FOOD!

[Chinorlz]

kind of off topic.... IS THERE ANYTHING YOU DONT KNOW ABOUT? WHY ARE YOU SO FREAKING WELL VERSED IN EVERYTHING!!!!!!

you can breakdance, you're a designer and therefore versed in fabrics & tailoring, you are (going to be) a doctor, you're into coffee... I'm sure there are more that I haven't listed yet...



@ ahimsa that looks totally delicious!!! i do believe in pure ingredients but alas i cannot forego the love of meat... (which i know to be harmful... but so is the overpopulation of human species ;) )

Haha, thanks man... just long long hours. Just got back from yet another 17 hours at the hospital dealing with trauma patients. There is little glory in the life of a surgery resident but it is what it is!

There's so many incredible things to experience in this world and we only live once! So much to see, so much to learn about, I just want to take it all in!

Raw, the photos look great!! I haven't had a snazzy meal in a while... been eating a lot of stinky tofu at a local Taiwanese greasy spoon and that has kept me plenty happy hahaha.

S-A, I wish it was a hedonistic life hahaha. I get no days off around the holidays and will be on call overnight on Xmas. I don't get to see my family this year during the holidays we must have some shabu/ramen next time I come to the city!


on a different note... is that Mast Bros chocolate really that great? I see it at the counter at Stumptown at the Ace Hotel but never get it.... yet to fully get the realm of artisanal chocolates. I fear the resulting gut if I did hahaha

[cowsareforeating]

^ artisan chocolate probably has less sugar than non-artisanal alternatives so .... yeah. :) enjoy ahead.




on another note, what good tea shops are there out there in the U.S... slim pickings and I love tea.

[Patroklus]

lol thats cute
but seriously, i haven't been served good tea in any restaurant or cafe i have been to. i can sometimes find decent tea at asian markets, along with the only live fish and lobster i've seen in a decade

[cowsareforeating]

^ well i know samovar and red blossom in sf aren't bad... if their picks are a bit one sided

if you are there, there is a kenyan white tea that is pretty freaking amazing. kenyan estates are not very well known but have been around for ages!

i used to work at a tea shop...

[Patroklus]

I live in the greater LA area. You can get good coffee though.
I'll try them next time I'm in SF.

[Chinorlz]

^ well i know samovar and red blossom in sf aren't bad... if their picks are a bit one sided

if you are there, there is a kenyan white tea that is pretty freaking amazing. kenyan estates are not very well known but have been around for ages!

i used to work at a tea shop...

Who was that on here that wrote that intense post about getting some brick of precious tea that had a lot of chi in it? It made it sound so awesomely next level. I want to experience something like that!

I just drink loose leaf green tea that my relatives bring back from Taiwan. Nice and easy... and thanks for the green light to eat on some chocolates ! haha!!

[cowsareforeating]

^ pu-erh is discussed in such context. i can come in loose or brick form, or small individual "bricks" called tuocha.

high quality pu-erh is exclusively produced in the southern regions of china... i forget the exact province/. often aged in fruits/spices

and if its from taiwan.... its most likely oolong that's high grade. there are fairly green oolongs.

[theaddict]

Hit me up when you are here Albert, we are overdue anyway! And I hear ya, being a doctor is not the easiest life, especially in the firstyears. But from my first hand experience, imo it gets better the higher you climb the ladder, no more night shifts or weekend shifts when you are the boss. That's the difference to lawyers, all the partners I know work as much as the associates...sigh...

[Ahimsa]

Chinorlz- I think The Mast Brothers is pretty fantastic. Though, I hold chocolate up to a high standard. That being said, the taste for artisan chocolates is like that of any connoisseur. It's not as enjoyable unless one gets the full essence of its specific flavors. It might be worth at least one try though no? (they don't add any sugar into their bars by the way, as cowsareforeating had assumed)

I pretty much exclusively drink loose leaf tea...I use a tea press and sometimes a cast iron pot. Any variable temperature kettle users out there? Because clearly we are not talking enough about the preparation of tea
I'm not sure where you guys are going to find bad tea though. Vegan restaurants generally have fantastic tea...
My favored brands.
T
The Art of Tea
Bellocq
Tay Tea

[MoFiya]

Homemade christmas food :)


Crawfish soup with cress royale

Sous-vide cooked dam, savoy, Spätzle

Chestnut mousse, roast apple sorbet

[uL7iMa]

Question for MoFiya: Do you use a sous vide machine? or just some make shift water bath to sous vide the meat?

The sous vide bath is so tempting! but I can't justify the price as of yet..

[MoFiya]

Question for MoFiya: Do you use a sous vide machine? or just some make shift water bath to sous vide the meat?

The sous vide bath is so tempting! but I can't justify the price as of yet..

We have a sous vide machine. Water bath is basically useless to control the temperature. You need the sensitivity of a 'real' machine... E.g. that dam had a core temperature of 53°C - 2°C more or less make a huge difference.

[uL7iMa]

We have a sous vide machine. Water bath is basically useless to control the temperature. You need the sensitivity of a 'real' machine... E.g. that dam had a core temperature of 53°C - 2°C more or less make a huge difference.

in that case, what machine would you recommend a beginner? just the most basic sous vide machine will suffice? also, will cooking many servings in a sous vide machine affect the outcome?

[MoFiya]

Sorry, I cannot recommend anything as the sous vide machine belongs to my dad. I guess the more basic the machine, the less accurate the temperature and it's regulation -> the worse the outcome.

Regarding the servings: do you mean by that several servings of the same meal or different dishes? If you refer to the latter, it won't be possible as different kind of meat / fish have different 'target core temperatures' (< dunno how to say this, the core temperature where you serve the meal e.g. medium for meat). Regarding the first: basically, it should be possible. Once the meat has reached the same temperature as the water (e.g. 53°C) it will stay there. But if you have two pieces of the same meat and the one is finished and the other one still has some time to go you cannot increase the temperature of the water as the already finished meat would be overcooked in this case. However, the other meat will take ages to finish (the cooking time increases exponentially the closer it is to the target temperature).

However, we had several servings of the pictured dam. We had a huge portion of meat we put into vacuum. After it was finished, we let it rest for 5minutes and then we roasted it with a bunsen burner. We then cut the desired slices of meat from it and put the rest in aluminium foil in a warming drawer.

... hope that helped

edit. Oh and keep in mind that you won't only have to buy a sous vide machine but also sth to put the meat into vacuum. As for meat: most butchers can do that for you but I dont know about fish.

[theetruscan]

Sous Vide options are contained machine or immersion circulator.

I have a contained machine (the Sous Vide Supreme). It is relatively affordable, and very convenient. It is not accurate to anywhere near the level of an immersion circulator though. I see fluctuations reported between -.5c and +.3c. I measure the fluctuation as slightly less than that, but still much more than a proper immersion circulator. The other contained machine is the Fresh Meals Solution/Sous Vide Magic. It has a fair number of parts, and is more of a pain as a result. It is also rather ugly. It is much more accurate than the Sous Vide Supreme.

For a home immersion circulator, the options are Polyscience and Julabo. Polyscience is even sold at Williams-Sonoma now, and one model is down to ~$800. Julabo will run $1000-1500. I think cheaper is better here. More inconvenient in that you need to provide your own water bath. Better in that you can use a water bath of any size you choose.

Short version:

Cheap and precise: Sous Vide Magic/Fresh Meals Solutions

Cheap and convenient: Sous Vide Supreme

Better: Immersion Circulator, polyscience is cheaper.