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Perpetual stew

en.wikipedia.org

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Re: Perpetual stew

#21

Post by piannucci »

do_not_redeem wrote: post #14

I tried this recently, but a few days after putting in ground beef, the stew turned rancid. So I thought maybe meat was off limits--but the wiki article talks about a 50-year beef stew. So clearly I just don't have the touch. If anyone has ever done this at home, I want to know what ingredients you used!

Does it still go rancid if it’s kept at boiling temperatures? I’m guessing that if it’s too hot for microbes, then you only have to deal with oxidation at the surface, which can maybe be fixed with periodic skimming. Maybe?

Re: Perpetual stew

#22

Post by ethbr1 »

do_not_redeem wrote: post #14

I tried this recently, but a few days after putting in ground beef, the stew turned rancid. So I thought maybe meat was off limits--but the wiki article talks about a 50-year beef stew. So clearly I just don't have the touch. If anyone has ever done this at home, I want to know what ingredients you used!

What leanness of ground beef? 70/30 or 80/20? Likely too much fat.

You'd want to keep the meat as lean as possible for longevity purposes.

Alternately, when you cook it, you can either skim the liquid fat off the top (use a large spoon) or absorb it with slices of bread (drag it across the surface and they'll soak up the fat).

Re: Perpetual stew

#23

Post by ethbr1 »

pradn wrote: post #4
abdullahkhalids wrote: post #3

Occasionally, I will make a soup that lasts about a week, adding things every day. So not perpetual. One problem I encounter is that some ingredients disintegrate badly (like noodles), which is not a problem when making it in a huge restaurant pot, but becomes a problem when you have a typical large home pot. I have resorted to cooking noodles separately and then adding them to my bowl, rather than putting them in th…

What sort of ingredients keep well in this process? How about mushrooms and potatoes?

Anything you'd normally make a broth out of would be a great fit!

Including bones / carcasses.

Re: Perpetual stew

#25

Post by maplant »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #18
RALaBarge wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah if something common and harmful is surviving 100 C +, we got some big problems, my friends.

I highly doubt a perpetual stew would be at boiling temps, the stew would disappear too quickly. I would think it'd be at slow cooker temperatures, 80 - 90C. High enough to kill off the nasties but low enough to not be boiling.

It’s probably simmering, but it also probably boils on occasion. You’re not losing stew anyway, you’re just losing water

Re: Perpetual stew

#26

Post by foodevl »

some math because I'm curious: If you draw down and replace 50% of the water every day, each molecule has a 1/2 chance of sticking around. After 3 months that's 1/(2^90). A 5 gallon pot contains around 2^87 water molecules. So after 3 months there's basically none of the original liquid left.

Re: Perpetual stew

#27

Post by throwup238 »

abdullahkhalids wrote: post #3

Occasionally, I will make a soup that lasts about a week, adding things every day. So not perpetual. One problem I encounter is that some ingredients disintegrate badly (like noodles), which is not a problem when making it in a huge restaurant pot, but becomes a problem when you have a typical large home pot. I have resorted to cooking noodles separately and then adding them to my bowl, rather than putting them in th…

The trick is to use a pasta cooker basket which hangs from the edge of the pot like the ones restaurants use. You dip it in to the perpetual stew so that noodles can cook in the broth then take it out when it’s ready. They’ll still dissolve if you leave it in too long but at least with this method you don’t need to boil a separate pot of water and you can infuse the noodles.

Re: Perpetual stew

#29

Post by decimalenough »

RALaBarge wrote: post #12
abdullahkhalids wrote: post #3

Occasionally, I will make a soup that lasts about a week, adding things every day. So not perpetual. One problem I encounter is that some ingredients disintegrate badly (like noodles), which is not a problem when making it in a huge restaurant pot, but becomes a problem when you have a typical large home pot. I have resorted to cooking noodles separately and then adding them to my bowl, rather than putting them in th…

I found this out by trying to use up some olives in my black beans and rice the other day. Devastating.

Olive fried rice is quite popular in Thailand and southern parts of China. However, it uses the Chinese olive (橄榄, Canarium album), which is usually pickled and mixed with mustard greens to create a gloopy black paste that your local Chinese grocery probably calls "olive vegetable" (橄榄菜).
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