General – Page 6 – Adam Szczecina P.Eng

Managing Temperature in My Sunroom

I have a sunroom attached to my house which is a fantastic place in the summer except it can get exceedingly hot at peak hours with temperatures reaching up to 36°C. To combat this I installed a 300 CFM exhaust fan in the roof and added a programmable timer to turn it on at peak hours.

The installation was fairly easy though I did have to manually switch the polarity on the fan to reverse the flow. I mounted it at the ceiling so it pulls the hottest air out.

Looking at the temperature throughout the day you can clearly see where the fan turns on and drops the temperature an astonishing 6°C.

This has been a pretty fun project and is a recommended solution to managing heat in sunrooms. Next steps will be setting up a controller for this to dynamically have it turn on when temperatures are too high rather than just at static times.

Wood Grilled Pork Chops

As a general statement grilled meat tastes better than meat cooked in a pan. There is something about the aromatics produced during wood burning that just makes meat taste so much better and the much higher temperatures that can be achieved using real fire enable the ability for true grill marks. Though gas grilling is more convenient wood fired grills are more versatile and tastier.

Roasted Duck Breast

Though I could have done a bit better on presentation, duck breast is a personal favourite of mine and it tasted great. I placed this over a nice mushroom couscous and the only thing missing was a nice sauce and vegetable side. Pre-slicing the breast made for perfect mouth sized pieces. Next time I will expand on this dish but for now its a quick and easy meal.

Smoked Ribs

One of my best investments was a Bradley smoker for my Dad’s birthday with the benefit of being able to use it when available and benefiting from the great food made within. On a recent party we have smoker ribs and sausages the smelled out of this world coming out of the smoker. The cold smoking attachment also allows for making smoked cheeses or fish without overcooking.

Butternut Squash Risotto

A classic feel good food especially this time of year. With cheap squash from the farmers market it was easy to roast and puree it. Risotto was made traditionally with a the butternut squash puree added in the later stages. Additionally I added fried polish sausage that pairs very well with the hearty dish.

Cast Iron Pizza

Before buying my pizza steel I would make pizza in a preheated cast iron pan. Preheating to 450F for ~45min allows me to get a great bottom as well as a beautiful charred top.

Restaurant vs At Home

As a follow up to my recent post about making braised short rib I wanted to change my typical outlook on restaurants. I have always been fairly adamant that I will not go out to eat at a restaurant if I know I can make it better at home. The major amendment I have to this is that for dishes like braised short ribs, pulled pork or duck confit that require hours to prepare, it is more efficient for me to just go to a restaurant and have them there. These dishes scale very well where making 10 braised short ribs takes the same effort as 1 and so it is terribly inefficient to work on an individual scale. Additionally cost wise a local restaurant has a braised short rib recipe priced at 38$ which when comparing to the ingredient costs for me to make 1 short rib is very comparable unfortunately.

Bacon Wrapped Filet Mignon

A bit of a classic but I find that the filet mignon and bacon go together perfectly. Filet mignon has 10/10 texture but lacks on flavour while the bacon has 10/10 flavour and poor texture. Both fill each others gaps and create a great heterogeneous eating experience. Classic pairing of mashed potatoes and grilled carrots.

Baked Alaska

I wouldn’t call it my favourite but Baked Alaska has always been viewed as a finer level desert and I wanted to take a crack at it.

It wasn’t to complicated to make but I did need to improvise a form to hold it all together. Then just a couples passes with my kitchen torch and I have a nice clean design.

Macaron With Raspberry Filling

They make not look good but they tasted amazing. I went a bit over temp and the I started to get some browning. The benefit on doing it yourself is being able to do what you want so I was able to make a hand sized macron.