Deryn

The same as stckciv - the IP-DUO 60. I gather the footprint (takes up about a square foot I would say) is about the same as the IP-DUO 50 but a bit taller. I see I said 6 liter size - but it is 6 quarts. Sorry. And I probably didn't completely answer your questions - I haven't used the chili/bean, multigrain or porridge settings yet. And I haven't yet used it as a slow cooker but steam worked for the cheesecake. I believe all except the rice setting (which is at low pressure) can be adjusted manually if you need/want more or less time for something. I did a frozen chicken for the dog for instance - didn't get it out in time to thaw it except enough to take it out of its wrapper - so I adjusted the time (meat/stew setting) to double.

Anna - I just bought mine recently and I love it - even though I am in a solo situation as well. To start with it is really totally silent (unless it vents for a few seconds before it settles down to business which it doesn't always do) and fast! It counts down the time on a clear digital readout and then beeps several times when the programmed time is done before it automatically goes to a keep warm cycle that counts up the time, and slowly releases the steam as well - or you can easily release it yourself if you want a quick cool down. I expected it to take a lot longer to reach pressure but it really is quick, even when something calls for high pressure (and it also does a 'lower' pressure for some things like rice). I am using it almost daily it seems. So far I have made several (east Indian and Thai) curries, both plain rice and various rice concoctions, pulled pork, pot roast, stock, cooked whole chickens for the dog, and I even tried a cheesecake the other night. Everything came out beautifully. Yes, it can make large quantities (6 liter size) but you can make less if you want or freeze the extras (or do as I am known to do, eat the same thing for a few days). It also sautés vegetables and meat well so you don't have to pull out another pot for that activity. It is also VERY easy to clean and I love that the insert pot is stainless, not coated with non-stick but nothing has stuck so far, has measurement markings on the inside and I used it in a pinch the other day for a mixing bowl when I was too lazy to wash my other ones. I also have 2 regular pressure cookers and I like them but I find I don't bother to pull them out much and they also require the stove. Plug this in and away you go. 10, 20, 30 minutes later - dinner - without ever even having to watch over it. It is my new favorite thing! And it is a Canadian product! Arrived quickly, no shipping charge, well packed. Very short learning curve (although as I mentioned on Shelby's thread - I went across the room just in case it malfunctioned the first time I used it - I don't do that any more). Worth every penny I would say. I can't yet, of course, vouch for whether it will last but it seems very well built and safe. ps Apparently there are many built in safeguards - and one of those is that it will shut down if it can't come to pressure for some reason - like the vent isn't clear or if something burns to the bottom. I haven't had that happen (the readout will say OVRHT - overheating in the latter case I think) but I like that it is there. You don't get that protection with a regular pressure cooker.

My mother used a pressure cooker all my childhood and it didn't blow up but I was sure it would so it took me about 20 years after I left home to buy one myself. I got used to that one and while I too am always respectful, I got very good at using it. And then I lost it (well, someone absconded with it) and I went another 20 years before I got another - and this time it was a giant pressure canner. I wish my husband were here to tell the tale because I know he would tell you it was very amusing. It took me well over a month (and many wasted bits of produce that I was going to 'can' but never did) of me staring at that thing on the stove, night after night, before I got up the gumption to actually put jars into it, lock the lid and turn on the heat. At that point I went around the corner - just in case it might blow up - and when the time came to put on the weight, I made him do it. I also made him turn it off and when it had cooled sufficiently, take the lid off. I felt like a coward that first time, believe me. The second run I was a little less of a 'fraidy cat .. and within a week or so, I was pretty good at doing the whole thing myself. I just bought an Instant Pot (electric pressure cooker) though - and the first time I ran it, without even really thinking about it, I made sure I was well across the room till I was sure it wasn't about to explode. It was almost funny since I am now not so afraid of my huge mechanical pressure canner any more. But, old habits die hard. I feel your fears (err respect) - and they are a good thing so you will always be cautious - but really, once you use a canner a few times, you would be fine.

Shelby - You should put a pressure canner (I highly recommend All-American) on your Xmas list! It just seems to fit your lifestyle. I always thought you would be canning venison for stew or venison stew and things along that vein.

