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Comment by gotocake | Hacker News Reader

My friend bought something similar when he got a sous vide circulator, and let me tell you... it really works. You get the perfectly cooked steak, plus that Maillard reaction we all know and love. It’s also killer for anything you want to melt cheese over, to get that lovely brown crust.

Ever had a Hot Brown? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Brown

It’s the tastiest massive coronary you’ll ever have.

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I'm honestly flabbergasted that Mornay sauce isn't more popular, given that it can be stored in the fridge for up to a week: it's the only reliable way to (consistently) achieve perfectly browned cheese on bread. I put a thin layer on toast, broil it for 2min, and then top it with caviar and watercress. Great way to get Omega-3s in the morning.

Many (most?) mac and cheese recipes involve making a mornay sauce, but they rarely call it that. The slightly more informed recipes will actually call it a béchamel sauce and then have you add cheese.

I really hate that when I'm reading a recipe, if it just said "make a mornay sauce with 4 oz cheddar and 4 oz gruyere" you'd cut out 3 steps from the recipe. It's loop unrolling for recipes.

Unfortunately, recipes tend to be made for people who don't know how to cook, or are unfamiliar with the terms and techniques of the cuisine.

There are plenty of recipes that are made for people that do know the basics, or where the basics are literally factored out separately in the same cookbook. The latter is more common in large cookbooks with fairly deep coverage, the former in ones targetting a more specialized, experienced audience.

Just another data point: I have an Anova Immersion circulator and have made some good steaks with it, but in my experience, reverse searing works even better [1]. Reverse sear entails pre-cooking the steak in your oven at a lower temperature and then searing.

The steak from the oven is less wet compared to sous vides so it sears better. The crust tastes better than a sous vides steak.

[1] https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2018/10/reverse-seared-s...

Very popular technique with the kamado/bge crowd. Can confirm it sears much better than the sous vide.

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