IEATRIO

Unfortunately, this does seem to be a real problem. Apparently the jar bearings are coated with a teflon type product to reduce friction and heat, and this teflon stuff flakes off. There are many videos and pictures on the internet about it -- google "vitamix black dust". To test for it, you can blend some water as you would a smoothie, and then dump the water into a white bottomed bowl. If you still have any teflon left on your bearings, you will see the black dust against the white bowl. If you don't, you've probably already ate it all. They say that they are in the process of fixing the jars, but its unclear if the improved ones have made it into the supply chain yet. Vitamix is apparently not doing anything to inform people about the problem, or to recall the jars that are out there, and this doesn't inspire great confidence in me. I will probably try the Vitamix once "black dust" problem is sorted though.

I'm in the process of returning a Blendtec (actually my second) under their 30 day trial policy. I found it to be a very disappointing piece of equipment, and it just didn't work for me. I don't make smoothies at all, and all of my blender uses are related to cooking, making spice pastes for curries, sauces, hummus, nut butters, pureeing vegetables and fruits, making breadcrumbs, and I'm on a Chefsteps cornbread kick so have been blending a lot of roasted corn lately. With the exception of peanut butter, with which it does a very admirable job (and requires no added oil to make a smooth paste), it has done a mediocre job with most everything else. Worse, is that the quality of the machine to me seemed badly lacking. The first machine they sent me was defective, made scary amounts of noise and jumped around the counter practically knocking the jar off its moorings, had an electrical smell, and left black soot on my white countertops. Blendtec insisted that it was just a bad jar, but after waiting 10 days for a replacement to be delivered, it was obvious that the machine itself was bad, and I had no machine for another 10 days while I waited for it to be replaced (their customer service is friendly but pretty poor, with no weekend or evening hours, and will only ship stuff UPS Ground). The second machine was better but still jumped around my counter in a very disconcerting way. More importantly, I didn't think that it did a very good job of blending things, leaving unblended bits in my sauces, and with thicker things that are not very liquid it was a constant battle to get stuff to not stick to the walls of the container so that they would be in contact with the blades. I also didn't like that the blades are set so that it is impossible to blend small amounts of anything -- getting an emulsion started with mayo will not work unless you have three or four yolks and plenty of lemon juice -- and in the end I found it easier to use my cheapo immersion blender. I also got the sense that the machine was underpowered -- there is no way that it is a 3 peak horsepower machine as advertised -- and would have to be babied to keep it in working order (they chop up iPads in their ads, but my machines couldn't handle a stale piece of bread without extreme groaning). To top it off, the no hassle return has been a bit of a hassle -- they promised me that the return period wouldn't start until I received my properly working replacement, but needed special authorization from a manager since 30 days had passed since receipt of the original defective machine. If you are a smoothie person, this could work, but I don't think that this machine is suitable for a cook. I am considering trying a Vitamix, but I see on other forums that there is a problem with those having black material from the bearings flake off into food. There are some reports of a redesigned jar being available that doesn't have this problem, but it sounds like a hassle to get it, and the whole thing makes me question the product and the company. It could be that I'll be better off with one of the Innomix type things, or maybe just stick to a cheap blender and immersion blender.

I have been on the fence regarding which new blender to purchase, being entirely unable to choose between the Vitamix, the Blendtec, and the Hamilton Beach units. Since I make a lot of nut butters, hummus, and curry pastes, the twister container seems to have broken the stalemate, and I'm leaning heavily towards Blendtec now. Has anybody made any Thai style curry pastes? Can it really do nut butters with no grit? I was under the impression that only a grinder like the Champion could really accomplish that. Any clear advantages to the Vitamix that I should be aware of before pulling the trigger?

In my opinion, there is one overarching piece of advice for anybody trying to decide between the various units: don't overanalyze it, and just buy one. I personally have the Anova, and I'm very happy with it, but I'm confident that I would have been happy with any of them. The marginal difference between having an immersion circulator and not having an immersion circulator, is vastly greater than the marginal difference between any two units. Just buy one, any one, and you will be very happy you did.

I suggest chopping mint and mixing it into mini ground lamb burgers to serve besides tzaziki or some such. I used to order such a dish frequently on the bar menu at the very good Prune restaurant in the East Village in New York, and now often make it myself.

