How has your week been? I had a wonderful week. Work has been steady, and the weather has been mild.
I haven’t had much food inspiration this week. However, today, I read a couple of reports of food-borne infections associated with beef. That’s why I chose steak for dinner.
I like a large piece of beef because a large portion of the muscle is always safer than meat minced (ground in North America) or served in a manner that increases risk.
Many people never have any ill effects, but others experience severe infections, and there are some who die. The morbidity and mortality are why public health practitioners are necessary.
I feel fortunate because I enjoy eating beef on the rare side. Cooking the meat with knowledge of temperature control ensures pasteurisation and food safety.
Sous vide porterhouse steak and salad.
Recipe
Equipment
Immersion circulator
Water bath
Cast iron skillet
Ingredients
Steak
Salt
Garlic powder
Pepper
Lettuce
Cherry tomatoes
Avocado
Mayonnaise
Butter
Flour
Beef stock
Mushrooms
Instructions
Steak
Season the steak with iodised salt, freshly ground peppercorns, and garlic powder.
Place the seasoned steak into a vacuum bag and seal it in a vacuum chamber.
Cook the steak at 54 °C for 3 hours and 10 minutes in the water bath.
Remove the steak from the bag and dry the surface with absorbent paper.
Keep the juices for the gravy.
Heat a cast iron skillet and sear the steak.
Allow the steak to rest a little before carving the meat from the bone and then slicing the meat.
Mushrooms
Quarter some mushrooms.
Sauté the mushrooms in butter.
Gravy
Make a roux with butter and flour.
Whisk in some beef stock and cooked meat juices.
Season the gravy with salt and pepper.
Salad
Place some washed lettuce leaves in a bowl.
Cut some cherry tomatoes into quarters and add them to the salad bowl.
Dice half an avocado and add to the salad bowl.
Stir through some mayonnaise as a salad dressing.
Plating up
Arrange the steak on a warmed dinner plate.
Place the salad next to the steak.
Place the mushrooms between the steak and the salad and spoon some of the butter onto the meat.
Pour the gravy into a small bowl and serve it on the dinner plate so the steak can be dipped.
Thoughts on the steak
This thick cut of porterhouse was good. I’m saving the other half to cook by reverse searing it.
As much as I am a fan of instant gravy, making a roux and using the cooked meat juices from the vacuum bag gives a flavour and consistency, which is just as good, if not better.
Photographs
This is a gallery of photographs.
Coles beef porterhouse steakColes beef porterhouse steakColes beef porterhouse steakColes beef porterhouse steakColes beef porterhouse steakColes beef porterhouse steak seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.Coles beef porterhouse steak. Vacuum sealed and seasoned.Cooked porterhouse steakCooked porterhouse steak and mushroomsCooked porterhouse steak and mushroomsSous vide porterhouse steak and saladSous vide porterhouse steak and saladSous vide porterhouse steak and salad
Seal a chicken thigh with the skin attached and seasoned with salt in a plastic bag.
Heat a water bath to 76 °C and then cook the chicken in the water for 2 hours.
Refrigerate the chicken after it has cooked.
Pull the meat from the bones and break up the muscle bundles. Place the pulled chicken thigh aside in a bowl and gnaw the bones to avoid wasting meat.
Place the cooking liquor into a small saucepan.
Mushrooms
Remove the mushrooms from the packaging and place them into a bowl.
Add a cup of water to the small saucepan with the cooking liquor from the chicken.
Boil the contents of the saucepan and then turn off the heat.
Pour the liquid over the mushrooms and let the mushrooms steep for about half an hour.
Remove the mushrooms and set them aside.
Noodles
Remove the noodles from the packaging and place them into a bowl.
Boil the saucepan with the mushroom and chicken juices and pour over the noodles.
With wooden tongs or chopsticks, break up the noodles and drain them when they feel soft.
Keep the cooking liquor aside.
Soup
Finely chop a shallot and red onion.
Mince some ginger.
Slice a chilli.
Slice the fennel.
Julienne the carrot.
Slice the spring onion.
