Gravy's Cooking Thread

Fogel

Mr. Poopybutthole
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Hi. Will work on the food porn.
Found my new go-to pie crust recipe...uses both butter and shortening but the best part is the use of vodka in addition to ice water. The crust is flipping perfect...easily worked, beautiful bake, holds well and is tender and flaky.
I have used vinegar before with the same chemistry in mind, but the vodka results are better.
Plus...pie baking cocktails happen.

Is that the America's Test Kitchen recipe? It's awesome but I'm conflicted as it adds a lot of work to making pies, plus my unsophisticated family probably couldn't tell the difference anyway.
Let me know if you want a great sweet potato pie and pecan pie recipe if you don't have their book.
 
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Mrs. Gravy

Quite Saucy
<QUITE SAUCY>
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Is that the America's Test Kitchen recipe? It's awesome but I'm conflicted as it adds a lot of work to making pies, plus my unsophisticated family probably couldn't tell the difference anyway.
Let me know if you want a great sweet potato pie and pecan pie recipe if you don't have their book.
I don't know from where it originated, I pulled from Wide Open Eats.
INGREDIENTS
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 Tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/3 cup vegetable shortening
  • 12 Tbsp cold butter, cut into small cubes
  • 1/4 cup vodka
  • 3-4 Tbsp cold water
INSTRUCTIONS
In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in vegetable shortening and butter with a pastry blender until butter is in the size of peas.
Sprinkle vodka and water over the flour mixture and press together with hands until a dough forms. Evenly divide in two and shape into rounds. Cover in plastic wrap and chill until firm, about 1 hour.
NOTES
This pie crust can be frozen up to two months. To par-bake, heat oven to 400 and fill pie crust with pie weights. Cook until golden brown, about 10 minutes.
 
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LiquidDeath

Magnus Deadlift the Fucktiger
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Gordon's beef Wellington tonight boys. Happy New Year.

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LiquidDeath

Magnus Deadlift the Fucktiger
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^^ Pretty fucking legit!!!!!!

I've made this recipe almost a dozen times over the last 5 years. It is actually far easier than it looks.

If you can follow directions from a Youtube video, then you can make it and I really suggest you do.

The only thing I change from his Christmas Wellington recipe is the mushroom mixture (it has a fancy name that I'm not going to spell). I use baby portabellos and skip the chesnuts.
 
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Khane

Got something right about marriage
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Spicy Lamb Shanks tonight folks. They'll be done in about an hour

 
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Deathwing

<Bronze Donator>
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I've made this recipe almost a dozen times over the last 5 years. It is actually far easier than it looks.

If you can follow directions from a Youtube video, then you can make it and I really suggest you do.

The only thing I change from his Christmas Wellington recipe is the mushroom mixture (it has a fancy name that I'm not going to spell). I use baby portabellos and skip the chesnuts.
Duxelles.
 
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Khane

Got something right about marriage
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The Ramsay Wellington recipe is fantastic, works every time. Now I need to try his spicy lamb shanks. How did they work out Khane Khane ?

Fantastic, just the right amount of spice and seasoning. Gordon has never let me down. I made his bacon, pea, red pepper, goat cheese frittata for breakfast on New Year's morning with some mimosa's to use up the left over champagne. Also a homerun.

I will say this though. His Chinese style ox tail that I made and linked a few pages back is still top billing. It's outrageously good. I even went off the grid with the recipe and modified it slightly to use carrots and bay leaf instead of coriander seeds and used chicken thighs instead of ox tail with a bit more stock to make one of the best chicken soups I've ever had.

EDIT: This is a great time of year to make this lamb shank recipe too because your entire house will smell like roasted cinnamon. Which is just... oof it's so good.
 
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Denaut

Trump's Staff
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I received a food vacuum for Christmas so I figured I should finally pick up a sous-vide machine.

I planned on going with the Sansaire (no wireless bullshit), but apparently the company went out of business? Except the machine is still being sold everywhere brand new, which is a little confusing.

Google wasn't terribly helpful, but it seems like maybe the "design" and "production" were different companies and only the design one went broke trying to make the new Delta version?

Does anyone know more than that and is the Sansaire now a risky purchase?
 

Ninen

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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“We regret to share that Sansaire will be ceasing development of the Delta and the company will ultimately be closing its doors,”
"As we wind down over the next 12 months, Sansaire will be supporting warranties and customer service issues. "

since that's from 2017, I'd probably only buy it from a retailer who'll honor or do their own warranty.

It looks like the Sous-Vide craze has died down and the market is realizing it's just too oversaturated. Nomiku is also going under.

I'd suggest a Breville, Anova, or even MonoPrice at this point. Or some other "made their name selling other things" brand.
 
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Denaut

Trump's Staff
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“We regret to share that Sansaire will be ceasing development of the Delta and the company will ultimately be closing its doors,”
"As we wind down over the next 12 months, Sansaire will be supporting warranties and customer service issues. "

since that's from 2017, I'd probably only buy it from a retailer who'll honor or do their own warranty.

It looks like the Sous-Vide craze has died down and the market is realizing it's just too oversaturated. Nomiku is also going under.

I'd suggest a Breville, Anova, or even MonoPrice at this point. Or some other "made their name selling other things" brand.

Thanks for the suggestions, we have amazing consumer protections on consumer electronics here so I will weigh that against the alternatives.

I am also not surprised the market is over-saturated. Ultimately an immersion circulator is a really simple device that does a simple job. You can see how the market tried to "add value" and charge way more with "smart features" that are so unnecessary on an already dead simple fire & forget device. In my opinion they only reduce usability and add points of failure.
 

