cooksandcapers

A thumbs up to all for such superb info on the site. I have had a sous vide supreme for the past week or so and generally found it to be superb. The best result perhaps was today with a pork belly done at 60c for 36 hours with a dry spice mix. It was tender enough to pull apart with gloves. Then a quick whizz and piped into filo tubes, with a bit of seasoning. Went down very well with the gang.

Thanks for the pressure cooker tip, I will have a look into it.

We use 20 litre stockpots and some gastronorm pans with simmer mats underneath, we can get on with other things of course but reducing the time would be very useful to whack up the capacity

I didn't think pectin would enter the fray here, but I guess that makes sense. There's quite a lot of pectin in apples, but I guess it's the apple peel that holds the majority of it. Perhaps chucking in some pectin stock made from the apple skin would help it to set up. thabks, I will experiment!

Hello all, my first post. I have been picking up loads of tips from the forums over the past couple of months, it’s a great site. I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on why chutneys are made in the way that they are, ie chop, add sugar, add vinegar… heat, stir lots and wait ages?? We have recently done a big batch of this one (about 15 times the recipe) http://redskitchendiaries.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/weekend-project-ale-chutney/ We have been thinking about how we might cut down on time and energy costs by taking a different route, and of course getting a quality product at the end. My understanding of preserving in this way is that you need to: 1. Stop enzyme/bacterial activity, this is done quite quickly with heat 2. Get to a pH of 4.5 or below 3. Introduce enough sugar so that the amount of available water for pathogens is decreased to an acceptable level, (which I think is a fair interpretation of water activity) Does anyone know why you need to stand over a stove for hours to reduce the liquid, why can’t you cook the veg to the point you want it, then separate the liquid, reduce to a good consistency and pot as normal? Any views would be greatly appreciated Rich