What did I cook this weekend.....

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Tell me more about that sieve, please.

Just made my first batch of yogurt with my sous vide wand, but my plain ol' strainer and cheesecloth set up for draining whey isn't fun.

And, what do you do with your whey?
 
Made some rouladen the other night. Used pork, since I didn't have any beef, but had some thin cut pork loin chops.

Easily one of the top ten things I've made, and my kids loved it, too. No pictures. :eek:
 
AZ_IPA said:
Tell me more about that sieve, please.

Just made my first batch of yogurt with my sous vide wand, but my plain ol' strainer and cheesecloth set up for draining whey isn't fun.

And, what do you do with your whey?
Click to expand...

Dumped the whey. You can make riccatta cheese with it, but not much, not worth the effort. It makes a good soup stock I'm told. Smells great, tastes great, but I haven't used it for anything. I make a lot of cheese and dump a LOT of whey, so I'm looking for targets.

Yogurt seive:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0091XNL0I/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Works great, just clean carefully. I find that about 12 hours is perfect for getting the right consistency. Too much and the yogurt gets really thick, too little and it's runny.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I just bought a steak yesterday that is so large that I think I need to fast until Friday evening when I will put it on the grill.

In the right hand corner, weighing in at 1.77kg (3.9 lbs), it's the Hereford Tomahawk Steak (photo borrowed from internet):

890155_Tomahawk-CND_aus_890150_CND-Carree__MG_9290.png


How does one even grill a steak this large and ensure that it remains rare / medium-rare on the inside? I'll be grilling it over briquets on my open brick grill. The thickness is 7cm (2.75 inches).
 
podz said:
How does one even grill a steak this large and ensure that it remains rare / medium-rare on the inside? I'll be grilling it over briquets on my open brick grill. The thickness is 7cm (2.75 inches).
Click to expand...

You might try one of these methods:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anw_rLVK9Pg[/ame]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiyTeTIueDs[/ame]

You may need to get a little creative in order to adapt these to your grilling setup, but the techniques will be basically the same, though the times will likely vary a little.
Regards, GF.
 
Went to the German deli/grocery just down the street from my house last night and picked up a selection of brats, some sauerkraut and some german potato salad. Fired up the grill and cooked them up right while my sister and cousin sauteed some peppers and onions. A touch of Deli mustard and a 750 of a Bock that was sent to me from Montana and it was a good evening. No picture though. Food didnt last that long.

And I got to try some refridgerator pickles my cousin made. Pretty tasty. I may have to get into pickling, or encourage her to expand to sauerkraut and kimchi and other fermented foods. Maybe we can get a beer/food trade thing going.
 
passedpawn said:
Dumped the whey. You can make riccatta cheese with it, but not much, not worth the effort. It makes a good soup stock I'm told. Smells great, tastes great, but I haven't used it for anything. I make a lot of cheese and dump a LOT of whey, so I'm looking for targets.

Yogurt seive:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0091XNL0I/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Works great, just clean carefully. I find that about 12 hours is perfect for getting the right consistency. Too much and the yogurt gets really thick, too little and it's runny.
Click to expand...

the last time i had some i used it in some bread dough and it was fantastic.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Tasted a pickle from a single jar I started fermentingseveral days ago...pretty good, but needs more dill and less red pepper flakes. I went ahead and sealed them up and stuck 'em in the fridge. I'll try them again when they are nice and cold and I get back from a trip. No cooking this weekend...hitting Vegas food for the next several days!
 
mattmmille said:
Tasted a pickle from a single jar I started fermentingseveral days ago...pretty good, but needs more dill and less red pepper flakes. I went ahead and sealed them up and stuck 'em in the fridge. I'll try them again when they are nice and cold and I get back from a trip. No cooking this weekend...hitting Vegas food for the next several days!
Click to expand...

A few notes from my last make: I fermented my last batch of pickles, but I really want to make Claussen-style, which to me is the pickle pinnacle, and they are NOT fermented.

For Claussen, I you need a TON of garlic, much less dill, and vinegar. Also, since there's vinegar, it's not going to ferment, so a few days of "pickling" on the counter, then into the fridge to stay. I think if you don't cook the pickles, and don't ferment them, they will remain white and crunchy. Also, there's a product at the stores called Pickle Crisp that claims to keep them crunch (even through fermentation?). Pickle Crisp is just Calcium Chloride, which you might have if you make cheese, maintain a saltwater reef fish tank, or do much canning, or use salts to adjust your water for homebrewing.
 
passedpawn said:
I find that about 12 hours is perfect for getting the right consistency. Too much and the yogurt gets really thick, too little and it's runny.
Click to expand...

