Timex
4986
Toasting them helps release some of the oils, the same goes for most spices. Just toast them enough so that you can start to smell them.
If you’re using the whole pods, you can do this too… just throw them into the pan and toast them a bit before adding oil. You’re gonna need to remove them though after they infuse the oil, because no one really wants to eat the little tough shell things, or the super hard grains that are in the pepercorn itself. (I’ve found that better quality peppercorn has less of the actual seeds).
It makes total sense, I actually do that with cumin seeds and coriander pods. For some reason, I just never thought to do that with sichuan peppercorns.
And last of the Chinese for awhile, today’s enormous lunch:
Made some fried rice with my leftover blend of minced garlic, scallions, and ginger, plus diced onion, frozen mixed veggies, white pepper, sesame seeds, soy sauce, and an egg, then warmed up some of the veggie lo mein and kung pao chicken and fried a few wonton strips :)
… nap ensues …
You awaken refreshed.
You are thirsty.
No but really I’m taking a long lunch waiting on a repair guy to show up and it’s taking forever and I just want to sleep…
I would have already been asleep if I ate all that. But I get that a lot after eating. Today is a gym day and lazy me would love to go home and nap after work.
So, I have a couple of confit duck legs and I’m at a bit of a loss as to what to do with them, other than serving with some redcurrant jelly, crispy fried shallots and glazed carrots. Any suggestions?
Absolutely nothing wrong with anything you mentioned as the entire dish.I’d change up what I had with it, but it’s only personal preference. Something like roasted potatoes and a small salad, or wild rice and mushrooms. I like your idea with the jelly. Sweet to balance the heavy flavors of the duck. You could do the same thing with something tart or bitter, which is where I’d go with the greens. I’d add nothing that would take away from the duck as your main flavor.
EDIT: We are going to need pics. Duck confit sounds awesome right now.
Here you go:
I left the shallots in about 30 seconds too long, but still a pretty successful meal. I love duck so much.
That’s gorgeous, GY. I don’t really love duck, but I would absolutely eat that.
Tman
4997
I just got an Anova for my B-day. What would be your first sous-vide recipe you would recommend for me to try?
RichVR
4998
My vote is for some kind of steak.
Timex
4999
Agreed, get some real thick steak, and cook it medium rare.
Gendal
5000
I just made a batch of these cheese cakes, was super easy. I ended up using toasted, caramelized sugar which worked out great, it has a subtle taste of caramel to it.
Hard to screw up, so probably a good first thing to try if you have 4 or 8 oz mason jars. However it doesn’t really showcase the wonders of sous vide besides nailing the creamy texture everytime.
Steaks are a good option. Thick cut pork chops too.
My favorite resources are Chef Steps & Serious Eats - CI unfortunately still sticks it’s nose up at sous vide.
In 10 minutes I am going to be pulling the chicken out of the sous vide tub for this:
Would love to see more recipes from everyone, especially those that take a large protein and stick in a marinade/aromatics.
My absolute favorite thing to cook though would be ribs. Holy shit. Buy St. Louis style because you don’t need to pay for baby back ribs with sous vide. I grew up surrounded by great BBQ and the sous vide ribs just convert everyone on the first bite (unless you really like smoke - it’s only eh… ok at that)
Yup. I lucked into a whole beef tenderloin recently, that my local butcher had on sale for a crazy price. To get reasonable portions, I cut it into 2" filets mignons. Too thick to easily cook through on the grill without overdoing the exterior, but tailor made for sous vide plus a grill finish.
Assuming your butcher isn’t giving away tenderloin at the door, try a thick NY strip. Salt and pepper, plus some rosemary and thyme. I’d tweak Timex’s suggestion and cook it to 125F (rare) for an hour. Then finish it for ~2 minutes per side in a smoking hot pan on the stove. This will give it a good crust, and will cook it further to about medium rare.
Chicken breast and bone-in pork chops are also great candidates. I’d never thought of sous vide specifically for chicken salad.
Gendal
5002
Not the biggest chicken salad fan because it’s usually massive amounts of mayonnaise trying to hide overcooked chicken. No problems with that tonight, chicken was juicier than the mayonnaise.
Man I hate using juicy as a word to describe meat, almost as bad as moist, but damn if it wasn’t.
Anyways, I had to use very little mayonnaise to make some good chicken salad. Plus, super easy. Slice up a lemon, throw in some tarragon sprigs, salt, pepper, lower into a water bath.
I may have posted this before, but it’s a favorite at my place. A great way to cook healthy chicken breast, super-easy to do, great flavor. The vinaigrette can be made ahead of time (and cooking sous vide is stupid easy) so it makes for a fantastic week night meal that you can do with little hands-on time.
(not my picture)
MEDIUM rare?! You heathen!
Timex
5005
Medium rare for a sous vide steak is perfect… because it’s that level of doneness through the entire steak. It’s not well done on the edges and rare in the middle. It’s perfect through the whole cut.
I’d recommend it as the first way to cook a steak sous vide, just because it’s gonna be a bit different from the way a regular steak is cooked on a grill, for instance.
