Charcuterer

Pep. I have sealed sausages with a front seal machine with no problems but with a chamber vac there are some issues. If there is air trapped in your sausages they can explode. If you have trimmed the casing a little too close and seal them right after stuffing they tend to ooze out the ends. So what I do is; put the sausages on a parchment paper lined 1/2 sheet pan and put it in the freezer. Do not try to bag them, freeze them and then seal - the condensation from the cooling sausages will freeze and you will not get a good seal. I let them get firm but not fully frozen and seal them up. If they are fully frozen there are voids around the sausages and they will tend to float if cooking sous vide.

I second the gloves. They really do take the nerves out of using the Benriner.

I will absolutely agree with what Chris said. I had a small issue with the lid but it was replaced under warranty and now all is good.

I think he has you break the lower part of the drum stick in order to take the meat away easier. I just use the spine of the knife for that not the blade!

When I made the buffalo wings I loved the texture of the sauce but felt that it lacked the tart zing of great buffalo wings. So I wanted to recreate the thick rich sauce but with more zing. The original recipe says that they wanted to eliminate the water out of the sauce to prevent it from sogging out the crust, but I reasoned that a nicely emulsified sauce would accomplish the same thing. I started with my regular buffalo sauce recipe (hardly a recipe since it only has 2 ingredients), equal parts margarine and Franks hot sauce. To that's added a tsp of Dijon mustard and 2 egg yolks. I then cooked it in a double boiler stirring constantly until I had the consistency I wanted. The sauce turned out rich and creamy but with the tartness that I love in hot wings and it didn't sog out the crust.

I was cooking a recipe, braised pork with apples from the Bon Appetit magazine, a couple weeks ago that called for Calvados. Since I didn't have any Calvados I took some rum, it happened to be a sipping rum that I really don't care for, and threw in some apple chunks and vacuumed it. In about an hour it had picked up a ton of apple flavor and worked great in the recipe. The thing that surprised me is that the rum was much better that way. I decided that the next time I do it I'll add a small amount of cinnamon and try it slightly warm.

I just looked on the CI website to see how many pressure cooker recipes they have and was surprised to see 38 recipes listed. Then I saw that the slow cooker recipes were included in my search! They have 5 pressure cooker recipes. I did preorder the book because I generally like their recipes and love using the pressure cooker.

1. Perfect my BBQ rib recipe. 2. Cook one new recipe from a different cookbook every week. (I just counted and I have plenty of books to get through a whole year!) 3. Play with MC@H more. 4. Learn to make cheese.

@gfweb, I agree completely. That was a case of a really big company shutting down a much smaller one that simply couldn't afford to fight. I had more than a little guilt buying a product from the company that did such a thing but in my experience it was a better machine. @Dexterity15, no problem. Have you looked at the nomiku? I have no experience with it but it looks great.

I had one of the underground units when it went by its previous name "Sous Vide Systems" they were under legal pressure from Polyscience to take Sous Vide out of their name and became Underground. What I am going to say is based on that older unit and though they look identical they may have improved on the design and operation. Out of the box I found that there was a 2 degree C variation between the unit and my calibrated thermometer. The unit only used degrees Centigrade. After a few weeks of use the housing began corroding. The circulator is simply a propeller that agitates the water. I sent my unit back and was issued a refund. I bought the Sous Vide Professional and have been very happy.

Robert Jueneman, After reading your initial impressions of the Fissler pressure cooker and seeing that cooks illustrated gave it their top score could you let us know what you think after living with it for a little while? That has replaced the Kuhn Rikon on my dream list and I would love to know how it is performing.

This is a link to the folding funnel strainer, Mastrad Has anyone seen or used this item?

An ISI Thermo whip and box of charges, the new Ruhlman book "Salumi", a Jaccard tenderizer and a really cool collapsible funnel with a removable fine mesh strainer.

