Home Bistro

[Heather]

A catalog from Home Bistro arrived in my mailbox yesterday. Has anyone else seen this? The food is pricey, but looks revolting, sort of high rent Lean Cuisine. Everything is drenched in a sauce and arrives frozen to be heated in a plastic bag.

It's tempting to order a bunch of stuff and invite some intrepid Rockweilers over to sample the goods.

[hm212]

A catalog from Home Bistro arrived in my mailbox yesterday. Has anyone else seen this? The food is pricey, but looks revolting, sort of high rent Lean Cuisine. Everything is drenched in a sauce and arrives frozen to be heated in a plastic bag.

It's tempting to order a bunch of stuff and invite some intrepid Rockweilers over to sample the goods.

This looks like a delivered version of Let's dish or these new places that seem to be popping up. Has anyone tried any of them yet?

[Heather]

Let's Dish...that's the one where you go to their kitchen and put stuff together, then take it home and freeze it. That doesn't sound awful. Home Bistro arrives frozen from some central location.

I think I will order some and invite some dr.com masochists over to evaluate the goods. <wicked grin>

[TinDC]

As previously posted on other threads, I am not much of a cook, so I have done Let's Dish. I have actually been pleased with the meals I made there. As stated above, you assemble the dinners there and they provide the ingredients and recipes. But you can tweak to your preferences, adding more or less of certain ingredients. Pretty standard fare: chicken parmesan, honey glazed pork chops, shrimp scampi. For a kitchen rube like me with a baby, it's an okay alternative (to take out!).

[cjsadler]

Everything is drenched in a sauce and arrives frozen to be heated in a plastic bag.

From what I've heard, sous-vide prepared food is pretty big in France now (with the recipes developed by big-name chefs). I was told by a chef who lives in Paris part-time that these meals are actually pretty darn good, and a giant advance over the usual frozen fare.

[Heather]

From what I've heard, sous-vide prepared food is pretty big in France now (with the recipes developed by big-name chefs). I was told by a chef who lives in Paris part-time that these meals are actually pretty darn good, and a giant advance over the usual frozen fare.

Ok, I'm officially curious enough to order some stuff and report back.

If anyone would like to check the website and make suggestions I'm all ears.

[jparrott]

There but for the grace of...

[Heather]

There but for the grace of...

Aw, c'mon. How bad could it be?

You just nominated yourself for the tasting committee.

[jparrott]

I suppose you're going to want me to bring wine, too?

[DanielK]

I suppose you're going to want me to bring wine, too?

I don't know, sous vide wine...

[Heather]

Just ordered...

Beef Burgundy: Tender cuts of beef with sliced mushrooms in a robust Burgundy wine sauce made with onion, garlic and spices served over fettuccine noodles with broccoli florets and accented with crisp red peppers.

Pork Loin in a Reduced Apple Cider Sauce: Tender pork loin topped with a reduced apple cider sauce and accompanied by apple-pecan stuffing and a squash purée sweetened with real Vermont maple syrup.

Chicken Marsala: Grilled boneless chicken breast in a traditional Marsala wine sauce made with shallots and served with linguine pasta and a blend of crispy garden vegetables.

and my favorite redundancy:

Shrimp Scampi: Plump shrimp served on a bed of tangy lemon-linguine pasta with an authentic scampi sauce made with white wine, garlic, and butter.

Would anyone like to volunteer for the tasting committee? There will be real food too in the likely event that these suck.

[DanielK]

Would anyone like to volunteer for the tasting committee? There will be real food too in the likely event that these suck.

I'm in, as long as Jake's contribution stays far away from the boiling water. If the food sucks, at least we can get drunk.

[Heather]

Two volunteers already. <evil grin> Would a weeknight or weekend be better?

ETA: three volunteers. I'm looking forward to this.

[Waitman]

From what I've heard, sous-vide prepared food is pretty big in France now (with the recipes developed by big-name chefs). I was told by a chef who lives in Paris part-time that these meals are actually pretty darn good, and a giant advance over the usual frozen fare.

(Yeah, I know this is a year old)

Bear in mind that throwing a bag in boiling water (or a microwave -- "it's your choice" -- ) is very different from cooking something sous vide. Unless the instructions say something like "heat water to exactly 162 degrees, drop in bag, and cook for ten hours."

Seems like an upscale version of the old "boil 'n' bag" technology that didn't quite catch on back on the 70s, though you still see the bag sealers around.

It could work (though, in my mind's eye, all I can picture is frozen broccoli with cheese sauce and meatloaf with mashers).

[Heather]

Seems like an upscale version of the old "boil 'n' bag" technology that didn't quite catch on back on the 70s, though you still see the bag sealers around.

"Foodsaver," I think. Doesn't Uncle Ben's minute rice use the same technique?

It could work (though, in my mind's eye, all I can picture is frozen broccoli with cheese sauce and meatloaf with mashers).

And that's not too far from what's pictured on the Home Bistro website.

[cjsadler]

(Yeah, I know this is a year old)

Bear in mind that throwing a bag in boiling water (or a microwave -- "it's your choice" -- ) is very different from cooking something sous vide. Unless the instructions say something like "heat water to exactly 162 degrees, drop in bag, and cook for ten hours."

Seems like an upscale version of the old "boil 'n' bag" technology that didn't quite catch on back on the 70s, though you still see the bag sealers around.

It could work (though, in my mind's eye, all I can picture is frozen broccoli with cheese sauce and meatloaf with mashers).

