How do you make pork rinds?

Question

The little bit I currently know is that they're fried pig skins. However, beyond that it's just a bunch of hand-waving on my part.

• Do you buy pig skin from a butcher?
• Is there a special type you need?
• How do you judge pig skin quality?
• I'm assuming they're deep fried, does the oil matter?
• Are they a difficult thing to make in your home?

Answer

Funnily enough I made some of these just a week ago. They're not at all difficult to make and you can use any rind, which your butcher should be able to supply.

Depending on your health considerations, you can oven cook them or you can part oven cook part fry.

Oven cook method:

• Cut the rinds into 4 by 4cm pieces
• Place in a pan of boiling water for 10 minutes
• allow to cool, then place in the fridge until the skins feel 'dry' approx 2 hours
• Preheat the oven to 220c(425f) and place the rinds on a baking sheet. Season and place in the oven
• Turn the oven down to 180c(350f) and cook for about an hour. You will need to drain the fat a couple of times.
• Let them cool and add more seasoning, if needed.

The Oven/Fry method

• Cut the rinds into pieces that will fit on a rack over a baking tray (not small pieces)
• Half fill a baking tray with water and place the seasoned rinds on a rack over they tray
• Roast these in the oven at 220 to 230c(350 to 450f) for 10 to 15 minutes. When they've changed colour and start to bubble they're done.
• Remove form the oven and cut into 4 by 4cm strips
• In a pan half filled with very hot veggie oil or a deep fat fryer, cook in batches until they 'puff' up around 2 to 3 minutes.
• Remove and let the oil be taken-up by paper towel. Season and you're good to go.

I tried both methods and I preferred the second, something about frying them just 'felt' right :)

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Flank postmortem (how I was outflanked)

Question

Picture yourself a flank veal-cut. The grease and silver tissue are off. I open the flank with a knife to extend it. It's filled with ground meat, apple and raisins. It's rolled and bound and goes into the oven at 50ºC to get the enzymes working full speed. It stays at 50ºC with high humidity for an hour.

Then, the dial goes to 180ºC until the center of the flank reaches 65ºC.

Result: the outside is overdone and tough to eat.

I'm guessing I could get better results taking the meat to 65ªC slowly, then let it cool before giving it a blast of heat to get a crust on the outside.

Normally, this kind of meat is seared first, and then stays in liquid on a slow fire for some time (braising). I wanted to obtain the same or better result the other way around.

Does anybody have any additional idea? Should I stick with braising, if so, for how long?

Answer

"The other way round" certainly works. Only not with a blast of hot air.

You can happily get the meat cooked to your 65°C first, then take care of the crust. But convection heat isn't enough to give you a crust. You need either conduction, or radiation.

For conduction, you need contact with a hot material which gives off lots of heat at once, commonly known as "searing". I know that searing after the roasting is unusual in the kitchen, but this is only one of those things which is done because it has always been done this way, or maybe because great men like Leibnitz posed the untested hypothesis that searing "seals the juices in", and the world hasn't caught on that it has been disproved. Disregard, and plop the cooked meat on a hot griddle brushed with a thin layer of oil. BTW, the food lab swears on exactly that technique.

A more common approach is to use radiation heat, and lots of it. This is why most ovens have a thing called grill/broiler. Put the roasted meat close to it, use it until there is a crust, turn it to another side, continue. Here, you have to pay a bit more attention. The heat is enough to warm the inside too, so stop the first cooking stage at less than 60°C. I can't tell you how much less, but would probably try it with 60°C the first time. If you brush the meat with some fat first (really thin, use a pastry brush), you will get a crispier crust. You can also look into "advanced" techniques like putting something on the meat, usually dusting it with flour, but sometimes batter is also used.

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Would ground “popcorn meal” differ from regular corn meal?

Question

Purely a theoretical question I'm afraid - I haven't experimented (yet). If you take popped popcorn and grind it to a flour, would the result be similar to cornmeal? One difference, I imagine, is that it is in principle ready to eat, as opposed to regular cornmeal which still needs to be cooked to denature the proteins.

Are there things you could achieve with this "popcorn meal" that don't work with regular cornmeal? For example, what would you get if you used this for making polenta? Could you make a "raw polenta" that doesn't require much cooking?

Answer

Interesting question. so I pulled out a hot air popper (you wouldn't want to use a oil popper to try this.) and put some popped dry corn into a food process and let-her-rip. I wouldn't call the results "masa" but it might be usable for an ingredient in a breading.

I call your attention to the book "POPCORN". It has a nice collection of recipes which include popcorn, and in no case does the author suggest reducing popcorn to corn meal, so I suspect the answer is, "Yes, ground popcorn meal would differ from ground corn."

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Flavor notes or profile of truffles?

Question

What do truffles (the fungi) taste like?

I'm just curious. I saw it on television the other day.

I just know that they're expensive and i know i probably won't buy any anytime soon. I don't know much about them either.

