dougal

First point, yes, more air means more oxygen, means more heat. So why not just provide more bottom (through) ventilation? Second point - these were street stalls. Cook on demand. They want the fire to just stay alive, using minimal fuel, when there isn't a customer waiting. Using a small, hand-held fan would allow them to, quickly but temporarily, make a controlled, SMALL hot-spot where they can grill the required quantity of food - and then let the thing return to smoulder before the next customer order. I think it could be quite a rational method of increasing the efficiency of fuel usage. And fuel is going to be a significant part of their business costs, so care with it could easily be the difference between profit and loss. ChefCrash is quite right, these folks DO understand exactly what they are doing. Once upon a time, this writer was part of a team tasked with constructing a large oil-drum based charcoal grill (or barbecue as we'd call it in the UK) for the hospitality side of a factory open day. Being engineering-design-led, ventilation and non-toxic means of lighting a large charcoal mass were considered at the design stage and duly sketched on the back of an envelope. Some drilled pipework was thus laid into the base of the drum, (about two inches off the base) with an external connection well outside the fire. Attaching the office vacuum cleaner to this - importantly the exhaust of the vacuum cleaner - did indeed dramatically speed up the lighting and establishment of a good grilling fire. In fact, with the turbo running, it produced a spectacularly good imitation of a blacksmith's forge ... and consumed charcoal at a prodigious rate. If you want to wake up a somnolent portion of your charcoal grill, an electric hairdryer can be a useful tool ...

Not a book. But some excellent pointers here http://www.downsizer.net/Projects/Home_brewing/The_art_of_dram-making/

I haven't been to the 3v for ages. (Almost geological ages.) But I do still have jumbled recollections of spending a very long (rainy), boozy and wildly expensive afternoon (well it was a VERY long and excellent lunch gourmand), at, I think, the Bistrot du Praz at 1300. IIRC it wasn't far from the bottom of a bubble, should the snowline be higher. Maybe worth enquiring. Much more my to my budgetary taste was an excellent creperie at 1500, run by a Breton family who moved from their seaside creperie to the mountains for the winter. Probably long gone!

I'm not worried by the voiceover. I'd rather it was delivered 'straight' without too much emoting! And the music isn't obvious either - again that's just fine by me. Though I've visited Raymond's garden, I've not visited his table. Bankruptcy could indeed be an option. Lunched on the mackerel. Quick, simple and very nice indeed. (Though this time I just used a simple salad, rather than his fennel.) His 'light pickle' works wonders to tame and yet harness the flavour of that fish. A definite 'keeper' that recipe! BUT, the website (written) recipe has its variations in the details from what was demonstrated. White Wine vinegar on tv, Cider vinegar written down. Rocket vs Mizuna. Coriander stems vs root! Lime juice quantity, etc ... But the major deviation is that the web recipe calls for only half the fish to be pickled - so that one pickled and one un-pickled fillet can be served to each diner ... The neat method of pin-boning does work brilliantly. Its so OBVIOUS, yet it was new to me. Or maybe its my memory going!

