Modern Vespa

I tried this and it wasn't a disaster. The meat looked like a corpse. Do you sear the meat after it's all cooked?

Jumping back to the mayo on grilled cheese comment: It's just the oil that's doing the trick so vegan mayo wouldn't make a big diff - if you really want flavor I would also suggest using toum. It's basically mayo but with garlic in the place of egg. It's amazing in general. Some grocery stores sell it under the brand name of "Toom" but Trader Joe's also has their own that's just labeled like "garlic spread" or something. Fantastic stuff.

Also on mayo for grilling (or any sort of binder - I've been using the classic of butter): BLACKENING. Brush it down, dust generously, grill. So little effort and it comes out remarkably better than just regular grilling (especially with those big budget god-knows-what's-in-them trays of chicken breast). Seeing the comments about grilling makes me want to try blackening with mayo. It's been so cold here that the melted butter is solidifying too fast to brush it well.

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You absolutely have to sear the meat after it's cooked.

Say you're preparing a steak. After a few hours sous vide at 132 degrees Fahrenheit it will look unappetizingly gray on the outside, but it will be a perfect medium rare all the way through on the inside.

Let it rest for a few minutes while you preheat your cast iron skillet. Then, with a little butter, mayonnaise, or oil brushed lightly on the meat, sear both sides to the darkness you prefer.

Parfait!

Thanks for the tip. I myself love a medium rare steak. We'll keep on trying

Matching the first post:

Provencal chicken

Prep time: 15min
Total time: 35min
Difficulty: easy

Ingredients:
- 3 large chicken breasts
- 2-3 onions
- 2-3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped or pressed
- butter /oil
- 1 large can of peeled, chunky or strained tomatoes (500ml / 17 oz)
- 1 cup of (whipping) cream (250ml / 8.5 oz)
- 1 cup of crème fraiche (250ml / 8.5 oz)
- dry vermouth (Martini Bianco)
- 1 pinch of cayenne pepper
- 3-4 teaspoons paprika powder, noble sweet
- Herbs of Provance (fresh / freeze-dried, compose your own or spice mix (oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, tarragon, etc.), you can also use an Italian spice mix
- salt & pepper
- sugar (half to max. full teaspoon)

Side dish: baguette or rice

Preparation:
Cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces. Cut onions into quarters or sixths.

Heat butter /oil in a high saucepan and sear briefly and sharply chicken pieces and onions in it, deglaze with vermouth. Then reduce the heat and add the tomatoes and garlic. Season everything with salt/pepper, cayenne bell pepper and paprika and spices (no sugar yet!).

Cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes. Then stir in cream and crème fraiche and allow short time to reduce a little bit. Before serving, season again with salt, pepper and a little sugar (if necessary, add a dash of vermouth). Serve with baguette or rice.

What is creme fraiche?

Do I have to go to Paris to get it?

I'm pretty sure I've seen creme fraiche in the refrigerated section of a Walmart or Publix…

https://www.allrecipes.com/article/creme-fraiche-substitute/

https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-creme-fraiche-995632

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cr%C3%A8me_fra%C3%AEche

I bet that's the key ingredient in your recipe. Saving it for later. It makes my mouth water right now.

You can often substitute some of the Mexican style cremas. They tend to be a little salty though.

Not really... It's the combo of meat, tomato, garlic, vermouth and spices. Have fun cooking, don't forget to have a martini with your cooking and/or eating. Feel free to let us know if you enjoyed it.

You can substitute sour cream just stir it in after you have thickened.

Something you can make yourself, if your local stores don't carry it. https://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2011/03/homemade-creme-fraiche-nobodys-ever.html

There are substitutes, but they are not quite the same.

I like the long cook at low temperature. That keeps more of the juice in the meat. What I've done to get a sear is use a flat cast iron grill with ridges, like the one in the photo, and stick it in the oven. Then preheat the oven to as hot as it can possibly get for about half an hour, turn on the overhead broiler for another five or ten, stick the steak on the grill and leave it there for about a minute. You get "grill marks" on one side of the steak, and both sides get a quick sear without affecting the internal doneness of the meat.