12 hours of "cooking" the yogurt or 12 hours of draining?

My first batch was ~6.5 hours in the sous vide @ 115*F, and drained for ~1.5 hours.

It's very good. A little thicker than I wanted, but not nearly as "bitter" as normal store bought plain greek yogurt (probably because I only "cooked" for ~6.5 hours).

Also, ended up losing almost half the volume to whey....if I only wind up with ~2 qts of yogurt per gallon of milk, I probably won't bother (from a cost savings standpoint) anymore.
 
passedpawn said:
A few notes from my last make: I fermented my last batch of pickles, but I really want to make Claussen-style, which to me is the pickle pinnacle, and they are NOT fermented.

For Claussen, I you need a TON of garlic, much less dill, and vinegar. Also, since there's vinegar, it's not going to ferment, so a few days of "pickling" on the counter, then into the fridge to stay. I think if you don't cook the pickles, and don't ferment them, they will remain white and crunchy. Also, there's a product at the stores called Pickle Crisp that claims to keep them crunch (even through fermentation?). Pickle Crisp is just Calcium Chloride, which you might have if you make cheese, maintain a saltwater reef fish tank, or do much canning, or use salts to adjust your water for homebrewing.
Click to expand...

Good to know! I tried making pickles different ways and haven't nailed the perfect recipe yet. My family basically only eats Claussen and I thought they were fermented, as I assumed all production pickle factories made pickles this way.

I'll go back to trying a vinegar soak to get that same flavor.
 
Homercidal said:
Good to know! I tried making pickles different ways and haven't nailed the perfect recipe yet. My family basically only eats Claussen and I thought they were fermented, as I assumed all production pickle factories made pickles this way.



I'll go back to trying a vinegar soak to get that same flavor.
Click to expand...


I would have said the opposite - most big production pickles are vinegar-pickled. Much faster and easier to reproduce than fermented in a factory setting.
 
AZ_IPA said:
12 hours of "cooking" the yogurt or 12 hours of draining?

My first batch was ~6.5 hours in the sous vide @ 115*F, and drained for ~1.5 hours.

It's very good. A little thicker than I wanted, but not nearly as "bitter" as normal store bought plain greek yogurt (probably because I only "cooked" for ~6.5 hours).

Also, ended up losing almost half the volume to whey....if I only wind up with ~2 qts of yogurt per gallon of milk, I probably won't bother (from a cost savings standpoint) anymore.
Click to expand...

I don't sous vide (much) since it requires me to dig out my brewing eqmt. That would be a lot of work for some yogurt. The way I do it is super fast and painless, and happens while you're sleeping.

My very simple yogurt process. Nothing new here, and I know you already know this AZ, but for completeness:

Ingredients:
  • Milk (I use 2%, but you can use everything from skim to whole to almond to whatever)
  • 1 tblsp (or more) of yogurt with live cultures (most yogurt, especially greek, is live)

Process
  • Heat milk to 180F (best to use a dbl boiler, or put a pot into a pan of water, so as to avoid scorching the milk; stirring continuously over low heat works)
  • Cool to 100-110F. Don't want to kill the cultures in the yogurt!
  • Drop a tbsp or more of commercial yogurt (or from your previous batch) in there and stir. Choose a plain, unflavored yogurt you like; the new yogurt will taste identical to what you use, assuming the cultures in it were alive. If you want Greek, get a little thing of greek yogurt and dump it in.
  • Turn oven on any temperature for about 1 minute, then off again. Then turn on the oven light. This will keep the oven warm all night.
  • Put the pot with milk in the oven. Put a lid on it.
  • Next morning, remove and dump into sieve. It's yogurt now, but if you want Greek yogurt then it needs to be thicker.
  • Refrigerate, and leave in sieve 6-12 hours. It will get thicker and thicker as the whey drips out of it, and eventually become the consistency of sour cream.


For tzatziki sauce, blend a cup of the yogurt above with a peeled/seeded cucumber, couple of garlic cloves, and a couple of tbsp of lemon juice. Takes 1 minute.
 
BGBC said:
I would have said the opposite - most big production pickles are vinegar-pickled. Much faster and easier to reproduce than fermented in a factory setting.
Click to expand...

Yep, exactly. But that doesn't mean they aren't good. I think Claussen are the best: in flavor, mouthfeel (crunch!), and appearance.

