Paul Kierstead

The pot area above the oil line can get polymerized, hard to remove oil. Non-stick makes it easier. That said, I use an enameled dutch oven, and one of these days I'll pick up a griswold.

I popped a KA with Pasta dough with semolina (about 25%). Killed it dead. Had it repaired. A few flour only pastas later, I damaged a gear .. it mostly works now, but does tend to screech as you say. Now I make pasta down in the FP, which works much better. For the money, the KA could be much better made. Or maybe it is for a little more money; I dunno, but I do know I am disappointed in the robustness of it.

One of the curious things about the Technivorm is that really is basically a pour over; you could actually use the filter holder as one. Of course, all filter drips are also essentially pour over, especially if they are fast enough. To get closer to pour-over, especially for small quantities in the Technivorm, I close the valve till some water gets in there and do something close to the full immersion. I think the point of wetting the grinds in a pour over is, indeed, as someone said: stop them from all displacing when you pour. Well, it definitely helps in my experience anyway.

It is always hard to line up expectations and your experience with what "should" happen. First, go look at this video and pop forward to about 3:30. When people say the KR is very quiet and doesn't put out steam, that is what they are comparing to. On the low-heat thing, it may well be due to the size of the cooker; 12 qt is pretty good. Compare your experience with the video, and you should get an idea if you are much much quieter and less steamy then that. If not, then your cooker could be defective (but it isn't likely, but of course not at all impossible)

How would that be specific to sous-vide?

Why do makers insist on button speed controls? The single biggest appeal of the vitamix to me is the knob; start slow easily and easily just run it up the the just-right speed.

Someone who doesn't write down the order can pay fully attention to the customer without appearing to not be listening or taking awkward breaks. It lets the customer proceed at their pace without interruption. I think it enhances the service, when it works.

The rotisserie on my weber grill has an adjustable counterweight you tweak to balance it out. Perhaps you are missing an equivalent part?

I wonder, if you don't use a circulator (i.e. you are using something like a PID'd rice cooker), can you forgo the bagging and just cook them in the water? I imagine the result was very good but honestly I think most people are barbarians when it comes to mashed, never having seemed to have good ones. And even then, they'll say "wow, these are fantastic, best I ever had" followed shortly by "that is too much trouble" 'cause they got no respect for good mashed (or a good burger or a few other things); even in the face of better, they still will settle for less because it is "just" mashed. Ok, I stop before I hit full rant mode....

Indeed. I just did 4 turkey legs and 4 turkey thighs, 12 hrs @ 80C (cured 48hrs before). A cooler + sous vide magic can do a good amount of meat in a go . Very very nice texture. I found it was not quite as silky as my previous turkey leg confit tries (done in duck fat), but this may be the meat selection or other factor (time?), and still was very very close. It is a little drier then duck confit, but still very moist and silky over all and is wonderful in salad, etc.

Wow, I'd never figure the bartenders would take all the glasses to the restroom all the time ..... Oh, I see. N/m

I'm not sure that fact that there are better knives means that only those knives should be recommended, particularly since you haven't defined your basis for 'better'. There is price, availability, consistency, durability (of handle and blade), product range and lots of other things to consider.

Thanks, nathan, for the info on the hollandaise. It is good, I can get a 1/2 pint whip for around-the-house for guests and try it out (soda siphons only seem to come in quart sizes). On a side note, surely some manufacturer can step up to the plate and make a $500 vacuum chamber machine? I'll pony up for it.

From the article (people did read it, right?): The study, published on Tuesday in Heart, a British Medical Journal publication, showed that when food firms controlled salt content, rates of heart disease and strokes fell by about 1 per cent, but when governments imposed rules, those rates fell by 18 per cent. Regardless of whether salt directly causes heart disease, it would seem that regulating it has the outcome of reducing it. This may or may not mean the government should regulate it (that is politics), but I fail to see how we can deny the effectiveness of it unless someone can step up and refute the study.

I'm very interested in your results. Looking at another's results, I wonder if you had the same 'foam' outcome ... the recipe calls for a siphon (I presume a soda siphon?) and the blogger used a "whip" which I am guessing is a whipped cream dispenser, which is quite likely a different outcome? I have no idea about these devices. Was yours foamy?

Sooo ... I could take one of those, a water pump, a bucket and some tubing and make [a crude version of] one of these: A motorized aspirator is basically an aspirator connected in a tank so there is no water waste. There are also vacuum pumps made to use with rotary evaporators, which will work but are more expensive. That would be intriguing. I wonder how powerful a pump it would have to be. I also have a quite nice, fairly powerful rotary vane vacuum pump for vacuum veneering, but I have no idea of its resiliency to balsamic vinegar vapors (or strawberry for that matter)

I don't think anyone fails to realize that. What else could it be? The problem is you are saying it without reviewing the book *or* its authors (you do realize it isn't just one guy, right?). When you obtain the book (library's are good places, as are friends) and see what is actually in it, then your opinion counts. Until then you opinion has no basis whatsoever. You can't even claim it is based on previous books like this (as weak as that would be) since there aren't really any predecessors. So before you assert that it is overpriced, it would be nice for you to actually have some information to go on beyond the price. It might very well be overpriced (but at least I'll actually have first hand knowledge when the time comes....)

I've note made his salad with the Duck Confit, but have used it as inspiration to make a Duck Confit salad numerous times using what I had on hand. It has been pretty delicious every time. It is one of my favorite uses for Confit, actually.

Cool! Um, one question though, how do you know it is available online without the contents of the book?

And it probably is pretty good. Putting some lettuce in something doesn't make it healthy, and consistent overeating of anything isn't healthy. Poor schmucks go in and order a salad and think they are making out like a bandit -- tasty and low calorie! -- only to find now that it wasn't true. Naturally if they had given it any real thought (or understood what was in their food), they'd figure out that large quantities of cheese and ranch dressing are probably *not* better then a scrawny bit of beef and special sauce, but most people don't go this deep. This has the potential to at least remind some people of what they are actually eating.

I've never seen a bagged piece of meat in my freezer anywhere near close to 'thawed', even at the surface. If there is a thaw cycle, it is incredibly close to the surface. Perhaps freezers vary a lot by maker, etc., and as always YMMV, but with properly wrapped meat I've not seen ill effects at all with a frost free freezer, and I am picky. I think either some freezers are awful or the problems are more theoretical then real. Or I'm crazy.

I don't know, I don't keep ice cream for long in my freezer (and very rarely have it at all), but all my food is vacuum packed or at the minmum very well wrapped; not surprisingly I haven't noticed and freezer burn problems with my self defrosting upright.

My wifes mother, a Romanian, uses such a wood knife for preparing a roasted eggplant spread.

I got nathan who has done experiments, published the data and has a solid theory behind it (which is confirmed by the experiments). OTOH, I got some random guy who makes an assertion with no data and no theory other then referencing articles he hasn't read and we would have to pay to read. I think I'll lean to the wet-bulb theory; it could be wrong, but it seems much more likely to be right.

lol, I'd go so far as to call it about enthusiasts, though to be fair that sometimes has pejorative overtones (which is a true shame, it is a nice term really). I certainly don't use it pejoratively.