EatingBen

Use it not just on chicken but in sauces as well. It’s a fantastic addition to gravy it goes well in any kind of braise and depending on what’s in it can go really good with roast vegetables. You can do tagines with chicken or beef and pork as well. Find yourself some salted lemons (they have a name I can’t think of it right now) which goes well with chicken tagine too and beef if you eat it. Pretty much anywhere you would use spices of any kind you can use Ras el hanout (well, excluding sweet dishes I suppose)

I use the method on chef steps https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/equilibrium-brining I usually do about 1% and be happy with that. There are dozens of different ways to do it with lots of maths designed to figure out times of spend in the water but I’m waaaaaay to lazy for those. 1% in enough water to cover the meat with whatever container I have on hand to put it in. Leave it overnight in the fridge. Done

I think you need the things you want to cook with. No fancy gadget is going to make you a fantastic cook or motivate you to cook the food you want if you just can't be motivated to learn. I've an air frier I'm trying to palm off on friends its useless and takes up space. Warms the kitchen up in winter nicely though but it was a learning experience for me I paid for it thinking it would make things easier but it didn't and it didnt make things "faster" either its just a gimmick. Otherwise I use a sous vide setup, a few induction plates, a pressure cooker (because rice and stock making, not much else) with knifes, fry pans and chopping boards, spoons and spatulas with all that paraphernalia . The other stuff I use regularly, high speed blender and food processor. I would love a CSO just because I've been following the thread closely wondering if it would work for me. I love the idea of it being just enough to make a serve of food for just me because I cook primarily for just me. I've always wanted a combi oven can't believe we still don't really have them. Sous vide setup does the defrosting/heating of most stuff.

I’m pro using whatever method gets you to your end result that wont hurt other people. So I am opposed to using other people to cracking open eggs for cooking reasons. I use the edge of the sink, or chopping board or counter or bowl or pot or even the back of a knife. As long as I don’t beat the hell out of the egg the yolks don’t normally break. I don’t believe there is a “correct” way to open an egg at least none that has been proven in any scientific way.

Quite possibly, I use a lot of oil and make the texture very smooth I also use a good amount of water and tahini. I use a recipe that a restaurant owner gave me which is heavy on pretty much everything but tastes damned good but takes a long time to cook and blend and is made in a high speed blender.

Personally, I find that the oil separates out when defrosting which can be stirred back in but it hurts the texture. I’ve done it successfully by adding a gelling agent a cold processing one is best unless you are going to cook the beans and can hydrate which ever stabiliser you use. The taste does change quickly though I found after about 2 months it would getting less appealing.

I have couple. The cheap high powered ones are great for boiling and high simmers (not great at low stuff) and doing things like sauté. I couldn’t go back to even a good gas cooker if I have an induction cooker for bringing things to a boil it just is better. But you’ll need a good one to really show you how good induction can be and how it can be better then gas by miles! I have a. Second hand made by cooktek that’s designed for be variable powered with hundreds of steps and is super stable in power output and cost a couple hundred dollars (AUD) and I would and will pay twice that because I want a breville control freak. You can also get ones that work with woks and I’ve heard pretty cool things about them as well. I really wish we had more options of good hardware at more consumer friendly prices but you pay through the nose for high control induction units but its worth it.

Thermal cookers are great while camping or sailing. You bring the contents up to a boil (usually it's the inner sleeve) and then you put it into the insulated container close the lid and come back in 8 hours or so and it's all hot and cooked. It works great for things that you can slow cook, it retains heat all day and well WELL into the night. The great thing about some of them is you heat the contents to boiling and then put the lead on and take it with you. I've used them while sailing which is really really good especially in rough weather and limited cooking capacity while underway. They also do alright making rice but takes a little practice otherwise it turns to mush from being overcooked (But, the rice doesn't get scorched)

YES, you can use cheese sauce as a sub for béchamel, word of warning though it will be far more intensely cheese flavoured and the top will brown much differently to a béchamel sauce it tends to brown as one whole sheet which is exactly like processed cheese. For people who like cheese though it makes an amazing lasagna and the next day you can cut the cleanest, nicest and most attractive lasagna portions.

Yeah I have a friend who has the first version as well and it’s brilliant and why I originally ordered an Anova after boring his a few times. I have not had the same luck.

The anova pro in $629 in Australian dollars. The poly science I got was $1200 quite a few years ago which at that time was a bargain and somewhat new to the market so yeah the Anova Pro is half the price but frankly I don’t trust anova, they’ve been really good with the warranty I’ve not had to argue or fight but I’m also not particularly good keeping the faith when unit after unit keeps fudging up, so I’m not exactly willing to fork out for the pro unit

I’m on my fourth anova, the first the impeller would rattle constantly and make a huge amount of noise. The replacement they sent developed an issue and wouldn’t hold temp correctly. The third another (that replaced the second that replaced the first) wouldn’t hold temp properly. This last one, it holds temp properly and doesn’t rattle but wont connect to WIFI (no matter how many times I attempt to reset it) and the Bluetooth doesn’t work properly either. BUT it circulates and keeps an accurate temp so I tolerate it existing in my kitchen but I wont buy another anova, I did contemplate buying the new pro version but I shou,dn’t Have to spend 600 dollars for a circulator to work properly.

