dougal

I didn't spot in your description either what you did to ensure that your bag was fully submerged and vertical, or what you might have done to ensure that what the temperature probe was measuring was typical of the water in the whole bath and thus representative of what the fully-submerged meat was experiencing. A 2lb chunk of meat is quite big for a fairly small 4 and a bit litre/us-quart pot ...

Depends how worn things might be as to whether or not the plate (the part with the holes) needs attention. I think the steels used in plate and blade are typically of equivalent hardness - and so can often both show wear. And sometimes the plates start out bent - with one side convex and the other concave. The idea is to ensure that BOTH the mating surfaces are as flat as possible, so that the cutter 'leaves no gap' between itself and the plate -- both must be flat. Begin by 'painting' the surfaces with a marker pen and testing them for flatness. See what you've got. A waterstone might be flat when brand new, but they do wear - as particularly seen with the EdgePro. Instructions are given for 'levelling' worn EdgePro stones - but compared to the flatness of a well-supported (therefore not flexed) piece of glass, a re-trued stone isn't usually very flat. Hence the use of a glass-backed disposable abrasive. Flat. Inexpensive. Accessible. Effective. However, you could use the glass+paper to get a good flat surface on your waterstone ... Or use a diamond (impregnated) stone. They seem to stay pretty flat! The use of glass-backed paper abrasive for sharpening tools has been known as the 'scary sharp' method almost since the internet began (or maybe even longer). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scary_sharp

A couple of years ago, I'd have confidently said that a 'pickle' was distinguished by being acid ... (and I still think that most Britons would go along with that distinction). However, I now know that US usage is that the two terms are used almost interchangeably. For example, in the USDA Meat Processing Inspectors Handbook (link to pdf download), the term 'pickle' is used for what I'd call a 'curing brine'. No acid involved. There are many cases in English-English where there are words that are essentially similar in meaning, but different in their impact. The 'polite' and sanitised version (like pork) derives from Norman French. Whereas the 'earthier', rougher, dirtier connotations come with the word deriving from Anglo-Saxon roots (like pig). The distinction between the polite and the coarse versions has its origins in class differences going back to the 1066 Norman conquest, and the conquerors becoming the aristocracy while the Anglo Saxons were universally reduced to peasantry. Roast pig anyone? Having synonyms like that isn't a problem. No meaning is lost - rather its a way of conveying MORE meaning. But I'm not sure that's what we are dealing with here. Rather, I think its a case of American usage confusing two different terms and thus losing the essential difference between them, and thereby wasting the usefulness of having the different words.

You need a FLAT abrasive. I believe that the standard solution is to use abrasive paper on a stiff and flat glass backing. And then (one at a time) rub the plate and blade on the abrasive, with lightish finger pressure. You can use a variation of "the sharpie trick" by painting the contact side, and looking to polish off all the paint equally. And, as usual, you can start with relatively coarse and progress to fine abrasive. Its not a bad idea to begin by just using the sharpie (or 'engineers blue') and fine abrasive to check the flatness of plate and blade and see whether anything actually needs to be done. I think that the 'figure of eight' motion mentioned by Blether is the popular way of equalising the abrading directions.

It was one of the things mentioned in post #4 this thread, but no matter, here it is on its own - US Dept of Agriculture, Processing Inspectors' Calculations Handbook: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FSISDirectives/7620-3.pdf ADDED - Reminder - in the calcs "percent" does NOT mean percent! Its proportion - see the worked examples!

