sous vide chicken breast

In too many places on the internet and the instructions I received from the maker of my sous vide cooker, Instant Pot, the temperature for cooking chicken breast to juicy and soft is 145 F/63 C. I've been using the Celsius scale lately because of I can dial in the temperature much more precisely 0.1 degrees, than the 1.0 degrees on the Fahrenheit mode.

When I first got the cooker, 63 degrees seemed like it cook the chicken breast to juicy and soft, but lately, the chicken seemed more firm than soft. Before I even Googled "sous vide chicken breast", I cooked a breast at 62 C for an hour. I didn't see much difference. Google results showed 60 C for 1.5 hours for soft, juicy. Yes, 60 C @ 1.5 hours was better, but today, 59.5 C for 1.5 hr was really good.

Wow. Should I push the envelope? 59? Gotta check Google to see if anyone has done 59.
Peace
Out

Chinese Egg Custard

This Chinese egg custard is my all-time #2 dish. (I'd never say #1, because for a different time and event something's always better) 

It is amazingly simple to make, with only two ingredients for the star of the show. The toppings are only oil, soy sauce and cilantro (green onions, for those who dislike cilantro)

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As for the equipment needed, I use a glass pie dish, a wok large enough for the dish to fit inside, a cover for the wok and a metal stand to raise the dish within the wok. If you don't have a stand, you can stack enough small plates on the bottom of the pan to keep the pie plate above the inch of water that you'll have in the pan. The cover for the wok needs to fit well enough to keep steam inside the pan. Link for a stand sold at Amazon. (doesn't open a new window--I don't get any bling) 

Placing a plate onto a stand over boiling water or removing it from the same can be tricky without a lifter.  Click on this sentence to link to an Amazon list of lifters.

For this dish, I break four or five eggs into a large measuring cup, noting the volume and add the same volume of water to the cup. Stir briskly and pour into the pie plate. Put an inch of water into the cooking pot. The stand/stack of plates goes into the water. Cover the pot and heat the water to boiling. When the water begins to boil. lower heat to medium and lower the plate onto the stand. Cover and set a timer for 9 minutes. At the end of that time, lift the lid and check the custard to see whether it has reached the consistency you want.  If still a liquid, cover and continue to cook another minute, opening and checking again. Repeat until you like what you see.  If it's overcooked, the custard will have holes and be stiff, which isn't the goal for most.

Lift the plate out. Pour a thin layer of olive oil (sesame oil if you're into that). Spritz lightly with soy sauce. Garnish with the greens of your choice and love your food. 

Addendum:  you can do this with smaller vessels, but you'll have to work out the details of how long to cook, as I haven't.

Sous vide coffee 1

Yeah. Ok. People have made coffee using a sous vide cooker. I looked it up because I didn't like the coffee I made using really hot water from 160 to 200 degrees F and an Aeropress. Those temperatures produced coffee that had very little flavor, because the extraction time was too short at the lower end or the flavor was burned off at the high end. I've read, 2 hours at 150 F--tried it and it wasn't as bad as before. Another account related that one hour at 180 F made  more bitter coffee, but with the flavor that 2:00\150 made. Maybe dark roasts require different numbers than medium or light roasts.
Today's trial involved a medium roast Seattle Coffee brand cooked for three hours\140 F. Following filtration through the Aeropress, it gets my vote for flavor without bitterness--the taste did justice to the smell of the ground coffee in the bag.

Thanksgiving dinner, last night

We set off the smoke alarms last pm while searing the turkey! 😎 At the table: Grandma, Uncle Tom, Aunt Jennifer and her friend Sharon, Kam Yoon, Arley et moi. I made a turkey and bone-in rib steaks (all sous vide), chia seed bread and a baked tray of delicata squash, beets and onions. Sure the expensive beef was tender and moist, but the turkey was.
Un. Believable. I'd cooked steaks for everyone, minus myself, and offered turkey morsels to everyone at the table. Shockingly, almost everyone asked for another, larger slice!
Sharon had adopted Aunt Jennifer's meal plan (we didn't know she had one) and claimed to have lost 50 lb--wow. She raved over my chia seed bread (of course, it's not on her schedule!). Uncle Tom brought a burnt loaf of bread--a result of baking while distracted--he ate a slice, but thankfully broke no teeth. Sharon brought Brussels sprouts. Aunt Jennifer made a salad. In a musical mood, I'd bought (parsley) sage Rosemary and thyme, but only used the sage and Rosemary.  Instead of thyme I should've bought time 😎--I'd use that. I used sage to season the turkey and rosemary to season a tray of roasted squash, onions and beets.

