Scoop's California trip

[ScoopKona]

I took @lynne 's suggestion and went to the Pacific Grove farmer's market today (every Monday). Picked up strawberries and outstanding mushrooms. Also went to Pezzini farms (I'll be here often) for artichokes and Brussels sprouts. And my stand-by, Monterey Fish Company for Branzino, scallops, sardines, oysters and squid.

Here's the first dish. A little tapas to go with Monday Night Football -- sardines grilled over a wood fire and then drizzled with maître d'hôtel butter

 

[ScoopKona]

Branzino with oyster mushrooms and truffles with sauteed Brussels sprouts with ham and apple reduction. Cooked in the Highlands Inn kitchen with a knife that looks like a cutlass and is about as sharp as my thumb.

 

[ScoopKona]

Total time for both dishes was about an hour. Most of that was shredding Brussels sprouts with a ridiculously-dull knife.

 

[davidvel]

Amazing work! Bon apetit.

 

[pedro47]

Bon Appétit.

 

[ScoopKona]

Pacific oysters on the half shell followed by penne with bay scallops and a mushroom medley:

 

[Krteczech]

Pacific oysters on the half shell followed by penne with bay scallops and a mushroom medley:

View attachment 68995
Great job! Nothing boring on this menu. Enjoy your mainland vacation!

 

[ScoopKona]

One of the best things about sous-vide is not only does it cook perfectly every time, it reheats perfectly every time. Just set the temperature to medium rare (130f) and put in a bath for a little while.

Steak and eggs with camp spuds -- all cooked in a timeshare kitchen with just four additions: a cleaver, an induction cooker, and the sous-vide rig.

 

[DeniseM]

You're killing me!

 

[ScoopKona]

You're killing me!

Not pictured -- calamari. Didn't survive long enough to shoot. I'm doing some fried cod for T-day.

 

[Passepartout]

In my kit to fix timeshare knives:

 

[TheHolleys87]

You're killing me!

Yeah, he's killing me too!

 

[TheHolleys87]

an induction cooker, and the sous-vide rig.

Can you recommend any that are suitable for a novice? I really want to try sous-vide in particular.

 

[ScoopKona]

Can you recommend any that are suitable for a novice? I really want to try sous-vide in particular.

It's just a propeller attached to a thermostat. So you need a vacuum sealer (a Foodsaver is fine). You can get away with ziploc bags, but it's suboptimal.

And then the immersion circulator. Amazon WILL put one on sale for Black Friday. They always do. One's as good as another unless you spend the money for a PolyScience unit. Amazon has two pages of them right now on their black friday sale -- with names that look they were pulled at random from a Scrabble set. Any will do. More wattage is better. Ideally, find something that's heavy for its size.

Procedure is: 1) Vacuum seal your food with whatever seasoning it needs. 2) Heat water so it's close to your target temperature (you don't want to bring gallons of water to temperature with your circulator. They're good at maintaining temperature. They're not jacuzzi heaters. I heat to a few degrees more. Because the sealed food will lower the temperature. 3) Walk away and let Isaac Newton do your cooking for you.

 

[ScoopKona]

@TheHolleys87 -- I also HIGHLY recommend Michael Ruhlman's "Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide." That's the go-to book for learning this stuff. There are also tons and tons of chefs with YouTube channels.

By this time next year, you'll be wondering what you can't make with one.

 

[Passepartout]

Should you get the big honkin' plastic tub with a notch out of the lid for the circulator, or can you start out with a Dutch oven or something big enough for the food and the heater?

 

[TheHolleys87]

Should you get the big honkin' plastic tub with a notch out of the lid for the circulator, or can you start out with a Dutch oven or something big enough for the food and the heater?

@ScoopKona, To add to this question, is the circulation necessary? My slow cooker says it will maintain a set temperature for sous-vide (the water has to be heated first), but I don’t think it circulates the water.

 

[TheHolleys87]

LOL, just how @ScoopKona wanted to spend Thanksgiving, giving cooking lessons!

 

[Passepartout]

LOL, just how @ScoopKona wanted to spend Thanksgiving, giving cooking lessons!

Thus is the life of the proselytizer.

 

[ScoopKona]

LOL, just how @ScoopKona wanted to spend Thanksgiving, giving cooking lessons!

It's shrimp cocktails here, NFL, and Equinox sparkling wine from Santa Cruz. (They opened on their day off to give us a tasting.) We hiked Point Lobos this morning.

Yes, circulation is necessary. Slow cookers will be "close enough for gubmint work." But if you want your lamb saddle precisely at 130f, you need a circulator. Whether or not you start with one, you're going to want one soon enough.

 

[ScoopKona]

Should you get the big honkin' plastic tub with a notch out of the lid for the circulator, or can you start out with a Dutch oven or something big enough for the food and the heater?

I cook Sous Vide in Cambro food storage containers. A big pot will work fine. The container doesn't really matter -- as long as the circulator fits and has plenty of liquid to "chew on." (They have a min/max water level which matters.)

 

[Passepartout]

OK, another stupid question. I get bringing steaks/chops to med/rare in sous vide then finishing them with a quick pffft-pffft on a hot grill to impart grill marks, but how about something like a pot roast where the meat flavors a bunch of veggies or vice-versa? And those camp spuds you showed upthread. Do you sous vide them to soften the spuds (seasoned) then pan-fry them?

 

[ScoopKona]

OK, another stupid question. I get bringing steaks/chops to med/rare in sous vide then finishing them with a quick pffft-pffft on a hot grill to impart grill marks, but how about something like a pot roast where the meat flavors a bunch of veggies or vice-versa? And those camp spuds you showed upthread. Do you sous vide them to soften the spuds (seasoned) then pan-fry them?

The spuds, no. I cooked those normally.

The pot roast? I'd still braise that.

Sous-vide doesn't replace every single cooking technique. But what it does, it does better than any other technique. I would never think of cooking a rack of lamb any other way. Or a prime rib roast. Or a turkey. If you give me a big, expensive cut of meat, I'm pulling out the vacuum sealer because I like "perfection guaranteed, there is no way to mess this up."

But pot roast? Coq-au-vin? Beef stir fry? French fries? Do those traditionally.

 

[Passepartout]

A thousand thanks! You can go back to your fried cod now. We're headed out to (Brian) the longest tenured chef in Utah's place in Park City to see what he's dishing up for Thanksgiving. Don't know that I'm up for that $120 Tomahawk Ribeye, but maybe there'll be something tasty.

Jim

 

[ScoopKona]

A thousand thanks! You can go back to your fried cod now. We're headed out to (Brian) the longest tenured chef in Utah's place in Park City to see what he's dishing up for Thanksgiving. Don't know that I'm up for that $120 Tomahawk Ribeye, but maybe there'll be something tasty.

Buy a couple tomahawks and make that your first sous-vide meal. Steak is the easiest dish to make. Seriously, you can make "as good as the best steakhouse" the first time, every time. This is the best way to elevate your cooking to "best restaurants on the planet" level.