Sous Vide Carrots

I tested the sous vide earlier this week on carrots.  I have read how the sous vide works exceptionally well with vegetables like carrots and I wanted to verify the claim for myself.

I took eight carrots (not the little "baby" carrots, but real ones) and soaked them in some ice water for an hour or so.  After which, I peeled them and put half of them in a 184F water bath for another hour or so.

What I noticed at this point is there was some water loss in the carrots, but not much.  I then took the four raw carrots and two cooked carrots, patted them dry and roasted them in an oven at 350F for 30 minutes.  I took the last two cooked carrots and roasted them in a 450F oven for 15 minutes (after patting them dry as well).

The first observation when the carrots came out was how much color was lost from the raw sample.  They were a dusty pale orange, while the 350F sous vide carrots retained much of their bright orange.  They all had a dark roasted color where the carrots touched the metal.  It was between the grill marks that the color was very different.

In a blind taste test, the 350F sous vide carrots were sweeter and more carrot-like.  The 450F sous vide carrots were slightly firmer than either of the 350F carrots.  They, too, were sweeter and more carrot-like.

While all this is true, my last observation was the degree to which they differed from simply roasting raw carrots.  The difference in taste and texture were difficult to distinguish.  Sure, side-by-side, the taste and texture were noticeably different.  However, by the third carrot, Weezie remarked how they all tasted like carrots to her.  Once an entire carrot is eaten, the rest all taste like roasted carrot.  The taste and texture difference is only noticeable when compared side-by-side.  The only significant and lasting difference was in the color.

Will I do it again?  Probably not.  The amount of time and effort are greater than the payoff.  I might do it one more time to add a few other techniques to the comparison.  For example, what about putting the carrots to a butane torch or perhaps seeing how it takes on smoke.

Sous Vide and Chicken Brine

I have been wondering about the impact a brine has on chicken when cooked sous vide.  I know the common opinion is to brine chicken breasts so they don't lose too much moisture when cooking (in a conventional manner.)  For that, I completely agree.  The difference between a chicken that spend time in a brine versus a chicken that did not is quite noticeable.  The brine produces a moister, more tender chicken breast.

However, with sous vide, the temperature is controlled to dictate what events occur to the chicken breast.  This means being able to retain moisture and tenderness through temperature alone.  So, does chicken breasts need to be put in a brine before they are sous vide?

For this, I wasn't going to take the word of someone else.  Besides, I had a chicken and it had two breasts.  Off with the skin and off with the bones!  I was going to decide this by personal experimentation.  I took one breast and placed it in a simple brine  (1 cup of salt and 1/2 cup of sugar for each gallon of water).   The other simply rested undisturbed.  When an hour had passed, I removed both breasts, placed each one in their own bag and dropped them into 140F water for two hours.  Yes, I know the minimum required time to kill bacteria on chicken breasts at 140F is 90 minutes.  I was busy at that point and I had to wait another 30 minutes before I could get down to my results show.

I pulled them out to see a rim of gelatin where the two sides of the bag met the breast.  That would normally make for some good pan sauce, but this time, I wanted to know what good, organically raised chicken breast tasted like.  Onward.  I cut each breast in thirds.  One third would be eaten as is (the true taste of the meat).  One third would be pan seared quickly while the other third would be seared under the intensity of a butane torch.

Final results:

All three pieces of breast meat that was put through the brine tasted more salty than the plain chicken.  It was most noticeable in the un-seared piece and least noticeable in the pan seared one.  I, personally, consider the un-seared breast's saltiness a bit overpowering.  The salt stands out in front of the chicken flavor when the chicken does not have the benefit of a sear.

The brine also made the meat tougher.  Comparing the two items that did not get seared, the brine made the meat a bit more firm and chewy.  Searing eliminated the difference.  Between the two un-seared breasts, I preferred the chew of the chicken put in the brine.

Then there was the pan sear versus the butane sear.  The beauty of the butane sear is that every part can be coated with a thin maillard.  Despite this, I loved the darker, more even color of a pan sear.  Yes, the pan sear is deeper, both in color and in penetration.  It thickens the layer of dense, overcooked, meat, but I like the visual appearance.

But what about moistness?  I could not discern any differences between the moisture of the breast that spent an hour in a brine versus the one that went straight to the water bath.  The "skin" of the seared meat was equally dry, while the meat of all pieces were equally moist.

Conclusion?

If I intend to use the meat for something where I will not sear it, I will skip the brine entirely.  If I will sear the meat and serve it where it stands alone, I will brine.  In all other cases, I don't think it matters enough to be an impact.  I will probably not do any brine on most other occasions because I'm lazy and don't see any reason to wasted the salt/time.

