Grub Hacker

40 Hour Pork Belly

I really wanted to try a pork belly cooked Sous-Vide.  I put the belly in at 142 and let it cook in the marinade for 40 hours. I had bigger plans to finish it on the grill and mop it with the rendered juices and marinade from the bag.  I was lazy tonight and hungry when I got home so I decided to fry them up quick in the deep fryer and drizzle with honey, sriracha and lime juice.

  

  

   

      

 

Asian inspired Pork Belly

1.5-2 lb pork belly
1/4 cup of soy sauce
TBS Honey
1 TBS Mirin
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sriracha
1/2 TBS chives, minced
Pinch of Salt
pinch of pepper

Sprinkle salt, pepper and garlic powder on pork belly.
Mix remaining ingredients in bowl
Put pork belly in vacuum bag and pour marinade over pork
vacuum seal

Cook at 142 for 40 hours.
 Finish in a hot pan, grill or deep fryer
Drizzle with a bit more honey, sriracha and and squeeze some lime on top.

Seth

New york strip + Sous-Vide + Blowtorch = Killer Steak?

So enough with all the cooking of innards that I have recently been preparing Sous-Vide.  I wanted to show you what could be accomplished with just a vacuum sealer, water bath and blowtorch. 

Simply seasoned New york Strip with sea salt, pepper and light dusting of garlic powder and vacuum seal.

Cook at 130 in Sous-Vide for 1.5-2 Hours

Take out of bag and blowtorch steak.  I chose the blowtorch over the grill for no other reason then that I use a grill so much that I wanted to play around with something new. (You could also put on a raging hot grill at this time to sear outside)

Sous-Vide Wild Duck Confit

So we had duck leg quarters left over from the five ducks we trimmed up this weekend and we figured no better use than Duck Confit.

Wild Duck Sous Vide Confit

Legs quarters of 5 wild ducks
Small Tub Duck Fat
4 Bay Leaves
5 Sprigs of Thyme
Garlic Powder
Kosher Salt
Pepper

Sprinkle leg quarters on both sides with Salt, pepper and garlic powder
Put leg quarters in bag and evenly disperse Bay leaves and Thyme over quarters
Evenly disperse duck fat in bag

Cook Sous-Vide 170 for 8-12 Hours
If using Farm Raised Ducks cook for 8-12 Hours at 180

Teachworth, gluttony and a general gastro belch...

Today was a good day..... A gastro day!

What was made and drank today....

First the wine....

Teachworth

So my gastro buddy and I have been collecting wine since about the time we started the vineyard and have built up a nice collection of high altitude, small lot Napa Cabernet.  He decided to splurge today and crack a few bottles to celebrate the creation of the duck pot pies... that we never ended up making.  Ohh well, the wine is the occasion as this is truly some epic stuff and the the fact that he wanted to pop it today made it the star of the evening

With a wonderful high altitude napa Cabernet flavor, this really was a wonderful wine that drank great but still could of used another 10-15 years in the cellar.  This wine spends 24 months in oak which is a very long time for normal Cabernet's.  This wine was powerful and would seem that it could hold up for MANY years to come.  With great fruit and wonderful mentality and cocoa, leather and tobacco flavors this wine drank like a dream after being decanted for about 4 hours.

Teachworth Cabernet

Popped the 2001 Teachworth, Rattlesnake Ridge and Manzanita Hill, both very small production measuring 1 acre per vineyard location.  Also pictured in some good mild french goat cheese.

The best animal in existence? Ship it, in any form, into my mouth....

I will say no more....

Wild Duck Stock

In preparation for making duck pot pies this weekend, my friend and I started some wild duck stock.  My good friend is an avid hunter and we have hunted together our whole lives.  Our fathers and grandfathers had always cooked great meals out of wild game, although very simply prepared.  Recently we have began cooking a lot of wild game with classic culinary techniques and paying close attention to meat temperature and doneness.  Here is the recipe for our wild duck stock.

