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Seattle Food Geek

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  1. I haven't had the experience of needing less for long bath times. In fact, I use Steak Aging Sauce for my 72-hour brisket! I think the culprit is likely the combination of the Sansaire Steak Aging Sauce and the McCormick's Montreal Steak Rub. McCormick's blends are really salty (usually, they're they only seasoning on the food), and in combination with Steak Aging Sauce, it could be too aggressive. If you like the flavor of both together, I'd recommend scaling them both back a bit. Thanks again!
  2. Thanks so much for sharing your experience, Mark! Glad it was a hit :-)
  3. Thanks so much for sharing your experience, Mark! If you ever have questions, problems, or come up with novel uses, we'd love to hear from you! -Scott
  4. More great questions! We have not been able to produce "torch taste" with the Sansaire Searing Kit torch, despite trying really hard. There are two prevalining hypotheses for what causes torch taste. Modernist Cuisine attributes it to the flavor of uncombusted fuel reaching the food surface. Dave Arnold and the Searzall team attribute it to chemical reactions that occur when food is exposed to too high a temperature, as you might experience with a direct flame. I can't state with 100% certainty why the Sansaire Searing Kit torch doesn't produce torch taste, but we've empirically shown that it doesn't. I've even served seared steak to people who complain about being sensitivie to torch taste and they were delighted that it was absent from our setup. My best guess is that the temperature of our flame is actually a little lower than that of the TS4000 or TS4000. We've measured the blue main flame as 2200F in air. With a TS8000, the flame is designed to be considerably more concentrated and more intense. I don't have a temperature measurement, but it could be the case that there's a threshold north of 2200F at which "torch taste" begins to appear. We also advise folks to light our torch pointed away from their food, then bring the lit flame to the food surface, so that they avoid getting uncombusted propane on the food.
  5. Cast iron can definitely deliver a great sear, but the torch has a few advantages: Cast iron only sears flat things. It's great for strip steaks, but because cast iron relies on conduction as its only mode of heat transfer, it's pretty cumbersome to sear non-slab objects like a prime rib or rack of lamb. Even a chicken breast is a little too dome-shaped for reliable contact with the pan. The flame can sear round and uneven surfaces, and sneak into those nooks and crannies that conduction can't reach. Temperature. On a powerful stove, you might be able to get your cast iron pan up to 600F. But, the temperature of the torch flame is 2200F. Temperature doesn't tell the whole story of heat transfer, but if your goal is to apply a dark outer crust fast without overcooking the interior, it matters a lot. Smoke. When searing over a wire rack and drip tray - like the kind we built for the Sansaire Searing Kit - juices and liquid fat drip down off the food, away from the heat, and into the drip pan (ready to turn into a pan sauce). In a cast iron skillet, they have nowhere to go but airborne in the form of smoke. If you've got a kick-ass vent hood, then this isn't a big deal. But if your smoke alarm is like mine (even saying the word "smoke" out loud seems to set it off) then producing less smoke is an advantage. Cleanup. The searing rack and tray from our searing kit are dishwasher safe, so I don't have to worry about rinsing out my cast iron right after searing. Drama. I've yet to host a dinner party where the blowtorch searing step didn't make it to instagram. Pro tip: don't tell anyone what you're doing, just start searing in clear view of the dining room. Half way through, invite your 85-year-old grandmother to take over for you.
  6. Scott from Sansaire here. The Sansaire Searing Kit torch and the Searzall attachment are very different, and each good for their own use. Because the Searzall takes a flame from the TS8000 or TS4000 (show in the middle of the photo below) and spreads the heat out over a 3" diameter baffle, the heat energy per square inch is quite low. A lot of energy is also lost out the sides and top of the baffle. The result is that it can take close to 3 mintues per side to sear a steak with the Searzall. By comparison, the Sansaire Searing Kit torch produces the flame on the right - the largest of any torch in its class. The flame size is in a goldilocks zone between being larger than a normal hardware store torch (1" diameter) but not too large as to diffuse the heat too much. And, because the flame is concentrated, all of the heat energy is directed towards your food. The result is that you can put the same or better sear on a steak in 1 minute per side or less. Not only is this faster, but the heat has less time to encroach the interior of the food. However, the Searing Kit Torch is too intense for some uses where the Searzall shines, like melting cheese, making toast, or even browning creme brulee (unless you take a step back and have a very steady hand). To see the difference in action, check YouTube videos for the Searzall (ex. ) and the Sansaire Searing Kit ( ) Also note that the Sansaire Searing Kit includes the torch head+ fuel cylinder+ searing rack and drip tray = $159. If you were to add up the equivalent components for the Searzall world, you'd get: $75 for Searzall + $48 for torch head+ $12 for fuel cylinder+ $85 for Searzall Steak Decorator (searing rack) = $220 Again, both tools have uses at which they excel, but if your primary interest is in searing meats, the Sansaire Searing Kit Torch delivers much better results in my opinion.
