dcarch

Here is an idea to be considered: A remote night vision wireless video camera is inexpensive. It will work fine inside cold smoke temperature. You can see the smoke condition inside the smoke house, as well as a thermometer to make sure you are safe with the temperature. You can even add a thermostatic controlled heater inside if you want to cold smoke in freezing weather. Who wants to keep going outside to check smoke and temperature? Many times cold smoking is done at night. Also you don't want to keep opening the door to the smoker. dcarch

That's a nicely made video; however I would not use his method. There are many food safety issues that are not covered in that video. For instance, you will be crazy to use saw dust from a lumber mill. Plenty of chemicals and preservatives in many woods. Also, salmon can be expensive, you want to be sure that you get predictable quality and end results every time. I would not use a soldering iron to mess up $40 $50 worth of food. dcarch

Very good workmanship! Have you considered a window on the door? So that you don't have to open the door to check? What are you going to cold smoke? How many days you can cold smoke in your location? You may want to provide room for an ice tray. There may be days when the weather is questionable for cold smoking. dcarch

I will take some pictures and post on another thread in a few days. dcarch

"-----My oven has a measurable drop in temperature, as measured by my Sur la Table digital oven thermometer placed on a middle rack, whenever I open the door. I was surprised at how pronounced it was: 10 - 15 degrees F.------ " That is to be expected, because the oven temperature is going from 350F to close to 70F room temperature air. The question is how quickly the oven temperature can recover from the temperature drop back to set temperature. Good temperature control in an electric oven is not easy, because the heating element can only be on 100% and off 100%. There is no in between heating. Combining that with a typical mechanical/hydraulic capillary temperature sensor, which in itself has a resolution of + - 15F, in addition, when the heating element is first on, almost all the heating is done by infrared radiation, which the temperature sensor is not very good in picking up, until the infrared heat is converted to conduction heat. dcarch

I think the book will be extremely popular, if it were written by one of those famous, well established chefs/cooks. Get yourself very famous first in the food world. dcarch

It may be interesting to find out what temperature your pressure cooker can actually go up to. Get a small metal container with may be two cups of oil. Pressure steam the oil inside the PC. Make sure the oil is above the water level inside the PC and cover the oil so no water can drip into it. Give it about 40 minutes after pressure has built up. Immediately run the PC under cold water to release pressure and measure the oil temperature. I found out my Presto PC can only get to 227F, which is not good enough for me. So I machined a new heavier pressure weight valve. With that I am now able to get 267F. I never directly PC stock. I use a separate smaller pot to go inside the PC, kind of pressure steam the stock. The stock comes out less cloudy, and cleanup is easier too. At 267F, even bones get very soft and chew-able. dcarch

The reason for using oil is simple. Oil's boiling point is around 400F. this allows you to test measure high temperature settings. Regarding heat loss when opening the hot oven door. I believe that is a myth. It takes .005 watts to heat 1 cubic foot of DRY air 1 degree F. A typical oven is 5 cu ft. 5 x 0.005 = 0.025 watts to heat up the air in an oven one degree F. Let's say room temperature is 70F, and oven temperature is 350F. 350F- 70F = 280F 280F x 0.025w = 7 watts is the power needed to reheat all the 350F hot oven air. Your oven's electric heating element is capable of putting out from 3,000 watts of power or more. When you open the oven door, you are immediately blasted with 350F of burning air. It gives you the impression that you are loosing a huge amount of heat. dcarch

I have converted a working 4.5 cubic foot refrigerator into a hot/cold indoor smoker. Attached to it is a variable volume motor driven cold pellet smoke generator which can operate with not much attention. It uses very little pellets. The temperature is PID controlled. I can cold smoke cheese, salmon, hot smoke other meats, any season, any weather indoors. I will try to post pictures when I am done with a very projects I am working on now. dcarch

"---For recipes that are being tried for the first time, it seems that having an idea of the rack height may be important to getting good results. Comments?----" It is not easy to be sure. There are two main types of oven, each with two variations. There is electric and electric convection, and there is gas, and gas convection, each with different heating characteristics. Given the same type, each oven has it's personalities depending on the location of thermostat and insulation of the walls, etc. etc. The best is to get to know your own oven. You can do an easy test: Get a few (10?) small metal containers, and fill them with cooking oil. Place them in the oven, top front, left, right, top back, left right, bottom front, back left, right, middle center, -----. Set the oven temperature at low, measure each container oil's temperature, then set the temperature at medium, measure again, and finally set the temperature at high and measure. You will be surprised at the variations between the oven's set temperature and the measured temperature and the temperature differences at each location inside the oven. dcarch

