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  2. I have the exact same setup, a Control Freak and a Bellman 55ss I bought to accompany my Flair 58+ hand pull espresso machine. I bought my steamer before the Control Freak and found it very difficult to use on my range. For one thing, the grate over my burners isn't that great for balancing the steamer, and too much heat sneaks around the sides. I've already had to replace the handle once because it got overheated and the thinnest part of the Bakelite handle where it meets the unit cracked and came apart. It never occurred to me to try the Control Freak until I saw this post, but I spent the afternoon experimenting. I discovered that you don't need an induction plate at all. All you have to do is position the Bellman so that the center nut in the bottom is sitting right on top of the temperature sensor of the Control Freak. If you slide it around, you'll feel when it's on the temperature sensor. To test things out, just put some water in the Bellman and leave the top completely open and put it on your Control Freak set to 100°C. You'll get a message prompting you to make sure the cooking vessel is positioned covering the sensor, and just hit Resume. It just works! My next task was to figure out how to go about getting the right pressure. The trick is to heat the water in the steamer to the correct temperature for ~2 bars of pressure, and you want to make sure that you don't trip the pressure release on the Bellman. That's there as a failsafe, but you're not supposed to depend on it—just imagine the consequences if that pressure release were to fail for some reason, which is one of the reasons I never liked the idea of using it on my gas range either. According to my water vapor pressure calculations (example), 120°C is the required 2 bars of pressure. The optimal amount of water in the Bellman is 250 g, so add that to the vessel and screw the top on to be reasonably tight with the steam wand closed. Set the temperature to 100°C at Fast intensity (it will overshoot by ~15°C or so). Once it reaches temp and beeps, set the intensity to Slow and then put the temp to 120°C. You can go as high as 125°C, I was able to get it to 128°C before the pressure release triggered (which is just around 2½ bars, as advertised). Once it's at 120‒125°C, remove the steamer to a silicon / cork / whatever trivet or hot pad, something stable, and you can go to work. Even off the heat, there will be more than enough pressure to steam a good quantity of milk. I would not try to steam right on the Control Freak because the upward pressure of the temperature sensor makes it easier than I like for something to go wrong. Keep in mind that even on the lowest intensity setting, the Control Freak heats pretty quickly. Make sure to have a trivet next to the unit and make sure you're standing there so you can quickly remove it if the pressure release triggers. I'm certain the Control Freak is easily powerful enough to produce more steam than the pressure release can vent, and it wouldn't take long to turn into a bomb if left unattended.
  3. Today
  4. Oh would those hazelnut help with the emulsion? Its a different brand although not so nutty. Nutella has 13% hazelnuts.
  5. What other fats can be used? Yeah might have to resort to nut butters if I can't make white choc spread on its own.
  6. I see in the second image, they add non fat milk, that is what helps with the emulsion?
  7. C. sapidus

    Dinner 2024

    Dinner with friends at Bodega Spanish Tapas in Georgetown, followed by the Fabulous Thunderbirds at Blue Alley. I had pulpo a la plancha (the star of the show), albondigas estofadas, and shared gambas al ajillo with Mrs. C. New life mission: learn how to cook octopus. 😃
  8. The Workshop has begun! Go here for the 2024 Workshop Report.
  9. Its crazy, You would think your local garbage man would take it as recycling since it could be sold as bio fuel. They probably do if your stupid enough to pay them to take it.
  10. Shelby