I note that the BBC website is now saying that this is to be an 8 programme series. (I'm sure it said 4 previously.) Programme 2 on fish was a bit more ho-hum than the stunning first one on chocolate. Interesting points for me included - the prep on the cucumber. Skinning, slicing longways, salting and chilling (changing texture and colour), before cooking ... - "use cheap wine for cooking" (well, I do actually, but I'll feel less guilty about it now). It was a Vin de Pays de l'Oc (Chardonnay) that he was using in his fish soup. And reducing slightly (on its own) before adding to the soup. - seeing the importance of saffron in that soup - pickling his mackerel before grilling ... - for his 'mise' on the steamed turbot and scallop, he filleted and portioned the turbot, shelled, cleaned and sliced his scallops, and then brushed every piece with a mix of salt, lemon juice and melted butter before sticking in the fridge (strangely uncovered) for a few hours until cooking started. That was all the salting he gave it. - I think the wine that he was steaming his turbot over was Gewürztraminer! There was lots of sound, but slightly basic advice. Use the herb stalks for marinades, bouquet garni, etc - reserve the leaves for finishing and garnishing. After pan-frying, put the fish into the oven for a few minutes, etc. Perfectly sound, but hardly eye-opening. Frankly, I didn't think that his 'cheffy presentational touches' on the fish were anywhere near as transformational as they were with the chocolate. Thus, rather bland looking, white on white. Next week (tomorrow) its "Apples". And the 'day out' is to learn about grafting different varieties onto the same tree. In retrospect, one of the things that so distinguished the first programme in this series was that the 'intermission' (Raymond's day-trip) was actually about another aspect of working with chocolate. Maybe its because I know where fish (and apples) come from in enough detail, that the day out on a fishing boat seemed so much less relevant. I can understand that the programme makers think that our span of attention wouldn't last the full half hour without a dramatic 'change of gear' - but that segment is looking more and more like a breather between classes. (Which the chocolate visit wasn't.) An unfortunate hint of an underestimation of the interest of the audience in the subject of the title - Raymond Blanc's Kitchen Secrets. Fishing and apple-growing are clearly NOT areas of M Blanc's expertise -- so they ought not to be in these programmes! But I DO really like the odd snatches of kitchen life being shown as 'incidentals'. Loved Blanc telling his man, who was cutting up cheese, (Parmesan I think), not to throw away the rinds! There is however one secret being kept. His kitchen garden is very impressive indeed. (I've visited.) But its supposedly entirely organically managed and pesticide-free. The secret is in how it can be so astoundingly pest-free, and yet pesticide-free, without even any sign of any 'organic' control measures, like slug traps, bio-controls, companion planting and the like.

Since it was refrigerated for almost a day, it was easy to invert and slash right before going into the oven. Actually, into a dutch oven that was placed on a stone in the oven. That no-knead bread trick has me spoiled for shaping crusty breads into anything but a boule. ... Sorry, I'm not quite certain I understand that properly. Is this right? - proof refrigerated in the form - directly from the fridge, invert onto bench and slash - transfer to hot cast iron pot Or - proof refrigerated in the form - directly from the fridge, invert into hot cast iron pot and then slash Or have I completely misunderstood?

Ummm. A question. Yes we know that bags floating horizontally is not good. And yes, its good to get as much air out as you can. Though I'm sure that the last small bubbles aren't critical. But isn't it a worthwhile idea (at least for those without such chamber machines) to routinely use solid glass gems/nuggets/pebbles/cubes to add a little weight to the bottom of all bags to prevent any bag ever floating horizontally? These items are food-safe, non-tainting, cheap, re-usable, freezable, easily washable, can be blasted in the oven for as long as you like to sterilise them and then stored in a sealed sterilised jamjar. Since they need to be found and removed before service, maybe unusual colours (like blue) are a good thing! Its probably also worthwhile choosing those with a simple shape and a shiny-smooth surface for better sanitisation. Examples: Clear cubes in the UK http://www.carnmeal.com/details/1990/glass-ice-cubes-1-kilo-approx Blue pebbles in the UK http://www.dotcomgiftshop.com/deep-blue-glass-gems-in-bag400g Blue cubes in the USA http://www.save-on-crafts.com/bluecubes1.html or Blue 'vase gems' http://www.save-on-crafts.com/skybluvasgem.html But if you have a local floristry supplier, they should be cheaper than mailing ballast.

Hence the necessity of condensing that first 'steam', and reboiling it, and repeating many times, to get a reasonable yield. The words to lookup are "fractionating column", and "reflux condenser". The idea is that the vapour condenses and reboils many times during its passage up the column, improving the separation of the components, as though you had done many 'simple' distillations. I vaguely recall from schooldays how one constructed a 'stepladder' through diagrams such as those you link, to estimate the purification from multiple distillations ... But a teaspoonful of citric acid powder should do the job much more easily! I hadn't thought you would have gone ahead so soon. However, as a lemon pickle, you'd be incorporating extra acidity anyway - and mainly citric!