Shake the tin of coconut cream and open it.
Heat the wok and then add some oil.
Sauté the onions, shallot, and ginger.
Add a tablespoon of laksa paste (more or less depending on how you like it).
Add the mushrooms and slowly add the cooking liquor used for the noodles, mushrooms, and chicken.
Allow the liquid to reduce a little to concentrate the flavours.
Toss in the chicken meat and stir it around.
Pour in the coconut cream and turn down the heat.
Bring the cream to a gentle simmer, and then add in the carrot and some of the firmer slices of spring onion.
Add the noodles and mix everything with a pair of chopsticks or wooden tongs.
Turn the heat off and mix through chilli and more spring onions.
Transfer everything to a bowl and garnish with the remaining spring onions.
Give thanks to the Lord.
Eat with chopsticks and a spoon.
Thoughts on the meal
This meal was enough for two people, so I refrigerated half of it, and the next day I heated the remaining soup in a saucepan and served it the same way I had the night before.
I didn’t want to label this meal anything other than chicken and Hokkien noodles. You could make this with any sort of Asian style flavouring you have around. I know many people would add garlic. I didn’t have any, and I’m not fussed about garlic in my food. If I have garlic, I’ll use it, but it’s not a big deal to omit it.
I know that I use some techniques not readily available to everyone. You can substitute different approaches.
For example, you could cook the chicken any way you like so long as you achieve the correct temperature and duration[4]. Not everyone will get sick with inadequately cooked food. However, I commonly see reports of incapacitated people because of poor attention to food safety. You could use a supermarket rotisserie chicken if time is short and your budget permits. Break down the chicken, store it safely, and use it how you want.
I like the idea of using dried foods like mushrooms. I can use a few from a packet in this soup and the rest in other meals. The steeping liquor is also suitable for flavouring other aspects of the cooking process.
Feel free to make modifications and share them.
On food safety, I now have the pleasure of working with someone on a committee I have admired for decades. When I was in my final year of speciality training, this colleague wrote a magnificent review article on the pathogenic forms of Escherichia coli. I read it and memorised it; it was so good. One of my final exam questions was to compare and contrast the pathogenic forms of Escherichia coli. This colleague is now retired but working in an emeritus capacity.
Final thoughts
How has your week been?
Do you like using dried foods?
Photographs
Chicken and Hokkien noodlesChicken and Hokkien noodlesLeftover chicken and Hokkien noodlesLeftover chicken and Hokkien noodles
References
1. Kim, S.H., et al., Ecofriendly shiitake authentication using bulk and amino acid-specific stable isotope models. Food Chem, 2022. 397: p. 133819.
2. Berger, R.G., et al., Mycelium vs. Fruiting Bodies of Edible Fungi-A Comparison of Metabolites.Microorganisms, 2022. 10(7).
3. Peng, Z.F., et al., Antioxidant flavonoids from leaves of Polygonum hydropiper L.Phytochemistry, 2003. 62(2): p. 219-28.
4. Yang, R., et al., Thermal death kinetics of Salmonella Enteritidis PT30 in peanut butter as influenced by water activity. Food Res Int, 2022. 157: p. 111288.
Insert a duck breast and a couple of tablespoons of both sauces into a plastic bag.
Vacuum seal the bag and refrigerate for a few hours.
Heat the water bath to 55 °C (131 °F).
Put the bag containing the duck breast and sauces into the water bath and cook for about 90 minutes.
While the duck is cooking, shred the cabbage and julienne the carrot and daikon.
Finely slice the fennel.
Slice the Bird’s eye chillies.
Mince the ginger and finely chop the shallots.
Slice the white portion of spring onions across the fibres.
Slice the green portion of the spring onions longitudinally with the fibres.
Place the spring onion slices into some ice water to keep them fresh.
When the duck is cooked, remove the bag from the water bath and open it. Remove the duck breast and drain the liquor into a small bowl.
Put the duck breast into the refrigerator to firm a little.
When the duck breast meat is firm, slice the duck with a sharp knife. Set aside the breast meat in a small bowl.
