Sous Vide Confit Chicken Leg Quarters

Yep, another recipe using the Joule.  One of the recipes in the guides that come with the Joule app is for sous vide confit turkey legs.  I've done them and they turned out very good.  The problem is that turkey leg quarters are hard to come by unless you purchase a whole turkey and take it apart yourself.  Chicken leg quarters are readily available and sized to make a good meal.  An added benefit is that leg quarters are very flavorful on their own and with the addition of a dry brine and some other things they become great.


I try to keep leg quarters in the freezer but I'd run out a few months ago.  I like having them on hand to make soup for the good wife along with using them in any other recipe.  There is a meat market in one of the nearby cities that had 40 lb cases of chicken leg quarters on sale for $19.99 so I got a case.  That 40 lb case yielded 32 pairs of leg quarters to be packaged.  Not a bad return on investment I'd say.  I kept out one set to be cooked sous vide for our supper the next evening.

Since the Joule app didn't have a pre-programmed cook for confit chicken leg quarters I had to search online for the temperature and time.  The most common I found was 165F for 8 hours.  Given that I wanted to have it for supper I had to enlist the good wife to start the cook.  I wrote down step by step instructions and she could also text me at work if she had questions.  Before I left that morning, I dry brined the leg quarters, put some sprigs of rosemary in the bag, and added a bit of olive oil then returned the bag to the refrigerator.  The dry brine I used was the same as ChefSteps recommended for the confit turkey legs, 5 parts salt and 3 parts sugar.  I used 1/2 Tbs as my "part" and ended up using a bit over a third of the total mix to brine both leg quarters.  The leftover is in a ziplock bag to be used later.

Once the leg quarters came out of the sous vide, I put them on a sheet tray with a rack in it to let air circulate all around.  Following the recipe from ChefSteps, I gently dried the chicken skin then put the leg quarters in the oven under the broiler for a few minutes to darken and crisp the skin.  It doesn't take very long so just watch the chicken through the oven window.

A tasty meal courtesy of the Joule

The good wife had wanted some broccoli and cheese sauce so I steamed some broccoli and covered it in a fresh hot cheddar and fontina cheese sauce.  We also had roasted potatoes with the meal.  The chicken leg quarters came out as good as the sous vide confit turkey legs did.  All you had to do was stick a fork in the chicken and rotate the fork and the meat came loose.  It was super flavorful and tender.

I hope you add sous vide cookery to your kitchen repertoire.


Uncle T

Sous Vide Creme Brulee

This is another recipe in the Joule app that I tried a few weekends ago.  ChefSteps has several dessert recipes in the app that I'd been wanting to try.  Every time I'd thought about it, I'd find that I didn't have enough eggs.  Eventually, I remembered to order extra so there would be enough for this and our regular eating.

Crème Brulee right out of the sous vide

Like all the other sous vide recipes on the Joule app, this one was straight forward and easy to follow.  It makes enough for 5 servings in 8 ounce mason jars.  I did have to break out my cooler to have room to accommodate the jars and the Joule.  The total cook time was 1 hour.  The cook time is 1 hour but they give you three temperature options to get the custard texture you want.  I went with the 181F cook to get a little thicker custard.  This was the middle option.



                           

                       Two jars of Crème Brulee ready to be torched

The only problem I ran into was the next night when we wanted to eat some.  Sadly, I didn't have a culinary torch yet.  Of course, I've never needed one before.  The main problem, was that while I do have a propane torch, and it will work, it was almost out of fuel so I couldn't get the sugar to melt and darken like it should.  It did melt and make the nice crunchy crust it is supposed to have though. Now, Uncle T is on the search for a culinary torch.

The first two to be torched.  You can tell where the torch ran out of fuel.

The flavor of this crème brulee is quite good and we were well pleased.  Using small mason jars may not be as elegant as using a ramekin but using the jars and cooking sous vide is lots simpler and neater than trying to get ramekins in a water bath in and out of the oven without making a mess.


