@Cal Weldon if anyone is going to tempt me back to being carnivorous it will be you. I used to think a bacon sandwich would be my biggest temptation, but that meat looks sooo good.
Bill,
Have you ever had or even seen the plant based “Vegan Bacon?”
A bit of salt and smoke flavor on
What I suspect is a bit of cardboard!
Me, Turkey bacon is as close as I go to dead pig.
Have you ever had or even seen the plant based “Vegan Bacon?”
A bit of salt and smoke flavor on
What I suspect is a bit of cardboard!
Me, Turkey bacon is as close as I go to dead pig.
Vegan?
Yuck!
Anyhow, just spent two weeks in the Puget Sound... did have a pretty good burger.... but the best was the Sons Of Norway in Poulsbo... when they pour their drink, they POUR their drinks.
Went there several times.
Food?
I forget, but I do remember the double vodka tonics... Yowza...
Oh, wine.... check out Monastrell, I found two places in Poulsbo where they had some good Ribera del Duero, Cartagena and Catalunya wines ( Tempranillo, Monastrell and Garnacha Noir ). All for around 15 bucks.... so we drank a lot of Spanish red wine. (*)
Chilled red wine... awesome way to drink it, actually.
Vegan? Why?
(*) Why Spanish? For one thing these are darn good wines and for another they sell for 1/3rd, or less, of comparable California and other more well known regions. Let's say they are price cheap, but they are not cheap. A good value!
Yuck!
Anyhow, just spent two weeks in the Puget Sound... did have a pretty good burger.... but the best was the Sons Of Norway in Poulsbo... when they pour their drink, they POUR their drinks.
Went there several times.
Food?
I forget, but I do remember the double vodka tonics... Yowza...
Oh, wine.... check out Monastrell, I found two places in Poulsbo where they had some good Ribera del Duero, Cartagena and Catalunya wines ( Tempranillo, Monastrell and Garnacha Noir ). All for around 15 bucks.... so we drank a lot of Spanish red wine. (*)
Chilled red wine... awesome way to drink it, actually.
Vegan? Why?
(*) Why Spanish? For one thing these are darn good wines and for another they sell for 1/3rd, or less, of comparable California and other more well known regions. Let's say they are price cheap, but they are not cheap. A good value!
How about Australian wines, price and taste wise?
Vegetarian food is quite normal in India, and all I can say is, don't knock it until you have tried it.
However, a life long habit is hard to change, and no, I do not want to start an argument about that, it has been argued at length all over the web.
Conditions in India did not allow the storage and transportation of frozen food, meat becomes 3x butcher price if purchased at the frozen food section.
And if there has been an issue during transport, well it can stink.
So we personally prefer freshly slaughtered animal products, and then the choice of meats and cuts is limited.
Sausages etc. are not very popular here.
And there was an episode in the old 1980s 'Yes Minister / Yes Prime Minister' TV series on BBC, starring Paul Eddington, where sausages were called "emulsified high fat offal tube", as the meat in those is often bits you would not buy.
It seems that was the official EU description at that time for sausages.
In a country where even synthetic milk is sold, we do not trust frozen meat, that is all I can say.
Now we do get prepared stuff like nuggets and cutlets, the taste is not as good as home made or restaurants, so a make do solution for singles or small families.
The mince meat in packs sold here is often finer ground and higher fat compared to the lean meat chopped by hand at the butcher, so you can understand they would taste and feel different from each other.
The meat processing industry in the USA was based in the Chicago area at one time, animals would be transported from distant places like Texas, and the processed meat products would then be transported in freezers (truck or rail) all over the country for sale.
This may be old information, I personally think it is an enormous waste of fuel and other resources.
Here we have slaughter houses in most cities, the meat shops buy slaughtered animals and sell the preferred cuts to the customer.
For religious reasons, some types of animal are restricted in sale compared to your country. that results in a reduced variety of available animal meat products.
Another aspect is that ice expands compared to water, so the meat texture can get damaged if the temperature has fluctuated, particularly in sea food, or the freezing has been slow, usually blast freezing is done to prevent ice crystal formation.
Sorry if you find it offensive, I do not want to hurt anybody's feelings.
Vegetarian food is quite normal in India, and all I can say is, don't knock it until you have tried it.
However, a life long habit is hard to change, and no, I do not want to start an argument about that, it has been argued at length all over the web.
Conditions in India did not allow the storage and transportation of frozen food, meat becomes 3x butcher price if purchased at the frozen food section.
And if there has been an issue during transport, well it can stink.
So we personally prefer freshly slaughtered animal products, and then the choice of meats and cuts is limited.
Sausages etc. are not very popular here.
And there was an episode in the old 1980s 'Yes Minister / Yes Prime Minister' TV series on BBC, starring Paul Eddington, where sausages were called "emulsified high fat offal tube", as the meat in those is often bits you would not buy.
