GlowingGhoul

I hadn't seen that, it's certainly worth a try. I think I'll try to use 2 nearly identical cuts, pack one at 99%, and the other using your method at 80%. I'd like to find out if there's any appreciable difference in the amount of liquid in the bags after cooking. I know that once the bag is sealed the food inside isn't under vacuum pressure any longer, so if the meat vacuumed to 99% releases a lot more liquid it must be due to something like damage to the cells or some other change to the meat caused by the initial vacuum. It would be great if liquid loss could be controlled to the point of being able to instantly create the concentrated flavor of dry aged beef(without the benefit of additional flavor from the enzymes though). On my machine, I can add additional vacuum beyond the H20 sensor tripping point (specified in seconds of additional vacuum). This might be the key to that control.

Silpat's are cheap, reinforced with fiberglass, and since they're made in France, I don't have to worry that some toxic waste was mixed into the silicone to "stretch" it.

Although it doesn't appear that there's been any scientific study of the subject, you can easily demonstrate the drying effect of applying too high a vacuum to meat. Thoroughly dry a piece of red meat, then seal it at 99% vacuum. Watch the meat carefully as vacuum is applied, and, depending on temperature (but certainly by 96%), you'll see liquid boiling out of the meat. Although the colder the meat is the lesser the effect, this will occur even if near frozen. Open the package, and your once dry meat is now soaking wet with liquid on the surface. Leave it in the package for several hours, and the quantity of liquid removed from the meat will be much higher. In the meat packaging industry, this is known as "drip loss" (though drip loss can be caused by other factors as well as vacuum). This is controlled by meat packers vacuuming to a lower percentage then heat shrinking the bags make them skin tight, rather than using very high vacuum. Freeze drying uses vacuum to intentionally accomplish the same effect, but to a much higher degree of course. Most of the time, the H20 sensor stops vacuum at between 84% and 92%, before any boil off is visible. Simply lowering the vacuum to 85% would probably avoid this problem in most cases, but because I do a lot of long cooks where the bag has a tendency to puff up (due to phase change) I like being able to maximize vacuum to keep the bag as tight as possible. Other changes happen to meat in high vacuum as well. Large pores develop, changing the structure and texture of the meat (for the worse or better I'm not certain yet). There are food industry studies on line documenting this pore development effect. For storage I want to keep the meat and it's liquids intact as far as possible, but... I am experimenting with beef brisket at the moment, intentionally removing moisture post smoking at 99% vacuum (controlled by varying the "hold time" after 99% is reached), then opening the bag, pouring out the liquid, drying the meat, and rebagging for sous vide. Thus far I've found the beef flavor intensified, texture improved (in the traditional BBQ brisket falling apart sense), but required cooking time increased by 10% or so (lower heat conductivity within the meat perhaps?). Buy a chamber vacuum, become a mad kitchen scientist

Yes butter, but it has to be Kerrygold butter.

Robert, if you do decide to upgrade, have a good look at the Henkelman units. There is a proprietary feature the Henkelman's have that simply becomes indispensable once you've used it: Vacuum by H20 sensor (instead of time or pressure, though it does that as well). This applies the maximum vacuum to meats and liquids but stops just at the boiling point. Quality of meats prepared for storage and for sous vide is noticeably better than when estimating the proper vacuum level. When packaging liquids using the H20 sensor there is never a mess. I know service is one of your concerns (and rightly so). Henkelman built and shipped my machine from the Netherlands to New York 5 days from my order. I've ordered accessories that came straight from their factory in 3 days. Shipping was always free (well, included in the price anyway). Vacuum packaging machines use fairly straightforward technology, and with proper technical information and parts anyone who services one brand can service another. Henkelman makes both the schematics and parts easily available. They have a video on their site with an engineer talking about how they keep every replacement part in stock for immediate shipping and how, at their customers request, they've broken down expensive parts into smaller components which can be replaced individually at a much lower cost. I've been advised that in the event of a breakdown during the warranty, they will use a local restaurant equiptment servicing company to do the repairs.

I just throw the entire (closed) foodsaver container into my Henkelman Boxer. Since the containers have a one way valve built in, air is evacuted during the vacuum cycle, but when the chamber lets air back in to repressurize, the valve closes, maintaining the vacuum. The only caveat is that at any setting above 60% vacuum, the container begins to collapse in on itself...they cannot handle high vacuum. I have one of the programs set for 60%, which makes sealing these containers very fast and easy. On the Henkelman, the external vacuum adapter fits over the suction port in the chamber. After discovering the "put the whole container in" trick, I decided not to bother. I wasn't able to find the vacuum lids you are supposed to use for standard commercial containers/trays anyway. To my surpirse, the chamber vacuum machine has become one of the most used small appliances in my kitchen.

The site lists the Pearl at $1284, so if the 20% referred to on Fusionchef's site is accurate, you should be able to get it for $1027 vs $800 for the SVP. Well worth the price difference IMHO.