Uncle T ended up getting a good torch.  I got a nifty little butane torch from the dreaded Wal-Mart in the plumbing department.  Price wise it was a tad less than the culinary torches sold on Amazon but they all work the same.  Mine is red and the ones sold as culinary torches I saw online were all black.  I don't care about the color of something like this just the functionality.  Since it came from the plumbing department and cost less, I won't feel bad or worry about using it for home maintenance work.

Two done with a new butane torch

So, once again the Joule and the recipes in the app have proven to be winners.  If you've not yet gotten into the world of sous vide cookery then I urge you to do so.  Besides the constantly expanding list of recipes on the app there are many sous vide recipes online to help you do your own thing.  Give it a try, I think you'll be quite pleased.

Uncle T

Bacon Cheese Burger Noodle Soup

The weather turned pretty cold the other day and the good wife wanted soup to combat the chill.  That got me to thinking about what I had on hand to make soup with since I didn't feel like getting back out to go to the store.  I was able to make this with stuff already in the pantry since they are all staples for us.

Ground beef and onions

Now, I know cheese burger soup is a thing and has been around for quite some time.  The good wife has made it a few times from a recipe she found in a Taste of Home magazine.  While these are good, they all seem to rather thick and heavy.  I also question what kind of cheese burger has carrots and other vegetables like many of these recipes.  When you look online, many of the recipes describe the soup as luxurious, creamy, or rich so you know they'll be thick and heavy.  What I came up with is lighter feeling but still quite filling.


Bacon Cheese Burger Soup


1 lb ground beef
8 oz sliced bacon
1 medium white onion, diced
8 oz elbow macaroni
32-48 oz chicken broth
4 oz Velveeta, cubed
1/2 cup shredded Fontina cheese
3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
3 Tbs butter
3 Tbs flour
3/4 cup milk
salt
pepper
garlic powder


Cut the bacon slices into 1/2 inch wide pieces and heat in a skillet until almost crispy.  Remove the bacon from the skillet and pour the bacon grease into your grease pot for future use.  Put the skillet back on the stove and add the ground beef.  Season the ground beef with the salt, pepper, and garlic powder as you would a hamburger.  As the ground beef browns, break it up and add the onion.  Once the ground beef and onion are done remove from heat.  In a stock pot, melt the butter and add the flour and stir.  Once the butter and flour come together to make a light roux, add about 3/4 cup of chicken broth to hydrate the flour, stirring well to keep smooth.  Once the broth is absorbed, add the milk and stir to combine.  Add the Velveeta cubes to the béchamel sauce to start melting.  Once the Velveeta is mostly melted, start adding the Fontina and Cheddar and continue stirring until all the cheeses are melted and the mixture is smooth.  Add the rest of the chicken broth, at least enough to total 32 ounces and mix well.  Add the ground beef and onion mixture as well as the bacon and stir to mix well.  Cook the elbow macaroni and add the drained noodles to the stock pot and stir.  If you want the soup a bit thinner, add up to another 16 ounces of chicken broth.  Taste and add seasoning if desired.  Let the completed soup simmer for 30 minutes to help meld the flavors and stir occasionally.  Serves 4-6 people.  To further evoke the cheese burger theme, you could garnish the soup with chopped dill pickles.

A pot of cheesy goodness

I used the full 48 ounces of chicken broth.  If I'd had beef broth I may have tried it but I think the chicken broth is a better choice since it is rather mild flavored and lets the main ingredients shine.  For the seasoning of the ground beef, I used a personal ready made blend of the three seasonings that I call GPS.   I used to just call it grill seasoning until I saw the BBQ Pit Boys on YouTube and they have their own blend they call SPG.  I like putting them in alphabetical order.  I used the GPS generously on the ground beef while it was browning since it had the onion with it and didn't need to add anything at the end.

A good bowl of Bacon Cheese Burger Noodle Soup

As a note, I had lots of egg whites left from another recipe and had scrambled them for a treat for the dogs.  The good wife likes eggs in any form and was snatching bites out of the skillet.  Since the leftover soup wouldn't fit in one container we split the little remaining in the pot.  The good wife wanted scrambled egg whites put on top of hers.  She convinced me to do the same and I must say it was pretty tasty.  I'm not saying make eggs to add to the soup, but don't be afraid to garnish the soup with what you have on hand or what might suit your fancy.


