daveb

I like this: I've done Pepin's Ballentine and found it to be a lot of work, more than I want to do unless I have an audience that can appreciate it.

Big flakes. Most often now I use a coarse sea salt, (Allessi), though I still have some of the tradional Morton Coarse Kosher around. Got to use Kosher salt for those pork bellies you know

Among BBQ folks brine rations are typically 1 Gal water, 0.5 to 1.0 C of salt, .0.5 C of sugar. Other flavoring and seasoning to taste.. The brine is usually rinsed off the product and the product is air dried in the fridge before rubbing and cooking. I've used some different "modern" based brines prior to SV and have always found the final product salty. I've had much better results wearing my BBQ hat through the brine process and then go into a SV mode.

Was going in with "I hate them" but I see that's been taken.

Don't know how shipping will compare but "Chef Knife To Go" sells a knockoff of the Kunz spoon(s).

I'm a fan of Swiss Diamond for non-stick cookware. (That's all they make so they had better be good at it.) I use them for everything non-stick including pan searing SV salmon. No BPA issues. Only down side is their "standard" line is not induction compatible. Or you could season a de Buyer well and have a lifetime pan...

My version 1 worked fine for 6 months then the heating unit failed. The first call to Anova I got Shermie. Should you ever call Anova's customer support and Shermie answers - you should quickly hang up and try again OR throw the unit off a bridge OR throw yourself off a bridge. After a week of head pounding I started over and got someone for whom customer service is more than a noun. I sent my unit back and immediately received a new unit. .Another 6 months of use it's still going strong and I just received a kickstarter unit. The technology is not complex and while it is (for the most part) well executed there is more than a little infant mortality. That's what warranties are for.

Ferrari Red. In the house.

Thermoworks (strongly) suggests that if the Thermapen is "on" with an ice bath it will be accurate through the rest of the spectrum. I like to check the boiling point as well and make sure I'm moving the probe slowly through the water column while doing so. I've never had one be off at either end.

Looking back through emails it appears Thermoworks had these open box sales in last couple years: 3 in 2012, Jan, Mar July 2 in 2013, Jan, July 4 in 2014, Jan, Mar, Jul, Aug Most recent price was $74/unit Open box usually has pretty limited color selection - but I put the boots on mine so no matter. If color is important the mix/match going on now is good. Shipping is also discounted. Expect another open box in Jan???

Wassertom is having a 20% off sale today (Mon - sorry). They only list the Vacmaster VP215 model, my math has it at $688. http://www.wasserstrom.com/restaurant-supplies-equipment/Product_6002390 Looks like they have some other good prices coming up this week.

My experience is quite different than yours Syzygies. I've not had a boil-over problem with my VP112 except on one memorable occasion. I was making a soup in the VMix and let it run considerably longer than neccesary (having checked brain at the door) thinking that heating the liquid would be a good thing. It went into the sealer quite warm and we had an "event". Not the sort of mistake one makes twice. I don't chill to a particular temp nor do I monitor the liquid for boiling while the vacuum is being pulled. I just push start and when it's done, remove it. I have a strip sealer as well but only use it now for dry, bulk product thats going into the freezer. Anything wet goes into the chamber. Trying to hit the seal button at just the right time and cleaning out the strip sealer when it's not, is not my idea of easy.

Korin offers laser engraving on knife blades, would be worth a phone call / email to see if they could do the thermapens. Ask for Mari.

The splitting force required is not the sticking point here. (Sorry - couldn't help myself) Product sticking to the blade is. Stickiness is a function of the product and is largely out of our control.. Sticktion is a function of blade design. An inexpensive knife, the OP's VNox for example, will have a 50/50 bevel with a constant angle from bevel to spine. Good for moving through product. Bad for product sticking to blade (sticktion). Certainly an adequate knife for most use and Mr. Kimball's current blade de jour. A more complex design will have a primary bevel at the edge and a secondary bevel moving up the blade. This is the area of design trade-off. A narrow secondary bevel will allow the knife to move through the product with less resistance but have more sticktion. A wider bevel will hinder the knife moving through product but will hve less sticktion. An aysymetric primary bevel is even more complex and will imrove both characteristics. The design trade-off is done by the manufacturer and different customers will have different preferences. There is no single right answer. I did watch the above video. Am I the only one that could hear the blade chewing through the product? A combination of poor technique and inappropriate desgn resulted in something that "slice" was never meant to describe.

I think the intent is to have the customers do the validation and verification of the manual. Anova can maintain the current manual at the link without paying engineers/support staff to do the QA.. Seems increasingly prevelent with electronic "stuff".

Yes and no it's not well suited for the task. Usaba is used for in-hand work, (peeling, can be used for supremes) and some precise but light duty board work. The blade needs to kiss the board, not whack it. Typical slicing and chopping is not what the blade is made for. Peel, needle (or ken) cut, (I use mine for micro dice) are where it excells. I can think of no reason to use a single bevel knife (dscrach aside) for slicing tasks on vegs. Double bevels are stronger at the edge and are better suited.

Nice Kono. A friend loaned me a Kono 210 Gyuto recently and it very much exceeded my expectations. Hope you like yours as much. I loaned him a Heiiji and he just said meh. Go figure. Did you have any input on the custom handle or is that an just an upgrade from the standard? Regardless it looks good.

