paulpegg

Nope, fish tank pumps will not ""do". They cannot withstand temps over 60C. i have had a number of them fail and no longer recommend them. See my build at here. Read all the way to the end for pump recommendations.

I've seen beer probes (at least, they were labelled as such) constructed of a thermocouple in a nonreactive plastic coating with a long waterproof lead. You throw it into the beer, and away you go. I do have food-safe (nickel-silver jewler's) solder, and some uncoated thermocouples. If I were to close off the length of a thin piece of copper tube with solder and glue the end of the probe near this end with nonconductive thermal epoxy, would I be on the right track? I am having real trouble trying to figure out why you want to go to such extremes to measure the temperature in your crock pot? What are you trying to accomplish?

I'd like to have SV-level precision cooking regular stuff in my crock pot. If I'm gonna buy a temperature probe.. Let's get some terminology right here. A temperature probe is designed to measure the temperature of whatever it is stuck into. you read the temperature on the dial or digital screen. The one I suggested has removable sanitary covers so it can be used in different foods at any temperature (within it's range). A thermocouple is not designed to be inserted directly into the food but rather into the cooking medium in which the food is being heated. The thermocouple delivers very precise temperature measurement in the form of variable resistance to the PID controller that is controlling the energy delivered to the medium. in the case of sous vide, this is the water in the water bath. You still have to seal the food in bags in order to cook SV in your crock pot. All thermocouples used in SV are made of stainless steel and will not corrode but a food inspector might not be happy if he found one stuck into a piece of fish. If you put a thermocouple into a crock pot full of chili and tried to cook it using a PID controller you would be very disappointed in the results since the heat transfer characteristics of the chili are much lower than water and you would have to stir it all the time to get the energy distributed throughout the batch. Don't even think about it!

Taylor makes this one. http://www.taylorusa.com/restaurant-hospitality/featured-restaurant/temptakerandtrade-haccp-food-safety-system.html There are many others available for measuring the temperature of the food. You don't need one of these if you are setting up a sous vide system since the food does not come in contact with the water bath.

Jason, You can always find a great meal at Michael's Genuine Food & Drink in North Miami. This place makes up for all the mediocre places in Florida. We did his deep fried pig's ears at our March Event after I got him to give me the recipe. Good luck in your new home from all of us at Les Marmitons NJ.

Try GARI at 370 Columbus Ave for really great sushi. OOPS, I didn't see that you don't eat sushi until I posted this. Sorry.

We ate dinner at Joe Beef a few weeks ago and it was out of this world good! I know you have returned from your trip but this is for anyone planning on going to Montreal. Joe Beef is a not to miss place. Reserve early! Anthony Bourdain calls it the best restaurant in town and my local friends agree.

I haven't kept track of the capacity in pounds but a 22 pound turkey would be easy to do. I have done 15 dozen eggs with no problem. I have not found a submersible pump that will be reliable at 170F. They are designed for use in fish tanks and pools and the plastics deform at high temperatures. I found they fail at temperatures over 150F.

You can buy the pump here. I also had to buy a 120 vac to 12v dc transformer. These are readily available for less than $10. I am using some high temperature silicon tubing and metal tubing to keep everything in order. It looks like this now. The tubing is attached to two pieces of metal tubing and clamped to the side of the cooler so it stays in place and cannot fall out. i had the return side fall out once and the pump emptied the cooler to the floor in a few minutes. That was not a good scene. Some people have used bubblers to good effect but I like the circulation that the pump provides. The water really moves and the temperature is the same throughout the cooler. Hope this helps.

The metal sleeve does not get hot so it can come in contact with the cooler and the bags. The wooden block is just to keep the heater from sliding down into the cooler. The coil is centered inside the metal shield and is 5 inches long, the shield is 7 inches long. I have changed the pump since I wrote that article. I now use an external centrifugal pump that pumps 110 gallons per hour and is rated up to 95C. The aquarium pumps all fail above 65 or 70C. I bought two in case one failed but the first one has been going strong for over a year. Thanks,

I think 750 Watts is respectable at this price point and capacity. I use a 1000 Watt bucket heater in my DIY system that I set up in 2010 and it keeps a large beer cooler at temperatures up to 95C for days with no problem.

