Mostly this. At least for pre eaten odors. Like brussels sprouts the cooking method can release high amounts of odiferous compounds if done wrong. Or if they start to get old, verging on going bad, then they can start to break down releasing them as well.
For the second round of smell?
Admittedly, just the swai and the corn from the freezer; had to buy the asparagus fresh because we’d actually finished by bag of frozen green beans without my realizing it >.>
Yep, I was thinking of mostly this. Straight from that article, I’m one of those people who can smell it as quickly as a 1/4 to 1/2 hour after eating. But sometimes it’s not nearly as bad. That latter part made me wonder if it’s the method of cooking, the age of the asparagus, or just randomness.
As far as cooking smells, brussel sprouts have more of a cooking smell than asparagus, I think.
True, but the culprit for each is the same, sulfides. Slightly different phases, but same basic concept.
Heh, I’ve been doing the same thing for the last week and a bit. I haven’t defrosted since I moved in three years ago. Used up the king prawns and oven fries on Sunday, and transferred the tomato soup to the fridge for consumption this week, now I just have half a tub of ice cream to go. Looking forward to being able to make another batch of chili.
I had a refrigerator cleanout duty last week and noticed that I had, no joke, 5 half-eaten containers of pickles. My GF likes hamburger dills. We had at least 3 containers of those. Who in the hell needs that many pickles? I’m guilty of saving those little condiment containers from take out food, thinking I’ll use them for the leftovers. Then I forget, and suddenly I’m throwing away a half dozen of those I had stacked on a shelf in the back.
Add to that the veggies that are on the border of turning, and all the half used containers of something that was thrown in a recipe, cleaning sucked.
Bleh. I hate cleaning the fridge.
A quick way to tell the quality of a blender is to take off the container and look at the gear that turns the blade. Is it plastic? Is the part that connects to it on the base plastic? Bad news. Metal is the way to go. If they use plastic in those parts then you can almost guarantee that the motor isn’t great to begin with.
Good tip, I’m going to check her blender out later.
That sounds dirtier than it should.
So I got an anova, bought some nice prime ribeyes, did the whole thing with the water and the sear. Steak was cooked perfectly on the inside but the sear just wasn’t close to satisfying. What is the trick? I think next time I am going to cook it a few degrees lower than what I want for the final product and sear it longer without fear of overcooking. What do you guys do? I love a good crust on my steak and short of a blowtorch I can’t think of any other way to do it.
The searzal blow torch is the best, but the alternative is to get a cast iron pan as hot as you possibly can, and use that.
Like seriously, Max hot.
The sous vide does not do a sear. It will cook it to the perfect temp but leave it looking like a grey meat product. Before you take the meat out of the bag, put an oven safe pan in the oven. Crank it up to 500 or 550 F. Unbag your meat. Pat it dry. Bring the screaming hot pan out of the oven to a full on burner. (gas or electric, no matter) Put the meat down for maybe 2-3 mins on a side. Maybe a touch of peanut oil then a slab of butter. The peanut oil will help the butter, stop it from burning so fast. Flip it and then dip it. Baste it with the oil/butter broth. The whole sear should take no more than 5 minutes total. Probably less. Be ready to plate. Then leave it there for at least 10 minutes or so to let the meat rest. Don’t worry, it will still be hot.
Don’t do that, learn from my mistake.
I’ve seared in a scorching hot pan that smoked up my house in a huge way. Great result, but I hated the smoke all over the place. Then I dialed things back to about 7/10 on my stove temp, and it was perfect. Sear enough for color on each side. Use tongs. Then grab it and sear along the edges (if desired.) It works great, and it doesn’t actually overcook the steak in any significant way. We’re talking 5-8 minutes total. Just make sure the pan/skillet is preheated. A great alternative that a lot of folks do is a ripping hot grill. Again, it doesn’t take much time.
All this being said, I picked up a searzall to use IN ADDITION to my skillet approach and I am interested in seeing how different things are.
