dscheidt

I don't think the classic DLC series Cuisnarts are ugly, either.

Thermapen has the blue and yellow Mk 4 thermapens on sale for $79.20, instead of $99.

For reasons I fail to understand, I am required to keep my vacuum sealer in the basement, instead of somewhere sensible, like the living room. (There really isn't a place for it the kitchen.) I still use it a lot. I keep some bags in the pantry, and put stuff in the bags, and then carry them downstairts (on a tray, if it's more than a couple bags). It's not really that hard, and doesn't take too long. A lot of the stuff I'm sealing is going into the basement freezer, so i'd be making a trip anyways. When I go upstairs, I carry replacement bags. Were i designing a kitchen from scratch, I would definitely find a way to get it in, though.

I've had bad luck with used toasters. Even if they work when I get them, they fail soon after. Generally, there's a reason people get rid of them. So, I bought the used Breville from amazon. There's no damage to the toaster. It came in a different box, and had no documentation (is there an instruction manual? Do I need it?). My experience with Amazon's used stuff is that the people who grade it have no idea what anything is, so they judge the condition of the box. And when it turns out to be crap, it's easy enought to return. I've only toasted a supermarket bagel, which it did a good job with. The toaster being replaced was burning one side of the bagel, while the other was still cold. Only complaint is that the buttons are on the side, which means it didn't fit in the counter space the other one did. I had to swap the blender and the toaster on the counter, and turn the toaster 90 degrees. No big deal. I'll see how it does with other stuff.

I need a toaster. Not a toaster oven. Not a steam oven. Just something to, you know, make toast, and toast a bagel occasionally. Two slots. Not a million bucks, and not huge. What's good in current production?

the ez-duz-it people started selling the opener because current production (and for the last decade or so) swing-away is made in China. Out of cheese. I bought one, it failed to open the first can I tried it on. It wasn't sharp enough to puncture the can, it just deformed it. The second time I tried to use it, ti broke. I have an ez-duz-it. It's so-so. The blade isn't as sharp as the old swing-aways were. I suspect they have quality control issues with the cutters.

Some of the small sealers have a port to attach a hose, so you can suck the air out of something. The usual use is for evacuating canning jars, which let you store stuff in reusable containers. Most of my extra spices are in such jars, they keep quite well.

Speaking of Rooster brand stuff, this ran today: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/01/16/681944292/in-home-of-original-sriracha-sauce-thais-say-rooster-brand-is-nothing-to-crow-ab tl:dr Thais who sample it don't think it's very good. Too much heat, not balanced.

It seemed pretty clear to me, as a Chicagoan, that it was a transparent ploy to extract money from them. The complaint (singular, as I recall) was from some relative of a politician....

Was. They've all been turned off, even the upgraded eLoran stuff, that was intended to work with GPS. That does mean he can use his stove at sea, without worrying that he'll confuse the navigator!

There's probably a reason they're not still sold...

The current kitchen has a granite shelf on top of the radiator. It's not really a useful space (except for drying stuff in heating season, then it's wonderful), but the stretch tite dispenser sits on it, and it works out very well.

Plastic wrap boxes all suck, don't they? I haven't tried that style. About five years ago, I gave up and bought a stretch tite Snap Wrap 7500, which sounds like something that should be for sale on late night tv. (maybe it is, I don't watch much tv). But it works very very well. My wife was furious that I'd bought a thing for the ktichen wihtou discussion, but she has converted too. We've since given six or ten of them as wedding presents.

I paid less than $700 for mine; I assume much of the increase is due to tariffs? I have not yet used up the oil it came with, and I've changed it two or three times. Probably do for another oil change.

Amazon's USA deal of the day (sunday 18 November ) is on USA pan bakeware. https://www.amazon.com/apb/page/?handlerName=OctopusDealLandingStream&deals=97e7d9dd I have a couple of their pullman pans. they're very nice, and two are $35, which is a pretty good deal. Don't know about any of the other stuff.

I have used the 800W Anova to do 20 pounds of pork shoulder in a cooler about that size. Worked fine. Did not monitor power usage, so I don't know if it ran the whole time or not, but it had no problems maintaining the temperature. I don't remember how long it took to pull the water temperature back when I put the meat in, but it wasn't outrageously wrong.

A quick trip through a chamber vacuum sealer makes cucumber salad even better.

Tracing the origins isn't the problem, it's cross contamination and lot size. You start a shift, and grind beef. At the end of the shift, the machine is sanitized. If you grind a piece of meat that's contaminated with e. coli, everything that goes through the grinder afterwards is possibly contaminated. But you don't know what was before and what's after, so the whole lot is condemned. A big industrial meat processor has huge lots, your local super market does not.

I wonder if you have a heat transfer problem. Poor coupling between the thermocouple and the metal plates. have you considered using some grease? a copper anti-seize would be good for 550F at least.

More likely that the emissivity of the steel doesn't match what the instrument expects.

Also helps to get ones they bothered to weld shut.

Hotel pans are sized according to a EN standard, EN 631, called universally "gastronorm", which is in turn based on slightly older US practice. A full sized hotel pan is a GN 1/1, and is 530 mm x 325 (that's a 1/4 mm less than 20 7/8 x 1.1 mm less than 12 3/4 inches, for those playing along in US units.). they're subdivided into 1/2 (325 x 265; 12 3/4 x 10 3/8) and 2/4 (530 X 162; 20 7/8 x 6 3/8 ). Those measurements are the outside of the pan, the interior is somewhat less (25mm less, according to standard, which for those playing along is just very slightly less than an inch). 2/3, 1/3 , 1/4, 2/8, 1/6 and 1/9 pans also are specified and are the expected sizes (1/4 is 1/2 pan cut on the short side, 2/8 cut on the long). the spec also covers tapers so that pans nest properly, and don't get jammed in equipment, depths, and probably what you're allowed to curse when you drop one out of the oven. there's a different standard, called "euronorm", which is used for baking sheets, that's 600 x 400 mm for the 1/1 size. (That's almost, but not quite, the standard full sized US sheet pan...).

The new product shelf had a new variety of Joe-Joe. Neapolitan joe joes https://www.traderjoes.com/digin/post/neapolitan-joejoes They're not bad. Vanilla and chocolate cookies are the same as they are elsewhere, the filling tastes of strawberry, and is only 50% too sweet (To my taste, any way, I had a few, and put the box out at my office where it was devoured.), not as sweet as I recall the regular ones being.

It's also discontinued.

max width of the clamp, with the rubber bits installed, is about 11/16". The screw and rubber tip on the screw come right out, which gives you about 3/4". The rubber bumper on the other side comes off, which gives you a bit more. It is enough that you can shove it with a great deal of effort, over the lip of a Cambro food pan. But the required amount of water is so high, you can't actually use one, because adding food causes it to over flow. the top of the clamp, which limits how far it can go into a container, to the minimum water line is to short to be useful. Total fail. -5 of 5 stars.