Cooking Gear
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@Nic said:
It's actually quite a neat concept. You have a water bath that you can set at a precise temperature, which means that you can have meat to the exact doneness that you like. Since it stays at that temperature, you don't have to worry so much about how long you leave it in there. Once the food has reached the water temperature, it doesn't cook any further.
Immersion circulators are the best!!!! If you want perfect, precise temp control (a must when cooking steaks, etc), this is the way. You still have to sear the meat afterward in a hot pan or on the grill, but this is my favorite new kitchen tool.
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Get yourself one of these.. small.. can be used indoors and out.
![0_1448471988904_51xYt-uXFEL[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/S7SVILO.jpg)
I regularly smoke cheese, you'll want to use cold smoke, not direct or hot smoke. Smoked salmon, pork and chicken.
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@gjacobse said:
Get yourself one of these.. small.. can be used indoors and out.
I regularly smoke cheese, you'll want to use cold smoke, not direct or hot smoke. Smoked salmon, pork and chicken.
How smoky does that make your house when used indoors? These things look cool but I'm not sure I want to have wood chips smoldering on my stovetop. Does the lid hold smoke in pretty well?
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@Nic said:
@DustinB3403 Yep, you want to vacuum seal the food in a bag, so it doesn't get waterlogged, but it has good contact with the water for temperature transfer. You can do that with a real vacuum sealer, or just slowly submerge the bag with the top open to force the air out and then close the bag.
you don't HAVE to vacuum seal,.. but if you season, then vacuum seal, the flavor is intensified.
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@RojoLoco if used indoors you'd for sure want to use it under a vent hood. we have one that pops up from the counter top that's pretty neat.
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You don't use much 'dust' It's not chips, pellets or chunks but more like sawdust. And for the space you are smoking you don't need much... I use about a 'tablespoon' full for about a 30 minute smoke / cook.
Over all it's not offensive. And I have yet to set off any of the eight smoke detectors in the house.
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@hubtechagain said:
@RojoLoco if used indoors you'd for sure want to use it under a vent hood. we have one that pops up from the counter top that's pretty neat.
Yea,.. I have yet to see a house built in the last 15 years that still had an exhaust hood.
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@gjacobse said:
@hubtechagain said:
@RojoLoco if used indoors you'd for sure want to use it under a vent hood. we have one that pops up from the counter top that's pretty neat.
Yea,.. I have yet to see a house built in the last 15 years that still had an exhaust hood.
agreed - they all just run it through a filter and back into the house.
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over the stove? i know i seem to be making a lot of "The South" comments but we love cooking down here. lots of folk in our circle have nice commercial vent hoods
Wolf, Viking, etc. yes, it's overkill, but man it looks cool. -
@gjacobse interesting. I just know that when my smoker is going outside, when I open the door the smoke wafts in and goes upstairs.... the master bathroom often smells of lovely pecan and maple smoke. The updraft from the kitchen to the upper level is crazy in my house (it's a split level).
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@Nic um, no. well not any that we've had. they have a pipe out the top of the roof.
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@gjacobse ok, now I remember seeing the "dust" for those things online... they come in little resealable tubs, yes?
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@hubtechagain said:
over the stove? i know i seem to be making a lot of "The South" comments but we love cooking down here. lots of folk in our circle have nice commercial vent hoods
Wolf, Viking, etc. yes, it's overkill, but man it looks cool.LOL... yea,.. nothing like that in this house. the range I wanted was over $8,000... that was just the range. no stove or vent. We have just a normal simple 4 element stove with microwave overhead with filter. And the filter doesn't filter down to that micron level.
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@gjacobse said:
Get yourself one of these.. small.. can be used indoors and out.
I regularly smoke cheese, you'll want to use cold smoke, not direct or hot smoke. Smoked salmon, pork and chicken.
What are you using for your source of smoke though?
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@gjacobse I'm just happy I have a gas stove in the house we bought. That plus a gas fireplace makes me very happy.
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yes. the previous owners of this house replaced their gas unit with an electric flat top....stupid. when a few stars line up we will be replacing this unit with gas.
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@hubtechagain said:
yes. the previous owners of this house replaced their gas unit with an electric flat top....stupid. when a few stars line up we will be replacing this unit with gas.
why...why in the hell would they do that???
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@hubtechagain said:
yes. the previous owners of this house replaced their gas unit with an electric flat top....stupid. when a few stars line up we will be replacing this unit with gas.
If it makes you feel any better, my chef neighbor has an electric flat top... he hates it, but there it is. There is replacement planned for 2016, but in the meantime he just drools over my 6 burner gas / convection oven combo.... but my vent hood just blows the hot air at my forehead.
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When we bought our house it had an electric oven.
We replaced it a few years ago with a gas one. A co-worker came over and did all of the iron-work pluming for us.
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A good food processor is an indispensable kitchen tool. Get the biggest (most powerful) one you can afford, and get some of the accessories (slicing blade, etc). Mine has many, many miles on it.
Find a restaurant supply store and invest in some good half and quarter sheet pans. Get the aluminum kind, with rolled edges. They will be cheaper at the commercial place than they will be at a regular home type kitchen supply store. Get the steel wire cooling racks that fit into each pan as well, maybe 2 racks for every 4-5 pans. These will make your life much easier.
