Smithy

Your description of the gravy and the turkey meatloaf reminds me of the Nutri-matic Machine in "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy": after a careful bioanalysis of the person asking for a drink, it inevitably delivered something that was "almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea".

I feel rather foolish! I'm running a dual sous vide cook: eye of round beef roast in one pot, and chicken breasts in another. (Those breasts are being cooked at 140F per @Shelby's recommmendation, to see whether I prefer it to the 145F I used last time.) Dual cooks require both of my sous vide circulators, so I put the Joule to work on the roast and the Anova to work on the chicken. It's been noted many times before that the Joule is quieter than the Anova (with the downside that the Joule requires the cell phone app to control). I was quite put out by the persistent, loud rattle of the Anova. That is, I was put out until I tightened the screw that holds it in its collar. Problem solved. Why has it taken me so long to try that?

One of my weaknesses as a shopper is overenthusiasm. I buy a lot of whatever looks good -- especially seasonal produce -- and then scramble (or fail) to use it before it goes off. So it was that yesterday I had an overabundance of corn to use up, as well as tomatoes, Japanese eggplant, and lettuce. Here's what I used, and how it turned out: 4 ears of corn: kernels cut off, and "milk" scraped into a bowl with the kernels 5 small Japanese eggplants, sliced into 1/2" coins and steamed 4 sausages (2 Polish, 2 jalapeno jack cheese bratwursts) sliced into 1/2" coins 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, deveined and chopped 1/2 poblano pepper, seeded, deveined and chopped ~1/4c chicken jello 1 c cherry tomatoes on the way out, and the surviving 3/4 of a beefsteak tomato, chopped a bit of water as a sauce booster Steamed the eggplant coins as noted above, to soften them and prevent them from requiring too much oil. Filmed a wok with oil (I used pecan, because I happen to have it, but any cooking oil would have done) and heated it, then sauteed the sausage coins until they were partially cooked. Added the eggplant, and stirred all until browning began. Added the peppers until soft. Added the tomatoes, cooked until the cherry tomatoes began to pop. Added the corn. Added the chicken jello, and stirred until it melted. By that time it appeared that the beefsteak tomato juice and corn milk needed more assistance, so added a touch of water to develop more sauce. Here is the finished melange: About half went into a bowl with about half the lettuce, with the idea of making a wilted-lettuce salad. It looks a bit like a dog's dinner, but we both liked it. As usual, he wanted it slightly sweetened and added white wine worcestershire sauce; I wanted it slightly tarter and added a touch of red wine vinegar to brighten it. It was a good way to use those ingredients, including the corn. I think sweet corn is a wonderfully versatile filler for other dishes. Today we finished the leftovers. It looks better before stirring! Now I have to go buy more corn.

Every time I see that "SW" my professional training kicks in to read it as "Solid Waste".

I looked at one of these in the local Goodwill store and passed it by, being of strong sales resistance at the time. If you show some great results, I might be tempted to go see if it's still there. Enable me, please!

I have a LOT of lovage in my flower bed. I should try making a soup with it!

I moved from California to northern Minnesota for 6 months, which turned into many years. My parents, who were San Joaquin Valley farmers, would occasionally send me "care packages" that were probably intended to entice me back 'home'. One very memorable birthday present came when my mother insisted that a flat of Truly Ripe Local Strawberries be shipped to me. My father was scandalized at the expense. My mother wanted to share the bounty. The strawberries suffered in transit, of course. The packing peanuts (yes, those styrofoam thingies) had gotten up close and personal to the fresh fruit so that the package included strawberry-stained styrofoam; the coolant had lost its cool; and juices were soaking through the cardboard by the time the package found its way to my office. Still, there were some excellent strawberries in the mix: fine examples of real strawberries, better than what you get in the store...in fact, the Platonic ideal of strawberriness. I never had the heart to tell my mother how much the cargo had been damaged. The good-hearted whimsy of the gift, combined with the successful few in the package after it arrived, made it a world-class present for me. Bless her.

It all looks lovely, but I don't understand "fondue" in this context. It may be the hour. Explain, please?

We began with a pickup-mounted camper. It had a small stove and refrigerator, a table that could become an extra bed, and a bed over the cab. Our husky at the time weighed 70 pounds, and took up most of the aisle. It was a beginning.

"STOP THE CAR!" I love that. A woman after my own heart! Any idea what variety of peach that is?

I think it counts. There's no mileage requirement for upscale / comfortable glamping...I can imagine the van feeling a bit crowded at the end of a long trip, though. Do you remember what you used to cook and/or eat during those trips?

In all the time I've lived in this area, I've never really noticed Louise's Place. It's an unassuming little place in what passes for downtown Two Harbors, close to the waterfront. A couple of weeks ago I had occasion to be in town for breakfast. I noticed the sign. I tried the door, which opened on an interior stairway. I went up the stairs and peered in. It's small, and clearly one of the places the locals hang out for breakfast. For reasons I can't explain, I was shy about taking more pictures, so there's none of the counter or menu. This is about half the dining area. The artwork and crafts are all for sale. Their special of the day was a sausage patty on a freshly-made biscuit, with cheese. This particular combination should sound familiar to anyone who visits places like Burger King or McDonald's. Those joints can only dream of making something as good as this. I don't usually eat large breakfasts, but if I'm in town again at the right time, I'll go back to Louise's to try them again. I asked whether they were new, since I'd never noticed them before. Nope...they've been around since 1992!

