KennethT

Years ago, I made a few of my own circulators. The PID thermostat I used could display average percent power. Once my bath was up to temperature, depending on temperature, the heater used between 8% and 20% power (8% for a bath temp of 131degF, 20% for 185degF). My bath was just a covered stockpot with no additional insulation, and I used a 1000W heater.

Most UPSs don't have a breaker limited to the UPS limit. In fact, the limit is really only in reference to how much power it can continuously provide during an outage for about 10 minutes. So a 1000W UPS has a much bigger battery which can store and deliver more energy than the 500W UPS. As you drain the battery, it's voltage decreases. There is typically a voltage regulator circuit in the UPS either before or in the inverter stage. So, as the battery voltage decreases, your output voltage stays constant, until it reaches a threshold where it will just shut off. So, you can run 1000W off of a 500W UPS, but it will only last a minute or two. Or you can run 100W off of a 1000W UPS for 20-30 minutes, maybe more. Once the bath reaches temp, the heater draws very little power (maybe 100W) on average. Very short bursts of 1000W look like the average power to the battery.

Right - similar surfaces will read similarly - but, for instance, the refrigerator walls may read differently than a frozen pork loin, or a box of frozen pizza, etc. I know this is OT, but for critical freezing, I use a small, non defrosting chest freezer. It consistently stays at -10F, and a bit colder at the very bottom.

The problem with IR thermometers is that you have to calibrate the emissivity of each surface you measure. Otherwise, your readings could be off by 5 degrees F easily. Also, the temperature of the inside of the cavity (and the food, which is a thermal mass) could be very different from the wall temperature - especially depending on timing, like if the defroster just turned on. I keep my refrig thermometer hanging on a middle rack in the middle of the box, away from the walls, but close to foods with a lot of mass (like a jug of water). I don't open the door very often, so when I do, I get a good idea of the ave temp. In the freezer, it sits practically buried in a pile of food, away from the walls. Just my .02

How do you use a pressure cooker to make sticky rice? I am assuming that by "sticky rice" you mean glutinous rice, which is typically soaked for several hours and then steamed for about 15 minutes.

David Bouley used to talk about using Wondra when frying practically everything. Fish, scallops, chicken, etc.

Sorry, I didnt see that. I had a similar situation, but I guess Igot lucky - they toldme to ship it back and they fixed it for free.

I would call KR - I found their cust. service very good when I had a problem with mine.

Most versions I have seen are distinctly yellow - and have a certain turmeric flavor. Also, most versions I have had are more Indian curry spiced, rather than Thai curry spiced - so I don't know if a curry paste is the way to go. I would tend to use a mild curry powder, and add some turmeric. I don't think I would add soy sauce, but if you're looking for a slight sweetness, I'd use a small dribble of thick soy sauce which is common in Burmese cooking, which has an Indian influence.

But, assuming you grind your own meat, you can save the fat/trimmings, render in a pan and fry the trimmings to get nice maillard flavor into the fat - then griddle the SVd burgers using that fat. I use this method with steak and find the results to be very good. ETA: Granted - this takes much longer than 10 minutes though.. but if you've got the time, I think it's effort well spent.

I've you've got the time, you can cook/chill the well done and medium burgers several days in advance (or the morning of). I would probably even precook the med-rare ones since I would chill it a bit before searing so it doesn't overcook (depending on how thick of a crust you're looking to get). Just retherm the chilled ones to a warm core temp before searing so they're not cold in the middle.

hmm.. I don't know about that chart. I won't reiterate what I said before, but I'll add a caveat: I remove the skin and blood line prior to cooking as I think they can be fishy. Also, since I'm using the 'gradient' method, I don't know what the exact core temp is by the time it hits the plate/table. Once it hits 100, I'll take it out of the bath, but it will typically sit on a plate (in the sealed bag) for a minute or two while I'm getting the sides and rest of the plate ready. Then, I'll take it out of the bags and torch - so it may be possible that the core increased a couple degrees in that time. I'll add something else with the gradient method - it works great when I do it for 2 people - but I'd have to modify it if doing it for a group - since the timing of getting all the pieces out of the bags, plating, etc. would probably be longer for say 8 people than for 2, which will change the core temp. One more thing - an anecdote... many years ago, I read Eric Ripert's "A Return to Cooking" - I was a huge fan of it in my pre-SV days... when cooking fish, he always recommended using a thin metal skewer - inserting into the center of the fish, and then touching it to your lip. The fish is done when it feels slightly warm to your lip - which makes sense with the 100 degree range (just above body temp)

