Joe Hell If Jonathon is making chili with beans in it he is causing the climate change by contributing to the increase of gas in the environment…

Sorry I don’t have pics, but did a 5 lb bone in rib roast for dinner tonight… 10 hrs @ 134, pulled from the bath and dropped it in a cooler for about 2 hrs travel time… put it in a 500+/- oven for 15 mins and ended up with med rare from end to end with a great sear… cut 2 thin slices off the ends and tossed 'em in a pan to cremate them for my GF and everybody was happy… son in law was asking all kinds of questions about SV… I believe he’s hooked… just have to make sure he doesn’t buy one before his birthday in March… He is getting one of those Weston SVs you guys ran the great Christmas sale on…

Hey guys, just watched your “Snails” video… I believe the problem is you overcooked the snails… Much like doing squid, snails need to be cooked for a very short time or they turn into inedible rubber bands…

I’m not sure this is going to pique your interest in trying this again, but when properly cooked, snails should have a consistency more like snot…

mccullen You lucked out!!! I watched three 20q mixers go for $800, and 2 others over $900 in the past 2 weeks…

I’d like to get one, and should have sprung for one of the $800 ones, but I knew that a Vacmaster 215 was coming up this week and I held out to buy that… ended up paying $520, it’s in near perfect condition, oil is clean, pump is strong, all it needs is new teflon strip over the heater wire…

A while back I had ordered some of the Holly Regular Pork Sausage spice blend, I finally got around to trying it this weekend… I did about 10 lbs of sausage… once cased, I cooked up about 4 lbs in the oven as I normally do before freezing for a quick breakfast item… I will be totally honest here, I was not impressed… I didn’t feel the flavors melded, and it ended up too salty…

The other 6 lbs I tossed into a cold smoke for about 2 hours using pecan, then bagged it up and put it in the sous vide for about 3 hours @ 165… I tried the first piece right out of the sous vide, and the result was AMAZING!!! The links stayed as plump as when I had stuffed them, there was virtually no loss due to cooking, but they were not greasy… the flavors melded beautifully and the texture was perfect… Honestly some of the best tasting sausage I have made to date!!!

This morning I nuked up one of the links, just to get it warm, (didn’t even bother to sear it), and it was AWESOME!!!

The difference in cooking made all the difference in the world… it looks like the sous vide is going to be an integral part of my sausage making tools…

Jonathan I had no idea how difficult it was going to be to try to find a marrow bone to add to an upcoming hot dog project… We only have 2 “butcher shops” in the area, both fancy themselves as high end swanky custom meat emporiums… They both wanted > $9 per lb. for a couple chunks of bone…

Finally found a Mid Eastern Grocery Store that has a meat counter in the back… turns out it’s a real butcher shop! Not only is he selling me the entire femur for $5. but he will cut it up into a few pieces on the band saw as well… Also, he said he’d throw in a nice big chunk of leaf fat at no charge… Looks like I finally found a butcher!!!

While I’m there I’m going to try to buy a Picanha… hope I’m not pushing my luck

Anyone looking to buy hog ring pliers, be sure to buy from Waltons… I bought a Dewalt set from a local hardware store and it turns out the Dewalt pliers use an 11/16" ring that is too big to properly close a bag or casing…

I forget the size, but the Waltons pliers use a smaller ring that is sized for this purpose

Austin; I have not seen what I consider to be a serious, quality horizontal stuffer either,

The stuffer I purchased was a cheap $35 stuffer… it has no gaskets and meat does tend to force past the piston. Also the piston tends to score the inside wall of the stuffer as it is used… Additionally, it has no air release valve on the piston… The stuffing tubes and front face of the stuffer are plastic, and while they are holding up for now… I expect they will be the first things to give out in a couple of years… That’s all the negative stuff…

On the positive side, the stuffer can be attached to virtually any surface, thus stuffing can be done at a table where you can sit down while doing it… 1 person can easily crank the stuffer and handle the filled casings coming off the other end at the same time… in fact, I find doing a 1 man operation is easier since you can instantly adjust your fill speed, by feel, at any time without having to interact with another person…

Having used both horizontal and vertical style stuffers at this point, I am totally sold on the horizontal style…

KnucklHed BBQ: Thanks for the offer… I actually have an 11 lb vertical that is too big for me for day to day use… I only have a “home size” sink, so it’s a hassle to wash and clean larger equipment, and since I generally just do small batches, usually not more than a single butt at a time, the 5 lb size is usually adequate… So, while I’m sure I’ll still pull out the bigger stuffer from time to time, I actually would prefer to stick with a 5 lb stuffer… (possibly if an 8 lb unit were available, I might go for that…)

Austin Jonathon There’s always a catch… Just get an A5 producer to co-sponsor your videos… Problem solved!

Thanks Austin… This is what I am hoping for!!! Aside from that the flavor of the mix is excellent, and they are going to make great Christmas presents!!!

