dcarch

Tina, I am not sure if there is a way to make wet food not stick to the blade, certainly not a thinner blade. When two smooth surfaces are closely put together with a very thin layer of water in between, there will be about 14 lbs per sq. inch of atmospheric pressure pushing them together. Dimpled blades (granton edge) may help a little for thick cuts, but not much for thin cuts. dcarch

1) That's the same as vegetarian trying to mimick "fake" bacon - If you decide not to eat the real thing why do you want to eat just a bad imitation (and imitation crab taste really awful) 2) These are pretty common stories who hear quite often but as a chemists I am very confident that it will be nearly impossible also in the future to replicate flavor foods, especially whole dishes. Of course these reporters want to sell their story and claim some powders/liquids taste like stew/chicken/whatever but actually they don't, not even close. It's the same as claiming truffle oils taste like real when it is just some thioether whith some related flavor. Very interesting discuss this has turned into. 1. No, no one is proposing to use this technology to only make fake food. The new technology has the capability of making food for many special needs. I don't eat fake bacon or fake crab, but that does not make them go away. Obviously plenty of people enjoy them. 2. Artificial flavoring will not disappear because you and I don't approve, truffle oil will not disappear either because the purists sneer on it. Talk to Gordon Ramsay and Heston Blumental about truffle oil. Besides, that has nothing to do with this topic. dcarch

On the one hand, yes, definitely. On the other hand, we're human, we're emotional creatures, and make strong associations between process and product, so for a lot of people, the amazing aspect is pretty much overshadowed (I think) by a sense of potential loss. Absolutely. I agree. However, the main point is this, this technology is not what big food conglomeration can do to harm the public and make big money, the whole excitement is as the title of this thread says "Next Kitchen Appliance", this technology has come to a point now soon it will be well within the general home cooks' budget. What wonderful creative recipes can you come up with is what I like to know, including all those of you with sous vide phobias. Forget about sphericfication, the machine can print out square bubbles. I would love to print out an ice cream using square bubbles of incredible color complexity and each bite with a different flavor. dcarch

"This is exactly right however. I have no desire to eat a "printed" or "replicated" rack of ribs. That is simply begging the food industry to add even more undiferentiated excess crap or "bulking agents" to our food. Ever had a microwave dinner with "ribs" in it? Ground pork trimmings mixed with flour msg and God knows what else, then formed into the shape of riblets.....! NO THANK YOU." 1. I saw a program sometime ago. A reporter was reporting a fancy Jewish event. The reporter was shocked to see shrimp cocktail served. Then he found out those were intimation shrimps. There are people because for one reason or another, have to have some food flexibility. 2. I saw a documentary of a corporation's flavor lab. The flavor scientist, using various flavor chemicals and made a mixture for the reporter to taste. The reporter said, "This tastes exactly like roasted chicken." The scientist added a few more drops of something, "Now this tastes like beef stew my mom makes." The point has nothing to do with whether you like it or not, the point is this technology is amazing, and may have many revolutionary food related implications. dcarch

Back to 3-D printing: For those people who for some reason cannot eat lobster, it is possible to "print" out a lobster using texturized fish meat, which look like a lobster in all its details, furthermore, the fake lobster can actually have shells that is made from food material which has the same hardness as real lobster shells. It is possible to "print" out fake chickens with bones which look the same as real bones. Imagine fake ribs which you cannot tell it's fake by looking. dcarch

As you know, you can scale up or down printing with a printer. Whatever you are "printing" out using this technology/appliance, you can make it any size you want. Think baking and confectionery making. Think infinite possibilities of making desserts. Think how amazing to print out a chicken that looks like a real chicken in every way, using tofu. And just think, you can print you own sous vide machine. LOL! dcarch

Take a look at 3-D printing. Check out on youtube 3-D printing. That will be the next greatest kitchen appliance. dcarch

Add a cheap small aquarium fountain pump (eBay) you may find the temperature stay fairly accurate. dcarch

Thanks for the feedback. My hunch was that it wouldn't be very accurate for the price but I'm disappointed that it appears to be so inaccurate. I didn't expect it would have a PID controller but even a bang-bang thermostat can be much more accurate than that. I'm guessing that the heating component of the unit is an existing slow-cooker and they've just re-packaged it for sous vide, without the accuracy that we associate with the technique.It would be nice to think you have a defective unit and that they're normally much more accurate, but my bets are that they're all the same. Would love to hear from more users or customers, especially those with the equipment to measure the long-term accuracy of the unit. If it does not have a water circulator, a PID will do it no good. PID is not that expensive to incorporate, a circulator is difficult to be worked into a slow cooker. dcarch

