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Saci Pererê

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  1. @Smithy - Apples on puff pastry. Just apples, cut thru the equator. Picked out the seeds with the tip of my knife. I know that "any" toaster-oven can make the same thing, but I'm still amazed that I can do what for me is elaborate baking (I'm not a baker) without an entire production.
  2. Falltime! Finally I can go outside without asbestos underpants. Been doing some baking... Saatenbrot - German Seedbread, just like Mutti used to bake.... uh, actually,... used to buy from the german store for an ungawdly amount of money. No gluten (for those who care), amazing stuff, here's the recipe: https://www.mynewroots.org/site/2013/02/the-life-changing-loaf-of-bread/ I need a better loafpan, I baked this freeform. Convection, 40 mins or so. Getting away from the healthy stuff, I put this in the oven (400 degrees, 15 mins convection): And out came THIS: Wife was happy, and forgave me for making German Caveman-Brot the day before. On the other hand, next time 13 minutes instead of 15, got a bit burnt on one edge. Still learning.....
  3. What was the difference? And have you considered doing a convection baked potato in a bed of (necessarily) coarse salt? I may just have a crappy conventional oven, but what I like most about the CSO is just so easy to use for small servings, like your one or two potatoes.
  4. Good to see that everyone has just about the same guilty pleasure sugar-rush addiction! Now if you really want a sugar-overdose, then try a few spoonfuls of raw sweetened condensed milk... I only hit that about once every 3 or 4 years, it's that good, that BAD for you, and that addictive Speaking of which, has anyone tried making dulce de leche in the CSO yet? Popping an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk into the oven... Steam function, I'd suppose and I can see where it can go horribly wrong (kaboom!). I usually do dulce de leche via a slow boil in a pan, that way external/internal pressure on the can evens out. But if the pan dries out, then it's kaboom again! Anyway, I wonder if you could do it safely in the CSO.
  5. Well! If it's any consolation, I just took a heel end of day-old baguette, refreshed it in the CSO (Steam-bake, 200F, 5 mins or so) and spread it with some butter and fancy-shmancy tumeric-cinnamon preserves from my local farmer's market. An overpriced version of your sugar-on-toast But it was good and helped settle down the two gin drinks I had tonight, out celebrating with my sweetheart wife!
  6. I hear you (read you anyway). Call me old-fashioned but when it comes to pressure cooking, I like to pay attention to it. And, as I wrote, the actual "cooking with gas" portion is usually so short that it's no bother. Turn on the gas, bring it to pressure, turn it off, walk away. But to each his own
  7. Thank you for the comments, Rotuts. At risk of hijacking this whole thread, what is the advantage of an InstaPot-type Pressure cookers? I agree that pressure cookers are essential, but ordinary old-fashioned stove-top cookers. Fagor makes a great one. Here's my contrary view: -Pressure cookers actually cook on the heat for very short times. Bring up to pressure (5-10 minutes, less if you pre-boil the water in an electric kettle like I often do), let cook for 0-5 mins, turn off the heat and let your food cook in the residual pressure/heat. The only exception is beans/hard starchy tubers (30 mins heat), stocks (40-60 min), or dense meaty stews/sauces (20-30 mins). Anyway, the timing is too short to really need an electric timer, at least not worth the trade-offs. -If I want to depressurize the pot instantly, I put it under running cold water. Can't do that with an IP, at best you need to open the valve and have steam go all over the place. -You often need to "stir" your food, or it can burn, or at least stratify in funny ways on longer cooks. Think of what happens to tomato sauce. I give my pressure cooker a shake/flip (like sautéeing in a pan) and all is well. IP doesn't have a handle! -Lastly, most important, the pressure cooker is a very sturdy, thick-walled cookpot in and of itself. I sautée in it all the time (lid off), either to prep food before pressure-cooking it (for instance onions going into a stew) or just a handy extra pot. -Sorry, I really can't see myself pre-programming a pressure cooker and walking away. I'm sure the IP has a good safety valve, but there is still plenty that can go wrong (bad seal, food stuck in the valve), you need to keep an eye on these things. Anyway, for my way of cooking, I love pressure cookers, but this is a place for Keep It Simple, Stupid! Just my $0.02.....
