Thanks so much everyone including the idea for freezing stock in loaf trays and then sealing in plastic. Very nice to be able show my stepdaughter our great community and what food pickle can do.
Here's an Amazon link for the sous vide bags. I'm with you, pierino. This whole cooking-as-gee-whiz-science-experiment stuff has kind of turned me off. OK, so it IS possible to use industrial techniques to produce something other than industrial food. But so does just good, old-fashioned cooking.
Yes. Freeze pasta from Borgatti's in Little Italy in the Bronx all the time, since I don't get there as often as I would like and/or get more food than I can eat fresh. A month is good for deadline to eat, since you have such a lovely product why dessicate it?
Great idea, innoabrd, on using sous vide bags. I have zero interest in cooking sous vide (reminds me too much of Stouffer's swedish meatballs) but the pump sounds cool. However, I think the next pasta tool I invest in will be the Kitchenaid extruder. Now that looks cool. Although you lot have me thinking about rice cookers now too.
Not a definitive answer, but FWIW, I find with most things I get a much longer freezer life if I use vacuum bags. Freeze burn comes from the food being exposed to air, so by sucking out all the air, you get a much longer life.
I really want my own vacuum machine, but until that day comes I've been using Ziploc sous vide bags. You buy the starter kit with a little hand pump (like a vaccu-vin pump) and you're good to go. I even use it for stock by freezing in loaf trays first, then sealing in plastic.
Oh, that sounds so delicious!! I usually take the lazy route and smother it in butter, Parmigiano and basil. Sounds like you guys are having a great food-filled weekend! Hopefully granddaughter won't be too impatient waiting for the bread to rise. Give her a hunk of dough to play with!
FYI, one of my favorite Italian-ish/pasta cookbooks is Stir by Barbara Lynch. Now I'm craving pasta!
I spent the afternoon making fettacine with my stepdaughter and grandchildren. My stepdaughter made an incredible short ribs sauce to go over it that cooked all day. Such a perfect way to spend a rainy day here in Portland Oregon. Tomorrow we're making bread. My granddaughter is very excited, but she thought making pasta was a LOT of work. (She turns 6 in early December.)
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http://www.amazon.com/Johnson-Ziploc-Vacuum-Pump-Storage/dp/B001DRNESE
I really want my own vacuum machine, but until that day comes I've been using Ziploc sous vide bags. You buy the starter kit with a little hand pump (like a vaccu-vin pump) and you're good to go. I even use it for stock by freezing in loaf trays first, then sealing in plastic.
FYI, one of my favorite Italian-ish/pasta cookbooks is Stir by Barbara Lynch. Now I'm craving pasta!