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Sorry, let me clarify a little on the GABA brown rice (hatsuga genmai). The idea is that you germinate the brown rice before cooking in order to increase the amount of gamma-aminobutyric acid. Here is a nice guide to making the rice without a circulator. http://www.instructables.com/id/HOWTO-make...ted-brown-rice/ Bottom line you are just using the circulator to keep the temp stable for the germination of the rice. After you do this you cook it. I didn't actually cook the rice SV, but it was part of the process.

I've used the bath to make GABA brown rice. Kept it at 104 for a few hours and then finished off in a cheap rice cooker. I'm not convinced SV is going to get you good results for paella. Different perhaps. I'm certainly no expert, but the process for paella asks for crispy caramelized bottom (socarrat) that you aren't going to get with SV.

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...dpost&p=1517668 As mentioned I use a counter steam table/food warmer unit. Here is what I like about it: It has a drain spigot. I set it up and let it run next to the sink so when I am done I just open the spigot to drain. I can put large items in it. Full racks etc. I can use it as a steam table Note: I use the unit without putting another hotel pan in it. In other words when doing SV I am not using it like a steam table. I also fill it with hot water instead of letting the unit bring the water all the way from cold up to cooking temp. I do mostly use my Julabo unit with the steam table, but for the weeks I was testing and using the PID it worked very well. I'm going to set up a friend that lives at a hunting ranch with the PID setup and a steam table unit like mine so he can us it with the all the elk and other game they seem to keep disassembling.

Images of the tables:

Spoilsport. You are funny I don't know about irradiated meat. I don't think I have had any on a long time. I don't think I would chose an irradiated product over a non irradiated product if there was a choice to have. I mostly agree with you on searing. It may not always be what you want though and you may want to do it at the end of cooking. If you do it at the end this might mean that you grew/bred a few things in the bag while it was in the bath and now you have some risk of cross contamination etc running around. How much does UVC bleach red meat if used in a dose just above what is needed to kill all known pathogens that could be on the surface? If we do sear after cooking would we notice the bleach affect? I'm curious because I haven't tried it personally.

Thanks, Nathan. Funny you bring up the spinach example, I used to drive past the location of the contamination every day on my way to work for a few years. I believe the company was looking at getting approval for irradiation of bagged spinach after the incident. I'd imagine that using UVC on bagged meat in sous vide and cryovac packs would be a simple way to esure safety. As long as the bag material isn't blocking UVC treatement would be pretty simple and have little or no effect on the processing or temp of the item. A person has to be very careful with UVC as it's harmful to eyes and skin etc, but I wonder out loud if the addition of a UVC light in commercial sous vide equipment might be an interesting feature. If the tank being used was enclosed or the material blocked UVC from escaping I think it could help cut down on contamination in baths that run at low temps for things like seafood. It could help both the bath water/medium and the item in the bag closer to sterile. I'd imagine that in a restaurant cross contamination from bath water might be an issue. I use an product to create ozonated water and use this for a number of things including food. I *think* it works, but haven't yet reached the point of doing lab testing I'm right there with you on this...except there is nothing more embarrassing or long lasting than making your dinner guests sick with food poisoning. I'll take a fender bender (or maybe even a car jacking or some contusions) over being responsible for making any guest even remotely sick. Back to the example of the steak at 122 for 18 hours. I haven't tried this, but does anyone know for a fact there is a significant difference in outcome from 18 hours at 122 vs. 18 hours at something closer to 125 degrees where things are a little safer?

Nathan, In your research of existing sous vide process in a commercial setting are you seeing anyone using methods other than heat to treat surface contamination? Is anyone using anything like ozone treated water or UVC etc before bagging or after bagging?

Sorry, my bad. The image was attached to Nathan's reply to your message. It was hard to tell. Sorry, Jack. I'm not sure I understand the difference between cooking time and safe hold times if we are talking the same temps. If we are in what the FDA calls the danger zone is there a difference between safe hold times and safe cooks times?

Image from one of NathanM's posts: It's probably safe, but I wouldn't do it. Just a few more degrees and you are fine.

Most recipes call for a simmer for poached pears. Thats not going to work well in a bag. If you do want to try you could use ball jars or similar and put a pear in each. It would ensure you didn't damage the appearance of the whole pears.

