The food thread

Smoked lamb rack

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Alma,
Love your dishes. Don't be afraid to tell us how you got to what we are looking at. You are obviously versed in cooking, plating and photography, but this isn't a competition, this is where we share our creations.
Indeed, I like to cook! Especially meat, but anything that takes my fancy, too. And many of the pics are by my wife, only some are mine.

When it’s a large piece of beef, I usually marinade and sous vide it and then sear. Lamb is always normal grilling/roasting. Same for fish and veg.
I have a tiny balcony (city living) and s small grill, so a bit limited in techniques I can use.
 
Alma, take the time to skim through this long thread. About once a year I do it also, to remind me of how many talented persons are on this forum and how much learning and sharing we all have done. As always you can’t know it all so ask away and continue to share. It never gets old.

It's a long thread.

That's a LOT of beer.

We bought five lbs of beef, eye of round, from Costco. I sliced it into three pieces... 1.5, 1.5 and 2 lbs. Put them in vacuum bags with Lawry's, Keep them, as all beef, in the fridge.

That way, I figure about 2 or 3 hrs at 128 in the sous vide, ready to go. Then finish under the broiler or the BBQ grill for a few minutes. Done.

I do love using the sous vide for meats, chickens, fish and eggs. The only fish I don't use the sous vide for is Chilean seabass which we normally bring to room temp and just fry in a heavy cast iron skillet with plenty of butter and topped with lemons.

Sometimes we put capers...

@von Ah On the piccatta... did you try putting some capers and white wine to finish it? I see the capers... Then top it with reggiano parmesan. Oy! Molto bene... What time is dinner? I'll bring a nice Zaca Mesa pinot... I think I know what I'm making for dinner tomorrow. ;-)
 
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Dry white wine is an absolute requirement for this, Tony. Added to the big pan to deglaze with fresh lemon juice after the chicken-egg-wash-panko fry is done. Capers and fresh parsley finish in the pan for the last several minutes. This version cooked longer but turned out wonderfully.

Make the piccata. I'm always satisfied and proud when I make it. Lemony-buttery-garlicky goodness.
 
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We bought five lbs of beef, eye of round, from Costco.
Around here, Costco is not the place to get your meat.
Tony, nice to see you doing the immersion cooking of it.
Honestly, I've not tried it as a main dish recently but immersion cooking is right up its alley, so maybe next time.
(Ya right Cal 🤣)
Eye of round is the go-to when it comes to making Jerky or Chew.
 

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If not familiar, Chew (IMG 0259) is often cut with the grain, or cut thickly, and prepared more slowly, whereas Jerky is most often cut across the grain, or on the bias and sometimes textured (pierced or pounded) and done more quickly. Both are great for so many things.
Pic 1 left is a garlic based while pic 1 right is an 'asian' style.
 
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Around here, Costco is not the place to get your meat.
Tony, nice to see you doing the immersion cooking of it.
Honestly, I've not tried it as a main dish recently but immersion cooking is right up its alley, so maybe next time.
(Ya right Cal 🤣)
Eye of round is the go-to when it comes to making Jerky or Chew.

Nice jerky....

Our Costco carries Choice, Prime and Wagyu grades of beef. For aged or specialty meats I go to a butcher shop in Costa Mesa. But sometimes, I'll buy chuck roast from Albertson's.... when they put their Choice cut of 3.99.... then it's time to start using the vacuum machine.

For meats, I's say I do 90% on the sous vide and 10% braised.

We made some awesome homemade char siu yesterday. I had it marinating for a week with my new chamber vacuum machine.. my wife baked in a hot oven. It's simply awesome sliced thin on top of ramen or rice... or on a salad..

Chew? I can't say I've ever tried such a thing.
 
I bought tri tip at the store yesterday and on a whim, decided to cut it into steaks, season them and use the instapot sous vide function. While its already in the bath, I'm open to any tips, tricks or warnings. Pairing the steaks with fried grits on another whim. I'm a simple man
 
I bought tri tip at the store yesterday and on a whim, decided to cut it into steaks, season them and use the instapot sous vide function. While its already in the bath, I'm open to any tips, tricks or warnings. Pairing the steaks with fried grits on another whim. I'm a simple man

Cut it into steaks, about 3/4 of an inch... then pound them until they are about 1/3rd of an inch. Coat them with olive oil, salt and freshly ground garlic. Give them five minutes and pan fry very hot... quickly. Add a little bit of fresh lemon juice. Also, some capers.... it's a take on piccata. A Catalan variation.

Also works great with Eye of Round.

Serve them with chopped Italian parsley and a touch of black pepper on top. With French fries.

If you have them in sous vide, I assume 128F. Figure cooking them rather quick. Depending on thickness. I'd give them no more than half an hour as prepared above.... or an hour if you cut them an inch thick. Steaks do cook quite fast! You can sear them, LIGHTING FAST, on a pan with olive oil and lemon and parsley as above. Too late for garlic, I'm afraid.

BTW, we have a large Fagor pressure cooker... the old fashioned way. But then we have large 15,000 BTW burners, so it works well for us. It's just noisy though. But it makes wonderful beef stews.

We usually braise tri tip cut into chunks. As a whole piece we sous vide it at 128F for about three hours for a ~3-4 lb piece and then finish it on the BBQ grill, hot!

Don't forget the beer!

Marinate tri tip overnight with beer (NOT IPA), tequila, salt, pepper, garlic and Spanish paprika.
 
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We made some awesome homemade char siu yesterday.
Tell us about it please Tony. It's a favourite around here.
I also let it sit for a week.
I start with pork shoulder and use the package for colour. It makes up about 1/3 of the seasoning mix. The rest would be:
Five spice
Sesame
Soy sauce
Ginger
Garlic
Onion
Tamarind
Sugar
Chillies
 

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