But Ham in Hay is a dish with a venerable tradition - and in the present it even finds a place in Fergus Henderson's esteemed Nose to Tail Cooking. See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/3315439/Recipes-from-Nose-to-tail-eating.html The poor little Ortolan has had the misfortune to be considered a gastronomic delight in France - and has therefore been hunted to the verge of extinction. Laws were introduced to protect it in 1999, but were barely enforced until 2007 (at least in part following the revelations about Mitterand's infamous 'last supper'). Before those dates it was EXACTLY the sort of thing that a 'high end' restaurateur like Bocuse would feel obligated to offer. More here - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1562561/Frances-songbird-delicacy-is-outlawed.html While I think that recipes for Ortolan make an interesting historical document, just as with foie gras recipes, I don't think they should nowadays be seen as an invitation to prepare the dishes. There are so, so many ways a cookbook can be bad. It makes it hard to choose the single worst. For lack of ambition and down-market down-dumbing, Chris Hennes is spot on with the genre of equipment instruction recipe books. For impracticality, the category would likely be headed by The Fat Duck Cookbook and The French Laundry. For strong negative shelf-appeal there's The SPAM Cookbook (closely followed by The Roadkill Cookbook ...) I do have an old (well, surprising modern considering - 1930's) Scottish cookery-school book with a recipe for Sheep's Head Broth (I particularly recall the important instruction to brush the teeth clean BEFORE putting the head in the pot). For recipes that simply don't work, I'd nominate the curing section of HFW's Meat. While I do greatly enjoy Nigel Slater's ideas for food, I really am put off by Nigel Slater writing about Nigel Slater, or even worse, writing about being Nigel Slater. Kitchen Diaries deserves mention in this context. On the Cholesterol count, what can beat the original Galloping Gourmet? For smugness, unexciting food and excessive name-dropping, I propose Ismail Merchant's Indian Cuisine. I reckon Suas' Advanced Bread and Pastry scores in many areas, but its ability to state simplistic things wrongly is matched only by its (unstated) subversive basic concept of 'faux artisan'. As the politician said "Once you can fake sincerity, you are getting somewhere". I really didn't like that book. But there's maybe only one book that I actually viscerally loathe ... As the Amazon UK product description accurately states "How to Cheat is for people who don't want to cook, who think they can't cook, or simply don't have the time to cook." And its a very, very, very big seller. Totally coincidentally, it was also yesterday that blogger and occasional eGulleteer Tim Hayward invited nominations at the Guardian for the worst food books. He got some interesting responses ... (160 so far) http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/aug/20/worst-food-books

It helps if the bacon is well chilled to harden it up significantly. That said, I'd like a bigger/better slicer, but realistically have nowhere to put it. However, I'd really like one. Not that I could be said to need one, but I'd still like one. Its a definite problem ....

My V2860 makes a seal that is about 1/10" wide - much wider than my old V475. I don't believe that the V3000 series are any wider. I described what I liked about the V2860 upthread. I remain delighted. If you ran across some old stock of that model at a decent price, I think you'd be pleased with it.

Peter, every time I see one of your oven graphs, I wonder when you are going to improve the control on that oven of yours! A 15C swing ... ! I'm sure its towards the better end of the population, but nevertheless, I wouldn't have expected YOU to put up with that for this long!

I think the first edition was said to be a bit 'Polish' in its use of English - I don't think its a total overhaul, just a pro editing/layout job!

I've heard that the "2nd Edition" has been 'turned into English' more comprehensively than the first was - something to watch out for! The 2nd edition is on my wish list. Which one have you got Jason?

Pam, your use of the term "boil in the bag" raises concerns here. Generally, applying that phrase in this context indicates either a lack of information or a prejudice, or both. No boiling is involved! And that is the point. Boiling means controlling the temperature at 100C. (With some variation for altitude and weather.) Cooking SV means being able to dial in whatever temperature you think appropriate. To a level of precision that is completely new to most cooks. If you want 55.0C you can have it. Or 55.5C - and see the difference. Sure, there's a bag involved, but NOT boiling. 100C turns out to be a poor choice of cooking (or reheating) temperature. The SV difference is rather like the difference between having an oven, and having an oven with a thermostat, a variable thermostat. But hey, who needs an oven at all? Lets cook over a real fire you say? ... But is that a Thermapen I spot amongst your barbecue kit? Just as with ALL cooking, its about control. Its not about poncey food or 'food as art'. Even if such areas do use it, inter alia. Its ALL about control. And much of the prejudice against SV seems to stem from those with developed skills in inferring temperature from sensory clues, fearing that those skills are being replaced by the skill of choosing the appropriate temperature and dialling it in. Such people only need worry if that is their ONLY skill.

