Tag Archives: Kitchen Must Haves

Cooking by Sous Vide

November 28, 2020 Scott@SCK Leave a comment

Sous vide cooking was pioneered in the 1970’s in San Francisco. It is a fairly simple concept – vacuum pack the item being cooked in a waterproof bag and place it in a container of water that is set to the temperature that the finished product is desired to be. The Immersion Cooker circulates the water and maintains a constant temperature to provide perfect results every time. There is a particularly good chance that at some point you have had food done by sous vide, they are fairly common in restaurant kitchens around the world.

When cooking a meat such as steak, you select the temperature you want the meat to finish at, and then leave it be. I vacuum pack the steak (usually after a trip thru the smoker) with a pat of butter and a bit of thyme and cook it at 128.5 degrees for 1-2 hours. The result is a perfectly rare / medium rare steak from edge to edge, and after a quick sear on the grill or cast iron skillet to it is a thing of perfection.

The other great advantage of sous vide is your window for the meat being perfectly done is up to an hour or more… not 2-3 min before it is past the point desired. It takes much of the stress out of cooking meats when entertaining, the meat will be ready for 1-2 min a side on the grill, with no ‘rest’ required when the rest of the meal is done. It works excellent for proteins, as well as eggs, custard, cheesecake… anything where a precise control of temperature and gentle cooking will be of benefit.

A vacuum bagger is a nice accompaniment, but perfectly adequate results can be achieved with Zip Lock Freezer bags in most cases. The immersion circulator work in any pot or container, I have a cooler bucket that I use for smaller cooks, and a regular travel cooler for bigger cooks. I cannot impress upon you my intrepid reader on how much I believe in this cooking technique. I have turned a few friends on to it as well, and they are equally enthralled.

There are now several different brands on the market, I prefer the Anova brand, particularly the wifi model which is a bit higher power than its smaller sibling. They seem to go on sale with some regularity, and the discounts can be rather good. I will put a link below for the version that has replaced the model I have.

Anova Precision Cooker

Here are a few pictures of some of the results I have achieved with the sous vide.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-2.png — Smoked Strip Loin Steak with fresh grated horesradish

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-1-1024x685.png — Smoked and sous vide Rib Roast, finished under the broiler

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-3.png — Smoked Strip Loin Steak, sous vide with pan sear finish

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-4.png — Smoked Pork Chop with a tzatziki apple sauce

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-5.png — The rig itself, with dinner for two underway. Will do a better photo shortly

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Must Haves – Item # 7 – Rice Cooker

January 15, 2016 Scott@SCK 1 Comment

Alton Brown is a favorite celebrity chef of mine and he has a basic aversion to ‘Unitaskers’, those being kitchen gear items that only do one thing only. I have to agree with him in most cases. Now, I don’t know how he feels about Rice Cookers as it is by definition a unitasker, but I know that I find mine indispensable.

Generally speaking, I don’t care for ‘converted’ rice, no matter who’s uncle made it. It is quick… and that is about all I will say for it. I much prefer a good basmati or jasmine rice, and a medium grain brown rice like Sunbrown Calrose Brown Rice is even better. But, they take time to cook, and in our 24/7 busy world, that isn’t convenient.

Enter the rice cooker. A good rice cooker allows you to put the water and rice in the machine in the morning, set the time you want it to be ready, and walk away. The result is perfectly cooked rice ready when you want it, all with minimal fuss.

Like everything, rice cookers come in all sorts of sizes and shapes. When I purchased mine 15(?) years ago, it was one of the better ones available, and I needed to go to an Asian kitchen store to get one. Now, they are much more readily available, and of course on Amazon. The one I went with back in the day was a Zojirushi rice cooker with fuzzy logic and timer. I love it, and it has served me very well. When I have to replace it, it will be with another Zojirushi model.

20151230_193830 — The Zojirushi NS-ZCC10 5.5 cup Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker is the current model of mine

The fuzzy logic bit basically means that the unit detects when the water in the bowl is absorbed, and turns the unit down from cook to keep warm. It also determines the correct cooking time for the amount of rice to ensure that it is ready at the right time. I really recommend this feature. The timer is also highly recommended, as it gives you that ‘set it and forget it’ function.

I have had opportunity use a more basic rice cooker, and it really did do a sub-par job. It was small, and tended to boil over and cook the rice unevenly. Size and quality really do matter with rice cookers.

One accessory that is a great help when working with ‘real’ rice is a rice washing bowl. Any regular rice should be rinsed very well under cold water until the water runs clear. This removes the surface starch from the rice grain, which is left in place makes for sticky / gummy rice. By washing the rice, you end up with a light, fluffy finished product.

If you like rice with your dinners, even from time to time, this is a great investment for your kitchen.

Enjoy!

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Must Haves – Item #5 – Sticky Stuff Measuring Cups

January 3, 2016 Scott@SCK Leave a comment

These little gems are such a time saver in the kitchen. When working with anything sticky or thick, like honey, molasses, peanut butter, sour cream etc., it is so convenient to be able to set the desired amount on the cup, fill the container to the top and then press the plunger to discharge the ingredient cleanly and completely out and into the mixing bowl.

They really take the frustration and mess out of trying to get sticky ingredients measured up and into your vittles.

I have 5 – a 2 cup, a 1 cup and 3 tablespoon measures. They come apart for easy cleaning, and beyond putting a thin layer of oil on the silicone seal when you put them back together, they are pretty much maintenance free.

