• The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 30 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 30th anniversary: Happy 30th Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $21,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $21 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    60,000+ subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

Scoop's California trip

ScoopKona

Guest
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
5,722
Reaction score
3,309
Points
598
Location
Monkey King Coffee - Captain Cook, Hawaii
I took @lynne 's suggestion and went to the Pacific Grove farmer's market today (every Monday). Picked up strawberries and outstanding mushrooms. Also went to Pezzini farms (I'll be here often) for artichokes and Brussels sprouts. And my stand-by, Monterey Fish Company for Branzino, scallops, sardines, oysters and squid.
316415896_5931323006920074_2879670944697661630_n.jpg


Here's the first dish. A little tapas to go with Monday Night Football -- sardines grilled over a wood fire and then drizzled with maître d'hôtel butter
 

ScoopKona

Guest
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
5,722
Reaction score
3,309
Points
598
Location
Monkey King Coffee - Captain Cook, Hawaii
Branzino with oyster mushrooms and truffles with sauteed Brussels sprouts with ham and apple reduction. Cooked in the Highlands Inn kitchen with a knife that looks like a cutlass and is about as sharp as my thumb.

316200811_5931372436915131_3557541003661254788_n.jpg
 

ScoopKona

Guest
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
5,722
Reaction score
3,309
Points
598
Location
Monkey King Coffee - Captain Cook, Hawaii
One of the best things about sous-vide is not only does it cook perfectly every time, it reheats perfectly every time. Just set the temperature to medium rare (130f) and put in a bath for a little while.

Steak and eggs with camp spuds -- all cooked in a timeshare kitchen with just four additions: a cleaver, an induction cooker, and the sous-vide rig.
316266024_5936094426442932_6063810008588088501_n.jpg
 

DeniseM

Moderator
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
57,668
Reaction score
9,087
Points
1,849
Resorts Owned
WKORV, WKV, 2-SDO, 4-Kauai Beach Villas, Island Park Village (Yellowstone), Hyatt High Sierra, Dolphin's Cove (Anaheim)
You're killing me! :p
 

Passepartout

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2007
Messages
28,461
Reaction score
17,213
Points
1,299
Location
Twin Falls, Eye-Duh-Hoe
In my kit to fix timeshare knives:
1669252838972.png
 

TheHolleys87

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
May 7, 2015
Messages
2,110
Reaction score
1,540
Points
273
Location
Texas
Resorts Owned
DVC Boardwalk Villas, Kona Coast II
an induction cooker, and the sous-vide rig.
Can you recommend any that are suitable for a novice? I really want to try sous-vide in particular.
 

ScoopKona

Guest
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
5,722
Reaction score
3,309
Points
598
Location
Monkey King Coffee - Captain Cook, Hawaii
Can you recommend any that are suitable for a novice? I really want to try sous-vide in particular.

It's just a propeller attached to a thermostat. So you need a vacuum sealer (a Foodsaver is fine). You can get away with ziploc bags, but it's suboptimal.

And then the immersion circulator. Amazon WILL put one on sale for Black Friday. They always do. One's as good as another unless you spend the money for a PolyScience unit. Amazon has two pages of them right now on their black friday sale -- with names that look they were pulled at random from a Scrabble set. Any will do. More wattage is better. Ideally, find something that's heavy for its size.

Procedure is: 1) Vacuum seal your food with whatever seasoning it needs. 2) Heat water so it's close to your target temperature (you don't want to bring gallons of water to temperature with your circulator. They're good at maintaining temperature. They're not jacuzzi heaters. I heat to a few degrees more. Because the sealed food will lower the temperature. 3) Walk away and let Isaac Newton do your cooking for you.
 

ScoopKona

Guest
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
5,722
Reaction score
3,309
Points
598
Location
Monkey King Coffee - Captain Cook, Hawaii
@TheHolleys87 -- I also HIGHLY recommend Michael Ruhlman's "Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide." That's the go-to book for learning this stuff. There are also tons and tons of chefs with YouTube channels.

By this time next year, you'll be wondering what you can't make with one.
 

