Ozcook

Well this got my attention. I always thought that the custard had to get to 175-180F. I would really like to know why you chose this temp and time.

Coconut oil (both refined and extra virgin) Ghee Butter Olive Oil (refined, standard and EVOO) Macadamia Oil

That was my thinking too. I want to kill, or greatly reduce, surface bacteria before freezing. The replies above are very interesting. My reading of the knife study is that either method will work and that the lower temp is better from an occupational safety viewpoint. As that is not an issue for me, my current conclusion is that a 10 second dunk in 85c water should provide reasonable protection. However I am certainly open to further information. Thanks.

I know that for absolute safety food should be cooked SV to achieve a particular internal temp within a certain time. However, I am generally not too concerned about that, especially for fish as pasteurised fish is way too cooked for my taste and I believe that the unexposed flesh on a thick fillet is unlikely to be dangerously pathogenic. My main concern is to kill or greatly reduce any pathogens on the surface. So I'm wondering if putting my fish fillets into a SV bag, dunking the bag into 170-180F water for a few seconds and then putting it into the SV bath to achieve an internal temp of say, 119F, will provide sufficient safety. Any thoughts?

I thaw, or cook from frozen, all the time. I've only ever had a problem once. I left some lamb rumps that were already close to use by date - and which were subsequently frozen because I was going overseas - in the SV for twice the normal cooking time. They tasted okay, but the texture was so spongy as to be off-putting. In all other cases I can't spot the difference. I put the frozen meat/fish/poultry into the SV at the temp I want the food cooked at. There can be a drop of 5F or so when first put into the SV, but that lasts about 5 minutes max. So if I wanted my food cooked at 140F that's what I would set the SV for, certainly not anything higher, much less 160.

I think your best choice, if you are living too far from a reliable fishmonger, is to go to your Coles/Woolworths/Other supermarket and buy the frozen Tassal 'Easy Bake' Atlantic Salmon. It comes in pouches intended to be placed straight into the oven. I've never done that, I just drop one frozen pouch or more straight into the sous-vide for about 50 minutes, depending on my starting temperature. If you want to be able to finish it off in a frypan, I think you will need to set the SV temp to 129F, otherwise it will be too fragile to handle. If you are just going to add sauce (or butter and lemon olive oil) you can of course cook at a lower temp. The result will be far superior to deep fried chux. If you don't have a sous-vide, you could cook it in your sink or a saucepan but you would have to monitor the temp with an instant read thermometer.

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Can anyone suggest a SV recipe for frozen baby octopus?

You could try this: http://www.amazon.com/Mastrad-A64501-Top-Chips-Maker/dp/B004Z762VA I use it for making vegetable chips.

I have had a Braun for years and it has taken plenty of punishment. I often have it on for several minutes at a time. Never showed any signs of overheating.

The Iwatani torch connects to a common variety of gas canister that can be found in just about any asian grocer and many supermarkets and hardware stores, at least in Australia.

I love my Fissler.

The temp is a personal preference. I don't like salmon at 113F. I prefer 120-122F. At that temp it will be fragile but it's doable to put it in a frypan to quickly sear either one side or both.

Why not just buy some sugar free soda (sweetened with something other than aspartame) and use that?

What about some BBQ flavoured jerky? Not the supermarket rubbish, I mean home-made.

Well that explains a lot. A bought two Remington crockpots a few years ago and returned the first one because even on low it would take the contents to a boil. The replacement did the same. I now have a better one but it eventually gets to a boil too. I believed the whole idea of a slow cooker was to keep the food under a boil. I thought I was just unlucky with slow cookers. Mystery solved!

Nestle Australia have just confirmed that their Baking Cocoa is indeed alkalized. Unfortunately this is not disclosed anywhere on the tin. I have just ordered some Ghirardelli, Natural Unsweetened Cocoa online. It is not alkalized (i.e. dutch processed).

I cooked some corned beef today -- my first attempt in a pressure cooker. I added 500ml water, onion, peppercorns, cloves, mace, bouquet garni and I forget what else. I added the trivet and put the c.beef on to the internal dish sitting on the trivet so that the beef would steam. Cooked for 1 hr at full pressure and left it to naturally release for an hour. Came out well but I think a bit overcooked. I will try 50 mins next time.

If I have understood your post correctly you are not happy with the accuracy of the AWS scale. Could you please confirm as I was also thinking of getting this model. Thanks.

AFAIK neither the Cadbury nor Nestle cocoa powders sold in Australian supermarkets are dutch processed. Do you know for sure that they are? No, I just assumed because Cadbury/Bourneville cocoa is more reddish than brown and is made in the UK. I just did a quick Google search which didn't reveal a conclusive answer, with some sites saying it is and others saying it isn't, so unless I spend longer searching I'm still not sure either way. Again it is an assumption, but I thought there was a noticeable difference between plain and dutched cocoa, so if I'm wrong about Cadbury being dutch process then I'm also wrong about that - as I haven't noticed any big differences when using cocoa that is clearly identified as dutch process! I also have the Droste, as well as the Cadbuyry Bourneville Cocoa and the Nestle Cocoa. The Droste (Dutch processed) is unmistakably darker with a different flavour to either of the others.

AFAIK neither the Cadbury nor Nestle cocoa powders sold in Australian supermarkets are dutch processed. Do you know for sure that they are?

Okay, that worked. Never seen the lightswitch b4. Formatting clearly working now. Thanks.

I use Firefox. I have found with the upgrade I can't use any of the formatting tools in a post. They are all greyed out.

Pork Belly Adobo I tried this recipe last night. Unfortunately I found it unbearably salty so I had to throw it out. I measured everything to the gram. If I make it again I will halve the soy and fish sauce and substitute water.

Have you tried Esquire in Eagle Street? www.esquire.net.au