lemniscate

Old school Polish grandma food. Sweetened farmer's cheese stuffed and ground up pot roast stuffed pierogis. I am officially tired of making pierogis.

IWNA try to seal Navy Bean and Ham soup that is not completely chilled in the VP215 . If the liquids to be sealed are even room temp, it boils furiously in the bag and creates a poor seal and a mess in the chamber. Paper towels are my friend today. And refrigeration.

That was very similar to our Christmas Eve dinner, no cooking, prosciutto, olives, gouda and smoked cheddar, cherry tomatoes, crackers........etc

I got a really nice set of rolling toolcases and a matching worktable for my patio kitchen.

I am just now trying my first go at beans in the IP. I've got 1 lb of dried Great Northern and ham broth and pork broth going. I put some bay, fennel seeds, smoked paprika, and a touch of other spices, onions and garlic added. Fingers crossed.

Probably no grant money available in A4Box investigations either.

See now, that's the weird thing. The inserts are non-ferrous by conventional test. I can't get a neodymium magnet to stick on them. There are no sensors that say no insert in in the A4 and shuts down that I can find (unlike an induction hob which knows if a ferrous cooking vessel is on it or not). The silver plate is just barely magnet attractive, the neodymium just barely sticks and that's a strong magnet. I don't know what magic is afoot here, it just works. Why? I dunno.

In the spirit of the old tune "Things that make you go hmmmm" (C&C music factory 1990) I decided to test how the A4 box heats. I started with a ambient appliance temp of 70F and did not put any plate into the A4 body. I cranked the dial to max (11 for you Spinal Tap fans) and left it for 10 minutes (per Alexa). The silver plate on the body got to a temp of 135F average, I was using my eTekcity infrared thermometer for the test equipment. I then turned off the body and let the appliance return to the ambient of 70F to start the next methodology. I put the flat top insert in (also ambient 70F) and set the dial to max setting. After 4 minutes the middle of the flat top measured ~450F, the temps to the sides and corners dropped to ~380F as I moved the dot. After another 2 minutes the middle of the griddle was ~475F and the outer edges were ~450F. I stopped the test then as the proof of the induction accessory plates was assured by methodology. So, QED-ish?

Microwave Toffee does not need 8 minutes high on my micro as recipe states, Microwave Carbon apparently does.

Since I got the A4box, I'm out for a while on new acquires, I hope (self restraint, ain't)

What @Anna N said. Just put your SV cook somewhere in a corner, away from your workspace. Set it and forget it for those long cooks. Glad to hear you're happy with the beets, I've never done those SV.

We use a generic spray bottle with a very dilute solution of Dawn and water for remote work and garage work. It's like a having a hand wash sink without a sink. You just spray your hands with the weak soap spray and wipe clean. This sounds like what remote site workers and seasoned campers have been doing for years. I find it hardly revolutionary, but brilliant marketing I suppose.

Some Zojirushi stuff on Amazon Deal of the Day.

This is exactly what this is, a configurable electric induction skillet/hot pot. I do think its a thoughtful design, but I have only three "cooks" in it so far.

I just went out on the patio and tested the A4 noise against the Duxtop hob. They both live out there. The A4 is virtually sound-less. I turned the dial to full and got my ear right down against it and there is the tiniest buzz, I don't think there's a fan in it, it may be the induction circuitry I am hearing. I cycled the dial to make sure I was hearing the sound correctly. Again, I had to have my ear right down near the unit. The Duxtop sounds like a jet engine comparatively. And I can clearly hear the induction whine from the cycling magnets at a normal distance. I saw your question regarding noise and it occurred to me that the A4 is so quiet, I had to double check myself. I will say the A4 does not heat up quite as quickly as a pan on the induction hob does, but to me it's a minimal wait time. I did a goofy experiment with the takoyaki pan last night. Some ground bison parceled into the cups and some precooked potato/carrot hashbrowns on the side. The bison balls were browned and flipped and a shaving of gruyere was laid on top. Nice appe-dinner. The hashbrown balls were less successful, they needed a binder to hold them together, the starch wasn't enough.

