pbear

Went back and forth over whether to say something. In the end, I decided you'd probably rather be reminded. Glad I chose correctly.

Psst, I realize it's been five years, but see Post #15, which you said in the next one probably is the answer. As for the topic, I'm very much a cookbook cook, so a complete answer would include a couple hundred titles, including many mentioned above. If I had to pick only a handful, I'd end up picking just one, Craig Claiborne's New York Times Cookbook (second edition), which is the main one from which I picked up my sensibilities for how to write a recipe. From there, I've had the pleasure of synthesizing recipes from many sources, sometimes a dozen for a single dish. For me, preserving those syntheses in words I could revisit years later and get the same results is a big thing. That's something I learned from many, but chief among them Claiborne.

For my experiences with those and other proteins, see Post #80 and Post #108 earlier in this thread. To recap, I liked how the Searzall handled a pork chop, thought it successful but a lot of work for a burger and thought it successful for a steak but not as good as I get by conventional means. To state the obvious, those are personal impressions. I can easily see others preferring the Searzall steak, for example, depending on how they feel about the trade-off of temp gradient vs. flavor from the sear.

Correct. I should like to emphasize that I've only done about half-a-dozen trials, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's a way to do this. But Ozcook asked us to relate our experiences and those to date are mine.

I have some in my pantry, as it happens. My assumption is that it's not treated. Perhaps the best solution would be to write Goya and ask. If you get an answer, please post it here. BTW, another great use for the product, and the reason I bought it, is to make Cachupa, from the Cape Verde Islands. Recipes all over the internet.

Returning to the original question, I have a Searzall and have made several attempts at browning poultry skin. Maybe there's some trick I have yet to discover, but so far it's not been successful. I can get brown without scorching, but the skin retains a fair amount of water and fat below the surface, so the texture is flaccid rather than crisp. The tool is good for other things, but not this one AFAICT.

Just so you know, the idea (including the Columbus connection) comes from Calvin Trillin. Here's a copy of his essay, which originally was published in the New Yorker in 1981.

Thanks for the clarifications.

I'm confused. I assumed the bowl was for the first rise. In the good old days, the second rise would have been in a baking pan, no? Conversely, I've never heard of using proofing baskets for the first rise.

Elsie, I don't know whether this is universal, but both of my induction cookers work with a thermostat. If yours does as well, then it's simply a matter of finding the right setting as gfweb says; the electronics will do the rest. FWIW, this is how I handle deep frying also, in my case with a Fagor unit.

Another vote for brussels sprouts, but I'd go with roasted.

Out of curiosity, I decided to replicate Jo's experiment in a way which eliminated the evaporation issue. To which purpose, I chilled for several hours a potato, a couple of nonstick loaf pans (this one) and the lid for my pullman pan. I chose loaf pans over knives because I wanted vertical surfaces in addition to a horizontal one. As for the potato, I wanted uniform slices, so I peeled and sliced 5 mm thick with an electric slicer. Further, reflecting that vibration might be a cause of the potatoes releasing, I put a hot pad under the loaf pan when doing each run inside the chamber. And, I ran each test in duplicate outside the chamber, putting the loaf pan on the lid but without the hot pad (figuring the lid already is somewhat dampened and preferring to skew the conditions against dcarch's hypothesis to the extent I could). Ran each test three times. Each lasted 28 seconds. What I found was that the slices on the horizontal surface always fell under vacuum. Far from the water evaporating, there was always a film of it on the pan sufficient to make the potatoes stick again. I ran the same potatoes on top of the lid and they didn't fall, except once in three trials one piece (of six) fell, which I suspect means it wasn't stuck on well in the first place. Moving on to vertical, I used the outside surface of the loaf pan, so slanted slightly in favor of a fall due to gravity. Interestingly, although the slices under vacuum always slid down the pan, only about a third of them in each run actually fell off. On the other hand, the slices not under vacuum never moved at all (even with vibration). From which I infer water tension is indeed a factor, but only a small one. Mostly, this is about air pressure.

