weedy

I'm not dissing the Carlisle (which I've not tried), just saying the criticism of the Cambro is, in my view, way overstated

Fwiw I use the 12 qt cambro regularly and find it no trouble. The anova unit clamps in just fine and looks vertical in the water (or damned near enough) and nothing 'rubs'.

It takes a while, but it's well worth it to watch this all the way through: the Voltaggio brothers do two different dishes, and Michael's is a sous vide wagyu tongue with pastrami spices

@Hobbychef also with an Anova? that might suggest it is indeed some sort of packing material... but have you tried removing the protective sleeve on the lower part of the unit and thoroughly rinsing the heater coil and impeller (i.e., all the immersed parts)? my unit certainly doesn't "flake"

I'd find out what he likes to EAT... make that for him. Blow him away. then offer to show him how to do it. while reiterating "It's easy"! I think anyone can learn to: fry and scramble eggs. make a simple vinaigrette. pan sear a piece of tuna. grill a piece of meat. make a simple tomato sauce. boil pasta. after that, it's down to what they WANT to do.

The thing I like about Rick Bayless' food, and to a lesser extent his books, is that it's NOT about tex-mex or 'rice and beans' Dinner at Topolobampo is anything but. I wish I could read the Olivera book, but until it's translated, I think Bayless is the best available. and plenty of good recipes on his website, without buying a book, for starters.

in my opinion, one HAS to buy the Kewpie mayo and the Okonomiyaki sauce, and the right japanese sweet potato flour, to get close to the real thing. Also Tenkasu (tempura bits) and bonito flakes. I can do a reasonable impersonation... but it's NEVER like it is in Japan (sigh) http://okonomiyakiworld.com/buy-okonomiyaki-online.html

the concern with garlic is botulism my understanding, and I'm sure I'll be corrected!, is that it's a problem with sealing and storing at room temp I would imagine sealing for sous vide isn't I know I've certainly seen sous vide recipes with garlic in the bag

from Dave Arnold's cookingissues.com: What Is Torch Taste? The theory about torch taste has always been: Sometimes a blowtorch doesn’t combust all the fuel it’s blowing out, so traces of propane wind up on the food and impart a nasty flavor. Propane and butane and natural gas are all impregnated with sulfury odorants such as ethyl mercaptan, as a safety measure so you can smell a gas leak. Those odorants are another possible culprit for the taste. Modernist Cuisine makes the claim that butane and propane torches are more liable to cause torch taste, “because the low-power flame can’t burn off the gas fast enough,” and recommends using MAPP gas or even oxyacetylene. I picked up a cylinder of MAPP gas on this advice when the giant book first came out, and at first I thought I was noticing an improvement, but then my dishes, especially ones with low surface moisture to start with, like fatty meats or plain toast, began tasting torchy again. (MAPP is a trade name for a now-discontinued fuel gas that was basically a mixture of methylacetylene and propadiene, which burned at 2926°C in air. The MAPP-compatible torch you bought can now take cylinders of a product called MAP/Pro, which according to the internet is largely propylene and burns at 2054°C, compared to propane’s retro 1980°C. According to the cylinder’s label though MAP/Pro offers “3x faster heat transfer than propane.” Coincidentally, the price of a canister of MAP/Pro is just about 3x that of a canister of propane.) Arielle Johnson, friend of this blog, has a gas chromatograph. (She’d be our friend regardless, I’m sure.) She ran some preliminary comparisons of beef cooked a) with a torch and attachment b) with a torch with no attachment and c) in a pan. Take a look. Clockwise from top: cooked in a pan, cooked with a torch, cooked with the torch attachment. The results want a post of their own, but what’s on the bare-torch-cooked meat is compounds — like phenol and methoxyphenol oxime — that may be more the result of too-high heat than anything coming out of the fuel canister. Also interestingly, the meat cooked with the Improved Torch had big spikes in acetoin and hexenal, both of which are associated with pleasant, desirable flavors. ">

to me that remains the bottom line. I'm not looking to ADD a pointless (techy) step. the few things I will freeze go right into the bath to cook when I'm ready.

