Brendan

2,237 reputation

215

bio	website	brendanelee.com
	location	Virginia
	age	28
visits	member for	5 months
	seen	May 14 at 2:22
stats	profile views	64

Amateur chef, interested in food-science and modernist cooking.

	2,237 reputation	bio	website	brendanelee.com	visits	member for	5 months
215 badges		location	Virginia		seen	May 14 at 2:22

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Feb 16	comment	Is there any way to sous-vide without a machine This is not sous vide cooking per se though, it's just controlled poaching. This isn't going to give you a feel for SV cooking because it isn't giving you any of the true benefits of the process, namely precise cooking to a specific temp and control of texture by cooking at that temp for a significant amount of time.
Feb 16	comment	How to cook a fish to make its bone as soft as those in sardines? and why are you swallowing so many bones? buy boneless fish fillets
Feb 16	comment	How do I season an iron griddle on an induction hob? that's interesting, i've never heard of this uneven heating before on induction cooktops. I wonder if a diffuser plate would make this more viable.
Feb 14	answered	Can I do anything to make my gas oven better?
Feb 14	comment	Why did my roast beef turn out chewy and not tender? Where did I go wrong? how you cut it will make a huge difference in the mouth. Half inch pieces seem to be very large for my tastes, this would be ok for something very tender like a tenderloin cut or prime rib but this wasn't in that category.
Feb 14	comment	Sous vide over cooking toughens meat? The refrigeration firmed it up between the two cooking times though so in this instance maybe more than 10h the second day could have actually helped the situation (i doubt it though).
Feb 13	comment	How to clean utensils used to cook raw ground beef that have been left in the sink overnight? How is this any different than washing dishes any other day of the week? This question baffles my mind.
Feb 12	awarded	Caucus
Feb 11	comment	Mixer that last longer than 2 years? That's terrible. I've had mine for 6 years and it's still going strong. How often do you use it and what kind of wear and tear do you expect to put into a future machine?
Feb 11	comment	Substitute for ground crayfish? Are you looking for the shellfish flavor or something more funky like you'd find in dried seafood? If the latter is your choice I'd suggest something like Thai fish sauce or even taking shrimp shells and roasting them in the oven and grinding them in a coffee grinder into a powder.
Feb 11	comment	Alternative to Food Grade Silicone if your worried about rust, store the parts in a big bag of rice and it will soak up all the available moisture. I do this with my grinding blade and stand mixer parts.
Feb 11	comment	Help buying a copper pan Are you buying copper because you believe it's a better conductor of heat transfer or because you like the looks? Copper may be overall a better conductor of heat but the size of the pan compared to the source of heat is much more important than your pan materials. There is a lot of info about this in the modernist cuisine books.
Feb 10	comment	What can be used as a wrapper with minimum taste? this is a pretty famous recipe using this technique saveur.com/article/Recipes/…
Feb 9	comment	Vanilla Extract Vodka Quality the basic premise is to get a very neutral flavored alcohol to infuse the vanilla flavor. More expensive vodkas may be more rounded in their taste and are likely better filtered but IMO it won't be worth the money difference. You should be concentrating on getting the best vanilla beans possible that will make more of a difference.
Feb 9	comment	What can be used as a wrapper with minimum taste? Did you blanch the potatoes before wrapping it? it will make them more pliable and less likely to break apart.
Feb 7	comment	How much to reduce salt when using salted butter in place of unsalted butter I always go the opposite. I keep unsalted all the time and never by unsalted. You can always add salt but it's very difficult to take away.
Feb 7	comment	Lining a frying pan with aluminum foil to reduce post-cooking cleanup? If your having to clean up a significant sticky mess I think you are probably not stir frying at a high enough temperature or using the correct pan for the job.
Feb 7	comment	Lining a frying pan with aluminum foil to reduce post-cooking cleanup? I agree. You are more likely to end up with bits of aluminum foil that you'll have to dig out of your dish
Feb 7	comment	Why does tomato sauce spatter more than other sauces? I mean goopy as in tomato sauce tends to bubble in many small spots where the tomatoes almost congeal like little volcanos where the overall viscosity of a cheese sauce tends to bubble slower but in bigger bubbles because it acts more elastic.
Feb 7	comment	Tough roast.. what's going wrong? One way to combat the chewiness would be to slice very thinly against the grain. The long strands in the protein will be very chewy if you don't cut across the grain and still be chewy unless it's really thin. Thin lunch meat, that would really be chewy if it wasn't shaved so thin.