Chris Hennes

The idea behind the addition of the oil is to improve heat transfer from the pan to the steak in places where the steak does not quite touch the surface. With a well-marbled steak you're going to get rendered fat relatively quickly which serves that purpose, lessening the need for the addition of oil. One of the advantages of using oil is that you don't have to wait for the steak to release to flip it, allowing you to flip it many times during cooking (resulting in more even cooking, contrary to mythology).

Is it possible for civilians to get these Poly-O curds anyplace, or are they foodserevice-only?

You don't think it was dehydrated? I wonder if that would work.

Has anyone tried making a pasta sauce with it?

It should also be noted that even with perfect Activa application, close inspection will show that you've still got two pieces of meat, and you will be able to tell when you bite through it and the muscle structure changes. It's useful for approximating "the illusion of an unnaturally thick flank steak" but it's just an approximation.

It's worse than eating it raw: you're going to take whatever bacteria are there and incubate them at a warm-ish temperature for a couple hours in the oven where they will multiply like crazy. If you have your heart set on roasting, I'd give each side of the steak a quick high-heat sear before combining them. Alternately, you could boil them briefly (60 seconds, I think? I can't remember the number you're supposed to use).

I'm not going for Tater Tots themselves, I was just trying to describe what I wanted the potato hash texture to be like. But now that you mention it... hmmm

I'm not clear on the result you're trying to achieve. Do you want to recreate tots ("gems" to our friends down under) as a component of the hash, or are you after something much smaller, like a tot "crumb" -- maybe 1/16" inch? The latter: maybe not quite that fine, but something like it. I think I managed to achieve more or less what I was looking for. Obviously there is some variability to the chunk size, but I think that's probably desirable.

Nilla Wafers also work (obviously they taste totally different, but they form a crumb crust just fine, I've used them for cheesecakes).

OK, I started by dicing the potato roughly: Then into the food processor until it was a hash: And into a bag with some butter and salt: I'm going to cook them at 85°C for 45 minutes or so, then chill.

In my cooler setup, once the water is at temp the SideKIC has no trouble at all maintaining the temperature, I haven't needed to supplement it. But I'm using a decent cooler with a custom styrofoam lid, so losses are kept to a minimum.

Holly, what did you end up doing? I'm really liking DanM's idea here, i might give it a go on purpose.

I cooked both lentils and carrots this evening at high temperature: without insulation or a supplemental heat source the SideKIC's heater had to work pretty hard just to maintain temp. I think that the product was clearly designed with lower-temp cooking of proteins in mind. You can use it for higher-temp sous vide (up to 85°C), but you're going to want to preheat the water and use a well-insulated container or supplemental heat source (a stove on low will do the trick, but also violate their "not for stovetop use" indication in the manual).

Nice summary, Blues_Cookin, I think we're on the same page. Really, it can't be emphasized enough: the price point is sweet. Period. Yes, you can build the same device yourself for less. Minus the injection-molded plastic container that makes it look like an appliance rather than a science project. The Spouse Acceptance Factor is high with this one. Have you done any work with it in an insulated container? I really think that with only a 300 watt heater, using an insulated, lidded container is key for the higher-temperature items. You can cook eggs and steak and chicken all day long in a stock pot, but if you want to cook veg, you need some insulation.

Has anyone tried using a fine (maybe even custom-milled) die for a meat grinder to get the process started?

I never had parsnips growing up, so I guess I missed out on the whole "eat these or go to bed hungry" experience: maybe that has colored my perception of them. But I really like parsnips. A lot. Sauteed in butter, or roasted, or cooked sous vide with salt and butter in the pouch. I like them well enough that I can't understand a distaste for them. Can any haters out there try to explain to me what it is that you don't like about them?

I'm still pondering how to get the potato texture I want: I'm not convinced baking them ahead will do the trick. I'm thinking I want to food-process them raw, to ensure that the piece stay in discrete chunks. Maybe then cook the potato sous vide so that it doesn't turn to mush? Then bring the beef up to temp at the last minute, toss together, and sear?

Or fried chicken? What if you zapped some chicken wings and then tossed them with an UltraCrisp-type product?

Duncan, have you operated the unit much in particularly hard water? I noticed that my heater had gotten a fair amount of mineral build-up on it and I am guessing that it's just from the water.

Is the whole event sold a la carte? I'm having a hard time figuring out what I'd have to budget to do this.

Good advice: I typically cheat with mine for a while. After hardening them off I still continue to move them into the garage overnight, and then back out into the sun during the day. I'm not putting in that many plants, so it's doable. Now if the heat would just stay down this year...

What are the dates?

The sous vide brisket has had basically all the collagen between the long muscle strands melted away, so if you cut it across the grain it's melt-in-your-mouth tender. But if you instead shred it along the fibers you wind up with a sort of unique texture that I was hoping to take advantage of in the hash.

The lack of blackening on your tortilla suggests your heat might be too low. I agree with this: it's almost certain that your heat is significantly too low. I've tried a number of strategies that have worked, but the one I use now is to put my skillet on medium-high heat and let it heat all the way up before beginning. Then I give the tortillas a few seconds on one side (just until they release from the pan and start being able to slide around), then I cook on the other side until I can smell toasting corn: it will actually puff a little bit at this point already. Flip and repeat until it smells toasty again: the tortilla should puff way up almost as soon as you turn it over. Exact timing is of course dependent on how hot your pan is, but I think leaning the visual and scent cues is a big help.

Is there a way to see the books that you've got in your library that haven't been indexed yet? I know I've got some, but I can't figure out how to see the list.