Monday, February 13, 2023

Hank Cooks Underwater--Do YOU?

An Anova device, in a clear pan just for demo

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I know I’m the last person you expect to talk about this, but I have found a wonderful new cooking method. I mean it’s not new, but it’s new to me, and it’s fantastic. 


(First, thank you thank you thank you to all of you… Debs and I have both had incredibly marvelously wonderful successful launch weeks, more fabulous than I ever could’ve hoped for THE HOUSE GUEST, and Debs' A KILLING OF INNOCENTS is unstoppable, and I know this is we are both very grateful to you all!)


Now back to our regular programming. 


Do you ever cook with sous vide? It  means “under vacuum,” and it’s a method where you put the food in a plastic bag, immerse it in a water bath, and then insert a special gizmo that circulates the water at a constant temperature for a certain amount of time.  And that’s how the food cooks.


I know it sounds weird, but there you have it, and I have to tell you, Reds and Readers, it is so remarkable and reliable for steak or chicken or salmon, or hamburgers, or pork chops or lamb chops, that I can’t even begin to tell you! It is also staggeringly successful with vegetables. 


This is the device--I have an Anova

When the food comes out of the water bath, encased in the almost airtight plastic, the meat looks terrible, because it’s not brown. But it is perfectly cooked! And then you put a cast-iron pot on the stove, put a tiny bit of olive oil in it, turn it up till it shimmers, and then throw the sous vide food onto the super-hot oil for maybe 30 seconds a side. So it sears. (I almost burned the house down the first time I tried it, so be aware.)


You know how when you cook chicken or beef in the broiler or oven, it inevitably cooks less in the thicker parts, and more in the thinner or narrower parts. That doesn’t happen in a sous vide. So a medium rare steak is medium rare from end to middle to end. The chicken breast is succulent and tender and perfect throughout. Hamburgers too. It’s amazing! I cannot sing its  praises highly enough.  (I guess you’re realizing that.)


The weird part is that it takes a while.( But you don’t have to do a thing during that time.) So a steak takes an hour. Chicken breasts take two hours. But you just turn on the water bath, let it come to temperature, put in the whatever-it- is, set the timer, and then it bings when  it’s done. You don’t have to do a thing, so it is fabulously simple. I am in love with it. All I can say. Anyone else cook with the sous vide method? 


RHYS BOWEN:  We have a sous vide( bought by gadget master John who tries everything then discards it ) this was discarded because it did indeed take too long and was bland . But I have a new cooking method to share that I tried this week. Roasting eye of round. You preheat oven to 500. Rub the roast with olive oil and herbal seasonings. Put in for five minutes a pound then simply turn the oven off and leave the roast for 2 hours. It was so tender!  And any recipe that says leave alone and it cooks itself is my kind of cooking! ( but I did make Yorkshire pudding)


HANK: Oh, yes, no, you have to put seasonings in the bag. For salmon, I put toasted sesame oil, and lemon olive oil. For steak garlic and soy sauce. For chicken, balsamic vinaigrette. The flavors infuse.  Then when you sear for 30 seconds, it all caramelizes. Amazing.


JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I find the idea fascinating, but I’m more of a soup/casserole/stir-fry type of cook, so I don’t think I’d get much use out of it. (My kids lovingly say all my dinners are just different flavors of glop. At least, I think that’s meant lovingly..)


I love set it and forget it dinners, though. My favorite appliance for years has been the old-fashioned Crock Pot/slow cooker. I use it at least once a week for chili, baked beans, BBQ beef and peppers, etc. I love excellent, intricate cooking, I really do, but I don’t have the patience for it. That’s what I go over to Celia’s house for!


HALLIE EPHRON: I’m fascinated by the idea of sous vide and we have a dear friend/wonderful chef who swears by it. (He’s also a bread machine baker.)But I confess I’m wary of anything that involves plastic and heat and food. Also I have a small kitchen, barely big enough for the “conveniences” I already have. Which by the way does not include a crock pot. What I wish I had is a decent waffle iron–the one I have is teflon coated and still the waffles stick. Also I swear by my immersion blender and mandolin.


LUCY BURDETTE: I believe you Hank, but it still sounds weird to me too! I’m with Julia on soups and stir frys, and Hallie, lately I’ve been yearning for a waffle iron. We don’t have a lot of counter space left either–John has become obsessed with making his own sparkling water and lots of coffee accouterments too. Plus the toaster oven, toaster, cuisinart, stand mixer. I have to draw a line somewhere! Hank, you will need to have us all over for dinner to show us the light!



