Come all ye self-styled chefs and kitchen users, we must talk.

I have one of the basic small Zojirushi rice cookers and love it since it can properly do small amounts like 1 Cup (3/4 C dry). Probably had it 6 years or so. The pot is a little scratched but works fine. I won't replace it with something nicer till it dies. Pressure features could be nice for time.

It's an older version of this one.

We had a cheapo one for years that burned the rice.

We upgraded to a fancy pants Zojirushi which does not AND it plays you a song when the rice is ready!

Does fine work with white and brown, quinoa and spelt, and the warming function actually works without burning or drying out the rice.

Dyni wrote:

I've been using this Zojirushi rice cooker for 15 years. I have contemplated splurging on a fancier rice cooker many times, but this little thing just works so well that I've never been able to justify it. It doesn't have a warm function, but it only makes 3 cups, so it may be too small if you're cooking for a family.

This is pretty much identical to the one we're trying to replace. Thanks!

Same here. We have had Zojirushis (two I think), used the warming feature, and the only time anything went wrong was initially when we assumed the scoops were one size and substituted other scoops, but we were actually wrong. Went back to the proper scoop and everything worked fine including warming.

And they cook everything sooooo well... Just follow the measures and enjoy.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Dyni wrote:

I've been using this Zojirushi rice cooker for 15 years. I have contemplated splurging on a fancier rice cooker many times, but this little thing just works so well that I've never been able to justify it. It doesn't have a warm function, but it only makes 3 cups, so it may be too small if you're cooking for a family.

This is pretty much identical to the one we're trying to replace. Thanks!

We've got the one that's one step less intelligent than that, and it still makes perfect rice every time; we've never had it burn

So. I made the Food Lab hard-boiled egg recipe this morning.

Spoiler:

WHY DIDN'T SOMEONE SHOW ME HOW TO DO THIS 30 YEARS AGO?!?!?!?!

Never had a hard-boiled egg that good or peel perfectly. I've read so much hocus-pocus on the internet trying to do hard-boiled eggs for deviled eggs. Best thing is that he goes into the reasons why his simple technique works.

Time to plan a deviled egg day this week with homemade mayo. Need to look through recipes for ideas on what to add to the yolk mixture.

Tuffalo, as a base recipe, try adding half as much mayo as there are extracted cooked yolks in the bowl, just eyeball the volume. Then 1/2 the volume of a strong, vinegary, spicey mustard (like an old-fashioned Grey Poupon or even a vinegar and mustard seed style mustard). Mix with a fork and spoon back into the egg halfs.

From there, you can figure out your additions, or adjust the proportions. Red pepper? Bacon bits? Whatever. Doing the recipe by volume means you can one egg at a time if you like, and it will work out fine.

Robear wrote:

Tuffalo, as a base recipe, try adding half as much mayo as there are extracted cooked yolks in the bowl, just eyeball the volume. Then 1/2 the volume of a strong, vinegary, spicey mustard (like an old-fashioned Grey Poupon or even a vinegar and mustard seed style mustard). Mix with a fork and spoon back into the egg halfs.

From there, you can figure out your additions, or adjust the proportions. Red pepper? Bacon bits? Whatever. Doing the recipe by volume means you can one egg at a time if you like, and it will work out fine. :-)

K! Yeah, I think Dijon is the way to go over the classic yellow mustard I have. I'll have to grab some of that since I don't currently have any. I have a really nice German style mustard on hand but I don't think I'll want the seed texture in there. I think I'll add some celery sliced as thin as I can (I do have a Benriner mandolin on order currently). That should give it a little freshness. I might top it with that actually after I sprinkle some paprika on it. I have to avoid any kind of pickles because my partner does not like them.

The overall idea is to double the volume of the egg yolks. Hold to that principle and you won't be able to screw it up without trying really hard.

