btbyrd

I'm kind of kidding. I can't be the only person who has put a smoothie in their chamber vacuum to pull out excess air. And I KNOW that I'm not the only one who has put a fluid gel into a chamber vacuum to get the air out added by blending. But as far as the supposed health or nutritional benefits of vacuum blending vs ordinary blending go.... I'm going to file those claims under "Snake Oil." FWIW, if I was going to get a vacuum blender, the Tribest would be my choice. But that ain't never going to happen because this is a stupid product category.

Cooking food is unnatural. We should follow a raw, vegan diet. And if you don't blend your plants under vacuum, you'll get autism. Want to buy a crystal?

8 inches. Which is plenty for most things. If you need more, you can use the clip... but apart from my stock pots, I don't have a magnetic vessel in my kitchen that's taller than the Joule. The nice thing about the minimum water depth is that you don't have to drag out a huge container to cook something small. (And you wouldn't be using the magnet to cook anything big anyway.) I can "poach" eggs for myself in a 1 quart pot, or a couple steaks in a 4-quart pot. Previously to do a couple eggs for myself, I'd use the Polyscience with an 8-Quart Cambro -- and even that wasn't quite big enough. Being able to run Joule with very little water means that the bath is ready in no time, and you can pretty much just grab whatever container you want. For real. People always say "You can SV in anything really.... just use a pot!" but it's not really true. When you clamp a circulator to the side of a pot, it's going to eat that pot. It's going to be giant and look stupid. That doesn't happen with Joule. It's so small that you need to descale it, you run with some vinegar inside a Mason jar. A freaking jar! For me, the magnetic foot and the ability to use low water levels is less about cooking in just an inch (and a half) of water and more about just being able to use whatever vessel you want without having to think about it. I used to think that the CS gang was being weird when they'd use Joule in SS pots and dutch ovens and enameled cast iron containers all the time, rather than using big ol' polycarbonate containers. But it makes sense to me now, having had a Joule for almost a year. I don't find myself needing to break out big Cambros for SV cooking anymore (big things and batches aside) but most often just reach for a pot (or a small Cambro).

The only advantage that stainless would offer over the extruded polycarbonate housing is aesthetic. Stainless housings on other circulators make them easier to clean and maintain than the same circulator made out of plastic. And that also makes them more durable. But neither of those advantages would transfer over to an all-metal-housing Joule. It'd look pretty cool though.

The Joule's plastic housing, impeller, and machining is as nice (or nicer) and easier to clean than my $799 Polyscience circulator. The heater is specially engineered and has a radically different design from everything else on the market. And it's waterproof. And smaller. And lighter. And magnetic. And it disassembles oh so nicely. And you can use it with almost no water. And it doesn't eat up the container with its giant profile. And it's quiet. So long story short... no. I don't care that it has a synthetic housing. It's a quality synthetic housing. Metal wouldn't make it better, just different.

Wait until the holiday sales and order big. I'm going to get 2 or 3 more sets of the bent spoons this year. I've never ordered not on sale. It's the only way to make up for the crazy shipping. I'll add that since my original post, I've bought and used all the Kunz spoons, but much prefer the Ruhlmans.

When I started out with SV, there was only MC and Doug Baldwin's website. Chefsteps was just starting up, and soon became the best online resource for learning about cooking sous vide (and cooking in general, to be honest). Nowadays, you can buy a Joule that comes partnered with a smartphone app that has a ton of recipes and a "visual doneness" feature that's second-to-none. That's what I recommend to people who are new to SV -- or even who are looking for their second (or third) circulator. You can use the recipes as much or as little as you want. For my part, I almost never use the in-app recipes, but that's mostly because I already spent a few years cooking SV by following ChefSteps videos and recipes. But if you're new to SV, it's an excellent tool -- both as a circulator and as an excellent learning tool (in the app). I'm pretty sure you can DL the Joule app for free and use it without a Joule. Or just use their website, which is excellent. But Joule is my favorite circulator out of all the circulators, so if you haven't struck out yet -- it may be the one to get.

MC@H, fo' sho. That's "Modernist Cuisine At Home," if you're not hip to the lingo.