The idea (at least in France) is that the food is cooked sous-vide for X hours at the factory/kitchen/lab/whatever, then frozen. You're just reheating, not cooking it yourself.

[Waitman]

The idea (at least in France) is that the food is cooked sous-vide for X hours at the factory/kitchen/lab/whatever, then frozen. You're just reheating, not cooking it yourself.

Ah.

[Heather]

Five so far for the tasting committee. I am thinking of a weeknight - any objections? PM or post here.

[zoramargolis]

There was an article in the Post last year, about a company in the area (in Alexandria IIRC) that does sous vide/then frozen entrees for hotels, large catering outfits etc. Of course, I cannot recall the name of the company. In the article, it said that they had hired Michel Richard as a consultant for recipe development. Their prepared lamb shanks are sold at Costco Pentagon City--in the freezer case that's directly across from the chicken rotisseries. Out of curiosity, I bought a box--I think there were four individually packaged lamb shanks with sauce. Prepared according to directions, I thought it was pretty good, but Jonathan found them too gamy smelling. When I make lamb shanks, first I marinate them for days in a cooked wine marinade, and I use small young shanks. These were big, honkin' shanks--bigger, older sheep than he is used to eating. You might include these in your frozen sous vide tasting, just for the hell of it.

[squidsdc]

There was an article in the Post last year, about a company in the area (in Alexandria IIRC) that does sous vide/then frozen entrees for hotels, large catering outfits etc. Of course, I cannot recall the name of the company. In the article, it said that they had hired Michel Richard as a consultant for recipe development. Their prepared lamb shanks are sold at Costco Pentagon City--in the freezer case that's directly across from the chicken rotisseries. Out of curiosity, I bought a box--I think there were four individually packaged lamb shanks with sauce. Prepared according to directions, I thought it was pretty good, but Jonathan found them too gamy smelling. When I make lamb shanks, first I marinate them for days in a cooked wine marinade, and I use small young shanks. These were big, honkin' shanks--bigger, older sheep than he is used to eating. You might include these in your frozen sous vide tasting, just for the hell of it.

Cuisine Solutions

[Malawry]

I've seen smaller packages of Cuisine Solutions products in a special freezer case at Wegman's, if you don't want to commit to Costco-sized quantities to sample their products...

[Heather]

Six for the tasting committee, and I think I'm going to cap it there. I'll throw some dates out later this afternoon.

[Pat]

I'll be interested to see how the tasting turns out. I'd been thinking about ordering some of the meals for my elderly aunt as a Christmas gift. She doesn't cook anymore, and the descriptions of the frozen dinners she's buying at the grocery store sound less than nutritious. OTOH, having gone over the HB web site, I notice that a number of the products contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.

[Heather]

How about 11/14, or 16?

[legant]

How about 11/14, or 16?

Either date works for me with a preference for the 16th: I can stay out and play later on a Friday night.

[DanielK]

How about 11/14, or 16?

14th is good. I might be able to swing the 16th, but it's problematic.

[rkduggins]

Either date works for me. I would prefer 11/14.

[Heather]

I double checked my calendar and could do this next Wednesday, the 7th, if that works for anyone.

[Hannah]

Any of the 3 are okay for me.

[DanielK]

I double checked my calendar and could do this next Wednesday, the 7th, if that works for anyone.

7th is fine for me, as is the 14th. 16th is now out.

[Heather]

I think we'll stick with the 14th. The stuff arrived today in these weird rectangular pouches. Doesn't it look like airplane food?

[rkduggins]

I'm still interested, but it sounds like this event may have petered out...

[Heather]

I forgot about it myself. Busy month. I may try again after Thanksgiving.

[Hannah]

I forgot about it myself. Busy month. I may try again after Thanksgiving.

Rescheduling is good - I was going to have to bail for tomorrow. Fortunately, it won't hurt the food to wait a little.

[DanielK]

I forgot about it myself. Busy month. I may try again after Thanksgiving.

I'm glad you say that, because I HAD put it in my calendar, and I was coming online to say that I now can't make it tomorrow.

[FunnyJohn]

I note the date of the last post in this thread. Coming SOON TO YOUR KITCHEN TA-DAH

"...To appreciate sous vide’s odds of catching on as an everyday cooking method, consider the last cutting-edge cooking machine to conquer the American kitchen: the microwave. In 1955, the Tappan Stove company began marketing a dazzling new technology to American home cooks. At $1,300 a pop—$11,273 in today's dollars—the first microwave ovens were an outrageous luxury, not to mention space hogs roughly the height andweight of their users. By 1967, microwave technology had improved enough to allow Amana to introduce the first countertop model, a $495 unit (the equivalent of $3,446 today). In 1971, 16 years after its introduction, the microwave was a miserable failure: Less than 1 percent of American households owned one.

"...In 2009,SousVide Supreme introduced its breadmaker-sized home unit for $449. Polyscience responded, in 2010, by releasing its first unit targeted specifically at home cooks, and then followed up last year with an even sleeker $499.95 device whose slender profile would garner a grudging nod of approval from even the most austere Scandinavian design snob. (Polyscience and SousVide Supreme provided me with free review models of these machines.)

And the market's about to get more crowded. A recent Kickstarter appeal to fund a mass market thermal immersion circulator drew almost $600,000 in funding despite the inventors’ request for only a third of that. When it arrives later this summer, the Nomiku's target price of $359 will once again lower the price barrier."

So instead of buying pre-sous vided meals, you'll be able to prepare your own.