  7. Chris, that was me in the CHOW video, and I have to admit, I made a mistake when demoing the technique. Rather than removing the wings from the marinade and tossing them into the potato starch and Wondra (as I did on video), the MCAH recipe actually calls for mixing the marinade with the potato starch and Wondra until it forms a thin batter on the wings. This is a totally embarassing mistake and we're trying to find a good way to update the video to reflect the recipe as-printed in MCAH. So, I believe I owe you a batch of Korean wings. Please let me know how you'd like to collect
  8. @ElsieD, I'm very sorry to hear that. We're investigating as to why your book was shipped without any protective packaging. We'll reply on this thread when we have answers from Amazon, but we'll fight to ensure that you receive a new, undamaged copy.
  9. I think the cleanliness of a kitchen is correlated to the quality of the food produced within it. I don't mean keeping your kitchen immaculate as you're making a meal... I mean cleaning up once you're finished. Years of hardened grease on a stovetop, dust bunnies in front of the fridge, a week's dishes piled in the sink - those are all signs to me that the kitchen's owner is a bad cook. Why? Because if you don't respect the environment in which you're cooking, you probably don't respect the ingredients you're using either. Would you trust your child in the custody of someone who kept their house in disarray? I didn't think so. That's why I wouldn't trust an onion or a ribeye in the custody of someone who doesn't clean their counters.
  10. I don't know that I'd call it incredible, but I really like the granulated sugar that comes in the milk carton-style packaging. It's easy to pour, and it stores well. Why does flour still have to come in leaky, tear-prone paper sacks? Hop on the carton train, flour makers!
  11. Nope, not a science project exactly, though most of what I attempt in the kitchen resembles one. I've heard of the sashimi technique, but I wasn't quite sure what forces were at play. Thanks for the info! I'm thinking of starting by using a TENS nerve stimulator (http://www.amazon.com/Prosepra-PL009-Electronic-Pulse-Massager/dp/B000XHNBLU/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_cart_1) connected to needles poked into nerve bundles. However, I don't know it it only works on living muscle or if it would do anything for dead tissue. Cooked/uncooked is the next level of the issue.
  12. This may sound like a creepy question, but I'm looking for resources related to nerve stimulation. My holy grail is to stimulate the nerve bundles that control the muscles in octopus skin that allow it to appear to change color. I think it would be fascinating to serve a cooked octopus tentacle that could change color in front of the diner, if it were connected to a battery and microcontroller. But, I'm OK starting with getting dead chickens to twitch. Can anyone point me to a good starting place? -Scott
  13. If it were me, I'd use laboratory glassware for measuring and mixing. After all, that's what they're meant for :-) You just need to be OK with looking like Dr. Bunsen Honeydew while you're mixing drinks. You can find cheap vessels at http://www.sciplus.com/category.cfm/subsection/4/category/42
  14. I just bought a centrifuge - a Beckman TJ-6 with refrigeration, the same one that Jethro has. I spun peas and corn (separately) last night and I got a 5-mm layer of pea butter after 3 hours. Corn also separated into three distinct layers, the most interesting of which was a thick, syrupy corn water. I used a BlendTec blender to get a very smooth puree before centrifuging, which I imagine helped quite a bit. I'm planning to keep on experimenting with everything that I can blend and separate... mushrooms, asparagus, leeks, onion, cucumber, coffee, water, wine... If there are any substances you'd like to see tested, please let me know.
  15. Thank you guys for the tips - those both sound like great ideas. So, how can I tell when the meat is "done" brining? (I don't have a salinity meter.)
  16. Can I speed up the brining process for the pastrami recipe if I brine under vacuum pressure? Rather than brining in a sous vide bag, I am considering brining using a vacuum canister. Any ideas on how this would impact the necessary brining time? I'm planning to use boneless short rib - I'll save the Wagyu cheek for my second attempt.
