gfweb

What advantage does SV offer for sausages?

What do you do with it?

These don't quite replicate the one in the video. We still need a diffuser to keep the flame off the meat.

Looks easy enough to make. Rack + heat-diffusing screen is about it

I just throw a cup of water on the bottom of the oven and shut the door. No rocks chains whips or maces

The ziplocs that have no "zipper", just a double ridge, have never failed me. As long as the meat is in full contact with the bag it'll cook fine. Or if it is immersed in a liquid in the bag...no problem (I often do corned beef this way). You can't freeze it very long without vacuum because it will "burn".

FWIW I usually do not talk about the cooking method to guests. Most don't care and the one who does usually asks questions I'd rather not answer. Like stuff about safety/new-fangled technique etc etc.

Somewhere a guy with thick glasses and a lab coat is figuring out how to farm truffles. The economics of truffles must be interesting. They are rare so they are pricey, but if they became cheap how much could the market be? Its a special taste, interesting once in a while but not every day. McD's wouldn't put it in a hamburger. And I can't see truffled Corn Flakes being a big seller. If truffles were cheap they might even lose their cachet. I suspect that many people (like me) are not fans of truffles and go along with a truffled dish as a change of pace.

Just kidding. LOL too good a line to pass up.

It would have helped me calculate the tip.

I usually use zip lock bags with all the air expressed by the immersion method.

Great advice. I see a couple trends! Thanks.

Just had a 2 yr old Cuisinart die. Bottom rusted out. Shite. Checking Amazon isn't encouraging. Every unit has a significant number of terrible reviews. The Cuisinart model I'm scrapping apparently has a habit of catching fire (now I can see how that happens). Others just die young. And these aren't cheapo units. I hate the K-cup type brewers. Too pricey/cup, can't make a pot for a dinner party, too slow for impatient me. Any suggestions (other than drinking tea)?

Forgive me. I assumed wrongly that they were the basis for your position.

Didn't you provide a string of references upthread regarding the dangers of irradiated food?

Of course they are defensible. They just have nothing to do with whether irradiation is safe. You can choose not to eat irradiated food, but we aren't discussing your choice.

I agree with you there! It's already happening in the case of pasteurization, folks are much less careful about how food is handled because they know that pasteurization should take care of the problem. ~Martin So pasteurization is a new-fangled thing that folks are beginning to abuse?

Browsing the SV forum, I see 76C as the temp at which fat reliably renders quoted by some. There's also the issue of browning the sausage and the flavors it adds. Perhaps precook the sausage?

Weighing the purely philosophical distaste for electronically sterilized food vs. the real risks of food poisoning, it would seem that there would be no rational argument to be made against it. People die from food poisoning. Recall the spinach debacle of a few years ago. Or the never-ending stories of contaminated ground beef and kids and old folks dying needlessly. Would you like a rare burger to be served in a restaurant? Make the meat safe. But we live in a time when science is distrusted reflexively by some (eg lifesaving vaccines are blamed for all sorts of ills with not a shred of evidence) The people who know the least, shout the loudest and unfortunately are heard by legislators who are just as dumb and are motivated by self-interest.

Is 64C enough heat to satisfyingly cook sausage?

I do that with turkey breast and don't have a problem with doneness of the breast after frying skin down in oil. Comes out great. But that's a much bigger piece of meat than a duck which might well overcook while frying. Experimentation is called-for. One might intentionally undercook during the SV phase...

and that fraud, Oz.

Lots of papers presented above. Many from the dark ages. Some not relevant. Some maybe relevant...hard to judge without looking up the whole reference. I'm sure plenty of studies also exist that fail to show dangers from irradiated food. Whatever the case with irradiation one needs to see it in context with other things we do to food...like grilling it or baking it..and what potentially toxic stuff is generated the old fashioned way.

Googling the "taste of irradiated food" doesn't turn up any authoritative reports. There's lots of posturing by groups on either side of the issue, but not one actual study that I could find. Do you know of any?

What's wrong with irradiated food? It isn't radioactive.