Anryu stainless clad super blue

I can't stress enough the importance of a really hard pre-sear on the meat and vegetables for pressure cooked applications. A boatload of the browning and "roasty" flavor comes at the very beginning of the process. In my experience, the "searing" function of the IP isn't really up to the task. I use a large, wide pan on the stove and work in batches. And on another note, be sure that if you add any wine to your PC braises, you reduce it first to concentrate the flavor and drive off the alcohol. Since there's no evaporation in the PC, whatever booze you put in, you'll get back later.

The things that you traditionally cook slow and low are things that are traditionally cooked to death. Often, that means tough, collagen-filled cuts of meat. The reason that these are cooked "low" is that, because they are braises the meat is in a moist cooking environment and using a hotter oven wouldn't bring any advantage. Your oven might be at 500F, but the meat in your braise isn't going to get above 212F if it's submerged in liquid. Pressure cookers allow you to cook in a moist cooking environment but at a higher temp than you could in an oven (or anywhere else at normal atmospheric pressure. Because the water gets so much hotter when you're pressure cooking, foods break down much more quickly than they do when using a slow cooker or doing an oven braise. Both cooking methods are (often) about breaking down collagen using heat and time; it's just that the time is longer and the heat lower when you're doing a traditional braise. Apart from the time and temp difference, the key difference between an oven-braise and a PC version is that there's no evaporation/reduction in the pressure cooker, and the top of the meat above the liquid doesn't get as crusty (if that's what you're into). That also goes for exposed veg, which won't get as brown. A way to improve the flavor of PC braises is to strain them after cooking and reduce the cooking liquid by half to simulate the effect of long evaporation. That's usually what I do. I brown the meat, add stock, pressure cook, strain, and then reduce the liquid. In the meantime, I roast vegetables in the oven. When everything's ready, I toss the meat together with the sauce and the vegetables and hold it at "keep warm" for a while to let the flavors come together.

The recent acquisitions. The sayas for the yanagi and the k-tip are perfect, but the petty's is a little loose. It was clearly built for a bigger blade, which makes sense because it didn't come with one and they said they'd basically either find or make one that would fit it. Considering drilling a new hole for the pin...

Even the "smaller" ones are large and heavy though. Plan out a permanent spot. I keep mine on a shelf; I know some others have theirs on carts with wheels. Still others keep it in the garage or basement. Here's my rack o' gear, with the VP112 taking center stage:

I have the Vacmaster VP-112. Most home users opt for the 112 or the 215. The 112 is lighter, has a shorter profile, and has a dry-piston pump that's maintenance free. The 215 has a pump that requires the occasional oil change, but it pulls a slightly stronger vacuum and it will last longer because moisture that gets sucked into the pump ends up in the oil, not in the pump itself. But it costs more, weighs more, is taller, and requires the occasional oil change. They can both do vacuum compression/pickling and all the other modernist tricks. One's just bigger, heavier, burlier, and requires the occasional maintenance (and is slightly more expensive). Both should last a home user for a decade or more.

This is awesome. I just ordered a nakiri made by this man (the following clip is also in the documentary): The film was put together with Knifewear, a Canadian importer of Japanese kitchen steel. But the Anryu knife I ordered was from Japanny's shop in Portland. Hammered tri-clad super blue. Oooooh la la....

Nope. But that k-tip gyuto (or whatever) is Damascus blue steel #2. The yanagi is unpatterned white steel #2 with the kurouchi finish on the front (and a "naked" back, which is traditional). I will say that unless you're going to slice a lot of fish (or can buy both) it might make more sense to invest in a sujihiki over a yanagiba (if you're thinking about getting a slicer). My ultimate plan is to get a suji made from VG10 (or other stainless alloy) to use as more of a "western-style slicer." I already have a good, cheap, fibrox-handled stainless 12" slicer/carver that can do the job for now. And it's probably the best thing for cooked crusty meat anyway.

I murdered some mirepoix last night.

It just looks like a French top to me... maybe two of them back to back. Or maybe two planchas.

From what I can gather, the main US importers of Japanese steel are: Epicurean Edge Korin Yoshihiro Chef Knives To Go Japanese Knife Imports There are probably more that I'm missing.