I disagree. and apparently so does McGee anything I WOULD freeze can be brought to temp Sous Vide and finished on another heat method if necessary... plus it's quick enough that there is no REASON to defrost before ready to cook.

"At the U.S.D.A. labs in Beltsville, Md., Janet S. Eastridge and Brian C. Bowker test-thawed more than 200 one-inch-thick beef strip loin steaks in three different groups: some in a refrigerator at 37 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit, some in a constantly circulating water bath at 68 degrees, and some in a water bath at 102 degrees. Air-thawing in the refrigerator took 18 to 20 hours, while the room-temperature water bath thawed the steaks in about 20 minutes, and the hot-summer-day bath in 11 minutes. These water-bath times are so short that any bacterial growth would remain within safe limits."

I like D'Artagnan's Hickory smoked

Just back from a week in Playa Del Carmen and the culinary standout by far was Yaxche can't say enough great things about the place

I'm curious about it's ability to "seal liquids" from the videos it kind of LOOKS like, yes, it seals a bag with liquid in it, but not with much of a vacuum (i.e. there seems to be a good amount of air in the bag)

in a long cook, aren't you pasteurizing the surface anyway?

FWIW (not much probably) my Anova certainly didn't 'flake' right out of the box I still keep it back in its original box (with the foam insert) after drying it, and still no "flakes" I'd try a different brand of bags, myself.

I know someone who makes big batches of "New England" style clam chowder and freezes it in large bags. It actually defrosts surprisingly well, so that might be one way to go. depending on how busy the stall ends up, I could envision having one pot warm and defrosted for immediate service, and a bag or two still sealed in an immersion circulator being kept warm.

Poha I'm experimenting with crusting with it

I predict... within a year

with respect, a lot of what I'm reading could have been essentially said abou sous vide generally or immersion circulators. they can't be cheaper because they'll be unreliable and made from cheap parts who needs them? go to a restaurant... or make a DIY heater and make do. not enough people will want them at home etc. I think the last one is the tipping point/crucial point. a LOT of people will be buying $200 immersion circulators and they'll soon find the limitations of zip-top bags and clamp vacuum sealers. they, like me, will be wanting chamber sealers. and that demand may drive the price down, I'm expecting and hoping. I suspect it's just a matter of how fast.

only a few years ago immersion circulators were $1500 the Sous Vide Supreme (non-circulating ) was a 'breakthrough' at $400+ now we have basically pro quality real immersion circulators available for $200 I look at the Vacmaster VP112 as kind of the SVS entry point, but it's still $600-700 As sous vide cooking makes its way into more and more home kitchens, I wonder if it isn't inevitable that the next wave needs to be a $250 chamber vacuum sealer. when?

I still don't know why the Polyscience lower priced units were excluded from the comparison. but on the whole, the Anova seems to be the winner. especially when one factours in both the lawsuit and the current unavailability of the Sansaire. What did NOT emerge in the review was a compelling reason to wait to buy it.

I don't think thats such a bad ratio. I mean, I have a paella pan, but I make paella perhaps 2 or 3 times a year at most. Part of it for me is to have options, so we can have variety... I don't make the same things every day or even every month. The Smoking Gun is another option, is all. If it only gets used 3-5 times a year that's more than enough to justify having it. For me. a quick hit of smoke on shrimp or scallops works really well. Same thing with some soups (such as a pea soup that can be hidden under a smoke lid so that the smoke becomes part of the diner's experience just before eating it) Also one smokey element in a salad can be nice (e.g. smoked chiles or smoked strawberries) without taking over the whole thing. the nice thing about the SG is that it's quick. You can think about adding a smoke element at the last minute; something you cannot really do with 'conventional' smokers.

right, my unit came with ONLY the paper, printed, booklet