Much credit goes to daughter Phoebe for mentioning sous vide this year!

A new bread just came to my life

Yesterday, I started a new batch of dough at 9:30 in the morning. I wanted it to be ready to bake by 4:30, so I preheated the oven to 170 degrees and turned off the oven. I mixed the dough as follows:

3/8 teaspoon yeast, more than the usual 1/8 to 1/4 tsp.
1.5 teaspoon salt
300 grams of Trader Joe's all purpose flour
150 grams of Trader Joe's white whole wheat flour
405 grams of water (90% water weight:flour weight ratio)

I preheated the oven to 170 degrees and placed the mixed dough into a covered three quart saucepan big enough for it to expand to triple its size. I turned the oven off and put the dough inside.
At about 3 p.m. I took the dough out of the still warm oven, wet my hands and stretched it out and folded it. I covered it for 30 minutes.

The dough after the first stretch and fold

I stretched and folded the dough again, covering it again for 30 minutes.

The dough after the second stretch and fold

I stretched and folded it one last time and put the dough on a large sheet of parchment paper. I put the dough back in the saucepan. I didn't want to bake it just yet. Since we were going out to dinner, I put the covered saucepan in the cold garage { 50 degrees F)

At about 8:15 p.m. (now almost 9 hours after mixing the dough) I uncovered the dough to see it almost pushing up past the rim. I lifted the dough and lowered it into a preheated Dutch oven, covered it and set it into the 450 degree oven. After 30 minutes I removed the cover and baked it for 15 more minutes. I set it out to cool. We cut it in the morning to enjoy the fluffiest bread I've ever made with whole wheat flour.

This also works with 360 gm of water (an 80% water weight:flour weight ratio). Read on:

 I baked a loaf of half Trader Joe's white whole wheat and half all purpose flours. Same amount of yeast and salt. 360 gm of water. Same fermenting conditions. Mixed at 7:30 a.m. covered and put into a 170 degree oven, turned off.

5.5 hours later, at 1255 I laid the dough into a wetted baking pan

 Where I pushed it out to the edges with wetted hands

 and stretched and folded each short edge 2/3 of the way to the opposite edge. I then stretched and folded the top edge down. Back out went into a covered saucepan

 At 1400, another stretch and fold. Back into the saucepan. At 1510 another stretch and fold, then back into the saucepan. At 1540, a final stretch and fold after which it went onto a piece of parchment paper and into a shallow bowl, the purpose of which was to keep the dough from sticking to the paper in a deeper container.

At 1745, I put my 5-quart cast iron Dutch oven into the oven, set the temperature at 450 degrees and let it preheat. At 1815 I picked up the dough using the parchment paper and laid it into the hot Dutch oven, covered it and let it bake for 35 minutes. I removed the cover reduced the heat to 400 degrees and let it bake for 10 + 2 plus one minutes looking into the oven in between to prevent the bread from getting too dark.

Here is the bread above.

Pizza

Pizza-making challenges me. The complexity of the crust, the toppings, baking it, cutting it, eating it. I don't bake pizza frequently enough to remember how much flour I use for a cracker crust, a thick bread crust or something in between. NNo do I remember how much water I mix with the flour. I'd like to think I'd recorded this information somewhere, but I don't remember where for this round of pizza construction.

Yesterday's event was based on 700 gm of flour and about 75% water. I just didn't recall how many 10" pies I'd make from that nor if they'd be thin or thick crusted. I thought that I'd make 5 or 6 pies but it didn't look good for even 5 after the first three came to life from Half the dough. I made the 4th and 5th from the remaining dough--they  have me two medium crust 10" pies.

