Sarah Duffy

Oh yes. I’ve done a fair few gammons in the sous vide now and love the texture. We don’t cook it any other way now! I only cook for 10-12 hours though

1 hour ago, Justin said:

The trust blow torch, and a cast iron skillet.  gold dust to get nice colour particularly on steaks, know of butter in skillet. My sous vide is on most days to do chicken breast when I am working at home, which is most of time.

 

One of the next trick is to do lamb shanks and another is oxtailil.  Keep challenging. The only veg I have done is corn cobs with butter.  I need to do more. Sarah, you are an inspiration . Keep it up

Took some playing to get veg how we like but worth it for flavour and convenience!

Ribs, pulled pork are on the agenda but will be combining sous vide and smoking for those.

1 hour ago, Icefever said:

Well done,  I see from your one photo you have two makes of wands,  any difference in them???.

Temp & time are the same ?.

Ice.

Pretty much the same. The Anova seems

to take longer to heat up and doesn’t seem to be as accurate above 80c.

So far I prefer the Wankle! There’s a couple of fine details I find better on the Anova but not enough to turn it. I need to play with it more. The temp seems to read lower than it is when compared to ink bird and the wankle readings. On the other hand.. I do find with the Wankle that I’m using higher temps than should be needed to get meat how I like.

need to play more with both before I can really comment. The Wankle was my first unit and so it’s what I’m most used to!

1 hour ago, Raptor72 said:

So that’s the thing for me regarding the chicken 

I love the roasting and making gravy crispy skin etc 

Yes I agree. It doesn’t take long for it to crisp in the oven though and the juices to brown off! 

Xmas day will be a piece of P**S

Sorry I’ve not posted, it’s been a little hectic here recently!

a few smokes, mostly fatties as they seem to go down well.

Sous vide.. well.. everything. I barely cook any other way now and if I do, it’s batch cooking to freeze and then warm in sous vide at a later date with my veggies.

There has been lots of trial and error (with veggies mostly). I tend to blanch my veg and pack with anob of butter, parsley, lemon, tried lots of things but blanching first has been our fave with the exception of asparagus and corn on the cob.

Meat wise; salmon, beef joints, ham joints, pork steaks, chicken breasts, whole chicken.... everything we eat is pretty much sous vide now. The convenience is a big factor but the taste and textures are second to none and something I’m having immense fun playing with. I don’t like steak cooked from frozen. It doesn’t work for me at all as ruins the texture.

I now have a table in the kitchen dedicated to sous vide! Used at least once a day, mostly twice a day or both units used for tea plus a few extras thrown in for lunches the next day.

the freezer is packed with pre marinated meats, veggies, soups, left overs from meat joints etc all ready to throw in as and when! Cannot express how much of a stress relief it is for me and the experimenting is fantastic fun. A while new world!

1 hour ago, Raptor72 said:

Oooohh where did you get container from 

It’s rubbermaid tub from amazon! I have that plus a larger one now.

21 minutes ago, Wade said:

Did you try rotating the lid anticlockwise a few millimetres to try to better align the clip and hook?

Yes. Tried various angels and having both slightly off rather than one completely off

10 minutes ago, Wade said:

When you have finished your smoke today I would disassemble (unbolt) the clips and then reassemble them. If they still do not fit then contact Callow by phone tomorrow saying that you are a WoodSmoke Forum member and they should quickly sort it out for you.

I’ve frozen the pulled pork and we’re sous vide dinner ?

ive tried reseating but the catch itself has bent and so the clip won’t shut. Still of centre too. I can wiggle the latch over but it won’t clip down

will email them tomorrow. Thank you!

9 minutes ago, Wade said:

It should be fine - I have used mine for many back-to-back long smokes.

If the lid is properly seated but you just cannot get the clip to close then that will be fine for your pulled pork today. The clip does not really do much more than stopping the lid from accidentally being knocked off

It’s not as bad now cold but the clip still won’t close.

12 minutes ago, Sarah Duffy said:

Yes it was all seated correctly. The clips used to line up but don’t anymore. One is about half width out. 

I had a long smoke planned for pulled pork today. Will have another check of it now it’s cold but I need it to handle the heat of long smokes. I will likely be cooking on it twice a week. 

Could have done with much longer but had some smoker issues! 

1 hour ago, Wade said:

I have not had a problem with warping but check that you have the lid seated properly onto the body all the way round. If you don't have the groove of the lid seated over the edge of the body all of the way round then the clips will not close. Also check that the clips are lined up properly. If you still cannot close the clips and you think that it has warped then give Callow a call as they very helpful and pride themselves on their customer service.

Yes it was all seated correctly. The clips used to line up but don’t anymore. One is about half width out. 

@Wade have you had any issues with warping? I’ve been very forceful but still unable to snap the lid both sides after 12 hours. It was struggling a few hours ago but I managed to get it down. It seems to have shifted even father and won’t budge past this point now.

