tony b

Ckreef, I completely understand where you are coming from, but at the end of the day - Did your family/friends/guests enjoy the meal??? All that matters in the big flick!

You people are just sick! Sorry that you have to suffer through all this, Bosco.

Bosco, I upgraded to the dual door, so I have the experience of using both designs. To be totally honest, the dual dial door was only a marginal improvement over the single dial door - IMHO, as I controlled temps just fine on the older design. As Dennis has preached to us many times, it's really the upper vent hat that controls the temps; you just have to provide enough air flow from the bottom so the fire doesn't go out. I do like the dual dial door over the single, as I can start out with the left dial wide open, along with the top hat wide open, to get the coals going good, then can close down on both top and bottom vents to get where I want for the final temps. I haven't done any very low cooks yet, where one might use the smallest couple of holes on the right dial, but I have used the largest 3 holes a lot for most of my under 450F cooks. For serious high temps (500F+), I've stopped pulling the lower vent door out and just opened the left and right dials all the way and pulled the guru port plug out. Gets the job done and I don't have to fret loosening the seal around the vent door frame over time from sliding the door in and out. Hope this helps.

Just tell me that there's a hot tub off on the side of the Bistro for the after dinner drinks and ???

What, you just lit a fire and watch it burn? Where's the food porn? You know the rules, Ken!

Me, too! Plus, she can cook, too!!

That's the classic technique, Poochie, except I don't wash mine 7 times - DAMN! I do soak them in salted water and rinse them, then they get air dried before the first blanch fry.

Yeah, don't be confusing it with that Yankee thing with the seaweed!

Nice job, ckreef! Looks pretty damned tasty from here!

Great cook, Wilbur. You know that I'm a big fan of your duck cooks! How did using the injector work for puffing up the skin? I tried the turkey baster with the injector needle before and it didn't work so hot. I read a post online about using a foot pump for inflatable toys to blow up the duck. Might be worth the coin to give it a try. http://www.amazon.com/AIRHEAD-AHP-F1-Bellow-Foot-Pump/dp/B000FE9CGE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1446650912&sr=8-3&keywords=foot+pump+for+inflatables

Unfortunately for this experiment, I have other dinner plans for the rest of the week and won't get to try again until at least Sunday. So, looks like you're carrying the water for us for a while, MacKenzie! (pun intended!)

Nice Job, Poochie! Want to see some mudbugs in there next time! What ckreef said! While I grew up at the other end of the state, I've had the pleasure of many a low country boil down around Beaufort, Edisto, and Bluffton!

If you think THAT'S a mess, don't come near my kitchen when I'm making pizza dough or pasta!

Hear, hear, Poochie!

Cold, MacKenzie, just cold!

Excellent plan, MacKenzie. It reminded me that I didn't soak the potatoes before putting them in the SV bath, a step that I would normally do if doing them traditional style. Let's keep experimenting and sharing notes, as I know that between the two of us, we'll get it figured out! I love ghee, but have a local Indian market where I can buy it, so I haven't made any for a long time. Simple to do, but grabbing a jar off the shelf is soooo much easier! Once we get this figured out, I'll up my game and fry them in duck fat. I have a tub in the freezer that's been calling me! I think I'm down to my last duck leg confit, so time to do some more confit, too. I can get a 3# tub from my local butcher for $25. Can't beat that with a stick!

Yeah, but I couldn't resist the throwdown from bryan!

This reminds me, I need to contact Dennis about a gasket problem. I have the old single gasket design and have a leak. Need to fix that before the snow flies!

Thanks, Suzy! It had a kick to it for sure - yah mon!

Good to hear, Bosco! My book doesn't account for varying thickness in the cuts. Does it make that much of a difference in the cooking times? Just curious.

Well, I changed my dinner plans last night and did try this. I'm with you, MacKenzie, need a lot more practice and experimentation to catch up to Syz. I did 2 styles - wedges and frites. Potatoes in the SV @ 183F for 30 minutes. Then shocked them under running cold water in the sink (still in the bags). To bryan's point, I did dust the wedges in cornstarch and seasoning before frying in my deep fryer @ 360F. First batch cooked for 4 minutes, not crispy at all, despite having a light brown color. Second batch for 6 minutes, still not very crispy, and just a tad darker. Don't think that longer was going to significantly improve the results. Next time, I'll use my bigger fryer, which gets to 375F, and see if it improves the results. The classic cut frites were fried without coating, again @ 360F, for about 4 1/2 minutes. Decent, but I've done much better using traditional methods. Did another batch for 5 minutes. Again, only marginal improvement in crispiness. Still thinking the temp needs to be higher (370F - 375F). But, to Syz's point, the interior texture was spot on. So, just gotta keep playing with the second frying - temp and times, to see if I can replicate my classic double fried frites!

That WOULD have been a fattie, Poochie! But, alas, it was just a plastic cigar!

Dude, that was just sic!

Killing me with that roti chicken, Reefs! I'm the opposite - bought the motor during the last sale, but haven't pulled the trigger yet to order the basket from Dennis. Don't think I'll be able to hold out too much longer! Just about got the credit cards down to a manageable level again - early Christmas shopping spike!