fledflew

@Anna N It's very possible that the time and temperature reference card was not included in your box with the rest of the stuff. The first one that I purchased appeared to be factory sealed, but there was no documentation of any sort and it was missing the mat. I returned it and the second one that I got was (as far as I know) complete.

I will be back in Las Vegas again in Mid-January. If they still have them in stock and you're still interested in one, I can always pick one up for you and get it shipped out. I have yet to play with my replacement since getting it this past weekend (first one was missing parts).

I have done the creme anglaise recipe and it was a bit uneven (dare I say cellulite-like?) when it came out. I mixed it very quickly with a whisk and it was perfectly smooth after just a few quick strokes. I didn't use a stick blender because they are a pain to clean and the whisk method has worked well for me in the past when making pot de creme and other custard things sous vide.

RC Willey's customer support was very helpful in setting up an exchange after explaining my situation to them. I was in Las Vegas for the long weekend so opted to just do the exchange in-store/in-person since they have locations there and receiving shipments at my apartment is tricky. With the exception of the 40 minute wait in their pickup area after the paperwork was processed, it was quite painless and I now have a paragon with all of the parts (fingers crossed that everything works). I should have a chance to play with it sometime within the next week or so. Thank you all again for the prompt feedback last week.

I took all the packaging out of the box and checked again - no mat and no instructions. I'll give the seller a call today to get this sorted out. Thanks for all your help!

For those that ordered a Paragon from RC Willey, did it include the mat or instructions? I finally got around to unpacking mine and there are no instructions or mat. On the RC Willey product page, it shows a picture of a pan of bacon using the mat and both the description section and feature section mention the mat. I was under the impression that the mat was included, but I don't have instructions to verify what should be in the box.

I just put in an order for one from RC Willey (thank you for the lead on that great price). I used to have a Tatung single burner induction unit that I picked up for about $100. I let my sister borrow it a few years ago and let her keep it when I moved out of state. I've been thinking about picking up another one for some time now, but was waiting for the right price. At $70 - it's definitely the right price. With the added temperature control feature, I couldn't pass up the deal. It should make deep frying (which is what I used the old Tatung most often for) much easier.

I personally find store chickens mushy and tasteless. I grew up eating "Chinese chickens" from SF Chinatown which were less meaty, but had a much "chickenier" flavor and the meat was quite springy. I find the meat on store rotisserie chickens almost pasty and the skin (my favorite part) is flabby and greasy. I started making rotisserie chickens myself on the gas grill about 15 years ago and have only eaten a store rotisserie chicken maybe 10 times since then. I'd go on, but that probably belongs in a different thread...

Some states require Costco to sell alcohol to non-members as well - that's another way to take a look inside (and maybe even stock up on wine and liquor) without a membership. I have never seen a referral deal for membership, but I have seen a $20 gift card promotion with basic membership. Also, you can get an executive membership for $120 (in the US) which will pay back 2% cash back. My yearly dividend is usually between $130-$180, so it covers the cost of membership.

Looks like it might be available again??? I saw the sold out message last night after I got my order in, but it's available to order again as of right now - hopefully the webpage is accurate. Good luck!

I finally something to contribute to this thread... https://home.woot.com/offers/vacmaster-vp215-chamber-vacuum-sealer Woot.com (amazon subsidiary that is a daily sale site) has the VacMaster VP215 on sale for $499 for the next 20 hours or so (until 10pm PDT 10/18/2019) or until they sell out. This is the oil pump model and it is a new unit (not refurb). Price is about $400-$700 off most other places selling it. Shipping is flat rate of $6 for the entire order or free with Amazon Prime account - most places charge $30-$80 for shipping. (I must be one of the last 14 holdouts that doesn't have a Prime account). I've been casually shopping online for a chamber sealer for almost a decade now, but could never justify the cost. I have endured endless frustration with a few different foodsavers over the years, and that is about to come to an end! I was just thinking to myself the other day, "why do I even bother checking Woot anymore? They never have anything that I want and the discount isn't very good either". Ha!

There were a couple other threads here on the previous (stalled) release of the oven. I was really looking forward to the Anova oven a few years ago when it was first announced, but since then, my list of desired features has grown. I'd like a counter top appliance to be able to: toast, convection bake, microwave, steam bake, and air fry. The air fry function is the new addition to my wish list that wasn't there a few years ago. The searing plate feature that was listed when the oven was originally announced a few years back might come in handy. French doors on the front of the oven would be nice too - I saw it on an oven at Costco and it seemed like a clever configuration. I guess I'll just have to wait for another company to make my dream device, as I don't see Anova including a microwave function. I think air frying is a very real possibility though.