  17. Fantastic, thank you so much for the recommendation. I'll give this a try.
  18. I recently picked up a Tekmar Tissumizer rotor stator homogenizer from a laboratory surplus supply company. The unit is so old that it was made in West Germany, but it appears to be in great condition. It turns on and runs just fine (as loud as a fighter jet), but I've noticed that it leaches sludge out of the botom of the stator tube. I dissasembled the unit and scrubbed all of the surfaces I could reach with cotton swabs and alcohol. I also detached the stator tube and boiled the hell out of it, since, you know, it might have the tissue cells from the 1980s lingering inside. Even with the parts as clean as I could get them, when I run the unit in a glass of water for a few seconds, it turns cloudy and disgusting. Any tips on getting this thing refurbished, or better strategies for cleaning?
  19. Just a thought, here... can I turn my pressure cooker into a pressure canner? It looks like the only difference is the presence of a pressure gauge, and that's something that I can purchase online as a replacement part. It seems like the right sized hole in the lid of my pressure cooker + a pressure gauge = a pressure canner. Am I missing anything?
  20. ...if a product is not acidic (below 4.8 PH) you should not can by boiling. These peas are certainly not acidic enough. Such products need to be pressure canned and that is not advisable unless you know what you are doing and have a proper pressure canner (NOT a pressure cooker)! Thanks very much for the heads-up! I don't have a pressure canner, so unfortunately that option is out for this weekend. Can I add lime juice and sugar instead and follow traditional canning procedures? Alternately, can you advise if the pea butter would be OK at room temperature in a jar for 24 hours with instructions to refrigerate? Or, even in a refrigerator, does the anaerobic environment pose a problem? Thanks so much!
  21. Can anyone tell me the unrefrigerated shelf life of canned pea butter? I just got a centrifuge and I'm going to make a batch of pea butter. The book calls for blending and spinning uncooked peas until they separate into pea water and pea butter. I'd like to put the pea butter into 4-oz glass canning jars to donate to a bakesale this weekend. How long can I expect the pea butter to last, unrefrigerated, in a sealed jar? I'm a canning novice, so I was planning to boil the jars and lids and add the pea butter. Should I use a different canning approach? Is there anything I can do, such as cooking the peas or adding salt, to extend the shelf life? Thanks in advance!
  22. I keep burning my carrots when making the pressure-cooked caramelized carrot soup. I've only used my pressure cooker twice, and it was for this recipe both times. The recipe calls for pressure cooking for 50 minutes. After about 30 minutes, both times, I could smell burning. I removed the pressure cooker from the heat and rapidly cooled it. When I opened the lid, I discovered that the bottom of the pan was covered in burnt (not just caramelized) carrot. I was able to salvage most of the unburnt carrots, but the scorched flavor had already made it's way into the soup. So, what am I doing wrong? My pressure cooker's manual says to always operate it over high heat. On my second attempt, I ignored that instruction and used medium heat. I even picked up the pressure cooker and jostled it around a few times to try to mix up the carrots inside. Still scorched after less than 30 minutes. There's no pressure gauge on my cooker, so I don't know how many psi it's running at. Note that the recipe does not call for any additional water. The only moisture comes from the butter and carrots, which is plenty to produce lots of steam pressure. Has anyone else run into this issue?
  23. Thanks for that! I must have overlooked this recipe, but I'll check it out. Now all I need is a spray dryer... or to change my approach. I've seen premade honey powder and honey granules. Perhaps those would be a better starting point for me. Thanks!
  24. Yikes! If you're curious to see what the ACTUAL unboxing looks like, I've posted a video. It took me over 5 minutes, admittedly, at an indulgent pace :-)
  25. I actually have a set of vacuum canisters made for the FoodSaver that work very well for this type of thing. The problem I've had in previous tests was dealing with the sugar's extreme temperature and narrow temperature window for workability - too hot and it won't hold the bubbles, too cold and it won't expand. Perhaps I could hold the sugar in the goldilocks zone in a vacuum canister dunked in a sous vide bath, then slowly lower the temperature so the sugar sets up firm. I'm intrigued by vacuum-set techniques. In fact, I built my own makeshift vacuum oven - a hotel pan with thick acrylic lid, an airtight seal, and a vacuum pump. I can put steel cookware in the pan, vacuum out all the air, and place the whole thing over an induction burner. The steel cookware gets hot and heats the food, all the while under vacuum. The same principle might work with very strong infrared heating elements, though I worry about melting my acrylic lid, since acrylic does absorb a lot of infrared energy (just hold a piece of acrylic over an electric burner - it will melt quickly). Anyhow, poor man's vacuum oven :-)
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