HANK: I will! It’s astonishing.


DEBORAH CROMBIE: Maybe we should start a soup and stir fry club… Those are our kind of meals, too. No sous vide here. Absolutely no storage room in my kitchen for another gadget. I love my Instant Pot but it is ginormous, and I'd cut off my arm before I gave up my decade old rice maker. (I know you can cook rice in the Instant Pot but I don't trust it.) 


But, Rhys, I'm so interested in your high heat roast. We thought about trying that for our Christmas rib roast, but chickened out. Next time I will ask you for tips!


JENN McKINLAY: I have never heard of this and it sounds fascinating. I absolutely love the idea of so little work involved in cooking. Since Hub is the chef in our house, I'll mention it to him and see if he wants to give it a go.


HANK: Yes I know it sounds so weird, and unlikely. But all you need is the pot you use for pasta, and an immersion thing that’s SO SMALL! About as big as an immersion blender or a curling iron.. There’s no huge equipment necessary. It’s amazing. How about you, Reds and Readers? Any sous viders?

67 comments:

  1. No sous vide here, either. I enjoy cooking, so I’m not particularly interested in something that doesn’t let me do much of anything. However, I do love my air fryer and my immersion blender.

    Rhys, I always do the roast that way because it is so tender . . . .

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    1. It seems like we will have to try that!

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    2. Oh, that was me above. :-) and let me ask the other question… Do you have a secret way of making sure you can peel the shells from hard boiled eggs? I was just thinking about this. Xx

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    3. And I have to ask your advice! I don’t understand air fryers at all. What do they do? Xx

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    4. Clare: I love my air fryer! Great for roast vegetables of any kind in half the time, french fries, reheating pizza. Bacon that comes out perfectly, even a pork loin roast. I guard my counter space too but this is worth it. Mine also dries fruit so you can have it without the sulfates.

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    5. The secret to peeling hard boiled eggs is to make sure the eggs are super fresh. For some reason eggs that are old are very difficult to peel.

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    6. This may sound kind of silly, but the grandbabies love it and it always seems to work . . . put your hard-boiled egg [or two or three] in a container; add water; cover; shake [the best part of the process according to the Little Ones!]. The egg shells always just slip right off the eggs.

      I can't add much to what Clare said . . . we use our air fryer [ours looks like a toaster oven] a lot . . . .

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    7. No sous vide here, but I have a friend who loves his! I'm definitely an Instant Pot person. Rice is perfect, beans too. And, this may sound nuts, but it is the perfect way to make hard boiled eggs--the shells just slip off perfectly smoothly. Also, I'l halfway through listening to A Killing of Innocents and it's just great. Wonderful writing and a perfect narrator! -Melanie

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    8. SO great to hear! Yes, those who love sous vide are absolutely passionate about them! It is just so..foolproof.

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  2. This is the first I've ever heard of a sous vide, Hank. It sounds fascinating, but I'm not sure I'll ever try it. I still love my crock pot. I finally got the bigger, oval shaped one, and I love it even more. The two things I fix most in in is a roast, with potatoes and carrots, and chicken spaghetti. I do have to fix the spaghetti on the stove, but that's not too bad. I recently saw a recipe for hash brown casserole in the slow cooker and plan on trying that. It just involves a package of frozen hash browns, cream of chicken soup, cheese, and sour cream. Rhys, I do like the sound of that roast you cooked. I'll be trying that. We do have an air fryer, too, but my husband uses it. I still use my electric skillet for making my spaghetti sauce for my baked spaghetti. These days I'm really interested in finding recipes where I can put the ingredients together, put it in a cooker, and come back a few hours later and it's ready.

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    1. Delish! Although I have never been attracted to a crockpot, I have to say. And so funny about the appliances… There are no appliances on my countertop, except a toaster and a coffee maker. I love chicken spaghetti, though! Remind me to tell you a funny story about that sometime… xxxxxx

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  3. I've never heard of a sous vide, but then, we are vegetarian (except for fish & seafood - which I guess makes us pescadarian). We also have a small kitchen with limited counter space for gadgetry. But the sous vide does sound amazing. The one gadget we are planning to add to our blender and spice grinder is a waffle iron. We took a trip to southern portugal last week and had waffles for breakfast, and oh how that brought back waffle memories and made us want more! (My husband is out shopping for one right now.) The machine they used was a small machine that made small waffles, and they drizzled the waffles with honey and a squeeze of lemon juice. Mmm good.