Maslow's Hierachy of Cooking/Eating

I was dining out the other day with Weezie and we got into a discussion on the quality of the prepared food.  I have noticed different people have achieved different levels of culinary development.  It intrigued me to observe the relationship between culinary development and Maslow's Hierachy.  I wondered, if there was any documentation on it anywhere on the internet.

There are many "Maslow's Hierachy of . . . ", and several of them on foods and chefs.  But I could not find one along the lines of what I was thinking, so . . . to add to the bulk on the internet, I have decided to add my two cents.

At the bottom of Maslow's Hierachy is the physiological.  Working upwards through safety to love/belonging, and then on to esteem, finally ending with self-actualization.  Here is the same with respect to cooking/eating.



Self-Actualization

• Creating edible works of art that appeal to all five senses.
• Using a balance of contrasts and similarities to add intrigue to the food.

Esteem

• Creating something from scratch.
• Creating a food "without a cookbook" or recipe.

Love/belonging

• Creating something others would recognize as "home made".
• Often thought of as food made by following a recipe from a cookbook.

Safety

• Generally entails reheating leftovers or heating pre-packaged foods.
• Nearly complete lack of creativity as everything other than heat is already done.

Physiological

• What gets rid of the feelings of hunger.
• Open the refrigerator/pantry and grab something as is. 
• Snacks

A large majority of food eaten/served falls in the middle three categories.  I would argue most home cooks never grow above the middle level.  Even the security of a tried-and-true recipe that no longer needs a physically written recipe remains unmodified and escapes not the realm of the third level.

Attaining the esteemed level of creating basic ideas from scratch requires the cook to feel confident in their skills, to venture away from the safety of someone else's idea, and to yearn for that "something new and different".  This level is fraught with failures, and the cook who shrinks from failure seldom venture here.  Weezie and I have a firm understanding.  Any attempt at a meal can always be enjoyed by simply supplementing it with an order of takeout pizza. (Fortunately, we've never had to resort to takeout pizza.  Even our failures have been, um, edible. Okay, so sometimes we experimented with something different and threw away the first creation.)

Self-Actualization is a fleeting experience here.  That food which embodies all that goes before (ridding hunger and providing the pleasure of being unique, all the while tickling and tantalizing each of the five senses) beacons me ever onward.  Visually appealing food (You eat first with your eyes.) that offer a tantalizing aroma without overpowering is an art.  Hearing the fresh crunch of a vegetable all the while enjoying a mouth feel and taste that is more than a simple note is like a piece of music.  Sure, we could play chopsticks on the piano with one finger, but how much more enjoyable it is when all ten fingers are playing, both in unison and counterpunctually.  This is the mark of a great chef and restaurant.

My Dinner with Eric

Oh! What a night!  What a great night it was.  I invited a gentleman I had only met on the internet to come to my home for dinner.  Now, before you start thinking I’m having some secret affair behind my wife’s back, let me give you some background.

Weezie and I have been playing in the kitchen for quite a while now.  She has been studying cooking and flavor pairings.  I have been investigating modern techniques and amuse bouché ideas.  Cooking together has, before last Sunday, been strained and difficult.  Years ago, Weezie didn’t even want me within the kitchen when she made food.  Over time, it was okay if I stayed in my station, but heaven forbid I even look at a pot of hers, or worse yet, give one a stir.  We have progressed since then and got to the point where we could walk amongst each other and I could even help her when she asked for a specific task.  Last Sunday, we achieved a new level.  Not only did we work on the same dishes at the same time, no instructions were needed.  We blew it on only one task (pan roasting the pecans), but instead of getting upset that the other fell down on the job, we simply made another batch, taking turns to stir/toss them while we both worked on the various tasks that distracted us during the first batch.  I can honestly say, this is the first time (and likely the tone of the future) we worked together in the kitchen like a well oiled machine.  It was an exhilarating experience.

More than a year ago, I began posting my food experiments on KeepRecipes.  When I began posting recipes there, I noticed Eric Gower was doing the same.  I had met Eric as a poster on some sites pertaining to matcha (Japanese tea) and had found myself talking with him through various posts.  In a recent conversation, Eric commented to some tea post about how he loves crema on his tea.  I replied to the same post how I like the esthetic beauty of having only a little foam around the edges and an island of foam in the middle of the tea.  Eric wanted to see how I could create it and asked me for a demonstration.

