Chef Bradley

First off, quimiq is 1% gelatin. We had the corporate chef demo some for us a few weeks ago, stuff is insane! He made hollandaise in an ISI can and it never broke. Said you could keep the can in a warm water bath all through service and not have any issues. Apparently, you can toss the unused sauce can in the cooler unopened and reheat it the next day! Pretty amazing stuff. I made a veggie terrene with it with no weepage.

Thank you for all the info, this thread has been really helpful! Upon doing some research, I stumbled upon this thread about the upcoming "FreshMealsMagic" which combines the best of both worlds, a bubbler to keep the water moving and a device that creates its own heat, thus using any vessel to sous vide! http://www.sousvidecooking.org/tag/freshmealsmagic/ I think I may hold off and see how much this bad boy is going to cost. If its too costly, Im kicking around the idea of grabbing a Presto Kitchen Kettle to play with for under 50 bucks like was mentioned by a previous poster, at least until these home machines come down in price a little.

So, are you saying that I can use a rice cooker to sous vide? I saw one for sale on fresh meal solutions web site for arounf 80 bucks USD. I may have access to the magnetic stirrer with heat plate for under 50 bucks USD, if this is the case, what sort of vessel could I use to cook with this item?

Has anyone tried this yet? This sounds like a great alternative, especially for a home user on a budget. Question is, I guess, would be if this were done, do you have to use a glass beeker or can you use any sort of container (ie stock pot, or even a pyrex soup pot?)

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Crazy at work! So, as you can see, its pretty sturdy aluminum with a hole in the back and casters. Id be able to move it any where I want, which is nice. I love all the ides Ive received! Im considering doing either a couple electric burners down below the box for the times I need heat, and an off-set smoke box for my smoke. I still need to check out everyone's links for ideas, but I appreciate everything!

So, about 6 months ago, I started an Executive Chef position at a country club. We were doing some cleaning up and I came across this old hot box/ proof box. It's a little beat up and so far, Ive only been able to use it to hold junk! I dont want to toss it in the trash, so, I figured since I like to smoke my own bacon and such, I'd love to be able to turn this thing into a nice tall all purpose smoker. Offset would be ideal with some sort of temperature control. Anyone know of a site where I could get building plans for this project? Perhaps you've done this and had some success? First of all, it is all aluminum and has a latching door, very heavy duty as well. Thanks in advance for any help!

So, I built the macro studio with a box, some tissue paper, poster-board and a couple cheap lamps from Ikea that was mentioned. Check out these results. They were taken at work with an over head florescent light on the ceiling and the two lamps on on each side of the box. I can say that it looks a lot better than before but Im sure they could look better. A couple more practice pics...

Thanks so much. Very useful info!

Wow, that is some amazing information! I'm relieved to know that my camera has what I need to do this book. I was concerned that I would have had to buy a new camera to get the best pictures. David, did you use photoshop to tweak those photos? If not, what did you use? Do you use pluggins in your program? If so, which one(s)? I'll check out my camera manual to see if I can tweak the white balance. I love the idea of making my own macro photo studio with a box and some tracing paper! That's right up my alley, lol. Thanks so much for the info everyone, Im looking forward to putting them into practice! Will keep you posted.

Here are a few I've taken playing with different natural light forms. I've not used any flash (which has been suggested to me a few times) except once in front of a carving station in a dark room. I am using a Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6 for all my photos.

So I'm putting together some photographs for a cookbook Ive been working on and Im just not pleased with my pictures. After an extensive search for information, I see that many food photographers use these cool expensive setups costing a few hundred/ thousand dollars! Surely there must be a cheaper way to setup a decent food photography area in my kitchen where I can take awesome pics, eh? Anyone have experience with this? Any links or tutorials that you prefer? I appreciate the help.

I think I will go with drying my stresa in the fridge. I wonder, however, if I will get any off flavors from my fridge? Has this been a problem for anyone?

ok, that sounds like the deal then. I decided to go with the flat pancetta for my first try and cut the recipe in half. That way if, for some reason, it goes bad, I only lost a 2.5 pound piece instead of a 5 pounder. With that curing salt it kinda puts my mind at ease anyway.

With the recipes Ive read it states that the room has to be 60F with about 60% humidity. The coolest area in my house (besides the fridge) is a spare bedroom and the coolest that gets is about 70F. Is the temp that important? I'd hate to waste 5 pound of pork belly, that stuff's not cheap!

I love the cheescloth idea. Seems most people are using twine, do you see a difference between the cloth hanging and the string hanging? Great looking pics too. Thanks.