Food & Drink

Grumpy Bear · October 15, 2020

Boiled Eggs

I have a younger brother who cooks like a five star chief. Love being invited to his home for a meal. Just looking at his kitchen makes you hungry.

Myself, I struggle boiling water so when I find something that really works I want to go the mountain and shout. This is that......

How many ways can a boiled egg go wrong? Green yokes? Tough rubbery whites? Half or more of the white sticks to the shell membrane? Huge ugly void at the big end of the egg? Makes for some ugly Deviled Eggs, right? Well I could do everyone of these if I boiled but one egg so.....I just didn't boil eggs. Until recently. Covid-19 down time and boredom plus a few dozen eggs and Google........

Cooking I've been told is an exercise in chemistry and after this experience I have no further reason to doubt that. There is a guy on Youtube that is part of a thing called Food Labs. Instead of telling what this guy says you can just read it here: (watch the video)

https://www.seriouseats.com/2014/05/the-secrets-to-peeling-hard-boiled-eggs.html

I use the steaming method and I feel like a Pro when I do a batch. Now if you get lazy and watch only the video your going to miss an important step talked about latter.

Ice water shock is your friend....he doesn't mention that in the video. What I really appreciated was the explanation of the science. My grandmother could do eggs this good!

PS, If you have something that just works please share. I'm starving.

Edited October 15, 2020 by Grumpy Bear

txab · October 15, 2020

I just use one of these for poaching and hard cooking eggs. When the hard cooked eggs are done, I dunk them in a bowl of ice/water. They peel so easily.

Mine holds 8 or 9 eggs, of course it's like 30 or 40 years old too

Grumpy Bear · October 15, 2020

We have a counter top steamer that will steam anything you want but it isn't specific like yours. That thing is cool. That old, bet it works like a dream.

I use this in a 3 quart saucepan with an inch of water. Does 6 at a time. With so little water it takes about 2 minutes to boil. Less if I use the induction plate.

Mine has inch and a half legs so the eggs don't actually sit in water. I have to use the sink for the ice dip though. To deep for my pans.

I'll be you could do this in a double boiler.

Tell you what I like about steam is a white that doesn't chew like a tire sidewall.

Who would think you could be this excited about an egg?

What else you guys have? Bring it!

Grumpy Bear · October 15, 2020

51 minutes ago, txab said:

I just use one of these for poaching and hard cooking eggs. When the hard cooked eggs are done, I dunk them in a bowl of ice/water. They peel so easily.

Mine holds 8 or 9 eggs, of course it's like 30 or 40 years old too

How does that work for poached eggs? Is the basket a mold of some kind?

aseibel · October 15, 2020

following to see what this group comes up with.

I'm not much of a chef. But being from America's Dairyland, I've learned this:

txab · October 16, 2020

8 hours ago, Grumpy Bear said:

How does that work for poached eggs? Is the basket a mold of some kind?

here's the poacher dish, it's a still dirty from this morning, but it gets used 365 days a year. There is a fill line in the cooker base for hard cooking eggs. Of course their is a holder for the eggs to keep them vertical. The lid has a measuring cup built into it to determine amount of water needed to poach to different firmness. It's auto shut-off based on temperature when the water is boiled off. I've seen models that work the same exact way available in the recent past, but didn't see them on Amazon today. I like it because it doesn't tie up a burner on the cook top

Grumpy Bear · October 16, 2020

High Tea

https://www.plymouthtea.co.uk/blogs/news/37927749-the-difference-between-high-tea-low-tea

I expect everyone who likes tea has a favorite and mine in Earl Grey. According to Twinnings Tea UK:

Earl Grey tea is a flavoured tea, made from a blend of Keemun tea with Bergamot oil. Bergamot is a type of orange that mainly grows in Italy and France, and is said to be a hybrid of lemon and bitter orange plants.

And according to Wiki Keemum is:

Keemun is a famous Chinese black tea. First produced in the late 19th century, it quickly became popular in the West and is still used for a number of classic blends

I am not a fan of things that are not what they seem to be. I prefer my leather to be leather instead of pleather and my tea Keenum and Bergamont. I'd rather a sachet to a paper bag. High or Low, this one is all it seems to be. I'm sure there are others. Neighbor introduced us to this label and we can't find it locally so we get it from the Internet.

180 F spring water steeped for 5 minutes.

Grumpy Bear · October 25, 2020

No foodie's? No one has a method a kitchen tool, an ingredient or a recipe to share?

I thought....well....I thought people liked to eat and share.