Today, I mixed 400 gm flour for two pizzas, fat crust requested by my mom. 70% nearly hot water, 0.5 teaspoons of instant yeast, 1 teaspoon salt. It sat atop the warm fridge for 4 hours. I kneaded it for 5 minutes, but I can't recall why, as I've made so many pies using a no-knead philosophy. Let it rest 20 some minutes, then rolled them out to about 10" on parchment paper. Toppings went on. And the pies went into the 450 degree oven for 15 minutes.

I strive to achieve an airy crumb with thick crust.

Sourdough per King Arthur

I'm talking about King Arthur flour.  Here is the link to the recipe:  http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/sourdough-starter-recipe

Whoa, this worked! Only, I didn't like throwing out perfectly good starter.  Next time, I start with two tablespoons of whole wheat flour and 1 Tbsp of water then adding the same on day 2, then on day 3 add four Tbsp flour with two Tbsp water. day 4, I'll add 1/2 cup flour and 1/4 cup water. day 5, I add one cup flour and 3/4 cup water (you can't go wrong with this) by which time the yeasts and lactobacillus will have gone to town if their living space is warm enough (68F/20C or higher).   

The bread I made was a no knead sourdough.  How it's done:  Take 50-150 gm* of sourdough starter (1/4 cup to a full cup), & mix it with 360 gm of water (1.5 cups), then add 450 gm of flour (3 cups), and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt.  Mix well and place it in a warm place about 70-80 deg F.  In 12-15  hours, use a large ladle and turn the dough on itself.  Preheat the oven with a Dutch oven inside to 450 F.  In 2-4 hours, you can use the same ladle to scrape the dough into the preheated Dutch oven.  Cover and place into the oven.  After 30 minutes, remove the cover and bake for 15 min more.  
Don't fret if the dough hasn't doubled before baking.  

* The difference between 50 and 150 gm of starter isn't much in the big picture over 12 hours.  Don't fret this detail.

When feeding the starter after removing some to bake with, I try to feed in the same proportion of water to flour as I use in my breads, which is usually about 75-85%.  Example:  80 gm of water plus 100 gm flour.  This is more likely to affect your dough and bread if you draw out 150 gm of starter to bake vs. 50 gm.  You'll figure out which is best for the type of bread you make.  The example of bread I give above, water 360 g and flour 450 g, is an 80% dough.

No knead, no touch bread

For the longest time now, maybe six or seven months, I've been making the no-knead bread without touch the dough with my hands and without adding any extra flour to ease handling the dough.  Formerly, I'd flour my hands to fold the dough once, flour my hands again to transfer the dough to a floured proofing basket, and flour my hands again to drop the dough into the baking pot.  Now, I just use a wetted spatula to "fold" the dough and to coax it into the baking pan.  I haven't noticed any difference in the quality of the bread, except that I'm not eating roasted flour with my bread.

This works with sourdough no knead bread as well.

It's sourdough

I mixed a lump of dough for a loaf of no knead bread a couple months ago, I didn't have time to bake and left it in the fridge.  Soon enough I forgot about it, and when I opened the lid a few days later, it smelled a bit sour and it had a layer of grayish liquid on the top.  Toss it out?  Nah, stir it up and add some water and flour, leave it on the counter and see how it turns out.  A day or two later, the thin soupy mixture had come back to life, making bubbles.

I took a cup out to which I added flour, water and salt.  Then I fed the mixture with some water and flour. A day later I baked the dough, yielding a modest loaf, but quite sour.

Days later, the starter looked more like a wet dough.  For the next two loaves, I took 250 gm of starter, added 200 gm water, 310 gm white flour, 40 gm whole wheat flour and 1.5 tsp salt.  I fed the starter with 1/4 cup water and 1/4-1/2 cup flour, but the starter seemed to need more when I mixed for the fourth and fifth loaves.  time was about 14 hours. baked better loaves of bread, with regard to loaf height for 800 gm of flour/water (the amount for a "traditional" no knead bread).

