What did I cook this weekend.....

[passedpawn]

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.

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.

 

[passedpawn]

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.

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!

 

[1977Brewer]

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!

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

Love me some Claussens.

 

[BGBC]

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

 

[BGBC]

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

Trust me, not knocking any vinegar pickles. Love em!

 

[bob1852]

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.

If you flavor the yogurt (vanilla, honey, etc.), I'm assuming you'd do that post straining, right?

 

[passedpawn]

If you flavor the yogurt (vanilla, honey, etc.), I'm assuming you'd do that post straining, right?

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.

 

[passedpawn]

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

Love me some Claussens.

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.

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

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.

Tons of sports training lore on pickle juice combating cramps


http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/chompions/201112/meet-new-energy-drink-pickle-juice

 

[Homercidal]

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.

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.

 

[vanishingpint]

Claussens are the best in my book,but only Tony Packo's Pickles and Peppers for my peanut butter sammiches.

 

[Homercidal]

Claussens are the best in my book,but only Tony Packo's Pickles and Peppers for my peanut butter sammiches.

I'm sure I'm not reading this right...

 

[podz]

I'm sure I'm not reading this right...

Because hipster.

 

[passedpawn]

Because hipster.

Tony Packo's biggest fan: Is this very early hipster?

(I grew up in the Toledo area, Jamie Farr was from Toledo in real life; as Klinger on M*A*S*H, he was always craving a hungarian dog from Tony Packos, also in Toledo)

 

[banesong]

Claussens are the best in my book,but only Tony Packo's Pickles and Peppers for my peanut butter sammiches.

Need?

 

[unionrdr]

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.

 

[podz]

Barely could fit the steak on the Weber grill... Oh my god, the taste was so amazng.

 

[podz]

Barely could fit the steak on the Weber grill... Oh my god, the taste was so amazng.

And the LONG Weber tongs:

SWMBO and I ate the whole damned thing!

 

[passedpawn]

Looks like you did a really nice job with that Podz.

 

[slym2none]

Claussens are the best in my book,but only Tony Packo's Pickles and Peppers for my peanut butter sammiches.

I'm sure I'm not reading this right...

He's a monster, that's why.

:cross:

 

[slym2none]

Barely could fit the steak on the Weber grill... Oh my god, the taste was so amazng.

I hate you... now I have to mop up the drool off of my floor.

 

[BUCKNUTS]

Barely could fit the steak on the Weber grill... Oh my god, the taste was so amazng.

Holy crap that is(was) a massive tomahawk

 

[podz]

Holy crap that is(was) a massive tomahawk

It was. Granted, my Weber is only 18", but still that was one huge steak.

 

[podz]

I hate you... now I have to mop up the drool off of my floor.

Don't hate me, man! For most of my life, when I wanted a ribeye I needed to make an excuse to my boss to let me travel to Germany. This week was the first time that I've ever seen ribeyes in Finnish supermarkets. The reason is that 99% of the cows raised here are milk cows, so the rib muscles are so small that they normally chop them up and sell it as soup meat (I know, it's still a crime, but they do it). Apparently, somebody here has started raising Hereford bulls now. Never thought I would live to see that day.

 

[LakesideBrewing]

Extra crispy, super juicy, fried chicken.

 

[DrunkleJon]

Flatbread pizzas after watching fireworks last night. One was margharita and the other was a bacon and blue cheese with some sauteed onions and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Holy crap was that one good.

 

[chawn]

Got back into town yesterday afternoon, so I had pizza last night, too - a frozen one.

 

[Kharnynb]

Ok podz, i'm afraid i am going to have to nominate you for the next season of "grillikuume"

ps. for you non-finnish, "grill-fever" is what fins decided "the great brittish bake-off" should have been by including grills and meat...

 

[vanishingpint]

Claussens are the best in my book,but only Tony Packo's Pickles and Peppers for my peanut butter sammiches.

Yes, only Tony Packo's Pickles an Peppers are suitable,will do,are good enough to put on the slice of bread ,spread with peanut butter and topped with another slice of bread which I like to call a sandwich. I like peanut butter and pickle sandwiches.Next time I'll type slower so you can keep up. I do have a goatee ,and I did wear glasses with heavy black plastic frames,but they were 1970 army issue so I could be a hipster except when I started eating said sandwiches there were no hipsters.Or hippies.They were called beatniks then.Of course I am a monster.

 

[Melana]

I have no pictures. I made pot stickers, cocktail meatballs, scallion pancakes, crab cakes, and pasta with white clam sauce.