socrates8300

I have one. It is loud and slow. I found the resulting food products to be at best serviceable. Unless you have a specific purpose in mind or buy a very large amount of freeze dried goods then I would skip it. Mine sits right next to the electric guitar, I didn't learn how to play, in my collection of unused and expensive things. I am happy to sell you mine, but I can't recommend it. If you are bored, have some extra cash and want a new toy check out a pacojet. About the same price, but your friends and family will love the ice cream. Sorry, for the corny humor, but I hope this helps.

I would brown the pork ribs, you can do this in a ripping 500 degree oven until they are a deep brown. Meanwhile saute some onions in olive oil, in a dutch oven or pot big enough to house the ribs with the lid on, until they get some golden color. Add some smashed garlic and deglaze with some red wine scraping the bottom of the pan that you cook the ribs on and transfer to the dutch oven or pot. I would then add the ribs to the pot, season with salt and pepper and then braise them tightly covered in the oven at 200 degrees f in the oven for 6 hours or more. After the six hours you should be checking more for texture rather than done-ness and this should conform to your taste -- you can continue to cook them until they are fall of the bone tender if that is your taste. If you do this the day before it will be better the day you cook it. As for the treatment of the polenta you can heat based on the package instruction since they are pre-cooked. Taste for seasoning you may need to add salt and pepper. Then you can spread on a small sheet pan or casserole dish into a even layer. You can that put it in the fringe oven night it should firm up -- I don't know if they put something pre-cook that might prevent this gelling of starches. You can then cut it into serving size portions. These can sautéed in a little butter to great effect. I believe as many other posters have implied that everyone should have uncooked/dried polenta in their pantry -- assuming they like polenta. Hope this is helpful.

Was this a special order? The thickest stone they have available on the web site is 1". While a 1.5" thick mullite stone is intriguing, and a thickness that I've never seen in a home environment, I would never pay these kinds of prices for kiln shelves. I won't comment on price vs value -- I don't work for them nor am I an affiliated. However, I answer your question about it being special order . . . yes it was special order and they will cut it to fit your oven. I have not regrets.

I see them providing different functions. The screen makes having a consistent shape and makes getting the dough off your peel a breeze without extra flour or cornmeal. While the stone is going to retain the consistent heat that your dough will need to crisp up. I have a stone that I like a lot and it is 1.5 inches thick. I bought it from these guys: http://www.californiapizzastones.com I use it with screens with I want a result that is more finished and less rustic. Also, when I make pizza I have take a tip from the Modernist Cuisine tome. I pre-heat my stone for at least an hour so I achieve a crisp bottom crust then I use the broiler to get my desired effect on top. I had to make at least 10 pizzas this way before I understood my oven/boiler performance. I am still searching for the perfect pie, but I have been quite happy with the results using this approach.

I have the Combi from Electrolux. I use it all the time instead of my very expensive thermador range. I find that bread, roasts and steaming applications are perfect. I just wish the oven was bigger with a bigger reservoir, but I think it would defeat it's intended purpose.