pbear

Returning to the OP, a few thoughts. There are, as you say, several ways to make ghee. Which one uses depends, in part, on which qualities one favors. Myself, I'm looking for the browned butter flavor, high smoke point and extended shelf life. For which I use the simple method of cooking the butter over low heat, taking care not to scorch, until the milk solids precipitate out (no skimming - I want the solids to brown), about an hour, Then I strain through a very fine sieve. I generally work in 1 lb batches, which makes about 1-1/2 c ghee. As others have mentioned, a few particles of solids pass through the sieve and sink to the bottom of the storage vessel. I don't worry about those, as I scoop the ghee from the top, toss when I get down to the sediment layer and make a new batch. With this method, at least, the water content of the butter doesn't matter much. All the water will be cooked off, so a couple percentage points in water content affects the cooking time by only a few minutes. (By contrast, those few percentage points can make a big difference in pastry.) Also, I'm pretty sure the quality of the butter doesn't matter much (except, of course, that it shouldn't be rancid), as the browning process will overwhelm the fresh taste of a premium butter. No harm in using one, but no advantage either imho.

I tried it once and was disappointed, The problem was that, although raw, the peanuts were rather dry. Boiling just made them mealy. YMMV.

It might be the shrimp. I've done large ones (21-25 per lb) 16 min at 130F and they came out very well. That said, I generally cook them conventionally because it's easier and I rarely see shrimp good enough to warrant the extra effort of sous vide.

This is very simple, but always well received. Not sure what to recommend if you don't have and/or can't get balsamic vinegar, but hopefully you can think of something that will serve the same purpose. Beets with Balsamic Glaze 2 tbsp butter (melted) 2 lb beets (lg bunch) 3 tbsp water 2 tbsp balsamic (or sherry) vinegar 2 tbsp sugar 1 tsp salt 1/4 tsp black pepper Peel beets and grate coarsely. Toss with butter; add water and simmer covered until barely tender, about 5 minutes. Remove cover; add vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper; saute until moisture almost (but not quite) evaporates, 5 to 10 minutes.

Agree with Porthos. Both faster and more even. And agree with Smithy that faster drying probably is the reason. The countertop convection oven has become my primary method of preparing veggies, pretty much kicking saute to the curb. Oh, and when doing those sorts of veggies (e.g., zucchini and yellow squash), I toss every five minutes, so basically what I'm doing is a saute in the oven, but easier, requires less oil and produces more consistent results. As for your question, saluki, the five pans I use most often are a 12-inch ceramic Calphalon everyday pan, a 10-1/2 inch (26 cm) Bialetti ceramic skillet with the handle removed, an 8 inch (20 cm) Bialettii, a 3 qt All Clad cassoulet (like a saucier, but with bail handles) (9-3/4 inches/25 cm wide), and a toaster oven broiling pan with a rack (mostly for sausages and roasting chiles). But other pans would work just as well (and, indeed, there are other pans I use). The main thing, of course, is that the pan must fit in the oven. I like ceramic for this use (not so much on the stove) as it's almost nonstick (easy to clean) and holds up better than PTFE (teflon). As for the All Clad pan, what I like there is the sloped side, which makes it easy to stir. In fact, I bought that pan specifically for convection braising. But, again, these are all personal preferences and there are plenty of other ways to do those things.

Giving this a little more thought. I use my countertop convection oven a lot. Roasted veggies - all types, not just roots - is one of its best applications. Also, very good for browning meats after cooking low temp (sous vide). Use high heat (450ºF) and a short time (e.g., 10 minutes, flipping halfway through). Alternatively, it's a great braising tool. Take a conventional recipe. Saute the onions, etc. as usual. Don't bother to brown the meat. Build out sauce, add meat and bring just to a simmer on the stove. Move pan to the oven set at 250ºF. The oven will hold a high simmer without boiling (due to evaporation). More importantly, like cassoulet, the surface will develop rich Maillard reactions. Stir every half hour. When done, you'll have better results than if you had tried to brown the meat with the onions. Pretty amazing, actually. Other uses include cooking sausages (my preferred method, in fact), roasting chicken parts (especially thighs and drumsticks), slow cooking fish (use 250º and a probe thermometer; target temp is 145º), finishing quiches (cook the custard base till almost but not quite set with a bain marie) and baking polenta (or grits) per the Wolfert method. There are other applications, but those are the one which come quickly to mind.