Yay, Shelby! Thank you for doing this. I tried to plant okra a few years ago in NC but never got to see the flowers since the plants just withered and died quickly - probably due to the black walnut tree poisons coursing through the garden veins. So thank you for that pic of the flowers - no wonder you like them.

I can think of several reasons that might be happening but here are two. I hope they are not too 'political' but I am pretty sure the restaurant industry is not the only one being affected. 1) Few people are satisfied with starting at the bottom any more. 'Entitlement' generation issue. 2) Often they can make more by not working than by working.

Isn't 'modernist cuisine' wonderful? Nothing is ever a failure!

If you would buy this asparagus water at Whole Foods, I have a timeshare in Florida for you. http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/whole-foods-pulls-6-dollar-asparagus-water-after-internet-backlash-1.3180697

Parchment paper may be called a different name where you live. Perhaps 'baking paper'? Up here it is sold on rolls or pre-cut packages sized to fit on cookie sheets. I either tear off some from a roll or cut one of the pre-cut ones in half and that fits quite well on our trays. Waxed paper might work too since so little heat is generated by the FD process.

That flattening out thing definitely sounds like a heat issue, Tony. And heat rises so perhaps the top two trays are getting more heat overall and it is just enough, early enough in the process, that they are dehydrating slightly before they freeze-dry. On the other hand, could there be anything wrong with the heating elements/wires under the trays? Could they be 'overheating' those two trays maybe? Or could the controller not be shutting off the heat when it should? I have no idea what the issue is obviously (I haven't experienced that problem) but I thought I would throw out a few questions for you to think about - although you are probably correct and it really just is about ambient summer heat in an un-airconditioned space.

Your meal (despite your comments) looks absolutely wonderful, Liuzhou. I am sure it did the trick to welcome your friend home again!

Boy, do I get what you are saying, Anna. Here it is a supplier delivery issue. Apparently they load up a truck and go to all the rural communities and we are last on the line and get whatever is left, despite any order that our tiny store might have put in. Sometimes that has been as little as 2 loaves of bread for a community of approximately 400 people (and about 1000 in the area). And in winter, sometimes the truck doesn't arrive at all. 2 months ago, I asked for thyme - fresh - (which apparently no one around here has ever heard of and never uses) and it finally arrived yesterday. Most of what they have stocked now will probably go bad - I bought 2 packages (even though I now have my own thyme growing outside) because I felt badly - they tried. One eats what the store has on any given day unless one wants to drive 150 miles round trip to a slightly larger store. One has to learn to roll with the punches and just use what you have around you already. And you and Kerry do a wonderful job of that - it is fun to watch what you come up with, and also to just eat what you have, with gusto!

Bravo! So the new pump works fine and is much quieter, the rhubarb dried ok (even if it took a bit longer - wonder if things not cycling had anything to do with that - or just that you set it up as a very short cycle anyway?), and you won't have any water in the oil because there is no oil - and no oil to change either? If that is the case, I am going to see about getting mine retrofitted too in the foreseeable future. Thanks, Kerry ... for doing this experiment for us all.

I don't have a Food Basics in this area either but I will look everywhere I go, Darienne, and if I find some, I will send it on. Edited to add: I found the Gigi site online and they are in Brampton. http://gigi.swsehosting.com/about This page has their phone number and address, and on the (Products) page that shows the Gigi Bomba Calabrese bottle there is a way to download an order form - but I would call them and ask if they can ship you some or tell you where they distribute in the Peterborough area.

Now that is what I call smart thinking and a big moneysaver for a party! You can feed three times the number of people with that trick, mgaretz.

You could also just put an O2 absorber in the jar and skip the vacuum part. That is best if you are using mylar too. Canon - How did the green beans come out?

I can certainly relate to the pump/oil spraying/changing angst (especially without a handyman around the house any more). I look forward to hearing how the experiment goes, Kerry. Crossing my fingers it is a great success! Thanks to your husband for helping you get it hooked up.