Does it circulate water? dcarch

Can this be right? No difference between water and air? The specific heat of each is different. I would think that over short cooking times it would matter a lot. You are correct, the specific heat is very different. But with convection, a lot of air moves over the food to replenish BTUs needed to bring food up to set temperature (think your hair dryer). Yes, moving air is not the same as moving water, that's why I said for long cooking time, it will not be much difference, after the set temperature has been reached. dcarch

Yes, there is humidification. I have a built-in ultrasonic humidifier inside. Looks like the water is boiling, it isn't. Just room temperature. With convection, the cooking time is reasonable. For long cooking time there is not that much difference. Once the temperature gets to set temperature, there is no difference water or air. dcarch

That's not barbecue or smoking. Depends. This is not typical sous vide by water bath. I have a special PID controlled convection smoker, which is basically sous vide by temperature controlled hot smoke/air. dcarch BTW, this appliance actually works indoors, year round, without setting off the smoke alarm. The difference is juicer meat. Note the bones are not showing as in typical BBQ ribs, because the meat shrine much less.

I have done it many times. Sous vide both 24 hours. 5 - 10 minutes on the grill. dcarch

"------Is there something called salmon jerky?----" In every Canadian airport shop. dcarch

---With this dough being slightly more elastic, simply the fastest possible pull didn't do the trick,--- Too fast pulling may not be good because of "moment of inertia". The pulling force would be progressively weaker toward the center, giving you uneven strands. I don't think food safety is of concern. Think sour dough. dcarch

Fatless Half & Half. dcarch

If you search "Longest life expectancy" by country, you will find many countries with long life expectancy are also locations where lots of MSG are consumed. dcarch

Congratulations! You pulled it off! I am going to have to give it a try some time. Too bad you are not in medicine. You would have found a cancer cure already. dcarch

"---Just ran into a youtube vid of a chap that used Luke Rymarz' dough recipe. He's managing decent noodles and says that fast pulls make for more even strands." As I have said there is a lot of mathematics and physics involved, in addition to the chemistry of the dough. The initial pulling and pulling and pulling, and twisting and twisting, mathematically evens out any difference in dough texture to 99.9999%. This is very important because of the "weakest link" theory that the weakest part will get weaker faster with each pull and break faster than the slightest stronger part in the final pull. The fast pull is probably important because of gravity pulls on each noodle strand unevenly, The weight at each point is different due to gravity. It go from 0 to the full weight of the dough. Fast pulling give less time for gravity to act. Also, when they lay the noodles on the work counter to pick up flour, there will be no gravity acting on the noodles. dcarch

TinaYuan – Welcome! You are a good cook; if you can make diet food so delicious. c. sapidus – I agree, the Stir-fried Napa cabbage is simple and good. Mm84321 – I like the way you treat white asparagus. Kim – Show mm84321 how to make tasty fantastic everyday food. LOL! Steve Irby – wonderful pizzas. Patrickamory – Very nice photos. C. sapidus – lovely fried plantains and bay scallops. ---------------------------------------------------------- April 14/15 is Bangladesh New Year. I made Daab Chingri Macher Malaikari And Dry cooked beans with pulled pork for April 15, for IRS bean counters. (USA tax day). dcarch

I think the way has been alluded to several times -- a lot of practice / know-how. The specific composition of the dough isn't as important as that. The reason more people can't do it (myself included) is because they haven't spent the time to master the skill, which is not easy. And to be honest, most people don't need to know how to make these at home. Personally, I usually just go out if I'm craving handmade noodles, but more rustic hand-cut ones are fine in a pinch too. I agree that skill is very important. I still think that all the skill will do you no good unless the dough is of the exact consistency. If you look at the video of Gordon Ramsay making pulled noodle the first time, you will see he has done not too bad with the right dough. dcarch

Ultrasonic humidifier vaporizes without heat. dcarch

This thread has almost 60,000 views. No one has figure out the way to make good pulled noodles. :-) dcarch

"I have not measured, but it's so drastically different than it can't be all in the head.--" Perception: If you had a very cold drink before, any drink after that will not appear to be very cold. The opposite is true also. dcarch