ElsieD

That looks like one mighty fine meal.

Wish I knew. I'd sure patronize them.

Not sure what you're asking. Care to elaborate?

Thank you, Franci, I will be making this and will report back. Two questions - I don't have any malt syrup, is there an acceptable substitute? And secondly, can I scale this recipe to make half the amount? Thank you.

Tried pork chops last night for 1 hour at 140F. Much, much better. They were a centre cut though, not sirloin, so I still don't know if the type of cut makes any difference.

I would love to try it. It looks delicious.

What is a CRAFT moment?

Next up we have the following: Giant Peruvian Inca Corn - I'm almost afraid to say this given how many people like this, but this didn't do anything for us. I don't really know why, but it just didn't. Speculoos cookies - good, not great. Sweet Sriracha Uncured Bacon Jerky - I don't eat jerky but my husband does and he loved, loved, loved this stuff. It's one of the reasons I am thinking of getting a dehydrator. Definitely on the "to get again list" as is, Siriracha Roasted Garlic Barbecue Sauce - this was outasight good. We loved this sauce and pan on stocking up.

Excellent article. Given that it was written 9 years ago and the programming is even worse now than it was then, he should write an updated column.

So my steak, a strip loin, has thawed and I have just applied a thin film of fish sauce to both sides and around the edges. That RB 40 sure is pungent. I put one of those finger bandages over the finger I used to spread the sauce around and I still had to thoroughly wash my hands afterwards to get rid of the fishy smell. I'll report back in a week.

Well, there you go. Using Dash, I see that to cook it to 60C, which would be my preference, takes 1 hour and a few seconds so obviously I had been cooking the poor thing to death. I will try again. I still wonder if the sirloin chop will come out as tender as a centre cut chop might. I guess I am thinking that a beef strip loin takes a fraction of the time that a tougher cut of beef would take and yet there does not seem to be any differentiation between a more tender centre cut pork chop and a sirloin one. Guess I'll have to try it.

Beth, thank you so much for going to all that trouble. When next you communicate with Don Mercer please let him know that I appreciate his sharing his information with us. I will take a look at the Nesco Gardenmaster. One thing that appealed about buying the unit from Costco is their return policy. if you can believe it, they gave us a 100% refund on a PVR that gave up the ghost after 3 years and also a full refund on a pre-lit Christmas tree that we had used for three years when the lights suddenly went out last Christmas. Hard to beat a return policy like that. However, if the Gardenmaster is so much better than the Costco one I will consider it. As mentioned, I mainly want to do jerky for my husband. I may do a few things like berries in season but I don't see me doing a lots of other things. Of course, I may fall in love with the thing and start experimenting with all kinds of things, so who knows? It is probably better to cater to the possibility of using it more, not less. I did not realize you were in Kemptville. We often toodle on over to the Farmer's market there on Sunday's. If you ever come to Ottawa and are looking for a lunch mate, let me know!

Well, now, that's interesting. How thick were they? I may give them another shot.

I did it for 8 hours at 140F. They were sirloin chops.

How did this turn out? Out of the items I have cooked sous vide, the one thing that gives me trouble are pork chops, particularly the sirloin ones. My pork chops inevitably turn into mush or I find them dry.

Thank you all for responding. After reading your responses, I did some more digging and have concluded that while the Excalibur may be the Cadillac version for home use, it is more expensive that what I want to pay, as I don't see me using it a whole lot. I looked at the Lee Valley one then had a look at Costco. Both have Nesco models, Costco has the FD 80 which is a square one and Lee Valley has the FD61, a round one. The Costco one has 700 Watts, the Lee Valley 500. Both have a temperature control. Coatco charges $84.99 and Lee Valley $74.50. Sorry to sound so stupid, but how does the difference in wattages affect the drying times? Is it quicker with the higher wattage? Is square better than round? The main thing I want to make is jerky. Beth, I will keep that book in mind. There can't be many cookbooks that deal with dehydrated foods.

Maybe that's why I couldn't find it - I was looking for the wrong thing. I'll look again.

So I put a 1 1/2" strip in the fridge to thaw. My fish sauce is Red Boat 40. It is an unopened bottle and I have never used it before as I previously used Three Crabs, I think. If as Rotuts said it is pretty pungent stuff, should I use a bit less than if I were using Three Crabs?

I'm thinking of giving this a shot. Can I use a defrosted steak or does it have to be a fresh one?

Continuing on with our mini reviews, we have now tried four more items. The milk chocolate salted caramel butter cookies were pretty good but not so special that I would buy them again. The problem for me was the base as it was very dry and if it had any butter in it, I couldn't taste it. The topping, however, was delicious. The mango ginger chutney - well, I could just sit there on my chair with spoon in hand and eat the whole dang jar. It is delicious, and has gone on the Trader Joe list for next time. We also liked the basmati rice medley and will stock up on a few of those also. I understand that there is a frozen basmati rice medley but they didn't have it so I got this one instead. I bought the cold brewed coffee to have on hand for those mornings when circumstances did not allow for making the usual pot. It was good but again not so good that I would buy it again. It has been fun trying the different products I picked up.

Thanks. Neat app.

Ann, the pans I use were these. I like them very much. They make hamburger size buns. http://www.amazon.com/USA-Pans-Round-Panel-Wells/dp/B001QXW3Q4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1431449647&sr=8-1&keywords=USA+hamburger+pan Paul, I had not thought of savoury flavourings. As I am sitting here thinking about that, slivered sun dried tomatoes and cooked diced pancetta comes to mind.

Today I made some fruit buns based on paulpeggs easy focaccia dough outlined in post# 244 on Feb. 26. I increased the water a bit and added about 280 grams of raisins and dried cranberries. These are very, very good toasted with butter dripping into the nooks and crannies.

Nice looking loaf you have there.

I have one of those jars and use it all the time and it works quite well. I keep the whole bulb in there and just break off what I need. I store it in a kitchen cupboard.