About steam and over-browning. I've spent a fair amount of time on this, as I no longer have a conventional oven (nor even a conventional kitchen). The countertop convection oven I'm using is a Cuisinart BRK-200 (no longer made) - similar to the Breville but not identical - with interior dimensions of 12 by 12-1/2 by 5 inches. There are heating elements both above and below, plus a fan (which can be turned off, though I don't for bread). IME, treating this as a conventional oven doesn't work. As mentioned, it tends to scorch the top and, as HungryC says, the bottom. Also, there's no where to put a reservoir for water to make steam. Taking the middle problem first, I put my baking vessel on a very shallow cooling rack on a wide comal. This shields the vessel from the direct heat of the lower heating element. I solve the first and third problems with a variation of the closed baking vessel method used by Lahey for no-knead bread. Except, rather than pre-heat the vessel, I do the final rise in it, cover with foil (having first misted the dough well with water) and place cold in the heated oven at 450ºF. Even without pre-heating the vessel, this produces enough steam (which is contained by the foil) and adequate oven spring. After half-an-hour, I reduce the temp to 375º. After another half-hour, I reduce the temp to 325º, transfer the loaf from the vessel to a rack on a quarter-sheet pan and bake a final half-hour (1-1/2 hours total). This allows the crust to crisp all around. I suppose that looks a bit fiddly, but it works for me. Nor is it all that fiddly, really, once one gets used to it. No doubt there are other solutions. And perhaps, the Breville doesn't even have the scorching problem, though the steam problem would remain (I'm pretty sure).

Another veggie roaster, here. It's amazing what the fan does for them.

My workhorse bread pan is a 1/3 steam table pan (four inches deep). It produces something very nearly batard shaped. I oil lightly, then dust thoroughly with rice flour, which releases nicely. For round loaves, I use a 3 qt All Clad saucier. I also have a pair of narrow pans (5 by 12-1/2 inches) which I found in a restaurant supply store; these I use for small baguettes (dividing a dough based on 1 lb flour between them). Another good pan to have, imho, is a Pullman. BTW, I don't have a Breville, but my countertop oven tends to scorch breads if I don't shield them with aluminum foil for the majority of the baking time. No idea whether you'll have the same problem, but thought I'd mention just in case.

FWIW, a double boiler is the first thing which came to mind when reading your OP. Or, actually, a bain marie. I've not done this for creme brulee (that I've always done in the oven), but I have for other egg custards, e.g., creme anglaise and even quiche. One advantage of this approach is that it's easy to cool the mixture quickly, by moving the cooking vessel to a bath with ice water. To unpack that a little, what I do is combine the custard mixture in a stainless steel bowl, which I then set in a slightly larger pot with a trivet. Add enough water to the pot to come to the same level as the contents of the bowl. Apply heat to the pot, stirring the contents of the bowl constantly. This takes a little longer than preheating the water bath, but is more reliable. When the contents have gotten to the desired consistency and temp, pull the bowl from the bath. As I said, if you want to cool quickly, nest the bowl in a larger one containing ice-and-water. Continue to stir. If necessary, refresh the ice water. When cool, divide among custard cups and chill. To repeat, I've not done exactly what you're attempting here, so I can't guarantee this will work. But I've done enough similar things to be confident it's worth a try.

I've been following the Anova thread, and probably will order one as another arrow in my quiver, but my standing recommendation as of today (to friends who are curious) remains the SVS. It's simple, effective and doesn't take any more space than the containers needed to make circulators work. IMHO, the limiting factor at this point isn't technology, but rather that low temp hasn't captured the popular imagination.

I agree with nickrey. When folks speak of salt being damaging, what they're usually talking about is too much salt, which produces a cured flavor. Of itself, not necessarily a defect, but often not the desired outcome. If one keeps salt to a low level, between 0.5% and 1.0% by weight (e.g., 1/2 tsp finely-ground salt per pound boneless meat), the effect generally will be perceived as seasoned but not cured. At least, that's my experience. YMMV

Frankly, I'm stumped. Good luck.

My guess would be that it was the ham rather than the smoker. For example, if it had been frozen, thawed and refrozen (could have happened anywhere, at the processing plant, in transit and/or at the retail store), that would adversely affect the texture. Just a guess, though.

That's what I thought you might be considering (not like we have a lot of Argentine restaurants) and was the concern I was going to mention. (Haven't been myself, but know it by reputation.) Another place to consider is Espetus. Brazilian rather than Argentine, but the approaches to steak are similar. And the space is rather more sedate. Haven't been to in several years, though, so I can't vouch for whether it's still at the top of its game. FWIW, the current Yelp says mostly yes.