Put the chillies, cabbage, carrot, daikon, and fennel into a large bowl.
Boil a kettle of water.
Pour boiling water over the chillies, cabbage, carrot, daikon, and fennel.
Allow the vegetables to steep in the water until slightly softened.
Drain the water from the vegetables.
Heat the wok and then add some rice bran oil.
Sauté the spring onion whites, shallots and ginger until they become fragrant.
Add the drained vegetables and the cooking liquor from the duck and stir fry.
Add in some sesame oil and soy sauce.
Add in the slices of duck and stir fry, ensuring everything is thoroughly mixed through.
Transfer the food from the wok to a bowl.
Give thanks to the Lord.
Eat the food with chopsticks and a spoon.
Photographs
Final thoughts
Duck breast is a very nice cut of meat. I think one weekend soon I’m going to try roasting a whole duck.
References
Chew, T. (1983). “Sodium values of Chinese condiments and their use in sodium-restricted diets.” J Am Diet Assoc 82(4): 397-401.
Counseling a Chinese patient on a low-sodium diet can be an arduous task for the dietitian. Special consideration of cultural beliefs, food preferences, and food practices must be incorporated into the individualized instruction. Equally important is the need for familiarity with the sodium values of frequently consumed foods and condiments indigenous to the Chinese population. To date, published sodium determinations for such items are quite limited. Representative samples of commonly used Chinese seasonings and sauces were collected. Analysis was performed by Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy. Many of the condiments often forbidden in the sodium-restricted diet contained less than 200 mg. sodium per teaspoon in all the samples tested. These included: sweet bean sauce, rinsed and unrinsed fermented black beans, hoisin sauce, satay sauce, fermented bean cake, and rinsed and unrinsed dried shrimp. These data can give the dietitian the option of calculating these often “forbidden” items into the sodium-restricted diet. Factors to be considered are the patient’s typical meal pattern, situational needs, comprehension level, degree of compliance, and other available information.
Nekitsing, C., et al. (2019). “Taste Exposure Increases Intake and Nutrition Education Increases Willingness to Try an Unfamiliar Vegetable in Preschool Children: A Cluster Randomized Trial.” J Acad Nutr Diet 119(12): 2004-2013.
BACKGROUND: Intake of vegetables in children remains low. OBJECTIVE: To compare taste exposure (TE), nutrition education (NE) and TE+NE together on intake of an unfamiliar vegetable (mooli/daikon radish) in preschool-aged children. DESIGN: Children attending 11 preschools in England were randomly assigned by clusters to four intervention conditions using a 2×2 factorial design: TE, NE, TE+NE, and no intervention (control). PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred nineteen children aged 2 to 5 years participated from September 2016 to June 2017. INTERVENTION: The intervention period was 10 weeks preceded and followed by measurements of raw mooli intake as a snack. Preschools were randomized to receive weekly TE at snack time (n=62 children); NE (n=68) using the PhunkyFoods program; TE+NE (n=55) received both weekly taste exposures at snack and lessons from the PhunkyFoods program; and the control condition (n=34), received NE after the final follow-up measurement. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Individual measured intakes of mooli at Week 1 (baseline), Week 12 (postintervention), and Week 24 and Week 36 (follow-ups). STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Differences in intakes were analyzed by cluster. Logistic regressions were conducted to examine odds ratios for intake patterns. RESULTS: Data from 140 children with complete mooli intake assessments were analyzed. TE increased intake from 4.7+/-1.4 g to 17.0+/-2.0 g and this was maintained at both follow-ups. Children assigned to the NE conditions were more likely to eat some of the mooli than children who were not in the NE conditions (odds ratio 6.43, 95% CI 1.5 to 27.8). Combining TE and NE produced no additional benefit to intake beyond TE alone. CONCLUSIONS: Taste exposures encouraged children to eat more of the unfamiliar vegetable, whereas nutrition education encouraged children who were noneaters to try the vegetable. Both approaches were effective and can be used to produce different outcomes.