If it comes with exactly the same warranty as the new item, I seek it out. And I've been very pleased. If it has a cut down warranty, I wouldn't dream of buying any specific item unseen.

I believe its quite hard to separate the two by distillation alone. Even though they don't form a 'constant-boiling-point-mixture', they almost might as well. Regarding alcohol -- it does form such a mixture (at 98%+ alcohol or thereabouts) which is why you cannot make absolute alcohol by distillation alone. Practically, reducing the vinegar will result in less water and an only slightly smaller proportional loss of acid. It should get stronger, but not much, and you'll lose a lot of what you paid for - and that's apart from the energy cost, smell, acidic condensation, etc. (Unless you happen to have a reflux condenser column handy!) For your pickling, the simplest thing to do might well be to just add a bit of citric acid. Your vinegar contains about 45g/litre of acetic acid. You wish it had about 50. Since we are dealing in kitchens and not laboratories, you might add about 5g citric acid to a litre of your vinegar to put you in the right ballpark for acidity. No they aren't exactly equivalents, but rather than boil off maybe half your vinegar ... you should be somewhere close. And quickly and easily. BTW, "Sarson's Pickling Vinegar" is 6% -- so don't get hung up on precision!

For domestic use that Foodsaver should be fine. However, it probably won't resist abuse in the same way that a commercial machine might. Certainly, I am still delighted with my V2860, which I picked up for close to £100. Put the machine a few inches above your bench - so the bags 'stand up' a bit - to make it easier to seal liquids without sucking them up. But the ability to pulse pump, and on slow speed, plus the long-duration 'moist' seal setting, makes it well able to handle stuff-in-sauce. Yes, I am gentle with it, but its given no hint of any trouble. If I have any criticism, its that a full 2 inches of bag need to go into the machine when sealing. It seems a lot. But that does guarantee a space to write the content info ... Foodsaver-branded bags are claimed to be food-safe to boiling, but the seals won't hold at that temperature! I've had a couple leak while trying to quickly reheat stuff in a pan of boiling water. But it has been the factory (side) seals that went - not those made by the V2860!

YMMV. Different ovens react differently! Most thermostatically controlled electric ovens will try and reach that set temperature and will use as much power as required to reach that temperature. Much of the oven might get quite hot, and use a lot of power trying to heat the entire room to the set temperature. However, a gas oven that just uses different flame settings will indeed be a bit cooler if you crack the door open. Test your own oven first!

When you use a syphon, the foam is being 'foamed' as you release it. That is super-convenient if you want a little at multiple different times. However, if you don't mind preparing and whipping pretty much immediately before service, I believe you really could whip it by hand - but you'll probably be dealing with a larger minimum quantity. My understanding is also that using Nitrous in the bubbles by means of a syphon, (instead of air, using a whisk), would give a "smoother" foam. The programme is supposed to be about 'restaurant secrets' for use at home. My guess would be that M. Blanc would very likely choose to use a syphon at work, but what he demonstrated was a way to produce a 'foam' at home - and without needing to invest in a syphon. The chocolate programme is (so far) the only one broadcast. Well done on somehow getting to see it! I've set my recorder for programme 2, (on Fish I believe), due in less than 2 hours. There's a thread for the programme over here -

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds makes for a trivially easy-to-DIY, salty, savoury accompaniment to less extreme drinks. However, other than a padded cell, I'm not too sure what goes with Absinthe!

You might be interested in his description of the progression of his baking thinking ("A Baker's Journey back to Whole Grains") on pages 5 to 23 of his Whole Grains book,

A minute touch of Vitamin C certainly does no harm at all to bread. I think it principally acts by preventing (or at least reducing) gluten breakdown by glutathione. There are other benefits too, like combating water chlorination treatment's effect on sourdough cultures. Its good stuff. But Vitamin C is not Citric Acid. It is Ascorbic Acid. (Sometimes in the form of its salt, ascorbate.)