    On another note, congratulations, Hank Phillipi Ryan and Deborah Crombie on your new releases — which I am hoping to read soon if I can get them on Amazon.es and avoid customs. (Customs is a frustrating challenge for us until we know more Portuguese and can read instructions. We've lost a couple of items because we pressed the wrong key.) I've read earlier books by both of you and really enjoyed them so much. (I'm working my way through Jungle Red Writers).

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    1. Waffles! I have not had waffles in maybe… 30 years. So funny— I can almost smell them now!

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    2. He found the perfect waffle maker - it's small and has additional attachments to grill fish or make toast or sandwiches. I'm over the moon.

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    3. Thanks, Elizabeth! Can you order from Book Despository? I order UK books all the time and the shipping is free, and I know they also have US editions of books.

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    4. Our waffle maker is probably close to 60 years old and makes awesome waffles. Steve rewired it about 15-20 years ago after I bought a new one that was horrible.

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    5. Deborah, yes I can. I'm not sure that I can bypass Customs with Book Depository, though. I'll check out with Amazon es. I've had good luck with them.

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  4. Foodie that I am, I remember hearing about sous vide around 1990? I put on my Librarian hat to go look up the history. In order for this to work, it was first used to sterilize items including food in labs btw, this was in the 1960's. Plastic wrap needed to be invented, along with the hardware that can be easily cleaned. By the 1970's the machine moved into commercial use. The original machines were priced around $1000 USD. The product arrived in the US in the 1990's and was made popular around 2005. Chefs who were into molecular gastronomy really loved it and still do I suppose.

    We also have a small kitchen. Shelf space is limited to a convection oven, an Instant Pot, the coffee maker, and the dish rack. No stove or dish washer on Nome St.(I told you space is limited) and most likely no sous vide will come into the clutter. I suspect that many cats would be watching the food move, resulting in a potentially bad out come.

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    1. That is such a comical sight to imagine! But I imagine the kitties would be bored very quickly, since the food does not really move :-)

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  5. I've heard of sous vide, but never knew exactly what it was. I like the idea, but it's a no on the plastic bags for me, too. Rhys, at what temperature do you set the oven for that roast? And for those wanting a waffle maker--my small one died a year or so ago and I replaced it with a Krups, 4-waffle, removable plates version. Love it! I had shelf space in a cupboard to store it and do have the counter space to use it (or I can park it on the stovetop when in use too).

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    1. Rhys, sounds like you are going to have to do a whole blog on that roast!

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  6. Hi Hank! Congratulations to both you and Debs on your hugely successful releases! You know that many contributors here have both of your books on our shelves, Kindles, Nooks, audio files, etc.;>)

    Cook's Illustrated is obsessed with the sous vide method. I would not consider it for the same reasons that Edith and Hallie have already given. I have cut way, way back on plastic and paper use here, and will not cook in any type of plastic, even to rewarm things in my microwave.

    There is a Cooks Illustrated recipe for Weeknight Chicken which is similar to Rhys's roast recipe and it makes the crispiest roast chicken ever! I make it at least once a month and boy does the house smell wonderful. It is the least fussy and most thoroughly roasted chicken, all parts cooked all the way through.

    I do have gadgets, but very few in my little kitchen. Even my mixer lives down in the basement, and I bake a lot.

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  7. HANK: Sous vide cooking is working for you, so that's great! I would never use it myself but several of my fave local restaurants make the BEST duck confit using the sous vide method. The duck doesn't look that appetizing. I take it out of the bag & brown it in the oven for 20 minutes and it's perfectly succulent.

    Like others, I have the smallest galley kitchen. I love using my glass-topped stove/oven for meals and don't use a lot of other gadgets. Right now, I am in the soup/stew season of eating.

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    1. Oh yes, the food looks terrible when it comes out of the package… That’s why I now leave my big cast-iron skillet out on the stove… All the sous vide meal needs is high heat searing to Brown and caramelize. And it’s gorgeous.

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  8. In fact, I switched to the brand of clothes detergent that Grace and Karen told me about last year. Tru Earth comes in a paper envelope once a month, NO More Plastic! We also have bought everyday cloth napkins through Amazon, so No more paper napkins, at all! I also bought a big package of flour sack cloth towels to replace most paper towels in the kitchen. Since New Year's, we have only used 1 roll of paper towels in the kitchen. I am trying! It is impossible to avoid plastic if you buy meat or fish, milk or cheese. But my own use is way down.

