jk1002

Freeze slowly I heard over and over. I think one can argue what it actually means, starting with hot water or starting with very cold water .... I think taking a fridge and gradually lowering the temperature of the water over time, I think this is in the end what sort of happens with melting the hollow ice cubes approach, the water comes very very close to freezing this way and putting it into the freezer is just the last tiny coffin before freezing ...... I don't have a spare fridge but I believe some can actually get to freezing temperature ..... this would also explain how it can be done automatically by machines .........

>>Even with breast meat, I'd never cook chicken at this temperature for less than two hours. << If you throw it in the fryer afterwards I would think it will be safe and cooked sufficient? I don't think we are talking about eating a chicken leg that was 1 hour in the bath. like it is. Chicken legs in general I found are so hard to overcook in the oven, that SV to me is not really required, only time it made sense to me is frying.

Reading the thread, often it is not clear if a home cook is answering or a professional. A lot of things look ridiculous for normal home cooking yet make perfect sense in a restaurant or if you cook pro level at home. Personally I do not like how it is marketed to amateur cooks. I think it is too early for that. In my home, I look at it as a hobby, figuring out how to incorporate it into day to day. Fun. Why i think it is too early? I didn't like the skinless chicken breast, too much like deli meat. I am also struggling with fish since I haven't found a good way to deal with the skin - usually I take it off for SV but that produces waste. The SV egg with no way of firming the white, not for me please. As other's mentioned here, there are killer applications for it. To me the 56c burger, even though it's standard wholefoods 93% fat becomes something that rivals shake shack. The 30 hour flank steak, unbelievable. For a home cook it is fine to ignore, come back later, let people come up with clever techniques and let the prices go down. For a restaurant cook it should not be ignored, Keller's SV book clearly shows how important it is. I believe cooking schools incorporate SV into their programs and if you didn't get that SV is not just about perfection but also about what it does to the workflow maybe it is time to take a closer look. JK

It is back at 420 on amazon. These fluctuations really happen to me all the time.

I second the iwatani. Huge difference to a brulee torch that i now use to light candles. I ordered mine at korin, i think williams sonoma has the iwatani rebranded, for sure they sell the canisters at 8 bucks a pop ... Whis seems expensive but when in pickles ......

I often pre-order with them, these fluctuations happen all the time. In a week or 2 it will be back at 400 something. The 34% off is their standard discount that they apply pretty regular among cook books. If you search online, there are smaller stores that even beat that. What is also happening often after the actual launch, they decrease prices further, sometimes temporary, sometimes for longer periods.

Did anyone invest into the more recent starchef dvds? Is it worth purchasing? They have the 2009 up, still saying they will ship in january. I was interested in some of the sessions but want to make sure one can realky get enough out of it. Cheers Jk

All clad has stainless sheet pans wi aluminium core. I don't think you will find much stainless since it doesn't conduct heat. I'd say stick to alu and put tinfoil between the food and sheet pan or something and change frequently. Jk

I second the williams and Sonoma outlet. They generally have all clad stainless 40% off, if you time it you may even get 50%. They also had selection of knifes, they sometimes post special offers through their twitter account. For spices, Christina's Spice Shop at Inman square.

What baffled me recently is, my beloved ice pick was listed somewhere as uselezs gadget. I have no automatic ice cube maker in my freezer so i freeze huge blocks in those hotel pan type of bowls. I break the ice apart into smaller pieces, fill the bowl or pan with water and am ready to blanch vegetables all night long. I guess as long they do what they are supposed to do without breaking ones stupid gadget buy may be a wise one in someones elses hand. That said, love my minichopper for everything from nutbutters to besto to breaking down panko crumbs. I also love my gray kunz serving spoons since i can proper plate a home. And tweezers, salad in my bowl looks so much better since i read up on the egullet guide to plating. I have accumulated many little things over the last year that enable me to do things i couldnt do before. Small slotted spoons to fish things out of a small pot - i fry small batch everything from asparagus tips to risotto balls. Sheet pans - so versatile not just for roasting but for prep and storing as well. There is much more, it all depends how one is cooking.

Bring back cigars.

I did vent it in the past when I used it to carbonate gels or gin or grapes and so on. I just did it like I would vent a bottle of soda that was shaken. Just screw it up a little bit until you hear it hissing, not all the way, then close quickly again and so on. If you leave it open too long the batter may come out, depends how thick it is.

