My father used to say, “Chuck doesn’t do anything in halves.” He was right: sometimes its a virtue and sometimes a curse. He and my mother taught me to cook, sometimes using cookbooks, like Julia Child's, but more frequently just winging it. This site is a roller coaster ride of recipes, articles, ingredients and anything else that involves cooking and presenting food. There is something here for everybody from beginners to experts.
Mortar Madness
Here is the rig for the mold. Its a basic open pour mold with a containment ring built around the mortar. The bottom of the mortar with "Chef Sofi" is showing. The foam ring is glued to the mortar with hot glue. The red latex was poured into the mold and allowed to harden. The silicone was really thick and difficult to work with but I ended up with a nice "proof of concept" result. The next step is to make a more permanent mold and get some more silicone as well as black pigment for it. I designed a mold that I build shortly (see below)
Here is a cross section from Adobe Illustrator
The brown is wood and the black will be the silicone with the walls tapered in slightly to grab the bottom of the mortar better
Cooking Temps
Chicken breast 165
Chicken thigh 170 or more
Pork med well 145
Pork med 140
Rack of lamb med rare 131
Beef very rare 125
Beef rare 130
Beef med rare 135
Duck Breast 126
Salmon med 118
Disclaimer: USDA stds dictate much higher temps. To be super safe, cook everything until it is dry and crunchy