Junkbot

It is a pretty good one though. Thought this particular example was a true benefit rather than something shoehorned in like OP's examples.

Broke down and got it. Have used it many times to make some interesting food items. Ultra thick cauliflower mash - Used regular blender and 'riced' cauliflower to couscous consistency or smaller by filling blender with water. Strained excess water from the rice with a nut milk bag. Spread the rice on parchment paper and baked until fairly dry and a bit roasted. Threw all that into the Twister jar with some cream cheese. Super super thick cauli-mash. Could not eat more than a teaspoon a bite as it was very thick (peanut butter consistency). Might have gone overboard with the drying Will make it a bit more moist next time. Salvaged under-ripe avocados - Bought a bunch of avocados that were not ripe at all (peeling them was more like peeling an apple, had to use a knife). Threw them into the Twister jar and made smooth guac that tasted fine. Smooth baba ganoush - No seed texture at all. Pesto - I know that a blender is probably overkill for pesto, but the smaller form factor of the Twister jar helped. Black soy bean hummus - Again, super smooth hummus, even with the beans thrown in straight from the can. Have yet to make some nut butters, but will get to that soon enough.

Do you need to do any special cleaning to the blender to get all the chili spice out? I know some people have dedicated cutting boards for chilis.

Yarg, finally caved on this. Cannot wait to try out some black soy bean/zucchini/cauliflower hummus. Gonna also try ultra thick cauliflower mash as well.

Antibiotics != disinfectants. Bacteria cannot resist disinfectants and thus develop into a strain of Chlorox proof bacteria.

Can more people comment on the effectiveness of this technique? Very intrigued by get instant aged flavor without so much waste.

Yeah, only drawback with Blendtec is no tamper. I have seen many custom ones made online though.

I love my Blendtec, but one thing that it is not good at is really thick items, as all the food ends up sticking right above the spinning blades. Enter the Twister Jar which has prongs which stir the contents back into the blades. Basically, you do not have to stop blending to scrap down the sides. I know I can make some nut butters and hummus with this, but the jar is $90+. Hard to justify that on those two items, but scraping down the sides is such a pain in the neck, and I do love making those items at home. Any other suggestions on how best to use a blender where thickness/consistency is no longer an issue? This is something like a food processor on roids.

How do you deal with flare ups? Is that not the purpose of the GrillGrates?

People do the same thing with regular grates which can be just as light if not lighter, so I think cooking with caution comes with the territory of these kludgy setups.

Has anyone tried using one of these on top of a full chimney starter? People do this with regular grill grates, but I imagine the flare ups are insane.

I am finding this device more and more appealing to me considering I live in a studio apt with no range hood. Searing steak in a ripping hot cast iron skillet is great and all, but the smoke is outrageous. How much smoke does this put out for searing steaks?

Economies of scale + ocean freight. Haha, consider me sold.

I guess my question was how is this press so cheap compared to others on the market? I may be overly skeptical about this, but when this press is being offered for a fraction of the price as other competitors, I'm a bit wary.

Does anyone have the 55mm/2.17" ice press from Cocktail Kingdom? I'm curious how cheap it is ($150) compared to some other presses of a similar size. I've always wanted a press, but could never justify the $400 price tag most other presses carry. If anyone could review this model, it could be a cheaper alternative. http://www.cocktailkingdom.com/product-p/oth_icebalmakerx_2000_cir.htm