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  9. Glad all the new releases are doing well! All the books in my tbr pile keep me entertained while my husband does the cooking. He saw the sous vide on some cooking show and had to have it. (I think my oldest son has one too.) He has used it a few times with okay results. He seems to prefer his cast iron pan or the smoker. We went to Alton Brown’s live show in December. A big segment was on cooking chicken wings in an air fryer. Quite funny, but in the end not a recommended appliance.

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    1. Yes, the whole key of the sous vide is the steering. The Cooking part just makes whatever you’re cooking—fish, vegetables, meat—-done absolutely perfectly. Then the searing makes it look the way we are used to, with that gorgeous outside.

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  10. No sous vide here. A new induction stove coming soon. And maybe a food processor if I can figure out the right model for me. We hand grind our coffee beans every morning. Anyone else do that?

    Hank: Put hard-boiled eggs into cold water, then peel them. It words pretty well, even if the eggs were boiled yesterday and you're peeling them today.

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    1. We're considering switching to induction, even though our gas stove is only ten years old. My son and his wife love their induction stovetop.

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    2. Edith: We want to switch from gas, too. Induction cook top and, apparently, the mysterious air fryer option in the oven. Much to learn!

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    3. Yes, the air fryer is SUCH a mystery. No air frying here...xxx

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  11. True, Judy. We also use cloth napkins, and our milk comes in a cardboard carton, although it's coated and has to go in the trash, not the recycling.

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  12. Like many here, I prefer cooking and eating soups, casseroles or stir-fry meals.
    I usually eat very little meat and only when included in comfort food.
    Danielle

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    1. Yes, we love stirfry too! Except the wok has to stay in the pantry because it takes up so much space.

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  13. No “sorry” necessary! Sounds very wise. Xx

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  14. It sounds intriguing, but no way would I be able to wait hours for dinner. To eat at 5, I'd have to start cooking at 3 and I'm still at work.

    And I totally relate to the countertop space. Between the InstaPot, the air fryer, and my son's Nutri-bullet blender, I barely have space to prep anything.

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    1. Well, you are using your countertop for all it’s worth! And the key is you don’t have to make the sous vide food the same day. You just cook it, and then put it in the refrigerator. The next day take it out, sear for two minutes and you are done.
      I do that all the time on the weekend: Make three packages of chicken, and one of salmon, for instance, then put them in the refrigerator. Then dinner takes five minutes .. you can shred the gorgeous chicken for tacos, or put it with pasta and vegetables, or on top of the salad, or add it to stirfried vegetables, because the chicken is already gorgeously done. See what I mean?

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    2. You are convincing me, Hank! Do you need special plastic bags with a sealer gadget?

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    3. Nope. Just regular ziptop plastic bags. YOu just goosh the air out with a spoon. Easy and fun. I'll show you via facetime if you like!

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    4. Ih fact, Debs, that's a good idea. It took me one time to get it perfect..but if someone had shown me how, it would have been even easier. Let me know!

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  15. Sounds interesting, and I've heard raves, but haven't been tempted. I think at this stage in my cooking life, the old dog is not learning new tricks! Rhys, I've used the high heat/leave it alone method of roasting - so good! Other than that - soups and stir fries at my house, too and the odd casserole, and yes, indeed, Crock Pot!

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    1. HA! I have never tried a crock pot, so there are new things for all of us!

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  16. Sounds like an excellent idea!

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  17. My son cooked a lamb (roast, boneless leg, not sure?) with his Sous Vide set up at Christmas. He warned us that it wouldn't look appetizing when it came out all pale, but then he browned it and it was wonderful. He rubbed the lamb with oil and seasoning before the sous vide - delicious! He, of course, has the full set up with the large clear pan and the vacuum sealer for the plastic bag, but that's how he rolls with a gadget for cooking that he will use. We don't have one. We do have the smaller sized Instant Pot, perfectly sized for my husband and me, which we mostly use for the slow cooker function. I don't think we've used the instant pot function at all. LOL. My husband is a great cook (like both my son and daughter), I'm just an okay cook, so I let him do the majority, I assist. He does a lot of grilling, stir fry, he makes a killer gluten free chicken piccata (my favorite!). He's one of those that can look in the fridge, see a bunch of random stuff, grab a fry pan and create a masterpiece. I make the rice to go with it.

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    1. Rice-making is KEY! ANd yes, those of us who love the sous vide will never stop singing its praises. It is FOOLPROOF.