What a huge expenditure of energy! I hope you have solar...

It's a modified version of what I did before sous vide. I was inspired by the cooking technique at Ruths Chris Steak House, where they have a broiler that gets to an insanely high temperature. Pre sous vide, I salted both sides of the steak, then let it come to room temperature, while getting the oven as hot as possible. In that case, I did turn the steak, but for that to be successful, it had to be turned onto a portion of the griddle surface that hadn't been used. In other words, you wouldn't just turn it over in place. You want the same high heat effect on both sides. The broiler does have some effect, but the principal cooking, and the sear that is so crucial to good steak cookery, was done by the extremely hot cast iron plate.
After 12 years as a vegan, when I went back to eating meat, I tended to get a little carried away.

If you have a really tender cut of beef, you can cook it this way.

The night before, salt it with kosher salt and put it in the fridge loosely covered. The meat initially "sweats" as the salt draws out the juice by making the muscle fibers contract. After a few hours, though, the fibers loosen up and draw the juices back into the meat along with the dissolved salt.

Heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Heat cast iron skillet almost smoking hot.

Brush meat with a little oil, butter, or mayonnaise. Put meat in skillet for four minutes.

Turn meat over and put the skillet in the oven for four minutes.

Plate and let it set for a couple of minutes.

Enjoy!

I like the version of grilling with top heat and extreme temperatures (up to 800 degrees Celsius / 1500 degrees Fahrenheit). Inventor of this type is the German company Beefer (https://us.beefer.com), however, there are now alternatives (larger, much cheaper, etc.).

This form of grilling works both forward and backward. So either grill and then let draw in the oven or vaccumed and prepared sous vide and then for seconds on uh... under the grill.

I have a NoName top heat grill that was once on sale at a discount store (Aldi, they are in the US too). The top heat grill cost only 120 €, is wider from the grill surface (so perfect for pizza), but is not quite as hot. For me it is enough...

Something else that comes to mind is "nata". In Brazil they use it a lot pretty much like it's been described here. We used to get our milk delivered every other day unpasteurized so we boiled the milk and skimmed the top layer after it cools off and there you have what we call "nata". Funny enough it is translated into English as the creme de la crème.

Edited for misspelling

This all sounds terribly tech-heavy to me.
In South Africa, we don't BBQ... we braai ! (Pronounced "bry")

You make a fire, let it quieten down to coals while you drink beer.
When you can hold your hand over the grill for 4 seconds without burning it,
pop the meat on.

Singe on one side for a minute.
Turn over and do the other side until blood starts showing.
Turn it over and repeat for the other side.
Whip it off the grill and into a serving dish to rest while the ladies finish making the salad.
Serve

Oh you're so sophisticated:. Braai it is then

FTFY

Remove the core from garlic cloves before you add them to a dish. The core is responsible for the bitterness and unpleasant taste that can overwhelm a dish when you use garlic. Slice a clove of garlic in half with a paring knife and then pop the core from each half.

Does anyone have a trick for Spaghetti Assassina? I can't get it to crisp and burn without sticking to the pan.

That's my way:

Mix 400ml (13.5oz) lukewarm water, 2-4 tablespoons tomato paste, 1 teaspoon sugar and salt.

Sauté 3 garlic cloves (chop or press) and 1 chili pepper (chop very finely) or ready-made chili paste in a large enough coated pan with plenty of oil over high heat. Deglaze with 100-150ml (3.3-5oz) of strained tomatoes (NOT the prepared tomato paste/water mix!) Add raw spaghetti, moving it back and forth in the pan regularly. When the liquid has boiled away, add a small ladle of the previously prepared tomato paste-water mix and move/turn spaghetti. Repeat this until desired consistency of pasta is reached. Allow some time to pass between the boiling of the liquid and the next addition of liquid, so that the spahetti can crisp up a bit, while not forgetting to move or turn the spaghetti regularly. How much of the tomato paste/water mix you use depends on the consistency you want, or whether you prefer the spaghetti dry or with a bit of sauce.