  8. Yum! I gotta try some pig in the little oven, thanks for the inspiration. That bit of meat looks perfect for chopping up some, sauté with tomatoes/onions/garlic, instant pasta sauce! Just to show off something in completely the opposite direction, I've been making a lot of middle eastern / mediterranean rim food lately, trying to be healthy(ish). The CSO is such a help, cooks off all kinds of veggies for me to combine into dishes later. For instance: So this is a zuchinni, cherry tomato, and greens salad in the lower right - all stuff that I had roasted earlier in the day (tomatos collapse into a delicious mush/proto-sauce). Orzo salad is boiled, of course. But the stuffed veggies! The red peppers I steam/baked the day before, super-easy to peel, stuff with goat cheese and convection bake for 20 mins. The stuffed zucchini (standing) was just some extra that I cored out with my veggie peeler, added goat cheese, baked with the peppers. Multiply all by two and I had a great dinner for my sweetie and me. I'd NEVER have done this my regular oven for less than an entire dinner party. Way too much hassle - pre-heating, having to clean an entire sheet pan afterwards (yes, I use parchment paper or my sil-plat, but you still gotta clean), bending over (it's a range oven), guessing at timing. For me, that's the real convenience of the CSO, it's just so easy to do little things that otherwise would be a big production. Along the same lines: Clockwise from the top left - Steam-Roasted cauliflower (425/30 min) with a yogurt/herb sauce. Steam-Roasted Brussel Sprouts (425/30 min)with cherry tomatoes and feta. Store-bought pita bread toasted at 5. Ripe garden tomato with a sauce of tahini whizzed up with Steam-Roasted garlic (400/20 min). Lastly, just experimenting: Whole-wheat flatbread with black sesame seeds (oops, I rolled a bit too thin). Your basic bread flour/wheat flour/water/salt/yeast dough, risen overnight in the fridge, roll out and throw in the oven. The only trick here was to ramp up the Convection bake as high as it goes (500) and to bake on the back of the roasting pan (flip it over). Preheat it till it's good and hot, then pull it out on the toaster rails (dry kitchen towel!) when you toss the bread on. Worked great! I made a plum tart the other night - blind-baked leftover paté sucrée from the freezer (defrosted earlier), spread some strawberry jam on the bottom, cut plums in half and stuck them on top, Steam-Roast to finish (400ish/30 min, but I pulled it out when I could smell baked plums). Took maybe an hour total, most of which I spend watching Netflix. Tart was eaten faster than I could photograph it.... Suffice to say, I use the CSO every day, one of the best kitchen purchases I've ever made.
  9. Veggies of all sorts... break up some cauliflower florets, toss with oil, steam-bake 400ish 30 mins. Potatoes, peel, cube, ditto 40 mins. Beets..yum. Two big sweet potatoes. Steam-bake red peppers. 20 mins. Etc, etc. Basically all the stuff that you know is good roasted, just done faster and with less hassle. Personally, I've been using the CSO as a "robot sous-chef." Poach some eggs in a plate while I'm cooking off a steak. Roast a head of garlic for a salad dressing - normally I don't roast garlic unless I'm doing a dozen heads at once. Roast a few hot peppers for me to mash into a sauce. Make two dinner rolls. Refresh yesterday's baguette while I sautee some veggies. Keep stuff warm while I finish making dinner. Roast stuffed veggies while I grill a chicken breast. Toast some pecans. Steam that last bit of honey out of the bottom of the jar so I can pour it on waffles. All very, very convenient! Especially for doing small things that I'd normally only do in bulk (the roast garlic, yeah I'm probably wasting tons of energy, but I'm saving on storage hassle).