    Dinner 2024

    If I can do it anyone can lol
  11. Yesterday
  12. Toronto friends, if you ever want to try premium, authentic Turkish baklava, this is the place to go. They have four locations around Toronto.
  13. many of the 'other' options will depend on the 'running amperage' need to power the refrigeration units. stuff like the Tesla Powerwall is extremely attractive - install and forget . . . but if it can't provide X days of electrical power . . .
  14. When one of my nephews was in his 20s, he was in a band. The band, such as it was, traveled in a van powered by bio-something (i.e. mostly used cooking oils). One night my sister awoke to an amazing smell, coming from out front of their house, of egg rolls cooking. She went out and sure enough, the band was doing whatever it us they were doing to convert cooking oil to the fuel for their band van. They had gotten it surreptitiously...from behind a chinese restaurant.
  15. Thanks Elsie. We are pretty proud of them. One is an ER charge RN and the other is a musical theatre/drama/english highschool teacher. They beat the odds by being twin IVF babies on the first round. Back in the late 90's the odds of a successful IVF pregnancy was only 20 per cent and the odds of having succesful multiples was only 10 percent. Once they were old enough, we told them that they had already beat the odds by being here, so the world was their oyster and never to look at statistics!
  16. My pizza cutter has both a metal and plastic blade. When cutting pizza on the aluminum pan, I use the metal blade (chewy pizza crust). When cutting pie dough on a coated 1/4 sheet pan, I use plastic blade. Makes sense to put parchment paper down first.
  17. Oh another option I now see, especially in the future may be using an electric or a hybrid electric's battery to power a building during an outage. Thanks
  18. Our two daughters didn't realize that most families don't peruse grocery store like museums when traveling until they started traveling on their own. they send me photos from grocery stores all over the world. I am much more interested in those photos than the ones of architecture or museums. Of course I appreciate architecture and museums but our girls know their momma!
  19. Add me to the list of people who could cheerfully get lost in that store, and stay there until I was dragged out with full shopping carts and an empty bank balance! And all those exotic meats to try! And the charcuterie! And the cheeses! And the butters! And the condiments! And...well, what a delight to see! It was fun seeing Big Boy again, too. I'd forgotten all about Bob's Big Boy, but we had one in town when I was growing up in central California. I thought the statue was bigger. Maybe that's because they had parked it atop the building! Many thanks for the mini-trip!
  20. Great info AlaMoi thanks. Yes well the generator we had didn't start because of the lacquer problem I believe. Took lots of starter fluid and such. We realized later when we went to run it dry of gas to avoid the lacquer problem in storage, the fuel cut off valve would drip(and keep the engine running). We had to replace the little valve so this won't happen again. We did find it cheap online. Wow gas pumps not being able to pump the gas in the ground. Sounds like quite a mess. Yes a Siphon hose would be very handy then thanks. I may buy one. Guess that's why a generator that runs on both gas and propane is handier. Natural gas generally continues at buildings is my understanding they have generators to keep the gas going(or the gas is under natural pressure) if the lines aren't broken due to like an earth quake. The gas line could run the generator for as long as you needed in extreme outages. But doesn't seem generators which can run on the natural gas line of your building are sold in stores.. Interesting.. Thanks for mentioning why the generator has to be monitored if running close to max with appliances/motors. I'm going to add that as a sticker explaining why. The generator will be stored in a shed. I might also buy a very affordable cover on aliexpress. I'm like the handyman and just gathering info for action and directions on things. If the owner had purchased one size larger generator model, it would have had the electric start motor. I like your back feed plug method as long as you turn off the main switch, cool. thanks
  21. Smithy

    Dinner 2024

    I think it's pretty self-explanatory, if you click on that link. If you have questions, check out this topic in addition to @blue_dolphin's link above.
  22. blue_dolphin

    Dinner 2024

    Is there a quick explanation how to use it? I'm thinking the calculator is fairly self-explanatory (do correct me if I'm wrong) and you'd like to know what to do with the results of the calculations. This Perfectly Melting Cheese Slice has pretty good instructions for that part.
  23. Cool Interesting idea to see restaurants equipped to be shelters for the public. Thanks for the input.
  24. no - only the pseudo "non-stick" bakeware is "damaged" by scratches. that said, 'scratches' can be initiation sites for "sticking" - i.e. I have one of those marvelous "stoneware" non-stick fry pans. well, 'wiping it out' just don't git it - it does retain spots of stuff - which do result in stuff like an omelet 'sticking right there'
  25. Another question. When baking in a metal pan (regular, not a non-stick), is this a bad idea to cut in the pan? It leaves marks obviously; I don’t care so much about the esthetics, I just want to make sure it doesn’t affect their longevity etc. I make recipes for parties that call for a 1/2 sheet plan and it would be challenging to take the pie out before cutting, hence the question. I am considering lining them with parchment but wanted to hear other people’s thoughts.
  26. you're not missing much. obviously a 110v only generator . . . not gonna' cut it. the market does offer 'whole house' generators - single/multiple fuel sources . . . but if you're renting a location, installing one may not make sense because 'taking it with you' is not as simple as it sounds. get your electrician friend to measure the amperage draw of all the refrigerator units running in 'steady state' - this will give you an indication of how much power you need to generate. big caution: units 'at start' will suck more amps than steady state running - which means should one-two-three-more all start simultaneously, that will trip out the generator . . . so basically somebody has to 24x7 baby sit the situation. where is the generator going to be "stored?" the main reason 'small gas engines' decline to start on demand is . . . they are not regularly started and run. the gasoline lacquers in the carb and dang over dang they will just not start. the best situation is where the genset can be started and run on a regular basis - a tickler file: run the genset every 60 days for 30 minutes..... keep some ether starting fluid on hand. depending on size/amps needed, starter's age, , , electric start can be very advantageous.... push come to shove, jumper cables from the car will solve the ah-sh*t, battery dead issue. other things to consider: when your electricity is out, so is the electricity to local gas stations . . . keep you vehicle fully fueled when bad stuff is predicted and also have a siphon hose at-the-ready. at my house, I have a 220v/60 amp circuit installed to the garage - for a welder. disconnect from the grid (big switch at the top...) back feed through the garage, genset outside, , , works like a charm...
  27. Still waiting with bated breath. 😉 I understand that there are plenty of recipes using parmesan rinds. My question was whether the moldy taste was normal. I don’t want to inadvertently contaminate a batch of sauce!
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