Answer

Uncooked? I was shocked at how unimpressive the flavor of raw shaved truffle was. It was kind of earthy, not particularly strong in flavor; in this case the truffle was probably not fresh enough. When heated and allowed to release their full flavor and aroma into food though, they are phenomenal. There's a rich, luscious taste and smell, with an almost petrol pungency to it. The latter is primarily from the 2,4-dithiapentane, which truffle oil replicates, although it has a harsher and less complex flavor. Truffle oil will give you this top note, but without any of the additional layered complexity.

All this said, different people have different reactions, and freshness matters greatly for raw truffles. If you really want to try truffle, canned or jarred truffle can be had in small quantities for under $20. The flavor is quite distinctive, unique, and pairs well with cream, milk, cheese, and butter.

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What are some ways to prepare beet greens?

Question

Back in my home country beets are only sold as the roots; in the US they're always sold with the leaves attached to them. I know how to use the roots, but what are some interesting uses for the leaves? Are they edible at all?

Answer

The leaves are often referred to as "beet greens", which might return some more search results. I usually see them treated similar to spinach or swiss chard; that is, either served raw in a salad, or blanched and/or sauteed, perhaps with some garlic and olive oil.

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Can I turn my marinara sauce recipe into “pizza sauce”?

Question

We're making pizza for dinner tonight, and instead of buying sauce, I'd prefer to make my own. I've never made sauce specifically for pizza before, but I often make marinara/bolognese sauces for pasta.

The base of my sauces (without any extra veggies or meat for the bolognese) is a can of tomatoes, some tomato paste, white wine, onion, garlic, chili pepper, and herbs. If I made my normal sauce and then just puréed it, would it work for my pizza? I am concerned it might not be thick enough - any suggestions?

Answer

You will need to be careful about extra liquid in your sauce. Your base recipe should be adaptable. Go ahead and use the garlic and onion, but I would omit the white wine. If you are using canned whole tomatoes, drain liquid before using them. Simmer it to reduce it down until it is "spreadable" rather than "pour-able".

We make a lot of home-made pizza sauce with canned whole San Marzano tomatoes, drained and puree'd in blender. Salt, pepper, garlic and a few spices. My husband loves bright red color in the sauce so a bit of citric acid does the trick.

Enjoy your pizza.

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Cooking steak on the grill

Question

First and foremost, I am a member of a few other Stack Exchange sites, and I haven't been this excited about one for a while. I'm basically a nerd that's trying to get into cooking, and I couldn't be more happy they made this :)

Onto the question,

Growing up, I've always grilled on gas grills. Recently, I've moved into an apartment with my girlfriend and we are only allowed to have a charcoal grill. It's a tiny one (I think), probably about 1.5 - 2 feet in diameter. I use the charcoal that are already covered in flammable material (the black ones), and they work pretty well. I basically follow the directions every single time I go to light the grill. I put about 30-40 bricks in the middle of the grill in a pyramid shape, light them in several places, and then watch it burn. I do this until the flame pretty much dies down and the bricks are about 80-85% covered in grey ash. After that, I put the cage back on the grill, let it heat up so I can clean it off with the brush, and then shake the bricks until they are even across the bottom.

Right after this I put the steak on (right in the middle where there's the most heat from all the bricks burning in the pyramid towards the top before I spread them out). Now at this point, I NEVER have any idea how long it should stay there, when I should flip it, if I should flip it more than once, what I should look for before I flip it, how fast it's cooking - I basically don't know anything. I'm a guy, I hate how I can't grill great! :(

I usually end up either over cooking it so it's tough, or under cooking it and it's still bleeding in the middle. I like my steaks right around medium, and I can never seem to get them perfect. I had a perfect one once, and it was 100% luck. I don't have a thermometer or anything to test the meat with (maybe I need to invest in one?), nor do I have anything that I can test how hot the grill is inside. The grill has a basic black cover with a little vent so I can control the air getting inside, but no thermometer or anything.

Can I get some tips? I'm cooking a steak on the grill for my girlfriend tonight that has been marinating for over 24 hours, and I don't want to mess it up!

P.S. And I almost forgot! The steak I am cooking tonight is a London Broil.

Thanks!

Answer

Here's a couple of hints:

1. Learn to judge doneness by feel. See this answer for a good guide to temp by feel.

2. Learn to judge grill temp by hand. Hold your hand palm down about 3-4 inches above the grill. If you can hold it there for a second or two, it's hot; 3-4 seconds is medium; 5-6 seconds is low.

3. Sear first. Start with a very hot grill. You want about two minutes per side. Do not move the steak while it is searing. Make sure you've given the grill grate at least 5 mins to heat up.

4. Use a two level fire. Once you've seared your steak, you want to finish cooking over a lower heat. Build a two level fire by putting the coals on one side of the grill rather than the whole thing. Then sear over the coals. Then move it to the other side to finish. If the grill isn't wide enough for a two level fire, you could try quenching the fire by cutting off air flow. That will cool it quickly.

5. Finish with the lid on. This helps cook by heating the air rather than just using direct heat.

6. Change your fuel. Stop using lighter fluid. Use a chimney instead. Hard lump charcoal is better than briquettes. It's easier to light, creates less left over, and burns hotter.

7. Rest your meat for a few minutes before eating. Be aware that it will continue to cook during this time, so you want to pull it off a little early.

8. Read up on cooking steak. There are a bunch of good questions on this site!

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