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Here is Part of the day to day collection. Favorite for serious dicing stuff is the second one from the right, a 9"Messermiester, fits just right. Bud (hope I finally figured out how to imbed a pic....)

I just did a small ,(3lb) t/l. trimmed all the silver skin and fat. Then I cold smoked(100-120º) it for about 20 minutes. Then I seared it on a grill that was 750º, till it had nice sear marks on it. (probably 10 minutes.) Then in a 350º oven till it was 128º internal. Then wraped in foil for a half hour in a nice warm place..Was a nice even med rare color and just perfect...Good luck... Bud

The PBS "great chefs " (the world or somewhere else) from 8 or 10 years ago. They had real chefs, cooking and demonstrating...Used to put them on DVD (remember that?) to watch later...and Pepin.... Bud

years ago , I ran some white oak thru the jointer and put the shavings in a bottle.I then filled the bottle with vodka, and let it sit for a few months, Then you could take a bit of the flavored vodka and put it in some cheap unaged red and it improved it a lot. It wasnt Latour, but much better than normal cheap unaged red.. Later on, I made some red and after I took it off the must, I put in some of the white oak shavings. Took it out after a couple months, and it was much much better than just sitting in a carboy...Not like what you are proposing but a similar concept. Bud

could it be that they have been frozen?? Or not. Bud

But only at sea level! It is surprising if you look it up how a few hundred feet will throw off the boiling point. You don't have to live in Denver! ← Denver isn't to bad ,200ºaprox.,its when you get up around 10,000 ft. Gotta bring the pressure cooker. Was at 10kft with a pal from France and we were doing some pasta. as I put it in the boiling water, he proudly looked at his watch and said "aha 11 minutes" I told him to look at it in a half hour to see if it was close yet. Bud

Which would you rather own - a Vermeer painting or one of Elmy de Hory's excellent forgeries? Those forgeries fooled some of the world's great art critics and museum curators. The forgeries go for about $15,000 each these days. The originals are worth millions. Returning to the issue of imitation truffle oil - we also have imitation butter, imitation whipped cream, imitation caviar and imitation crab meat. I can promise you that real butter, real whipped cream, real caviar and real crab meat taste a heckuva lot better. There is an old adage, common I believe to nearly every philosophical point of view on earth: "If it is like an egg, it is not as good as an egg" ← But....if the truffle oil you buy, is made from the aroma why not make your own,with the aroma, that will be the same, for much much less....From what I have read ,most all truffle oil is bogus.. Bud

Hi, You will want a thermapen. It's fast, reliable and expensive. ThemoWorks Thermapen Tim ← You really don't need an $89 "fast reading"thermometer, just put it on something hot before you check what you want to test. You know aprox.º where it will be , so heat it up to near that temp and it will respond as fast as the $89 unit for lots less.... Bud

Thats great! I have the exact one in the closet on a water feature that I can't use , cause my cat thinks its his water dish...Totally forgot about it..tnx agn Bud

You have a sealed chamber that will only go up in moisture as the product drys. You need to remove said moisture, to a point. The only mechanism I can think of is ice forming on the cooling coils. or an evacuation of moist air from the chamber, or possibly a mound of salt that you take out and dry in the oven when it gets saturated. My drying area is very very rudimentary to the ones that folks like jmolanari have. Its a box/cabinet in an area that stays at 57º and at the moment is at 29%r/h. (its empty),when I first load it up for drying I have to add extra moisture. I do the salted water in a tray thing to get it up to about 79 or 80% for 5 days or so to keep away the "case hardening" thing. Then I remove the tray and monitor the RH. I keep it in the desired range range by cracking the door so the humid air from the drying process leaks out and is replaced by the 29% air of the room. I have some Nexxtech remote thermometers that are in the box, that give temp and RH. I keep the reciever next to the computer so I don't have to go down and check on it all the time..I do check for misc.stuff growing on it every other day,and weigh it as well to determine where its at in the drying cycle.Good luck! Bud

I will take a shot at it...... A cigar is pretty dry when you put it in and take it out. It doesn't change much... A sausage (etc) is very moist when you put it in. Will the "brick" be able to absorb the moisture from the sausage as it goes from very moist to pretty dry???. It doesn't seem like the same mechanisim at play...You are keeping a cigar stable in moisture content vs drying a sausage(etc).. Bud

Might try cracking the door open on the reefer,just a bit so some of the air escapes. Motor will run more but might keep humidty down. I cure in a wall type kitchen cabinet in a basement darkroom, and control high humidity by cracking the door just a bit to lower it. Bud

My late FIL was the ultimate "that isn't done" person...We would have beef tenderloin steaks on the grill (inch and a half or so thick), and I would cook em medium well (Touch of pink and still jucy) . Except his, after it was off the grill it was into the sliced into two thin halves and into M/W on high for three minutes...Damn,,, heresy!but only way he would eat it. If you did a T bone, he would cut it right next to the center of the bone and if it was even remotely pink--back to the heat... Once on a picnic, there was a burger left on the grill forever, A veritable hockey puck. As I was about to throw it in the trash, he sez "dont throw that away" I think he ate it. I could not watch.. .As an aside, he also thought lobster was "Greasy", and would only eat the bottled "pink" Kraft "french dressing. Don't know if they still make that stuff any more...(this was 40 years ago)