Hey shantzzz. Not everyone here cooks SV, but many of us do. Frankly, I haven't seen these problems Chuck, for example, shouldn't be drying out at 133ºF for 24 hours. On the contrary, at that time-and-temp, I find it unpalatably flabby. Rather, I prefer 24 hours at 150ºF. This certainly throws off a fair amount of liquid (which I then clarify, sometimes reduce, and incorporate into a sauce), but the meat isn't dry. So, as you say, you're going sideways somewhere. Troubleshooting at a distance is always difficult, but let's try. First, have you cooked meat from this source conventionally? If so, were you happy with the results? Such a baseline makes comparisons easier. Second, what PID settings are you using? For a crock-pot, I like P = 20 and I & D = 0 (and don't bother with a bubbler). Other settings (e.g., the ones recommended with my Auber controller or generated by auto-train) easily overshoot the target temp, although they eventually settle down. Third, what finishing technique are you using? If you're browning the meat after SV, it's terribly easy to undo the advantages of LTLT. Browning can be done, and I do, but it's tricky. A few other thoughts come to mind, but let's start there.

What place do you have in mind?

True enough. Freezing won't work if BF wants to slice to order. By the way, it occurs to me storing bread in a vacuum canister might dry it out. Do you know anyone who does this?

Gotcha. Have you tried freezing? It's what I do (and several other eGulleteers, I've noticed). Slice and bag, squeezing out air the normal way without a vacuum. (I put a paper towel in the bag, though I'm not sure it's necessary.) Thaw slices as needed on the counter, in the microwave or in a toaster oven. Microwaving is the one I use most often. Place bread on a plate with a paper towel, use 50% power and experiment till you dial in the right time for the type and quantity of bread you're thawing. The trick is to get it just thawed and warmed through, without getting it so hot it dries out when it cools. (Overshooting is the main reason microwaves have a bad reputation as a way to handle bread.) Takes a little practice to get the knack, but once you do it's easy-peasy. Or, as mentioned, you can thaw on the counter or in a toaster oven.

Can't help with the question, but I'm curious. Why would you want to use a vacuum container as a bread box?

This pretty much answers your question. The spring is measuring pressure inside vs. pressure outside. In other words, it's measuring the difference, not the absolute (total) pressure of the inside. What's true going down a mine shaft is also true going up a mountain..

Looking around this evening out of curiosity didn't turn up much, but did uncover this photo of the pie in question. From the clean cut of the slice, I'm even more convinced they're using gelatin (which originally was based on just your description). Compare that with the photo accompanying this recipe (similar to that in the OP). Notice the cut isn't nearly as clean. BTW, jrshaul, when I said, "hard to know without seeing the recipe," I had forgotten that the OP included a recipe. My bad. For that recipe, a whole packet of Knox gelatin might be overkill. Or, as Mjx says, 'so firm, piercing it with a fork is a challenge'. Instead, I'd start with 1/2 packet (1 tsp) and only increase to a full one if half-of-one proved insufficient. Of course, you could do the trials in reverse order. Also, I notice you mention a problem with granulated sugar not dissolving. Have you tried superfine?

Very interesting. (BTW, here's a direct link to the blog entry, which should be a more stable bookmark in the long run.) The gadget is only a prototype, though, so who knows long it will be (if ever) before it's brought to market. And not easily fabricated, it seems to me, as a DIY project. Meanwhile, what I find helps with a torch (recently started using propylene, aka Map Pro) is to keep a bit away from the product, move around a lot and do the job in three passes. Seems to avoid torch taste pretty well for long-cooked meats (my main use of sous vide). Haven't had as much success with gentle stuff like chicken skin. For that, the gadget looks like it would be wizard.

I'll bet you a bright shiny nickel gelatin is exactly what the diner is using. Give it a try. Hard to be certain without seeing the recipe, but one packet of standard Knox gelatin will stabilize a lot of available water. I'd start there.

Quite simply, it creates a slow cooker with a thermostatic control. As the water bath is closely regulated, the insert can't exceed that temp. One can use this either for conventional braising temps (e.g., 190ºF) or LTLT (e.g., 150ºF). The former nicely solves the problem identified by the OP. (Assuming, of course, one has or is willing to invest in the relatively expensive SVS.) The latter is handy for dishes where plastic bags aren't convenient and/or for folks who don't like cooking in plastic bags. As for your comment, Syzgies, I've used several strategies to elevate the insert, in all cases nonreactive. Early on, I used a silicone steamer, More recently I found a stainless steel chile grilling rack at Sur la Table (lamentably, just discontinued) which is perfect. What I've found is that the material of the insert doesn't matter much, though (by report) the material of the trivet does.