Ao-

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
<WoW Guild Officer>
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Thanks for the suggestions, we have amazing consumer protections on consumer electronics here so I will weigh that against the alternatives.

I am also not surprised the market is over-saturated. Ultimately an immersion circulator is a really simple device that does a simple job. You can see how the market tried to "add value" and charge way more with "smart features" that are so unnecessary on an already dead simple fire & forget device. In my opinion they only reduce usability and add points of failure.
I'd go with an Anova... customer service has been good with them (for me), and the wireless part is completely optional to use. It functions without it (I've used it twice I think).
 

Crone

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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My brother in law and his wife and their daughter visited from Boston this week and stayed at our place for 4 days. We also hosted Christmas dinner on the 25th. Each time we cooked I also had various grandparents and cousins over.

I cook for my wife and myself often but cooking for 10+ is intimidating and I've never done it on my own before. I've helped various aunts uncles and grandmas but never been the main cook on such a large meal.

I made chicken tacos for 11 and they seemed to love it. I dry rub the chicken and then sautee it and then finish it in the oven and then cut it into small cubes. One of my 3 pans of sautee got away from me on the heat and the dry rub burned a little bit but I caught it pretty fast and ultimately the chicken itself cooked properly and in the end no one seemed to notice or care. People were going back for seconds and thirds. It was my first experience ever cooking solo for that many people and it was fun to see them all devour it. This was on the 22nd.

On the 25th I made an 8 pound top-round roast with mashed potatoes and green beans and home made gravy. Again, it's not that hard when you make it for 2-4 but for 16 people it's a lot of work. I was so nervous because my mother in law has ruined this exact dish for like the last 3 years running. I finally was given the reigns to take over and I knew I had to nail it. She does this ridiculous thing where she puts the roast in the oven at 500 degrees for 15 minutes and then TURNS THE OVEN OFF and lets it sit in there for another hour. She never once checks the temperature of the meat. She has served us raw beef for 3 years in a row. My wife and I finally convinced her to let us do it and this time I did the 500 for 15 thing same as her, but then I turned it down to 325 and let it cook for an hour.

My mother in law was shitting her pants when I told her I was going to cook it at 325 for an hour but to her credit, she let it go and let me do it. Last year, she made the same 8 pound top round and we had maybe 4-5 pounds of leftovers that went into the trash. This year, they cleaned us out. They ate every last bite. I know I'm tooting my own horn a bit for something that is relatively simple but I was so happy about how it all went that I just had to tell the story and so here I am.

I've tried making chicken wings (as a side dish) for that many people before once but I under-did them slightly (not terribly) and it was a sinking feeling. This Christmas was my own personal water-mark triumph of cooking and it felt really good to pull it off. Watching 15 other people devour your meal and heap praise on you for how good it tastes is really a great feeling.
Nice job! Cooking for that many people, as you discovered isn't that easy. I typically will always sit back and be the last to serve myself after it's all done as I take a minute to relax, and take it all in.

As for yout Moms roast recipe. I do something similar for rib roast. 500 for 5 minutes per pound, then turn the oven off and let it sit for 2 hours. This ended up over cooking it though so have to make adjustments.
 

Lanx

<Prior Amod>
60,794
134,152
I received a food vacuum for Christmas so I figured I should finally pick up a sous-vide machine.

I planned on going with the Sansaire (no wireless bullshit), but apparently the company went out of business? Except the machine is still being sold everywhere brand new, which is a little confusing.

Google wasn't terribly helpful, but it seems like maybe the "design" and "production" were different companies and only the design one went broke trying to make the new Delta version?

Does anyone know more than that and is the Sansaire now a risky purchase?
yea just get a anova, in 5years all these faux sous vide startup shits will close down and only anova will basically be the "cuisinart" of sous vide still around. while i LOATHE extra electronics in anything kitchen like, i don't mind the wifi in the anova and use it as a timer for food.
 

Nola

Trakanon Raider
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I'm from south Louisiana and a lot of people follow this guy. I made a few of his dishes.

 

Denaut

Trump's Staff
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I plan on going with the Anova Nano Precision, it has less power compared to pretty much all of the other ones but it is the smallest and cheapest while seeming like it will still get the job done just fine.
 

Lanx

<Prior Amod>
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I plan on going with the Anova Nano Precision, it has less power compared to pretty much all of the other ones but it is the smallest and cheapest while seeming like it will still get the job done just fine.
thats what i got, it's great, since it's whimpy powered i just use my electric kettle to heat up a 1litre (the fucking measurement is in litres...) and just pour it in (my kettle is programmable so i can 145f or whatever correct temp is needed)

have you thought about what container you're gonna use? i know you already got a food vac
 
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Denaut

Trump's Staff
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thats what i got, it's great, since it's whimpy powered i just use my electric kettle to heat up a 1litre (the fucking measurement is in litres...) and just pour it in (my kettle is programmable so i can 145f or whatever correct temp is needed)

have you thought about what container you're gonna use? i know you already got a food vac

I have a programmable kettle as well and everything is in liters here already anyway. Honestly, I was just planning on using a normal pot and some cling wrap with a towel wrapped around it. For the amount of sous vide I am likely to do that seems like it would work just fine for a while.
 

Khane

Got something right about marriage
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I've never really worried about evaporation when using my Anova. I've only done one super long cook with it (a brisket for 36 hours) and I just kept refilling the container in small increments to not lower the temps by too much at any one point.

Most of the time I use the sous vide for lean cuts of meat that you don't need prolonged cook times with (chicken, fish, pork loin). After the initial "new toy" shine wore off I found that I prefer doing fattier cuts that require long cook times in more traditional ways. Dutch Oven.
 
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