jeffshoaf

This is long - sorry, but it's a long story! I like coffee but I'm not fanatical enough to spend a lot of time preparing it or grinding my own beans, so I've been using various pod machines for years. I wasn't happy with the original k-cups (just didn't make a big enough cup of coffee), so I was excited when Keurig came out with a new machine around 10 years ago that was a bit more flexible and could use bigger pods. After my usual research process and waiting for a while for the kinks to be worked out, I bought one. In general, I liked the machine; it could make several sizes of drinks and it let you adjust the strength, which addressed my big issues with the k-cup machines but it never took off and after a few years, Keurig discontinued the makers but kept producing the pods. Of course, after a few more years they discontinued the pods too. They did offer a pretty good discount on a new k-cup machine, but after having a similar chain of events with their espresso machine, I was through with Keurig. While looking for a replacement, I came across a new machine in Kickstarter called Spinn. Instead of using pods, it had a hopper for coffee beans, a burr grinder that automatically adjusted for various grinds, and a centrifugal brewing chamber, all controlled via an app. Dump roasted beans (up to a pound into the hopper that has a gasketted lid to help keep them fresh, select a coffee style ( espresso, Americano, drip, etc.) in the app, adjust the strength and size if desired, and start the process. The machine adjusted the grind size as appropriate for the coffee style, ground the beans, transported the grinds into the brew chamber for brewing. After brewing, the machine would dump the used grounds into a bin and go thru a cleaning cycle. Once drinking your fresh ground and brewed coffee, you could go back into the app and it would ask questions about how you liked it, make adjustments to the recipe if needed, and remember your preferences. The centrifugal brewing process isn't exactly traditional but had been around for a while. Basically, the chamber spins at a high rpm and hot water is injected into the middle of the chamber; the centrifugal force pushes the water through the coffee grounds and through perforations to filter and extract coffee. By varying the grind, rpm, and how long the water is held in the chamber, coffee strength and flavor profile is controlled as well as crema, allowing various coffees to be made. Reviews of the prototype machines were very positive but there was no guarantee that it would make it out of Kickstarter. They were pretty up-front about the issues they were having; the issues were mainly with grinder wear and jams in the mechanisms to move the ground coffee into and out of the brewing chamber. I decided to not risk my $$ on the Kickstarter and I needed a coffee maker. My research found that Nespresso had licensed the centrifugal brewing technology and was using in their Vertuo pod machine. Since the coffee in the pods was already ground, the pod acts as the brewing chamber, and the spent grounds stay in the pod, the Spinn issues aren't relevant. Barcodes on the pods set the brewing parameters so no app. I kept my eye on the Spinn but bought a Vertuo. I've been happy with the Vertuo but the pods are a bit pricey, with prices averaging about $1 per pod. I have mainly used the pods for 7.7 oz coffees and they're mostly $1.10 per pod. They have a pretty good variety of styles and flavors and multiple sizes from espresso to travel mugs. Meanwhile, the Spinn finally started shipping in quantities last year - only 4 years late - for $999. In the interim, they have resolved the issues but changed their plans a bit. Instead of the app asking questions and adjusting the brew accordingly, they now have a roasters market where they have beans from small craft coffee roasters all across the USA. Each roaster provides recipes of the brewing parameters they recommend for each blend they have available in the marketplace for each style/size of drink; you tell the app what beans you have loaded in the machine by scanning the bag or, if you bought thru the marketplace, your list of orders and the app loads those parameters to the machine. You still have the ability to adjust strength and size (within limits) and you can save those adjustments. You can also use beans that aren't in the marketplace but you'll probably have to tweak the recipes a bit more. Anyway, the machine was on sale for $700 black Friday; I didn't have time to do the research my conscience requires then so I missed it, but they had another sale for cyber week at $750. I calculated my Nespresso pod cost per year and figured the machine would pay for itself in less than a year if I buy beans from the marketplace, sooner if I get less expensive beans. The average price of beans in the marketplace is $20 for 12 to 16 ozs plus $3 shipping. The beans ship direct from the roaster so delivery time depends on locality. Anyway, mine was delivered December 2nd. I like it! There have been a fair number of reports of machine failure in the first month so I'm hanging on to the Nespresso for a few more weeks, but probably not much longer than that. Their customer service for machine issues has been very good by most reports. You get a $15 coffee credit for the marketplace when you buy the machine. You also get a $150 coffee credit for referring someone who buys a machine; strangely enough, you can set up your account before buying a machine and get a referral code that you can use when you buy a machine (effectively referring yourself), so I ended up with $165 in coffee credits. That helped justify the purchase. I'm not a coffee connoisseur, but I'm happy with the machine. I've not bought whole coffee beans before so it'll take some experimentation to find a favorite - one downside to the machine is that there isn't a simple way to switch beans before the current batch in the hopper is all used up, making comparing beans difficult. Other downsides: o The water reservoir seems small; there is a model that allows you to plumb on a water line and automatically fill but it's our of stock now and does cost more o The water filter seems expensive; I used filtered water in my previous machines and will probably not replace the filter when it's time is up. That will also allow the reservoir to hold more water. Research indicates that the machine will still prompt you for periodic filter changes and you'll have to step thru the filter change process in the app but the machine will still work without the filter. o The grinder is a bit loud; reports indicate is about the same as stand-alone grinders. o The hopper for used grounds and the drip tray have to be emptied a lot. The aforementioned self-cleaning process flushes water thru the brewing chamber and dumps into the drip tray. I'm trying to get in the habit of emptying these and refilling the water each night as my getting ready for bed routine, as well as staging a cup for the next day's first cup. o The Nespresso takes about a minute to make a 7.7 oz cup; the Spinn takes longer than that for just an espresso due to the grinding and ground transport. Different recipes take differing amounts of time. That's why I try to stage an empty cup in the machine each night - I can start the process from my phone via the app so the coffee is ready when I'm ready for it. Upsides: o The coffee is very good! o Lots of options on coffee drinks and they're adding more regularly; recent additions are pour-over style and cold brew. o They're constantly improving the app; I emailed an app suggestion and they quickly responded that my suggestion was already planned for the next release o The Nespresso put a crema on top of everything, even plain coffee. This never bothered me but I've had guests that didn't care for it. The Spinn only generates a crema for drinks that traditionally have it. o No pods to dispose of (in case that's important to you). Nespresso has a recycling program that provides free postage-paid bags to send back spent pods for recycling bit I'm bad to let them pile up before managing to get them shipped - there are 4 full bags sitting in my house right now. o While the app and wifi/internet are needed to set up the machine and tell it what beans you're using, you can make coffee without it. The machine has 3 buttons pre-programmed to make espresso, Americano, and coffee, plus 4 user-programmable buttons that you can assign with any standard or custom recipe. o The coffee is very good! (yeah, that needs two mentions) As I've mentioned, I'm not a coffee connoisseur so I'll not spend time attempting to give a critical review of the coffee produced in the Spinn but there are plenty of reviews by knowledgeable folks on the interwebs; they're mostly positive, especially for "regular" coffee but more mixed for espresso. https://www.spinn.com/