Give this soup a try.  Like any soup, it gets better with age so enjoy the leftovers.  Let me know what you think.


Uncle T

Ultimate Grilled Chicken Breast

OK, I don't know that these are the Ultimate, but they are pretty tasty.  Ultimate is one of those words that get thrown around in the culinary world till they have no meaning.  It is in the same realm as the phrase, cooked to perfection.  This habit is particularly prominent among TV chefs and those hoping to be.  My question is always, "If it's not cooked to perfection, why would you send it out to a customer?"  One TV chef even has Ultimate in his show's name which to me sounds like he thinks his version of dishes is the ultimate version.  I've watched his show and have not always been impressed, especially when he screws with traditional dishes.  Now that my mini rant is over, on with the more serious stuff.

Cheesy, peppery goodness

A more proper name for this would be Grilled Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Chicken Breast.  I know some will say that adding bacon to it makes it ultimate.  I'll agree that adding bacon to most anything makes it awesome.  I decided to do this for a couple of reasons.  One is to use up things we've canned from the garden.  The other reason is that due to weather and other issues popping up, I haven't been able to use the grill or smoker as often as I'd like.  Yes, I grill/smoke year round but combining wind and rain makes temperature control difficult and I hate my grilled/smoked food getting rained on as I'm  taking it inside.

The raw ingredients for greatness

The beauty of doing chicken breasts this way is that you can easily tailor it to suit your tastes or what you have on hand.  I'll tell you how I did it and then you can follow suit or use it as a guideline to do your own thing.


Ultimate Grilled Chicken Breast


2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 oz jar poblano peppers
Fontina cheese
Swiss cheese
bacon


Cut a pocket in each chicken breast by slicing down the middle of the breast without going all the way through and stopping 1 inch from each end.  Then cut a pocket in each side trying to get the top and bottom to be the same thickness.  Divide the poblano peppers between the breasts and place evenly in the pockets.  Add as much of the two cheeses as you can to each breast and still close the pocket.  Starting at the large end, start wrapping the breast with bacon.  Once completed, let the bacon wrapped breasts sit on a tray until the grill is ready.  Place on a hot grill with the cut side down.  Once the bacon has cooked and is done turn the breasts over to complete cooking.  Once the chicken is done, remove from grill and allow to stand for a few minutes before serving.

Goodness on the grill

To accompany the chicken breasts, I fixed Parmesan roasted potatoes and sautéed carrots with a brandy and butter sauce.  It was a highly flavorful meal.  Luckily, I made enough potatoes for leftovers and an extra chicken breast to take to work for my lunch the next day.  Where is it written that a work lunch has to be boring?

An awesome supper

A quick word on the carrots.  They were sauteed in butter with 4 smashed cloves of garlic and and 3 thin slices of ginger.  Once they were almost done, a couple of ounces of brandy was added to the skillet and cooked down to make the pan sauce.  Finish it with a light pinch of kosher salt.

 See, a quick simple way to make grilled chicken much more flavorful.  Give this a try and create your own ultimate.  Let me know how it turns out.


Uncle T

Review of Joule: Sous Vide by ChefSteps

This is the promised review of the Joule:  Sous Vide by ChefSteps.  I pre-ordered it from ChefSteps early last year and it was due in June/July time frame.  Due to some issues, mostly outside the control of ChefSteps, delivery got pushed back to September.  To their credit, ChefSteps kept those of us who had pre-ordered informed of delays and new delivery dates.  Since delays are common to new products I wasn't concerned since they did keep the flow of information going.  Once the government-caused issues were solved, an email came saying deliveries would go out in the order that people had purchased their Joule.  I got a final email telling me it was coming and I had it in just a couple of days.  If you want to get into sous vide cooking, you can click here to order your Joule.

Poaching eggs in the shell.  Joule is in an 8 quart stock pot.

One of the things that had kept me from trying sous vide was the size of the sous vide units.  Even a small one required a substantial amount of counter space.  Frankly, not many average folks have that much counter space to give up.  Even if you wanted to store it between uses, it would take lots of space.  Over the past few years, heating and circulating units have come into the sous vide world and the price has come down.  Joule is smaller than any others I've looked at.  It is smaller than my immersion blender.  Joule's small size makes it easy to store in a kitchen drawer.

