[hrothgar]

I am a quite good cook. (By which I mean that good professional cooks have let me cook/serve dishes in their restaurants)
Of all my recipes, this is widely considered to be one of the very best.

Richard’s Flan Recipe
The following might look complicated. It certainly requires a bit of equipment and (ideally) some planning.
Equipment

1. Immersion circulator
2. ½ pint wide mouth canning jars (I am fond of https://smile.amazon...e?ie=UTF8&psc=1 )

Ingredients (to make ~ nine flan)

• Custard base
o 750 gm whole milk
o 500 gm heavy cream
o 250 gm sugar
o 250 gm whole duck eggs
o 125 gm duck egg yolks
o 4 gm salt
o Saffron (to taste)
o Vanilla paste (to taste)

• Caramel
o 350 gm sugar
o Nam phrik phao (Thai roasted chili paste)

• Topping
o Malden salt (to taste)

Directions


To make THIS type of nam phrik

1. Heat a couple cups of neutral oil in a large work
2. Get yourself a few handfuls of dried dundicuts, habaneros, or birds eye chilis.
3. Throw some chilis into the heated oil; stirring and flipping constantly. You want to darken the chilis but not burn them
4. Remove and then repeat until all your chilis are fried
5. Grind chilis in a mortar, mix in a small amount of sesame oil for flavor. (Some people say add oil until the chili paste has the consistency of peanut butter. I think this is too wet)

Prepare custard base:

1. Heat a water bath to 176 degrees farenheit
2. Crush your saffron threads
3. Place milk, cream, vanilla paste, and saffron in a storage bag and seal
4. Place dairy into the water bath to heat
5. Mix sugar, salt, duck eggs, and duck egg yolks in a large bowl
6. Whisk until smooth
7. When dairy has reached temperature, cut open the bag.
8. Use the dairy to temper the egg mixture (add the dairy slowly while whisking hard. The goal here is to avoiding curdling your egg yolks)
9. Move your custard base into the fridge and let it rest for up to 24 hours. (this will help the flavor develop)

(Heat your water bath to 194 degrees Fahrenheit)

Prepare caramel (I prefer making dry caramel)
1. Find a nice heavy enameled cast iron pan or small pot. (White enamel works best because we’re judging color here)
2. Add sugar to your pot
3. Heat sugar at low temperature
4. When caramel is a good color, add the nam phrik, stir well, then spoon it into your bell jars (When you add the nam phrik, the caramel will start to bubble)
The following is a pretty good guide to caramel making https://www.davidleb...ow-to-make-the/

Prep your canning jars
1. Fill jar with custard base, leaving a bit over a third of an inch of an air gap between the cover and the custard base
2. Place lid on the jar, tighten, turn it back a quarter turn, then lightly tighten. (You want things tight enough that water won’t enter but loose enough that air can burp out as things heat up. If you seal this too tight you might shatter your jars)
3. Move your canning jars to the water bath an cook for an hour
4. Remove and move to the fridge

To serve
1. Remove top, run a knife around the edge of the jar, invert jar onto a small plate, scrape out some extra caramel, top with malden salt

[kenberg]

Ok, first things first: I encourage you, absolutely encourage you, to treat me like a total idiot in any discussion of cooking. Now on to the post.

We share an anniversary with another couple, this couple and their son are coming over Saturday and I thought of this post. Given my basic ignorance I think we will go with a roast, some salad and some veggies for Saturday, and plenty of wine, but I look to the future.
Some questions:
1. This starts as a Flan recipe but then we get to nam phrik. Nam phrik is described online as "spicy, chili-based, hot sauce typical of Thai cuisine". So I am confused. Are we looking at two recipes here?
2. I looked again and you say "Ingredients (to make ~ nine flan)" . I had ignore "nine" but maybe I shouldn't? So I put nine flan into Google and got a recipe for Parisian Flan:
https://www.ricardoc...ch-custard-pie-
As you can see, this is from "ricardocuisine".
Ricardo? You? I assume not but ....

3. This Parisian recipe seems simple enough. If by any chance I were to try this for Saturday, would you recommend that I replace the suggested "eggs" by "duck eggs"? I don't mean that I am giving up on the entirety of what you suggest, not at all, but maybe my first attempt needs to be for Becky and me, or maybe Becky me and kids. Make haste slowing and all that.

4. I had never heard of an immersion circulator. If I were to get one I/Becky could find many uses for it?

I repeat, it will be impossible to insult me with your response. I acknowledge and I insist that I know nothing about all of this.