I'm still waiting for the anova precision oven that was supposed to come out about 2 years ago. It looked so promising (sleek design, steam cooking, searing plate, convection, etc), but I'm pretty sure that it's not going to happen since I haven't seen any mention of it in a long time..

I received a couple of emails from Tovala this week. The first one on Tuesday announced that they will be releasing a version 2 of the steam oven and then a second email today stating that the first production run has already sold out. Price points are $349 by itself or $249 if you sign up to buy 100 of their prepared meals within the first year of ownership. Looks like they added convection baking as a feature and possibly some other stuff too - I didn't look hard enough through the webpage to sort everything out. They also changed the controls a bit - this new version looks much more like a traditional toaster oven now with a series of knobs running vertically down the left side. I was an early backer of their first version several years ago but chose to drop out and never ended up with one of the Tovala ovens. I've been waiting for the Anova oven to materialize for several years now but no news on that product for quite some time.

The second shipment didn't make it either. Decided to cancel the order and try a different seller. Third time was a charm for me and it showed up in less than a week!

I ordered some about 5 weeks ago after reading this thread and wanting to try the stuff. Purchased from a UK seller through Amazon but it never showed (no tracking information). I reached out to them yesterday and they are re-sending the order. I guess I have a couple more weeks to wait.

When I lived in Phoenix, the local Fry's grocery store (Kroger) would put chuck roast on sale a few times a year. I would stock up on a couple dozen chuck-eyes whenever that happened at 2.99-3.99 per lb. After I bought out the location, I'd go to other locations to look for more, but they didn't offer them at all. I asked the butchers about it and found out that it was up to each location as to whether they wanted to offer that cut. Apparently, some would offer it separately as a steak while others wouldn't separate it from the larger cut sold as a chuck roast. My friends and I refer to it as the poor man's ribeye. I do like that the chuck-eyes run smaller than a ribeye so it makes for a good meal without eating too much meat in one sitting. I haven't really seen it out here in northern California since moving here a couple years ago, but I haven't been looking for it that hard either.

I recall reading the ATK article at the library several years ago. If memory serves me right, Kimball said that real vanilla contains dozens of compounds that make up its taste and complexity, but that most of them were volatile compounds so they dissipated when subjected to high heat. Out of the many compounds present in real vanilla extract, there was one called vanillin which was responsible for a vast majority of what we perceive as vanilla taste. I think that he went on say that artificial vanilla is synthesized/extracted from wood pulp (I could be wrong on this though), and it only contained vanillin and not the rest of the trace compounds. This extracted or synthesized vanillin stood up to heat better so it was the better choice when making cookies and cakes. If somebody has access to ATK, I'd welcome any corrections.

At Costco and Total Wine, the selection of alcohol and their prices varies by region - I have observed this between Phoenix, the SF bay area, and Las Vegas. Presumably, each states' taxes play a role in the final pricing, but there must be other market forces that influence the prices as well. That being said, I have found some exceptional deals at Costco over the years that I can't imagine could be matched by any other retailer. A couple examples - Bottles of JW Blue Label for ~$130 ea (after a $25 off coupon, limit 2) during the holidays in the Bay Area. Without the coupon, they were $155 which is the same price as the Total Wine in the area. I just checked the price of JWBL for the Phoenix Total Wine and they sell the same bottle for $170. I've also picked up bottles of 10y/o Laphroaig at Costco for $10 each, but that was because there were only 6 bottles left and I'm guessing that they were closing out the last of the selection to make room for something else on the shelf. I just price checked a couple items that I recently purchased at Costco against the Total Wine online prices for my local store and they are comparable (without coupons and special closeout deals). 1.75L Sauza Hornitos, and 1.75L Bulleit Rye were both the same price. The Total Wine price on the Bulleit Rye did drop by a couple dollars over the past few months though - I recall buying bottle there in Nov for more than the current price. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to find that they are doing price surveys and matching prices with Costco.