Sun, J., et al. (2020). “Study on Human Urinary Metabolic Profiles after Consumption of Kale and Daikon Radish using a High-resolution Mass Spectrometry-Based Non-targeted and Targeted Metabolomic Approach.” J Agric Food Chem.
In the present study, urine samples were collected from healthy human volunteers to determine the metabolic fates of phenolic compounds and glucosinolates after a single meal of kale and daikon radish. The major glucosinolates and phenolic compounds in kale and daikon radish were measured. The urinary metabolome after feeding at different time periods was investigated. A targeted metabolite analysis method was developed based on the known metabolic pathways for glucosinolates and phenolic compounds. Using a targeted approach, a total of 18 metabolites were found in urine: 4 from phenolic compounds and 14 from glucosinolates. Among these metabolites, 4-methylsulfinyl-3-butenyl isothiocyanate, 4-methylsulfinyl-3-butenyl isothiocyanate-cysteine, and 4-methylsulfinyl-3-butenylglucosinolate-N-acetyl cysteine were reported for the first time in human urine. The combination of non-targeted and targeted metabolomic approaches can gain a full metabolite profile for human dietary intervention studies.
Zhang, X., et al. (2022). “Effects of different breeds/strains on fatty acid composition and lipid metabolism-related genes expression in breast muscle of ducks.” Poult Sci 101(5): 101813.
Fatty acid composition contributes greatly to the nutritional value of meat, and breeds/strains are important factors affecting the composition of fatty acid. Recently, few studies have focused on the fatty acid composition in breast muscle of different duck breeds. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to compare the fatty acid composition and lipid metabolism-related genes expression in breast muscle of Jianchang duck (J), Cherry Verry duck (CV) and 3 crossbred strains (BH1, BH2 and MCmale symbol x (BGF2male symbol x GF2female symbol)female symbol (MBG)). Our results showed that the breast muscle of J had the highest contents of C22:1(n-9) but the lowest ratios of -omega 6 (n-6)/-omega 3 (n-3), -mono-unsaturated fatty acid (MUFA)/-saturated fatty acid (SFA) and -polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA)/SFA. The PUFA/SFA ratio was higher in breast muscle of MBG than in that of BH2 and CV, and the contents of C22:1(n-9), MUFA and PUFA were higher in BH1 than in BH2 and CV. Furthermore, the mRNA levels of SCD1, FADS2, ELOVL2, and ELOVL5 were significantly higher in MBG (P < 0.05), while those of FASD1 and ACACA were significantly higher in BH1 than in BH2 and CV (P < 0.05). Principal component analysis showed that fatty acids variation exhibited extensive positive loading on principal components (PCs). Correlation analysis showed that PC1 and PC3 of BH1, as well as PC1 of MBG were correlated with the mRNA levels of ACACA and FABP3, respectively. Thus, it could be concluded that the breast muscles of MBG and BH1 have better fatty acid composition, which was closely related to the increased expression levels of SCD1, FADS2, ELOVL2, and ELOVL5 genes in MBG but FADS1 and ACACA in BH1. Moreover, these results also showed that crossbreeding could optimize the composition of fatty acid in breast muscle of ducks.
If you don’t care for the story, you can skip to the recipe here.
Sous vide pork chop seared
Hello reader,
I hope you’re well. I didn’t post last week because Katie and I enjoyed a weekend together, and while I did cook and shoot photographs, I didn’t have the desire to post.
How has your week been? My work week has been more ordered. After about four weeks, I was able to return to my honorary role at Canberra Health Services on Friday. CHS is my Friday happy place.
In my paid job, I’ve been working with a graduate, who, like me is very keen on Microsoft SharePoint as a platform for work collaboration. It’s a terrific tool to bring order and convenience to the work we need to accomplish.
I don’t know if you work in an environment where people collaborate on a task, and you end up with multiple copies with everyone’s versions. Trying to get them all together coherently is time-consuming. Being able to have one document and have from a few to dozens of people working on it at the same time makes more sense.
When coupled with a piece of referencing software like EndNote™, work becomes so much easier.