It seems that was the official EU description at that time for sausages.
In a country where even synthetic milk is sold, we do not trust frozen meat, that is all I can say.
Now we do get prepared stuff like nuggets and cutlets, the taste is not as good as home made or restaurants, so a make do solution for singles or small families.
The mince meat in packs sold here is often finer ground and higher fat compared to the lean meat chopped by hand at the butcher, so you can understand they would taste and feel different from each other.
The meat processing industry in the USA was based in the Chicago area at one time, animals would be transported from distant places like Texas, and the processed meat products would then be transported in freezers (truck or rail) all over the country for sale.
This may be old information, I personally think it is an enormous waste of fuel and other resources.
Here we have slaughter houses in most cities, the meat shops buy slaughtered animals and sell the preferred cuts to the customer.
For religious reasons, some types of animal are restricted in sale compared to your country. that results in a reduced variety of available animal meat products.
Another aspect is that ice expands compared to water, so the meat texture can get damaged if the temperature has fluctuated, particularly in sea food, or the freezing has been slow, usually blast freezing is done to prevent ice crystal formation.
Sorry if you find it offensive, I do not want to hurt anybody's feelings.
Monty Python forever destroyed what I think of Australian Table Wines... ;-)
Yeah, I do prefer fresh, never frozen, meats. I usually store them in vacuum bags in the fridge and they easily last six months without deterioration. Sometimes I'll add some salt so they can go right into the sous vide...
As a kid, my family would take me to the local stockyard where we bought the meat for the stores.
I like vegan food, but I don't care for vegan "substitutes"... I like my food honest... so my tofu is the best, not that ersatz brick you get at Trader Joe's and my beef is Prime Grade.
https://www.meijitofu.com/
As I grow older I eat less but I eat best!
Don't worry, I found nothing offensive in your post.... we do love all types of Indian foods. The spices are fantastic and the curries and lentils, on top of a good rice, are awesome.
Yeah, I do prefer fresh, never frozen, meats. I usually store them in vacuum bags in the fridge and they easily last six months without deterioration. Sometimes I'll add some salt so they can go right into the sous vide...
As a kid, my family would take me to the local stockyard where we bought the meat for the stores.
I like vegan food, but I don't care for vegan "substitutes"... I like my food honest... so my tofu is the best, not that ersatz brick you get at Trader Joe's and my beef is Prime Grade.
https://www.meijitofu.com/
As I grow older I eat less but I eat best!
Don't worry, I found nothing offensive in your post.... we do love all types of Indian foods. The spices are fantastic and the curries and lentils, on top of a good rice, are awesome.
I did tell Cal to try getting a bit of his marinaded meat cooked at a place with a tandoor, so he could see the difference in taste and texture.
He lives in an area with many Indian origin people, and Indian restaurants, he may be friends with somebody with a tandoor.
He did not respond, he may have missed reading that post, or whatever.
Maybe you could try that, and tell us.
A pre-heated side opening pizza oven, with good insulation, might come close, the intense heat in the tandoor seals the surface, so the action is partly boiling and partly heating.
I find tandoori chicken succulent, and grilled chicken to be chewy.
But to each his own, I feel.
He lives in an area with many Indian origin people, and Indian restaurants, he may be friends with somebody with a tandoor.
He did not respond, he may have missed reading that post, or whatever.
Maybe you could try that, and tell us.
A pre-heated side opening pizza oven, with good insulation, might come close, the intense heat in the tandoor seals the surface, so the action is partly boiling and partly heating.
I find tandoori chicken succulent, and grilled chicken to be chewy.
But to each his own, I feel.
I have a "NuWave" induction plate. Temp setting goes down to 100 F; up in 10 deg steps. Would that work as a sous vide water heater? I'm imagining it will keep a pot of water at whatever temp you set, within some reasonable error. Is constant stirring or liquid flow necessary for the cooking to work properly? Thanks.
I tried editing, not successful.
A minor clarification:
The cooking in the tandoor causes the surface to be sealed due to the intense heat, the moisture inside acts as a steaming or boiling medium, and the heat is conducted from the surface of the food item.
Together, they act in a different way than say a grill or an oven.
The time taken to cook a 1 kilo size (before dressing) chicken usually is within 10 minutes in a tandoor, a lot less than other methods reported here.
You might try sealing marinaded meat in foil, then cook at high heat in a previously heated pizza oven as an experiment.
And do read about 'Patra ni Machhi', marinaded fish wrapped in leaves then steamed.
A minor clarification:
The cooking in the tandoor causes the surface to be sealed due to the intense heat, the moisture inside acts as a steaming or boiling medium, and the heat is conducted from the surface of the food item.
Together, they act in a different way than say a grill or an oven.
The time taken to cook a 1 kilo size (before dressing) chicken usually is within 10 minutes in a tandoor, a lot less than other methods reported here.
You might try sealing marinaded meat in foil, then cook at high heat in a previously heated pizza oven as an experiment.
