IndyRob

Especially since this topic is specifically labeled as a 'newbie' topic, I was thinking about the worst case scenario and came up with the following possibility which I present for general comment... So you've got your piece o' meat, and a heavy duty bag suitable to to the task, and will not seal it - reasoning that the meat will be below the water level - so no air could get to the meat's surface and it will remain firmly in contact with the plastic for good heat transfer.. Fine, but you did slide the meat into the bag and likely left meat juice smeared all over the inside of the bag. So now the part of the bag that's above water will be left for an extended period in a warm, moist, aerated environment. Is that small residual amount of meat-matter enough to cause a serious problem when you slide the meat back through it? I don't know. But I think I'd really like to vac & seal, or at least submerge the whole bag.

Were the eggs satisfactory? Some I had bought before had very small yolks. But I was there today and the eggs were 29¢/dz(!).

I like that feature, but how's the clip? Although more clunky, the Anova clamp seems more versatile.

That was sort of my line of thinking before starting the topic. And I can't say that I've been completely warned off of it. But the point raised by chefmd gives me pause. Why are there different temps recommended? And if we're talking about salt, what equivalent salt concentration allows one to hang a pig leg in a Italian cave as a method of preparation? There's duck prosciutto, but why don't we have Chicaciutto di Parma?

From the "Wait, what? Really?" department.... http://jalopnik.com/guy-fieri-a-muffler-expert-for-when-america-gets-elbow-1784524084 (you might have to click on the YouTube logos at the bottom of the video links to see the videos)

(If you're using a Windows machine, oddly enough the short answer, (Alt+0162), doesn't seem to work here. But I thought it was a good and worthy complaint and I can now tell you how to change your machine to allow it with Ctrl-Alt-C, but it's a pretty annoying process. But I now have my cents ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢) Anyway, I'm an almost religious follower of these pamphlets, but mostly online, and as others have indicated, only for things I would buy anyway. Soda prices, for instance are the classic example. If you're buying soda for more than 1/2 the list price at a supermarket, you're a rube (or desperate). Likewise, if you're lured into a store by low soda prices and fill your cart with other stuff you are, again, a rube. Grocery stores will rely on this and will sell soda, milk, etc. at a loss knowing that they will make it up with other things you buy. Discount places like Walmart and Aldi will almost never have the best prices on soda because they're not playing the same game. It would be really cool if someone mashed up all of the weekly flyers in an area into one publication. And included stores without flyers like my local Asian and Hispanic marts.

Yes, it is for home use. As it turns out, the usual recommendations for brining pork chops turned out to be much longer than I thought. So I did those overnight and that brine is now gone. So the chicken will be done separately. I don't think I'd ever think about doing in a restaurant kitchen no matter how strong the science might be. The mere perception could sink the ship. I was still interested from a theoretical standpoint though.

Thanks, this makes sense. I will do them separately. It's just a bit more salt and time. Plus, I had envisioned doing them all in my big Cambro container but I don't currently have room the the fridge for that. But would this suggest that one could brine the pork first and the re-use the brine for the chicken?

I have 10 chicken thighs and a pork loin I'll portion into steaks. I'd like to brine both. I don't think I'll try this since neither will need a long time in the brine, but nonetheless, I wonder if there's any need to keep them separate. I did a search and it appears this is not the first time this question has been raised on the internet. Yet, I think only one answer seemed authoritative (and that said it would be fine). It seemed reasonable to me as well. But, again, I don't need to do it, so I don't think I will. Still, the question has been nagging me. [Edit] Another point raised out there is that the flavors may mingle. Not a horrible prospect in my thinking, but it seems unlikely to be to a detectable degree unless all the pieces are densely packed.

I don't try to make my own cookies anymore after finding economical refrigerated doughs at the grocery store ($1.79 for 2 dozen). I like these. They're what I grew up with, but more convenient. But what they appear to do is to spread the dough into an even rectangular layer, refrigerate, and then cut into squares. Each square (cube?) goes round in the oven.

I don't like to say it, but I think you may be wrong. It's a different sort of heat - a dry-heat evaporating one. If you take meat from the fridge at 39 degrees F and put it in an oven at 400 F, it's going to take a long time for the middle to get to 150. In the meantime, the outside of the is going to get well beyond 150. You've just undone your sous vide. Instead, I think you need to forget about the 150 F internal goal. 130 should be fine for properly pasteurized (via sous vide), properly chilled meat. You're probably looking for some Maillard reaction, which is good, but do it as quickly as possible with high heat of some sort. Perhaps direct flame, a hot grill, or an oven set at 550.