I will be trying the air fryer capabilities. I've avoided the air fryer temptation mainly due to space limitations and already having a convection oven but a recent coffee maker upgrade will be freeing up some storage space and I'll be able to rotate some gadgets from storage to counter top as needed. There are several things that I like that I rarely fix due to them not being worth the clean-up effort (French fries, etc.) but are prime candidates for air frying; this week's visit to the grocery store will be interesting. Speaking of the new coffee maker, I need to start a thread on that too...

I've always been one of those "I grill outside regardless of the weather" but as i've suffered from timing issues and neck issues and other issues lately, i find myself wanting a grilled steak but not surmounting those issues. I resisted when i stumbled across the top-of-the line mostly smokeless Ninja Foodi grill at 40% off on Amazon but when I saw i could get a $150 Amazon credit for signing up for an Amazon Prime credit card... I succumbed. It was delivered today and i had a 50 day dry aged ribeye dry brined and ready. The verdict: not as good as a charcoal- or wood-fired steak but still very tasty! $80 well spent! It also came with a griddle and an air frying basket, plus the guys got a box to play in.

I meant less pricey than the machine I linked to, not the jaccard. I had found a machine similar to that professional one for less $$ when I was looking before but it's been a few years and I don't remember where. Of course, it for have been that one and the price has gotten up. The one I was looking at could be set up with blades at two depths so you could cut the meat into strips and cube it in one pass.

I was actually looking at something like this; when I was looking I found several that were less pricey. https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/cabelas-pro-series-manual-meat-cuber

I use round as well as London broil but it's been $6.99 lb and up around here and I just can't bring myself to spend that much for beef for jerky. So you use the cuber for jerky? Does it have a noticeble effect?