Three brief points : - AFAIK, the Meat Inspectors (the guys the Handbook is written for) are responsible for enforcing ALL the various Federal requirements, thus their Handbook brings everything (for meat-processing chemistry) together in one publication. - They don't actually check, OR HAVE LIMITS FOR, the actual amount of Nitrate or Nitrite - IN - the product !!! (Which IS what we limit in Europe.) All that the US limits is the exposure to curing salts during the process. From which a rather questionable calculation is made to produce the so-called "in-going" amount for the process - which is what the regulations actually limit. But that's NOT a "real" concentration. Looking at the assumptions underlying the calculations should stop any non-commercial producer from thinking that there's any real precision in the numerical "limits" so frequently cited. - Cure Accelerators (like Vitamin C) are in Chapter 4. But proper Antioxidants (like butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), and propyl gallate) are in Chapter 8 "Antioxidant Calculations". Yes, I know Vitamin C is an antioxidant ... Anyone geekily interested in Charcuterie really ought to take a look at this book. (And its a free download.) It does put things in a somewhat different context.

Max, thanks for the comments on Wells' American Charcuterie - I shall definitely be seeking out a bargain-priced copy! It was me that commented above about Jane Grigson's somewhat liberal use of Nitrate. And also me that posted a link to a free download of the US regulatory 'bible' - the Meat Inspector's handbook. Its a pretty bizarre mis-mash. But its definitive as to legal commercial practice in the USA. And as such deserves to be on every Charcuterer's bookshelf. Whatever nonsense it may contain! In the USA (not in over-regulated, risk-averse Europe), Nitrates can not be used in curing Bacon. This is specific to Bacon and at that, Bacon for sale in the USA. There has been plenty time for similar regulation in Europe, and the authorities have decided that it would serve no purpose. Download the pdf (Adobe Acrobat Reader document). (Link posted upthread). Go to the 32nd page of the pdf - the page is 27 by the page corner number) to see the start of the Bacon detail. Then go to the 17th page of the pdf (with page number 11 in the corner) to see the limits for nitrate and nitrite in Table II. In the USA, Nitrate is ONLY banned from Bacon (and baby foods). Incidentally, you can see what the position is on "antioxidants" (like Vitamin C, ascorbic acid) in Chapter 4 -- where they are described as "cure accelerators" !!! Go back a page to the introduction to Chapter 2. There you will find a splendid example of regulatory illogic that nobody seems at all concerned about. The same weight proportions of Nitrate and Nitrite are cited for the Sodium and Potassium salts --- DESPITE it being acknowledged that this means different amounts of the active Nitrate and Nitrite ions. Except for bacon - where different levels ARE permitted! Please don't get the idea that US Regulatory requirements are framed in the light of the very latest scientific knowledge. They aren't. IMPORTANT HEALTH WARNING re the Handbook and its arithmetic. In the calculation formulae where they say "percent" they mean proportion. Really! If something is at 10% -- you'd have to enter 0.1 NOT 10 to get the right answer ...

Does anyone know any more about this book? It sounds interesting - but it also seems odd that it would garner just the one Amazon reviewer comment ... Maybe it was simply 'before its time'? 300 pages, sounds like plenty content. What's the scope? Who's it written for? Or to put it another way, what kit is expected, or what areas are skipped over because of needing 'specialist' kit, maybe like a curing chamber ... ? Is it principally a recipe compilation, a technique tutorial or what? Any information would be welcome!