KitchenAid immersion blender and Joule

Another advantage of the Joule is the fact that it is operated via your smart phone.  It is compatible with both Android phones and iPhones.  Using smart phones to operate means that ChefSteps can push software improvements and new recipe guides out as needed.  There has already been a couple of recipe guide updates and I'm sure more will follow.  The Joule app has visual doneness pictures for every type of meat you want to cook.  All you have to do is select the degree of doneness you want and it gives you the time to cook.  Some, like steaks, ask the thickness of what you are cooking and that affects the cook time.  If you want to cook something by a sous vide recipe you found online or you want to experiment you can set the time and temperature manually.  Some people complain that there is no display on the Joule but even I have a smart phone these days.  I don't see the lack of a display as a problem.

Joule app opening on my phone and Joule guides showing on the tablet

The Joule is quiet.  It is so quiet that if the water level is over the discharge hole I can't hear it if anything else is going and barely a hum if all else is turned off.  You can't beat a quiet appliance.

Since the Joule is a heater and circulator you need something to hold the water.  I primarily use one of my stock pots.  When I did a 24 hour cook for confit turkey legs I used a small cooler to help hold its heat.  For a long cook you probably should cover the container to help retain heat and stop evaporation.

The first thing I cooked with the Joule was a pair of strip steaks.  I think I went with medium-rare.  It was good but to suit us I should have gone with rare.  Since the time is also determined by steak thickness I would round down.  I wet age the strip loins prior to cutting into steaks and packaging so they are already tender and tasty.  Done with Joule they were even better.

Strip Steak, sous vide then seared

The good wife likes poached eggs almost to the exclusion of any other cooking method.  Joule has a poach in the shell program for eggs.  I do six every Saturday after breakfast so she'll have a poached egg available each morning for breakfast.  Just gently tap around the middle of the egg with a knife and slide the egg out of the shell.  The good wife will let the egg sit on the counter warming up while the coffee perks.  She'll then crack it into a small bowl and put it in the microwave for about 10 seconds.  I've also poached eggs to top Udon noodle dishes.  This is so much easier and neater than cracking the egg into a pot of simmering water.

Poached egg after the break out

The absolute best thing I've cooked with the Joule was turkey legs.  Under their poultry guide is a recipe for sous vide confit turkey legs.  I followed their instructions fairly close only changing the herbs that were added.  It was a 24 hour cook so I used a small cooler for the insulation to help retain heat and covered the top with plastic wrap and then draped a towel over it to reduce evaporation.  The cook I chose yielded turkey that was so tender I could have made pulled turkey and the flavor was great.  The good wife said to definitely do this again.

Fresh from the bag, ready to sear

Crispy skin after 5 minutes under the broiler

The latest cook was a nice thick sirloin steak.  I followed the guide for ultimate steak which involved a quick sear before bagging and adding some crushed garlic, fresh herbs, and olive oil.  The sous vide time for the doneness I chose and the thickness of the steak was an hour.  This ended up being an extremely tender flavorful sirloin steak.  This is the one I talked about in the previous post.

Starting the sear with herbs and garlic from the bag

Tender, tasty, and perfectly cooked

I've also done pork belly, hamburgers, salmon, and squirrel using the Joule and the results have been very good.  I still need to tweak the time and temperature for the squirrel or any other small game but I was pleased with my inaugural small game cook.

Sous vide pork belly with Udon noodles topped with a Joule poached egg

Hamburger sous vide and seared.  Pink, juicy, and flavorful.

There are still some recipes in the Joule guides that I am looking forward to trying.  The top two are Heavenly Honey-glazed Ham made with a pork butt and the collection of custards.  Ok, I guess that should be top four since there are three sous vide custard recipes to include a creme brulee.  I'm also interested to see what recipes they add to the guides next. 