On other forums, I've seen folks cold smoking their beef for several hours to get the smoke flavor and then finishing in a dehydrator where conditions are easier to control. My dehydrator manufacturer recommends drying at 170° F. I haven't made any jerky since I got the cold smoker (I don't like it well enough to use $7.99/lb meat to make it); earlier batches were done all in the dehydrator but I'll try the pre-smoke then dehydrate if/when beef prices come down to a more reasonable level. Has anyone used a device made to make cube steak to tenderize beef for jerky? I was looking at them before beef prices got so silly.

A while back I posted a question about cold smoking and dehydrating milk to use later in a regional food called "chicken stew"; this is traditionally a chicken and milk stew cooked over a wood fire in a cast iron pot and I was looking to replicate the wood-fired taste when cooked in doors, I haven't gotten around to trying the cold smoking trick yet but we did have a small family gathering in mid-November and made chicken stew the traditional way. I forgot to take any pics but my sister got one. I cooked 4 whole chickens in instant pots, deboned and them, and then used the bones and skin to make additional broth. I also had several quarts of broth I made and froze a few months ago from the carcass of a turkey breast I had smoked. Dumped it all in my #8 dutch oven over a charcoal and wood fire, added whole milk, half-and-half, sour cream, butter, salt and pepper, and thickened with corn starch. I think this was the best chicken stew I've ever had! It had a rich, smokey, and buttery flavor. We had plenty left over so I have some in the freezer for later consumption. I think the smoked turkey broth really contributed to the flavor, giving me hope that the cold smoked milk is a good idea, but since I now have a chamber vac sealer, I'll probably defer on the dehydrating and just freeze the result.

I think I'd lean more towards a portable induction hot plate instead of a built-in. Should be cheaper since it wouldn't be rated to leave outdoors, plus it could be used in other places as needed, easier to replace if/when it breaks, and wouldn't be in the way when not being used. Of course there's the downside of needing a place to store it when not in use.

I did a little googling - is it kiawe ?

Roger Mooking has made the trip to Hawaii on several episodes of Man Fire Food; I don't recall the name of the Hawaiian wood they use for some of the cooks, but I think they said it was similar to mesquite. I associate mesquite with Texas beef but I've never had any Hawaiian food except pineapple so I can't compare.

Anyone ever shop at a Chef's Store? One is scheduled to open in my area in early December and I'm wondering if I should wait before stocking up on meat since my dry aging fridge is empty. https://www.chefstore.com/

I've found the best price/performance ratio with B&B lump now that there's an Academy Sports in town; Ace Hardware has it too but Academy's price is much better. I've pretty much given up on ordering lump for delivery; rough handling by UPS and FedEx results in too much dust and small chunks. Before Academy opened, I tried Jealous Devil ordered from Amazon; I don't remember whether it was delivered by Amazon (or one of their contractors) or FedEx, but the bag was torn and taped and there was tons of dust and small chunks in it too. I tried several brands and varieties of lump from Lowes and Home Depot but again had lots of dust and small chunks from poor handling with the occasional decent bag; I think I had the best luck with Royal Oak from them but the B&B has been consistently better. Academy carries Jealous Devil too but I haven't tried them again due to B&B's price advantage. I did get an off-taste that I attributed to my Amazon-sourced JD, but that was probably because I was in a hurry and poured directly from the bag into the KK and dumped in a lot of dust.

The double bottom drip pan is good if you want to make gravy or sauces from the drippings, at least on my 23", though it might not be needed if you're using the basket splitter and cooking indirect. With my 23", the drippings tend to cook down to a solid chunk in the single bottom pan or foil pan.

To add on to what cheesehead said, leaving the cover off the gas burner inlet I'd going to let in way more air then you'll need for a low and slow cook - you'd probably never get the temp down to 300°. Your double drip pan will work fine as a deflector but it's worthwhile to try a cook without anything to deflect; the dripping meat juice hitting the hot coals can add some flavor. Anything from 225° to 350° should be good; I adjust based on my target cook time. Of course, every piece of meat is different - I don't do brisket often but it cooks similar to pork Boston butts and it's very hard to estimate the stall. I've had "turbo butts" that didn't stall at all and got done at 4 am when my target completion time was 10 am and I've had them take until 2 or 3 pm when they did a long stall. For my recent overnight cooks, I've ran then say 200° overnight and upped the temperature in the morning if I hit a long staller.

Not really a fire pit but can be used as one that's probably lighter weight and less expensive than a breo or solo would be a Weber Kettle with a Santa Maria attachment.

