Random Food Questions Thread

[Cary Grant]

MM- buy locally produced when you can. Best times will be harvests, starting mid-summer. For something unique- look for Bronx Bees. They make it in the Bronx, on rooftops etc: http://bronxbees.com/?page_id=63


Freezing: Nothing wrong with freezing. What's frozen is all comb honey- it's better-off frozen - we haul it out when somebody asks for comb honey as we don't generally make it right now. Thawed comb honey from 3 years ago is fine.

It's also naturally preserved so yeah, you can also just put a lid on it and stick it in the basement. I have another big bucket with probably 30lbs crystallized in a bucket.

You can't avoid crystallizing. Just put it in warm water bath for maybe 30 minutes and it's good as new. Don't do that in the microwave... well, technically it's OK if all you want is to de-crystallize... but you're cooking it and it will get darker and stronger each time.

 

[idfnl]



MM- buy locally produced when you can. Best times will be harvests, starting mid-summer. For something unique- look for Bronx Bees. They make it in the Bronx, on rooftops

City honey is apparently the best. All the diversity from peoples flower beds etc makes it complex. Just filter the carbon monoxide and you're good.

 

[alexg]

Any restaurant or general recommendations for Ithaca NY?

 

[KJT]



Any restaurant or general recommendations for Ithaca NY?

Don't jump.

 

[alexg]

Might as well not even go then.

 

[indesertum]



Any restaurant or general recommendations for Ithaca NY?

you coming to ithaca for leblue?

mercato, just a taste, and heights cafe are about the only 3 restaurants i'd spend money at. and i'd go to ithaca ale house just for beer. brunch at dewitt mall cafe and carriage house is also decent

 

[otc]

Any suggestions for a large group (up to 13 people) in south beach or downtown miami for this saturday?

No qualms about splitting up in to more tables, but being able to make a reservation would be nice compared to a place where we just have to wait.. Looking for something good, can't be too expensive but doesn't have to be cheap. Always a fan of good seafood.

Thanks.

edit: would also be interested in lunch suggestions...cuban sandwiches and the like

 

[shibbel]

I watched the perfect steak video by HB some time back where he cooked a t-bone that was like 4-5" thick, which makes me wonder, is there any ideal thickness for grilling that type of cut to medium-rare/rare?

 

[alexg]



you coming to ithaca for leblue?
mercato, just a taste, and heights cafe are about the only 3 restaurants i'd spend money at. and i'd go to ithaca ale house just for beer. brunch at dewitt mall cafe and carriage house is also decent

Sadly I was there a few days too early for LeBleu. It was just a one night trip and I left early this morning. Went to Just a Taste, it was pretty good and they had a good drink list. I had a Bordelet Pear Cider, then went to Northside Wine and Spirits and bought a few bottles. That store is definitely worth going to if in the area, its selection was comparable to better wine stores in NYC. I also went to the Finger Lakes Beverage center, decent beer selection. I didn't realize they got Great Lakes Beer upstate so I bought a sampler pack and a few other things, notably Espresso Oak Aged Yeti and De Molen Hel and Verdoemenis. Oh, I also went to The Piggery for lunch. Decent yuppie farm raised pork takeout.

 

[indesertum]

nice piggery is great. they have these breakfast burritos in the morning that are just delicious. their bacon is realy really really good

and i am actually dirnking espresso oak aged yeti right now

 

[mgm9128]

Preparing conch?

 

[ryad797]

food ,,,,,maybe ....but what's the other food,,,,,,,,that make you out of life circle ....and taste the pure life

 

[b1os]

Totally!

 

[Douglas]

My pre-emptive apologies if this has been asked elsewhere in this thread.

Has anyone used one of these type of gadgets for sous vide cooking?

http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=13

It's a novel concept and at $150-200 plus a rice cooker or crockpot, one could achieve somewhat successful sous vide cooking. It's not the $75 sous vide setup I've seen blogged, but it's certainly cheaper than buying a full-on circulator system. Essentially, it's just a thermostat that cycles your rice cooker or crock pot on and off depending on the internal temp. I guess you're limited by the size of your cooking device and you're not going to achieve perfect temperature stability throughout the entire water bath, but could this give decent sous vide results at a fraction of the cost?

 

[KJT]



My pre-emptive apologies if this has been asked elsewhere in this thread.
Has anyone used one of these type of gadgets for sous vide cooking?
http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=13
It's a novel concept and at $150-200 plus a rice cooker or crockpot, one could achieve somewhat successful sous vide cooking. It's not the $75 sous vide setup I've seen blogged, but it's certainly cheaper than buying a full-on circulator system. Essentially, it's just a thermostat that cycles your rice cooker or crock pot on and off depending on the internal temp. I guess you're limited by the size of your cooking device and you're not going to achieve perfect temperature stability throughout the entire water bath, but could this give decent sous vide results at a fraction of the cost?

Yeah, these would work. It's essentially 3/4's of the DIY sous vide set up, but it doesn't have it's own heating element. These are basic PID controllers that actually have a lot of applications, other than sous vide. Some DIY's build the PID controller so it's independent of the heating element so they can use it for other things. On some bbq and smoking forums people use these, or make their own, to control cheaper electric powered smokers, meat curing chambers, etc.

Clearly you're not going to be able to control the temp down to fractions of a degree because a crockpot/ricecooker is not quite as delicate, but I think it would work just fine.