Galette made of puff pastry (Pepperidge Farms) with a topping of grilled, marinated artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, scallions, garlic, onions, cheeses, herbs and Dry Coppa. The recipe was loosely based on this recipe for Herbed Artichoke Gallete from Fine Cooking #160, Aug/Sept 2019. I say "loosely" because I took liberties with the ingredients, being determined to use up some cheeses that would expire soon with or without our help, and because we did not have leeks but had scallions and onions. I also thought there would be a household revolt if I didn't include some meat, so the Coppa went into the mix. Upper row, left to right: happenings in the skillet; the lot settled on the puff pastry before baking. Lower row, left to right: the cooked product; the cut galette, just before serving. I could see the mental groan from The Other Half when he thought this would be some Fancy-Dan vegetarian dinner. He was somewhat assured when he learned there was cured meat in the mix. He was downright fascinated when he bit into the puff pastry. I have played with this stuff only once before, and it didn't really register on him. Tonight the discussion was largely about how the layers are accomplished. We began with pie dough vs. metallurgy: he wondered about layers of pie dough splayed atop one another and then rolled, and I tried to explain that it was much more like folding and rolling layers: Damascus Steel. At last we settled into a geologic discussion: I thought it more along the lines of mica or vermiculite; he thought it more like schist. We both liked it. I'll be doing it again. Yes, we really do talk this way at home.

That is beautiful. Did you make that bread? If so, would you please point to the recipe you used, or describe the method?

Thank you both for a lovely trip, as always. I'm sorry to see it end!

I've been looking at the altitude setting. This pot will automatically add time for altitude adjustments. I don't know more about the algorithm and am unlikely to explore it much, unless we take this on the road to a higher elevation than where we live now.

Here's the first unintended consequence / unexpected result. I left the IP's alone to do their thing, and came back an hour after the Ultra had beeped loudly to announce that its program had ended. (The sound can be turned off or on.) Surprise! The "Keep Warm" function was warmer than my setpoint! The manual (yes, I did open it today ) says the "Keep Warm" function runs from 145 - 172F. If I had been intent on having something cook at 150F, I'd have been disappointed to see what happened afterward. The "Keep Warm" function can be turned off or on, but it appears that the temperature set point can't be changed. Incidentally, I've been reporting everything in degrees F, but the unit also works in degrees C. The altitude setting works in feet or meters.

Today I'm beginning the comparison between the IP Duo-60 and the IP Ultra-60. I already talked about the difference in lids and venting systems, but here's a picture for comparison's sake. The Ultra's lid is on the left. If someone wants a better picture so they can read the printing, let me know. The Duo's Steam Release Valve has to be manually turned to "venting" or "sealing" as the use dictates. The Ultra's Steam Release Valve automatically closes when the lid is locked onto the pot. The small button on the right changes the state of that valve: Press it in to release steam; turn it to seal the vent again. I think it's probably safer because you aren't touching the Release Valve (vent) itself, although with only a 2-inch separation between them I'm not sure it matters much. Both came with the rice paddle, scoop, measuring cup and steaming rack. There's a minor difference in racks. (Ultra is on the left.) Here's the first huge difference, the one that I hoped would be true with the Custom settings: The Ultra has been holding a fairly steady 152F since it reached temperature, about an hour after I started it. Based on two temperature setpoint, it seems to have a 2F offset. I can't get too fussed about that: if it's important, I can lower the setpoint by 2 degrees. The Duo is heating water at its "low" cook setting, and an hour after starting it's at 185F. I don't know whether that will be the final point. It was still climbing when I took this picture. Both cookers start the timers for the slow-cooking mode when they begin, not when they reach temperature. If I were the programmer for the Ultra, I think I'd have set it so the timer began when the "Cook" phase began, but that's a small quibble. One delightful aspect of the Ultra is that it remembers preferences. Yesterday when I started it in the SlowCook mode it began with its default of one of the classic modes. (I don't remember whether it was Low, Medium or High.) Today when I plugged it in it defaulted to SlowCook, Custom, 104F.

Yes, it's been a pleasure. Many, many thanks!

Yes, I think that's exactly right. This weekend I may get around to opening the manual to see what they have to say about it.

In 20 minutes, the temperature has risen from 105F to 131F and it's still climbing. I can hear a relay clicking on and off. The bar graph hasn't changed in response to the temperature change, so it appears that the image is simply a graphical representation of the phases involved and the progress through the phase in question.

According to my thermometer, it took about an hour for the water to actually reach 104F, although it rose to 100F from the initial 76F in about a half hour. Since the two-hour mark it's been hovering around 105F. I've seen it down to 104.x (can't remember) and up to 105.7. If I find a datalogger around here - or even a min/max recording thermometer (I think I have one) I'll be interested to see what the temperature swings are. At this temperature it's plenty good for a slow-cook; this isn't a precision circulator. It certainly holds a much lower temperature than the IP Duo 60! I won't be able to do much, if any, more with this today. Feel free to post questions or suggestions on what you'd like to see. Tomorrow or this weekend I'll be doing some side-by-side comparisons with the Duo. We may use this as a slow cooker for meat tomorrow. (Actually, I just told it to crank the temperature up to 150F. If I learn anything before I leave for work I'll post about it here.)

Here's a manual excerpt showing the different operating modes and range of parameters that can be controlled for each.

About 45 minutes ago I set it to cook at 104F. It's an hour into the 4-hour program and has slowly been climbing from 100F to 103F. I began with 76F water, up to the "max pressure cooker" line.

The line shows the program for that phase ("Preheating" in the top paired set of photos) and the bar graph shows how far along it actually is for that phase. In this case the phases were "Preheating," "Cooking" and "Keep Warm". The phase is named in the lower right of the screen. The graphs came up on their own without my asking. I think it will be nice for monitoring progress / status of a program, but whether it will be of use other than satisfying my curiosity remains to be seen.