Sous Vide Short Rib "Pot Roast"

 1 October 2021

Recipe from Sous Vide for Everybody, America's Test Kitchen, 2018, p. 74; also available online.

I've been doing sous vide cooking since the start of the year, though it is a method I've known about and been interested in using for some time. Food is sealed in a plastic bag then cooked in a constant temperature water bath. It provides even cooking of the food with little to no risk of overcooking and, as a bonus, leads to easy clean up. I recently got a sous vide cook book and this recipe is one that stood out to me. This recipe is the only one I have made where the meat is cooked in a sauce.

Beef short ribs were seasoned with salt and pepper, browned in a Dutch oven, then set aside. Onion, celery, carrot, salt, and pepper were added to the fat in the Dutch oven and cooked until softened. Tomato paste and garlic were added and cooked until fragrant. Red wine was added, the pot was deglazed, and the mixture cooked until reduced in volume. Beef broth was added, simmered for a few minutes, then processed until smooth in a blender. The ribs and broth were divided between two zipper bags, bay and thyme were added, and the food was cooked at 160° for 22½ hours. (This is much longer than most food cooked sous vide.) It was removed from the water bath, chilled in an ice bath, and refrigerated. Preparation took about an hour. For serving, the ribs were reheated, sous vide, at 160° for about 30 minutes. The ribs were removed and the cooking liquid was strained and cooked on the stove until reduced to about 2 cups.

This "pot roast" was very good and though a long time was spent cooking the meat it was done with no effort on my part once everything was prepared and set up. The meat was a little tough but that was a minor complaint. The sauce/gravy was excellent. I would make this again but I'd probably make half as much.

French Potato Pie

 25 September 2021

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, March 2021

I was intrigued by this recipe when I found it in the CI magazine. We like potatoes and we like pie so why wouldn't a pie with an all-butter crust and a filling made with potatoes in a cream sauce be good? It's sort of a scalloped potato pie. There was one good way to find out if this is a dish to make regularly, or not, and that's to make one and eat it.

Salt and flour, combined in a food processor, were processed with cubed butter forming a smooth paste. Flour was added and the mixture pulsed forming small pieces of dough. This was transferred into a bowl and tossed with frozen grated butter. Ice water was sprinkled over the mixture and tossed to combine. The dough was divided into two equal portions, shaped into disks, wrapped in plastic, and chilled in the refrigerator. This process took 40 minutes.

Several hours before serving, the filling was prepared. Thinly sliced onion was salted and set aside. Sliced potatoes and baking soda were added to boiling water, cooked for 1 minute, drained, and returned to the Dutch oven. Cream, garlic, pepper, nutmeg, and the salted onion were combined and and simmered until the cream thickened. While the filling cooled, the pie dough was rolled out; one half was placed in a pie pan and the other on a backing sheet. These were placed in the refrigerator to chill. Chopped parsley was added to the potato mixture and spread in the pie plate. The top crust was added, the edges were trimmed and crimped with a fork. A round hole was cut from the center of the top crust which was then brushed with an egg wash. The pie was baked at 450° for about 20' then at 325° until the potatoes were tender. Total time to prepare was 7 hours, but much of this was hands off and the time could be shortened if needed.

We enjoyed eating this pie. My favorite part was the crust which was crispy, flaky, and buttery. Diane preferred the filling of tender creamy potatoes. We had the pie mostly has a warm side dish with ham where it was still good but the crust was no longer crisp. While this pie was very good it did seem like a lot of work for something we served primarily as a side dish.