In conclusion, the process by which one gets a sourdough starter can include using the yeast from a one pound package of SAF Instant yeast, of which I still have at least an ounce after four or more years.  Maybe the wild yeasts are superior, and maybe you could say you got yeasts resident to your part of the world, but sour is sour and the bread is great, especially in combination with the long ferment times.  ITrader Joes' sourdough breads never tasted this good!

Bread ver. 2.98

This is the bread with the crunchy crust and chewy crumb and the big holes.  New York Times no-knead bread recipe is great for a crowd of ravenous teenagers, but for one or two people it doesn't quite fit. I often take up to three days to finish a loaf using the original recipe.  Sometimes I'll eat bread to the exclusion of other tasty dishes. 

The solution is either to freeze half the loaf, or just make a smaller loaf that I can eat in a day or so. I elected the latter. I halved the ingredients, fermenting for the same amount of time and baking 20 minutes covered and 11 minutes uncovered at 450 degrees.

I also discovered a great place to ferment the dough:  on top of the Sub-zero fridge in Mom's house. In my house in Washington state, I'll probably put a light bulb and thermostat in an ice chest.

The Recipe:
Mix in a bowl:
1.5 cups all purpose flour (some of it can be whole wheat)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon yeast
6 oz (180 gm) water

Cover the bowl and let ferment for at least 12 hours.

A great ferment gives itself away by the presence of bubbles on the dough surface 12-24 hours after mixing. Don't worry if it ferments even longer--the dough will just become more like sourdough. 

Sprinkle the dough with flour and coat your palms with flour. Pick up the dough and fold it several times using flour to keep it from sticking to your hands. Holding the dough in one hand, spoon about an inch of flour into the mixing bowl,  and gently lay the dough in the bowl. Sprinkle flour around the dough to keep it from sticking to the bowl's sides as it proofs. Let the dough proof for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 450 deg F. Place a covered baking dish in the oven to preheat. When the dough has doubled in size,  gently drop it into the dish,  cover the dish and bake 20 min covered and about 10-12 min uncovered until the crust has browned to your taste.

A note about the baking dish. I have used a 4-5 qt Dutch oven of aluminum and another of cast iron with great results. I baked the pictured loaf in a thick cake pan with tin foil as a cover.

Butter up!

Razor clams go with almost everything

I mean it, razor clams do go with almost everything.  Just don't overcook them!  Actually, if you separate the critter from its shell by dipping in boiling water, about 20-30 seconds will cook them enough to keep them from tasting "too" raw and not so much as to turn them into little white rubber bands.  Do not fear the tender razor clam.

Some ideas about what to do with chopped razor clams:

A razor clam garnish on drained pasta, with tomato sauce, pesto sauce, Alfredo sauce or just Balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  A little pepper and salt, if you please.  Don't forget that fish sauce and sesame oil from your local Asian grocery store makes a hearty noodle soup.  

Got tortillas?  drop in a few ounces on the middle of a tortilla and make a wrap.  Don't forget some veggies like lettuce, tomatoes, garlic for a little bite, hot sauce or pesto.  anything goes.  \

Got bread?  Make an open face sandwich.

Fritters?  Definitely a time honored method of eating these boys, if you don't mind all the oil that soaks into the breading.  You can also fry them without the breading.  NO matter what, don't overcook.

Ceviche?  Why not?  Scour the web for a recipe and substitute clams for whatever other seafood it calls for.

In ice cream or yogurt?  Yeah!   It's great!

Vegan Hoppin' John

my Vegan Hoppin' John recipe
A new year's recipe to bring good luck.