I haven't "been there" - not least because he is -- using a very specific ("Artisan") flour -- and he is trying to make "flat pasta with a very firm bite and superb flavour" (p97) when he uses that flour. Like he says, tweak things for your flour, and your goal. If the dough is cracking, it needs a drop more hydration. If you are trying to make pasta with a "very firm bite", I'd expect it to be very (physically) hard work. My guess is that Bertolli is deliberately trying to make just about the firmest fresh pasta he can, and so is working with the very minimum of hydration, fat and lecithin. I don't think Bertolli is suggesting this as a 'go-to' pasta recipe for everyone. Rather it produces what he is looking for. And if you are trying to exactly reproduce his product - don't expect it to be easy! Its all a continuum, more or less egg, water, flour-protein, oil ... And note that, additional to the measured quantities, most pasta recipes expect considerable (usually unaccounted) flour pick-up during kneading and rolling. These recipes aren't tablets of stone. Roll your own! 100g flour to each egg is a fairly standard starting point. Then tweak it to your taste, your flour, your eggs, etc ... Right now, I'm reading a lot of good sense in Katie Caldesi's "The Italian Cookery Course" (Is it called 'Cook Italy' in the USA? - ADDED - Yes and it has been deliberately 'improved' with volume measures instead of metric weights! Oh dear ...) Interesting (retrospectively obvious) point about surface texture - hand rolling on the exposed grain of a well-worn wooden tabletop (or a floured Italian tablecloth) produces a textured, sauce-grabbing surface, quite unlike that produced by smooth metal rollers. So, maybe ideally a final 'texturizing' pass, by hand, on something less smooth than the melamine worktop? (I had a linen proofing 'couche' once upon a time, I wonder where its hiding?) And I also rather like Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers' River Cafe Pocket Books: Pasta & Ravioli. This is cheap/small/handy - valid reasons for republishing themed collections of recipes. Their standard dough for filled pasta (therefore ideally nice and supple) involves 500g of Tipo 00 (itself hardly an exact spec) to 4 medium eggs PLUS 6 yolks from medium eggs, a bit of salt and an allowance of 50g of semolina (durum) flour for dusting. They suggest about 10 minutes in the mixer with the dough hook to get it smooth, a brief hand knead and then an hour's rest before starting the rolling. Even then, they want ten passes (with doubling folds) to get the dough "silky" before starting to reduce the roller spacing! Very rich fare at The River Café!

Boiling the water will drive off dissolved gas. That'd be very good for clarity when you freeze it. Starting with 'soft' water should mean that you don't get stuff precipitated when you boil. Any such 'dust' would act as multiple nucleation sites, giving a polycrystalline (lots of little crystals) structure, which won't be as clear. But there's not going to be a benefit to putting hot water direct in to freeze. Or, other than speed of chilling, adding old ice to it. To grow 'big' (like ice-cube-sized), defect-free crystals, you want to minimise (or eliminate) random nucleation sites. So, no dust or precipitates. And you want to grow the crystals SLOWLY. So freeze it at a 'high' temperature. Only slightly below freezing point. (Unfortunately, this is not good for production!) A larger mass of water will cool slower than a small one - hence the success from large pans. It should also cool more steadily. With a freezer compressor firing up occasionally and then being off for several minutes, the 'coolth' is applied in bursts. I wonder if a "terrine in a bain marie in the oven" approach to steadying the temperature might help. Put your ice tray into a big water (ice) bath. (Thinking that on the second batch, you'd have a block of ice at the right sort of temperature, with a hole the right size for your tray ...) And that should also minimise temperature upset on opening the freezer door, etc. You need stable conditions to grow pretty crystals! If you have expansion-stress problems, maybe try using a stretchy (rubber, silicone ...) mould.