@rotuts- I was also a backer but pulled out right before the campaign closed so I don't have access to the updates either. I did get the business card of someone that was working on the project back in March when I attended a launch event and there is a small chance that I might still have it around. She told me that the project team (when I met her almost a year ago) were all living together in a house that also served as their office. Coincidentally, it's only about 3 miles from where I live. If I can find that card, I'll see if I can get some info for you. If not, then we may have to wait until it sells to the public and settle for the amazon reviews... On another note, my parents picked up a CSO from Costco for $169 last week. They don't know much about steam ovens, but told me that they were convinced by the demo that they saw. The last time they saw an appliance demo at Costco, they left with a fully loaded vitamix. That was 4-5 years ago and they have yet to take it out of the box!

Not an expert, but I don't think so (at least not likely with the one that I have). My induction unit is a cheapie and there is a digital display and controls. I think if you were to hook up a dimmer switch or speed controller and were to throttle the power, the digital circuitry wouldn't function properly (like trying to use a dimmer switch with a laptop). As for controlling the heat output, my unit is either on or off and throttles the output by cycling the time that it stays on. That is, if I select the 5 power level setting (out of 10), the unit will switch the induction component on and off every couple seconds to achieve half the power output. Similar to a microwave oven - if you set it to 30% it won't send out 30% of the microwaves the whole time. It will simply toggle on and off and not apply power for 70% of a given time and will apply power 30% of that time. Dimmer switches would likely be fine with an older style electric coil buffet burner but not with the digital circuitry of an induction unit.

I don't see the acquisition as Electrolux trying to enter the US market - they are already have a presence here with several brands that they either own or license (Eureka, Westinghouse, and Frigidaire probably being the most well known). I think they purchased Anova because they produce a quality product with a lot market share and are forward looking with products like the oven that is to be released. Not to mention that they have operated like an actual company since the early days. Their kickstarter for the Bluetooth version a few years ago blew away funding expectations (1.8 mil funded for a 100k goal) and they were still able to release a quality product as promised and on time. So many other crowd-funded products miss delivery dates, run into supply chain problems, or experience significant quality issues during first run production. My experience with customer service at Anova has been top notch, which is more than I can say for a majority of companies that I deal with. As for Anova being able to operate somewhat autonomously under Electrolux, I certainly think that it's possible. When amazon purchased Zappos, 6pm, woot, and countless other companies, they still let them operate as somewhat separate entities with their own mission and philosophies. It all depends on how the corporate cultures are merged or preserved.

I plan on hosting about a dozen or so people (although more may drop in). I eat very little red meat these days (mostly fish, rice, and veggies), so superbowl is one of my excuses to pig out and eat lots of meaty stuff. Not necessarily a huge football fan, just in it for the food! This is how my menu is shaping up - Fried coconut shrimp (picked up a 3 lb case of pre-breaded coconut shrimp from the restaurant supply store for $15). I'll just drop a bunch in my deep fryer before the game (and maybe more at halftime) and serve them with mae ploy sweet chili sauce) Tri-tip sliders. Choice angus tri-tip is often on sale for $2.99/lb around here and I've got 7 left in my chest freezer (down from 16) that I need to go through. I'll prob sous-vide a three pounder, shave it on my meat slicer, and then serve it in a pile next to some king's Hawaiian rolls. Chicken wings - trad spicy with Franks, rosemary garlic, and teriyaki. I'll marinate the teriyaki and rosemary garlic the day before. Throw them all on my pellet grill and then keep warm in a chaffing dish. Build-your-own Sonoran hot dogs - the bacon wrapped hot dogs will go on the pellet grill after the wings come off. The rest of the condiments will be prepped and laid out on the buffet so people can build whatever they want. I had originally thought about a team-themed food menu but decide against it. Maybe chowder and lobster rolls for NE and fried chicken/bbq/soul food for Atlanta, but once I got it down on paper, everything was too heavy, entrée-like, and tricky to turn into snackable items.

A few new pictures of the oven taken at CES (as well as some info about the new line of their IC's) - https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/06/anova-has-a-99-version-of-its-popular-sous-vide-cooker/#/

I pulled the trigger on a 10-inch slicer tonight. I used to have a 12" Berkel and have had my eye out for a knockoff 12" for some time now, but they all run $320+. The price on the 10-inch was right. The unit I purchased is this one: http://www.costway.com/10-blade-commercial-meat-slicer-deli-meat-cheese-food-slicer-industrial-quality-2589.html I received a 20% off coupon code last week ("costway20%off", if you're interested) and it ships free. $217 total. Looking forward to slicing again!