The 3 pan combo was not discounted on Black Friday. Nice that they are including it in the discount price now.

Portability and flexibility. Having a cooking surface where you want it. It's made, I believe, for the Japanese style of table cooking. Shabu shabu, takoyaki, grilling your veg and meats at the table as you eat the meal. The pics were of the two of us eating at the patio table as the seafood cooked, just transferring it to our plates as we wanted. I've eaten that way at my Asian friends houses, they had similar dedicated electric shabu and grilling appliances, but I never thought to do it at home until I saw the A4. It's easy to clean, but it is another appliance for sure. And I am a sucker for induction, for some reason. No difference than a non-stick pan on the stove in cooking style, except the stove can be on the dining table with A4.

A4 Box has another online special, better than black Friday one (25%), now 30% off for next few hours. Snip from email. Christmas is coming and the best gift is presence of family wrapped with love. So to celebrate Christmas with your friends and family we are offering 30% discount on A4Box. Enjoy cooking your and families favorite food this holiday and spread happiness with A4Box. If you've been waiting to get it, now is the best time. Use code- CHRISTMAS at checkout to get 30% OFF. Only lasts for next 48 hours. You can do so here: https://afourbox.com/products/a4box

I finally opened my A4 and put it to use recently. I decided to use it on the patio, I'm kind of a feral cook, felt like the most fun environment for it. One night we did cod and scallops with sauteed tomatoes, the next we did Tiger shrimp and fried rice. So far have just used the griddle part. I really, really like this tool. I can definitely travel with it. The dial control is simple. Not sure what the next insert to be used is, either the pancake one for potato pancakes or the takoyaki one for meatballs. Also, I'm seriously considering a shabu shabu night on the patio with the deeper insert. Never had that possible outside of a shabu shabu restaurant until now.

Costco is running some online specials on D'artagnan meats also!

Get there early for the cheese though. I went in the afternoon for I think Humboldt Fog and it was gone and the associate said it was sold out almost immediately in the morning. Some cheeses are more sought after than others.

@Shelby Do you use any of the venison bones to make bone broth in the IP? I was planning that if we had been fortunate to take a deer this year, but that didn't work out. I make copious amounts of bone broth from all the bones leftover from all proteins. I've never had venison bone broth, so I don't know if it is worth doing.

These are amazing. Can I ask where you got them? Asking for a friend 😁 (who looks a lot like me).

Here is relatively simple idea of what to do with bag juices from steaks. I've even used beer instead of red wine to make a sauce this way with the bag juices. Just a thought.

I have been a fan of Chefsteps since before the Joule. I had bought a premium membership years ago for classes and special videos, et al. Then Chefsteps kind of stalled with the Joule and the cool innovation went away. But I still used the site for the existing recipes, I didn't feel particularly abandoned. Then the announcement of Breville buying Joule/Chefsteps came. Wasn't looking good for the Chefsteps site. But I have to say Chefsteps seems to have been reborn and is vibrant again. New recipes, not just sous vide based. They are using BSO and Breville microwaves, but also IP and Control Freaks and freeze driers....etc. Fun stuff, like an entire turkey turned into separate yakitori and grilling it. They created another pay level above the Premium called Studio Pass, they offered a deal to existing Premiums to upgrade at a quite discounted price. I went for it. Some of the legacy Chefsteps followers were unhappy about another pay level, can't argue with that. But the company leadership did change. So far I feel I'm getting quite my money's worth in watching the new videos (they come out at the first of the month and some are added as the month goes on). Grant Crilly is relatable, enthusiastic and easy to watch. The video quality is very good and the write ups are excellent. All the old Chefsteps content is still available too. Just my 2 cents review and experience with the new Chefsteps concept.