For a restaurant setting, I would imagine that durability is paramount. For a circulator, the Julabo Fusionchef Pearl would probably be your best bet. They just announced that they've cut their prices by 20% for 2012, which makes the Pearl only a bit more expensive than the Polyscience Sous Vide Pro. The Pearl is in a different league from the SVP in terms of construction. It's a rock solid industrial grade unit. Henkelman makes excellent, though pricey, chamber machines. Their entry level line is the Jumbo series. Not many bells and whistles, but it offers excellent quality for a very attractive price. It's the lowest cost chamber machine with a Busch pump. A number of distributers in the UK carry these units, but this site, www.vacuumchef.se , sells both, so you could probably negotiate a good package deal by simply asking. I assume there's no duty when buying from another EU country. Good luck. PS: I'm not sure if I interpreted your post correctly. If you aren't in the UK, then this US company, www.vacuum-packer.com , sells both Fusionchef and Henkelman. I got an excellent deal from Trey Rios and couldn't be happier.

Agreed. I don't know if "Diamond" and "Black Diamond" are one and the same though. The generic "old cheddar" at the local store is not at all exciting but it's as good as or better than anything I've tried in the Black Diamond line... and cheaper too. Yes, I meant "Black Diamond". I wasn't going to chime in with my opinion about it, but I agree. I don't care for it. It has a strange aftertaste, and isn't as sharp as you would expect a 5 year aged cheddar to be. I've probably tried over 100 cheddars over the years, and avoided all things Cabot out of, well, cheese snobbery. I've come completely around. Cabot Vintage Choice is my current favorite cheddar. It's a "2 year", with a deep, complex sharpness but a much creamier texture than 3 year+ cheddars. I have a block each of 3 year "Artisinal Reserve" and 5 year "Old School" that arrived from Cabot a few says ago I'm waiting to try. When I lived in the UK, Tesco ( a large grocery chain), had a rating system for the 30 or so cheddars they carried...from 1 to 7 I believe, indicating relative sharpness. Now that is taking cheddar seriously! By the way, the Costco Kirkland store brand "Cave Aged Cheddar" is Cabot Clothbound, but at about half the price per pound ($10 vs $20) as the branded stuff.

Hey! Canadian cheese. Extra old aged 5 years Cheddar Cheese. Try it sometime! You have a point. In Britain you can get Canadian cheddar that's better than most of the domestic stuff. I've never seen it for sale in the US, though It's sold under the "Diamond" brand in CostCo and Sams Club in the US.

There are quite a few world class US cheeses, but it does seem easier to find higher end imported cheeses than domestics. Even a large scale commerical producer like Cabot has "artisinal" lines (like their clothbound cave aged cheddar) that are as good or better than anything I've had from the UK or Ireland. I do find myself having to order US cheese directly from the producer or specialty mail order cheesemonger more often than not though.

Well, it turned out this farmer had her terms mixed up. The milk isn't raw, just local and not homogenized.

Which program setting are you using? (0-9) Does yours have gas flush? You can tell because it will have 2 gas nozzles behind the seal bar sticking into the chamber. Does yours have vacuum by percentage? IE, are you seeing the digital display count upwards as it is vacuuming(pressure), or downwards (timer)? I will be able to assist you once I've got this information.

I've wanted a deli-style electric slicer for quite a while. I am unimpressed with the "pro-sumer" models out there. All the sub $400 units seem flimsy. -I like to buy sppliances like this once, so quality trumps all. -I don't need automatic slicing. -I don't want to buy a used unit. -This will not have a permanent home on my counter, so a max weight of 50lbs is what I can handle. -The largest thing I would be slicing would be a brisket of approximately 12 inches in width. -Budget up to $1,000 Which brands should I be looking at? What features are must haves?

After using many models over the years, the 800XL was a pleasent surprise. Performs very well, excellent amount of room inside, and aesthetically pleasing enough to reside on the counter next to other high end small appliances. My only gripe is quality control and the tactile feedback of the knobs. I bought and returned 2 for arriving with dents, scratches, and a warped crumb tray that pulled out every time I opened the door. The knobs feel sloppy and the clicks as you turn them are indistinct. That said, it's the best model on the market by far IMHO, and once you get a good one, it's a very nice unit overall. We use it every day.

I went to pick to our weekly ration of eggs at a local family farm, and the woman there purasuaded me to buy a 1/2 gallon of the raw milk they started offering. Generally, we use skim for coffee drinks and baking....it's been decades since I switched from whole milk, and now find driking whole milk to be too rich. What should we do with this stuff? We love raw milk cheeses, but I'm at a loss. Any recipes that would benefit from the unqiue characteristics fo raw milk?

The "gas" is a gas flush, which is a burst of gas bottle of CO2, nitrogen, or other bottled gas shot into the bag after vacuuming but before sealing. That's used for long term storage of certain items. Turn the gas function off, and you should get a normal level of vacuum seal. Good luck.

