mharpo

The Viking cookware is very nice and I particularly like the handles, though I wouldn't pay for the premium for the Viking name on Demeyere pans. Viking cookware is made by Demeyere, as you probably know... As for induction cookware, I bought a couple of pieces of the Prima Matera, to try out the competition, and I can tell you that it is better on an induction hob than anything else I've tried, though it is ridiculously expensive for 2.0mm stainless-lined copper cookware. I am not a huge fan of induction, but it is very good at boiling water...

I also settled on the 112 because of convenience issues and it has worked great for my needs. I put mine on an old TV cart w/casters and roll it somewhere out of the way when not in use.

I bought a VacMaster Pro 112 back in August for $612.98 and free shipping from Buy.com, really... I absolutely love it and use it 3 0r 4 times a week for something or other. Bought it for Sous Vide, but useful for so many other things... Almost as important as a refrigerator or stove!

Regarding the comments about salting and preheating of pans. I've always salted meat well beforehand and let it come to room temp before cooking it. Now that I am doing more SV cooking, I frequently season the meat, vacuum pack and refrigerate it the day before I intend to cook it, even if I don't intend to cook it SV. If not cooking SV, I still let the meat come to room temp before cooking. Of course, I use less seasoning with this method. If I am pan searing/sautéing/stir-frying, etc, I always preheat the pan to cooking temp, add oil, then whatever it is that I am cooking... Different temps for different things, but always for sautéing and variations thereof... Heating the oil with the pan tends to degrade the quality of the oil, especially good olive oil. And, the notion of searing 'sealing in the juices', well, I won't even comment on that one. A decent IR thermometer is indispensable in my kitchen. Just my opinion as a person that been obsessed with trying to cook good food for more than 30 years...

I always dump my water, too, after each use into a large bucket to water plants later. I get 138F out of my tap from a gas water heater, so it is probably more efficient than letting the Sous Vide Pro heat it from room temp.

One can only imagine what sort of tables he (Douglas) might develop when he is finished studying! Or, what a great sous vide artist he will become... Edit: must have been thinking about one of his brothers, Daniel.

The Williams-Sonoma deal isn't bad if you can use the stock pot, which I suspect you may not need. Also, the Cambro tub is nice and works even better if you buy another one (double up for extra insulation) and a matching cover. I bought the polycarb cover from a restaurant supply house and cut out an opening for the SVP... binder clips hold it down nicely and kitchen towels draped over make it even more efficient.

Yeah picture of good sous vide results never get old! Here's some kobe top sirloin I did for a dinner last night. I've never done a top sirloin, but it looks very much like a brisket flat cut... and, delicious, btw!

Not a whole lot to see here, but I interrupted the pig's swim at 25 hours and let him rest comfortably in the crock pot on high for 5 hours in all of its juices . A hybrid approach, if you will. In any event, and I'm not one to brag on my food, but this was the best pork I have ever put in my mouth. No kidding. Edited to add better image.

Looks awesome! The short ribs...

For what?

Well, I'll stand by my first reply--I really don't want to smell anything during SV. I get a little paranoid after my first bag breach, but now I double bag and double seal in most cases. Also, today I learned that there is a sealing problem with the VacMaster VP112 that I was happy to resolve for the company. The upper sealer strip of rubber is too long to fit in the channel properly, causing distortions in the seal pattern under pressure. Simply remove the upper seal, trim off approximately 3/16th's of the length, re-install and you will get perfect seals. Under pressure and temp the upper seal bar was bunching-up and creating a dimple effect on the seal... Now I am waiting for ARY to send me a nice, larger chamber sealer for solving their problem. Boston Butt competing in the 48 hour swim marathon... Edits to add image and clean up verbage.

Yeah, I will occasionally get a whiff of something during a long SV and then I get paranoid about a bag breach. I should have added that if you can smell what you are cooking in another room and come back to find cloudy water, you've got a problem. I agree that it is probably not a safety issue, but I wouldn't continue with the tainted bath... I had it happen with one of my first attempts at chicken SV. Did just what I suggested earlier. The other three bags were fine and I wound up freezing the diluted bag contents for soup meat.

I'm certainly not an expert in this area, but if I had a leaky bag, I'd toss the contents. If caught quickly though, I'd think you could throw whatever leaked into another bag, not under vacuum, into an ice bath, let it chill, vacuum again and start anew. That would go for everything though, since you'd really need to toss the water. To my way of thinking, if you're cooking sous vide and you smell what you're cooking, you've got problems. A good seal is probably THE most important thing, from what I know, such as it is... Aside from time and temp, of course... (the edit)

This is my temporary solution to keeping it vertical. New to the Sous Vide thing and have picked many tips here. Thanks to all! Thankfully, there are binder clips in the house. St. Louis cut spare ribs suspended on rods through holes drilled through Cambro tub. I've double up the tub for better insulation.