Blues_Cookin

In addition to the PolyScience Creative, there are a few other circulators on the horizon: http://shop.nomiku.com (Nomiku) http://www.waterbath...e_products.html (Anova) http://www.swid.eu/en/ (110V Swid) Great intel and commentary - thanks!

MAC Damascus 8" kitchen knife and a 1/2 ltr ISI gourmet whip. AND have the next three days off, so I will be doing some fun stuff with the whip!

I have done some extensive testing with the SideKIC with my Thermopen, and in my opinion it does an excellent job - within +/- 0.05 degree. It has a very active circulator, so I think the water bath maintains a very consistent temp. At higher temps for veggies and larger water volumes, you will need to cover the container with plastic wrap as the heater is only 300 Watts. They were back in stock at Amazon for two days this week, but are out of stock again now. They are available at http://www.fatlaundry.com/products/ica-kitchen-llc-deals-sidekic-kitchen-immersion-circulator

Looks like the SideKIC is out of stock at Amazon, but they are in stock at the FatLaundry.com. I already have one myself and love it and am getting one for my brother for Christmas

I have loved reading your food tour JTravel, thanks so much for sharing all these wonderful descriptions and pictures. Sweetie and I are celebrating our 25th this coming fall and were thinking about traveling a bit in celebration. I was showing her your posts, and now I think we'll be going to Chile !

Very jealous about the tomatoes HungryC! I have a couple questions for the group - first, I can never seem to get my cilantro from going to seed. Anyone have a trick that works? Second, any recommendations on a food/pet friendly insecticide for potted herbs? Thanks :-)

I use google maps too - one of the things I love about it is that is is accessible from my iPhone, so when Sweetie and I are on the road and are looking for some chow, we just pop open the salved link to the my foodie map and it shows us all the options that are close to where we are. The map is here if your interested.

Just the two of us here, so smoked loin back ribs, crispy cabbage with peppers in cider vinegar, and cornbread. And a couple IPA's.

Ok, looks like 180 for 6 hours is the consensus, thanks for the feedback! Mostly because I have just started cooking sous vide only a couple months ago, so am having fun experimenting. My wife asks me the same question about sous vide soft-boiled eggs :-)

Not exactly, the thighs were in the smoker at 140 F for 6 hours, and are not vacuum packed in the fridge. I want a mouth feel similar to pulled pork - so I need to cook them in the SV bath long enough to break down the collagen in the thighs. Because I want the collagen to break down, I want them at temp a bit longer than 90 min, right? My guess at this point would be to go 5-6 hours at 140?

I have loved doing chicken thighs in the smoker for many years. Because of a pot-luck coming up at work on Wednesday, I thought this would be a great time to take advantage of the advantages of Sous Vide in pre-cooking thighs, pulling them, then vacuum packing until they need to be warmed up for lunch on Wednesday. So the plan (already in action!) is to brine the thighs for a few hours, then toss on the BBQ at about 140 degrees for 5 to 6 hours. Cool, vacuum seal and toss in the fridge until Monday, at which time I will place in a water bath. So, my question is, anyone have experience with full size thighs and sous vide? What temp do you recommend and what is the target core temp of the thighs? Standard BBQ/smoker method would be to get them up to about 180, but I believe thats going to be way to hot for sous vide. I would appreciate any thoughts!

Reading the owners manual now, and I quote: "Henkelman BV wishes the customer lots of pleasure for an extended period from the purchase of this machine." Either that is dutch translated to english by an non-native english speaker, or this machine has some features I was previously unaware of.

I have a Henkelman Boxer 35 being delivered tomorrow. Let me know if there are any "experiments" you would like me to try out, and I would be happy to do so and report my findings! Going to be a fun couple weeks :-)

Exactly!

I love this thread

Very similar to my approach, I like it very much. In a smoker, 225 is about right for ribs, but in Sous Vide, I think even 180 is too high. I go 5-6 hours at 140 in the smoker with a dry rub, then sous vide at 140 for about 36 hours. Then sauce and caramelize on a hot grill or broiler. I shoot for the BBQ competition mouth feel which is NOT fall-off-the-bone - that is considered over done in comps. They are looking for a rib where the meat comes cleanly off the bone, and the bone dries quickly after the bite, but where the rest of the meat remains intact and adhering to the bone.

How about this needle on a Gourmet Whip?

Over the last 20 years I have spent a small fortune on brand name pans, but a few years ago my brother convinced me to try a few of the Lodge Pole cast iron skillets. Today, 90% of what I cook I do with a cast iron pan that cost about $25. I have a few thousand dollars of other brand name pans getting very bored in the drawer.

Yep, I do that. The fact that the bag held the initial vacuum would indicate that the original seal was intact, right? Bourbon is for contemplation and political conversation - not inspiration. Or did I get the quote wrong?

Had a chuck roast in the bath last night for a pot roast, and after 12 hours or so, the bag opened about and inch at the seal and I ended up with boiled beef. Had a small hole in the bag from my pork shoulder last week too, but I caught that early. Never have problems with smaller cuts, but the big ones seem to be having issues. I use a FoodSaver V3835, and I do make sure the edges of the bag are clean and dry. The roast held a good vacuum seal for maybe 30 min on the counter before I put it in the bath, so I know that it originally was in good shape. Any tips or tricks? Double seal? Double bag? Thanks Tom

Last weekend I did smoke a shoulder for 7 hours at 150, then Sous Vide for 36 at 150. Used a rub and injection for the smoke, along with a water pan with apple juice and water to maintain humidity. Smoke was cherry wood. Overall very happy with the results, great mouth feel, nice smokey flavor, and the bark remained essentially intact. However, I may pull it out of the water bath a bit quicker next time. I think a probe thermometer in the meat while in the bath where you could note the time that the center basically got to temp, then figure on the amount of time you would need to keep at temp to break down the collagen may be the right measure to watch. Chris - i was thinking about doing a shoulder with vindalho type spices. Pork holds up well to vinegar, and with dehydrated garlic and the other traditional Vindalho spices I think it could work out. I also want to know about the chilled vodka bath. I use chilled vodka too, but usually just for inspiration. :-) Tom

Have you looked at a forwarding service like www.goopping.com? They will forward packages anywhere in the world from US retailers - I think the 80 lb sealer would ship from their warehouse for about $250. On a side note, I was lucky enough to spend a couple weeks in Norway a few years ago - absolutely loved it and can't wait for a chance to go back :-) Tom

Totally awesome thread, and its really cool to see how folks think and feel about food. Personally, I think calling food "honest" is simply a marketing term like "home-made" etc. At first glance, it seems to mean something good, but on second thought it is completely undefined and is simply the attempt to give the impression of something good by proximity to a word we all universally like. Kind of like saying you served a hand-carved steak. Or Grandma's oatmeal cookies.

Agreed

Ver 1.1 just arrived. Now includes a grounded plug, AND now the max temp is 95 degrees C. Nice! Also, nice touch swapping the pillowed paper for the peanuts packaging material.