What Kerry said. Canon - Sorry I didn't manage to get back to you in a timely manner. Hope it all worked out ok. With only 44 minutes left to go, given that what you were drying was a load of green beans, I think I might have shut the machine down for a minute and checked to see if they were dry at that point, as they well might have been. I don't think the machine is that precise that it resets itself based on dryness except at the end of a cycle - it just finishes the cycle and then checks to see if it should do another 7 hours. Someone please correct me if I am wrong about that though. But, that said, Kerry's summary of what she does is what many of us do if there is a chance we won't be around or if we know we may be sleeping when, per the timer, we expect the load will be finished. You can't get drier than dry so no harm is done as far as I am aware (other than a bit more electricity being consumed) if you run it for days after everything is dry as a bone. But, definitely warm it up a bit (if the beeper is telling you it finished by itself) before you unload, to prevent condensation.

Welcome to eGullet, Herdy! And thank you so much for your very interesting post about your first runs with your HR FD. I see you had some ups and downs. There is definitely a learning curve and these machines have a 'personality' I swear, but, I hope you have generally had fun with it.

If you are still worried about the pump noise, send me that audio file and I will have a listen to it for you. You have my email address in that PM I sent you. Sounds as though the machine is working though and that there aren't any leaks after all.

It just occurred to me that I am not sure how many posts you need to have before you can post freely as many times as you want in a day. If you cannot respond here, try PM'ing me. If you don't post again shortly I will try to contact you by PM and give you my email address if necessary. (edited to add: sent you a PM)

Doh - you are right. Getting my 2nd cup of coffee now. I should know better about that time - I worked in air traffic ops for many years. My bad. 1) Please confirm for me. The pump was NOT on when you went to bed then (unless you didn't go to bed until the wee hours of the morning), right? 2) The numbers on the readout panel should be going back and forth from at or below 500 mtorr to at or above 600 mtorr (and then back down again). If it is stuck above 600 mtorr and never cycles back down, there is probably some kind of small leak somewhere. That means it is not pulling a good vacuum. Check all your pump hose attachments (including the drain closing under the oil level) and get them as tight as you can. Note: It does take a few minutes to cycle - this is not an 'instant' up/down thing. And when the pump first starts up and is noisy till it settles down into a proper hum, it can take a few minutes to get the whole cycle smoothed out. I know how confusing and scary that first run can be. I went through it all too - and had someone calling me to reassure me late at night when I panicked. Hang in there. Check those closures first. Once you get those right, from now on, probably the only things you will have to check if there seems to be a leak will be: the door (which you say is good but it is usually the issue), the drain valve and that little nut under the oil display window (if you have opened it to drain out any oil). My first run, that oil nut was the culprit.

Great investigative work, Andi! So Shel, does the bowl have the SS designation on the bottom?

I agree with Lisa - make a gastrique/sauce. I would use some kind of vinegar (in my world that would probably be a balsamic, perhaps a fig one) rather than wine though. The duck sounds delightful and I am sure it would go beautifully with a piquant blueberry sauce.

Hi Canon - Is it a humid day/time of year where you live? The air around the outside of your dryer is warmer than it is inside (particularly during the initial freeze cycle) so moisture will condense out of the air on the gasket. That causes the drips. I put a piece of paper towel under my door edge because that often happens to me too as I live on the coast. It isn't a seal problem and won't affect your drying run. I am not a pump expert but the noise increasing rather than settling down (or after it has settled down) would bother me more than condensation on the gasket. Is the system cycling properly between 500 and 600 mtorr (or going below and above those two numbers)? Is the oil at all milky (on your first run it should not be but who knows)? Is the drain valve closed? Is there any oil (probably a very fine spray) coming from the pump exhaust valve? (If the latter, you may have a minor air leak - check your pump connections carefully and tighten what you can). You say you started the system at 10:30 pm. That was just on the freeze cycle - right? So the pump wasn't even working then - and wouldn't be for about 8 or 9 hours (since it doesn't come on till the freeze cycle is done) which brings us to this morning, correct? And when you got up the pump was actually running I would guess? Maybe I am not quite understanding exactly where you are in the cycle. I hope you can clarify - there may be no problem at all.