I agreed to meet him in the city the following Thursday.  As the day approached, Eric’s work pulled him away and we had to reschedule.  I suggested he come over to my house for the demonstration, and to make the trip worth his while, we would feed him dinner.  The date was set for last Sunday: the day after Weezie and I had made arrangements to have another friend over for dinner and games.

Weezie was full of questions.  What does he like to eat?  Who is he? Does he know I’m making vegan foods?  I told her about my associations with Eric and told her a few things about him.  Eric Gower is a food columnist for the Chronicle and writes cookbooks.  He also gives cooking demonstrations.  I figured I could spare Weezie’s fears by not telling her Eric gives private cooking lessons and has been a judge on Iron Chef America.  Perhaps, I should have told her even less.

The evening started around six.  Eric came over with a bottle of wine he had bottled down in Solvang.  We sat around the kitchen for a few minutes while the last touches of dinner were being done.  I was pleasantly surprised to hear Eric’s joy when he discovered I have a Kamado in my backyard.  I know of only one other person with a Kamodo.  We sat down for dinner, opening his wine, and discovered how nicely it paired with the food we had prepared.  (Photo posted on Tonight’s Dinner for Creole Crusted Tempeh over Pecan Dirty Rice & Braised Kale, Mushroom Sauce and Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Red Bell Pepper Sauce)  I made watermelon two ways for dessert: fizzy and compressed.  Weezie pulled out some of the port we had bottled a month or so ago.  Watching Eric’s eyes glow when he experienced the watermelon told me we hit a homerun with both dinner and dessert.  I was elated.

After dinner, we pulled out a few different chocolates, then retired to the kitchen to talk about food and matcha.  I showed Eric how I made the compressed watermelon (something Eric called toro sushi).  We tasted each step of the process.  Eric then showed Weezie and me a better way to handle a knife (even more choked up than what I do).

Eric brought his three teas for us to try.  He then made all three in his breakaway style.  All three were delicious.  Blend 94 is bold and outspoken.  It pairs well with strong and loud flavors.  It is not as complex as the other two teas, giving, instead, a vibrant matcha flavor and color.  Blend 94, like some high percentage chocolates, has a very slight dusty mouth feel.

Blend 97 lacks the powdery feel of Blend 94, and makes up for it with its well balanced collection of flavors.  Blend 97 rolls smoothly around the mouth, imparting a clean, slightly sweet, fresh taste.  Unlike Blend 94, I would not consider using Blend 97 as a food ingredient.  It pairs very well with dried apricots and dry-roasted almonds.

Blend 100 is a grand masterpiece.  Smooth, sweet, fresh, the complexity is mind blowing.  When Eric made it breakaway style, the color was so vibrant it glows.  I cannot begin to describe on this blog.  From the first sight, to the aroma, mouth feel, initial taste, flavor, finish, this tea tantalizes the mind with so much to enjoy that each cup can be a different, equally magnificent, experience.  This is my type of tea.  It is not boisterous and demanding.  Instead, it fills in the details like a Robert Silver’s photomosaic.

After tasting the three teas breakaway style, I made Eric some thick tea using the koyamaen tea I normally drink.  It turns out that Eric had never had thick tea before.  I think I found a convert.  He was so delighted with the experience, we made another bowl using the Blend 100.  (If Blend 100 is a masterpiece done breakaway style, it is even more impressive as thick tea.)  As koicha (thick tea of the consistency of warm honey), it is not as gelatinous as koyamaen tea.  Instead, it has more of a creamy pudding mouth feel.  It is so tantalizing as koicha, I’ve already made it for myself again and will be taking it to my tea teacher this Thursday for him to enjoy.

I would like to say the evening ended happily just before midnight (with at least one more bowl of koicha) when Eric left, but it didn’t end.  Weezie and I went to bed that night and slept an exhausted, but happy night away.  We woke up and found ourselves reliving the joy of the day, unable to stop talking about how wonderful the evening went.  Even the walk around the neighborhood, with all the spring flowers, could not distract us from the experience.  We had such a wonderful time with Eric, we couldn’t come down from the emotional high until sometime Tuesday afternoon.  Heck, it’s Wednesday, and I’m still smiling happily from the entire weekend.  Oh, what a night.

100 Foods to eat before you die

This list rolls around every now a then.  It's a decent list for your average person who has not adventured much.  Between living overseas, scuba diving (and hence going to places filled with fish), and being a foodie, the list is not that impressive.  I've tried almost 3/4 of the list.