Ingredients:
2 C. brown rice
1 C. black eyed peas
15 gm of garlic, 4 stalks of celery, 1 medium yellow or white onion
2 T of paprika, 2 t of thyme, Tabasco to taste, a dash of Liquid smoke, a half cup of white wine or vegetable broth
bell peppers, raisins, fresh tomatoes, parsley or cilantro if desired

Pressure cook for 15 minutes:
2 cups of brown rice with 1 cup of black eyed peas, 5 cups of water, a dash of salt

Chop up 15 gm of garlic, 4 stalks of celery, 1 medium yellow or white onion and about 15 minutes after mutilating the garlic, saute everything for 6-8 minutes in 2 Tb of oil or til the veggies are soft
add 2 T of paprika, 2 t of thyme, Tabasco to taste, a dash of Liquid smoke, a half cup of white wine or vegetable broth, let it simmer a bit .   then add the black eyed peas and rice
top with parsley  or cilantro if desired.
For some real fun add red pepper flakes.  and raisins.  Bell peppers of any color or ilk always like this party--saute with the garlic celery & onions.
Fresh tomatoes on top finish the dish nicely, if desired.

Bread 600 gm

for Manchester race 600 gm loaf made, with 500g water. ferment about 13 hr. proof 2 hr. baked 40 min covered, 15 min open. Great!

How to cook with tofu

Whoa, draining the tofu. The ultimate drain: http://video.about.com/vegetarian/Tofu.htm

Pugliese Bread

This is the Bread bakers laboratory of ireproducible results.

I made three loaves of Pugliese bread using the big oven.com recipe http://www.bigoven.com/9353-Pugliese-Bread-recipe.html referenced to:

Geminis MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini

After having used the recipe for at least 3 months now, I am still a little baffled. what does it mean by:

Roll each part into long strand. Roll up along length, stretching slightly. Turn dough sideways and roll to long string again. Roll up into tight ball, tucking to ends under. Let rise 1 hour, covered with towel. Pre-heat oven to 450, with pan of water in the oven, about 20 minutes before baking.

Does it mean manipulating the dough wet? Or on a floured surface with a rolling stick/pin?

I used 2 1/3 cups biga (http://www.bigoven.com/38243-Biga-(Italian-Bread-Starter)-recipe.html) though the recipe calls for 13/16 cup biga. I don't know how anybody measures 13/16 cups, that's really stupid. I added an extra cup of water to the bread recipe--7.5 cups would have left the dough too dry, weighing a total of 2600 grams. I stirred it all together by hand with a wooden spoon, which is for me the best considering I don't want to own a stand mixer for just one task. I let the dough rise for 3-4 hours then, I made two 650 gm loaves to rise in 4x8 glass loaf pans, & one 1300 gm loaf to proof in a pyrex casserole 8.5" x 3.5" high.. I rolled one small loaf wet, the other on a floured surface. The big loaf went on a floured board where I used the stretch and fold method, per instructions for Ciabatta bread in Baking Artisan Bread by Ciril Hitz.

9.15 p.m. the loaves have risen just past the tops of the bread pans and the large casserole dish. they'll go into the oven which is steamy from the water in pans on the bottom elements.

10 p.m. I baked the bread loaves at ~425 deg F for 35 min., spraying the bread w water every 3 min during the first 15 min. Just looking at them, I cannot tell the difference between the two little loaves--they are almost exactly the same height. I'll have a chance to see in about 30 minutes. And tomorrow I shall bring one to Westport for lunch during the fiberglassing of the splashguards on Vern's big canoe--the large loaf, I think I'll share with Lydia.

Oh ya, saw some bread making videos, um you didn't know people video every thing but to me this takes the loaf!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZt552aGox8&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LaODcYSRXU&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Italian breads

Got started with hand made breads during Hawaii trip in Feb 2010 when my hosts railed at the price of grocery store breads. (cheapo white bread was $4/loaf) Amazingly, flour cost about the same as in the lower 48. So we got some flour, yeast etc and made French bread using library book "Beard on Bread". first 2 loaves made on a baking sheet, good bread but a little flat, only 1.5" tall. Then used a couple or round pans to bake the next 2 loaves, very nice loaves 3" tall. Great recipe that req little labor beyond kneading for 15 min.

Then got home and made Pugliese after the recipe from www.Bigoven.com
Did it again while in Vegas visiting family. Great recipe. low amount of work required. mix the starter. let it work. mix the dough, let it rise. form the loaves. let them rise, bake. voila! 4 loaves, easy work.