The consistency will not be "al dente" but more like the crispy edge of a lasagna.

Add Italian herbs to taste or garnish with fresh basil before serving.

How to win: coated pan (as big as you have), take your time, move/turn noodles regularly, add only limited liquid each, take your time…

Is there anything you do different?

I've never made Spaghetti Assassina (so this is just a guess) but this seems like a recipe that would work well in a well-seasoned carbon steel pan. And yes, the tomato sauce will affect the pan's seasoning. It's the price you pay for deliciousness.

Alternately, maybe a good ceramic (NOT teflon) nonstick?

I haven't used sugar, and have been making a "broth" with pasta sauce and water, and sweating some tomato paste on the bottom of the pan with the garlic and chile pepper before adding the spaghetti. I don't think I've been letting the spaghetti caramelize enough before adding the broth, and I think I might have been taking a little too much time with the cooking process, and it looks like I've worried too much about letting the liquid cook off before adding more.
Also, I don't use non stick pans. I thought one of my issues might be not using enough oil. I've been using about 60 ml, and saw a recipe that doubled that, which is where I was going next. I don't use sugar to caramelize in most of my cooking, but I can see that it would not only help with that, but also might bring out more of the tomato flavor. I am going to try your version next.

I have a couple of carbon steel pans, but don't have a skillet large enough to put in the uncooked spaghetti without breaking it. And I have warned not to purchase additional cookware. That said, Mauviel has one that would be perfect for this. I just need to figure out how to smuggle it into the house.

I can relate.

ah, you need to borrow a page from the vintage scooterist handbook with the: hiding it in plain sight/oh that? I've had that thing forever! move.

or just say it was a gift. I'll corroborate your alibi.

So I had been wanting an enameled cast iron braiser. Not sure how Mrs. mpfrank would take to my buying yet another heavy cooking implement (my love for jackets had already become an item of minor discord), I stored it in the back of a cabinet where she would never see it.

When I finally got around to using it (to make slow-cooked chicken cacciatore) she asked about it.

Mrs. mpfrank: I didn't know we had that.

Me: Oh, yeah, we've had that for a long time. (Note the "we".)

Mrs. mpfrank: Oh, OK.

Off-topic, but you know, if you haven't already, with your professional expertise and years of practical experience, you really should write a book on relationship tips...oh, wait, start an MV thread!

Thanks FM, but I would never advise someone to buy something, hide it from their spouse, and then lie about it.

Even though I did it myself.

Just gonna put this here. (Tip is at the end) ooh la la.
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Hmmm, I didn't catch the lie.
I mean, other than the one in your heart I guess.
But seriously, "we have had it for a long time" is quite imprecise. If you're hungry, an hour is a long time. And it had been in your home, so "we" applies.

Excuse me, though. I need to go cook dinner.

Tortilla Espanola a la Chef Mike

A Tortilla Espanola is one of my favorite quick and easy dishes. The combination of egg, potato, olive oil and onion works for breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack. One of the reasons people who know how to make them, don't make one whenever the mood strikes, is that you strain away a lot of olive oil. And you want to use a very flavorful olive oil, which usually means expensive olive oil. Unless you plan on making them over and over again, that's a lot of expensive waste.

Enter Chef Mike.

Instead of using half a bottle of olive oil to cover and sauté the potatoes for twenty to thirty minutes, place your cut, salted potatoes into a bowl and coat them liberally with that same olive oil. Make sure you separate them, so the oil covers all of them completely. Then into the microwave oven for five minutes. Stir them up, and back in for another three to five minutes, until they are soft, but still hold their shape. You still have to caramelize the onion separately, but you won't have half a bottle of used olive oil to deal with later.

I am a fan of Tortilla Española!

Thanks for the tip!

Bon Appetit!

That's 20 servings?
More like two.

Pansexual. Someone who loves to cook.