I think Thanksgiving is really becoming the dominant secular American holiday that allows people of all cultures, faiths and religions (or lack thereof) to celebrate roughly the same general sentiment. It's probably helped immensely by the fact that the holiday was declared long after the the original experience was lost. If we were to be true to the supposed history, we'd probably have to order some venison from the local Indian reservation, and make a variety of squash dishes. Or, if we were poor, we'd pile the table high with lobsters and complain that we weren't getting the good stuff.

http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/much-sugar-mango-7628.html According to that link they (mangoes) have a lot of sucrose which, if I understand correctly, is plain ol' sugar. So it's probably properly labeled. I don't think I've ever seen an ingredient list on a potato, whether or not it's in a bag. Chunking and freezing shouldn't change much except for perception. Freezing and thawing could cause a separation of the inherent elements that causes a different experience. Of course, it could be totally fraudulent, but it would take a lot more to determine that.

I think the All Stars season was successful because of this. But that list doesn't really seem like an All Star one. Let's hope it's not Top Chef: Retreads.

I think he means it can heat water quickly, while using a lot of power. This means you don't need any expensive extra equipment, like, a tea kettle or something.

A big pop is quite different from a boom in my mind. My best guess is that somehow some water got trapped inside some sort of fat packet. The fat was heated to well beyond the boiling point and then something allowed the water to be introduce to that heat quickly.

The frost seems to have killed what was left of my Roma tomato plants so I plucked about 25 baby green tomatoes and brought them in. They range from grape-sized to nearly mature. Can I get seeds for next year from these? Any other uses?

About a year ago we had a store called Market District open near us. They have *a lot* of store prepared items. But are also a mega mart. At the opening they had valet parking and golf carts in the parking lots to bring shoppers into the store from their packed parking lot. A couple of phrases I was continually muttering as I first explored the store were "Ooh, that's interesting... Wow, that's expensive..." Over and over again. The bloom seems to be off the rose now. Nonetheless, I think this semi-prepared segment will be a success. Salad bars have been a major profit center at supermarkets for some time. But we need smarter consumers to bring the prices down.

I was just reading a Serious Eats review of the Impossible Burger and the Beyond Burger. Kenji's conclusions strike me as more qualified than, say, David Chang's seemingly unreserved enthusiasm. The comments on the page seem to be all over the place and quite contentious. I appreciate these things as simply interesting developments that may provide new options. But for so many it seems that a burger cannot simply be a burger, but must be some sort of sociological or ecological line in the sand. I hypothesize that for every person wondering why we can't just let a veg be a veg, there's another wondering why a Kobe Ribeye needs to be ground up into burgers.

It's interesting. I think in Western cooking turmeric is generally used only for color. I don't know that I've ever really tasted it. But if it can make broccoli taste like french fries, I think I'll have to look into it.

I think btbyrd is absolutely correct. It depends on the ingredients in the marinade. Salt may be able to take some along for the ride, but not others. Someone would have to do a study of every combination. With regard to Keller's technique, I think a lot is left unsaid. If he braises it for another 10 hours, surely that's not in plain water. Those aren't the only variables. We'd have to understand curing completely - which I'm not sure anyone does. One would presume that he does it this way because he's found that it works. In science we must reserve judgement until we're absolutely certain we've accounted for everything. In cooking we must put something on the plate..

While any store might have a management or policy problem, this story doesn't ring true to me. To find out that a union is driving it makes it even more suspect. The act of issuing reprimands over the PA is the least TJ thing I can imagine. Far worse than any causes listed for the employee. I don't know if I've ever even heard the PA used in our TJs. They tend to ring bells. [Edit - deleted question which could lead directly to political discussion]

If you can get your hands on one in a store, try pressing the back plate (the piece the face of the meat would slide along) at the top near the blade. If it flexes, walk away and don't look back. You'll never get a properly thin cut. The ChefsChoice seems to get good reviews on Youtube and elsewhere, but for me it too much resembles a similar unit I bought long ago and thought was a nightmare. I think it's gear driven like that one. I describe the alternative I'm pleased with in this thread. This is similar to the ChefsChoice model 667, but about $150 less.

Having read the complaint (which, of course presents only one side), CK is not so much competing as plundering.

I am not a lawyer, although I sometimes pretend on the internet. I think challenging the look and feel is not going to be conclusive - except in conjunction with the other claims. What seems more damning is that - while creating a competing entity - CK held an ownership interest in ATK. I wonder if - in his mind - this gave him the right to the product(s). That's exactly the opposite of fiduciary responsibility that a board member would normally have. Still, in the interest of America, I think this thing must be fully litigated at Jack Bishop's tasting table. (Jack: Yes, you might think that Chris, but....)