Thanks for the instructive comments, Dave. My remarks on the Kasumi vs Hongasumi were based on some information found on the Yoshihiro site, which didn't really seem to make sense. I can't find the "FAQ" section where they broke down the kasumi vs hongasumi deal, but the basic just of the idea can be found in this item description: "Being a hongasumi knife, this knife is a higher-quality kasumi knife..." They make similar remarks elsewhere on the site, but all I could find in my research was that it had to do with the finish on the metal. The whole issue of what is (and what isn't) a kiritsuke (or kiritsuki) is also weird out there online. The OG authentic, real-deal kiritsukes have a single bevel and combine the usuba and the yanagi (but aren't as good as either is alone at their respective tasks). Yoshihiro calls them "Yangi kiritsuke". And they're basically a specialty knife for pros. Then there's the dual-beveled "western" type kiritsukes -- or "wa kiritsuke" -- that combines a sujihiki and a nakiri. It tends to have a very flat belly, and is only suitable for push cutting and slicing, not rock chopping. (At least, for the most part). And then there are "K-tipped gyutos," which have a bit more curve in the belly, but are still mostly flatt-ish and not super-good for rock chopping, but you can do a bit of rocking. With all the variations, it can get misleading... and some of the vendors have even suggested coming up with a new name for the "western" styles altogether. Regardless of what people call them, the consensus is that they look badass. And that, admittedly, is a big part of the attraction (along with the weight of the blade -- western kiritsuke's tend to be thick at the top like a yanagi, so they've got a lot of heft compared to thinner nakiris for vegetable chopping purposes). Also, I never rock chop anything anyway, unless I'm murdering herbs or garlic. It should get here Tuesday. After that and a nakiri, I think I'm good for a long while.

You're probably right. I see that the Vacmaster UK site says that FS bags will work with all of the VM machines. I've never bother to try with mine, but have heard people say that the waffling is the reason that the Foodsaver bags aren't recommended. Never anyone authoritative though. At any rate, the manuals and spec sheets don't even mention non-chamber bags. Is the seal bar on the bottom popping up when the seal cycle starts? You can hear it knock against the bar in the lid if it's working properly.

Food Saver bags don't work with the VP112S, as far as I can tell. (I have the "non-s" VP-112 and it doesn't use them.) The VacmasterFresh site and the first few vendor descriptions I looked at only mention using chamber vacuum bags. The waffling/channels on the FS bags gets in the way of a proper seal. The machine will seal after the vacuum timer has completed its cycle; air only comes back into the chamber after the seal cycle has finished. If it sealed the bag after air had re-entered the chamber, there'd be air in the bag. Do you hear the air coming back into the chamber when the sealer's done?

Even though I'm not very good at sharpening -- I can't reliably produce the hair-shavingly sharp edges you see in videos -- I can still get my Globals sharper using stones than using any of the "pull through" devices I've used, like Global Minosharp handheld sharpeners or the "speed sharpener." I have a ceramic hone from MAC, but that's only really good for realigning the edge, not cutting a new one. If you really want to sharpen a knife, you've got to remove some metal, and the rod-sharpeners can't grind down the blade like you need to. In a home kitchen where you take reasonable care of your knives, it's not necessary to sharpen very often (though you should obviously hone your blades frequently). Which is nice, because it can be a bit of a chore depending on how many knives you need to sharpen and how refined you need the edge to be. If you're just touching up a single knife and getting it super sharp, it's not a big ordeal; if you want to refinish five or six knives, it's going to take a while. There are lots of online resources about how to best use stones. I got into it when ChefSteps first did their knife sharpening course back in the day. Korin and Japanese Knife Imports also have some great videos up. I can't comment on the knock-off EP or the Shapton stones since they have yet to arrive.

I'd really like a CSO, but I want a 33% larger "pro" version.

Yep! These are great and so cheap. I use the scraper all the time for random tasks; it's the perfect shape for a lot of tasks you might not even know you needed to do. I love the slim spatula for scraping out the blender pitcher. I use the iSi wide spatula more often in everyday cooking... it's flexible enough to scrape down the bottom of a pot or pan, but still rigid enough at its core that it won't flop around on you. That's true of all these iSi things, actually. Add a wide spatula while you're at it. The good news is that, as far as kitchen stuff goes, these things are pretty inexpensive. A perfect gift for yourself or others!