The general post rolling around claim: "The initial prediction says that of the 100 foods on this list, most people would have only tried about 20 (or less) of them."  I have never met anyone who doesn't have at least 20.  Most people I know have had between 25 and 40

1.    Abalone

2.    Absinthe  (even with real wormwood)

3.    Alligator

4.    Baba  Ghanoush

5.    Bagel and lox

6.    Baklava

7.    Barbecue ribs

8.    Bellini  ( I love peaches)

9.    Bird’s Nest Soup

10.  Biscuits and gravy  (Homemade biscuits and gravy are the only way)

11.  Black Pudding (I cannot recall if I had it or not.)

12.  Black Truffle

13.  Borscht

14.  Calamari

15.  Carp

16.  Caviar (It goes great on deviled quail eggs.)

17.  Cheese fondue

18.  Chicken and waffles (Another one I cannot be certain I have tried.)

19.  Chicken Tikka Masala

20.  Chile Relleno

21.  Chitterlings/Chitlins (I suppose I should give them a try.)

22.  Churros

23.  Clam Chowder

24.  Cognac

25.  Crabcake

26.  Crickets

27.  Currywurst

28.  Dandelion wine

29.  Dulce de leche

30.  Durian

31.  Eel

32.  Eggs benedict

33.  Fish Tacos

34.  Foie Gras

35.  Fresh Spring Rolls

36.  Fried Catfish

37.  Fried Green Tomatoes

38.  Fried Plaintain

39.  Frito Pie

40.  Frog’s Legs

41.  Fugu (I have only found one certified chef, but he had none on hand that day.)

42.  Funnel Cake

43.  Gazpacho

44.  Goat

45.  Goat’s milk

46.  Goulash

47.  Gumbo

48.  Haggis

49.  Head Cheese

50.  Heirloom Tomatoes  (Weezie grew a couple varieties last year.)

51.  Honeycomb

52.  Hostess Fruit Pie

53.  Huevos Rancheros

54.  Jerk Chicken

55.  Kangaroo

56.  Key Lime Pie

57.  Kobe Beef

58.  Lassi (I've had duggh, a persain equivalent)

59.  Lobster

60.  Mimosa

61.  MoonPie

62.  Morel Mushrooms

63.  Nettle Tea

64.  Octopus

65.  Oxtail Soup

66.  Paella

67.  Paneer

68.  Pastrami on Rye

69.  Pavlova (I need to make this some day)

70.  Phaal 

71.  Philly Cheesesteak

72.  Pho

73.  Pineapple and cottage cheese

74.  Pistachio Ice Cream

75.  Po’ boy

76.  Pocky

77.  Polenta

78.  Prickly Pear (I think I have tried this.  I just cannot recall any exact details)

79.  Rabbit Stew

80.  Raw Oysters

81.  Root Beer Float

82.  S’mores  (I like making my own graham crackers and marshmallows)

83.  Sauerkraut

84.  Sea Urchin

85.  Shark (I cannot recall if I have had thrasher.  I think so.)

86.  Snail

87.  Snake

88.  Soft Shell Crab

89.  Som Tam

90.  Spaetzle

91.  Spam

92.  Squirrel

93.  Steak Tartare

94.  Sweet Potato Fries

95.  Sweetbreads

96.  Tom Yum

97.  Umeboshi  (I love this as part of rice ball)

98.  Venison

99.  Wasabi Peas

100.Zucchini Flowers

So that's the list.  I think I want to go try a few of them which I haven't tried yet.

Some of the items are not that impressive to me.  Things like Hostess fruit pies and such.  On the other hand, the list is missing things I would recommend:  thick green tea (matcha), Basmati rice, Ostrich, fresh baked bread.

Brazillian Cheese Bread (Pão de Queijo)

A good friend of mine (who loves Grand Prix) was unable to watch the Brazilian Grand Prix when it was raced.  We finally were able to watch it last Saturday with him.  As it was the Brazilian Grand Prix, dinner that night was food from Brazil.  One of my other friends offered to make the main course and asked me to bring some bread to go with the food.

Needless to say, on went the research cap, and behold! Pão de Queijo!  There seems to be a few variations on how to make it and some were on the sequence.  A few sites did not mention boiling the milk mixture.  Most of the variations were to account for the ability to acquire the proper cheese.  I combined a few of the more common directions and came up with what I felt was the basic, traditional method.

I used 2 cups of Cotija as the main cheese and 1/2 cup of aged cheddar.  A couple of us broke into one of them the moment it came out of the oven.  Not only was it too hot, it was extremely gooey.  I was a little disappointed.  Fortunately, the group understands that many of the things we try don't work out.