The collaboration extends into non-work environments too. This week, I participated in a church committee meeting, and we’re all using Google Drive to work on a document for our fellowship.
For my loved ones, as an Apple enthusiast, I use the MacOS and iOS operating systems and tools for collaboration like shared calendars, notes, and photos. Living in the 21st century is cool.
Season the pork with salt and pepper and vacuum seal.
Cook in a water bath at 54 °C for 2 hours and 10 minutes.
Remove the pork from the bag and dry the surfaces with kitchen paper.
Sear the pork in a hot frying pan.
Allow the pork to rest for about 10 minutes.
Slice the pork with a sharp knife for presentation purposes.
Pickles
Slice the two types of cabbage.
Cut the onion and shallots into slices.
Slice the Brussels sprouts.
Mince the ginger.
In a jar dissolve sugar and salt in some vinegar.
Add the cabbage, onion, shallots, Brussels sprouts, ginger, and cloves to a vacuum bag.
Pour the vinegar solution into the bag.
Vacuum seal the bag.
Halfway through the pork cook, add the pickles to the water bath.
Remove the vegetables and pick out the cloves.
Drain the vegetables.
Capers
Add rice bran oil into a small saucepan and heat until it reaches 180 °C.
Add the capers (once rinsed and dried on some paper towel) and cook until crisp (around 30 seconds).
Remove the capers from the oil and transfer them to a plate covered in a few sheets of paper towel.
Plating up and serving
Place the drained pickles on a dinner plate and lay the pork on top.
Top the pork with the crispy capers.
Give thanks to the Lord.
Eat with a fork.
Thoughts on the meal
Because of the effects of Japanese encephalitis in Australian piggeries, prices for pork will likely rise. I’m trying to get as much pork in my mouth as possible.
I’ve been enjoying pickles a lot more lately.
The highlight was the fried capers. The capers were salty and crispy and could easily substitute for a packet of potato chips.
Final thoughts
Do you like using collaboration tools at work?
How has your week been?
Do you like pickled vegetables with pork?
Have you tried fried capers before?
Bird’s eye chilliesPickled vegetablesSous vide pork chopSous vide pork chop searedPork chop with pickled vegetables and crispy capersPork chop with pickled vegetables and crispy capersPork chop with pickled vegetables and crispy capersPork chop with pickled vegetables and crispy capersPork chop with pickled vegetables and crispy capersPork chop with pickled vegetables and crispy capers
Footnotes
Bird’s eye chillies are also known as Thai chillies. In Thai, the name means mouse faeces chilli because of the shape of the fruit. The Bird’s eye chilli scores between 50,000 and 100,000 Scoville heat units (SHU) on the Scoville scale. Chillies are good for my hypertension. [1]
1. Shi, Z., et al., Chilli intake is inversely associated with hypertension among adults. Clin Nutr ESPEN, 2018. 23: p. 67-72.
Dinner from last Saturday night. Sous vide scotch fillet steak with potato mash, pickled vegetables, amd green peppercorn gravyDinner from last Sunday evening. Sous vide salmon and Hokkien noodles.
Notwithstanding the public holiday, I’ll go into the office tomorrow because colleagues in the states and the Northern Territory are working. We need to get some work done. While working from home has become normative, coordinating multiple documents, and incorporating feedback from stakeholders is easier with two desktop monitors. Having leftover steak from tonight’s meal will make a wonderful lunch. I will nonetheless reflect on Reconciliation Day while I’m in the office.
Unwrap the steak and place it onto a cutting board or suitable work surface.
Season the steak with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I use iodised salt and freshly cracked black peppercorns.
Put the steak in a vacuum bag. If you don’t have the tools to vacuum seal, use a sealable plastic bag and displace the air before sealing the bag.
Heat the water in the water bath to 54 °C (129 °F). Suppose you don’t have a water heater and circulator. In that case, you can use a stockpot or other suitable vessel on a hob. With a thermometer, keep monitoring the temperature and keep it within a few degrees on either side for the entire cooking period.
When the water reaches 54 °C, place the steak into the water bath and cook for 2 hours and 50 minutes.