Very true and something I dislike as well, however I seem jinxed and unable to keep a Sous vide circulator running unless it’s my poly science chef circulator which won’t die and has been accurate from day 1, it’s also really loud. Anova well I give up there. Another one was cheaper and it leaked and wasn’t silent. i just want one that’s quiet, works and will fit on my bench! I have considered making my own yes.

Breville are an Australian company that’s been around for ages. The information they are having access too is the information that chefsteps has on you and no more. Breville also own poly science. They don’t tend to ever do anything “suspicious”: and by all accounts based on the way Breville has been going these last 6 years it’s a really good fit. But to each there own, I’m on my 4th anova and I give up, this one doesn’t connect to wifi I’ll accept that flaw, I’ll accept it doesn’t connect to Bluetooth either, I’ll also accept that the timer doesn’t work because on this one, my fourth replacement anova it keeps the temp stable. Cause ya just can’t win’em all!

You'll need to sous vide the vegetables separately and then put the rest in to finish at the required temp for the meat.

Couldn't actually tell you mate I got them from a supplier in Sydney. They didn't have a brand on them but I was told they can be used in a pressure cooker and they can and it works and it's amazing but I don't know the name of them.

my understanding is the shelved precooked rice is packaged and steam cooked a few minutes shy but at high enough temps to pasturise the contents. Those sorts of things are difficult to accomplish in the home environment we don't have the machinery or the lab testing to ensure safety. You could use sous vide, a vacuum chamber sealer to accomplish it in a more domestic settings (or commercial kitchen) and use bags that tolerate higher temps. I have bags that can handle a pressure cooker temperature but they are expensive. For something like that, it might be worth contacting a food tech company that does these kinds of things professionally.

Depending on how hard you use them the tin lining should last many years mine goes 5 years before needing to be refined and it was well used. It’s now packed away and rarely bothered with. While a gorgeous frying pan it is no longer suitable for the cooking I do nor do I have the interest in the effort in care. They are gorgeous pans and a pleasure to cook in, they bring nostalgia and joy when cooking with it that few pieces of kitchen cookware do and they absolutely get the “classy” oohs when a copper pan arrives at the table with a butterflied chicken or a dessert or some other simple food that looks extravagant in a copper pan. If this is something you have coveted for some time, buy a few pieces, a frying pan of 1 or 2 sizes (1 pan enough to cook a meal for two and the other for 4 people) and perhaps a pot or i’d Personally go for a braiser which is wide and good for reducing. If you really have the money guy everything and show it off in your kitchen and it’ll make you smile for decades! Use it on gas, it goes pan, fat, meat, heat and in that order you don’t preheat copper you either immediately cook in it or you’ve fu**ed your pan.

I tried one and yeah na, I like my mash a little rougher and a lot faster. A really strong masher will do it in only a few minutes then you gently mix in the butter milk and salt all while it’s still hot and clean up is faster. Having said that, I’m all for toys if you think it’ll be the bomb in your kitchen have at it. I had a Breville one, I’d imagine most decent brands are going to serve you well. If I want smooth I retrograde my potato’s Sous Vide and put them through the food mixer (and not the food processor)

Have you posted photos by any chance?

Water, a modified starch (ultratex 4 makes a light pourable gel) or gelatin. only thing is shelf stability

That's a shame! I wish I could have a bit more freedom to change my kitchen how I'd like.

Without doubt the best kitchen I've laid eyes on in this thread. So many others look wonderful and I've no doubt they bring lots of joy but this one is perfect. It looks like a kitchen that is a pleasure to work in, everything to hand, everything easily in reach and easily returned to it's home. I love a comfortable kitchen, it inspires me to cook more! I wish I could do more with my current kitchen but I'm held back by not owning it myself otherwise mine would look similar to yours

I do 60 for about 48 hours for a large cut. Not done 55 before though. I'd be interested to know what Douglas Baldwin mentioned though?

Sous Side is precision cooking, not necessarily "low temperature" I hate slow cookers, all of them. Everyone has their own idea of the right temp and everyone I've used requires massive portions and those that are smaller end up being so hot they are useless. With sous vide I can do slow cooking at the temp I want in a bag and have my own temperature that I choose and know is safe as well. I think Sous Vide is a tool like any other, Why limit myself to just a stove top or an oven for a certain style of cooking that would require me to be present and active during the cooking. I can throw it all into a bag and seal then come back when ever I'm meant to or later and it'll still be good. Trying doing that on a stove top or oven. Don't get me wrong, I love making long slow braised legs of meat in the oven and doing the whole roasted vegetables and making gravy and everything else that goes with making a meal of that nature but it's not something I long to do on weekends very often and never for just myself. Sous Vide is just a vessel of water, heated with precision and the person is left to their own devices to figure out how to do whatever they want to do. So I use it.