Laurentius

Yeah, Matfer-Bourgeat comes pretty dear.

https://www.amazon.com/Matfer-Bourgeat-Bottom-Stainless-702622/dp/B077VF5KX4/ref=mp_s_a_1_2_sspa?crid=1KK43OGH730QL&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.OtwMXvtML1ZntEjETJisJT1cfvl3j8wfUHrOa7KdTmA1EDyoJIwWa46ySWLUd-rTWXUtL1vsN2WZQFI6WquHOz9wBcr2quejs1Yg0dMsLQppm2E4z5wdybIeAcqCnDhk7WpXCVJXpaD5E-dr5yVZzsDZdj7UC5dj6jXZmfF0kXBeyxXedJgPi01GX4tMNcoUFXa-bAuuo3JYLrji7on3Ug.YbzWGFgmhqvX3rD45YEtSOPj4ErIy_20-dt2_ok7058&dib_tag=se&keywords=matfer&qid=1727834180&sprefix=matfer%2Caps%2C178&sr=8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRm&psc=1

They made cookware, too. See, https://www.tupperware.com/collections/cookware-bakeware?srsltid=AfmBOorUdNcssHWvmiPGcPM2Tm1NudslmrSiBZiKXBVAtCvvMSStYss4 At one point, I believe it included decent copperwares.

Sure. In addition to these, you can add: Brooklyn Copper Cookware (Ohio) Hammersmith (New York) LJ Gonzales/Lucullus (NOLA) Duparquet I've used these, plus Rocky Mountain, and can recommend them all. Of note, many places that offer retinning quietly ship to others for the actual work. I suspect Fantes is one such. Teakettles can be tricky, because the joinery can fail and leak and the spouts are not wipeable. So that may require special expertise in repair and maybe electroplating. My first recommendations would be Rocky Mountain or Hammersmith.

If you're interested, there's a guy I found on eBay who parts out and resells parts for older VM stuff. Last I checked, he also still had a run of spline adapters to make older VMs work with newer bins. I'll look for his direct contact info if you want. Just PM me.

I've made acre-feet of clam chowder. While I prefer fresh, I like the 51 oz cans of minced sea clams Costco carries. It so happens that these cans contain exactly the proportion of meat:nectar I like to use.

Well? Was the special edition Bialetti a hit?

Yes. I have a much older VM (looks like a chrome toaster). It's got a SS beaker and has been absolutely bulletproof. Like you, I tried "cooking" soup in it just to test the maker's claim. I agree it does work, but takes a long time. Plus, I've never thought the soup improved--I think it reaches a degree of smoothness that no additional time will improve.

Congrats. Do you only use your BM to puree your soups, or do you also "cook" them by running it for extended periods?

The Fissler is thicker at the base. But the Proline is a 36cm fully-clad body. As you suspect, heat stored in those sidewalls will flow to the cool spots caused at the flop. An opposite thing happens with a poor conductor like cast iron. What little heat does move laterally, moves quite slowly. Try the pork belly in two identically-heated skillets like Proline and your cast iron.

It's a fair measure of how much heat a pan stores. A 28cm Proline has more aluminum than a 28cm Fissler. If anything, the test would favor Fissler.

Heat your pan in an oven for an hour--don't change the setting. Remove onto a potholders, and pour in a weighed volume of room-tempersture water. Record the max temperature the water reaches. Repeat for the other pans I ran this test to prove a 28cm Pro line "holds more heat" than does a 28cm Fissler Original Profi (basically a Paderno GG. Or, instead of water, you can use strips of pork belly, laid wall-to-wall. The only way cast iron wins in any of this is if it's thicker.

Now compare close-in, at oblique angles, and at the pan shoulder. High polish should be wider. You already know the temperature in the room. Did the readings match?

Save your $ for a Thermoworks RFX wireless probe kit. https://www.thermoworks.com/rfx-starter-kit/ I don't have one yet, but it's claimed they are submersible in oil, and have predictive powers for finding the thermal center of foods. Extremely long range, too.

Sorry about all this. Thankfully this hasn't yet happened to me. I'm thinking that perhaps sunlight and a spray of dilute bleach solution might be your friends. Worth a try. Maybe aggressive brushing and shop vacc'ing in the future? Do you use the linen liners? The boules don't show the cane as artfully, but at least they can be laundered...

For some unexplained reason, Kenji took the bait that this griddle radiates less heat. While this may be true (and may be an energy boon), the culinary effect on griddling food is clear as mud.

This doesn't make sense to me, especially concerning griddles and smash burgers. I'm thinking there really is no cooking role played by radiant heat here. It's practically all conduction, no matter what the griddle is made of.

Yes. Contact and IR guns make preheating very predictable. And they help a lot in assessing evenness of hobs and cookware. However, the penetration and immersion (and to a lesser extent, air) probes make a greater impact on my cooking and knowledge.

I have both types. They each have their advantages. Contact thermometers are generally more accurate. But as the name suggests, they require not only contact with the pan, but good, dependable contact. I have the Thermapen Contact, which I like, but the button head needs attention to keep it in full contact. I also have Thermoworks commercial griddle thermometer, which is weighted, so it requires less attention. There are also "wire" contact probes which can be super accurate; but they must be taped in place--not very practical for cooking. IR gun thermometers CAN be accurate, but they measure only surfaces. So if you have oil in a pan, oil is all they measure. Another source of their inaccuracy lies in the fact that their readings depend on the emissivity and polish of the pan surface. Good guns allow you to adjust emissivity to TRY to match the metal, but even with the same metal, a polished surface will read differently from a brushed surface. IME, guns are gross measuring tools, better suited to comparisons than accuracy. But they are CONVENIENT. Another thing to remember is that guns read AVERAGE temps across an invisible spot that increases or decreased with how far you hold it from the food. As for brands, I can't recommend Thermoworks enough. They have a wide and deep selection that encompasses scientific, industrial and professional culinary uses. They innovate, and their tech and customer service are first-rate. You might be surprised to find it's not necessarily an either/or choice between contact and IR gun. You should look at TW's IR gun handheld with a second channel to accept a Type K probe. A base unit that takes the many kinds of Type K probes is a very good thing, and you can always keep a separate, inexpensive IR unit, too. Hope this helps.

That's a great system. Best in class. What does it sell for these days? I think that, in the world of knife sharpening tools, there is a tradeoff 'twixt what can be used instantly, and what's in a box in the garage. As with both the E-P and the rollers, the key is always fixing the angle of attack.

I saw yesterday that my local Costco is selling the Creami. I think it's priced at $179.

Yeah, who knows? I'm enough of a Bamix fan that I'd hazard the cost of a lesser brand/model on repairing or replacing with another Bamix. Also, FWIW, I've tried repairing electric motor-powered stuff enough to know that shafts can "spin easily" and still put a drag on the motor. Good luck.

Welcome to the club. I think you're probably right that food gunk is the culprit. And based on my similar experience, it's probably at or near the head. Maybe there's some age- hardening of oil at the motor end, though. I have only two suggestions if you've already opened the shaft sleeve: (1) an ultrasonic cleaner; or (2) an immersible cleaning solution such as Dunk-It, sold for cleaning guns without disassembly. You might also try lubricating the shaft bearings with food-safe grease, and /or backing off the fasteners that might be binding the shaft from turning freely. Good luck.

I really like the Thermoworks spatulas. But then, everything they sell is top drawer.

I did. The Sous Chef 16 FP alone is $499.95 USD. The Paradice 3-size kit alone is $249.95. Bundled with the Paradice 3-size kit, it's $699.95, a $50 savings.