Burke

A 'little' more work than just slicing of a piece from a roll but worth it. Bacon, Sausage, Potatoes, ham, veggies all in one. http://cowgirlscountry.blogspot.com/2011/06/fried-potato-and-smoked-ham-fattie-on.html

You may want to look at MAC knives MTH-80. Japanese steel in a western design. Light and flexible yet feels like a western knife. I have a 8" Wustoff chef knife (which I quite liked when I got it) and a shun suntuko and this replaced both of them with out any regrets http://www.macknife.com/kitchen/products-by-series/professional-series/3-mth-80-professional-series-8q-chefs-knife-with-dimples.html. This comes very highly rated not only by myself, but Americas Test Kitchen and Cooking for Engineers

This is the recipe I use for Authentic Texas Chili http://www.homesicktexan.com/2009/02/more-precise-texas-chili-recipe.html

I have the Vollrath 59500P 120v "Mirage" Portable Countertop Induction Range and love it. I have had it for about two years now and it has never once shut down or misbehaved. One thing I love about it that has been brought up earlier in the thread is that the heat control has 100 steps and when I am simmering something like beans or spaghetti sauce for hours the difference in two or three steps usually in the 10-15 range is the difference between boiling and below simmer. You really do need a lot of steps especially at the low end. The only problem I have ever had is with my one quart sauce pan, It is just not quite big enough to be sensed by the coils and is often read as pot missing. All induction coils have a practical min and max pot diameter based on the coil size. I am very glad I opted to spend the extra dollars over the max burton that I was looking at.

You and Joe are correct, BIg Tray is wrong, The 35X is just the 31X with the bigger Busch pump instead of the DVP. The X to XP difference is in the computer and electronics. I liked the new programs in the XP but did not want the printer and except for the liquid quick stop (which I suspect is what the hot foods program actually is) I could not justify the extra cost. I am sure you will be happy with either of the MVS-35 models. Let everyone know what you find out about the 35XP without the printer, I think that would be just about the best CVS at the price point.

Thanks in large part to this forum I just took delivery of an MVS-35X yesterday. These things are built like a tank, and can draw down a serious vacuum (I can boil water at 32F) No regrets so far. Definitely get the liquid tray. I opted for the 35x over the 31x because of the heavier vacuum pump, seemed to be to be worth the extra dollars and since I was already over budget I could not afford any buyers regret or upgradist. I got mine from Big Tray and they have the mvs 35x for less than most sell the mvs 31.