They are different tasting cheeses, even though somewhat similar in texture (and thus in methods of application). Parmesan is made from cow's milk, whereas Pecorino is a sheep-milk cheese (or cheeses since there are regional variations). So go with what you like or have available! After that, you start getting into the dreaded 'authenticity' questions. Parmesan comes from around Parma, up in the North, so would be the prime choice for the specialities of its region. Pecorino from more rugged and hotter (sheep-rearing) areas, further South... (though I believe much more Pecorino is made in Sardinia than around Rome).

On the basis of your recommendation, I have just laid out almost $7 (US) including transatlantic postage. I trust it'll be worthwhile!

I was too... until I did it. They must have better processors than I do 'cause that was a mess. The processor motor was struggling and I lost quite a bit because I got tired of trying to scrape it off of everything. Thanks for that warning! I was thinking that the dough blade (short arms to limit torque) might be the thing to try for a first attempt! Sorry Kerry, English-English speaking n00b here! What would a "bob syrup" be, please? I'm wondering if that would be a good approach to making multiple small quantities of differently flavoured fondant? {Thinking here of different flavours in the syrup portions, then seed with plain ... ?) And are there any tricks I ought to know about handling/controlling the sticky mess of soft fondant? (Please feel free to provide links rather than detailed explanations!) For 'cream-centred' moulded chocolates, I was envisaging a disposable piping bag (and maybe oiled scissors?)

And I'm impressed with the Eddy Van Damme suggestion of using a food processor! And yes, he is using Cream of Tarter to partially invert the sugar and thus make a 'soft' (not for rolling) fondant. (Where the humidity question might be less relevant, I believe.)

Readily available to the UK domestic kitchen from Lakeland. Different sizes of pre-cut circles and squares as well as rectangles ... They do ship abroad, but not exactly cheaply, I'm afraid.

To speak as one of the uninitiated, what am I missing out on there?

I have the impression that "wine fridges" tend to be more expensive than "ordinary" fridges. Perhaps the Marketing Depts study their wine-drinking market and price accordingly! Perhaps there is a different reason for 'mini' fridges being at least as expensive as standard-size ones. Over here, the mass-market sweet spot for new units appears to be a 600 mm wide under-counter unit. But second-hand fridges can be even cheaper ... As long as you don't mind an extra wire going in at the fridge door (for a temperature probe), the practical and economical means of getting a "cool not cold" fridge is to add an economical external temperature controller to a very ordinary fridge. You'd plug such a controller between the fridge's plug and the wall socket. No fridge modification whatsoever is required. The controller effectively turns the fridge on and off at the wall to maintain your set temperature. Of course, a "proper, ordinary" fridge wouldn't have condensation issues ... The only practical downside to an external controller like this is that the fridge light can ONLY work when the compressor is actually running (and the door is simultaneously open) - so not every time you open the door! When/if you go back to using the fridge without the external controller, the light would function as normal. Not a deal-breaker for me, but maybe worth pointing out! These controllers are sold for all sorts of markets - but you are unlikely to find them listed as kitchenalia! Here's a US example being sold to the home brewers for 'kegerator' control http://cgi.ebay.com/Refrigerator-Freezer-Thermostat-Controller-/270472701959?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3ef96de807 And here's a UK one sold for aquarium control (but widely used elsewhere) http://www.forttex.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_5_27_17&products_id=47 When shopping for such a controller, one important feature worth watching for is a hold-off delay on the cooler action. Fridges (or rather their compressors) don't like being started again very soon after they have been stopped. A minimum delay (of something like 3 minutes) before restart is kind to the mechanism. Decent controllers will make provision for just that type of delay. However, while my (bought originally for SV) PID controller (an N2006P) does have a cooling control capability, it doesn't have any delay facility and its maximum cycle time is only 199 seconds -- so I really don't think it is at all suitable for fridge control. An ordinary fridge plus an external controller seems to me to be the economical, effective and versatile approach to a "cool cupboard". Not least because its an additional ordinary fridge whenever you might need it!

A source or reference would be most helpful.