I use the KitchenArt Pro Adjust-A-Cup series, and have had great success with them. The only caution is that you have to follow the directions and lube the silicone seal with cooking oil, or it can tear on reassembly and destroy the cup – a lesson learned the hard way. There are others out there that are likely just as good, but these are the ones I use.

Hopefully this will keep you from getting into a sticky situation!

Enjoy!

Next Up – Knives

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Must Haves – Item #4 – Mixing Bowls

January 1, 2016 Scott@SCK Leave a comment

All the fanciest ingredients in the world won’t be of much use if you don’t have bowls to mix them in. These big brothers to the prep dishes definitely make the list of must have’s for the kitchen.

Now, most everyone has a bowl or two in the kitchen, and really the science behind them has been around for millennia. Make a container out of whatever you have at hand, and seal it so that the wet stuff can’t get out. Pretty basic really… Of late, there have been some interesting attempts to create the better mousetrap, but basically, a bowl is still a bowl.

I have these in my kitchen, and find them very good for the tasks at hand:

The stainless ones are of medium gauge, so they don’t feel flimsy but I don’t need a crane truck to move them around. They have a sufficiently large flat spot on the bottom to ensure they are stable on the counter, and high enough sides to whisk dry ingredients without sending them flying.

The only other thing that I look for is that they nest together for storage. This also works together with having a variety of sizes to choose from, as having the right size bowl for the job is really handy.

The glass bowls are basically the same idea, but just in a heavier and more ‘hot stuff’ friendly format.

I have seen and had opportunity to work with some of the new silicone bowls that are out there… All I will say is that my momma said if you can’t say anything nice…

The other bowl I value greatly is the ‘mondo’ stainless bowl that I use when working with large quantities of ingredients, like my Italian Burger mix. It doesn’t see daily use, but when I need it, it is indispensable.

Being a bit OCD (stop it Dear, I hear you) and being used to my own kitchen, when I go to another kitchen it is always an adjustment to working with others gear. It surprises me how so many people only have 2-3 bowls, and that can creates a challenge for any large cooking project. The value in a good number and selection of mixing bowls in your kitchen really can’t be overstated.

Besides, what good is a cleanup crew, if you can’t leave a large selection of dirty bowls for them??

Enjoy!

Next Up – Sticky Stuff Measuring Cups

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Must Haves – Item 2 – Digital Kitchen Scale

September 21, 2015 Scott@SCK Leave a comment

This is my second favorite kitchen gadget. From measuring dry ingredients such as flour (5 oz per cup) to portioning out burger patties, it is quick and accurate.

When baking, accuracy in flour measurement is really important. Depending on temperature, humidity and method used with the measuring cup, the actual amount of flour in ‘a cup’ can very significantly enough to affect the outcome. With a scale, the weight is always the same. and it is a fair bit faster to just pour flour into a bowl on the scale until you have just enough.

Then you can zero (tare) out the scale, and add your next ingredient by weight and so on. It really does make life in the kitchen much easier – for real.

I place a bowl on the scale, and then portion out my meat patties into 6 oz patties (8 oz if Kathy isn’t looking) and then every patty is the same size and cooks in the same time as each other.

Buying meats in bulk is a great way to economize, but portioning it out into 1 lb portions then bagging it for the freezer makes it easy to use down the road.

You can even weigh a puppy prior to… no, not cooking him… figuring out how much food he should be getting!

No amimals were harmed in the taking of this photo. All dishes were cleaned prior to being used again. 8-) — No amimals were harmed in the taking of this photo. All dishes were cleaned prior to being used again. 😎

I have a different scale, but this one is very highly rated by a source I trust very much.

Next up – Prep Dishes

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Must Haves – Item 1 – The Thermopen

September 21, 2015 Scott@SCK Leave a comment

I am in the process of adding a section to the site with links to some of my favorite kitchen gear. Kitchens are a funny place – stuff accumulates with the same mysterious ways as crop circles pop up on the land (maybe their both aliens messing with us), and much of it is not actually useful. So much if the gear is useful for little other than taking up space.

Much if it is designed to ‘make life easier’ in the kitchen – As Seen On TV. Unfortunately, most of the time the bits of kit just don’t work, or worse take twice the time to use and clean up than just doing the ‘old fashioned’ way. Alton Brown is my hero when it comes to what he calls ‘unitaskers’. And the only permissible unitasker in his books is the fire extinguisher. I tend to agree.

That said, there are a few items that every cook should have in their kitchen. The first is an instant read thermometer. A top quality instant read thermometer is something you will use pretty much every time you cook. A cheap imitation will be buried in the back of your drawer faster than you can say “this piece of garbage…”. My favorite, and the one that is generally considered to be the best, is the Thermopen . Available by mail order only, it is indispensable in my kitchen. I use it to measure the temp of water to bloom yeast (105-115 degrees), the temp of baking break (200+), to check meat on the grill or in the smoker, or to gauge poultry in the oven. Tonight I used mine to make sure the smoked burger patty in the frying pan was fully cooked without having to cut into it and let the juices out.

The Thermopen is quick, accurate and has a very small tip that makes the smallest puncture in your food, which preserves juices and keeps it from looking like it got cooked on a dart board.

You can check it out here at:

http://www.thermoworks.com/products/thermapen/

I will add some more items that I find indispensable in the days to come.

Next Up – Digital Kitchen Scale

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