Is there a PJCP where pickles are judged? Gold ribbon for the Claussen folks. A long time ago, before the webz was a thing, I sent a paper letter to them telling them how much I admired their pickles. They replied with a letter containing a bunch of coupons for free jars of pickles. Woot!
 
passedpawn said:
Yep, exactly. But that doesn't mean they aren't good. I think Claussen are the best: in flavor, mouthfeel (crunch!), and appearance.



Is there a PJCP where pickles are judged? Gold ribbon for the Claussen folks. A long time ago, before the webz was a thing, I sent a paper letter to them telling them how much I admired their pickles. They replied with a letter containing a bunch of coupons for free jars of pickles. Woot!
Click to expand...


I did the same thing, as a stoned 16 year old. It was awesome.

Love me some Claussens.
 
Quartered a chicken yesterday. Butterflied the breasts and did a quick lemon pepper marinade and grilled for dinner last night (no pics).

24 hour angry chicken marinade on everything else for tonight (a la Dale Talde, basically hot sauce and yogurt w/ addl spices). Also grilled some squash and mushrooms.

Carcass is in the freezer for stock.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1435796399.879963.jpg
 
passedpawn said:
I don't sous vide (much) since it requires me to dig out my brewing eqmt. That would be a lot of work for some yogurt. The way I do it is super fast and painless, and happens while you're sleeping.

My very simple yogurt process. Nothing new here, and I know you already know this AZ, but for completeness:

Ingredients:
  • Milk (I use 2%, but you can use everything from skim to whole to almond to whatever)
  • 1 tblsp (or more) of yogurt with live cultures (most yogurt, especially greek, is live)

Process
  • Heat milk to 180F (best to use a dbl boiler, or put a pot into a pan of water, so as to avoid scorching the milk; stirring continuously over low heat works)
  • Cool to 100-110F. Don't want to kill the cultures in the yogurt!
  • Drop a tbsp or more of commercial yogurt (or from your previous batch) in there and stir. Choose a plain, unflavored yogurt you like; the new yogurt will taste identical to what you use, assuming the cultures in it were alive. If you want Greek, get a little thing of greek yogurt and dump it in.
  • Turn oven on any temperature for about 1 minute, then off again. Then turn on the oven light. This will keep the oven warm all night.
  • Put the pot with milk in the oven. Put a lid on it.
  • Next morning, remove and dump into sieve. It's yogurt now, but if you want Greek yogurt then it needs to be thicker.
  • Refrigerate, and leave in sieve 6-12 hours. It will get thicker and thicker as the whey drips out of it, and eventually become the consistency of sour cream.


For tzatziki sauce, blend a cup of the yogurt above with a peeled/seeded cucumber, couple of garlic cloves, and a couple of tbsp of lemon juice. Takes 1 minute.
Click to expand...

If you flavor the yogurt (vanilla, honey, etc.), I'm assuming you'd do that post straining, right?
 
AZ_IPA said:
If you flavor the yogurt (vanilla, honey, etc.), I'm assuming you'd do that post straining, right?
Click to expand...

Yes.

I have read that adding vanilla is excellent, but I haven't tried that. My wife/kids love strawberry and banana, but I have to sneak a bunch of sugar in there to make it taste really good.

If you're adding juicy stuff like bananas or peaches, you might get it as thick as possible in the sieve. You can always add a bit of water to thin it later.
 
1977Brewer said:
I did the same thing, as a stoned 16 year old. It was awesome.

Love me some Claussens.
Click to expand...

My daughter and I are closet pickle-juice drinkers. I've wondered if we are missing something in our diet, because when there's a jar of Clausens in the fridge the juice in the jar disappears more quickly than the pickles, much to the chagrin of my very sane and normal wife.
 
BGBC said:
I would have said the opposite - most big production pickles are vinegar-pickled. Much faster and easier to reproduce than fermented in a factory setting.
Click to expand...

This may be. I saw a video of a place making pickles in HUGE vats. They were fermented, and so I assumed that was the "normal" method.

I'm a fan of Claussen as well, but then I'm not really picky. Pickles are generally just "aight" to me. I'm making my own for the fun of it and to see if I can make pickles the daughters like.

My oldest had a pickle fetish growing up and my wife only bought Claussen for some reason. So we really only bought Claussen. I've bought other brands here and there to try, but we still keep buying Claussen regularly.

I prefer the baby dills of any brand. Kids like the regular 1/4 slices.
 
Claussens are the best in my book,but only Tony Packo's Pickles and Peppers for my peanut butter sammiches.
 
Walmart had French bread for a buck a loaf, so I quartered'em up & made pizzas with'em. Sauce, crimini mushrooms, pepperoni & cheese mix. Baking them at 400F for 3 minutes gave an intense mushroom flavor that wasn't earthy at all.
 

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