Tag: cooking

Using Meater Wireless Thermometer

  • It turned out semi-okay. I didn’t let the steak get to room temperature before i started, I kinda hurried things along. I also misjudged the size of the pan to sear it in, so I didn’t get a good sear, and some juices escaped.
  • Note that Sear In Pan raised meat temp faster than Oven, even with lower ambient heat. That’s because the temp sensor is not on the bottom of the pan which is probably 400 degrees or more.
  • Note that the Oven said “400” when in fact it was maybe 180. “Enough hotter” that the temperature gradient is there in the food. Hence the “Preheat for a long time” when doing very sensitive recipes
  • Note the “Hotter while resting” inertia thing. Meater did warn me to take it off the heat 5 minutes before it reached temperature, and I still overshot it.

Looking forward to my next cook.

Blue Apron: roasted cauliflower pitas

Made my 3rd of 6 Blue apron meals (last shipment arrives Tuesday).   It went rough, but I figured out some things:

  • Definitely check out the recipe online:  https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/roasted-cauliflower-pitas-with-purple-potatoes-spiced-yogurt
    • They have little videos showing easier ways to do things – like – peeling carrots.  Helps with the overwhelm as well.
  • Print out the recipe from online.  I did a photocopy of the recipe in black and white and crossed things out as I went, if I had printed it out, it would have been easier to read.
  • Get appropriately sized bowls for everything ahead of time.
  • I probably need more salt and pepper.  I swear .. put in the taters.  salt and pepper.  add oil.  salt and pepper.  remove and put in bowl add lemon.  salt and pepper. 
  • Lock the camera down with magnets (or use a better camera).  However, dropcam is so convenenient .. just do stuff and create the timelapse later.  No editing.  But yeah, it would be nice to have a really high res timelapse.  Could do it with my phone, I guess..   (video nerd came out, sorry)

Once again, the recipe took 2 hours from “decision” to “prep” to “cook” to “plate” to “eat” to “clean”.   So about the same as driving half an hour to a restaurant.   I did not have my wife’s company this time.   Would have been cost:  $20.

The food was delicious!  I think they’re growing on me. 

Timelapse:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbuCSCNZynQ]

My attempt to do the moonwalk in slow-mo didn’t come through quite right.  (Its during the purple potatoes).

Blue Apron–Timelapse + Minor Analysis

I am investigating different ways to go about eating.  First up to try: Blue Apron.

There are a gazillion reviews of it, so I won’t focus there; instead I’ll go for my reaction.

Timelapse

First, here’s a timelapse of me preparing https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/potato-artichoke-quiches-with-romaine-orange-salad .  The time covered is from 5:54pm to 7:15pm or so – from the time my wife picks the recipe to me plating the food.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GptVmizTcIA]
video caption here is what i entered

Analysis

Going through the video at normal speed, and inventorying myself:

Stage Their Est Me Comments
analyze recipe so I don’t miss anything. (none) 5:56-6:04
8 min		 The text is pretty scrunchy, so I convert it to a flowchart of sorts.  I don’t refer to the flowchart again, but connecting all the things in a flow helps me consider everything.
Get Hardware (none) 6:05-6:08
3 min		 Pots, pans, salt, pepper, oil, etc… and bowls for ingredients.
Unpack food (none) 6:08-6:11
3 min		 Sorting 2 recipes, I had already made one.
Arrange (none) 6:11-6:13
2 min		 I wanted everything easily visible and available in its own bowl.
Prep 15 min 6:13-6:31
18 min		 I slowed down on the orange, I think. It was frozen-ish and my hands got numb.
Cook: 35-45 min 6:32-7:14
48 min		 Broken down further
  Taters 12-13 min 6:33-6:46 13 minutes
  Taters+Art 2-3 min 6:46-6:49 3 minutes
  Mix with Egg   6:50-6:52 Everything till starting to pour them in
  Pour them   6:52-6:53 I was afraid of missing.
  Bake 18-20 min 6:54-7:14 20 minutes.  Thank you Timer.
  Salad   6:58-7:01 (Extra Salad Chopping)
Plating   7:14-7:16 2 minutes
(eating) Not included in the time lapse.
Cleanup 7:35-7:44 Unload + Load Dishwasher, Clean stove.

So end-to-end time with no technical debt: 2 hours.

It was quality time, with my wife hanging in the Kitchen with me as we chatted about stuff.

So Is It Worth It?

To try to analyze it more objectively, I think its a 3-D plot.

For Health Level, its a bit arbitrary.  1= bottom, 2=mid, 3=good.  Circle size = bigger = healthier.

I did not include Tastiness.

   

image

image

The labels overlapped, its in the bottom right of the grid.

So,

  • Its healthier but much more time-costly than going to a place like Noodles & Co which is 20 minutes away.
  • Its better than costlier long-wait-restaurants like Mikato. 
  • Its about the same as driving 40 minutes to the Whole Foods to eat at the buffet there.
  • Amortizing the cost over 4 meals, its probably the same as going to a grocery store to shop, and then cook, something healthy .. maybe.  I don’t have actual samples on this yet.  I will soon.
  • I put Soylent on there. 
    • Assuming you don’t have an adverse reaction (I do)
    • and you don’t have objections to the idea
    • its “perfect” nutrition, very fast, and at fairly low cost. 
    • Its not friendly with my diabetes, either.

When viewed through this lens, I guess its okay.  Its not earth-shatteringly better, its just.. more tuned. 

Summary (so far)

You have to like, and have the time, for the cooking.

If you like cooking, and hate shopping, and like trying new things, it would be PERFECT for you.

For me, cooking is okay, the hard thing for me is the time.

I have one more recipe from them to try, then its off to Green Chef or something like that.