Grumpy Bear · October 25, 2020

Coffee Cups

There is no shortage of information on coffee. Seems to be an obsession for many. I can not be counted among the many. Yes, I like to grind my own beans from my favorite local roaster. I prefer a French Press to other methods, darker roast and I know the water has as much to do with a great cup' a as the bean. However, I am not the guy that can sip a cup and tell you what region it came from.

A friend I worked with many many years ago showed me something about this drink I would not have otherwise given much consideration. The cup. Marv was a recovering alcoholic some ten years when I met him. He told me once that a really good addict is always an addict, he just trades addictions. His was coffee. Unless he was up to his butt in alligators, Marvin had a cup in his hand and that cup was made of Melamine. US Army mess tent circa 1960's.

Melamine is a thermoplastic made of natural raw materials. Normally plastics ruin coffee and this one will to for the first few dozen cups. See, the trick, Marvin tells me, is to drink only black and NEVER- EVER wash it. Just rinse it out with the same water you make your coffee with. A film of coffee builds that never spoils and never taints the fresh cup.

Maddest I ever sad Marv was when a fellow worker doing the kitchen washed his cup with Ajax believing in her heart she was doing him a favor. :crackup:

My take away was use taste neutral materials. No metal, paper or inorganic plastics. Pyrex, ceramics, porcelain...and stay away for Marvin's cup.

Edited October 25, 2020 by Grumpy Bear

diyer2 · October 25, 2020

I'm a simple guy for the most part. Costco Columbia for years. Cup? Any cup will do. Mostly porcelain. Left over coffee reheated in the micro wave the next morning. Black only.

Grumpy Bear · October 26, 2020

13 hours ago, diyer2 said:

I'm a simple guy for the most part. Costco Columbia for years. Cup? Any cup will do. Mostly porcelain. Left over coffee reheated in the micro wave the next morning. Black only.

You and my dad would get along. He makes a quart thermos in the AM and after the first pot in the kitchen that thermos is his third arm.

Day in and day out I make a cup or two of Tasters Choice Freeze Dried. Microwave spring water and pour over a tea spoon of crystals in a china cup. French press is a Sunday breakfast thing....or company.

Before I retired we had a coffee club at work. Folgers and a percolator for the most part. Drank it by the tank wagon on the night shift. I told myself when I retired I would spend some time 'looking for the perfect taco".

We have a local artisan butcher shop who finds local talents and one of those is a machine shop whose owner is a coffee nut. He invested in the equipment and the schooling and buys raw beans in the Chicago market and roast them. When he perfected his craft the butcher invited him to sell his wares in his shop. We are all happy he did. This shop has over the years grown to include a deli and a bakery, wine' n cheese and some pretty nice produce. Olive bar. His quality has kept him in business for a very long time. None of the big chain grocery stores can match his quality so he stays afloat. Nicely so. So much for you can't sell quality anymore, eh? Store is maybe 2,000 square feet?

KARNUT · October 26, 2020

Coffee, water, steak fall in the same category for me. It’s better at home. I love my coffee, the wife does too. One cabinet for coffee beans. Regular or flavored with a grinder. A good coffee maker that heats the water to at least 180 degrees. After 5 decaf. I laugh at Starbucks. Although I have their beans too. When I can get them on sale. Espresso and the press is in the cabinet too. I’m on my second cup as I type this.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Grumpy Bear · October 30, 2020

Lock down is taking me round the bend I think.

8 minutes turns out to be the perfect steamed egg for me.

2 minute quench in ice water

That was allot of eggs to find perfection

I use to order eggs anytime I found a new place to eat. I figure a place that can't cook an egg.... Well as it turns out you can ruin an egg and do it repeatedly. You can ruin one before you crack the shell! We eat allot of eggs so the wife buys 18 at time in back stock to the 12 in the door. She stores them in the back of the frig. Where is seems those closest to the back wall freeze or nearly so. Cloudy whites when cracked that are overly watery. A really fresh egg can be a bit watery as well but not cloudy. Just a ramble going nowhere of observations.

Egg trivia. A fresh egg in a pan of tap water sits flat on the bottom. An older egg will go big end up. A really old egg may even float. Older eggs steam/boil better.

Grumpy Bear · November 14, 2020

Beans and Hocks

Wife likes simple and crockpots are simple but boy does huge flavor come from one sometimes.

Heirloom beans (mixed). Smoked ham hock. A white onion. A yellow squash. Set on low for 12 hours.

Some crusty bread and a cold beverage.

Pass the greens please

Mom would be proud. An Arkansas woods girls black bears and bobcats feared.

txab · November 14, 2020

Pinto beans and salt pork in the crock pot overnight. Then cornbread cooked in a cast iron skillet in the oven. Can be a meal in itself or have some smoked ham with it.

Edited November 14, 2020 by txab