Martin Fisher

I've ordered some SS badge clips that are allegedly rust-proof. ~Martin

I plan on SVing multiple bags much of the time and like the idea of keeping everything vertical, separated and in place (no floating). ~Martin

I haven't received the racks yet, but here are the measurements relayed by a friend. 12"L x 9"W x 6 1/2"H I assume that they're correct. ~Martin

I ordered two of the SousVide Supreme pouch racks. ~Martin

Over 12 million Americans desperately unemployed and.........oh, never mind!!!!!!!! ~Martin

The best thing about subtracting fiber carbs is that you get to eat more vegetables and the like. There's no reason to unnecessarily limit yourself. ~Martin

A gimmick? Fiber is not digestible like other carbohydrates. Even the American Diabetes Association condones subtracting grams of fiber from a food’s total carb count when it contains 5 or more grams of fiber. A bariatric physician recommended the subtraction of fiber carbs to me many years ago, long before it became a well known technique. ~Martin

The higher the iodine value of an oil, the better seasoning it'll produce. The iodine value of grapeseed oil is fairly high, but not as high as flaxseed oil. ~Martin

I used to think the same thing, until I tried the drying oils. Bacon fat will certainly work, but it doesn't produce the very tough resilient seasoning of a drying oil. ~Martin

Even the best low-carb cookbooks have recipes that are good and bad as far as carb content goes. It's best to learn to formulate or adapt your own, short of that, it's essential to be able to analyse a recipe (don't trust what the cookbooks say.) I recommend getting a good basic book on low carb as well as a good accurate gram counter, one that also includes fiber counts because fiber counts can be subtracted from total carbs to get net effective carbs, the carbs that really matter. That will give them a lot of the information they need to convert current favorites to low-carb and separate out the good from the bad, carb count wise. "New Atkins for a New You: The Ultimate Diet for Shedding Weight and Feeling Great." by Westmaan, Phinney and Volek is great because it's based on current science. The USDA Nutrient Database is a good source for carb and fiber values. ~Martin

Looks obscenely good! ~Martin

The sub-shell membrane clinging to the white often presents the greatest challenge when peeling very fresh eggs. From On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen By Harold McGee, Page 88: "Difficult peeling is characteristic of fresh eggs with a relatively low albumen pH, which somehow causes the albumin to adhere to the inner shell membrane more strongly than it coheres to itself. At the pH typical after several days of refrigeration, around 9.2, the shell peels easily. If you end up with a carton of very fresh eggs and need to cook them right away, you can add a half teaspoon of baking soda to a quart of water to make the cooking water alkaline." ~Martin

Good low-carb cookbooks are few and far between. Karen Barnaby's "The Low-Carb Gourmet", is about as good as it gets. Unfortunately, it's out of print, but perhaps you can find it at the library. Peter Reinhart has a new book out, "The Joy of Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Baking: 80 Low-Carb Recipes." I haven't baked from the book yet, but many of the recipes look very promising. HTH ~Martin

I use a little baking soda in the cooking water, that aids in ease of peeling. ~Martin

I waited over 6 weeks for Douglas Baldwin's book to again be available via Amazon.com, but no luck. GGRRRrrrrr!!!!!! I discovered that the SousVide Supreme folks have it in stock, so I ordered it from them. ~Martin

The torch trick is intriguing. I'm going to try that! Here's Julia using the foil collar trick to prevent an eruption. Cheese souffle is great. ~Martin

Roux: 3 parts flour to 2 parts clarified butter. Bechamel: 10 parts milk to 1 part roux. ~Martin

That's for sure! LOL ~Martin

She strikes me as more vainglorious than airheaded. She did have the intellectual wherewithal to found Kurtain Kraft! LOL ~Martin

Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee is by far the worst show, IMHO!!! The "cooking" is bad enough, but her constant dictating "Now I want you to...", "Now I want you to...", "Now I want you to..." puts it WAY over the top as far as bad shows go. It makes me cringe!!!!!!! ~Martin

Thanks for the heads-up on the pumps! ~Martin

It would definitely be a positive if you're sealing several bags per session, but if that's the only difference, I'm not sure it's worth the extra money for the small batches I'd be bagging most of the time. The reviews are largely positive, but I'm not sure they're useful in determining how well the machines will perform in the long run. I have a feeling that most folks post their reviews shortly after receiving their units, while still very excited about their new purchase. What about 5 years or 10 years down the road? One commenter on youtube complained that the pump burned out after just 8 months of use, hopefully that's just an isolated incident! This place has the VP-210 for just $859, with free shipping. The VP-215 is just $90 more. ~Martin

It appears that the VP-215 cycles a bit faster than the VP-210. Is there any other difference? ~Martin

This is always a fascinating subject! FWIW, Here are NOAA's Relative Humidity/Dew Point tables for various elevations for anyone who may have a special interest. ~Martin

I'm going to use an Igloo 48-Quart cooler for the vessel. The insulated vessel will allow me to setup the outfit on my unheated enclosed porch. I've ordered two SS sandwiched circulation plates from FMS to ensure good circulation. Because the air pump isn't adjustable, I'll install a vent valve in the air line so I can fine tune the bubble action. I'd rather not alter the lid, so, instead of making a hole in the lid, I'm going to drill a hole up high in the back of the cooler well above the water level and install a bulkhead fitting to seal and finish it off nicely. ~Martin