Ladurée ? http://www.laduree.fr/public_en/produits/produits_accueil.htm

Can you expand on this for us colonials? Not sure what you mean or what happened. Since Harters rarely ventures outside the UK forums, let me try to reply on his behalf. The Restaurant: An example of a loathsome style of programme. Take talent-light people, give them something to do beyond their abilities, and watch as they fail to accept, let alone address, the reality of their failings. Something like The Apprentice, only with food. The teams had to compete by (very briefly) running a restaurant. M. Blanc helped a little, criticised a lot and judged their efforts. Prize to be help in setting up their own restaurant. So, kinda like The Apprentice, only ... And, no, I didn't watch it. But there were so many trailers broadcast, that I felt I had. Kitchen Secrets was a different world.

I have one. Been in the family for more than 70 years. Its been used as a nutcracker all that time. The 'stops' at the hinge prevent you from going right through the nut, pulverising it. You fold it one way for big nuts, the other way for small ones ... I don't think its a very good nutcracker though! Personal preference is for the 'thumbscrew' type, but I haven't binned the ratchet one that was bought for my father's arthritic hands. Lemon segment squeezers look more like this.

One North American source for accessory tubes is http://www.sausagemaker.com/stufferaccessories.aspx?page=2 (note that the 5 lb takes different 'stuffing tubes' than the bigger models). Just store the supplied plastic ones away somewhere safe and out of the way! Since this has been added to the older thread, you could read through the whole thing and perhaps confirm my observation that owners of the 5 lb are pretty enthusiastic!

Raymond Blanc's Kitchen Secrets First episode last night. iPlayer for catchup (UK only). Links to the full recipes are on this page http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qzh52#related-links An intelligent food programme on BBC tv ... wow! Was anybody else impressed? When it comes to chocolate, perhaps I'm too easily impressed, but this was a straightforward demonstration and explanation of what was involved, from basics to very high end stuff. It may be a while before I try welding chocolate, but hey, I now know how its done. And what a blessed relief from the two cliché formats, travelogue and competition. Thank you, BBC. (And can I have some more please?) Part 2 (of just 4) next Monday (on Fish). Set your recorders! ADDED - its 8.30 on Wednesday on BBC HD.

There you have a good summary! (Albeit needing more clarity.) The design choice is between piston- and screw- feed of your meat mix ("forcemeat"). A cheap attachment for your screw-feed grinder is likely your cheapest option. But it will (to a greater or lesser degree) mess up the 'definition' of your textured sausages. And also, I personally run out of hands with the motorised screw-feed stuffer, using the attachment to the mincer/grinder attachment for my mixer. Sausage stuffing necessarily becomes a team effort. A piston stuffer solves the definition problem. Cheap/basic ones drive the piston by a lever - they are very hard work, requiring a lot of force. A gear-driven piston stuffer, is easy and controllable. It makes stuffing fun. The "5 lb Grizzly" is a benchmark standard product, using a vertical piston. The same thing is available with many different manufacturers' labels. Mine is actually labelled "Northern Tool" but was supplied by a specialist for less than NT were currently advertising. There are similar-looking, but more expensive, 5 lb variants made with more stainless steel parts (distinguish them by the frame being shaped differently). Stainless (rather than plastic) stuffing nozzles makes a good upgrade. The parts interchangeability with these products suggests that spare part availability should never be a problem. However they aren't the cheapest of kitchen gadgets - and they take up a chunk of storage space too! (Tip - find some washable clamps for fixing it to the kitchen worktop while stuffing - they make it even easier!) You'll pay much more for larger capacity versions, and massively more for motorised, geared, piston-feed stuffers. There are other options - I've even heard of one that uses water pressure (from the tap) to move the piston. For a business, features like fast reloading would matter. But I'm happy to crank the piston back up, rather than pay out for such features. Owners of the "5 lb Grizzly" and its twins tend to be very enthusiastic about them. People that suffer with attachments to their mixer attachments generally don't know what they are missing!