When the time is complete, turn off the water heater circulator and remove the steak from the water bath.
Open the bag and if there are meat juices, pour them into a container.
Remove the steak and dry it with a paper towel or clean dishcloth.
Heat a cast-iron frying pan until it is searing hot.
Add a little high smoking point neutral oil.
Sear the steak to the desired amount.
Allow the steak to rest under an aluminium tent.
With a sharp slicing knife, slice the steak to the desired thickness. I like my steak strips to be thick, meaty, and juicy.
Prawns
Peel the shells from the prawns and leave the tail shell in place.
Some people like to remove the alimentary canal from the prawn. I’m not one of those people.
Heat a stainless-steel frying pan. Use the Leidenfrost effect to determine when the frying pan is at the correct temperature.
Add a small amount of neutral oil and spread it across the pan’s surface.
Add some butter, and once the butter starts to foam, add in the prawns.
Cook the prawns carefully to avoid overcooking.
Place the cooked prawns on top of the steak and under the tent.
Hollandaise sauce
Place three egg yolks into a cup.
Whisk some Dijon mustard, lemon juice, and Sriracha sauce.
Melt about 100 g of butter using microwave radiation.
Use the stick blender to process the egg yolks and add the whisked mustard, juice, and hot sauce.
Keep the blender on and slowly drip the melted butter into the cup and watch the sauce form.
Transfer the sauce to a small glass pouring jug and keep it warm.
Vegetables
Put some frozen peas into a heat-proof bowl.
Add some diced shallots and fennel.
Boil some vegetable stock and add the meat juices from the cooked steak.
Cover with boiling meat-juice augmented vegetable stock.
Strain when the peas are cooked. The shallots and fennel will retain flavour and crunch.
Plating up and serving
Remove the aluminium tent covering the beef and prawns and transfer the meats to a warmed dinner plate.
Spoon the peas onto the plate next to the meats.
Spoon on the hollandaise sauce.
Give thanks to the Lord
Eat with a knife and fork. A steak knife isn’t necessary, but a well-weighted steak knife always feels nice in hand. As an alternative, you could put everything into a bowl and use a pair of chopsticks, given the steak has been sliced. You can “shovel” the peas into your mouth by raising the bowl to your gaping lips and sweeping the sauce-laden peas with the chopsticks.
Thoughts on the meal
When I got out of bed this morning and weighed myself, I had reached a new high for two years. You may ask why I prepare such a large meal if I want to get closer to 70 kg. I’m asking the same question. I have no answer! 🤨
The steak was beefy. The prawns were fleshy and firm. The tangy and buttery sauce accentuated the flavours of each meat element.
I did halve the steak, but I did eat all four prawns and all the peas. Sliced steak for lunch tomorrow will go down a treat.
Thoughts on blogging and work-life balance
Social media is a curious phenomenon. My engagement on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram waxes and wanes depending on how busy I am and other personal factors.
I went through and looked at how many bloggers I follow. There are some who I’ve been following since about 2010. My work and personal time are getting busier, and I’m happy about that. I’m going to spend less time on social media, and I’m going to cull the number of bloggers I follow.
I’m conscious of the privilege I have living alone and being comfortable financially. I admire and respect people who have far more hectic lives, are time-poor, and struggle financially. I blog for a hobby; I hope bloggers who derive an income from their writing continue to thrive. I will continue to support the professional bloggers whose writing and photography I enjoy.
Footnotes
A precision water heater and circulator maintain the water in the water bath at a constant temperature.
A vacuum chamber is used to vacuum seal food in plastic bags.
Porterhouse steak in wrapperPorterhouse steakPorterhouse steak with salt and pepperPorterhouse steak with salt and pepperPorterhouse steak with salt and pepperPorterhouse steak vacuum wrappedSliced sous vide porterhouse steakSous vide porterhouse steak and king prawns with hollandaise sauce and peasSous vide porterhouse steak and king prawns with hollandaise sauce and peasSous vide porterhouse steak and king prawns with hollandaise sauce and peas
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