In they go!

9 hours smoking so far. Cannot complain about the Callow really. Few niggly issues but I’ve oretty much managed to get temps where I’ve wanted and maintain as needed. Had a half hour of high temps earlier that I couldn’t bring down. Soon realised the water bowl needed topping up and it steadied out again. 

Not done a huge amount due to lack of space. 2 fatties, some sauces and chicken then brought the temp back down a few hours ago for brisket. Foil wrapped around an hour and half ago and about ready to be sliced now so just bring temp back up. Running with lump wood today too so I was expecting to struggle a bit more with that and the addition of wind and rain. Wind break has helped a lot. Rain doesn’t seem to have impacted it really.

Pleased with myself re temp control. Only had a hand full of briquettes left so had to use mostly lump wood. The smoke flavour seems a hell of a lot nicer though? 

Man oh man oh man... steak one is sooooo good. Our guests literally ‘oh my GOD sarah’

breakfast one was ace and that was the boy’s fave. 

So much for tea and breakfast!

Another breakfast fatty. Make a few changes this time.

Experiment: philly cheese steak inspired fatty. Layers of seasoned rump, mushroom, onion, peppers, spring onion and a couple of cheeses. 

Was planning to use apple smoke but am i best sticking to hickory with the beef? Beef should take the apple ok? 

6 minutes ago, Wade said:

It is important to let them evolve a little with each one you make. Each variation will lead you steadily towards your own perfection 

Absolutely! All personal preference in the end

9 hours ago, Smokin Monkey said:

Sarah, did it have one of our WoodSmoke Forum cards in the delivery?

Just found a card under he sofa.. so yes, it did

Been to my butchers today. Planning some burnt ends tomorrow or Sunday so asked him to split and remove membrane for me. He asked why so I explained. He knows I’m not into fatty meats so he said he can split and just buy the flat. He can use the point.

Then I started wondering if it will be ok! Shouldn’t pose an issue I assume? I love dry, dark bark so it should still work ok? Anything I should do to the flat or should it be fine as is? Thinking of foil wrapping it part way through to help retain some moisture that I won’t get from the fat 

Well breakfast fatty was a hit with byron and Isaac. I liked it but plenty of room for inprovement. 

Byron: there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s a big roll of meat! What’s wrong with you? 

? easy pleased then

27 minutes ago, sotv said:

Yes I do it that way. Same as this youtube video I just found it is firmer when weaving and the bacon doesn't split so easy when stretching with rind on and just held together better when being cooked.and I like rind slow cooked at is very edible and does have flavour. But think it is just me? and many many other people are happy to use rindless when doing their fatties.. Will ask my butcher next time I am in there. They get all their pork supplied by Packington Farms and cure their own bacon, so hopefully they will.

Jamie Oliver Porchetta i don't use this recipe but this is the way I get my butcher to prepare the belly and loin for me but with the rind cutoff so I can sew it back together like a rubbish surgeon with a butchers needle and twine once rolled. But if cooking in oven or smoker I would leave the rind on and just tie it up every couple of inches with twine so it doesn't fall apart.

Ah gotcha. Sorry of that sounded completely condesending ?

ill look at link later. ThabksThanks 

27 minutes ago, sotv said:

Have you ever tried a Porchettq? It is like an all pork fatty with proper crackling. Lovely in a big floury buttered bun with apple sauce or as a Sunday dinner and the leftovers are good for 3-4 days after.  I have only ever cooked them on a rotisserie or conventional oven. But the crackling is to die  for once cooked and the stuffing I use works well with the pork loin and belly. To get the crackling extra crackly I use white vinegar sprayed over the skin (rather than loads of salt) at regular intervals , during cooking, easier to do on a rotisserie but have done it in a oven also, but I applied the salt to the skin overnight, washed it off then dried it and rubbed the  the vinegar over the dry skin before putting it into the oven.

I am sure it could be done in a bullet smoke, like the cooker , without the water pan and getting the heat up in the 350F area for cooking and just check the internal temp to check if cooked 

I use the stuffing from this recipe but I just swap the rosemary out for Orange zest and use fennel pollen instead of seeds, but as pollen is expensive, seeds will work just as well.

No don’t think I’ve heard of it! Just been for a meat hawl at the farm today. He said he never leaves rind on the bacon as people either won’t buy or cut off anyway but he can easily put some aside with rind on if wanted. I’m sure your can do same.

When you do the weave, do you fold back every other strip and lay the next one down then fold down the strips and fold back the alternating ones again? you’re only laying the strips out, not actually weaving in. Yes I made this mistake till I saw send eand realised it’s probably how it’s meant to be done ? then I wondered how rind on would make any difference to that process. It would almost interfere as I wouldn’t be able to stretch the bacon to make it go further