Oh, and 5: "Add sugar to your pot" So far there is nothing in the pot, right? So I am just putting sugar in and heating it?

[Winstonm]

kenberg, on 2019-January-07, 10:33, said:

Ok, first things first: I encourage you, absolutely encourage you, to treat me like a total idiot in any discussion of cooking. Now on to the post.

We share an anniversary with another couple, this couple and their son are coming over Saturday and I thought of this post. Given my basic ignorance I think we will go with a roast, some salad and some veggies for Saturday, and plenty of wine, but I look to the future.
Some questions:
1. This starts as a Flan recipe but then we get to nam phrik. Nam phrik is described online as "spicy, chili-based, hot sauce typical of Thai cuisine". So I am confused. Are we looking at two recipes here?
2. I looked again and you say "Ingredients (to make ~ nine flan)" . I had ignore "nine" but maybe I shouldn't? So I put nine flan into Google and got a recipe for Parisian Flan:
https://www.ricardoc...ch-custard-pie-
As you can see, this is from "ricardocuisine".
Ricardo? You? I assume not but ....

3. This Parisian recipe seems simple enough. If by any chance I were to try this for Saturday, would you recommend that I replace the suggested "eggs" by "duck eggs"? I don't mean that I am giving up on the entirety of what you suggest, not at all, but maybe my first attempt needs to be for Becky and me, or maybe Becky me and kids. Make haste slowing and all that.

4. I had never heard of an immersion circulator. If I were to get one I/Becky could find many uses for it?

I repeat, it will be impossible to insult me with your response. I acknowledge and I insist that I know nothing about all of this.

Oh, and 5: "Add sugar to your pot" So far there is nothing in the pot, right? So I am just putting sugar in and heating it?

In all seriousness, I admire the honesty of your post. The ability to admit ignorance is not easy for many.

[hrothgar]

kenberg, on 2019-January-07, 10:33, said:

Ok, first things first: I encourage you, absolutely encourage you, to treat me like a total idiot in any discussion of cooking. Now on to the post.

We share an anniversary with another couple, this couple and their son are coming over Saturday and I thought of this post. Given my basic ignorance I think we will go with a roast, some salad and some veggies for Saturday, and plenty of wine, but I look to the future.
Some questions:
1. This starts as a Flan recipe but then we get to nam phrik. Nam phrik is described online as "spicy, chili-based, hot sauce typical of Thai cuisine". So I am confused. Are we looking at two recipes here?
2. I looked again and you say "Ingredients (to make ~ nine flan)" . I had ignore "nine" but maybe I shouldn't? So I put nine flan into Google and got a recipe for Parisian Flan:
https://www.ricardoc...ch-custard-pie-
As you can see, this is from "ricardocuisine".
Ricardo? You? I assume not but ....

3. This Parisian recipe seems simple enough. If by any chance I were to try this for Saturday, would you recommend that I replace the suggested "eggs" by "duck eggs"? I don't mean that I am giving up on the entirety of what you suggest, not at all, but maybe my first attempt needs to be for Becky and me, or maybe Becky me and kids. Make haste slowing and all that.

4. I had never heard of an immersion circulator. If I were to get one I/Becky could find many uses for it?

I repeat, it will be impossible to insult me with your response. I acknowledge and I insist that I know nothing about all of this.

Oh, and 5: "Add sugar to your pot" So far there is nothing in the pot, right? So I am just putting sugar in and heating it?

Hi Ken

Few quick comments:

1. If you are planning on doing a roast, I strongly recommend that you consider a technique called a reverse sear
The following provides a good guide.
https://www.seriouse...-prime-rib.html

Its night on fool proof. (If you like lamb, I can give you a killer recipe)

2. This recipe makes 9 individual flan. However, it easily scales up or down

3. I tend to like spicy food and this even extends to my desserts. So, I throw a spicy chili paste into the caramel.

4. I personally find immersion circulators extremely valuable. At the most basic level, they allow you to make killer fish, chicken breasts, etc. They're also great for some types of veggies.

5. Nothing else in the pot. You're just heating the sugar at a low heat, trying to melt it without burning

6. Duck eggs are considered to be better for custards. (They have larger yolks and the yolks have more protein). However, chicken eggs will be fine as well

[kenberg]

Winstonm, on 2019-January-07, 12:09, said:

In all seriousness, I admire the honesty of your post. The ability to admit ignorance is not easy for many.