Whatever mustard you use for deviled eggs, don't skimp on it. My wife has a family recipe for delicious deviled eggs and the "secret ingredient" is really "don't be afraid to use enough mustard." Egg yolk and mayo might seem like mild flavors, but they can hold their own.

I made sourdough bagels! They were FREAKIN' DELICIOUS!

Definitely my best baking experiment yet. Next time I'll do toppings and stuff, didn't want to add Yet Another Thing to mess up on the first go-around.

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Yum on those bagels!

Those look like some delicious bagels!

7 pounds of Boston Butt spent 20 hours in the sous vide bath at 165 degrees and is now a buttload of delicious pulled pork.

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We put an Eastern-Carolina style vinegar sauce in the bag with it to marinate as it cooked, and while it worked, so much moisture comes out from the fat melting and the juice in the meat, it's too much to leave it all in with the final pulled pork. So instead we kept the juice and stuck it in a pan reduced it, skimmed some of the fat off the top, and now it's a yummy rich vinegar sauce.

I think next time I'll only do a rub and some liquid smoke, since it produces so much liquid on its own as it cooks, and then save the sauce for afterward. That should give me something closer to proper NC pulled pork.

But in the meantime, it turned out perfectly textured and delicious. No regerts.

Yum!

I'm smoking a few pieces of salmon today in the electric smoker. The freezer salmon from last fall is getting a little old at this point, so my plan is to smoke a few pieces each week since it's really easy and delicious.

The wife bought me an early Dad-day Dad-toy yesterday. I broke it in last night on some chicken and veggies, but I'm looking forward to seeing what I can really do with it this weekend!

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Ranger Rick wrote:

7 pounds of Boston Butt spent 20 hours in the sous vide bath at 165 degrees and is now a buttload of delicious pulled pork.

Nice butt! *eyelashes*

What setup do you have for your sous vide bath? I'm ready to do a pork butt but don't want to deal with getting up in the middle of the night to mess with evaporation. I'm a noob to Sous Vide and have only done some small items in our pasta pot.

I have one of those LIPAVI containers with the matching lid that has the cutout for the Anovo I'm borrowing from a friend. I also have ping pong balls to float on top, hoping they do help with the evap.

Also, did you do any kind of sear on the butt when it was done or did you find it unnecessary?

-BEP

vypre wrote:

The wife bought me an early Dad-day Dad-toy yesterday. I broke it in last night on some chicken and veggies, but I'm looking forward to seeing what I can really do with it this weekend!

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Nice! I guess my littlest brother has been showing my other younger brother how to use a Webber properly. I helped him and his friend slaughter their chickens last weekend, and my brother bought 20 while I bought 5. He butterflied and then grilled dry rubbed halves on his Webber and said it was the best chicken he's ever had!

How much maintenance do you have to do with that thing after each use in terms of the charcoal? I'm curious if it's much more fussy than a propane grill. Ultimately, I need to get a Big Green Egg, but who knows when that'll happen.

Bepnewt, I use a sous vide bath with a plastic sealing lid and see no evaporation to speak of over a 24 hour cook. Maybe you can seal your bath with a lid and duct tape around the edges? No way should you have to wake up and refill it. That's not right yo.

Vypre, very nice! I have that same grill and it has worked great for us. The built in igniter is so nice for charcoal. Because the cooking surface is so large, I recommend getting some charcoal inserts to help position it when making smaller amounts of food or when you need indirect heat.

Tuffalo - maintenance is pretty easy but it is more fiddly than a gas grill. Between cooks all you really have to do is knock the charcoal ash into the catch bin at the bottom (it has built in sweepers you turn for this), and wipe off the grill grate while it is still warm.

When your ash bin fills up you’ll have to empty it which can be messy if you’re not careful. And you should wash the grates and wipe out the bowl at the same time.

LeapingGnome wrote:

Tuffalo - maintenance is pretty easy but it is more fiddly than a gas grill. Between cooks all you really have to do is knock the charcoal ash into the catch bin at the bottom (it has built in sweepers you turn for this), and wipe off the grill grate while it is still warm.

