dcarch

I want to try it with black garlic sauce on black rice. dcarch

I had silkie once, just out of curiousity. Not a very appetizing bird both in taste and in appearance. A live silkie is very attractive. People have them as pets. Look forward to seeing your results. dcarch

I would assume the pump will have to be below the water level. It does not look like it's a self-priming pump. I have found that it's helpful to have a filter at the intake to prevent clogging. dcarch

"-----Paul, could you document the pumps that worked (and didn't) for you, please? A low voltage (rather than mains voltage) water pump makes a great deal of sense from the safety angle, and adjusting/controlling the speed of a DC pump motor is simply a matter of giving it a lower voltage, simply achieved by using a different power brick. ---" The aquarium pumps are made for wet use, I think they are very safe. DC pump may be using solid state devices to drive a brushless rotor. Solid state devices are not very heat resistant. AC motors are very simple induction type, nothing much to go wrong. Most pumps have adjustable water flow ports. All motor pumps use centrifigal impellers. When the ports are blocked to restrick flow, the motor actually gets less load. dcarch

No smell at all and the fire is very hot for hot pot. As a mtter of fact, all Chinese stores here (NYC) carry them for hot pots. dcarch

You're right. An air bubbler will pump loads of energy out the top and accelerate evaporation as well. The little centrifugal pump I am using circulates 110 GPH and uses less than 2 amps @ 12v DC. You can also get 110vac pumps. No adapter needed. The watts used by the pump is not wasted. One watt = 3.4 BTU to heat up the water. dcarch

I am sure this may have been discussed. I couldn't find the topic searching here. I don't understand the use of air bubblers. Don't they carry away a huge amount of heat and moisture? Besides, It just does not seem to me that bubbling circulates water as well as a pump. dcarch

I use a propane camping stove. No extension cords. dcarch

Do you have any links or books about that? I'm starting a garden this summer, so that might be a fun project once the easy stuff gets going. I don't have links saved. I think you buy trees inoculated with spores from the supplier, prepare the ground according to their instructions and in time, you will get truffles. What I don’t remember is where you can get a pig or a dog that is trained to sniff out truffles. Without the sniff-er, the whole effort may be meaningless. dcarch

HowardLi, based on the pictures, it is unlikely that you can get even temperature throughout the bath even with the auto-ranging PID controler. A small aquarium submergeable pump ($10.00) with a long vinyl tubing plugged at the end and perforations along the tubing will give you pretty good circulation in you ultra-high density cooking style. dcarch

It is possible to grow truffles. Not easy. There are people doing that here in the USA. dcarch

"-----but two of the bags have maybe a 1/2 inch to inch of meat that just barely sticks out of the top of the water. I'm doing 150 degrees for 72 hours (as per MC).------" If your cooker has a cover, all you have to do is to measure the air temperature inside the cooker. It may be not too far from 150 degrees. If that is the case, by convection and conduction, the meat above the water will be very OK, not ideal, but OK. However, specific heat of air is not as much as water, you will need to turn the meat around to submerge frequently when you first start so that you can get the meat up to temperature quickly. dcarch

Where are the truffles from? May I ask? dcarch

Also, I would assume all you food will be inside food-safe bags. dcarch

Whatever it is that you are smoking, its not good for you. Read this instead - (from the British Stainless Steel Asssociation) - http://www.bssa.org.uk/topics.php?article=89 No need for new theories. Aluminium in contact with a 'large' area of stainless steel, and a conductive liquid, will result in the Aluminium corroding. In the absence of a final proven determination of the cause of the situation, it may not be a good idea to use one theory to rule out all the others, no matter how unlikely. The tranformer effect and electro plating effects are just possiblities. I am fully aware of the possible interaction between aluminum, aluminum alloys and the numerous stainless steel compositions. Whatever I am smoking apparently is not the same as what you have been inhaling. dcarch

Regarding corrosion: Anytime you have an alternating magnetic field near a conductive material, electric current will be generated. If you have a 1,000 watt heater in the bath, a lot of electric current could be circulating in the metal components. This can set up an electro plating situation and metals can be corroded. Just a theory. dcarch