Wild Duck Stock

4-5 wild ducks carcases, Breast, legs and wings removed.(we used mallards)
3 carrots, chopped
3-4 celery ribs, chopped
2 onions chopped
4-6 garlic cloves, bruised
4 bay leaves
bunch of thyme
bunch of parsley stems
Glug of olive oil
Salt
Pepper


Saute carrots, onion and celery for 5 minute in olive oil in a large stock pot.
 Add a nice fat pinch of both pepper and salt while sauteing.
Add Garlic and Saute for 1 minute
Add duck carcases and other ingredients and fill water 3-5 inches over the ducks.

Keep heat regulated to just under a simmer.  You don't want to see active bubbles in the pot but you should see a heft amount of steam coming out of the pot. 

Start skimming white/grey foam or small particulate every 30 minutes starting after 1 hour of cooking

Cook for 10-20 hours depending on how rich you would like your stock

Strain stock through a fine Chinois when complete

Closer look of Sous-Vide Cooker

Granted, Sous-Vide cooking does have a disconnected culinary experience.  You cant smell, hear or taste anything that’s going on... Its all trapped in a locked bag, without any of the normal culinary triggers of when things are done and when things should be pulled for other finishing processes.   But something about this feels so futuristic, so precise.  I am into computers, technical things, this style draws me in.  Not something to take over your cooking methods, but another tool in the culinary hacking belt.

I wanted to give you all a closer look since my other pictures were a bit grainy.  This is the low tech Sous-Vide cooker that has been super consistent and cranking out bionic, perfectly cooked food....

Beef tripe for Tacos de Tripas

Seth

Sous-Vide Tacos De Tripas

 

I have really been on a dark tangent with my cooking of organ meet lately.  I think my favorite street food of all time would be the tongue and intestine tacos that I ate so much when in Texas and here in the Midwest.  People don’t give organ meat enough of a chance....  It has the most amazing flavors that vary from organ to organ.  Textures span an equal array of diversity.  Maybe its the drastic differences that turns people off...  What do you think?  Anyone a fan of the "other" meats?

I found some good small beef intestine the other day and when I saw it I knew its fate.... Tacos de Tripas!  Normally the tripe is boiled in a pot with various ingredients such as onions, garlic, Mexican oregano, etc.  I wanted to achieve the same result in a much smaller environment with a much more concentrated flavor. 

Here is the meat before entering the vacuum chamber.

Seth

Sous-Vide Lengua Tacos Result

The tacos were amazing!  The combination of cooking the tongue sous vide style and blending up the cooking juices for a chopped tongue hot tub, made this offal meat some of the best I have had to date.

Here are the tacos

Tacos need no more than cilantro, onion lime and salsa

Sous Vide Lengua Tacos

Since starting my Sous Vide adventure i have been fascinated with converting the great Mexican classics that I see prepared all the time in the tacquerias around me to sous vide.The Midwest is blessed with some amazing Mexican fare and dozens upon dozens of Mexican restaurants, tacquerias and grocery stores dot the landscape in northern Illinois.  This is my take on on the great Tacos de Lengua.

Sous-Vide  Tacos de Lengua

1 Beef Tongue
5 pearl onions split in half with ends cut off
3 garlic gloves, bruised and cut in half
pinch of Mexican oregano
1 bay leaf
2 large new Mexico red chillies crumbled
generous sprinkle of Adobo Seasoning
pinch of black pepper
2/3 cup chicken stock

Put all ingredients into sous vide bag and cook at 155 for 20-24 hours

Open bag and remove tongue, puree contents of bag in food processor and reserve

Remove outside skin of tongue, discard

chop tongue meat into cubes and place into pureed liquid

Fry meat before filing tacos

Garnish with Cilantro, onion, squeeze of lime juice and salsa roja

Roast some Jalapenos and small bulb onions for a great side treat.

Morning = bomb tacos!