it will happen.  (Back in 2008 I suggested a temperature controlled rice cooker or crock pot after searching for one to cook sous vide.  Then in about 2010, the water oven came out.   But at $400 or more, plus all the counter space it takes up when I just need to cook 1 pouch at a time, it doesn't make sense for a family of two.  I was told I was crazy.)

Anyway, I want a diffuser for my torch and I think lots of others will buy it too. Anybody have a metal shop who can make the parts?

Flavor Enhancer from Heston Blumenthal

Put star anise wrapped in muslin with caramelized onions.  Generates a unami and meaty flavor. Source:  Heston Blumenthal "The Fat Duck Cookbook page 155

Upcoming posts:

Upcoming posts:

• Mashed potatoes
• French fried potatoes
• Salt
• Low cost and inexpensive sous vide set up

Recommended Microwave

Its a combo microwave, convection oven, broiler with built in recipes.  For example, take a whole chicken, bath it in some spice rub, maybe stuff it with a cut up whole orange/lemon, put it in a glass tray, add water or beer and a splash of liquid smoke.  Set to cook a whole chicken and in 40 mins it comes out brown and juicy!  Not to mention smoky just like it was on the grill.

Smoker Presure Cooker Combination

Just got this. Works great.  You can cold or hot smoke then roll into steaming or presure cook.  I've done flour, tomatoes, corn, onions, garlic so far.  Will soon try salt.

And here is a good reason to get a pressure cooker:  http://youtu.be/LFSiUaBZxU8

Use liquid smoke. Tastes great.  It eliminates needing a BBQ.  Put a few drops into a Sous Vide bag, drop it into  temp controlled rice cooker, torch it and one has BBQ flavor with out the time or effort.

creamation

695 transport everything
take or mail
bury at sea

make wine vinegar

one part unpasteurized vinegar and two parts red wine to a large glass jar. For my batch of red wine vinegar, I mixed one cup Bragg Organic Raw Apple Cider Vinegar with two cups Cabernet-Shiraz red wine.

I covered the jar with a piece of cheesecloth and secured it with a rubber band to hold the cloth in place. The jar was left in a warm spot for several weeks and I stirred occasionally during that time.

Then I added enough red wine to the jar, so that it doubled in volume, re-covered with the cheesecloth and let sit for another 3 weeks. This yielded 4 cups of red wine vinegar.

http://westerngardeners.com/homemade-wine-vinegar-is-tasty-gift.html


http://www.sfgate.com/food/article/Chefs-make-their-own-vinegar-from-leftover-wine-3359873.php#page-2

make mustard

http://honest-food.net/2010/10/18/how-to-make-mustard/

http://glutenfreewithdee.com/blog/?p=915

Abalone

When I checked in 2012 there were only 2 Abalone farms in California.

The best, you can buy on-line here: http://www.giovannisfishmarket.com/pages/Abalone.aspx

Their abalone was recommended by Chefs' Nick of Nicks Next Door restaurant in Los Gatos, Ca and Chef Ryan Shelton formerly of TJ Chez, Baume and Bonny Doons' La Ciagre restaurant.  He is chefing a new restaurant in early 2013 called Palo Alto Grill which is on University. He has a great food blog:  Will Work for Food.

When using Wordpress HTML Snippet and saving when also using Post Type Switcher.  Post Type Switcher converts the HTML snippet to a post resulting in the snippet not working anymore.

Solution:  Deactivate Post Type Switcher

Also Using the WYSIWYG editor  in HTML Snippet also breaks the HTML code.

Took me just 2  hours to figure this out.