I started playing with vegetables fruit puree's after reading Jose Garces Latin evolution cookbook. It seems that in more modern cuisine vegetable purees are replacing standard sauces every now and then. There is also an amazing green asparagus sauce on playing with fire and water. This is something I want to explore way way more ..... not that it's new but it just didn't make my way into my own cooking style just yet and first few attempts where really amazing. Fresh green Pea puree with sherry and shaved frozen fois gras (David Chang) was amazing. JK

It depends how exact that SVS really is. Personally I am rather safe then sorry. I recommend reading the Baldwin guide or to buy his book and then form your own opinion. 54c for 4 hours is a bacteria bomb in my opinion and I don't see how your steak would need that time unless it's super thick which it is not. Cheers

55 is cutting it close with the 4 hours, thats surfing around danger zone. Did you check the baldwin tables? Your not aiming for breaking down toughness with the 4 hour range, pasteurizing it might be quicker, just cooking it mostlikely will be quicker.

While i am at it ..... I just saw that there is now a 2" size of that tovolo ice cube tray available on amazon.com for 10 bucks in red .....

Honestly, i use polland spring at home. Tried both normal and distilled and coulnd't detect a difference in clarity so i am sticking to normal. There are for sure additives in my water and giving that most cocktails are dilluted quite a bit i rather spend the 2$ a month if at all on bottled. For larger quantites i'd rethink this but i use like 3 or 4 cubes per drink so it doesn't really matter. Not a big fan of tap water to be honest, i drank accidently twice conterminated water in the last few years since i didn't get the message quick enough about water main breaks.

I think it is very difficult to get people into a highnpriced place for what is perceived as every day cuisine. And to me thai food is just that, i just have it way to often to crave it when i am after a big budget dinner. Also, i think if you launch a place as a "sceny" place i sort of agree with what was said about taylor it is very difficult to turn it around and attract regular diners.

I think if you can swing it take a look at the new polyscience that is coming out (800$). Also the SWIDD should show up at some point in the US (450 Euro in Europe right now). The one benefit I see with the Supreme is that it actually looks like a kitchen appliance and doesn't make you look like a mad scientist when guests come over. There are no other products on the horizon I believe. In Europe there is one more contender with a small tank called Domnick but that is 700 euro or so and doesn't circulate. So you can custom built, get the supreme, the fresh meal magic or the polyscience. I would definitely recommend to start off with a pot and thermometer first. I actually didn't like the sous vide egg (white is disgusting) or the chicken breast for which I bought my polyscience circulator. I still pan-sear my steaks and roast my chickens. Cheers JK

If a restaurant is busy or expects to be busy they would usually not offer a choice but put a single eater there where they can maximize revenue. I haven't been but I would think it is crowded even at lunch, so offering a single "luncher" a choice is indeed nice.

Off topic but Amazon normally discounts 34% often even briefly hitting 40% before release. I don't know how they do it but I found other online places that consistently beat Amazons prices on books. Frankly I doubt I will ever see this, maybe if I make it up to specialty stores like Kitchen Arts and Letters. JK

How do the high powererd ones work with small quantiities? I am using a 1 cup dualit mini chopper for everything from nut butters to vegetable purees. I usually just need a quarter to half a cup. I'd think that is where they fail correct?

I had success vacuum infusing pineaple and cucumber with rum/gin using a standard syringe. I picked that up in one of dave arnolds classes. You just load up the syringe and push your thumb on the top and pull. It does generate enough vacuum for the infusion to work, if you hold the vacuum a bit longer that might be workingd for compression as well. What i don't exactly know is what prevents the air from rushing back in whrn you break the vacuum. I am guessing that time under vacum is part of the overall equation.

I use the ziplocs as well and have seen chamber vacs demoed in class. In a nutshell, the ziplocs won't even pull enough air out of lets say broccoli to prevent it from floating, this is as far away from a vacuum as you can be. For normal sous vide cooking it is pretty decent and knock on wood the cheap plastic pump seems to be working pretty well and is easy to clean. For bags this is my preferred solution at this point. I am afraid they are not very popular, Reynolds pulled their product off the market I do not know though if it was working that well.

For the salmon, what i find interesting is that cookingissues did a taste test and found around 42 and 50 to be good temperatures. Having done different salmon types at 60.5 to pasteurize i found wild atlantic to be ok, coho completly overcooked. I did copper river at 51 and that was good. I am pretty much convinced tyat different types react and require different temperatures. Also i noted that sv brings out the difference in texture between wild and farmon. I guess farmed doesn't move as much as wild, i found the "wild" texture much better. The farmed atlantic that i pasteurized wash mushy compare to the wild which i liked.