I remember Nathan posted he had good success with using a jaccard to sheer some of the muscle fibers and prevent the "squeezing" out of juices during cooking. This might be a good approach for large roasts and cuts. This page has a simple table showing the advantages. SV is not mentioned. http://www.jaccard.com/Home-Product-CTender-45B.asp?group=R * adding reference to post up thread. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...9entry1017979

The sodaclub penguin is not something you could use for any commercial scale. I use one of their edition one product at home to make seltzer and am extremely happy with the value and functionality. Love it and buy them for friends now. You can partner with many bottling companies if you want to do a private label. You would be surprised at how cheap you can get private label water in bottles. The distribution is the costly part of beverages.

It's helpful when sealing liquids. If you have good control you know when and how much liquid is going to get sucked into the spill trough. If you make a seal and there is liquid in the way the extra sealing time helps to get a good seal. Also, if you use bags that aren't FS and are heavy duty they can take a little more time. I sometimes seal commercial packaging like chips and dried fruit packages without using vacuum. If you have folds and multiple layers etc the extra time helps get a seal all the way through.

I'd personally buy the one at Costco. Best warantee you will ever find.

I think this WikiPedia article is pretty good. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_gastronomy

Sure, spheres in spheres are totally possible. You don't need to freeze, but I'm sure it would help make it easier to handle. Post some pics if you do it. I never get a chance since I'm usually too messy

Just rebranded Auber units?

It depends on what you put in the bag. Use more bag than needed and position the item from the bottom before sealing. Be sure the area of the bag under the sealing strip is free of food etc. Can you tell us what you put in the bag when you had some challenges?

Eat it soon. If you smell ammonia you can soak in milk for 15 minutes.. If you are eating it and you get that amonia flavor don't worry. If it's really fresh it should not have the ammonia scent....but it's common and in some countries they like it very very ripe. Not me.

I freeze stock etc and seal it with a foodsaver. I generally freeze blocks in silicone loaf pans or cupcake forms etc. Once frozen it's easy to peal the blocks out of the silicone and freeze. The advantage of the foodsaver bags is that they are a very good oxygen barrier so the frozon blocks wont shrink over time like they might in other plastic. I have also frozen in freezer ball jars, but find the foodsaver bag approach a better space saver. I'd still like to do the canning approach to save freezer space.

I think they were freezing the spheres at WD50 with nitrogen. You need freeze fast if you want to block the cross linking after spherification. There are some references up thread.

Still think vacuum is not necessary, huh? ;-) This is yet another good illustration why air needs to be removed. ← Yes, I believe you do not *need* vacuum. A vacuum sealer is not needed for sous vide cooking. You don't have to remove all the air. If you want to remove all the air this can be done without a vacuum and even without plastic bags or wrap. Mike, I think we have proven many or all of your arguements false. I'm not going to continue to indulge you.

I used to cook steaks on the grill after soaking in a little milk, rinsing then a quick teriyaki marinade to coat. It soaks up marinade quick. I can make my own thermometers now.

What's the temp? You can test it by putting it in cold water. If it collapses it's probably ok as long as you have been at safe temps etc. Liquids can turn to gas at temp and expand the bag. Generally if you chill the bag the bag will collapse and tell you that the expansion is due to heat.

That's an interesting statement. Do you have any data to back this up? ← Yes, check your FoodSaver manual, it'd would tell you the pressure range for your particular model. A good indicator is freezer burns: if you see them - there is no vacuum. ← What i mean is do you have data indicating that using a foodsaver instead of a chamber machine is inherently UNSAFE. On top of that, i've had steaks in the freeze for over a year, and there is no freezer burn whatsoever. ← If you don't see a freezer burn - great! It means you vacuum pack is holding well. ← Freezer burn has nothing to do with vacuum. (Yes, I am going to keep saying you don't truely need vacuum, you just want to remove the oxygen) Even if something was packed in a chamber vacuum sealer it can still freezer burn. The majority of freezer burn is related to the type of material used for the bag or wrap. FoodSaver and many vacuum bags are designed to be an oxygen barrier. Lots of famous label freezer bags and plastic wraps etc will "leak" oxygen over time and cause freezer burn. The nylon material of the outer layer of the FoodSaver boil safe bag gives these bags a certain higher degree of oxygen protection.