Camano Chef

I have a Vacmaster SVP-15. I believe this is the one Nathanm first used. I have had it for several years and it has worked flawlessly with only a little maintenance, repair the sealer bar and change the oil in the vacuum pump. I got it for sous vide but now use it for many other uses. I prepare quite a lot of SV ready portions, chicken, steaks, seafood and cook them SV from frozen. I use it several times a day for something. Some interesting uses I have found: Compress cucumber slices for salads, very interesting texture-guests love it. Compress tomato slices, for salads and deep frying. Marinating almost anything. Back off the vacuum for berries, fruits, etc. Sealing adult beverages Gravys, sauces, soups. Compressing melons. Bonding meats using Activa. Sealing any item you wish to store,ie. pankow, spices, specialty flours, any powdered ingredient such as used for Modernist Cuisine, baking mixes. The bags are quite inexpensive, although you have to buy in large quantities. I have found that the 4mil bags are much better as they are much less fragile in freezers. I have come to think of them as I would a deli sheet, cheap and disposable. I like to purchase primal cuts of meats and break them into useable portions,vacuum seal and freeze. This saves a lot of money. I am comfortable with butchering so this may not appeal to many. Some items are hard to get such as sweet breads, kidneys,liver,duck legs, fois gras and this is a very effective way to save them for future use. In short, I find my chamber sealer to be absolutely indispensible. I obtained it from a company in Idaho ,Kodiak. They have provided flawless service and helped me a great deal in learning to use this fine machine. I hope this helps http://kodiakhealth.com/

Has anyone considered using scales for reloading ammunition. I have a number of balance scales that are calibrated in grains. One gram is equal to 15 grains therefore 2.1 grams is equal to 32 grains. This a reasonable measure of powder for reloading ammunition. I will use this rather than purchasing another electronic scale since I have it. BTW most ammunition scales are much more costly than cheap electronic scales, about US$100.00, however an inaccurate scale has very discouraging result when loading ammunition. Hope this helps. Phil

I took the chicken directly out of the SV bath and proceeded. I did not wait until it became room temp. Phil

Has anyone used an Anti-griddle for rapid cooling of SV foods prior to freezing or chilling in the refrigerator?

I have had excellent results precooking chicken for frying SV Cook thighs and drumsticks for 1 hour plus at 60 degrees C. Dip in buttermilk and dredge in seasoned flour. Deep fat fry at 177 degrees C. until golden brown. Chicken is very moist and crispy. I have had excellent reviews each time I have served it. Phil

How do most of you save the tempered chocolate after a molding session? I know this might seem a dumb question but everything else has seemed to be covered. I have been letting the chocolate harden in the tempering bowl, then breaking into chunks and then cryopacking such as I would for suis vide. Many thanks, Phil

I have been using a Thermomix for caramelizing onions. I never use sweet onions but do add a bit of balsamic vinegar. I haven't tried adding any sodium bicarbonate. The Thermomix allows me to start the process and occasionally check up on things so it really does not divert me from other tasks. When I used to caramelize onions manually it seems that I had to focus almost entirely on the onions and got little else done. Hope this helps, Phil

Kerry, Have you tried the Parallels software on your MAC. I use it every day using XP PRO. It works very well and I use it as a system administrator for a very large PC network complete with servers,printers, etc. I do a lot of tax work using LaCerte software. Probably 80 % of US accountants use this software. You must buy PC anti-virus software as you are working in the "Windows World" I use Panda anti-virus software with good results. I use a Macbook Pro for all of this. Hope this helps Phil

Thanks for everyone's prompt response. Phil

Kerry, What is a raised structure sheet? Do I make it? If so, how? Is there a source for such an item? How is it used? Surely chocolatiers have developed a way to distinctively mark their molded chocolates. What is the generally accepted "best" way? Many thanks Phil

Hello All: Is it possible to mark the bottoms of molded chocolates with the maker's name? Can this be done with transfer sheets before the bottoms have "set"? Can I make a stencil and spray the bottoms with colored cocoa butter? Thanks for any ideas Phil

I have had great success ordering from Bill is truely a fine fellow and is very helpful as very competitive on prices. If you are from the Seattle area he has a pickup arrangement that saves freight charges. Hope this helps. Phil

Jean-Francis I have a Polyscience immersion circulator. It usually is used in a 20 Liter All-Clad brand stock pot. I have the stock pot wrapped with about 1/2" (12MM) bubble type aluminized insulation. The top is covered with a 1/4"( 8mm) plexiglass sheet that I cut out to fit tightly around the Polyscience circulator in order to reduce evaporation water loss. I have run this unit for at least 24 hours without more than 1/2" (12mm) water level loss. The Polyscience circulator easily maintains 90C in this water bath. ( the highest I have used so far.) I have tested the temperature variations in the water bath using a Thermoworks Microtherma 2 thermometer and find the temperatures within .5C in all locations. I think that my water bath is probably larger than is typical but my results seem to confirm the capability and accuracy of the Polyscience immersion circulator. I do feel the larger mass of water makes the whole system much more stable. For example dropping a 2# (approx 1 kilo) frozen pot roast into the bath never drops the temperature more than .5C and that is for just a few minutes. The unit is so dependable that I never hesitate even the longest (up to 48 hours) cook times. I hope my observations are helpful. Phil

Per advice from Polyscience I use a product called CLR, available at any ACE Hardware store and usually most grocery stores. It works great. I usually only need to clean it every few months when I notice things start to look "grungy" I usually use a smaller reservoir such as a 7 liter Rubbermaid polycarbonate food storage container for the cleaning process in order to reduce the amount of CLR necessary. My normal tank for the Polyscience is a 20 Liter stockpot from All-Clad. Hope this helps.