Yeah, no kidding. I had an argument with a former landlord who wanted me to run the dishwasher in my apartment less to reduce the load on the septic system. For the life of my I couldn't convince her that modern dishwashers use less water and energy than handwashing with warm water...my current machine uses ~2.5 gallons per full load, and less than 1 kilowartt hour of electricity. Even with the highest electric rates in the country, and the cost of dishwashing tabs, my cost per load is about $0.50. Except for stuff that can't be run in the dishwasher, I don't understand why some people who have them handwash anyway, only running the dishwasher when entertaining.

I had a look at the exhaust filter and it appears to be completely soaked on the bottom side (no idea if that's a normal wear pattern or if it happened during transport). Unfortunately, I somehow can't put it back in, the tensioner is way to tight. Or am I missing a secret trick? I will be ordering a replacement filter, but until then I'd like the machine closed up properly. OK, I got it. The filter wasn't plugged in quite correctly. So now I'll have to wait for the replacement. *sighs* The machine should be shipped with the oil drained. That's how they come from the factory, in order to avoid contaminating that filter. Sorry to hear it, but you'll forget all about these problems once you're up and running!

The three most important components that differentiate a quality vacuum chamber sealer is the pump, the pump, and the pump. A dry pump will not pull nearly as high a vacuum as an oil pump. An oil pump will last far longer than a dry pump. All pumps slowly lose their maximum vacuum with use, but dry pumps will do so much faster than oil based pumps. Busch pumps are at the top of the food chain, followed by DVP, followed by the VP mystery chinese oil pump, in terms of quality and maximum vacuum. Serviceability is another major issue. Busch pump parts are widely available, and the pumps can be restored to "new" condition for about $375. The lower end Busch pumps (16 and 21 m3/minute) found in the smaller chamber machines are rated for 730,000(!) cycles prior to a rebuild. Good luck getting that VP pump fixed in a few years. While price is not always an indicator of quality, it is worth noting that the smallest Busch pumps(just the pump) costs more than a VP210. Personally, I'd rather spend $2,000 on a Busch pump based machine that will, in a home enviornment, probobly last forever, than $1,250 on one with a questionable, perhaps impossible to repair pump. As to the other features like vacuum by percentage, vacuum by H20 sensor, soft air, gas flush, etc...they're nice to have, but it's the pump that matters most.

Pep, another possible source of your problem is the "exhaust filter" on the vacuum pump. Since your Boxer was used in a commercial kitchen, that filter could be clogged which reduces the maximum pressure the pump can pull. Again, give Henkelman a call or email. The filter is about $30 US if I rememeber correctly. Instructions for changing it are in the manual you can download from Henkelman's site. The Boxer 35 is rated for 400 vacuum cycles per day, so it's very unlikely that it's worn out. If I were you, rather than relying on someone telling you what maintainance was performed, I would just do a full "tune up" by changing the lid gasket, oil, and exhaust filter. Don't bother with the seal wires unless you aren't getting a good seal. Everything should take less than 15 minutes from start to finish.

I get to liquid boiling easily when disabling the H20 sensor. When vacuum packing liquids or raw meat, boiling usually starts at 97%-98%. The one time I took a liquid over 98%, it nearly exploded in the chamber, so you are definately losing pressure. Henkelman sells a maintainance kit, which includes a new lid gasket, sealing wires, silicon tape for the seal bar, and enough oil for a change (in a nice dispenser that makes it easy). It costs about $40 US. Just call them and give them the model # of your machine to order.

Thanks a lot for the video, it is helpful. My Boxer 35 arrived today and I have to say, it is a monster. Where do you store the even larger Boxer 42? I haven't changed the default programs yet, but I will. As for maintenance, do you run the pump cleaning program each day (which is more or less what they say in the manual) or only when it hasn't been used for a longer period of time (say, a month or two)? Greetings, Peter Once a week is sufficient to keep the pump conditioned (per Henkelman), unless you are vacuum packing lots of liquids, then once at the end of the day would be advisable to "burn" off any moisture in the pump. The Boxer 35 "shrinks" after the initial shock wears off. I keep mine on a kitchen cart so I can move it to wherever I'm working in the kitchen when packing food for freezing. To my surprise we actually use the chamber vacuuum nearly every day.

Holy maillard reaction! How did you get such a nice char?

All the top of the line home stand mixers from: Waring Viking Cuisinart Hamilton Beach are actually Kenwood mixers(and all the attachments are interchangeable between these brands, as well). Kenwood is the UK equivalent of Kitchenaid in regard to stand mixers. Kenwood has an excellent reputation for solid, all metal gearing and workhorse motors. I want the new one with induction heating http://www.kenwoodworld.com/uk/KenwoodCookingChef/Home1/The-Cooking-Chef/ .