tekobo

A very impressive selection Tony. I hope they mature nicely through the winter. It's funny that tolerance thing. I find my tastebuds can take more heat over time but my tummy's resistance to attack is a more reliable measure of what I should and should not eat!

No need to import any more tequila Tyrus. We have such a large store of booze at home that I tell my husband that he has either bought enough to last us until we die or to kill us!

I quite like having a bit of chew! Wouldn't go longer on an ordinary steak but looking forward to experimenting with time and temp on a thick forerib chop. I used the following site for guidance: https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/06/food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-steak.html#tempchart1

A great way to fish in KK @Aussie Ora. One to copy for sure! Maybe not the eyeball bit though!!

Thanks for all your kind comments and for suggesting it in the first place @tony b. Yes, @Bruce Pearson, I would do it again. Probably with a thicker steak. I think I got the same texture that I like from a blue steak but was easier to chew.

Thanks Mac. Just checking - are prawns/shrimps on your list of non-preferred seafood? Sounds like lots of fun. One of our friends said our taco evening was a bit surreal for him. There we were, talking about Brexit, listening to mariachi music while eating Nigerian-Mexican food. He left a little less worried about Brexit but I think that was more down to the margaritas than our conversation!

I simply couldn't get my head around why one would sous vide a steak. I like my steak blue and the KK cooks it perfectly well, at high heat, in 3 minutes max. Why mess around with vacuum packing and sitting around in a water bath? Well, I was intrigued by @tony b's suggestion that I try to "confit" a dairy cow steak in its own fat. So I tried it. Marinaded the meat for a few hours in oil, salt and tarragon. Put some cold cow fat into each vacuum bag. Now, how to avoid over cooking the steaks? I went for 45C for 1.25 hrs. Then I chilled them back down in the fridge before introducing them to the KK for just under 2 minutes. The result was messy but sublime.

Fish tacos v shrimp tacos? It's a draw! The Husband brought back a whole stack of corn tortillas from Houston on Saturday morning. Had friends round to try, in quick succession, shrimp and then fish and then beef tacos. No photos at table but KK shots below. I left some suya pepper on the table for people to help themselves to additional. Had to restrain Spanish friend from sprinkling too liberally until he had judged the level of chilli! All good. I marinaded the prawns lime zest, suya pepper and oil for a couple of hours. Real quick cook in KK. Soaked wooden skewers were fine. My fingers were not! Marinaded sea bass steaks in lime juice and Texan friend's chipotle spice mix and oil. I oiled the grill between cooks and found that jiggling the fish a little with tongs before trying to turn meant that I managed to keep the skin on most of them. Added suya pepper at table once flaked. All the usual fixings - salad, chipotle mayonnaise, avocado, roast tomato salsa and some mature red Leicester cheese. The cheese was picked so it was the same colour as Monterey Jack but I suspect they taste very different. Accompanied by margaritas. A good night was had by all.

Lovely crispy skin on those wings Mac. Yum!

That looks like a lot of fun. Hard work, I'm sure, but what a result. Everything right where you want it. Looking forward to seeing it fully commissioned.

Mouthwatering view, ears n' all.

Thanks for the full description @Lannoos. I am super impressed, particularly by the fact that you were able to retain the Jiggle. Awesome!

Nice looking chook and veg @Aussie Ora

That looks good Mac. Was the steak sous vide? If so, what time and temp did you use for the sous vide element?

Now THAT is a fantastic idea. I have looked up sous vide confit and have found a few duck recipes. Definitely going to try this. And soon. The only problem is that The Husband is in Houston this week and is due to bring back some corn tortillas. Sous vide steak or fish tacos or sous vide steak or fish tacos? I think we will find a way to fit both into a short weekend!

Nope. Y'all have a standing invitation and I might even embarrass you by photographing a spare seat and spare glass of wine, waiting for a KK friend to finally make good on your promises/threats to make it over to the UK. I worry about high expectations but this stuff is good and sous vide + a super hot sear on the KK should fulfil her fantasy.

Your daughter has great taste @sfdrew28! Lovely looking ribs.

I've had a wonderful meat adventure over the last 24 hours. It culminated in this wonderful, beef dripping that smells eerily of butter. What better fat to baste a dairy cow steak with than its own? Here is a stack of steaks. We had a lot of these stacks. The long suffering Husband got up early today to cut 27kg of sirloin into steaks before he got picked up to go to the airport for work. I trimmed them up. The ones below weigh about 660g each. I was left with a lot of fat, which I pushed through a mincer and then melted down to get the cow fat butter above. And I know the rump joint looked scarily funky but it cleaned up nicely. It was too large to fit into any vacuum bag that we have so it got triple wrapped in greaseproof paper before it went in the freezer. I foresee a wonderful low and slow in the KK for about ten people sometime in its future. We had friends round last night and they have not stopped talking about how good the meal was and I just took a call from one friend who a) wants to buy some off me and b) described a wonderful wobbly in the middle and crusty outside steak that she had in Vancouver. I am pretty certain she had sous vide and so will experiment with that for her. Yum!

That is a really well researched piece @Pequod. I do drink gari with my suya and my mother was only last Sunday telling me about eating kilishi and how delicious it was. I have used a lot of superlatives to describe my excitement about my KK friends' adventures in suya but this time I will use a word that my mother invented. I am flabberwhelmed!

My normal guy at the meat place isn't working much at the moment. He usually protects me from myself and curbs my worst excesses. His colleague doesn't know to do that. Next time I will know to ask him "how much?" so I know what weight of meat is being offered and what it is going to cost. Instead I have just looked at the invoice and am saying "how much????" We will have some tonight and I am sure it will be so fabulous that I will forget the bill...

So, I have been waiting for some months now for some more funky old cow. I finally got a message last week, offering me some strip loins and a rump on the bone. I replied, yes, yes please! Feeling a little overwhelmed now that it has all arrived. 27kg of sirloin steak and a whole rump. What can I say? Wow.

Wow that looks really good @Lannoos. Will you do a test of the slice, vac and reheat with sous vide plan? I would be very interested to know how well the brisket comes through that process. It would be really cool if it is possible to preserve and serve brisket that way. Whatever happens - have fun!!

woohoo. I am so happy. So cool that you are colonising America for us, one suya stick at a time!!!

Yippee! My Konro arrived pretty fast once that email came through. Your wife is going to get such a lovely surprise. Will you let her unwrap it and try it out before Christmas?

@tony b I love the fact that your place settings always have a nicely poured glass of wine in the shot. Very restrained. I always seem to have a bottle right next to my glass. Maybe that is where I am going wrong!!!