When your ash bin fills up you’ll have to empty it which can be messy if you’re not careful. And you should wash the grates and wipe out the bowl at the same time.

Imteresting! Doesn't sound too bad. My goal long term is probably to do BGE plus a very small propane or charcoal grill. I like that Webber and will have to discuss with my brothers this weekend.

I had a more normal Weber before for years and dealing with the charcoal just wore on me and was annoying enough that we didn’t grill much and I switched to gas. But it just wasn’t the same taste or results as the charcoal and after a couple of years with the gas I switched back and bought that Weber deluxe with the igniter. It is a small thing but having that and the charcoal bin and other niceties it has made it just enough less friction for me.

One thing I miss from gas was having a side burner for a pot. I have thought about buying one of those free standing burners but then I have to set it somewhere and cover it, etc. The need hasn’t overcome my inertia yet.

bepnewt wrote:

What setup do you have for your sous vide bath? I'm ready to do a pork butt but don't want to deal with getting up in the middle of the night to mess with evaporation. I'm a noob to Sous Vide and have only done some small items in our pasta pot.

I have one of those LIPAVI containers with the matching lid that has the cutout for the Anovo I'm borrowing from a friend. I also have ping pong balls to float on top, hoping they do help with the evap.

I have one of those 12-quart Rubbermaid containers with a lid with a cutout and also an insulated wrap for it. I can't find the one I have but it's kind of like this one but it also has a velcro-on top.

If you've got a fancy container with a fitted top, I wouldn't worry too much about evaporation; I checked mine multiple times through the cooking and 20 hours later there wasn't any significant water loss.

bepnewt wrote:

Also, did you do any kind of sear on the butt when it was done or did you find it unnecessary?

My wife actually doesn't care for the caramelized seared outside bits so we didn't bother, but the Serious Eats recipe I based mine on has you bake at 300 for an hour and a half -- or grill it -- at the end if you want to.

Continuing my earlier post, tonight we took all the juice we saved from the bag and stuck in the fridge and we skimmed the fat off the top and then heated it back up. It turns out it was a mix of meat juices and the vinegar sauce and putting it over the BBQ was heavenly.

Also we happen to have some corn meal in the pantry so tonight I made hush puppies to go with the leftover BBQ. They were good too.

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Made my cayenne dark chocolate chip with toasted sliced almond cookies tonight! So yummy. Eased off on the cayenne since first making.

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Still my favorite cookie of all time!

How were the (simple) deviled eggs? Hope they were good.

Robear wrote:

How were the (simple) deviled eggs? Hope they were good.

Still in the works! Weekly grocery shop is today, and I'm getting ingredients. Might not make them until next week, but I'll post a picture for sure.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

Made my cayenne dark chocolate chip with toasted sliced almond cookies tonight!

You got a recipe for those cookies? They look like something I need in my life.

Tanglebones wrote:

Made a vat of keema mattar in the Instant Pot yesterday - turned out delicious:

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Recipe from here:
https://myheartbeets.com/instant-pot...

Forget the keema, I want to know how you get rice that looks that good! I have tried half a dozen ways to cook rice and I can't find anything that gives nice long separate grains like that. Either it's sticky, or the grains look sort of overcooked, or something. It tastes fine, but it never has the texture that I want. I have tried stove top, Instant Pot, rice cooker, covered, uncovered, rinsed, not rinsed, etc.

Boudreaux wrote:

Forget the keema, I want to know how you get rice that looks that good! I have tried half a dozen ways to cook rice and I can't find anything that gives nice long separate grains like that. Either it's sticky, or the grains look sort of overcooked, or something. It tastes fine, but it never has the texture that I want. I have tried stove top, Instant Pot, rice cooker, covered, uncovered, rinsed, not rinsed, etc.

Basmati rice in my Zojirushi rice cooker - just water + rice + time