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See the little Add "" button under each post? Just click that button for each post you want to quote, then add your reply - all of the posts will be there, ready to edit. I think there's a limit to how many you can add at once, but it's more than enough. Fun blog!

Nathan, I think I may have asked this before, but do you know of a source of heat shrink bags in less than huge quantities? Every time I try searching for them I turn up quantities in the thousands. A bit more than I need....

bigwino posted an amazon link for the stuffer. The five-pound one is $60. I ordered one and it's been sitting on the shelf waiting for me to find time to use it. Chris, do you think the petroleum lube gunk is really needed for this? I have some berkshire pork shoulder on order from Heritage Foods - I may want to turn part of it into sausage and I'd hate to have it seize up in the stuffer.

Maybe "dry" isn't exactly the right word, but the texture changes over time. As Nathan says, you can prevent the food from exceding the target temperature, but it's the combination of time and temperature that determines how done the food is. Long-cooked chicken breast isn't really bad, just not ideal as far as I'm concerned. You might give it a try to see what you think.

joesan, nathanm's summary of time / temperature combinations starts at this post, with tables in subsequent posts. I'm not sure what the difference is between low-temp oven cooking vs. water bath. (Does the heat transfer difference affect the cooking time?) Lower tempertaure / longer time should benefit any tougher cuts of meat. Jason, super-long times tend to give poultry a dry texture, but that's just my opinion. Maybe others have had success with it. If I need to do something like chicken breast ahead, I cook it for a shorter time and chill it quickly in an ice bath. I reheat at a higher bath temperature, keeping an eye on the internal temperature. I believe you're OK on the safety factor - others will probably correct me on that.

I'm not sure that the Super Giada is much of an upgrade from the Francis Francis. I believe that both are single-boiler machines. The Millenium is a Heat Exchange (HX) machine with the E61 group head, so it's a step up, especially if you make milk-based drinks and like to make several espressos in a short time (e.g. entertaining at a dinner party). I have a Mondiale, which is similar to the Millenium. The pump is noisy and the pressure adjustment is tricky, but it is basically a very capable machine. If you can budget for a HX machine and a decent grinder, I'd go for it. But even a cheap machine will perform better with freshly ground beans compared to a high end machine with preground coffee. Sorry I can't help with a source of beans in the UK.

A previous book from the "Chef" series will be getting a few more readers. From a press release on the Case Western Reserve University web site:

Over on the recipes topic I posted a link to a Ruhlman podcast interview where he mentions that Thomas Keller was planning to introduce some low-cost equipment for sous vide cooking at home. His new book uses lots of sous vide technique, and he wanted to provide a way for home cooks to play along. I think the book publication has been delayed, so who knows if this will ever materialize

Chef Dominic Cerino is in Alaska this week, fishing for Copper River King salmon. He's posted some comments on a local Cleveland forum (be advised that this forum only retains posts for a limited time, so direct links would die after a short period). The Cleveland Food & Wine forum has posts at index 10793, 10809, and 10819, with more to come. From the first post on May 24, relayed via email to the forum host: I'm relieved that that CRS will arrive in time for the Terra Madre Feast, but that's a bit selfish of me, considering the hardships the fishermen are facing. This is a fascinating diary of a great adventure, written by someone who cares passionately about food and sustainability. I'd love to see it preserved in a less ephemeral format.

Today was the first pick-up day of the season - tender mixed greens, onions, and radishes. (the eggs also come from my farmer). It took a while to clean the greens, but it was worth it. Delicious!

The only downside to using tenderloin instead of loin is the relative lack of fat in tenderloin. I found a picture on line of the "big board" at Parea, Michael Symon's Greek place in Manhattan. Link to external pic. There's an array of "lomo-like" stuff at the front. (I'm not sure what the Greek version is called). It looks similar to the lomo I've had at Lolita but I assume the spicing is different.