Is it possible that the liquid in the PC is still at a temperature higher than the boiling point of water when the pressure drops to normal and the pressure release opens so it explodes a little? I picture that the pressure drop is caused by the air trapped inside the pc contracting but there is still a lot of thermal mass inside the PC. I may be completely making that up but it makes sense to me.

I have had that happen with my Fagor. Don't know why though.

I'm having a Christmas party for my staff on Thursday, it will be 12 of us. My main is going to be a beautiful 5 rib standing rib roast. I will roast it very low and slow.. Other dishes include potatoes au gratin, candied sweet potatoes, Herriot vert in a shallot vinaigrette, roasted Brussels sprouts. My problem is this. I want to do a fish for my two non-beef eaters, but I am allergIc to fish and have never cooked it. (there is no problem handling it, just can't eat it.) Can any one give me suggestions on what to do? I was thinking about doing a sous vide hallibut or maybe salmon. Any help with what to cook and techniques would be greatly appreciated.

The preferred pressure cooker from Cooks Illustrated is the Fissler 8 1/2 Qt. Vitaquick, Model 600 700 08 079. The Kuhn Rikon Duramax 8 1/2 Qt that I've been wanting is in the Recommended with reservations box.

I have experienced abdominal distress from supermarket rotisserie chickens but I also have trouble with food from Wendy's fast food. I figure there is a preservative that I don't handle in the seasoning mix.

Mushing things up and adding a boat load of garlic can increase the palatability of many things. I am not a huge fan of Garbanzo beans (chickpeas) but when turned into Hummus (I call it Hummification) are one of my favorite things.

Chris, I will when I get home, When the seal bar is working does the pressure gauge show a falling pressure? Actually, I should ask if you are getting a good seal on the pouches?

A quick update on my VP112 with the bad lid. I got a package from ARY Vacmaster on Friday and it was a super easy job to swap out old for new. After running the machine a few times I realize that the problem has been there since almost new. As good as the unit was before it is better now. The bags are very tight. I looked at the old lid and can't find a crack or see how Plexiglas that thick could crack without a major strike. Then I noticed the mounting screws. The are covered with a (conjecture) silicone sealant that must have failed. I'm feeling better about the machine knowing that there was a simple materials failure and that It could be fixed.

I add the skin, I figure I am going to chill the stock anyway and the fat turns onto a hard cap that's easy to remove so why not? I love a stock with plenty of body so Shalmanese's post makes sense to me.

As a child I had many severe food allergies and was quite limited in my options. As I have aged those sensitivities have decreased and I am now only unable to eat three things, Fish, peanuts and Brazil nuts. After having my diet imposed on me for most of my childhood I will now eat most anything. Funny thing is that I have little use for sweets and the only two items I can't choke down are cantaloupe and raspberries.

Our go-to don't have the energy or mental stamina to cook dish is something we call "Pork steaks ala Jewel". (Jewel is my wife.) You take a pork steak (they can be hard to find outside of the deep south. But are simply bone in Boston butt cut into 1/2 inch steaks.) and put it on a sheet of aluminum foil. On top of the steak you shingle sliced (1/8 inch thick) red potatoes to cover then on the potatoes shingle onions sliced the same way (a v-slicer is handy for this). On top of the onion put 1 TBS butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Seal the packets tightly and put in a 375 oven for 1 hour on a cookie sheet. The pork is meltingly tender and the potatoes and onions pick some of the "porkiness" Its lovely and I can put two together in 10 minutes and then leave them to cook!

Don't know the source of the problem but with it's gentle treatment I would suspect a manufacturing defect or (I hate to say it) poor design. To test whether it is the lid or pump, you open the lid and put your hand over the chrome nut at the back of the unit covering all three holes (I used two hands to insure a good seal) and have someone start the machine. If the gauge moves up to the -70 or -75 level quickly and stays there the problem is in the chamber (most likely the lid) if it moves slowly and/or doesn't go all the way up it is the pump. (Don't worry, other than little dimples on your fingers it doesn't hurt to do.)