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I will weigh in ,(pun intended), Mortons Canning and Pickling salt is better than any of these. Its just salt, with no additives at all, its also very fine, and pure, so it dissolves easily. If you are doing a brine , you can use it without need to heat the water. If adding sugar , use ultra fine bakers sugar for the same reasons. Only caveat is that you need to use them by weight... Bud

They are great for cutting upholstery foam... Bud

The way I eliminate these surprises is to weigh the meat, then decide how salty I want it ,and only rub on that amount of cure.Then let it cure long enough to all be absorbed. So if I have an "X" gram chunk, I rub it with 3.5% of its weight in cure. never fails... Bud

You might try Vitamin Cottage, in the bulk section, They have a nice selection of whole spices that are really nice, and reasonable as well Bud

as an aside, You Don't really need to roll it . Just hang it for a couple weeks.

I have installed 2 of them. the first was in a kitchen I built for some folks about 10 years ago. It was a royal PITA to get the ductwork right. and you also lose space in the cabinet above it. I did put one in my rental and, every one seems to like it. I would not have one for my personal use... Bud

Look on Craigslist. they are allover for much less than a c note for a nice one.

I have two serrated knives, a 12" Dexter and a 7" Forschner. Both are used for the house bread. The bread is house made, and, after sitting in a paper bag for a couple days needs the serrations...The 12" also easily slices a large chunk of bacon into nice thin slices so I dont need to get the slicing machine out. (and better than a slicing knife.)The Forschner Is also much used for various other light duty tasks . Bud

Heat the milk to 185-205°F (190°F is ideal) to kill the bacteria in the milk. Then cool to 112-114°F, then add to starter. Yogurt bacteria will die if over 120°F, and is ineffective if under 90°F. (This info is from Sonia Uvezian's Book of Yogurt) ← Isn't store bought milk "Pastureized", which heats it to some temp over 200F for a set amount of time, thus killing bacteria???? and negating the need to reheat?

I used to buy cryovac loins and either dry, and or wet age them. The pack/kill date was without fail, very close to the date I bought them . often just a day or two..YMMV however Bud

Yea, it goes all along the blade...The blades are very sharp (not due to the C/C110, I have not used it for years). It just marked the bottom part of the blade, and looks bad...I will try the water stones and then some 2000 w/d and then if that wont fly, some jewelers rouge on the buffing wheel. (and then most likely a re do on the cutting edges) .. Bud

I have a "kinda" sharpening question... I have some knives that I used a Chefs choice 110 on.But only to do a touch up on the edges, not the rotary grind thing. Anyway, there is an unsightly 3/8" or so area along the bottom edge of the blade that is marked from the vibrating ceramic things...The edges are fine , and I dont use the 110 any more, but is there any way to clean up the unsightly area that the thing left on the blades????It is not affecting the edge , but looks crappy. I was thinking maybe some 2000 wet or dry paper glued to a chunk of wood to clean it up?? any. comments would be appreciated from the knife experts... Bud

You probably overloaded the motor and keyed the overload protection. It shuts things down untill it cools off so you dont burn things beyond hope. some machines have a manual reset and others do not.look in the manual and see what yours is... Bud

What is the salt level % you usually shoot for? Does your target % change with the type of meat or size of the cut? Thanks for the great idea and help! ← Country dry cured ham is around 4% (real salty) When I do bacon and pancetta I shoot for 3.5%,, as 4 is to much and 3 is to little. I would guess 3.5 will work for what you are doingas well. Since you are brining to equlibrium, the size of cut does not matter , just the time to reach eq. The type of meat levels depend on your taste, and what you are making Bud..

Brine to equlibrium. determine the residual salt% you want in the product, and using the total amount of meat ,water, and salt by weight leave it in the brine untill the brine and meat reach equalibrium... by doing this, its imposssible to over/under brine.. I have an excell worksheet that calculates it , but you can easily do it by hand. put the meat in the brining vessel ,and cover it with the proper amount of water you want to use. Weigh the meat, weigh the water, and then decide the salt level %you want.Then calculate the amount of salt to get it Bud

I agree, I made a couple unedible ,heatwise, soups, before I realized that... Bud

There are several Avanza stores. Big stores about the size of a king soopers. Big meat and veggie depts..one on S Federal and not sure where the others are Bud

Genovese Basil has the best flavor we have found. We grow 6 plants per year and pre frost , remove the leaves and put them in FP with olive oil and then freeze in ice cube trays, then vac pac. They will last at least 2 years. plants are very large and would probably not do well in pots. rosemary is grown in pots and brought in in the winter...Sage and Greek oregano are grown in the garden. The sage and thyme are left out and harvested thru the winter.. zone 7 you probably can even leave out the rosemary as well... Mint will be ok out all winter. ours is still green and it was 18 below.oregano is dried late summer (the Greek Is much better than the normal stuff) Bud

peel squash. cut in half and scrape out seeds ,etc. cube it up into inch or so cubes. put on a sheet pan on parchment, and spray with some olive oil (just a bit) roast in the oven til a bit of color. (not a lot) dice an onion and saute in butter tilljust colored. Put roasted squash and onions in small pot and add water to cover.. simmer till squash gets soft. put in blender and blend till smooth. back to pot and heat. add water to adjust thickness if needed, add chicken stock base (minors etc) till salt level is good. cook a bit more .add a some cream, till it tastes good ,,,, add bit of white fresh ground pepper. serve.. Bud

That is interesting....Was at Whole foods two days ago and was gonna get a couple of tails for snacks... they were a bargain...$49.95 per pound....one mid sized was $27...passed Today bought two real small tails and weighed them when I got them home,,,they were .38 lbs....A bargain for $12 (only $36/ lb) I am jealous of you who are not near the snowy Rockies...... Bud

I have a couple of scales, one a pro scale 222, that was less than $10 and weighs200 g to a tenth of an gram . And a My Weigh i5000 that weighs to 11 lb.think it was $35 Got em from HERE I think you could calculate the nitrite/nitrate amounts in a quanity of Tender Quick using their stated %'s on the label to get the amounts you wanted, so you would not have to buy cure 1 or 2 ( obviously #1 has only one, but in a pinch it might work. Bud

pineapple??????? Yetch!!!!!!!!!! as Kate said, fresh san marzino tomatoes,sliced thin and blotted dry, and a suitable amount of fresh chopped Geneovese Basil and olive oil...Topped with a good mozeralla an equal amount of strong provolone, and a touch of Romano. As some wise person said , "we don't need no stinkin' pineapple"... Bud

Early on in a drying cycle the product gives off much more moisture. Maybe if you crack the door for a few days the product will dry a bit and then you wont have the problem.just a WAG Bud

I think the preground stuff is all, to finely ground...I use a 3/8" plate on a #22 hand grinder. I buy a chunk of whatever I find at the market that looks like it has enough fat. I grind it twice so the fat gets distributed more evenly, but it is still much courser than the preground stuff. And, I can use all of the meat left in the grinder I also salt and pepper lightly ,The tray of meat, before forming it into burgs. while cooking, you have to be a bit more careful so it does not come apart . only thing to use the fine preground for, is meatloaf. Bud

My ventilation is a hood with a 1200cfm, roof mount fan unit. Its a 10inch 4 foot long pipe from the hood to the fan unit. It serves the 5 burner gas cook top , and a 50K btu gas, resturant type grill that is used often. I inspect the pipe and fan unit every so often for grease build up. It has been there since 1977. I have never had to clean any thing other than the screens on the hood. that may not be your situation but may give you some indiction that is helpful. Bud