Saturday, January 19, 2008

Sous Vide at Home


On the way to sixty degrees with the kamote- Philippine Sweet Potato.


Truth be told, there were four PolyScience Immersion Circulators and this one is mine. Finally got around to setting it up and since I don't have any fresh meat lying around, I grabbed this kamote, or Philippine Sweet Potato.

Cooking the kamote is traditionally done by boiling in water for about twenty minutes until soft. At sixty degrees celcius, I'm going to pull it after two hours and see how it's coming along. The idea behind sous vide is to capture the natural flavors that are lost in the water with direct contact. We'll see how it goes and then move forward from there.

For the overnight sous vide: more eggs.

Hermanos Navarro Otra Vez


Chilaquiles with green sauce and chicken.


Last week, I made a promise to return to Hermanos Navarro to check out their Chilaquiles - I mean, I really do this as a public service for you, gentle readers, so that you won't have to suffer through a potentially poor meal. It's not the most glamorous job but, somehow, I feel that I'm contributing to humanity. And to ensure "fair and even" blog journalism, I brought Spike along to sample the wares - of course, there's very little convincing to do when Mexican food is involved.

The Chilaquiles at Hermanos Navarro are what I think are more "traditional" in style. From what little I know about the origins of Chilaquiles, it was originally made using old, dry tortillas rather than the fried tortilla chips that is popular today. It took me several bites to realize this since the tortillas are stewed in the sauce.

Quite simply, it was darn good. Very different than the Chilaquiles I make at home but so tasty. I could eat more. It's just so filling - even though the portion looks small. Delicate flavor with a spicy hotness and tortillas that stick to your ribs. It's truly comfort food for your soul. I can't wait to go back for more.