I am about to try a bit different method of doing smoked ice cream, but this might interest you for any liquid you try to smoke… I am using my smoke daddy cold smoker powered by an aquarium pump… I have attached a piece of tubing to the output of the smoker and attached an aquarium airstone to the end of the tubing… The airstone will be placed in the bottom of a container of ice cream mix (not yet frozen)… I have not determined length of smoke or type of wood to use… but after smoking I’ll pour the mixture into the ice cream freezer, agitate and chill till ready…

Jonathon I tried doing eggs a while back, was not thrilled with the taste, but that’s a matter of personal preference… but also the shells sealed themselves to the eggs so they were virtually impossible to remove… I probably wont be trying this again…

Something else you may want to try is curing some egg yolks (just put them in a container covered with salt for about a week), then smoking them… They become hard during the curing process, and you can grate them with a cheese grater as a topping on your food of choice… This I found to be incredibly good…

PapaSop I agree with your friend, much like the beans Jonathon uses in his chili it is just filler… I’m just thinking if I’'m going to use filler, why not give it some attitude…

I’ve been making Canadian Bacon for a while… BUT… one of the smoke rings that I’m in has a lot of Canadians in it as well… They keep asking “What’s this Canadian Bacon you guys make down there in the states”?.. In other words… IT AIN’T CANADIAN !!!

They make something similar called “Peameal Bacon” doing the same cure, then coating the loin with ground up yellow peas… put it back to rest in the fridge for a day or so, then instead of smoking, they just roast it in the oven or slice it and cook it in a pan on the stovetop…

I did a 1/2 loin of peameal bacon with my last batch… I have been told not to waste my time making Canadian bacon any more… This stuff is DA BOMB!!!

Thanks for doing the Sous Vide video, I agree it is the only way I will ever cooks steaks again… but, that being said, it is capable of so much more than just being a “boil in bag” cooker…

I am assuming that like most supermarket meat today you were using “choice grade” meat… At a 4 hr cook time you have broken down sufficient connective tissue in the steak to actually elevate it’s tenderness to just about the level of a piece of prime beef. If instead you had started with a piece of prime or wagu, you would want to cut back to the 1 hr. cook time…

One of my favorite meals is prime rib… when you can actually find a piece of “prime”, as well as afford it… I have been able to virtually duplicate the taste and texture of a prime rib roast using a boneless chuck roast (choice), placed in the SV for about 18 hours… since the chuck is a tougher piece of meat, the longer cooking time will bring the texture into the range of some of the most tender prime rib you have ever tried, but since it’s a tougher piece of meat 18 hours wont turn it into a piece of pot roast (I’ve gone 24+ hours and at that point the meat does degrade to the consistency of mush).

Also, Annova seems to have written the most common SV cookbook on the internet at this time… I would be careful using their recipes as I have not found them to be that good… Their corned beef recipe calls for adding stout beer to the bag (big mistake, it tasted terrible), it also called for cooking for 48 hours… We ended up with very mushy meat that just did not cut it… although I added some potatoes and onions the next day and it ended up being the perfect consistancy for corned beef hash (but still had that stout flavor…blech!)

I SV’d a batch of breakfast sausage I made, and it came out ok, but not great… I tried a 2nd batch and only left it in for about 1/2 hr @ 135… it came out only part cooked, but when I finished it in a 400 degree oven, it was INCREDIBLE!!!

I’ve only had mine since Nov, and have been experimenting with various meats, eggs, veggies, etc… also incorporating it in conjunction with the smoker… There is definitely a learning curve, but it’s worth it!!!

Thanks Austin, the 1/16" difference in the 2 sets of pliers appears to be substantial… That being said, I am getting ready to order your “poly bag sealer”… That was the direction I was going to go initially, but had received the hog ring pliers as Christmas gifts from well meaning (and hungry) friends.

Just a suggestion, but if there were any way possible for you to add a “public viewing” option to the wish list on your website, I know I would pass links to it to friends for upcoming birthday and Christmas presents…

I’ve heard of adding cocoa and cinnamon, but have never tried it… Departing Contestant I’ve tried many of the varieties of chili you mentioned and I’ll agree, some were good… others were not…

As far as Feb 2nd is concerned, if it involves one of those sports that do not use hockey sticks, I am not aware of it… BUT… so long as beans are not included I’ll bring the bagels…

Jonathon pkzipper Peameal bacon is generally not smoked, I have not tried doing it…
I have found using actual maple syrup to be messy… especially if injected… I have used both mayonnaise and mustard to bind the peameal to the meat… have thought about using an egg wash (like you would do when deep frying), but have not tried it yet…

best peameal bacon I have made, ground the peameal to fine flour, mixed w/ water to a slightly thickened consistency, then injected it prior to brining… after brine, made a thicker paste from peameal to cover the entire piece of meat… then put in oven to 145 internal temp.

injected peameal lost moisture during cook process and ended up the consistency (and mouth feel) of fat… but with a rich peameal flavor…

Jonathon yes, dried and split… come in a bag just like dried green peas, but a bit harder to find… Regular grocery stores (including Whole Foods) don’t seem to carry them, but we have an abundance of both Indian and Chinese grocery stores locally… every one of them has them!!! Be careful what you grab, I found there are numerous items that look like yellow peas and were labeled in either Indian or Chinese… Initially I grabbed a bag of what turned out to be yellow lentils… the guy at the checkout set me straight and pointed me to the right item…

Instructions were to “rough grind” them so I had some larger chunks left in there… you want to make sure everything is ground to less than about 1/8" or it will end up being too crunchy…

I used an EQ cure, and threw in some maple syrup and pickling spice… very basic… Then just coat with ground up yellow peas, let it rest for a day or so…Either slice and freeze or cook the entire roast… last time I cooked the entire roast, this time I’m doing some each way to see if there is any difference…

Tex_77 I don’t have any secrets, The baking problems you have require a solution based on your local environment… My suggestion would be to do as I did, find a professional baker in your area that has figured out the recipe modifications necessary for your locale… Probably more difficult will be finding a baker that is willing to share his/her techniques…