Very nice! Am I seeing a double burner induction hob there? Tell me more about mushroom caramel. ← I have a Cook Tek induction hob. I feel it is absolutely the best available. Their service and knowlegable technicians are second to none. It is very useful for confections as it will maintain absolutely even temperatures. It is designed to work in high temperature, high humidity environments. I couldn't live without it. Hope this helps

Sure, that'd be great! What sizes do you recommend? Greweling seems to use both 1/4-inch and 1/2-inch widths, so would it be best to get a set of each? Strangely, we already have a marble slab, so we're covered in that respect. Thanks! ← I've been talking to his mom about getting a set of 1/2 inch, and a set of 1/2 by 1/4 inch. With those I pour the first layer with the rulers set at 1/4 inch, then turn them on their 1/2 inch side for the next layer. And there is enough weight in the 1/4 by 1/2 to prevent movement. I like to cut 2 to 12 inches and 2 to 8 inches, but let me know if you'd prefer all 12 inches. ← ← I got some 1/4", 3/8", 1/2" type 304 stainless square stock and cut my own rulers. Quick simple and cheap. They are fairly heavy and usually do not need to be fixed. If so I just use masking tape which works well. I almost always work on Silpat mats. Hope this helps Phil

Sure, that'd be great! What sizes do you recommend? Greweling seems to use both 1/4-inch and 1/2-inch widths, so would it be best to get a set of each? Strangely, we already have a marble slab, so we're covered in that respect. Thanks! ← I've been talking to his mom about getting a set of 1/2 inch, and a set of 1/2 by 1/4 inch. With those I pour the first layer with the rulers set at 1/4 inch, then turn them on their 1/2 inch side for the next layer. And there is enough weight in the 1/4 by 1/2 to prevent movement. I like to cut 2 to 12 inches and 2 to 8 inches, but let me know if you'd prefer all 12 inches. ←

Chad, I finished your book last week. A very entertaining and useful read. I have always been a "sharpness fanatic". I suppose it started with a part time job I had in high school which consisted of sharpening the knives for a small local slaughterhouse. Much of the sharpening I have always done has been by hand. Most of my cooking knives are Forschner brand. They are a little harder and thinner than most of the previous knives I have used. After reading your book, I purchased an Edge Pro. It was intuitive to learn to use. I quickly was able to put much superior edges on my knives than I was able to do by hand. I purchased the scissors sharpening attachment and was able to dramatically improve my kitchen and poultry shears. They are better than new. This a little off topic. How would one sharpen pinking shears? Again, thanks for a great book.

I have a Vacmaster SVO-15 that I got fromThese folks. I got the name and model# from nathanm at the beginning of this thread. It is relatively compact and easily seals everything up through whole chickens and ducks. This outfit primarily sells to hunters/ fishermen and home food storage enthusiasts. They were a little less costly than others that sell these units. I have been very satisfied with the unit. It just removes the air and seals the bag without any fuss. I marvel at the "screwing around" that I did trying to make the various Foodsavers work. Hope this helps

I use the small (approx 10" X 10.75") Kabinet Wax brand deli wraps. I just roll the wrap around the food to be sealed, insert the roll into the bag and empty the food into the bag. This works well for meats, vegetables, dry ingredients, etc. Easy and cheap. Liquid ingredients are another story and I usually just use an appropriately sized funnel. Hope this helps.

I just downloaded this and it is a wonderful resource. Just great. Many thanks for all your work.

The quote for the white asparagus is from Tom Keller in "under Pressure. It means 20 minutes plus sugar plus salt. The quote for carrots means 1 hour with carrots cut into 2 inch long strips with butter added to the bag. I didn't add that I usually add dill and cut the carrots into about 1/4" to 3/8" by 2" long. This is derived from Tom Keller's "Under Pressure" in his vegetable section. I commonly use ' for minutes and hour-minute format as 1+20, meaning 1 hour plus 20 minutes Many of the temperatures are derived from the addendum to "Under Pressure". When I started this project I was compiling this data for myself and did not start adding proper attributions for the source of the information. Much other information was derived from posts to this section. Sorry for the confusion.

Many years ago, I was cruising on our sailboat. I built it. We were in Southern Alaska or northern British Columbia. I have always liked to cook and had just graduated from CIA. I was grilling something on our boat for dinner and a dinghy from another boat in the anchorage came alongside. The owner was to be charitable, a total jerk. He knew I was a chef. He tossed me a package of hamburger as said "grill it for me'. I did wrapper and all. No sauces or spices either. No friends were made that evening

Has anyone tried this sous vide finished with pan or grill searing?

Has anyone tried this using sous vide and pan or grill searing?