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  18. I've used the high heat/leave-it-alone method for chicken thighs. It gets the skin nice and crispy! We love our sous vide. You do have to plan ahead a little bit, but it makes steak, which I normally do not like, come out like butter. You have to season what you put in the bag too. We've done salmon, chicken, and pork in there too. In particular, it makes amazing pork chops - no dried out centers!

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    1. Exactly! All of the worries that you have with dry/too done/too rare etc--all vanish. Everything is perfect. SO agree.

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  19. I made prime rib for 24 the way Rhys describes 20 years ago. It was for my father-in-law's 90th birthday, and I'd never made it before, but it turned out perfect. (The local butcher--remember those?--gave me the directions.) The package of meat was enormous, and a vegetarian friend who saw me in the checkout line with it asked if it was the Fatted Calf. So really, really a leap o'
    faith, with that pricey cut!

    A friend first talked about using sous vide years ago. I wonder if they still use it. It's not for me; I am also trying hard to stay away from excessive plastic. Which is already nearly impossible. Steve has gotten really good at grilling meat on our little Weber, too.

    I keep most appliances put away until we need them, either in the pantry or in the basement with the dehydrator and canning supplies. Only the coffeemaker, electric kettle, coffee grinder and toaster get to live in plain sight. We have two CrockPot-type cookers, a small one I've had so long the pot part is an actual brown crock, and the big oval one Kathy mentioned. I just made beans in the small one last week.

    Last night a friend used his air fryer for cooking Super Bowl yummies: breaded shrimp on a stick, perfectly roasted Brussels sprouts that tasted exactly like the ones I love that are drenched in oil--but these were healthy, and quail, of all things. My oldest likes to use hers for hard-cooked eggs.

    Hank, I haven't tried it yet, but I've seen video clips of hard-cooked eggs in a Mason jar, shaken until the peels come off cleanly. Next time I use a lot of eggs I'm planning to try that.

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    1. ooh, I will try that! xxx It sounds like fun, anyway! xx

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  20. I don’t think that would work for me. I’ve given up almost all meat in recent years, and I prefer soups, one-pot meals, or stir-fry. But it sounds interesting! Why don’t you invite all of us over for dinner, and show us how it works?!

    My birthday is next month and I’m giving myself Hank’s and Debs’ new books!

    DebRo

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  21. All of the JRWs have wonderful ideas about cooking! I STILL have the crockpot and use it for making soup. Since I am so picky about my soups, usually liquid not chunky, there are times when I do not want to have soup. I love my homemade French onion soup with gluten free bread and dairy free cheese.

    Trying to recall if we cooked like the sous vide method. I think so though I did not know it was called sous vide. I learn something new!

    One of the things I like to do is to take the toast out of the toaster and put the toast in the frying pan for a few minutes to add flavor. I have that with my eggs for breakfast.

    And my kitchen has small space so I do not have room for a lot of kitchen gadgets. For example, the regular blender is TOO big for the kitchen so I got the Nutri (sp?) blender which is small enough for the kitchen and use it to blend smoothies and to make hummus.

    Last time I ate beef / meat was a very spicy burger from Barney's Gourmet Burgers about six months ago. Since I found out that the process of making meat requires a lot of water (I think this is in reference to cattle farms?), I try not to eat a lot of meat. I am learning more about climate change.

    Diana

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  22. https://www.americastestkitchen.com/equipment_reviews/2335-sous-vide-machines

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    1. SO interesting! But you really don't need the special container--your pasta pot is just fine!

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  23. Sous vide sounds interesting; certainly isn't the old boil-in-the-bag meals from umpteen years ago. I cook as little as possible these days. No air fryers or instant pots here, nor any temptation to try them. I have a cheapie rice cooker and a nice crockpot for my "specialized" equipment and it works for me.

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    1. Oh so funny! No, not at all like boil in bag!~ HA HA!!

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  24. For those of you who would like a waffle maker, my daughter has a little one -- about the size of a teacup saucer -- and it's great. It's Teflon but you do need to spray it with spray oil. The waffles are fast and fun.

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  25. Congrats on your book, Hank, and yes, my husband sous vides. Salmon, steak, lamb, and pork. When we rented a house in Florida for a month, he lamented that he hadn't brought the sous vide gadget and his beloved Therma Pen (which looks like a murder weapon).

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  26. YES to the sous vide way of cooking! My husband loves the gadgets and picked this up on our eldest son's recommendation! Our meals come out so moist when he uses it. He doesn't add much in the way of seasonings, but they are perfectly flavored everytime. We haven't tried vegetables yet, but I think I will ask him to soon.

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