I've used the proof setting on my oven; it uses the oven light to maintain a constant temperature. I say "constant" but I haven't actually checked it; I do know that it has a fairly large swing in convection roast mode. I've also used my dehydrator to proof yeast bread but it tends to dry the top of the lump even with a dish of water included.

I admit to being a wimp in regards to horseradish sauce; I like just a little bit of the "bite back". I've been getting the Boars Head; everyone who's tried it at my house has lid it.

Arizona Bbq Grillworks https://www.azbbqgrills.com/page-15/

Seven spatchcocked chickens over oak splits on the Santa Maria/Argentinian grill. For once, I didn't build my fire too big.

One of my concerns with buying a canner is not disliking it enough to deal with storing it between rare uses. Yes, not disliking it - I'm ok with being neutral on the canning process, but if I actively dislike it I just won't use it. I've not found one to borrow and try. So... I think I have a solution. I've had an Instant Pot for a long time and use it a lot for dried beans and occasionally for soups and stews. The newest model Instant Pot has a pressure canning function. It doesn't meet the USDA criteria for a "safe" pressure canner due to size (will only hold 4 pint jars and USDA criteria specifies 4 quarts) and it doesn't have the required weighted pressure valve to give a visual indicator that it's at pressure but it has been tested by an independent agency that verified that it does hit and maintain the appropriate temps. I think it'll hold 6 to 8 pint-sized retort bags; that should be sufficient for me to play with as well as what I think will be my normal canning batch size. If I get the new model IP, I can stash my current one back for the rare occasion that I need 2 or need to take beans somewhere for a pot luck; its smaller than a 20+ quart canner so storing it isn't as onerous as a big canner. Unfortunately, the new IP is US $200 (or more) everywhere and I have some pending expenses that are making me hold off. I wish I'd found this before Amazon Prime Day! Maybe I can hold off until Black Friday... And maybe they'll introduce an 8 qt version before then. If I like canning well enough to want to do bigger batches, I'll invest in a "real" canner later.

I've found a bag that's been reported as being reliably sealed by my model chamber vac but it's currently out of stock except in the 100 count pack so I'm not jumping on it yet. I'm having a difficult time finding a pressure canner; since a loaded canner is pretty heavy, most are made of aluminum and won't work with my stovetop or hot plate since those are both induction units. Presto does make a canner with a clad bottom that works with induction but it's bigger than I was hoping for. It looks like Fagor made a few small induction canners but Fagor didn't survive the Spanish financial crisis of a few years ago. I do have a side burner on my natural gas grill that I could use with an aluminum canner but it's very aggravating to deal with - it doesn't adjust smoothly and it's prone to go out unless it's running wide open. My brother has several propane burners so I could borrow one of those to play with if I can borrow a canner from someone. While I do have several natural gas outlets outside that I could use with a natural gas burner for canning, I don't currently really have any other use for a gas burner - my brother generally does any frying for cookouts. Presto does make an electric canner (kinda like an Instant Pot, but made specifically for canning) that looks interesting but it's a bit pricey ($350 US) - I'd spend that if I knew I'd get a lot of have out of it but I don't know that... It's also large for its capacity so presents a little storage concern.

One advantage is that since the bags are vacuum packed, there's no need to add water or syrup to fruit, so you're not diluting the flavor or adding sugars - so you're preserving the fruit instead of making jam.

From my research, I've found info indicating that some bags will seal in some machines but not others and some machines won't seal any of them. I've found references that would indicate that there are bags the work with my machine but I haven't narrowed it down to any specific bags yet. I'm not adverse to testing myself but the little looking I've done had only found bags in quantities of 25 or more and I'm working on borrowing a pressure canner before spending $30 on bags that may go to waste.

@tekobo , I don't think your method is considered safe by the USDA (US Department of Agriculture) for low acid foods. The 120° C hits the botulism-killing temperature; if your produce is also hitting that temp, you're probably safe as long as no botulism spores find their way into either during the filling process but there is a risk there. By heating after filing, that risk is eliminated. I assume you're doing relatively small quantities; at the volumes I remember my mother canning when I was young, it would have been very difficult to keep things hot using that process. The USDA has published time/pressure charts for canning in jars for years; these are based on extensive testing to insure that all the "can" contents reach the appropriate temp to kill any botulism. Of course, the USDA has not published similar charts for canning in retort pouches, supposedly because the lack of controlled testing.