And do read about 'Patra ni Machhi', marinaded fish wrapped in leaves then steamed.
Last Saturday evening:
Spuds, beetroots, auberguine, peppers, courgettes and stuffed mushrooms on the bbq
The wine:
🙂
Spuds, beetroots, auberguine, peppers, courgettes and stuffed mushrooms on the bbq
The wine:
🙂
I doubt your NuWave pot will work.
You need something that will keep the entire water at a constant temp.. with no cold/hot spots and temp control has to be very accurate and precise.
Most of the cheaper controllers are the immersion type and use a pump of sort... Mine is a big stainless steel box with no pump, but well insulated.
Control has to be per degree as somethings, like fish and eggs, will be cooked at 115 or so.... while meats go from 128 to 140, pork at 145 and chicken anywhere from 150 to 165... and everything in between.
Pretty much you're playing a game of balancing temp vs time: you are cooking at very low temps so you need time to kill the bacteria... otherwise you will have a pretty dish.... and for sure you don't want to overcook your food!
We'll see what happens; I can measure temperature, so I'll heat up a pot of water and see what I get. Thanks for the informative reply!
Someone up the road tossed several of these in a "free pile". Silicone bag of some sort, unused, have several. Given the clamping device atop the bag actually does seal it, would these be useful in such a cooking application? I assume silicone is better than whatever plastic formula a random brand zip-loc uses...in terms of leaching anything bad into the food.
I have used zip lock bags without dying.... the zip tops are handiest... use the water immersion method.... One of the things about using zip lock bags is that you can easily include liquid in the foods you put into the sous vide.
I'd say that zip lock bags are not that expensive and are known not to kill you.... they're on sale right now at Costco.
Normally I use vacuum bags for most things I cook so it's hard to include liquids... usually I will freeze the liquids and then put them into the bag with the meats before I seal them... that prevents liquids from clogging the pump (done that once).
At some point in the future I want to get a chamber vacuum machine, but they're big things....
Someday I would love to start making things like chili in the sous vide.... cook it for 7 hours at 160 and then finish on the range top for half an hour to thicken it.
I'd say that zip lock bags are not that expensive and are known not to kill you.... they're on sale right now at Costco.
Normally I use vacuum bags for most things I cook so it's hard to include liquids... usually I will freeze the liquids and then put them into the bag with the meats before I seal them... that prevents liquids from clogging the pump (done that once).
At some point in the future I want to get a chamber vacuum machine, but they're big things....
Someday I would love to start making things like chili in the sous vide.... cook it for 7 hours at 160 and then finish on the range top for half an hour to thicken it.
In case it helps, we use a "Nesco VS-12" vacuum sealer machine to create custom vacuum tight "bags" for food that gets cooked in the sous vide water circulator. We buy an 8-pack of filet mignon steaks at Costco, seal them individually in bags, toss in freezer. Take them out over the next few months to cook as needed. Amazon sells the empty bags and the sealer itself (link).
Although, sous vide evangelist Kenji Lopez-Alt shows how to do the sous vide cooking part (not the freezing part) in regular ordinary ziplock storage bags. Google for "water displacement sous vide Kenji" to see his little trick.
Although, sous vide evangelist Kenji Lopez-Alt shows how to do the sous vide cooking part (not the freezing part) in regular ordinary ziplock storage bags. Google for "water displacement sous vide Kenji" to see his little trick.
IMHO, a proper vacuum machine should be larger than an Aleph 2 amp in a 5U chassis.
But then.... I'm the one that almost bought a food slicer that came in a pallet and weighted something like 200 lbs packed! I only stopped when I realized the shipping method... by truck.... "What is this again? " Turns out it was a refurbished unit from a deli. Hmm...
Also, I don't freeze beef. In the vacuum bags they will keep for months with no damage in the garage fridge. Freezing good meats, IMHO, affects the texture.
But then.... I'm the one that almost bought a food slicer that came in a pallet and weighted something like 200 lbs packed! I only stopped when I realized the shipping method... by truck.... "What is this again? " Turns out it was a refurbished unit from a deli. Hmm...
Also, I don't freeze beef. In the vacuum bags they will keep for months with no damage in the garage fridge. Freezing good meats, IMHO, affects the texture.
Well, looks like the temp is a little off from set point. ~166 F for a 140 setting, 130 F for a 100 setting. Guessing 500F FS, so +5-6% of FS for a cheap consumer piece. As I recall even our 120A bench supplies were rated at some % of FS on the current measurement, which would mess up automated readings when the actual current draw was 1/10 of capability.
Perhaps, perhaps good enough to try and see if we like, before investing in more expensive equipment.
Perhaps, perhaps good enough to try and see if we like, before investing in more expensive equipment.
Since I am unfamiliar with that style of cooking, I like to leave it to the pros. We often have at least one tandoor dish we we eat out.