gefilte fish sous vide

I get emails from SousVide Supreme about an israeli chef who said his gefilte fish was better than his grandmothers.  Well I am always up for a challenge, so I checked out his recipe, and although in theory his was gefilte fish it wasnt the gefilte fish I had growing up. 

My mothers was white fish and pike ground up with carrots celery and onions, not fillets as was inthe recipe from sous vide supreme.  So I set out to test making gefilte fish sous vide.  For the passover seder at my in-laws, we presented two kinds, one baked in the oven (my MIL) and mine cooked sous vide.  Both were made using the exact same recipe though so taste was the same.

My recipe for (real) gefilte fish sous vide is
White fish and Pike mixture (can be bought at any fish store)
onion
Carrot
salt and pepper
sugar
matzo meal
eggs

blend all together and cook in your sous vide machine at 140 for approx 1.5 hours.  Let it cool over night in the fridge before using.

mesquite smoked salmon sous vide

Please forgive me for the long time in between posts, as I have been preparign for passover at work, and not had much time at home.  That being said I did experiment with Gefilte Fish as well as this recipe that I will give you.  Now the Gefilte fish one is coming up. 

This blog I will dedicate to fish.
I recently cooked cop, seabass, and trout sous vide, but I was finding it difficult to get used to the texture of fish cooked sous vide, its almost velvity, which I think is absolutely amazing, but it takes a bit getting used to.

I figured I would try it again but with a tist, combining my two favourite methods fo cooking.  Sous Vide and Smoking.  Thanks to my cousin I now have my own smoker.  So for dinner I made MEsquite smoked salmon sous vide.

Dish:
mesquite smoked salmon sous vide with purple baby potatoes, grilled aspargus, zucchini & carrot slaw and bernaise sauce

I seasoned the salmon with salt pepper garlic and cayenne pepper, placed it in a bag, vacuum sealed it and placed in 140 degree water for 15 minutes.  I took it out placed it on a tray in my smoker at 300 degrees and for 20 minutes.

I chose this way of cooking because the sous vide cooked the fish just perfectly through adn through soft and tender, then the smoke infused more flavour and slightly crusted the outside giving the fish a more mainstreamed texture. 

For the rest of the dish :
potatoes: I roasted purple potatoes lightly seasoning them with sal, pepper and olive oil
Asparagus: Oil s&p balsamic vinegar
Slaw: Julienne zucchini and carrot, chop scallian, lemon juice, s&p, vinegar, olive oil

Pictures to come

cinnamon duck rillete

Duck Rillette...ah what to say about shredded duck confit, mixed with more duck fat, Dijon mustard and pungent black pepper.  This is a dish that is made from confited duck leg or neck, and eaten cold usually as an hor's doeurves or appetizer.

As I posted in an earlier post about duck confit, I decided to try something really different this time.  I do love duck confit, and I really wanted to try something new test a new recipe if you will.  So I decided to make duck confit but instead of marinating it with herbs, salt and pepper, I decided cinnamon and nutmeg was the flavour of the day.

So here is what I did.  I took my duck and as usual I used a lot of salt and pepper, sugar, bay leaf, crushed cinnamon stick and a couple of pinches of nutmeg.   I let the duck sit for 48 hours covered, then washed off the curing mixture.  After drying the duck legs, I put into a bag, with a bay leaf, one cinnamon stick, and a little of duck fat, vacuum sealed it and into the sous vide machine at 125 degrees for 16 hours. Ones cooked I cooled the duck down in the fridge over night and then shredded the meat, mixed it with dijon mustard, duck fat, salt and pepper, and put a large spoonful on a crustini.

The taste is nice and  sharp and goes down great with a nice sweeter wine.

duck terrine

I recently had a craving for duck, and so the natural thing to do is go to the store buy myself and duck butcher it and experiment.  I butchered the bird like I would a chicken, but instead decided to use the the breasts to make a terrine.

Now here is the experimenting part.  I have seen many recipes for various types of terrines, I even enjoyed (probably the best duck terrine in my life) duck terrine at Paul Bocuses restaurant in Colonge Mont D'Or, Lyon France, called Chez Paul Bocuse.  The terrine was a very delicate flavoured one, almost smooth like a farce (forced meat) and so tasty.  I was inspired to try to make up my own recipe, which tasted very good, but I need to tweak the cooking time sous vide.

So here is what I did.  I chopped up the duck breasts in a blender, added my eggs, cream, and then of course seasoned it with salt and pepper and some fresh garlic.  But here is where I veered away from your typical duck terrine.  I added some French Brandy and some Marc de Bourgongne.  Marc is a very strong alcohol so I used very little and its made from the grapes in Burgandy France.

non sous vide

I know its been a while since my last post but here come some great recipes and dishes.

In the upcoming posts I will talk about Duck terrine, yes you can overcook in a sous vide machine, so timing is very important, a different duck confit recipe, and a roulade of asparagus stuffed beef tenderloin  all cooked sous vide of course.

I also cooked a very big dinner in honour of my younger brothers wedding and although I did not cook anything for that meal sous vide, the food was delicious and I have pictures to post ...

so here are the pictures from that dinner.

 Asparagus

 ice water bath for post sous vide food

Sirloin tip, chicken, white asparagus, parisimanne and jerusalem artichokes

Ice cream made sous vide with almond touille

my turned vegetable dinner

 Apple and citrus tart

cooking with modern technology

There is something really great about living in our generation.  We have such advanced technology in the kitchen, from stand mixers, to induction stove tops, to now even convection ovens for the home, or "modern cook" as its so beautifully put in commercials and ads.

But how much do we really appreciate modern technology especially when it comes to cooking and food?

Well, I recently redid my kitchen and yes I bought a new oven and stove, and using the limited space and money I had, I of course could not go with a commercial 6 burner gas stove and oven.  Nor could I get myself a alto shaam, or combi oven (an oven that uses both dry and moist heat to cook), however what I could get I definitely did get.  Why, because now it is easier for the "home cook" to cook at home, like the top chefs do in the restaurants.  Well at least from a technology standpoint.

Companies like Cuisinart, kitchen aid, and of course sous vide supreme, have made it easier to cook at home.  Now in my kitchen I have lots of machines, and each one has its own purpose, just like my knives.  So I bought myself the new samsung convection oven, and to be honest the convection setting is the only setting I use.  Because it cooks all my food evenly, just like my sous vide machine.  The sous vide machine sits on the counter takes up less space than a microwave, uses less electricity then the oven, and the food tastes devine.

Technolgy really is a great thing, and living in an era where we can live healthy, by cooking healthier as well...well I'd take my sous vide supreme over an IPad, or smartphone any day.