I don't have a recipe, but it seems that the basic salt-cure followed by air curing should work. Sort of like the cured lamb leg, with more spices on the outside. Not sure how long the cure would take, since the pork loin may be a bit thicker than the lamb. I've had lomo cured by Armandino, and also house-cured lomo at Lolita in Cleveland (Michael Symon's Mediterranean place). It's always sliced paper-thin (like prosciutto), and has a peppery crust. The flavor of the meat is less intense than prosciutto, but very tasty nonetheless. If anyone has any ideas on the cure timing, I'd like to try making some myself.

The date sugar sounds like the palm sugar used in Asian cooking. It's called "gula jawa" in Indonesia (where I lived as a child). I think it's called "jaggery" (sp?) in India. You should be able to find it in Asian markets. The stuff isn't just solid, it's a kind of gummy, resinous mass - barely sticky to the touch, unless it's really old and dried-up. It has a much more complex flavor profile than cane or beet sugar. There's a kind of pine-tar overtone to it. (I make it sound gross, but it actually tastes pretty good). Owen's idea of tossing some sugar into the beans while roasting is fascinating. Do you add the sugar at the end of the roast? I would think that it would just char if it was added too early. If anyone wants to try it, green coffee, including North-African varieties, can be ordered from places like sweetmarias.

A few Carrie Cerino updates. First of all, the Copper River King Salmon has started arriving (in limited quantities). They are supplied by Bill Webber, who catches them near the mouth of the river (before they're all pooped out struggling upstream. ). Chef Dominic Cerino will be flying to Alaska next week to go out on the fishing boat with Webber. Talk about being close to your source... Webber was a 2004 delegate to the Terra Madre conference, which brings me to the next bit of news. Carrie Cerino is hosting a benefit dinner for the Ohio delegation to this year's Terra Madre conference. eGullet Calendar entry here (thanks Ronnie!) In addition to Copper River Kings and other good stuff, the benefit will feature salumi prepared by Armandino Batali, Michael Symon, and Chef Cerino. I'm especially looking forward to tasting Batali's culatello. Here' a description by R.W. Apple in today's NY Times (link):

I agree that portions of that piece were "fun", but I found this part heartbreaking: The saddest thing is that the meat was probably at the right temperature for best results, but as Polcyn states in the article, this process is too complex for the authorities to "get". I've seen what Dominic Cerino (in Cleveland) has to do to please the inspectors. Expensive dedicated coolers, digital monitors for temperature, humidity, and pH. His grandma just hung the stuff in the cellar.

In the Hungry Magazine podcast interview, Michael Ruhlman says that the Sous Vide book is "on hold". Is this a different book? One interesting tidbit from Ruhlman is that Keller wants to market affordable sous vide equipment along with the book. Check out the portion of the interview starting at about minute 38:00.

Last year was great fun. Many thanks to Tammy for organizing this again. Wine tasting and coffee cupping - a balanced program! Count me in, too. p.s. to Ronnie: Are you going to drive this year?

It's also on Amazon. Thanks for bumping this topic, PamelaF. I missed it the first time around.

I finally looked up the CVA615 on the Miele site to see what Ya-Roo was talking about. That is cool looking. Too bad the coffee from superautos sucks. Mark Prince from Coffeegeek has an interesting write-up on a new superauto being introduced by Krups. Scroll down to Krazy about Krups. It sounds like a big improvement over the current offerings.

Ruth, I think you're well within the safety limits. The point of my little tirade earlier was that we've already seen most of this information posted here, but this topic has grown so huge (approaching 500 posts now!) that it's hard to track down the specific details that we need when actually cooking sous vide. Harryotto provided a nice succinct guideline for avoiding botulism (as far as it goes), but we really need a master index to this thread, or some sort of FAQ, to consult on a daily basis. Honestly, I've got my own in the form of links to useful posts. NathanM started this topic with a few simple questions about sous vide practice, and got summarily drafted as the eG sous vide authority. If you look all the way back to the start of it all, you'll see suggestions of an eCGI course on sous vide. I can't draft Nathan, but he's the obvious candidate. Seriously though, I think that eGullet is being sought out as a reference on sous vide, and we should consider carefully the information being put forth on the subject. We can serve as a clearing house of useful information, or we can chase our collective tails with the same old confusion. I vote for the former. <span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Sorry for yet another tirade.</span>

Food blogger Mike Nagrant has a review of Cleveland restaurants (including Lolita) on Hungrymag: Cleveland Cooks Won't get any argument from me. There's also a podcast (~50MB MP3) interview with Michael Symon: Symon Says Edit to add: Yes the podcast includes the famous manic laugh, and also confirmation that Lola will be serving the Mac and Cheese.