All in all, I would highly recommend the Joule as your entry into sous vide cooking.  The small size and ease of operation are strong points in its favor.  Part of the ease of use is due to the cooking guides with visual doneness pictures contained in the app.  The only negatives I can think of are not negatives to me but may be to others.  First is the lack of a display panel to check your settings.  I've seen this complaint online but it makes no sense to me.  Using your phone, you don't have to walk to the kitchen to check the display.  It sounds like someone looking for something to complain about to me.  The other potential negative is the fact that it is only available in the US and is only designed to work with US electricity.  So, someone from overseas or a military person stationed overseas would have to find a different sous vide unit.  Lastly, sous vide is slow so it takes planning to use properly.  Like I said, I don't see this as a negative because the results are worth the time.


There you have it, a long drawn out review of the Joule.  If you want to up your kitchen game then get a Joule and get into the world of sous vide cookery.  If I didn't answer a question let me know.

Uncle T

Sous Vide Sirloin Steak and Brussels Sprout Salad

I've been interested in Sous Vide cooking for some time now.  Until fairly recently, sous vide cookery was priced beyond most home cooks.  Even if someone wanted to spend the money for a sous vide cooker, you ended up with a huge appliance taking up space on your counter.  Over the past few years sous vide circulators have come on the scene reducing both the cost and kitchen foot print of sous vide cookery.  Last year I ordered a new sous vide circulator that was coming on the market and have used it frequently.  I got the Joule, by ChefSteps, and I'll be doing a review post in a few days.

Our local warehouse store had a sale on Sirloin Butts a couple of weeks ago and I took advantage of the situation.  Sirloin steaks have great flavor and I cut some thick steaks to cook sous vide as a test.  I'm happy to say it turned out quite well.

Starting the post sous vide sear

The Brussels sprout salad was inspired by a guy on Instagram that goes by the name, Bacon Dealer.  He has some awesome pictures of smoked and grilled meats as well as his home made Bacon and Pancetta.  Bacon Dealer developed a broccoli salad and over time got it to taste like he wanted.  Once I found out what he used I told him I'd be adding my own spin to it.  Here is the post with his broccoli salad with the ingredients in comments, Bacon Dealer.

The sirloin steak was cooked according to the program in the Joule.  I seasoned each side with salt and pepper then did a quick sear on each side.  The steak was put into a zip bag with 3 cloves of crushed garlic, and some sprigs of thyme and oregano from our herb garden.  Then a bit of olive oil was splashed all over the steak and it was ready for the cook.  I chose 129F for the cook and with a steak the thickness of this one it cooked an hour.  After the cook, 2 Tbs of butter were melted in a hot skillet and the steak was put into the skillet along with everything in the bag with it.  The steak got a quick sear, about 45 seconds, on each side.  While it was searing, the top side was getting basted with the oil and butter mixture in the skillet.  Once both sides were seared, it was time to slice.

Ready to slice

Before I sliced the steak, I made a quick pan sauce to top the slices.  I added another 2 Tbs of butter to the skillet and let it melt.  Then I added 1/4 cup or so of Brandy and let the alcohol burn off.  A little extra simmering to reduce it a bit and it was ready.

Nicely done

The Brussels sprout salad was mostly prepared while the sous vide cook was taking place.  I waited until the steak was almost done before dressing the salad.  It is a quick salad and easily adjusted to suit your family's tastes.

Brussels Sprout Salad

8 oz Brussels sprouts
4-6 oz Pancetta lardons
2-4 oz Cheddar cheese, 1/4 inch dice
1/2 cup Craisins
1/4 cup Pistachios
1/4 cup Pecans
1/4 cup fermented red peppers, julienned
 Apple cider vinegar
Olive Oil
salt

Thinly slice the Brussels sprouts and place in a bowl.  Dice the Cheddar cheese and add to the sliced spouts.  Put the Pancetta lardons in a skillet and cook until just brown.  You don't want your Pancetta crispy like bacon.  Add the freshly cooked and drained Pancetta to the bowl with the sprouts and cheese and toss to mix.  Do a rough chop on the Craisins, Pistachios, and Pecans and add them to the bowl and toss to mix.  Take a bite and add salt if needed.  When ready to serve, splash vinegar and olive oil over the salad and toss to mix.  Add more of each if the salad is too dry.  Serve and enjoy.   

A fine tasty meal.  The steak is ready for the pan sauce.