With respect, I think Jo's experiments confirm what dcarch has been arguing. That said, Norm Matthews explained how to solve this problem back in Post #3. Edward J's solution also may work., but Norm's is what I've been using for a very long time.

I'm no apologist for Anova - in fact, I'm not much of a fan - but the answer may be the expense of tooling up two production lines. If they're anticipating lower sales of EU units, they may have priced those higher to recoup costs and make a profit. I'll readily admit that's just speculation, however. The real answer may simply be that they figure the EU market will bear a higher price because there's less competition in this niche. Conversely, of course, if you can get a comparable machine for less, you should do that.

Actually, if torolover is wiling to go the sodium citrate route, it's much easier than that. Simply dissolve a little in the pasta water used for the sauce, then proceed as usual. The sodium citrate will emulsify the parmesan as it melts. Not just theorizing. I've been doing this with most cheese sauces for a few years now.

Looks more like the next spherification. Can't imagine there's much of a market for this outside the upper tier restaurants. And maybe not even there.

I agree with DDF. If I have to monitor temp, that's pretty much how I do it also. But, I'm curious, why are you taking it to 160º? I should think 140º is plenty safe and would give you a better texture.

FWIW, I find it easiest to do the steaming and roasting in the same pan, cooking covered for about half the time. For small to medium size batches, I use a skillet with a lid; for a large batch I'll use a baking dish and cover with foil. Add a little water, but it doesn't take much as the veggies will add their own; also a little oil and salt. So, for example, I generally do carrots about 40 minutes at 350ºF with convection (375º without). Start covered; uncover after 20 minutes; toss after another ten minutes, then pull when done.

This sounds right to me, as I've had similar experiences trying to use artisan cheeses in conventional mac and cheese. They'll work in modernist mac and cheese but, frankly, I don't think that's suitable for a buffet, as it tends to congeal unless kept quite warm. BTW, pedie, bechamel isn't the only way to make a conventional mac and cheese. There's also custard style. This thread from last month has several recipes. Also, I've gotten good results simply melting a mass market cheese, e.g., Kraft or Tillamook, with sour cream, but that's a stove-top sauce, not a baked casserole.

Mine too, but that's after having run something like 300 g of propane through it. Don't recall what it looked like early on.

Simmering a meat sauce accomplishes the same thing as braising a pot roast. It breaks down collagen to gelatin.

Today was Round 2 with the Searzall. (Wednesday is my cooking day for the week.) After a lot of back and forth, decided to spring for a TS8000 to see whether that would be significantly faster. The answer is yes, as in nearly twice as fast. Tested on (in each case, cooked by SV/LT): beef chuck (top blade), Italian sausage (New York brand), a banger (Whole Foods), a rack of lamb (TJ's), a short slab of pork spareribs (five bones), a bone-in chicken thigh and a small salmon fillet (lunch). The top blade was a particularly welcome outcome, as that's always fairly thin at my market (just under an inch) and difficult to brown well with a convection oven. The Searzall made quick work of it and left the interior pink. Indeed, the only clunker was the chicken thigh. With the TS8000, the Searzall scorched the skin without actually cooking it out. There's probably a way to manage this by dialing down the flame and/or using more distance, but I didn't have time for that today (nor did I have any more chicken thighs). BTW, I did try toasting a slice of bread. Not that I'd ever make toast this way. Just out of curiosity. On full power, it scorched rather quickly. By dialing down the flame, though, was able to get a more normal finish.

Heart is definitely like that. Another of the famous quick preparations is anticuchos (Peruvian).

Don't remember, as it's been a while since I did it that way. (Mostly use a hot convection oven these days.) But, bear in mind that's a different process. The trick with a naked torch is to keep it far enough away to avoid torch taste.

Pretty sure I'm doing the distance right, as I did a bunch of things one after the other and this was the only outlier. In light of your and Chris' experiences, I'm inclined to think it was the sausage.