What to do on the weekend? When you’ve done everything else it’s time for urban exploring. On Saturday we decided to explore the ruins of the Kings Park Psychiatric Center in Smithtown. You’d think this could be trespassing but signs to keep people out may have been vandalised along with the buildings. We enter where many have gone before …
Perfect steaks and juicy ribs are my favourite outcomes dabbling in sous vide. Shrimp, fish, chicken, turkey and eggs are not much improved by my palette when cooked this way. So what to try next? Yoghurt!
I’m lactose intolerant so a well cultured yoghurt will digest most of the lactose and leave me with something I can pour on All Bran or a fruit salad for breakfast.
Using the same starter, organic milk, culturing temperature and times yields surprisingly different results. From a pouring yoghurt to a thick cream cheese. If I can figure out the variables that may swing the batch one way or the other I’ll update my recipe. For now I deal with the end result as it presents itself. If the curds have jelled and started to separate from the whey I strain it, if not I stir it up. Read More »
Close family friends lost children in last year’s Fourth of July boating tragedy off Long Island’s North shore. Hailey Treanor, her grandma, aunt and cousins — many of whom were on the boat that capsized — are petitioning the Long Island Coast Guard to equip themselves for underwater rescues.
Although the Coast Guard were on the scene within minutes they were unable to dive into the water to rescue David and Harlie trapped in the cabin. They may have survived if the Coast Guard were equipped with scuba gear and trained divers. It’s a worthy cause that might save lives in the future. Watch the video …
Please sign Hailey’s petition here.
Should the biggest banks that nearly destroyed our economy pay less interest on loans from the Federal Government than our students who are the future around whom our recovery will pivot? Elizabeth Warren says “No”, let’s support her …
Sign the petition here
A quickie mini-maker project: Launch a bottle rocket from a modified candle lighter … Read More »
What if there is no matching physical evidence, no weapon, no connection, no motive, no DNA and the two original eyewitness testimonies, on which the conviction hinged, were recanted — claiming they were made under police and prosecutorial duress?
Should Ryan Ferguson get a new trial?
This started out as a 48 hour experiment but I wasn’t hungry last night, even though this is a pretty small rack of ribs. So I left them in the hot water bath for another 18 hours until lunch today! This speaks to a benefit of sous vide: With most foods, when you’re cooking up near the safety of 60˚C, you have a wide window in which to finish off and serve up a meal — still cooked to perfection.
Cooking en sous vide requires a hot water bath with precisely controlled temperatures and a method of vacuum sealing food in bags. Accurate timing isn’t required but a digital thermometer is a good idea to ensure food safety and doneness.
My own bath is a piece of old lab equipment which I refurbished using an STC-1000 temperature controller. It’s not typically where you would start out experimenting but the volume of water it holds and the circulating pump is ideal for cooking larger family meals.
The key piece of hardware I used is an STC-1000 temperature controller which is typically used in tropical aquariums, beer brewing and now also sous vide.
Assembled and under test: What lay flat and precariously wired up on my workbench has been neatly bundled up. A piece of lab equipment brought back to life, it’s original temperature controller replaced with an inexpensive STC-1000 controller typically used as a thermostat in tropical aquariums, beer brewing — and, most recently, in sous vide.
I’ve long thought of this country as my own, so it’s finally very rewarding to have completed the process!
Flank steak is a tough cut, sold locally by the name London Broil. It’s tenderised, marinated and broiled and then cut into thin slices across the grain — all in an effort to deal with a sinewy slab of meat.
Juicy and tasty! Read More »
My iPad iOs and my iTunes software are up to date and I kept getting the error The ipad “iPadName” could not be synced because the sync session failed to start in iTunes whenever my iPad was tethered to my Mac. Read More »
Nearly ideal: Aiming for a medium rare steak, evenly pink between the surface crusts. This steak was cooked in a hot water bath ala sous vide: The intention is to cook the item evenly, not to overcook the outside, keeping the inside at at an even doneness … resulting in a steak that tender and juicy. Read More »