It comes easily for me
Also it can be useful. In late, quite late, December I realized that I had not yet taken the required yearly distribution from my non-Roth IRA. This is required after you turn 70.5 and the penalty for failure is severe. So I called the agency that I have it with to get help. I explained that I was a week shy of being 80 and I really didn't understand such things and I was very embarrassed to have to ask for help. She was very gentle and helped me through it all, at one point asking "Do you ever use a computer, dear?"

I try to keep such things to a minimum. In the case of cooking, my ignorance is not at all an act.

As it happened, I had to sell some stock to make it all work, and the sale went through at the end of the same day that the DJIA went up 1000+ points. I would claim I was brilliant except that I was completely unaware of it until the next day.

[kenberg]

Getting back to dinner.
I was planning on letting you know how on Sunday how the Saturday dinner went but the prediction is for 3 to 5 inches of snow Saturday PM and we have postponed.

It's not that I think anyone wakes up in the morning wondering how dinner at Ken's turned out. Rather I have been thinking about electronic conversation more generally. It can be both informative and enjoyable, but there is a danger of it becoming narrow. I know very little about food, but I do eat and sometimes I discuss eating with people I know. For example, my wife's daughter-in-law really likes horseradish, me, not so much. That's not a suggestion that we discuss horseradish, but broadening our discussion topics could be useful.

[Winstonm]

kenberg, on 2019-January-10, 08:30, said:

Getting back to dinner.
I was planning on letting you know how on Sunday how the Saturday dinner went but the prediction is for 3 to 5 inches of snow Saturday PM and we have postponed.

It's not that I think anyone wakes up in the morning wondering how dinner at Ken's turned out. Rather I have been thinking about electronic conversation more generally. It can be both informative and enjoyable, but there is a danger of it becoming narrow. I know very little about food, but I do eat and sometimes I discuss eating with people I know. For example, my wife's daughter-in-law really likes horseradish, me, not so much. That's not a suggestion that we discuss horseradish, but broadening our discussion topics could be useful.

In my own case, I picked up cooking pretty late in life but it has turned into one of my true enjoyments, although I am nowhere in the class of Richard.

[jjbrr]

I just read this thread a little more closely. Ken, seriously, look into getting an ANOVA immersion circulator. They go on sale pretty frequently, so you should expect to pay maybe $80 for one. Also research a vessel in which to operate it. A cooler will work. You might also consider getting a vacuum sealer.

As hrothgar said, things like fish and veggies and chicken breasts cooked sous vide will completely change how you think about them. But then introduce something like 72 hour short ribs into your repertoire and I think you'll never even consider going back to any other method.

[kenberg]

jjbrr, on 2019-January-12, 21:45, said:

I just read this thread a little more closely. Ken, seriously, look into getting an ANOVA immersion circulator. They go on sale pretty frequently, so you should expect to pay maybe $80 for one. Also research a vessel in which to operate it. A cooler will work. You might also consider getting a vacuum sealer.

As hrothgar said, things like fish and veggies and chicken breasts cooked sous vide will completely change how you think about them. But then introduce something like 72 hour short ribs into your repertoire and I think you'll never even consider going back to any other method.

Thank you, both for the encouragement and for the note about them going on sale.It seems only a very naive person pays full price for anything anymore.Long ago, c. 1957, I delivered furniture for Al's Discount Furniture, everything one third off. I could carry one of Al's couches up a flight of stairs by myself, and this was not because of any exceptional strength. Anyway, when I wasn't delivering I had other duties. He would give me a list of the prices that he wanted ti sell things for, my job was to increase the price by 50% so he could sell it for one third off. Al was ahead f his time, this now seems to be standard marketing practice.

Anyway, I'm going to be getting one of those things and I will keep an eye out for the sale.

[hrothgar]

Bit of practical advice regarding immersion circulators

1. Four recipes that I would start with

• Boiling eggs (learning what a difference a couple degrees makes)
  
• Cooking chicken breasts (learning what you like)
  
• Cooking stuffed trout (very easy and very good)
  
• Glazed baby carrots and beets

If/when you get one, PING me and I'll give you some pointers (which will pretty much boil down to set the device to this temperature, seal stuff in a bag, and drop it into the water)

2. Having a way to insulate the cooking container that you are using makes life a lot easier. (Less heat losts means that you can heat water more quickly). I "nest" a couple food storage tubs inside one another and place these on some trivets.