Made Ciabatta also, though not sure how it really differs from Pugiese. I don't have enough ovens to compare.

Baked four loaves from instructions in Tassajara Bread Book, written by cook at the tassajara retreat in california--very time/labor intensive. kneading 4 loaves is work. Life is too short to spend that much time making a few loaves of bread. Far better to make the Italians.

15 minute pasta with no leftovers,

Start with enough water for the amount of pasta you're cooking. Since this is a blog about cooking for one, I use 3-4 ounces of pasta and 3 cups of water. a teaspoon of salt makes it boil hotter.

1 Tomato cut into chunks. Broccoli crowns, wash and cut one or two handfuls, while waiting for the water to boil. Check the pasta package & the cooking time. Drop the pasta into the boiling water, and about 4 minutes before you finish cooking it, drop in the broccoli. Warm your plate by placing some water in it and microwave for 1 minute. Drain the pasta and broccoli together then place on your plate
Olive oil, 2-3 tablespoons. add to the pasta & broccoli, mix. add 1 tablespoon basil & 1/2 teaspoon oregano, several shakes of white pepper. mix. add grated Parmesan cheese or any cheese you have handy. Chunks of tomato go around the edge of the pasta. eat.

Double everything if you have company and add a sprig of parsley (if you have it) as a garnish.

surprising chili

I started this as a pasta sauce, thinking to use a bunch of mushrooms that sprouted from the mushroom kit I got at the Junior League Gift/Garden Show in Lacey, WA a week ago.

Parts list:

• olive oil
• an onion, chopped
• a clove garlic, chopped
• 2 sweet peppers (any color)
• two cans of S&W Santa Fe recipe cooked beans w/corn, peppers, spices. substitute cooked kidney, white beans, garbanzos, Pinto beans or anything you have handy
• one can of diced tomatoes
• ground or chunk turkey, chicken or any meat you want. Or no meat at all. I saw 1/2 pound of some kind of poultry in the freezer, that went in next--twasTurkey
• 3 tsp of Chili powder
• bunch of mushrooms, sliced.
• Carrots, any quantity, for color and if you have them.
  

Do this:
1-2 T. olive oil into a saucepan.
saute onion & garlic 'til onions are nicely heated.
adding a couple peppers (any color), sliced,
The turkey went in next.
cook them a bit then add the two cans of beans.

one can of diced tomatoes. heat up
add optional carrots.
3 tsp of Chili powder.
add mushrooms. heat up 5-10 min.

Eat up.


It is hard to overcook this mixture. You can serve over a bed of chopped spinach to round out your meal.

If you're from Cincinnati, you'll cook up some spaghetti pasta, drain it and top it with the chili, fresh diced white or yellow onion, some cheddar cheese and call it a four way. see http://www.skylinechili.com/menu.pdf Frankly, this dish stands on its own--who needs the spaghetti?

Spiced Peanut Butter

Most people just eat their peanut butter as is.  Not me.  I remember way back when somebody made a peanut butter with cinnamon swirls.  It never really caught on.  Here's what I do:

To an 18 oz jar of that runny natural smooth peanut butter (Adam's) I add:

Cayenne red pepper 1/4 t.

turmeric 2 t.

cumin 1 t.

coriander 1/4 t.

cardamom 1/4 t.

You could just add 3 t. of curry from the curry tin, but you don't know what you're getting and every brand has a different mix of spices in their curry.  I suggest halving the red pepper unless you already know how much heat (Scoville units?) you want in your peanut butter.

Today's veggie stew

approx. 1 # sliced potatoes.
4 oz sliced carrots
pressure cook these for 5 minutes in 10 oz (or so) of water. dump most of the water or start with 5 oz. I haven't worked this out yet.

add 2 cans of cooked black beans
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 T of cinnamon
2 T of paprika
1 tsp of white pepper.

stir and heat til it just begins to boil. Add a cup  or more of sliced celery, but don't cook it. you're done.

Eat as is or with grated cheese. With sourdough bread if you have it.