Chris Amirault

About to spend a day in hospital waiting rooms and other public spaces, I'm wondering about what sort of goodies will tempt me in the vending machines. As this is the US, not Japan, my hopes are low; if I can find a bag of SmartFood (cheesy popcorn) or Nutter Butter cookies, I will be content. Now, if I were in Tokyo.... When you are heading towards a vending machine, what do you hope you'll spy there? Posted from my handheld using the Tapatalk app. Want to use eG Forums on your iPhone, Android or Blackberry? Get started at http://egullet.org/tapatalk

Should arrive this week, and I'll report back when it does. Wondering about a pineapple shrub...

Sigh... That's what I do, too. I wonder if there's an easy way to create a simple, searchable pdf file of the contents of the Kitchen Manual. That online index is the one I use most often anyway, so having another would be golden.

Given the amount of activity around here this weekend, I think that I had simply naturalized the extent to which I avoided bagging stuff with liquid. I mean, I'd do it with the FoodSaver if I have to do it, but it was at best a drag and at worst a failure. Now, well, it's as easy as pie.

That looks plenty good to me! What kind of rice did you use?

Society volunteers work hard behind the scenes to create and organize content, fix snafus, and raise funds to keep the Society going. Most of us work in teams, and we get a little feedback now and then letting us know you appreciate our work (or giving us tips on how to do it better!). Today we'd like to identify one volunteer who works entirely alone with no contact with active members at all -- yet every current member of the Society owes her a debt of gratitude. For years, Kristin Yamaguchi (torakris) has been overseeing all aspects of Society membership application, ushering thousands of people through the process. All the while, she takes time out to share her remarkable knowledge of Japanese food and culture with us. So I hope you'll join me by thanking her for all this hard work! You can leave her a personal message by clicking here.

I found these fantastic pieces of local pork belly earlier this week: I've been making bacon from Ruhlman's charcuterie for a while and thought I'd give the MC house-cured bacon a try. Here's the rub, based on 2.5% salt and 0.6% curing salt (I used DQ #1); they also add Fermento and sodium erythorbate, neither of which I have on hand, so I omitted them: You distribute the cure on the belly -- I did so after halving those long strips -- and then vacuum seal it: I'll remove them from the cure next Sunday, let them rest in the fridge (or curing chamber, probably) for another week, then smoke them. Will report back.

A few mediocre but perhaps useful shots of the VP112. The control panel: Closed: Open: And here's a good example of the sort of thing that would take me half an hour of frustration to seal up, a Thai geng gari -- that is to say, a coconut-cream-based curry sauce: One minute later: As noted elsewhere, this is not a machine that's easy to move around and, unlike my vintage Hobart meat slicer, it is not a thing of beauty to behold forever. Unless you've outfitted your kitchen to look like the deck on Battlestar Gallactica, this is going to stick out like a sore thumb.

A question for those who own the book: how are you approaching the Kitchen Manual? It's a remarkably useful book for all the reasons mentioned: succinct recipes, waterproof (and, I can confirm after this weekend, stain-resistant!) pages, spiral bound so it sits flat, etc. But I still haven't figured out how to find stuff in there with any consistency. With such a carefully indexed book, I can't help but think that I've just not figured out the system somehow.

I've been on a bit of a rampage this weekend, with a spiced chili oil about to finish its 24 hours in the Sous Vide Supreme, some young rhubarb getting infused with liqueurs (St. Germain and Marie Brizard Raspberry de Bourdeaux), making bags from old FoodSaver rolls... on and on. I gathered a few tips that might be useful to some folks out there. I'm finding that a curled-handled metal bench or pastry scraper -- you know, this thing -- is very useful in the chamber. Here it is preventing a small bag of bacon from sliding around: It can also act as a slight incline. Here it is sitting underneath that (heavenly) bag of spiced oil getting ready for sealing: Finally, when you've got something that's just too much liquid, a tortilla rolling pin works just fine to prop up the entire machine on an incline:

Quick note: If your vacuum goes kablooey on your FoodSaver and you get a chamber sealer, don't toss the FoodSaver! It's still built to seal and cut bags on rolls far more easily than anything else.

Not completely, but mostly. Enough to make the meal for the fam, but if I were in an Iron Chef competition, the excess butter usage would have lost me points.

Made the mac & cheese recipe again tonight and it was a smash hit, but: we had a discussion about the intensity of it. Everyone thinks it's the best mac & cheese ever, adults and kids alike. But you just can't have a typical portion size because, well, it's mind-blowingly rich. Hence the portion size, I think, that's indicated in the recipe.

You're completely right. I missed a line in the recipe. The technique is from Modernist Cuisine (4-98): you make the custard base (I eyeballed it; their recipe is about 5:2 milk to eggs), add your flavorings (for me, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla extract), then vacuum thickly sliced bread with the custard until the custard just boils. When you release the seal, the bread will have absorbed all the custard. I let the bags sit overnight in the fridge and then cooked them on the stove in a ton of butter. (Next time: finish in a 300F oven as MC instructs.) "Sweet Jesus!" my wife yelled. "That is the best thing I've ever eaten." She loves her custard but... well, you get the idea. Crisp on the outside, like a soufflé on the inside. Maybe not the best thing I've ever eaten, but if you're asking that question about french toast, you know you've nailed it.

Agreed with Llyn. I don't have a caliper, but my rough measurement just now suggests it's 5mm.

Here are a few shots of the VP112:

It's impossible to get the color right, but this comes close: Compressed on the right. Tonight, I tried a new project: french toast. I sliced up some challah, made the milk and egg batter, and sealed up two bags. The vacuum on the first batch ran too long so I think the bread may be a bit deformed; the second batch I ran for much less time. Results in the a.m.

I can't believe no one has mentioned Hooter's.

Earlier this week, Ardbeg scotch and Henry McKenna bourbon.

My travels in Japan and Thailand suggest that, indeed, many restaurants are seasonal, but not because someone's pushing a local/artisanal/seasonal shtick. Rather, products are truly seasonal, and restaurants serve, say, unagi when it's eel season.

I'll be very interested to read your notes for comparison, John. If I were doing production volume, I'd definitely save up; it'll be helpful to see how your home use needs are met (or overmet!).

Yes, today it was a $5 salad. Whole Paycheck, indeed.

This morning I started the pastrami using bone-in short ribs. They're brining for six days, then I'll smoke 'em. Will report back.

So here are those containers, all labeled and ready to go: I'm very happy with them. No more avalanches!

Interesting you'd ask that. I decided this morning to make the brine and bag some short ribs for pastrami, and I ran into trouble. Turns out that even the biggest bag doesn't handle 4l of brine because you have to lay it down -- a decided disadvantage to a FoodSaver bag that can be as long as you'd like! I ended up parceling it into three bags -- a pita, let me tell you -- but all's good now. But that's a pretty unusual situation. I really can't imagine anything I'd want to vacuum seal that would be too big for the chamber itself. Thanks, lstrelau, for the double seal tip. I am going to get those FoodSaver rolls all ready to go this weekend!