Sweet Marias started selling roasted beans a while back - they roast on Monday, so you have to have the beans shipped then (or pick up if you're in the area). Roastmaster's Choice I've been ordering green beans from them for some time now - just this week I decided to get some of their pre-roasted stuff just to "calibrate" my home roasts against theirs as a reference.

A brief CC update: Chef Dominic is a huge fan of artisanal salumi. He's been serving pasta dishes prepared with guanciale from Armandino Batali's shop in Seattle, and he serves a special salumi board with a selection of wonderful cured meats and cheeses. The big news is that he's investing in the equipment and hard work required to start selling house-cured salumi. This is a serious undertaking - not only in buying the dedicated coolers, pH monitoring equipment, etc., but also in the time, materials, and effort required to "audition" before the county health inspectors. That's right - before he can sell a scrap of salumi, the health board has to "bless" his operation. Given Chef Dominic's penchant for using only hormone-free heritage pork, it's got to be costing him a fortune. Here's a list of the salumi he's starting out with: Guanciale, Hot Soppessata, Finocchiona, Coppa, Pancetta, Salami and Lomo. Sounds like an excellent start. He's also got a new angle on some interesting stuff from Alaska - I'll let NancyH (who started this thread) pick up that particular bit of good news.

Minor Lolita update (rather than just speculating about when Lola Bistro will *finally* open ) I know I sound like a broken record, raving about the small plates and the house-cured salumi. I do have some new thoughts to add to my previous ravings. First of all, there are a couple of "omo" small plates on the menu. Or at least there were as of Saturday evening. (Have I metioned that the menu changes all the time?) "Omo", I take it, is the Greek equivalent of Seviche or carpaccio. In other words, thinly-sliced seafood that is "cooked" by acids rather than by heat. I tried both the tuna and the scallop omo. The tuna omo was certainly tasty, accompanied by olives and almonds (a surprising combination), but the scallop omo just blew me away. It was marinated in a yogurt dressing and was interleaved with paper-thin slices of red onion. Wow! I had only one salumi plate. Review my posting history and you'll know that this is out of character. I always try to sample the house-cured salumi goodness, and there was plenty on display on Saturday. The one I chose was new to me: Hiromeri, a Greek cured lamb salume similar in texture to Prosciutto. The most interesting thing to me was the use of cinnamon in the cure. This was served with a Fennel pickle that was almost as exciting as the salumi. No joke! The fennel pickle was a bit sweet, sort of like bread-and-butter pickles if you're familiar with that. But there was a decided "kick" to it as well - I think it was red pepper and cumin, but I had a tough time pinning it down. Never mind classifying the flavors - it was too good to puzzle over. Another departure (for me) was ordering a main course. I'm a big fan of the small plates, so much so that I rarely have room for a main course. On Saturday the slow-braised heritage pork caught my eye, so I cut back on the small plates to make room. The pork is cooked low-and-slow for hours and is accompanied by a soft polenta, crunchy walnuts (I think), and crisp pancetta. I was startled by the generous portion of pork. It's a good thing I was hungry (had somehow managed to eat nothing all day). I don't know how they manage to serve such a huge quantity of superlative quality food at the price they charge. Amazing. Finally, the dessert menu now hews to the "small plate" theme as well. So I ordered the Greek olive oil cake because it sounded cool (it was, with thyme no less, and some supremes of - I think - peppery blood orange), and the coffee semifreddo (intensely sweet and unctuous). I regret not ordering the lemon meringue which has gotten raves from friends on another forum. Well, there's always next time.... p. s. to Kristin - when you finalize your travel plans, PM the "usual suspects" or post a notice in ISO. I have a feeling that reservations at the new LB will be hard to come by in July.