I am not suggesting that all of the slavery stories are untrue -- I have no way of knowing -- but I am absolutely suggesting that a good many of these stories have been debunked and objectively proven to be untrue, after having been uncritically accepted as fact by the Western press for many years. The Somaly Mam case -- and others like it -- is relevant, because it demonstrates both the uncritical gullibility of the Western Press, as well as the capacity of "anti-trafficking" NGOs to successfully fabricate stories of trafficking which did not exist, as well as their willingness to exploit the local population to ensure continued funding. In my opinion, there is sufficient reason to view the report with a skeptical eye in light of these precedents, and not to accept the report as fact without further inquiry. Western -- particularly English -- stereotypes of Asians as godless slavers have existed since before Kipling, and used as a convenient excuse by Europeans to colonize and exploit Asia in an attempt to civilize it and its people. Orwell's stories about his time in Colonial Burma provide an excellent and first hand record of this. The fact that these trafficking stories -- including the ones we now know are fake -- are so readily believed by Westerners on so little evidence, is in my mind a function of these stereotypes. Incidentally, I think the scientifically debunked Western fear mongering over Monosodium Glutamate is grounded in the same sorts of prejudices.

And this is equally true of the PR people working for the Non Governmental Organizations which are promoting this story. I have no idea about the true facts, but I am surprised at the lack of skepticism of this story, as the "Anti-Trafficking" groups have earned a very poor reputation for veracity, and have been caught making up stories such as this out of whole cloth. Very recently, it was conceded that the founder of the Somaly Mam anti-trafficking group in Cambodia -- whom had been highly lauded in Europe and North America, and the recipient of millions of dollars in government and private grants -- invented her own story about having been trafficked as a child, and coached and encouraged numerous "victims" to testify to their own false trafficking stories. While this proves nothing about the practices of the shrimp meal producers, it does prove that the NGO's themselves are quite capable of their own exploitation. Stories like these trade on stereotypes of Asians by Westerners which have existed for ages. I am not a consumer of frozen shrimp, but I think that more investigation is in order before jumping to conclusions.

The Whynter appears identical to the Lello Gelato -- which I have -- but according to Amazon the Lello weighs significantly more, indicating that the inside might be different. My Lello is far from my favorite piece of equipment, but I consider it minimally acceptable if you pre-cool it, and process no more than .5-.75 liters at a time. At best, I can get a batch time of about 12 minutes, but that time can triple if the full capacity is used. I would like to upgrade some day, but I can't imagine ever going back to a machine without its own refrigeration. And speaking of ATK reviews . . . I don't put as much faith in those as I used to, as I have found too many instances where my own experiences disagree with their conclusions.

I don't think it will be a magic bullet either, but I was hoping that by lowering the "bowl" of the wok, it might engage the flame closer to the bottom. Was hoping that somebody might have some insight, before buying one, to see if there is any marginal difference at all.

I just stand the Anova up, in a deep slide-out pot drawer. Takes up very little space this way. I nest the Cambros and store them in a cabinet. These double as food prep/storage containers -- so I need to store those with or without the Anova.

I agree that the Anova is vastly more useful, and for the money it is a no-brainer. It is vastly more useful, cheaper, and easier to store. Anybody on the fence should not hesitate.

I am one of the many disciples of Fuchsia Dunlop, and now devoting a great deal of my cooking to Chinese, and particularly Sichuan food. Like most home chefs, I am frustrated by the use of my western -- in my case Viking -- stove, and the problem of getting enough heat into my food quickly enough to sear it without steaming. I have gotten some improvement by switching to a cast iron wok, which seems to get a good bit hotter than my carbon steel wok, but its still not quite what I would like. I read the post about the WokMon below, and will consider that, but it looks a bit scary to be using in a home kitchen, and I'll need a stool to reach up and cook over it. I see that Viking makes a special grate with a wok cutout that theoretically will allow the base of the wok to get into closer contact with the flames. I'm wondering if anybody has used this, and can comment on its effectiveness. Thanks. http://www.allvikingparts.com/CWGT_Wok_Grate_for_Custom_Series_p/cwgt.htm