Medellitin

I spent some more time testing the SideKIC over the weekend.  I am really enjoying this sous vide cooker because of the sweet, sweet combination of its compact size, its ability to circulate water, and its overall aesthetic.  While enjoying those factors, I think there is another element that should work really well with folks who want to cook sous vide.  The oft-overlooked UI.   The basic operations of the SideKIC are really simple.  You configure the SideKIC using the click wheel and the GUI.  Set your temperature and then click start.   The heater will activate and you will see and hear the pump circulating water.  The controller will display the target temperature, along with the current temperature.   SideKIC Immersion Circulator Usage The positive side of the water pump that is used by the SideKIC is that it is really quiet.  Other immersion circulators I have used make a fair amount of noise.  This is pretty importa...

Been awhile since I wrote a food politics post, but Josh Ozersky got the juices flowing with his latest article " Why I Wont Be Boycotting Chik-Fil-A ".  In the article, Josh talks about something that probably won't surprise you.  Chik-fil-A is one of the few companies that identifies as Christian and has a charitable arm that donates money to organizations that promote Christian values.  In some number of cases, these organizations actively oppose same sex marriage.  While he does not support these organizations, he has decided not to boycotr Chik-fil-A, and here's why: Chick-fil-A, the fast-food outlet, has one plane of interaction with the public: its sandwiches, sodas and waffle fries. The prices are fair, its employment practices not onerous, and the food is good, especially if you are as devoted to MSG as I am. You could make a strong argument that the suffering their chickens endure prior to becoming sandwiches constitutes a kind of original sin; and that’...

SideKIC Immersion Circulator Earlier this week, I received a SideKIC  sous vide controller.  This 170$ entry into the sous vide consumer market looks like it is going to offer a lot of value.  The SideKIC is an immersion circulator.  This means that there is a heating element that can be put into a bowl or pot and it will simultaneously heat and then circulate (pump) the water.  Many people consider water circulation critical to maintaining temperature stability. The (sorta) Unbox Unlike most immersion circulators, the SideKIC separates out the heating unit from the controller.   All of the controls of the device are done through a color UI, somewhat resembling an iPod.  There is a scroll wheel (ok, its a dial) used to navigate through the menus.  The dial also acts as a button, and pressing it allows you to make a selection.  As I said, it's like a Sous Vide iPod. Controller/iPhone Comparison Size The SideKIC is also ...

Kyocera makes ceramic knives.  The advantages of ceramic knives are that they remain sharp for a lot longer than their metallic counterparts.  They are also significantly lighter (which some people prefer, but I prefer heavier knives), and they are a little more delicate (meaning, you don't want to use them on product that could potentially damage the knife (meaning frozen foods, or anything with bones).   I say all of this, only because I was recently reminded of this knife, and I wanted to hunt down the original FAQ , which included something that I find very entertaining: Q: The peeler is great! How come you don't make a shaver? A: Too dangerous! A metal razor blade has a relatively "rounded" edge (under the microscope) which prevents the blade from cutting into the skin. A ceramic razor blade, however, does not have a rounded edge and slices into the skin. Thus, a ceramic shaver would be too dangerous to use. Several engineers in Sendai who tested prototy...

A quick disclaimer: I don't much care about the morality of sound judgement of comparing bankers/customers/anyone to Hitler or Stalin. A bunch of online outlets are linkbaiting the crap out of this Bataligate bullshit.   It's lazy, layup blog-o-journalism, taking advantage of the current political climate along with riling up the primary readership of financial trades. Let's dissect Eater's  coverage : Despite having apologized for comments comparing bankers to Stalin and Hitler, the internet backlash against Mario Batali rages on. Yelpers have been dropping one-star reviews for his New York restaurants; the #BoycottBatali and #BataliGate hashtags on Twitter are blowing up; financial types are trashing his restaurants on Bloomberg terminals; and bankers are bad-mouthing the chef in the Wall Street Journal: "I must have spent more than $5,000 on his stupid black truffles over the years, and now he says I'm Hitler?!" They reference four sources: Yelp...

I don't really share recipes on this blog.  It just isn't what I do.  But, today is different.  Just like the last time I posted a recipe.  But this time, I blame a providence of Michaels.  I read Michael Ruhlman's post on french onion soup , and Michael Nagrant tweeted  about reuben soup.   The trick with doing a dish like this is honoring the souls of these iconic dishes without being constricted by them.  So... What is french onion soup? How can anyone forget the first time they had french onion soup?  Molten cheese bubbling on top of crouton floating over a rich, deep caramelized onion broth. The flavors muted only by the burning sensation in your mouth, not realizing that this soup was just sitting underneath a jet-engine-hot broiler. How about a reuben? The reuben is an iconic sandwich of the jewish deli (*).  Corned beef, swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and russian dressing layered between two slices of caraway...

First of all, great article in the Boston Globe on the pervasive mislabeling of fish.  My one criticism with the piece is the following sentence: The Globe found escolar being sold as white tuna, super-white tuna, or albacore at merchants such as FuGaKyu in Brookline, Kowloon in Saugus, H Mart supermarket in Burlington, and Oishii Sushi Bar in Chestnut Hill. While it is true that the FDA's Seafood List says that you can't sell escolar as white tuna, it is unfair to single out out places for selling escolar as white tuna or super white tuna when it is a pervasive industry practice.  Now, selling it as albacore tuna is more dodgy, because as I have written about before, there is a genuine sushi bar distinction between albacore and escolar . Anyhoo, good article.