What's cooking? (2 Viewers)

[Johnny Angell]

I don't use any mail-order / online / delivery food services. (Nothing against them. Our grocery stores are pretty good with quality butcher shops and pre-packed options. And the subscription services don't solve problems I have for prices that appeal to me. )

We have chosen to not go into stores as much as is possible. That makes finding what we want, difficult. That’s why this is interesting. Expensive, but interesting.

 

[DaveF]

Makes sense. Here, the food pickup and delivery services are totally full. I was going to look at doing order/delivery groceries, but friends told me not to bother. So I have to go to the grocery store weekly.

Other stuff...well...Amazon owns my soul now.

 

[DaveF]

My critique of that specific meat service, from my own perspective:

1. Very expensive. Their tenderloin is 4x what I pay at the grocery store ($80/lb vs $20/lb)
2. Don't have ground chuck, only "ground beef". If I'm paying for premium mail order grass-fed beef, I'd like to know I'm get the really good stuff for *great* burgers.
3. It's grass fed which is good if you want that and like the flavor. At this point, it's not really a selling point for me.

That's me. It's a round about way of saying: there's a lot of meat and food delivery services out there. Find the one that has the quality and selection you specifically prefer. Don't settle just because it's the first one you've heard of.

For that matter, our local farmer's market has opened up, and there's a lot of meat options there. If you have one nearby, and are comfortable shopping it, you might find great choices are similar or better prices. (Ours was busy, but with the open air I think still better than being in a grocery store.)

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I’ve noticed grocery delivery is a little bit easier to come by now in the NYC area than it was a couple weeks ago. I’m uncertain if this is due to the companies hiring more workers, or if there is less demand resulting from a false belief that the pandemic is now over.

 

[Johnny Angell]

My critique of that specific meat service, from my own perspective:

1. Very expensive. Their tenderloin is 4x what I pay at the grocery store ($80/lb vs $20/lb)
2. Don't have ground chuck, only "ground beef". If I'm paying for premium mail order grass-fed beef, I'd like to know I'm get the really good stuff for *great* burgers.
3. It's grass fed which is good if you want that and like the flavor. At this point, it's not really a selling point for me.

That's me. It's a round about way of saying: there's a lot of meat and food delivery services out there. Find the one that has the quality and selection you specifically prefer. Don't settle just because it's the first one you've heard of.

For that matter, our local farmer's market has opened up, and there's a lot of meat options there. If you have one nearby, and are comfortable shopping it, you might find great choices are similar or better prices. (Ours was busy, but with the open air I think still better than being in a grocery store.)

And that’s what I’ve concluded. Too expensive. We’ll pass as will this absence of meet on the shelves. We’d do better if we went into the store, but that’s not going to happen for a while.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I’ve noticed grocery delivery is a little bit easier to come by now in the NYC area than it was a couple weeks ago. I’m uncertain if this is due to the companies hiring more workers, or if there is less demand resulting from a false belief that the pandemic is now over.

It could be the food supply chain is getting it’s second wind and doing better.

 

[DaveF]

Food producers have been reacting to demands and increasing supply. There's probably been some modest conversion of production from commerical (restaurants, schools, etc) to consumer. People are probably stopping hoarding and over-buying -- I know I'm stocked up for a month or more now with meat in my bottom-of-fridge freezer.

 

[DaveF]

Here's a good story, related

Inside the Flour Company Supplying America’s Sudden Baking Obsession

How King Arthur Flour found itself in the unlikely crosshairs of a pandemic

marker.medium.com

 

[BobO'Link]

That's a very interesting story, Dave. If you bake, read it. Heck... read it anyway. It's interesting to read about how they changed their delivery models to work with the increased demand for flour.

 

[Malcolm R]

Food producers have been reacting to demands and increasing supply. There's probably been some modest conversion of production from commerical (restaurants, schools, etc) to consumer. People are probably stopping hoarding and over-buying -- I know I'm stocked up for a month or more now with meat in my bottom-of-fridge freezer.

