jeffshoaf

@tekobo that's an impressive number of prepped containers! My Creami came with 4 and I've ordered 2 more but they're delayed - everyone is having trouble keeping them in stock. I'm not sure about venturing into the savory side, but I do have some excess fresh basil. I found a recipe that had fresh basil and dill as the primary flavoring ingredients, so I may try that without the dill. I think basil and mint are related; I've not tried to grow any mint before since I haven't had any use for it but may have to try some in my indoor garden.

Mine arrived yesterday; of course, I didn't have anything ready to spin since I didn't have the "pints" which are actually a pint and a half for the Deluxe model. I also was short on ingredients - all I had was skim milk so I attempted to get done if it closer to cream by mixing in some butter. I found a simple Creami recipe for orange sherbet online (orange juice, heavy cream, milk, and sugar) and mixed that up with my simulated cream. I also used a recipe from the Ninja recipe book for a "creamiccino", which is their version of a frappuccino using coffee, half& half, and sugar so I mixed one of those up as well. I had an several errands to run this morning, including my weekly to to the grocery store where I stocked up on ingredients. After I got home, put the groceries up, and got the cats settled down, i spun the sherbet. I've linked to my amateur, totally unedited video of the process and attached a picture of the result and a picture of the cats (just because). The sherbet was pretty good, but I did start tasting the butter near the bottom of the bowl. I prepped up two more easy recipes for future use - one with a can of peaches and sweetened condensed milk and the other just store-bought chocolate milk. I'm having foot surgery in a couple of weeks and won't be able to put any weight on it for 6 weeks, so I'll have plenty of time to experiment and get fatter.

I finally found a negative review on YouTube. It's from America's Test Kitchen; I like their reviews but they do seem to have a bias against the more techie gadgets. Mine is out for delivery today; I have limited ingredients today but will certainly try to get something in the freezer to try tomorrow evening.

I have yet to see a review that was negative on the results after the reviewer made several "pints" and read the manual (and I've looked at a lot). Chief complaints were the price and the 24 hour lead time. Of course, most frequent users go ahead and get extra containers so they can have several varieties of frozen stuff in the freezer for when they want some. There are also a bunch of Facebook groups dedicated to it, with several for low calorie and/or keto recipes. That seems to be a big chunk of the market - those looking for low- or no-calorie frozen treats and those avoiding dairy. One good piece of advice I saw in a video is to get a wet erase marker to mark the "pints" with the contents so you don't lose track of what you have in the freezer.

@tony b, yours is doing more of a traditional churn than the Ninja. The Ninja is using a technology that's been available for professionals fit years - the patent ran out and Ninja jumped on it. It can do a wider variety of frozen deserts than the churners. Pretty much universal positive reviews (and not just Ninja fanatics). Here's an interesting video on the technology that compares the professional machine to the Ninja:

Anybody have a Ninja Creami? I've been craving ice cream lately and have been eyeing these for a while, so I made the leap when I found an OK price: https://www.ninjakitchen.com/ice-cream-makers/ And the pretty good deal: https://www.hsn.com/products/ninja-creami-deluxe-11-in-1-xl-frozen-treat-maker-with-/20677795?sz=5&sf=QC0016&ac=&utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping engine&utm_term=&utm_campaign=Gshopping|BrandProduct|kitchen+food+kitchen+appliances&utm_content=147798559164_pla-1958140310773_20677796&pdp_exp=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwiZqhBhCJARIsACHHEH-9qPmt6XmVv3Oizu3lWWaKSkctxfqoVviQ6S90XFiW135WZVvn_lwaAhkbEALw_wcB Ninja is a bit confused on their definition of "pint" though...

I woke up early this morning with an inspiration; not sure where the idea came from but has anyone here tried rigging up a steam table and used a sous vide stick to heat the water instead of Sterno? I was thinking taking up a half or quarter pan slot, cover with aluminum foil (maybe with styrofoam backing) with a hole in it for the sous vide stick. A quick google didn't find anything on the interwebs; surely I didn't have an original idea!

Yes, for some values of "enough"... Just don't leave it blowing at full speed or you'll overshoot your target temp and not be able to get it back down to target temp.

@Tyrus, I'm surprised those cherry chunks don't have a better bark.

I'm having this and the non-working quote issue too, but I just assumed it was one of the occasional oddities I get using Chrome on a Chromebook tablet.

You can use roll bags in a chamber but sealing without vacuum is a bit slow, at least in my Avid Armor. It uses vacuum to close the sealer bar so it has to pump a bit before sealing. Should be ok to use to use up existing stock and to pack stuff that doesn't fit in the chamber, but I wouldn't want to use roll bags beyond that. I've not done the math, but my understanding is that pre-formed chamber bags are less expensive than suction machine stock since chamber sealing doesn't require textured bags.

When we went on a Caribbean cruise years ago, there were several stops that featured a live band. I think every one of them played a song with a similar story with each verse ending with something like "don't tell your mama but that girl is your sister and your mama don't know." Of course the last verse ended with "don't tell your daddy but your daddy is not your daddy and your daddy don't know."

Not to steal Tony's thunder, but I recently filled up my little freezer with 99¢ /lb bone-in Boston butts... I now have 7 in there, plus one that is my sister's, plus a big rack of St. Louis ribs ($1.59 /lb), a turkey (my sister's), a turkey breast ($1.49 /lb I think), and some other odds and ends. The butts are all around 8 lbs. I'll have to admit that Tony's looks better than mine right now!

The yakitorium, of course!