But the biggest thing I’ve found is that it take more time to “overcook” the steak than I thought it would. If you’re worried, chill the steak a bit before the sear.
I’ve lowered the temp trying to pre-plan the long sear and you end up with a well seared steak that isn’t done in the middle. Don’t do that.
Yes, definitely don’t do that.
On top of all the other good tips listed make sure you pat the steak as dry as it will go. Moisture will slow/stop the sear effect you are looking for.
As a counterpoint, I’ve had great results—especially when finishing bone-in cuts over coals—setting the sous vide temp for 5 degrees under target, and letting the fire bring the temp up. I tend not to sear crazy hot, though.
2-3 minutes per side is way longer than I would do it, but I guess it depends on how hot you’re doing it. For a steak, one minute a side (and 30 seconds on the edges is fine if the pan is hot enough.
I do this for thin cuts like lamb leg steaks. For thicker cuts it’s not necessary.
I put a cast iron skillet in the oven @ 500 degrees for 20 minutes and then pull it out and put it on my largest 24K BTU gas burner, and then sear the steaks. Takes about 30 seconds per side.
Tom Yung Goong (a sour-and-spicy Thai soup flavored with lemongrass, galangal, fish sauce, and kaffir lime leaves) with shrimp and enoki mushrooms and a bit of coconut milk to lighten it, plus Massaman Curry with chicken, carrots, red potatoes, and lots of coconut milk, topped with cilantro and peanuts over sticky jasmine rice.
'Twas a good supper :-D
Adam Savage and K. Kenji Lopez-Alt try out different searing methods.
Spoilers: charcoal chimney used a searer (like, actually keep the charcoal in the chimney and set it in the charcoal grill and set grill on top of said chimney) beats everything.
However everything compared is kind of an outdoor solution.
Well damnit after watching that video, now I want a searzall.
I’ve done this too and it works good. I always thought this method looked crazy dangerous with a lightweight grill grate on the top just waiting to get knocked off. Then I found this (probably in this thread)
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TODACAC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It was only $13.49 when I bought it though. You flip it upside down on top of your charcoal chimney and it locks in nicely plus it’s nice and heavy. It works really good and eliminates the smoke in the house. I’ve also found using my regular cast iron pan on the grill almost seems to get too hot, it seems like it burns the seasoning away which is a pain so it’s nice having something dedicated for searing on the grill.
I’m usually cooking a lot of food at once so lately I’ve been just doing a finish on the regular grill grates so I can do more at once. In those cases I’ll Sous Vide at a lower temp knowing I’m going to grill a little longer or let them cool down more between the Sous Vide and sear. It depends too on what I’m cooking my techniques change a little depending on steaks or burgers or whatever.
I did some Pork Belly a few weeks back. The technique was good but I didn’t really care for the marinade. It was from Serious Eats. I’ve never made pork belly before and only eaten it a few times so I don’t have a real good frame of reference but I’ll probably try again but with a less Asian spiced theme.
I did Instant Pot ribs last week and those turned out well. I kind of feel like I just boiled them and from my times in the BBQ forums I know that’s a hanging offense so I’m a little torn about the whole experience. It was super easy and my son who absolutely loves ribs said they were the best he ever had and my mom said the best I ever made (I’m not sure how to parse that one yet ;-) ) I went for the full “fall off the bone”, since that’s what my peeps prefer and it was simple and fast. It’s another tool in the toolbox and about the only one I know that get some badass ribs done on a worknight so I’m happy with that.
I tried another recipe in the Instant Pot for a cheesesteak/Roast beef sandwich. It was also easy and quick. It called for Round roast which I feel was a bad choice. It was super tender but being such a lean cut it was really dry. It was good but not great.
Lastly I made a batch of Instant pot chili this past weekend, 90+ degrees let’s make chili!! I found recipe online and tweaked it with a bunch of fresh peppers from my garden (Ancho, Anaheim and Serranos) and wow pretty damn good chili in less that a half hour of cooking. I love me some chili and always have tons of peppers so this was pretty awesome.
