dtremit

This company is interesting -- they seem to only sell vacuum sealers, and the ones they have are all very similar to other popular models on the market. They make three models of suction sealers, and most of them are very close in appearance to models from Cabelas, Weston, and Nesco. They also have a couple of affordable chamber sealers.

Carbon steel is pretty much a worst case scenario for even heating on any source — it doesn't have the thermal transfer of aluminum or copper, nor does it have the mass of cast iron to hold heat. I think you can expect to always get some hot spots unless the coil size is the same size as the pan or larger. Most countertop units have a somewhat small coil by necessity. Based on the teardown photo in this image I would guess the Breville has a coil somewhere between 20-25cm in diameter?

I noticed when browsing appliances recently that the new GE induction ranges offer a very familiar looking, optional bluetooth cooking probe. They also appear to support Hestan Cue pans.

A *minimum* 2 inch insertion depth is going to rule out a number of applications.

I had a very similar issue with my full-size KA food processor. Interlock mechanism on the work bowl broke. They sold them for probably 15 years, but there are almost no replacement work bowls available. I finally found one with the wrong color handle after searching for ages. I don't think KA actually manufactures anything but its stand mixers in house. *Those* seem to have great parts availability -- everything else, not so much. I'm pretty sure the issue with my FP was that they switched manufacturers -- I bought this one because it was made in France, but the new ones haven't been for ages.

@ElsieD Also poke around on various sites under different brand names for just "stainless baking sheets" or "stainless baking tray" — these seem to be a generic import from China, and at least on US Amazon, you can find *identical* pans under a dozen brands. I bought some larger pans of a similar style recently for my weird size wall oven, and ended up with "HUSHIDA" instead of "TeamFar." Every detail of the pans appears identical. The selection seems to be less on amazon.ca but there are a few -- e.g., this "Raynag" pan for $18: hopefully eGullet-friendly amazon.ca link

Agreed on Thermoworks being a joy to work with — their shipping fulfillment is also top notch. They almost always have stuff out the door and to the post office in a matter of hours after I hit the order button. I actually have a new Signals sitting in the box — I accidentally destroyed one of my Pops by leaving it on the grill and somehow used that to justify the bigger model. Overkill for now, but I'm hoping to acquire some smoking apparatuses in the future.

+1 on the small TeamFar pans. I have this slightly larger one (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) and it fits as well (though only in one orientation, and only in certain rack positions).

@rotuts Rechargeables do produce a bit less voltage than a new alkaline battery — most of them are nickel metal hydride (NiMH) which produces 1.2v at full charge. A *new* alkaline will produce 1.5v, and gradually taper off to 1.0v over time. 9V batteries are made up of multiple internal cells in series — which has the effect of multiplying the voltage difference. A 9v alkaline is typically 6x 1.5v cells. 9v NiMH rechargeables can be 6, 7, or 8 cells internally — leading to voltages of 7.2v, 8.4v, or 9.6v. (There are also some lithium ones that are 7.2v — two 3.6v cells internally). If you could find one of the 7- or 8-cell NiMH rechargeables it *might* work, but it's probably not worth the effort.

No -- though it's interesting that your Imperfect boxes come via FedEx. In our area they're delivered by Imperfect's own drivers. Or at least they were at our old place — this week will be our first box from either service since we moved in April. (I did have that happen to a Target box recently, though — in their case, it seemed like their systems were programmed to automatically refund anything with that status. So it must happen pretty often.)

Interesting new rice container from Yamazaki Home popped up in my feed: It's divided vertically into twelve pre-measured chambers that each hold one rice cooker cup of rice. You simply slide the lid open on the right number of openings, and pour. Sounds convenient but I wonder if it would be a pain to fill.

Did you use the same method as the SE article you linked, with the first cook basically a confit?

Hey, it's a Christmas pudding, you're just early for December 😀

Thanks for all the replies to this! A lot of good options. We will be redoing most of the house over the next couple of years so I suspect installing a more central filter at that point is a great idea. @AlaMoi, do you happen to know the make and model of yours? In the meantime, we may be able to fit one of the smaller models above under our sink.

You might be able to just replace the hinges — you can get wider-opening concealed face frame hinges, up to at least 170°: E.g. (not sure if these are the right size): Blum 170 degree face frame hinges They are more expensive than the 90° ones but if you just need them on the pantry doors, it wouldn't be a huge investment.