There are two entirely different things that come into play here.. .first,is keeping the outside air from coming into the living space when the fan is not operational...That is the function of the "flap" or what ever you want to call it. .It closes the vent off to the outside, when ventilation is not needed...That is the assumption We have been working with here... The second is providing "make up air to the living space when the fan is operational... If the living space is well sealed, and there is no "make up air" the fan will not exhaust. if there is a furnace , hot water heater , fireplace. or leakage around windows and other places.these will provide the make up air. If they are the furnace and hot water heater, or fireplace,the carbon monxide they generate will be drawn into the living space.. I have a 1000 cfm exhaust fan over the grill/stove. If I have a fire in the fireplace In the other room,and the fan on , the smoke will come out of the fireplace,not up the chimmny, and come over to the exhaust hood and out...Not a good thing!!Gotta open a window near the hood to provide make up air...Hope I have not muddied the water here!!

My normal pizza dough is,,, make it, divide it into portions, oil the balls,put it into the cheep thin (not ziplock)gallon bags and put into the veg bin in the reefer...after 5 or 6 days (or so) take out the bags , flatten the dough in the bags,to a thin cross section, so it will defrost easier, and freeze...To use, take it out in the am and let sit on counter, till defrosted and rising.It will be sticky so use lotsa flour . cut the bag off without changing the shape it was when frozen.Do not re roll it back into a ball. Form into a pizza round, add stuff and bake... If You have a M/W that goes really,really low , you can defrost it using about 3 0r 4 real low 2 min. cycles, let it sit for a half hour then form and bake. Bud

I am ready to duck.. For baking , Ghirardelli 60%bittersweet choc chips at $2 for 15 oz. works for me. Not to sure how that would fly in a commericial situation, however... Bud

Thanks, I think I get the idea. I'm not sure it would solve the problem though, and I think it might let rain in as well. Might help a bit though - in essence it just switches the flap location to the top and uses the flap to form an enclosed "box" when the fan isn't on. Seems like it might flap around less just from the wind. Hmmm. Let me think about this for a bit. Cheers, Geoff Ruby ← As I think about it more ,you can just turn it so the slot is vertical and then hinge it at the top. Then if it snows or rains on it it will not keep it from working (that is how mine is) A hole on each side of the outlet , a thin 1/8" rod between the holes and the plate attached to the rod.so it can open.... Bud

Turn it upside down, Then fabricate a rectangular cover out of light tin or alum. attach the thing on a couple of screws at the sides, in a pivot arrangement, so it will swivel up to open. The blast of air from the fan will automatically open it..My fan unit is on the roof and it has one that is vertical, and when the fan starts it swings out to open,,,If that is not clear I will draw somthing up and scan it and post it... Bud

I have some that is frozen, and has been for probably 4 years...Used some a couple months ago and it was fine... Bud

Guilty! I eat the crust to the point of making at least 1/3 of each loaf into crumbs , or throwing it out for the birds... Good thing flour only costs $30 for a 100lbs... Bud

HEREis everything you need about s/d Bud

A little late in the thread...But here are my thoughts... I do steaks two ways. First off, both ways, get the steak up to 70º to 100º . many ways to do this. sous viede, leave it on the counter for a half hour or so, or put it in the M/W on super low for enough 1min cycles till it gets there. (M/W's vary so you can't do this in all of them. test with a thermometer) Make sure all the fat is trimmed from the edges. First is on a rest. type gas grill. (has heavy cast iron grates) Get it up to 700º or so .and turn and flip to get the nice grill marks..grill till it just starts to get firm. Let rest for a couple mins and serve. Second is the cast iron pan. Dry . just a very very light layer of table salt in the bottom. Heat to 550º 600º. (if you dont have an I/R thermometer,- until the salt just begins to pop) then add steak and cook till it just starts to get firm, and is nice and crusty . rest and serve. (make sure the exhaust fan is on high.) These are for steaks med rare, to about an Inch thick or so. For 2 or three inch thick steaks- When the things are brown and crusty take em out and into a 550º oven till they get the suitable internal temp Bud

Back in the olden days I was the bean counter for a rest. and we shot for a 23-25% food cost..and a similar labor cost...We owned the property and had some live entertainment. After being in several other businesses for the last 40 years, and wrestling with pricing, the answer is ,you charge "what the market will bear".. And if you can't make a suitable profit, find something else to do....Don't live and die by a %.. With this sage advice and $10, you can get a cuppa coffee almost anywhere! Bud

Almond paste made from scratch with almonds is pretty bland, the flavor is from almond extract. maybe cut your paste with plain almond paste.. Bud

Bacon.... fold/roll each slice up in a paper towel, so you have at least two layers on each side.Put it on a plate and In the m/w on high for minute 45 or so. Take it out of paper and let cool a few seconds. Crispy, and ready to eat...Tough to do more than three or four, but easy. Doesn't splatter etc. Only problem is you don't have the grease to put on the.....whatever,,,or fry the onions or eggs. Bud