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

I heard that they don't import this to the US anymore, and the only thing available here is the ZWACK version. I recently had the opportunity to try some, and it was delicious. Any method to get some in the US?

You've just ruined all pepper grinders for me with that bit of nightmare fuel...

My problem was the smoke indoors. If I was going to sear with a grill, I would still do it after the bake since the indoor smoke isn't a factor anymore.

Kudos to you if you live in the Midwest, although we've been having quite the mild winter so far...

How even is the sear when you do this? I find that torching the meat produces a bunch of tiny burnt flecks rather than an even browning from pan/oven.

I might have to try the water trick, although wouldn't the water boil off pretty quick? I do the sear after the long roast so that the surface of the meat takes a good char due to it being so dry.

I cooked my rib roast at a low temp for a many hours. I take it out to rest while I crank up the oven to 550F. When I put the roast back in for the final sear, after 5 minutes, there is a crazy amount of smoke coming out of the oven (I see flecks of oil catching fire on the heating element as they're launched from the roast). After ~9 minutes or so, the kitchen is completely filled with smoke. The roast was fine (good sear on the outside), but there was an unworldly amount of smoke, and the inside of my oven will definitely need cleaning. Any way to reduce the splatter when searing as the last step of a rib roast? I've cooked steak in the oven before (similar method; stove->oven) which produced some smoke and splatter, but the roast was insane.

Regarding the carrot soup, is it necessary to strain the blended ingrediants if you're using a high power blender?

What's your budget for a grinder and how much of a coffee person is your brother? If you like the cheapo one, then there's no reason to upgrade it necessarily. You might want to consider a manual grinder since they generally have better burrs than a similar priced electric.

The problem with comparing HFCS vs honey is that honey is not just fructose and glucose; it contains many other compounds and nutrients that affect how the body processes the sugars. According to this study (http://jn.nutrition.org/content/132/11/3379.full), the rats eating honey did not have as high of an inflammatory response as rats who ate a glucose/fructose mixture similar to that of honey. Also, the composition of HFCS in soft drinks is misleading. This study (http://goranlab.com/pdf/Ventura%20Obesity%202010-sugary%20beverages.pdf) found that the percentage of fructose in HFCS used in the drinks is typically higher than the standard 55%. Finally, I think people think honey is great because they generally use it in a different way compared to HFCS. I don't think anyone is advocating replacing the HFCS in coke with honey; it would be bad for you either way. But for typical use (sweetener in coffee/tea, spreads on bread, etc), I think it would be better than using HFCS.