johnelle

Just Google "lime shortage cartels." The WSJ has some really interesting in-depth pieces on what's going on in Mexico which is where the lime shortage in the US originates.

I have noticed this but given the long cooking times it really doesn't seem to have any impact other than violating my sense of symmetry. It seems to go away if you reorient the water stream. I am cooking in a square cambro with the unit mounted in the corner and if the outlet slot is oriented to shoot out along one of the two adjacent walls (i.e the flow is along the walls of the container) things seem to float in the middle. At least that's been my experience.

To follow-up on the smoking before sous vide (sub)thread. Sunday I prepared two 1-inch thick center cut pork chops by smoking them in the smoker at 225F for approximately 1.5 hours with just a sprinkle of pepper, onion powder, garlic salt. Sealed in bags with some Lingonberry jam that I had in the pantry. Cooked for 6-7 hours in Anova. I threw away the drippings from the bag because they had a very strong smoke smell. Quick pan sear and then sauced with some Lingonberry & Cognac heated in a saucepan. Impressions. Jam in the bag was probably a mistake. It didn't impart much flavor and was overwhelmed by the smoke flavor in the juices. In spite of the strong smell of smoke in the juices the meat actually only had a light smokey flavor. The meat was pretty thick so 1-1/2 hours gave it a just a touch of smoke flavor. Not sure I would do the fruit sauce / smoke combination again but it wasn't bad. The pork was super tender. One unexpected learning. Had a slight leak in the bag which I detected pretty early because you could see the cloudy water in the cambro and when you were close to the unit you could smell the smoke flavor wafting from the hole in the lid. This is one advantage of using a transparent tub--you can spot issues before too much damage is done. Not sure if the little extra water in the bag contributed to the strong smokey smell of the juices in the bag but they didn't seem to impact the taste of the meat much.

My smoker directions for cold smoking say to shut it down if temp inside reaches 90F. 250F is max on my smoker. 225F is the temp for smoking ribs, pulled pork, etc. Thats why I am thinking maybe 175F-200F for one hour for a turkey breast(?)

For folks that suggested pre-smoking I am curious if you have any parameters. I have a pretty nice smoker http://www.cookshack.com/store/Smokers_2/Smokette-Original-Model-SM009-2 which can cold smoke but I would think maybe 1 hour at 200F pre-smoke might be fine? I worry about having the heat too low in a smoker with poultry.

I occasionally make cheese (not very good at it yet). Since this requires holding ingredients at a fixed temp for long periods of time I naturally decided to try the Anova. Worked fairly well but probably only for small batches (1 gallon). The biggest issue is finding a pot that can accommodate the width of the circulator plus the pot that holds the curds. https://plus.google.com/photos/yourphotos?banner=pwa&pid=5969825382086309138&oid=114630146239718249012

We cooked Turkey Breast at 144F for approximately 10 hours (we were both at work). Not a big turkey fan but this was quite good. We're even using the leftovers. https://plus.google.com/photos/yourphotos?banner=pwa&pid=5969826567612998466&oid=114630146239718249012

One question I was unclear about when I bought my unit was what polycarbonate tub to buy. I went with a 12 quart cambro http://amzn.com/B0001MRUKA which it turns out is a perfect fit for the unit and plenty big enough for a two person household. The only issue was I managed to put an additional crack in the lid while I was cutting it. Their "snap lid" is very flexible but don't be fooled--it is easy to crack if you're not careful. I should have scored it with a utility knife first.

Two dumb newbie questions... Tried to switch to F from C but I can't seem to get to the screen and the silly diagram isn't helping. I thought I saw this in one of the "unboxing" videos but can't quite get there. Hints? Second question. I remember reading here that the docs came on USB but my unit came with hard copy. I assume they switched to paper but just want to make sure I don't loose something in the unboxing.