I stopped using the tables just because the dash app is just so convenient.I checked using my settings, and I, too, got 55 minutes versus MCs 34 minutes. I don't know why there is such a discrepancy. I do know that when I do salmon on a routine basis, using the temps discussed above, it comes out extremely accurately, consistently, regardless of the thickness which varies from week to week when using the app.

I find it very reliable and have been a big fan since I started using it. One thing that is not good is its doneness descriptions - so I put in manual mode and set the temps myself. Also, it will change times based on whether you want pasteurization or not, and also the shape is an important variable. To tell the truth, I never use the tables in MC - I used to use the EG tables nathanm posted years ago before the SV dash - but ever since I got it, I haven't used them. I don't have my ipad here with me right now - I'll be able to check out my results with my settings in about an hour or so, and then I'll report back with my findings.

I do salmon usually once a week - I set the circulator to 115, and use SVDash to calculate when to remove from the bath when the core hits 100. I then let it sit out for a minute or two, then torch the top. This yields a texture that many people like - slightly more cooked on the outside, but very moist and just flaking on the inside, consistently. This is skin-off though... I haven't played with skin-on.

I know you wanted to avoid the starch route, but another option is Ultra-Tex 8. It's a cold swelling starch derived from tapioca, and a little tiny bit goes a long way, so it doesn't mask flavors. It yields a very nice creamy mouthfeel.

Yes - can you be a little more detailed about your typical diet?

I've used beef cheeks with pretty good success with this... once trimmed, it's pretty lean, but very beefy.

I never knew hosta were edible! I mean, I know the deer love them, but I didn't know people eat them too...

If you have every rack filled with a sheet pan, do you have issues with hot/cold spots, or do you just rotate pans once in a while?

A long time ago, a Jean-Georges restaurant in NYC (specifically his Thai restaurant Vong) did a rabbit curry - it was basically a yellow curry with the leg meat cooked a long time until tender, but the loin was cooked briefly, separately, so as not to get overcooked... There was also a small skewer of cubes of cooked rabbit liver, and the vegetable in the curry... carrots (to go along with the rabbit theme).

Well, even though he's not a hydroponic farmer, there is lots of information available as to water efficiency, plant growth rates, potential planting density, etc which don't require practical experience to understand. When I first heard about him, I thought his ideas were ridiculous because I thought they were impractical due to energy costs (mainly for the large amount of artificial lighting required for his theories to work). But over time, I've come to believe that what he's writing about is not necessarily something that could or should be done now, but he's presenting ideas to work towards - a goal, if you will. His ideas are already viable in areas with very cheap power - like Iceland where geothermal power is very inexpensive - but for say, New York, at $0.21 per kwh, acres of lighting, even LED lighting, is not practical for more than supplemental lighting - and only then it is only practical because of the large population of relatively wealthy consumers willing to pay $4-5/lb for tomatoes, or $4 for a 4.5oz clamshell of salad greens.

I think that really hits the nail on the head. If it's a cookbook with recipes, then the recipes should be tested, etc... but if it's just a treatise on theory, then I see no reason why you need experience in cooking or recipe writing for it - just don't call it a cookbook! Here's an example - Dickson Despommier is an ecologist and college professor - and has written a highly lauded book "The Vertical Farm", www.verticalfarm.com . He's given TED talks about it, been on national TV shows promoting the book and his theories - yet, he's not a farmer and doesn't have any practical experience with hydroponics.

That certainly looks like a healthy bunch... the Eataly bunch probably had about half the product in it. Don't get me wrong - I'm not trying to knock the greenmarket - I was just giving a comparison - even though it wasn't a fair comparison because it didn't compare quantity + intangebles.

I don't know about the size difference of bunches, but Eataly had them today for $2.50 per bunch