Yeah, when I was at the store a couple days ago, it looked just about normal. Meat case was full, TP aisle was full, some hand sanitizer, though still no disinfectant spray or wipes. I would imagine there will now be a glut of many of the things that were in short supply over the past month or so as suppliers boost production to catch up and people who have a year's supply of everything at home stop buying as much.

 

[DaveF]

It's a snickerdoodle day. These are favorites, but I've not made them myself since high school.

 

[BobO'Link]

Snickerdoodles... I can eat the whole batch as they come out of the oven. If my wife leaves them out (usually on a plate to cool) I get one every time I walk past and will find excuses to do the walk by...

 

[Brian L]

Steak Frites...Ribeyes and some airfryer fries. My wife‘s already did its time in the Sous Vide at 147, mine is now in at 129. Finish on the Weber kettle with a Slow n’ Sear.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Steak Frites...Ribeyes and some airfryer fries. My wife‘s already did its time in the Sous Vide at 147, mine is now in at 129. Finish on the Weber kettle with a Slow n’ Sear.

So when you have two different temps to cook the steaks to, you do them separately? You do a slow sear on the kettle? Doesn’t that cook the steaks too much?

 

[DaveF]

He can leave his wife’s in the Sous vide during his steaks lower temperatures cook, it won’t overcook it being in a lower temp bath than it’s cook temp.

 

[Brian L]

So when you have two different temps to cook the steaks to, you do them separately? You do a slow sear on the kettle? Doesn’t that cook the steaks too much?

The Slow n’ Sear is just a fuel basket that goes on one side of the kettle.

Slow ‘N Sear®

Maximize the Possibilities of your Kettle Grill with the Original Slow 'N Sear®! Turn a “basic” kettle grill into the most versatile outdoor cooking machine on the market – indirect slow cooking, high heat searing, roasting, baking…you can have it all with the Original Slow ‘N Sear®! “The...

snsgrills.com

There are techniques to use it for “low and slow” cooks, but I just use it to more easily stack the fuel on one side to do the sear. It also makes it easy for two zone fires and reverse sear cooks. Sous Vide is really a type of reverse sear, which I find it much easier with thick cuts to get the level of doneness just right.

 

[Johnny Angell]

He can leave his wife’s in the Sous vide during his steaks lower temperatures cook, it won’t overcook it being in a lower temp bath than it’s cook temp.

If the wife’s steak went two hours and then the hubby’s steak is two hours at a lower temp, that’s 4 hours for the wife’s steak. It still won’t over cook?

 

[Brian L]

If the wife’s steak went two hours and then the hubby’s steak is two hours at a lower temp, that’s 4 hours for the wife’s steak. It still won’t over cook?

No because the temp is lowered when I drop mine in. And for steak, one hour per is usually enough, unless it is 2” thick.

It is PFM, and it was a game changer when I learned the trick.

 

[Johnny Angell]

No because the temp is lowered when I drop mine in. And for steak, one hour per is usually enough, unless it is 2” thick.

It is PFM, and it was a game changer when I learned the trick.

Wow, I’ve read that 2 hours is required to pasteurize the steak, make it safe to eat. PFM? I googled that and didn’t find anything that would apply.

I’d like to find an all purpose cooking chart for my sous vide but haven’t found one yet.

 

[DaveF]

Last night I did Sous vide pork chops from frozen. I finished them with a fry in a cast iron skillet on the grill. They were good but not great. The final seat didn’t go as well as I expected. I think I might have:

1. Gotten some water in the bag by accident
2. Had the skillet too hot causing the chops to cup and not sear well

i also tried cream biscuits from America’s Test Kitchen. Unfortunately there was a video glitch right on top of the ingredients so I had to guess at the exact amounts of sugar and baking soda. They did not cook as expected, didn’t brown up on top and took much longer than the recipe. They’re weren’t bad, but not as great as I’d hoped.

And canned green beans. Those came exactly as expected.