"----Halogen lights would certainly work as a heat source. Even a bunch of incandescent ones would work. Longevity is questionable due to carbon buildup on the outside of the bulb (and potential hot-spotting). However, the advantage to using an electric burner is that you can easily smoke using wood chips." Once you step down the voltage, the temperature on the quartz jacket becomes significantly lower and carbon hot spots will not be a problem. I have used halogen bulbs that way for a bread proofing set up for many years. Never had to replace a bulb yet. True the bulbs are not meant to generate smoke. they are only used to maintain temperature. BTW, another option to cool the relay is to use surplus heat pipe heat sinks for laptops. They are very cheap. You may know, heat pipe can conduct a lot of BTUs. dcarch

HowardLi, for heating of your "smoker", you can consider this: Use high-wattage halogen light bulbs hooked up in series, or in series with a diode (to cut out half of the AC current). A halogen bulb operating at reduced voltage will last forever. It is a great source of infrared (100% efficient). In a reflective smoker environment, the heat will be distributed very evenly. An insulated smoker (1" thick rigid foam) may be OK with less than 300 watts of heating to maintain operating temperature. Can be less than 50 Watts if no air leaks. dcarch

Thanks Kim. I just saw Steven Raichlen making Juicy Lucy on PBS TV. Yours look better than his. BTW, to all, the creamed Corn looked so yellow because there were four egg yolks in it. The egg whites were in the crab cakes. Deus Mortus, thank you. For normal everyday cooking dishes, taking pictures should be quick and easy. You don't want the dishes to get cold. I just use one very bright Daylight CFL bulb with a white reflector and snap away. A few seconds of work. dcarch

I noticed the probe cables are very close to the power lines. You can do this if you feel like it to improve. If you twist the cables one way and then counter twist the other way same number of turns, the induced noise will tend to cancel itself out. dcarch

Very nice work. Very professional. Questions: Should the heat sink for the solid state relay be truned around for better sir circulation? Should the heat sink be somewhat further away from the controller electronics? dcarch

Thank you kayb. How long? It depends on how much rind, what power your microwave, and what temperature the rind is when you start. I think you can try setting at 1/2 power for 5 minutes and try again if it's not soft enough for you. The sauce was just chicken broth, pepper, and salt. Just want to point out, don't throw the rest of the watermelon away after you use the rind. The red flesh is edible too. dcarch

dcarch - I am intrigued by the watermelon rind stir fry. Was that just ordinary fresh watermelon rind - the white with a touch of the red flesh? Can you describe how you stir fried it? Is it more of a texture item that carries the flavors added to the wok or does it retain that bit of cucumber like sweetness I associate with watermelon? An innovative use for an item I usually toss in the bin seems like a great idea. heidih, It is too bad that watermelon rind is not used more often. It is a wonderful vegetable. The part that is closest to the skin (you peel the skin off with a peeler) can be a little tough and needs to be cooked a little longer. But I take the easy way out by microwave it first before the stir frying. The flavor can be sweet, depends how much red flesh you include, otherwise the taste reminds me remotely of cucumber also. dcarch

C. sapidus, your beautful creamy corn soup gave me the urge to make my creamy corn dish. nickrey, amazing steak with perfect grill marks. Your sous vide pork inspired me. I have one in the bath now. Panaderia Canadiense, riccotta gnocchi, on a plate that coordinates with the table cloth, very pleasant atmosphere. Rico, are you telling me that the Chinese takeout didn’t have fresh made vanilla-almond peach pie.? :-) Genkinaonna, beautifully plated Ricotta gnocchi. Kim, Grilled cheese with bacon! How about a recipe and step-by-step instructions? (kidding!) BTW, all your photos are very nice. percyn, Roasted Chicken, Israeli Couscous, and Asparagus make a delicious dinner and a very balanced meal. Kayb, Grilled tilapia, mac and cheese, fresh tomatos, fresh sugar snap peas; you are using all my favorite ingredients. ChrisTaylor, I had Roast rack of pork a few days ago. I think yours looked better than mine. nikkib, wonderful parade of very healthy eating. rarerollingobject, even you are not a vegetarian, but you sure are masterful with the greens (and the reds. Love the beets) ------------------------------------------------------ For dinner, it was stir fried watermelon rind with lean turkey meatballs And Crab cakes on creamy corn, tomatoes and asparagus Dcarch

I think live carps have been available in Chinese stores for ages. Go to any Chinese store where they have fish tanks. Fried, steamed stuffed carps are great. Also great for fish balls. dcarch