Does anyone here have an under-sink water filter they really like? We had an in-fridge water filter for years; we just moved, and replacing the fridge isn't in the cards for various reasons. I'd much rather go with an under sink filter (the kind with a little faucet) but I can't seem to find a review of a unit people are actually happy with. I just want something that provides basic filtration for taste and won't leak, something we had with the fridge filter for ages. Seems like it shouldn't be so hard to find...

Coincidentally, I saw this thread pop up in the forum, and came here to say almost exactly the same thing. We had to replace a leaking faucet when moving into our new place, and also ended up with a Delta Touch2O. Have been very happy with it (I have some minor quibbles with the spray head, but that is unrelated to the touch tech). I tried this years ago (using a purpose-built extension kit), and could never get the soap pump to actually pull soap up from the bottle. Was there any trick in priming the pump to get it to work the first time?

FINALLY placed an order with these folks this week. Not for lack of trying — they open their ordering window at 6am on Friday, and by the time I wake up, there has almost never been enough left that I want to fulfill a minimum order. It seems like they're going to three days a week, so there was enough this week for me to get a good selection. This was the haul — nicest surprise was that the "Green chili" turned out to be Thai chiles. I don't think I've ever seen Imperfect offer anything hotter than a jalapeño. A few things had some cosmetic issues but nothing was bruised or inedible. And it was all $25.50 delivered. Really hoping the better availability this week wasn't a fluke. Edited to add: their packaging is also really minimal, since they deliver by local truck or van. Aside from the bags / clamshell, everything was just in two brown paper grocery bags.

You can also do a hold of up to 3 months, and can renew that multiple times. I just realized that we have been doing that since early *last* summer, so I know there's no time limit 🤣 @kayb It was exactly your issue that caused us to stop getting Misfits in the first place. Our summer CSA is all vegetable, and Imperfect let us do a fruit-only box, whereas Misfits would not.

Good one from BookBub today: Spice: Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean (eGullet-friendly Amazon link) $1.99 in the US store This is the first cookbook from Ana Sortun, the chef at Oleana in Cambridge, MA; one of my favorite restaurants and the cookbook really brings the same flavors home.

I'll try to post pictures of the box the next two weeks to fill in the gap! Though the pictures won't look nearly as nice, as it'll be the last week in our old kitchen and the first week in the early '90s grandma special in our new house. You might find some carrot inspiration in this thread I started when we started the Clover root vegetable share last fall: Sadly that share ended up being about 40% carrot. We have eaten a lot of carrot sticks lately.

Imperfect delivery this week was pretty uneventful, but we randomly got a free bag of Lundberg basmati thrown in. Not sure why but I'm not complaining. I impulse bought a bag of something called "RightRice" without doing my research. I read enough of the description to hear "ancient grains" and "cajun spice" and thought hmm, it'll be like a seasoned quinoa and sorghum blend, nice for a quick dinner. Nope — the "rice" is various legume flours pressed into unsettlingly perfect little rice grain shapes. You cook it by mixing it with boiling water and letting it sit for 12 minutes; that'd probably be fine if it were unseasoned, but the flavored version ends up just tasting of uncooked, dusty spices. Blech. Avoid. Even my partner, who is normally the most charitable person on the planet when it comes to anything I put on the table, was inclined to throw it out. Agreed — these definitely push us to eat a bit better. I stumbled across an online review of both services recently, done by a person who compared them to her normal shopping in person. She said that in terms of savings, the services were cheaper for organic produce compared to her local stores, but conventional prices were similar. But, when she looked at her total grocery bills, she was spending way less on processed foods even if the produce price was a wash.

We did — looks like just after 9am. Might want to give them a heads up. We do a "market style" CSA elsewhere in the summer as I really like being able to pick what we want in a given week — but I have really liked having an option in the off season as well.

I have heard of people pre-shaping flour tortillas with a press — just using it to transform the ball into a disc that is then rolled to an appropriate thinness. There are also heated presses for making flour tortillas — my understanding is you don't cook the tortilla on them, the heat is just enough to soften and set the dough. But I think these are more typically restaurant apparatuses.

That looks delicious! Do you mind me asking the cook time for the Royal Coronas? And were they soaked or unsoaked? I have been a little afraid to try to cook those under pressure.