It's been mentioned. But does not appear to be relevent. It lacks the excitement of potatos in outer space with thousands of pounds of glass. And olive oil. And air pressure. Next up: Beets. Is it the purple that makes them sticky? Are they still sticky in the dark?

Damn. Is ths topic like a New Yorker cartoon where everybody gets it but me? Or have you y'all just turned it into a soup sandwich?

I'm not a smart fella, physics is in the distant past, don't know anything about air pressure except my tires like it and liquids and starches are too much like chemistry. I do know that with a thin, stamped knife like a Victoinox, the blade will be relatively straight from the spine down to the primary bevel or edge. There will be little to no bevel to "push away" food from the blade. Thus food will stick to the blade. Knife geeks even refer to this quality as "sticktion". It’s a function of the bevel, finish, and other voodoo. Some foods stick more than others and potatoes are probably the worst. Suspect it has to do with moisture content and density but…(don't forget the not smart part) Shel_B can mitigate food sticking by using draw (pull) cuts through the food rather than push cutting or rocking. This is slower and if it's unfamiliar it will increase the chance of dna ending up in the food. It may be worthwhile for obtaining precision cuts. Alternatively she can substitue cauliflower for potatoes. Kidding. Sticktion can be reduced by upping the game on the knife used. An entry level Japanese Chef or Gyuto will have an aysymetric edge and a secondary bevel, both will serve to push away food from the blade. A Suisin Western is an example of this type of knife and can be had for around $100.00. Gratins, dimples, holes, et al serve well to sell knives. http://korin.com/Susin-Inox-Gyutou?sc=27&category=280068

Another fan of Cambro, Super versatile. I have several 2,4,and 6 qt. round containers in the pantry at any given time. One of the 6 qt is dedicated to dough recipes (2 loaf usually) , the others can be used for smaller or additional loaves. I like the easy to read graduations, and as mentioned above they're great to put in fridge for slow rises. Being inexpensive, easy to clean, and (virtually) unbreakable doesn't hurt either.

I use a vacuum sealer several times a week. At my hobby/job doing catering prep I seal product for SV, usually in the company Sous Vide branded strip sealer - a CHEAP machine thats probably made by Food Saver. It works, though it huffs and puffs and occasionally fails. Everytime I use it I wonder if it will be the last time. But I've sealed hundreds of products over the last few years. To ensure product stays sealed in the bath I always double seal. Product must be dry, no marinades but seasoning rub is ok. This machine would be adequate for home freezing, though not my first choice. When I know I'll have a lot of sealing to do I bring in my home strip sealer, a Cabella's branded unit that (I think) is made by Weston. Faster, can do some liquid, more reliable seal. I bought this when I was doing primarily home freezing with a little bit of SV. Still use it with some freezing, trips to deer camp or when I want to take a sealer on the road. It's very adequate, a little north of $200 on sale. I would suggest this to anyone wanting a very good sealer, albeit with the limitations of a strip sealer. When I started to play with more SV, do infusions, etc. I bought a Vacmaster VP112. This is the mother for me and (I hope) my last stop in sealerville. It's the heaviest 50 lbs I've ever picked up and is not mobile. This morning's pork tenders: FS sealer: Beef tenders: (Knew I was doing a couple cases of them) At the end of the day the FS can be had for under a $100, adequate for freezing, can do SV though limited to dry herbs and butter for seasoning. A good strip sealer can do well with freezing, adequate for basic SV with minimal amounts of liquid added. The chamber can do both well but is pricey. The cheapest 112 I found was $600 and change. The cheapest pre-cut bags I've found are at vacuum sealers unlimited. They also have the sealer units.

dcarch - Not annoying at all. The part I found absurd was your assertion (perhaps not the right word) that cost or time were significant factors when flattening stones. WIthin the scope of the discussion the cost of the stone is a sunk cost. The cost of the stone going down the drain as a result of flattening is noise. The time required to flatten is noise. There was no hostility in my reply and I hope it didn't come across that way. The "system" vs freehand is a debate I try and avoid for the most part.. Like politics and religion, everyone has something to say and no one's mind ever gets changed. People having sharp knives is a good thing however they get there.

That looks like it's held a pie or two in its time. And it looks more like a small brazier than a pie pan. Do you know the brand? And about that "Bitter Sheep" beer (ale?) Where does one find that?

If others have not been able to explain that to your satisfaction I doubt that I can either. Will offer that "good" sharpeners flatten. Professional (with Japanese Water Stones) sharpeners flatten. I learned from people that flatten. My sharpening is better with stones that have been flattened. Some things are qualitative and thats good enough for me. On this forum I enjoy the contrarian postitions you take to convential wisdom and the arguments you make are usually food for thought. But. This is absurd. A $100 stone ($50 for the Bestor) to maintain knives over a several year period is noise. I can't provide quantative numbers but my experience is less than 10% of a stone is lost to flattening. (50/5) * 10% is a buck/yr with my calculator. If it's a signicant amount to you then you're probably better served with periodic use of a grinding service. And a time argument is even more absurd. It takes about the same amount of time to flatten a stone as it does to get it wet. No where am I suggesting that everyone should know how to sharpen. Not even cooking enthusiasts. I teach knife skills with some food groups I belong to and most attendees do not know what a steel is for. And that's ok. Nor am I suggesting that everyone should have knives that benefit from sharpening on a whet stone. Most don't. And that's ok. The OP did ask about sharpening on stones and I replied with my opinion to his(?) question. If your response addressed his question it eluded me.