Tuesday, August 26, 2008
plastic bags and "sous vide" cooking
Q: Are conventional zip-loc bags safe for sous-vide cooking? If so, up to what temperature? There seems to be a lot of guess work and misinformation (?) about this one on the Internet. Love your books! Thank you.— Posted by Ben Fambrough
Harold McGee replies: Heavy-duty Ziplock bags are made from polyethylene and are approved for contact with hot foods. True sous-vide cooking involves vacuum-packing the food, which zipping a bag won’t do for you. But you can certainly use the bag to immerse food in a water bath whose temperature you control carefully. It can be hard to squeeze out all the air, so the bags tend to float and heat unevenly unless you weigh them down. Sous-vide cooking generally involves water temperatures between 120 and 180 degrees, which the heavy-duty bags can take.
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Friday, August 15, 2008
2008 Food & Wine Celebration.
One of the foods vying for second place was this combination of Tea Smoked Currant and Teardrop Tomatoes, Sour Cream and Long Onion Pound Cake with Candied Fennel presented by Chef Kirk Gilbert of Ballantyne Resort, Charlotte, North Carolina.
A Baltimore son, Beej Flamholz, had a lovely tuna tartar.
This beet and horseradish cured beef was pretty interesting. Presented by Chef Patrick McElroy of the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at Union Station.
The soup. He made a mousse out of the cucumber yogurt using gelatin and a nitrous canister.
This Utah Lamb with Huckleberry Sauce, Corn Cake and Weed Salad was great! Presented by Chef Zane Holmquist of The Glitretind at Stein Eriken Lodge, Park City, Utah.
Some local boys made a good show, too. Dante Boccuzzi made this Pork Belly with Santana Eggplant and Basil Salsa Verde.
Another local boy who really likes to play with food, Johnathan Bennett of Exec. of both Red and Moxie, offered up Kettle Corn and Pork Cracklin's. Yum.
You can always count on Anne Blackwood for chocolate. She's terrific. These chocolate martinis were the bomb.
Finally, if I had to offer another gold star, I would award it to Jeni's Ice Creams. The line for this stand stretched more than twenty people deep. I had the Sweet Corn and Blackberry Ice Cream. All I can say is WOW!...just fantastic, maybe not for everyone, but right up my alley. Where have you been? And why haven't you entered my life earlier? Please get a store in Cleveland.