  10. @csingleyNice! All I did tonight was stop by the supermarket and to get two links of chicken sausage, then stuffed the meat into whatever veggies I had kicking around the fridge. Mushrooms, half a tomato, a zuke. Steam-bake 25 mins at 425F, sprinkle some breadcrumbs on top, convection roast 5 mins at 400. In the meantime, I made a quick salad out of some beets that I had previously roasted. Perfect quick dinner! No photos, got eaten too fast. I really love the CSO for this kind of easy dinner (for two). Nothing really to clean afterwards, oven pan goes into the dishwasher, parchment paper (used to line pan) goes to compost, empty the water tray, done! As for the Instant Pot, I dunno.. an electric pressure cooker. Nice that it's programmable, but I'm so used to using my "old-fashioned" pressure cooker. Nothing to break and I can throw the whole thing (except steam valve) into the dishwasher. I also use it nearly every day, including just using it as an all-purpose pot / steamer / deep frying pan. And $67 for a very good 10-qt Fagor (someone's always running a sale on these): http://www.kmart.com/fagor-splendid-stainless-steel-10-qt-pressure-cooker/p-011V005676879000P?sid=KDx01192011x000001&gclid=Cj0KEQjw0rm-BRCn85bm8uS-zK0BEiQAHo4vrETCh9wnIosI81HZWei4ctFInDc18wn5-EBrogVtIKAaAp2E8P8HAQ
  11. @csingley Thank you for the explanation. But.... Manual? We don't need no steeeeeeenkin manual! Ok, Read The Fine Manual, page 9: Super Steam Steam plus the additional heat of the bottom element is the ideal setting for perfect rice. Which implies that super-steam indeed turns on the bottom element and not any "extra" steam. Dunno if it's going to help gel the "thin" whites, egg proteins (in this case, albumin) are pretty complicated and the CSO doesn't have the precise control of my sous vide rig: http://www.scienceofcooking.com/eggs/eggs_sous_vide.htm My "perfect" sous-vide egg is just drop it in the bath, 147F for 40 mins. But by the time I have my rig set up and water up to temp, I can already have CSO eggs done and eaten (by me, not the dogs!). In other news - green beans! Snap off the stem, slick with some olive oil, steam-roast 25 mins at 400F. Yum! They come out like french fries, tender inside, crispy-crunchy outside, my wife devoured the first batch last week. More importantly, green beans made her a CSO convert and she forgave me for "Yet ANOTHER Kitchen Gadget?!?". However, when I made a new batch over the weekend, all I got was cooked beans, not crispy magic green bean "fries". Why? Now I know -last week I did a handful, Saturday I did a pound. Too much! This will require some thought, as I don't want to do multiple batches and beans burn easily at high temps. Fortunately again, the dogs eat green beans, even burnt....
  12. @Shelby Thank you for the welcome! @rotutsBingo! Why didn't I think of that? Physics 101: Of course! When I put in twice the eggs, whether it's in one bowl or two, then I have twice the mass to cook with the same amount of energy (45 mins of 170F steam x internal volume of the oven). I have to increase the temp and/or the time and/or the steam saturation (super-steam) to cook my 6 eggs. We don't notice this in a "regular" oven because the internal volume is so much larger and the energy loading is so much lower (no steam), i.e. if I wanted to cook scrambled eggs at 170F, I'd have to leave them in for hours at which point how many eggs I use hardly matters (and they'd dry out into rubber). Looks like time for more egg experimentation (eggspirements?). Fortunately, we have two dogs who eat my mistakes. During last week's Poached Egg Trials, they started following me back and forth to the CSO! For what it's worth, here is my "Perfect Poached Egg", a bit different from what was written up earlier in this thread: -Use a small dish or large saucer, pour some water into it then out again. You want a wet plate, just enough for the egg to slide around. -Use a fresh egg, 3-4 days at most. You want the "thick white" to still cling to the yolk, not be all watery (thin white) as it is with week-old eggs. -Crack 1 egg into the wet dish, STEAM 10 minutes at 210F. -Slide egg onto your serving plate, Voila! Notes: Depending how old your egg is, your poached egg may be lying in a pool of cooked "thin white." You can eat it, but I prefer to use a spoon to hold my poached egg back as I slide the thin white into the nearest dog (actually into a dog dish, they lap it up!). You can crack two eggs onto the plate, just increase the time to 11 minutes. I guess that 3 eggs need 12 mins? I do know that the yolks go from perfectly runny to cooked awfully fast!
  13. Hi Folks! Thanks to all your posts, I went and grabbed a CSO two weeks ago and have been running it pretty much every day since. Everything from a full meal to just roasting some cherry tomotos to toss with pasta. What a wonderful little oven! I'm poaching some eggs right now. Which brings me to my question - scrambled eggs? I've tried doing "faux sous-vide eggs," with the goal of getting French-style creamy, custardy ultra-small curd scrambled eggs. I used a small bowl greased with some butter, 3 eggs beaten with a dash of heavy cream, Steam 45 mins/170F, give it a last beating with a fork - voila! Came out perfectly. Fast forward to Saturday, tried the same thing with bigger bowl and 6 eggs, to share with my sweetheart wife. Result? Liquid eggs with hardly any coagulation, had to finish off in a pan. OK, I thought, must be too much volume in a bowl and maybe steam can't efficiently get into the taller bowl either. Monday I try two of my (identical) small bowls, 3 eggs each.. same lousy result! Today I did a test batch of only one of the small bowls, 3 eggs, no problem, turned out perfect. What gives? Steam is steam, should fill the entire volume of the oven and cook whatever evenly - one bowl, two bowls, as long as their starting temp is the same. Any thoughts would be appreciated. And what is the difference between regular steam and "super-steam"? Thanks!
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