A half hour later, my wife wanders into the kitchen, sees the bread and tries one.  She then informs us how nice the bread is, as she munches away on one.  It turns out that the bread improves when its given a few moments to cool.  Before the night was over, the bread was gone.  But, before it was gone, it had acquired several new names: cheesy crack, and cheesy poofs.

The group of us got together the next night (Sunday) and I was requested to make them again (which I gladly did).  The Monday night, my wife and I went to the San Francisco Broadway production of Bring It On.  We looked for a restaurant near the theater and found a Brazilian restaurant a few blocks away.  Yes, we ordered the cheese bread so we could compare ours to theirs.  While talking to the owner about about their bread, he mentioned to me how the traditional bread is a little more airy than what he serves, but due to the process of mass production, he has difficulties doing so.  My bread is a little more airy than his, so I ended being very pleased with the results of my creations.

The following night (Tuesday) was the first Tuesday of the month.  The first Tuesday is the regular gathering of many of our friends.  I decided to make the bread one more time.  However, this time, I was going to vary it a bit . . .

I took some of the butter, browned it and then added a large amount of garlic that I crushed into a paste (with salt).  Once it started to smell, I added the rest of the butter, all the milk and oil.  From there, I replaced the Cotija cheese with parmigian regiano.  The end result had a strong garlic flavor and a noticeable parmigian.  Overall, I found it to be a tasty alternative.

http://keeprecipes.com/recipe/howtocook/brazillian-cheese-bread-p%C3%A3o-de-queijo

Three Chocolate Drinks

I thought today would be a great day for a cup of hot chocolate.  Being lazy, I decided I would drink one of my “canned” chocolate drinks instead of making it from scratch.  So, opening the cupboard, I found I had, not one, but three different hot chocolate drink mixes.  I may be lazy, but I can never pass up an opportunity to taste test comparable items.

In my cupboard are: Godiva’s Hot Cocoa (dark chocolate), TCHO’s Hot and Cold Drinking Chocolate, and Ghirardelli’s Drinking Chocolate.  Because I love THCO’s professional melting chocolate so much, I figured it would probably be my favorite.  As such, I decided to make it the last one, so I would enjoy it staying on my tongue after the tasting was completed.

For this tasting, I heated three ounces of non-fat milk in a glass mug and added four tablespoons of chocolate after the milk was heated.  I whisked the chocolate with my Aerolatte milk frother for thirty seconds.

First up: Ghirardelli.  This comes in very miniature kisses.  When I poured the chocolate into the cup, the kisses fell straight to the bottom of the mug.  In when the Aerolatte and moments later, the milk turned a dark chocolaty brown.  The drink has a nice rich chocolaty flavor which lingers nicely in the mouth after swallowing.  The expected sugary spike never appeared.  I find Ghirardelli chocolate, in general, to have a telltale sweet spike moments after biting into their chocolate bars.  All in all, it seems to be a decent drink.  The one noticeable downside was the whisking.  Even after thirty seconds of frothing with an Aerolatte, all the chocolate did not dissolve.  There was some stuck to the sides near the bottom of the mug.

Godiva was next on the tasting list.  This powdered drink mix incorporated easily and quickly.  Unlike Ghirardelli, there was nothing stuck to the glass.  As for taste, yet another deliciously dark chocolate drink.  Godiva’s flavor lingered even longer than the Ghirardelli.  The texture has a noticeable dusty texture to it: a feature I do not particularly like.

Finally, my favorite chocolate company: TCHO.  While it is the smallest can, my expectations were large.  The chocolate mix is a collection of coarse granules, and unlike the other two brands in this taste test, listed chocolate as its main ingredient.  The other brands listed sugar as their number one ingredient.  TCHO is the only one to suggest it would mix well as a cold drink.  When mixed, the chocolate dissolved completely.  The taste was on par with the other two, if not slightly better.  Unlike Godiva, there was no dusty mouth feel.  Unlike both Ghirardelli and Godiva, TCHO’s chocolate flavor did not linger anywhere near as long.  I found this disappointing.  I also noticed the intensity of the chocolate was less than I am used to.  Normally, I mix this chocolate with hot water instead of milk. With a water preparation, the chocolate flavor is markedly intense.

In conclusion, none of the three are bad.  Aside from the fact that no chocolate is bad chocolate, each of these provides a very pleasant experience.  I will probably stick to TCHO or Ghirardelli since I don’t care for the dusty mouth feel.  Should I run out of either of them, I will not turn down the Godiva.