I don't think anything will help with glass that has been etched in a dishwasher. But where the problem is limescale - as often with flower vases and water jugs in this hard water area - a teaspoonful of citric acid in a washing-up bowl of warm water with a big drop of detergent, seems to soak away much more limescale (and faster) than the more traditional good pour of vinegar!

Chris, I'd think that (especially with pH papers rather than a meter probe) the idea was to add as little water as possible, just enough for the paper to wick up enough water to damp it. And to maximise the contact between the meat and the diluting water. Because the sausage isn't 100% water, and because only a fraction of the sausage-water is truly free to mix with the dilution water, I think an apparent 50:50 dilution could in effect be a massively greater dilution. I'd be thinking of testing by cutting up your sample as finely as you possibly can - really mincing it with your knife. Then I'd be adding a tiny amount of water, maybe 5 to 10% of the meat sample weight, and continue chopping to mix the water in. And then I'd leave it to infuse for a while. Absent a stoppered test tube, wrapping the wet meat in clingfilm sounds like a reasonable idea. After half an hour or so of infusion at room temperature, I'd try and squeeze a drop of liquor from the paste and test that drop with the test paper. Maybe a scrupulously clean garlic crusher would help with the squeezing. And I'd be trying to calibrate my method against the sharpest, most acid, sausage I could lay my hands on. Certainly, I wouldn't believe that my sausage WASN'T acid until after I had successfully detected the acidity in a "known-good" sample of sausage. The pH paper should test the solution's pH well enough. The thing I'd be worrying about was whether the solution adequately represented the sausage - which is why I'd be doing "calibration trials" against known acid ("tangey") sausages. And minimising the dilution. I'm sure that commercially, macroscopic samples would be blitzed in some sort of blender -- but domestically, you'd want to be taking the smallest possible sample, which probably rules out your blender.

Chris, there are plenty folks out there making salami without using any starter culture. IIRC Ruhlman even does some - sometimes using 'Fermento' for flavouring, rather than fermentation for protection. As long as you are sure that there was an appropriate amount of Cure No2 (nitrite + nitrate) well-distributed through the mix, I'm surprised that you dumped it. The characteristic 'pinkening' of the meat is a visual confirmation of nitrite/nitrate curing. If the meat were grey or brown, I'd be dumping it as quickly as I could. But the nitrate/nitrite cure should ensure safety from C Bot. And your sausages look nice and pink ... OK, so the flavour without overt acidifying fermentation might be different to your expectations, but it should be perfectly safe. You might be interested to search Jane Grigson's Charcuterie book (first published 1967 and about then-current rural artisanal French practice) for any reference whatsoever to bacterial cultures. I've not found one. Its only if you are trying to work without nitrite & nitrate that acidification becomes a vital safety matter. However, we are all entitled to choose what margin of safety we are comfortable with - most especially when we offer the fruits of our labours to others. Nevertheless, it seems like an extremely cautious action to dump the lot because you hadn't detected acidification, and without any other indication of a failed cure. You could have completed the cure and given first tasting rights to a neighbour's dog if you yourself didn't fancy the role of guinea pig, once known as the Court Taster. (Beware the salami and the mushrooms at the Borgia's!) Certainly, I suggested using cheap pH papers rather than an expensive (and annoyingly fussy and demanding) meter. Nevertheless, I wouldn't have expected you to be dumping large quantities of nitrate-protected meat on the basis of a pH reading alone (whether from a test paper or an unreliable meter). I'm astonished. Have you checked the pH you measure when testing (with identical methodology) other samples of dried sausage, commercial and home-cured? It might be interesting to try calibrating your taste sensation of acid tangeyness against your standard-methodology measurements. Anyway, a practical question, how much are you diluting the meat to make your "slurry"?