I pass by the USGM every other day. I have to check it out. It will cost me $5.50 just for the subway. Last year I bought ramps, Whole Foods at $16.00 a lb. I ate only the tops and I planted the bulbs. They are all coming up now in my garden. I may have enough for one serving. :-) dcarch

What's the price for ramps this year? dcarch

I have been disappointed with many crab cake recipes. They all tasted very good, some even tasted great, but they were not much different then fish cakes. dcarch

I have made a few knives, and I have cracked a few. Too aggressive hardening and/or improper tempering, IMHO, caused those spontaneous cracks. A manufacturer's fault, not a user's fault. dcarch

Do read your microwave manual. Some microwave ovens can be damaged if operated without food or water. dcarch

BTW, make sure your plates do not have fancy metallic gold/silver designs. A few seconds in the MW and you will be crying afterwards. dcarch

My plate warming method: One damp hand towel between two plates, stack the plates inside the microwave. Depending on your MW oven power and thickness of the plates, the plates will be boiling hot in no time. dcarch

The little DC motor which powers your pump has a limited life because of the carbon brushes can be worm. A shaded pole AC motor is extremely long lasting because it has very few parts. In my set up, the stirrer actually pushes the bag away, so there is no danger of damaging the bag. dcarch

I never buy regular yellow bananas. The stores here sell bananas which have black spots at a good discount. They have spots because they are ripe or have superficial bruises on the skin. They are ready for eating immediately or in one more day. Great for making banana bread. Yesterday I paid $0.99 for 3.25 lbs. dcarch

Very nice build! The pump you use, is that a self-priming pump? I use a simple external shaded pole AC motor with a rod and a stirrer. Nothing to go wrong even at very high temperature. dcarch

Asian stores have good fish, especially live swimming fish. dcarch

If you like beet greens, seed some beets in a pot and you can keep cutting beet greens. Beets don't need a lot of sun. If you have a garden and you like ramps, next time when you buy ramps, just eat the tops and plant the bulbs. You will have your ramp patch. dcarch

Thank you Smithy and Franci. One dish I didn't take pictures of. It was gobbled up too soon. Shopping at Whole Foods, I scored big time. they were selling large globe shaped artichokes. The chokes came with 10 inch long stems. People were breaking off the stems and left them in the bin. I took two chokes and bagged all the discarded stems, 4 lbs? The cashier only charged me two artichokes. If you watch Peppin's shows, you know how often he uses vegetable stems. Also, often at farmers markets, you can get beet stems/tops for free. About the asparagus stems. Those are Italian purple asparagus “Violetto d' Albenga” variety, They are larger, sweeter and not as fibery as the green ones. Really nice! dcarch

Basquecook – You have done justice, It would be a crime to mess up Berkshire pork. Anna N – How did you get the skin so perfect on the chicken thighs? And I see you are able to source high quality shrimps. ChrisTaylor – When you don’t see bones showing, that means the ribs are very juicy and tender and expertly done. Dejah – Very nice combination of ingredients for the Kalua Pulled Pork. Patrickamory – that American-style spaghetti and meat sauce looks better than any I have seen in restaurants. Plantes – very nice atmosphere for a dinner with your family. Ann_T – You are going to get in trouble with the Italians. You keep making such wonderful pizzas. Soba – Beautiful pictures, and really appetizing scallops on spaghetti. Franci – Amazing short ribs! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I enjoy cooking vegetable leaves separate from stems because they require different cooking time, and they taste a little different. A few dishes with stems. dcarch Hanger steak on purple asparagus stems Trout and broccoli stems Curry pork and mustard green stems

A very good question. 1. I do, very seldom, vacuum and seal. Although I don't remember when was the last time. 2. I trust more the plastic used for boil-able bags specifically designed for high temperature sous vide water baths. I made clotted cream yeaterday, at 180F for 10 hours. 3. And this unique use I came up with. As I said, I am interested in recycling and re-purposing materials. dcarch