Spec sheet for Ultra-Sperse 3 Spec sheet for Ultra-Sperse M I would think that Ultra-Sperse 3 is preferred because of it's bland flavor and ease of dispersion. M looks like it is preferred in high temperature preparations

By now you have made your dessert and may have discovered that the meringue can be made a few days ahead with no problem. We have stored them for up to a week but consider three days to be optimal. The creme anglaise will also keep for three days or more. i assume you have an edge sealer such as Foodsaver. There are lots of references to using long bags for sealing liquids and hanging them off the edge of a table as the vacuum is pulled. Press the seal button just before the liquid rises to the seal bar (if you machine allows this). The alternative is to put the liquid in the bag, fold over the top, freeze it overnight and seal it the next day.

you are right. I think it was just an unsealed bag. i have never bagged the eggs, just put them straight into the water batch.

Modernist Cuisine recently sent out a recipe for the ultimate eggs. I haven't tried it but it makes sense to me. Just forget about dyeing them with beet juice! I have done many large batches of sous vide eggs and runny whites is the usual source of complaints from some people. Many times I drain off the really runny part and deliver a shimmering egg with a soft white and perfect yolk.

They are veal shoulder steaks. I'm trying to ascertain what temp. and how long to cook veal- how does it compare to beef? I would use 55C for 4 hours. This is a tender cut and much like beef shoulder which is cooked at 55C for 4-10 hours.

Cut a hole in the lid and mount the heat sink for the ssr in that hole. That is all it takes.

Chris, You are making a milk based gel using Lo-acyl gellan as the gellant and the locust bean gum is probably introduced to slightly soften the brittle gel from the lo-acyl. I would try xanthan at about .05%. Adding some of the Cauliflower puree into the gel (according to the recipe) will soften it further. From the picture on 5-280 it looks like a soft pillow rather than a hard gel. Good luck.

Chris, The recipe calls for 10 gm of the gel cubes, 40 gm of the Hazelnut brittle and 175 gm of the vinaigrette against 350 gm of the lentils. I would just dress the lentils with the vinaigrette until it looks good. Too much dressing on any salad kills it. If you use all the vinaigrette then just spoon it out of the bowl you mixed it in and leave the leftovers behind.

Here is a Link To My Solution for floating bags.You can use them in any configuration. I tried holding them down with a rack as you suggested but they were able to get out from under the rack when in the cooler version of my rig. Vegetables give off gas when heated, which is why they float. Things like asparagus are particularly susceptible to floating.

Chris, I sort of like your idea with triangular sections but I agree that the sable should be thicker. I also think it should be the same size and shape as the custard and the gratin. The arlette's look great, you've got that part nailed. There are loads of variations that can be played and I think you are on the right track with this one.

As long as you don't nibble on them beforehand! Looks very good. Paul

Chris, I have been at the foodservice show all day in NYC so didn't get back to you on this. I see you solved the problem since then. I also found that the isomalt was too big. As I was blending the dry ingredients I felt the particles and forced them through a sieve. I should have pulverized them ahead of time as you did. Your finished sables look great.

Interesting, my butter separated itself during the cooling process, leaving a layer of oniony butterfat on top and then some onion and milk solids below. I just used the butterfat. Unfortunately I tried to make these again today but they were too fragile to handle, so it's back to the drawing board. You're right, the butter did separate during cooling so I warmed it just enough to blend into the dough. I used everything including the little bit of onion and milk solids. I think the extra liquid made the dough just workable enough not to fall apart.

Thanks for the compliments, I am certainly not in your league but I am extremely patient and study the recipes very intently before I plunge in. I used the whole butter in the sables. I didn't see any reason to separate it. The dough looked like it might be kind of short without it. I took your lead and used the left over onions in some omelets the next day. They were every bit as good as you said they would be. I didn't sear the onion halves and they were a little dry. I thought about saving the sous vide liquid from the bag and reducing it a bit to use as a glaze or drizzle on them. There was a strong vinegar taste to it so I need to be careful with this idea. My next challenge with this dish is to prepare it for 20 people next Monday with a four man team who has not even seen the recipes yet! That is my personal gauntlet! I will have another team doing the Oysters Escabeche at the same time!