Chris Amirault

Last year, Kerry Beal initiated the Great Freezer Cleanout of 2010. This weekend, my FoodSaver went kablooie, and the chamber sealer I just ordered won't be shipped for a month. Instead of sobbing -- well, ok, after I finished sobbing -- I thought, hey, why not make room in the freezer for the deluge to come this spring? So I present the Great Freezer Cleanout of 2011. I'm at work, so I can't recall everything that's packed in there, but believe me, it's packed: gallons of stock, loaves of challah, sausages, squash, chili, bacon.... I've got some work to do? Anyone want to join me?

Update on that VacMaster VP112 Chamber Sealer from Kodiak Health. Turns out they -- like everyone, it seems -- are out of stock, and they don't expect the factory to ship new units until mid-April. Very nice customer service people, and this is obviously out of their hands. But... grrr.

Best name -- and sauce -- ever. Clicky. What size/variety of mango did you use? We get a smallish Manila here, which is great because they're my favorite for eating off the bone, but I'm not sure they're correct for the recipe. I'd use a couple of those, as I usually have access only to the larger varieties here. It will change the flavor somewhat, but, hey, I prefer to think of them as "vintages." I'd substitute something more like brown sugar, palm sugar if you can find it. You don't really need it for thickness, but you want that slightly bitter sweetness that molasses brings. Yes, that's a RecipeGullet entry, not a discussion topic.

What is the sauce with those fish tacos?

What are your dinner routines? Do you usually make at home? For how many people? Do tell!

Paul, which thicknesses do you typically use for which applications?

Update: My parents left a box of Total Raisin Bran in the house, and it's crunchy to the last spoonful.

Amida0616, I will report on a wide variety of techniques, foods, and more ,don't you worry! You can see it here.

Yep, it happened: We're #2. We try harder. The end of an era. Care to comment?

Anna, I think that's right: US sirloin and SV don't quite work, in my experience. It doesn't work cooked just to temperature and then seared quickly, and it doesn't benefit from the long cooking that transforms, say, flank steak into a remarkable piece of meat.

While I'm at it: does anyone have reliable suppliers for chamber sealer bags?

Sugar cube, 2 dashes Jerry Thomas Decanter bitters, one orange peel: muddled to syrup. 3 oz Redbreast and two ice cubes, stirred with a stuck Luxardo cherry.

No, prices aren't that much different on the coasts. I've shopped all around LA, SF, and Portland, and prices are more or less comparable, taking into account distribution issues. That makes me wonder whether Bulleit got a container of cases out west but only a few made it into the NYC market. Who knows.

My FoodSaver just up and died this weekend. It's the second one to go belly-up in just a few years, and the more I read about other people's experiences with the FoodSaver line, the less enthusiastic I became. Then I started looking at other edge sealers like the VacMaster and Vacupak machines, all of which were getting me into the range of $250-300. Then... Well, then I pulled the trigger on a VacMaster VP112 Chamber Sealer from Kodiak Health, $639 including free shipping. (Here's the user's manual linked above.) It's an early Father's Day/birthday gift -- seems reasonable since my Xmas gift, Modernist Cuisine, arrived two months after Xmas! I thought I'd share some of the reasons I made this decision. First and foremost, it was at the tippity-top of my price range, placing the VP210 out of the park. The VP210 also would have been difficult to store, get out, and use given its weight. The bag cost was a pretty compelling reason to move away from edge sealers. Try as I might -- and, admittedly, I didn't try that hard -- I couldn't find a reason not to spend what, effectively, was a few years of FoodSaver bags difference on a vastly superior product. And there's no question I'll get regular use out of it; I used that FoodSaver machine 2-3 times per week, usually with at least 3 or 4 bags each time, and my use is on the up-swing, to say the least. Say a $.20 savings per bag, 10 bags per week, 50 weeks per year: that's $100/year saved just on bags -- and from what I'm reading the savings should be more than $.20/bag. Finally, of course, there's the added features and benefits of a chamber sealer. I'm eagerly looking forward to the increased control over time, vacuum, and sealing that the machine features. In addition, I make copious amounts of stock for the freezer, brine, pickle and cure in vacuum-sealed bags, and cook a lot of items SV that include moist or wet ingredients. Though I'm proud of my FoodSaver technique sealing bags full of chicken stock, it was always a kludgey pita, and the thought of a machine built to handle all these liquids makes me giddy. I'll report back, in detail, of course.

I agree with Mr. Hennes, and have devoted a lot of time to the volume 1, page 1: onward! project. However, the remarkable organization, and particularly cross-referencing, of the volumes also lends itself to the sort of hyperlinked experience that you usually only find in quality wikis or other digital environments. Today, for example, my FoodSaver gave up the ghost, and in one 30 minute stretch with three volumes at hand I learned more about pressure, vacuum and chamber sealers, what boiling means, plastics, and probably seven other things than I knew before I cracked 'em open.

Yeah, the Negroni and Fever Tree G&T should also be on my list.

Thanks. I think I'll try to grab a rump at Whole Foods. A beef rump, that is.

I think that what we might call the "holy crap" effect is very strong here, especially when you can see the volumes themselves. Every -- and I mean every -- chef or Johnson & Wales professor who has seen my copy has immediately ordered it (or had already). One wrote that after seeing it he realized that every serious professional had to have this in their library, and I think that's the effect it's having out there. (Not just for the el Bulli/Alinea/Noma types, either; he is a bread guy.) That suggests to me that growth will increase as copies make their way into people's hands, and especially in shared or public environments. I've heard many people hope out loud that their library will have a copy. Have you any sense of whether that's been happening, Nathan?

What dishes need dried mint?

Looking forward to following your foodblog! I've only been to Galveston once, but it was a fascinating place. I'm eager to read more about the foodways there. Which Zojirushi is that?

Nick, that's the "topside," or the back part of round? And the lack of marbling didn't affect the outcome? That's just awesome if so.

I maintain it's pointless. Fresh rosemary should have a different name than dried. Reminds me of what Bourdain said about dried herbs, the way that they all "evoke the warehouse floor..."

Well, I really did mean pointless. There is no benficial use for dried basil or rosemary.

Basil and rosemary.

Do try it: simple and delicious.