Gauntlet... thrown!! Bring out ALL of your cookers!!

The Cen-Tex Smoker

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

SciAggie said:

@Foghorn I believe the benefit of prolonged SV is to break down collagen without over cooking or expelling moisture from the meat. Since the rendering of the collagen is slow at that temperature range, it takes many hours (6-72). If temps are bumped into the 132-137 range it is my understanding you also essentially end up with a pasteurized product. I don't believe pasteurization will occur at 125 degrees - at least not in any reasonable time window.
*All the information above may be complete BS and is subject to doubt*

130 is the number for pasteurization but 131-132 to be safe on thicker cuts. Steaks don’t benefit much from a long cook and they can get mushy If left in too long. I think 4 hrs is about as long as I would go on a steak but you are safe at 6 or more over 130 degrees. The real benefit to longer cooks is for things like brisket/butts where it can really work on all the connective tissue in there 

on another note- I like my SV steaks at 135 or even a little higher. They are tender like a rare steak but it renders the fat and breaks down the proteins quite a bit better in this temp range. They are still bright pink wall to wall at this temp but they eat Way better than SV steaks cooked in the 120’s 

And tip for searing SV steaks: throw your steaks in an ice bath for 1-2 minutes after the SV to cool the internal down before searing. 

You can sear longer And get a nice thick crust without overshooting you’re desired internal that way. 

Edit to add that you can even just run them under cool tap water for a few minutes (in the bag, of course). You just want to get the temp down a bit so you can sear the crap out of it without overshooting where you want it to end up 

Foghorn

Thanks @SciAggie and @The Cen-Tex Smoker.

SciAggie

@The Cen-Tex Smoker I usually SV at 132 degrees. Thanks for the tip about cooling slightly. Neat idea.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Foghorn said:

Thanks @SciAggie and @The Cen-Tex Smoker.

Fried chicken should be next. You can thank me later. One of the best things you can do with A SV. Google “chef steps can’t f*ck it up fried chicken”

or, just click this : https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/can-t-f-it-up-fried-chicken

lkapigian

shtgunal3

Bacon and bologna for breakfast and wings for lunch on the ranger. Burgers later.

shtgunal3

Wings are done. I believe this is gonna be a good little campsite grill.

SciAggie

lkapigian said:

Curious to see how you like your makeshift oven. It looks good. 

lkapigian

SciAggie said:

lkapigian said:

Curious to see how you like your makeshift oven. It looks good. 

I'm going to cut a piece of plate for a door....works like a champ, not enough room for a hotel pan but in theory will do what I need ...playing with some Wal-Mart frozen pizza , the floor is plenty hot 

SciAggie

That’s nice. 

Canugghead

shtgunal3 said:

Bacon and bologna for breakfast and wings for lunch on the ranger. Burgers later.

Love my Ranger and we don't even camp. Seasoned my griddle but never used it. Dumb question: what temp setting do you use for griddling? If lid is opened too long and it doesn't attain set temp within certain time limit won't it shut down with an LER error?

Mattman3969

Pesto Zuke Noodles and leftover chicken breast.  

Pesto was a mix of sweet basil and Thai basil. Cooked in a skillet on the cooktop 

ryantt

Canugghead

Cranked out another load of pork dumplings.

Steamed for 20 minutes in triple decker commercial steamer from Kolkata's Chinatown, counted 79!  Giving most of them to grown kids and spouses.

Pan fried in Lodge CI before serving.  

Made noodles with leftover dough, cooked in garlic molasses dark soy sauce, didn't add any meat or other stuff to it since it was unplanned, tasted good by itself though.

Have a great week all!

SciAggie

Those noodles look really good. Simple and delicious. 

caliking

Dang, @Canugghead! you're a machine

Impressed that you managed to cart back that whole steamer rig from Kolkata. "Chinese breakfast" at Poddar Court is still among my fondest of memories. Even took caliqueen there when we were courting

Canugghead

Haha, hard to justify not cooking bulk after lugging out all that gears! Miss  the good old days of crazy luggage allowance, I even brought over a full sized Carrom board 

Canugghead

Thanks @SciAggie, it has an interesting garlicky sweet savoury profile.

caliking

Canugghead said:

Haha, hard to justify not cooking bulk after lugging out all that gears! Miss  the good old days of crazy luggage allowance, I even brought over a full sized Carrom board 

Those were indeed the days! I remember a time when I checked in with one item weighing in at 126 lbs. The British Airways supervisor on duty ended up being a guy from my high school. He smiled and said "Traveling light today, Ashish?" and waved me through

Canugghead

Maiden voyage with my new 'edibles' making toy (Magical Butter, see what are you buying thread) - Chili oil!

Took a blind plunge and pleasantly surprised with the result. Infused at preset 160F for four hours. The oil came out slightly thicker (although not gravity defying) and more flavourful than previous stovetop/thermopot attempts, I think the intermittent grinding throughout the process helped to extract more from the spices. After the infusion I did the usual boil to 300F and adding to chili-salt-vinegar.  It was more work straining the ground up spices though 

Next time I may try 190F infusion and compare.

caliking

Looks good, @Canugghead! 

Why strain the solids/spices out? Any significant difference vs. leaving them in?

nolaegghead

"All" our cookers?! ......sigh...OK.

danhoo

Overnight last night, pork shoulder on the LBGE.



Tomorrow I'll slow smoke rib steak on the pellet and reverse sear on the E330 gasser.

Canugghead

@caliking
That's what the recipe calls for, the spices (normally whole but ground up by MB) don't have much flavour left after four hours and not tooth friendly. What you see settled in the bottle should have been chili flakes but I used coarse ground Korean chili powder this time for a change, I kind of like how it mixes more evenly with the oil when stirred just before consumption.

caliking

nolaegghead said:

"All" our cookers?! ......sigh...OK.

What did you cook in it?

nolaegghead

caliking said:

nolaegghead said:

"All" our cookers?! ......sigh...OK.

What did you cook in it?

I found it's pretty decent at melting plastic with a low melting point.

So far I just put some boobs on a ken doll, but I hope to do a red velvet cake in the near future.

caliking

Canugghead said:

@caliking
That's what the recipe calls for, the spices (normally whole but ground up by MB) don't have much flavour left after four hours and not tooth friendly. What you see settled in the bottle should have been chili flakes but I used coarse ground Korean chili powder this time for a change, I kind of like how it mixes more evenly with the oil when stirred just before consumption.

I haven't tried gochugaru to make chili oil, but sounds like a great idea. I like to leave the spices in - no stirring, if I want just the oil. Stir it up, if I want it a little crunchy with the spices mixed in. Best of both worlds!

This is what I've used a couple of times, and its been quite good. Little more heat, than the gochugaru I have.

Canugghead

We like to stir up the chili without the other spices 
will look for that chili flakes... btw, the three Chinese character brand name means  'chili face'!

Canugghead

Btw, we save the other spices for pho soup which uses somewhat similar ingredients. Even after the oil infusion there's still sufficient flavour left for the long simmer in fireless pot.

caliking

Canugghead said:

We like to stir up the chili without the other spices 
will look for that chili flakes... btw, the three Chinese character brand name means  'chili face'!

At least the characters correlate with the image Unlike so many folks who have kanji tattoos, which don't mean anything close to what they think they do!