Sauerkraut

Yes, I do eat vegetables, too.

pay no attention to the salami and cheese

I recently got myself a Gärtopf -- simple, old design, but very clever & effective -- and started turning 2.7kg of cabbage into sauerkraut. I love it. It seems too simple to work but it is just so good. I used up to 2.5% salt by weight, including top-up brine as needed. It was really nice after a few days. It's two weeks in and getting even better.

precision-engineered German crockery

The biggest problem with making your own sauerkraut is feeling like a complete idiot for paying 100x too much for inferior grocery store stuff for so many years.

small jar, did not last long

Sous Vide Beefathon: Silverside, Pickled Brisket, and Shortrib Rendang

This arrived Saturday at 6:01am

A very weak observational study just came out that says people who claim to eat lots of animal protein who are between 50 and 65 years old die more than people of that age who say they eat low protein, but that people who are older than 65 who say they eat more protein actually die less. Naturally the press took this with a bit of perspective in their usual calm and reasoned way...

Telegraph: High-protein diet 'as bad for health as smoking'
Guardian: Diets high in meat, eggs and dairy could be as harmful to health as smoking
Independent: Eating too much meat and eggs is ‘just as bad as smoking’, claim scientists
Fox News: Eating large amounts of meat, cheese may be as deadly as smoking, study shows 

Sigh. [The only semi-reasonable writeup I've seen is here.]

I must have had a premonition because this weekend I kicked off three different beef dishes, all of which have now been completed and tried. All meat came from Turner & George.

(1) shortrib rendang
I based it on this recipe. It was very tasty, but I wasn't thrilled with it. It turned out well, but needs quite a bit of work. Next time: less aromatics, more coconut, will use dried chilies, and maybe a few other changes. I cooked it 48 hours at 62C, which worked beautifully for the shortrib meat, which I'd cut off the bone into cubes. I did reduce the sauce after it was done cooking, might be no way around that. Definitely will try again.

(2) silverside
This one I brined based on this. Meh. The brine I can live without. Cinnamon with beef? Maybe in Cincinnati. Not my favourite. Next time just a salt brine. The cooking, though, was spot-on: 8 hours at 55.5C. Turned out perfectly cooked. Thoroughly chilled in the bag, then thinly sliced.

(3) pickled brisket
Normally I would brine the brisket myself but I didn't want to wait a week so got pre-pickled brisket and simply cooked it for 24 hours @62C. This was for sandwiches. If it had been meant to eat hot as a roast I would have left it in for 48 hours. Thoroughly chilled this and then sliced it thinly. This was really good. Definitely an easy way to get high quality corned beef (aka salt beef) for sandwiches. Next time I should really do my own brining though. Could have used a touch of juniper and pepper.