He's in Oklahoma for most of his videos but does travel for events. He has a video on Bertha; if I remember correctly, it's a recreation of a wood-fired cook stove that came out in the late 1800's-early 1900's and was towed behind the chuck wagon on its own trailer. https://www.hastybake.com/products/bertha-cowboy-stove#:~:text=Kent Rollins' signature wood-burning,stove will last a lifetime.

Anybody watch cowboy Kent on YouTube? I find him very entertaining and informative; he doesn't KK (don't think one would work well on the chuck wagon) but he does use a variety of cookers. Hasty Bake recently came out with a Kent Rollins signature steel "barrel" smoker and he uses it in some videos; those techniques should translate to the KK well.

Nudge, nudge...

Both Thermoworks and BBQ Guru provide probes with a 90° bend that would not go thru my KK's port but I was able to straighten them enough to work by carefully bending them by sticking then in a space between the slats in my KK side shelves. Thermoworks does have straight probes available but I didn't check to see if they would swap them with the standard process when I ordered mine.

I have the BBQ Guru cyberQ and the Thermoworks Signals/Bellows and external battery combo. I highly recommend the Thermoworks; I can't recommend the guru. The Signals can be used as just a 4 probe remote thermometer with or without external power or you can add the Bellows fan to get temperature control; the fan requires external power via either the provided AC adapter or the optional battery. The fan moves a lot of air so it requires the optional damper when used with the KK. The battery in the signals will last over 24 hours; the extension battery week power the signals and the fan for a long time as week - I think I've gone 17 or 18 hours and it still had some charge. The signals displays all 4 probe settings at the same time locally or you can connect it to WiFi and monitor by their very nice all on your phone; optionally connect to the internet and you can monitor anywhere. You can set your alert temps on the signals unit or vids the app. You get high local alerts on the signals and remote alerts on you phone. The signals, Bellows, and battery are all water resistant - you can use then in the rain. My only non-nit picky complaint is they use standard USB connectors for everything but everything needs 12 VDC instead of standard USB 5VDC voltage; they do provide enough AC adapters to cover everything but you have to remember to use this instead of one of the many USB adapters you already have. Again, highly recommended! The CyberQ requires external power via the included AC adapter. It has a one line backlit LCD display and membrane type buttons to configure it; these are painful to use due to the limited info that can be displayed and the poor tactile feedback from the buttons. It can be used stand-alone, but I'd only do that out of desperation due to the limited display and buttons. Once you connect to WiFi, you can use their cloud app to configure and monitor the unit from anywhere with any device via a web browser; this works ok but it comes with all the limitations of a web app and depends on you having an internet connection at all times. You get temp alerts via text and/or email and on the unit itself; this is a big issue for me since my main reason for using a remote thermometer and temp control is to do long overnight cooks - I don't want to check my phone every time I get a text or email while I'm trying to sleep to see whether it's an alert or just a regular text/email that can wait until morning. I've also had issues with the unit forgetting my network credentials when it goes unused for a while even tho it remembers the target and alert temps of my last cook - and even tho the unit has a local webserver you can connect to to do the network configuration, I've not been able to get it to actually get it connected to my network, leaving me too use the terrible UI on the device itself. Not recommended! BBQ Guru does have a newer controller that is supposed to address a lot of these issues but they've had a lot of software issues, including some that made the unit unusable or useable but with issues that could ruin a cook. They also outsourced their firmware development and haven't been able to provide updates in a timely matter, even when an update breaks the unit. I don't tend to rely on technical support much, but my customer support experience with high companies had been good - but I must caveat that statement by telling you that my last interaction with BBQ Guru was 7 or 8 years ago and may be different now. Hope this epistle is helpful!

Have you tried such a long hold on pork butts? I do a lot more butts than I do briskets. I'm thinking about getting an electric smoker (cabinet type, not the drum type) to use for long holds. I'm hoping to find a used one for a good price; I think they go for around $50 if the temp controller is bad; add an aftermarket PID controller and an insulated one should hold temp within a few degrees and a water pan should help keep the environment humid. I do a cookout for the extended family each summer; last year I smoked 4 butts overnight and then grilled 7 spatchcocked chickens on my big Santa Maria grill. I'd like to do a similar cook for another big group of two. I've been getting good results with minimal sleep interruptions by running the KK or insulated gravity feed smoker at 200° F overnight but it's hard to really get a good night's sleep while keeping an ear cocked for an alarm from the temp controller - I'd like to get a better night's sleep so I won't be so tired when all the company is here. Getting a good result with a long hold on the butts (and maybe briskets in the future) would let me smoke them overnight two nights prior to the gathering, hold for 24+ hours, get a better night's sleep, and focus on the grilling and other prepwork the day of. If you saw me, you'd agree that I need as much beauty sleep as possible! A bit of KK blasphemy... The very long hold would also open up the possibility of doing a hot and fast cook ask during daylight hours the day before using a stick burner. I have a bad itch for a stick burner but really don't want to stay up all night feeding one and wouldn't want to do a hot and fast cook the day of the gathering with all the prep work and grilling as well.

That's purty! Please tell us more about this warning cooler - sounds like a candidate for the KK Shopping Channel! May be something I'm looking for since I recently tested my oven for use as a holding chamber and it failed.

David, have you used the Anova to rest or hold a roast (a brisket or pork butt, for example) after smoking? I'm wondering if the sous vide mode could be used to keep it moist during a long hold.

Step up and get both like I did! I've had the Vermicular for a while now. It's my go-to for sauces and some veggies.

I guess I've entered the "grumpy old man" phase of life.... A couple more: "Delish" - something about hearing this just rubs me wrong "Unami" - this one isn't too bad but it's way overused