Since the salad was all we were having with the sirloin steak we had a larger than usual portion.  If we'd had a potato as part of supper then we'd have gotten 4 servings out of this recipe.  I used fermented red peppers because I still had some and they came from my garden.  You can use either fresh red pepper or pickled pepper as a substitute. 

If you've been thinking about getting into sous vide cooking then I highly recommend the Joule.  Sous vide cooking is not fast but the results are worth the wait.

Give this salad a try the next time you want a salad or just need to add something green to your supper.  I think you'll be pleased.  If you try it, let me know what you think.

Uncle T

Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese

I'm fairly certain I've mentioned this before but the good wife is a huge fan of soup.  I think if I made enough she would eat it everyday.  On top of this is the fact that a good soup is a great aid in getting better when you are sick.  Making soup out of fresh ingredients or at least home grown and canned ingredients yields a tastier more effective soup.


A few weeks ago, I came down with something.  It was enough to keep me home from work for 2 days which is something that hasn't happened in over 30 years.  Sadly, the good wife caught whatever it was that I had and worse news is that she has a harder time getting over them than I do.  After a couple of days of feeling better she relapsed a bit yesterday.  When I got home I asked if she wanted soup for supper to warm her up since she was complaining of feeling cold.  When asked what kind of soup she wanted she said tomato.

A hot bowl of Tomato Soup

I'll throw this out right now, I'm not a fan of tomato soup.   That said, I set myself to find the best tomato soup recipe to fix for the good wife's supper.  I would eat left over kimchi soup for my supper.  In looking at recipes online I noticed one glaring fault, they all called for adding either sugar or honey.  Ostensibly this is to "cut the acidity of the tomatoes" and I'm guessing make the soup more palatable.  Considering how much sugar goes into commercially produced soups and sauces, I think they are trying to mimic that flavor so people will not know the difference between home made and commercially made.  In light of that, I put down the laptop and went to the kitchen to do my own thing.


Tomato Soup


1 quart canned tomatoes
1 quart chicken broth
1 medium onion, chopped, about 1.5 cups
6 Tbs butter
3-4 Tbs AP flour
1/2 cup heavy cream or half and half
1/2 tsp celery seed
1 tsp ground turmeric
1-2 tsp ground white pepper
salt to taste


Melt the butter in a stock pot then add the onion.  Cook the onion until it is just translucent.  Add the celery seed, turmeric, white pepper and 1.5 tsp salt and stir to combine.  Add the flour to the pot and stir then cook to form a light roux.  Add the tomatoes, juice included, to the pot and stir.  Add the chicken broth and stir.  Let the pot come to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 15-30 minutes.  Using an immersion blender, blend until the soup is smooth.  As an alternative, let cool and puree in a blender in batches.  Once the soup is smooth, stir in the heavy cream.  Taste and add more salt if desired.  Serve with a grilled cheese sandwich.  Makes 4 servings.

Let's eat!

I think it is one of those immutable laws of the universe that tomato soup has to be accompanied by a grilled cheese sandwich.  In this case, the bread was some that I'd made a couple of days before to go with a pasta dish.  I was going to use plain old sandwich bread until the good wife said she wanted it done with the leftover bread.  After seeing it, I was tempted  to make myself one to go with the kimchi soup and rice. 


Now, it's time to stir things up a bit.  I know that there are sandwiches being plastered all over the internet being called grilled cheese sandwiches.  In this, I'm strictly a purist.  A grilled cheese sandwich consists of 2 pieces of buttered bread on a hot griddle with cheese in between them.  I'll allow that some of those other sandwiches sound good, once you put something other than cheese in the middle it is no longer a grilled cheese sandwich.  OK, that was my rant to begin the new year.


It's time for another confession.  After tasting this soup, I think I could eat a bowl of tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich and like it.  I guess that was the problem before, trying commercially made soups.  The prime ingredient in this soup was a jar of tomatoes that were grown in my garden and canned by the good wife.  I'm certain though, that this soup would be good using good quality canned tomatoes from the store.

Give this soup a go the next time cold weather hits or someone in the house is feeling ill.  I think you'll like it as a warmer or a medicine.  Let me know how you like it.


Uncle T