JoNorvelleWalker

In New Zealand the Easter Bunny has been declared an essential worker.

If my Cuisinart DLC-7 ever died I'm not sure what I would replace it with. Though unless it's susceptible to virus I don't think there is a risk. I don't use the Cuisinart nearly as much as I once did. I use it perhaps once every week or two. I found I could make oat flour by flocking groats in my Ankarsrum then pulsing a time or two in the Cuisinart. Same should work for farro. I don't have a blender, nor do I want one. My commercial Waring Spice Grinder does most of what I would want a blender for. With all respect I don't believe any blender will prepare a nut butter as smooth to the tongue (or to a grind gauge) as my Premier melanger: https://www.melangers.com/collections/table-top-refiners And even if you ask it nicely a blender will not homogenize.

@Kim Shook, this may help you feel better: https://www.apartfrommyart.com/apart-from-my-art/finest-duck-lasagna-recipe Bugialli is one of my culinary heroes. Just do it the way he does.

Although Vesta has now clarified the blast chillers do not come with trays, they sent me a tray by second day. Exceptional customer service in my opinion. The tray they provided is a nice 1/2 size stainless steel hotel pan, 2 inches deep. Rather like this: Vollrath 90252 Super Pan 3 S/S Half Size x 2" D Food Pan

I saw it was available earlier this afternoon. Now someone else is happy.

As of four days ago when I asked they said they had units in stock even though the website didn't show them.

Casting aside all preconceived notions, I made a batch of @Ruben Porto's vanilla: http://icecreamscience.com/vanilla-bean-ice-cream-recipe/ I followed the recipe to the gram, with a couple of exceptions. The spreadsheet calls for 70g egg yolks. Mine weighed 90g. And I added a pinch of salt, because I am a good American. And I skipped the vanilla bean, using only vanilla extract. In olden days Ruben's method did not call for powdered milk. This newer recipe does. Perhaps if Ruben is sitting home with time on his hands he might come back to our conversation. Now that I have the Paragon induction cooker it was easy to hold the 70C temperature to about plus or minus 2C. But I found I had to cook my mix for a full hour to achieve the weight reduction Ruben calls for. Then I homogenized the mix as usual. (Ruben does not homogenize his mix.). I divided the mix into two 450g portions and blast chilled at 1C overnight. So far so good. I spun the mix the next day. I got distracted and did not note the draw temperature but the ice cream chilled to -30C quickly. At -30C the ice cream was not scoopable. A couple minutes at room temperature and it was OK. The texture was to die for, I hope not literally. Unfortunately I found the ice cream too sweet and a little cloying, as from too much solids. Though I am being picky. Next time I'd go back to my more usual recipes, cutting the sugar and upping the butterfat. And I think I'd omit the powdered milk. It is good to be back in the ice cream game.

Simple stir-fried greens, bok choy in this case. Just for fun I added a goodly quantity of Sichuan pepper. Why not? I have a large bag, and this is the apocalypse. Whenever I've had Sichuan pepper in a restaurant dish it has been with red pepper as well. At my age and circumstance there are few novel experiences. This was one. I knew Sichuan pepper was related to citrus. But this dish had a bright citrusy note and the numbing was not unpleasant. Then just in case:

Turn it on as needed. Which, as you say, you do.

Or parasites in fish! You know you want one.

Actually the lowest temperature the Vesta allows me to set is -30C. I was a bit disappointed as the original spec was supposed to be -35C. Though I must say the Vesta takes food to -30C quickly. There is a thermocouple probe for inserting in the food. The front panel will display either the cabinet temperature or the probe temperature. Another observation: contrary to what I wrote above, the compressor does not seem all that loud. I now believe most of the sound is from the blast fan. So much more to learn!

Path of the hurricane.

I wish it were just milk.

I will never again...

Ice cream.

Important in a pandemic.

As I said above, in my experience plastic bags are too thick. For me stretch-tite works much better.

Thanks. I rub my potatoes with grapeseed oil and bake two hours at 430F in a bed of salt.

Yes, but the Vesta gets colder in Celsius.

I'm remembering my beautiful candele. Marc Vetri's extruded pasta recipe says to dry pasta in the refrigerator eight hours to five days. Not having a blast chiller at the time I dried the candele at room temperature. They all cracked and fell to pieces. Edit: I wouldn't dry egg pasta, I'd just freeze it.

Sometimes necessary is necessary. They also say to cover liquids. In other news, I was able to get the display into Celsius by doing a factory reset of the firmware.

Vesta also has a 30 day return/exchange* -- shipping costs at their expense. *say, incase you need a bigger model.

So have I but Vesta doesn't. Thinking of my Vollrath mixing bowls.

Don't forget the blast freezer.

No, unfortunately, it is a little small, at least for mine. Vesta has updated their website information on the Frysta. There are more specifications and they now say "Does NOT include trays". However @rotuts has a CSO. My tray is in the mail and I will report on it when it comes. The specifications say the BF100 accommodates two GN1/2...unlike the CSO. Note that while Vesta has products for home use and for professional use; their blast freezers are listed under professional products, not home products.