Passepartout

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2007
Messages
28,461
Reaction score
17,213
Points
1,299
Location
Twin Falls, Eye-Duh-Hoe
Should you get the big honkin' plastic tub with a notch out of the lid for the circulator, or can you start out with a Dutch oven or something big enough for the food and the heater?
 

TheHolleys87

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
May 7, 2015
Messages
2,110
Reaction score
1,540
Points
273
Location
Texas
Resorts Owned
DVC Boardwalk Villas, Kona Coast II
Should you get the big honkin' plastic tub with a notch out of the lid for the circulator, or can you start out with a Dutch oven or something big enough for the food and the heater?
@ScoopKona, To add to this question, is the circulation necessary? My slow cooker says it will maintain a set temperature for sous-vide (the water has to be heated first), but I don’t think it circulates the water.
 

TheHolleys87

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
May 7, 2015
Messages
2,110
Reaction score
1,540
Points
273
Location
Texas
Resorts Owned
DVC Boardwalk Villas, Kona Coast II
LOL, just how @ScoopKona wanted to spend Thanksgiving, giving cooking lessons! :p
 

Passepartout

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2007
Messages
28,461
Reaction score
17,213
Points
1,299
Location
Twin Falls, Eye-Duh-Hoe

ScoopKona

Guest
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
5,722
Reaction score
3,309
Points
598
Location
Monkey King Coffee - Captain Cook, Hawaii
LOL, just how @ScoopKona wanted to spend Thanksgiving, giving cooking lessons! :p

It's shrimp cocktails here, NFL, and Equinox sparkling wine from Santa Cruz. (They opened on their day off to give us a tasting.) We hiked Point Lobos this morning.

Yes, circulation is necessary. Slow cookers will be "close enough for gubmint work." But if you want your lamb saddle precisely at 130f, you need a circulator. Whether or not you start with one, you're going to want one soon enough.
 

ScoopKona

Guest
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
5,722
Reaction score
3,309
Points
598
Location
Monkey King Coffee - Captain Cook, Hawaii
Should you get the big honkin' plastic tub with a notch out of the lid for the circulator, or can you start out with a Dutch oven or something big enough for the food and the heater?

I cook Sous Vide in Cambro food storage containers. A big pot will work fine. The container doesn't really matter -- as long as the circulator fits and has plenty of liquid to "chew on." (They have a min/max water level which matters.)
 

Passepartout

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2007
Messages
28,461
Reaction score
17,213
Points
1,299
Location
Twin Falls, Eye-Duh-Hoe
OK, another stupid question. I get bringing steaks/chops to med/rare in sous vide then finishing them with a quick pffft-pffft on a hot grill to impart grill marks, but how about something like a pot roast where the meat flavors a bunch of veggies or vice-versa? And those camp spuds you showed upthread. Do you sous vide them to soften the spuds (seasoned) then pan-fry them?
 

ScoopKona

Guest
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
5,722
Reaction score
3,309
Points
598
Location
Monkey King Coffee - Captain Cook, Hawaii
OK, another stupid question. I get bringing steaks/chops to med/rare in sous vide then finishing them with a quick pffft-pffft on a hot grill to impart grill marks, but how about something like a pot roast where the meat flavors a bunch of veggies or vice-versa? And those camp spuds you showed upthread. Do you sous vide them to soften the spuds (seasoned) then pan-fry them?

The spuds, no. I cooked those normally.

The pot roast? I'd still braise that.

Sous-vide doesn't replace every single cooking technique. But what it does, it does better than any other technique. I would never think of cooking a rack of lamb any other way. Or a prime rib roast. Or a turkey. If you give me a big, expensive cut of meat, I'm pulling out the vacuum sealer because I like "perfection guaranteed, there is no way to mess this up."

But pot roast? Coq-au-vin? Beef stir fry? French fries? Do those traditionally.
 

Passepartout

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2007
Messages
28,461
Reaction score
17,213
Points
1,299
Location
Twin Falls, Eye-Duh-Hoe
A thousand thanks! You can go back to your fried cod now. We're headed out to (Brian) the longest tenured chef in Utah's place in Park City to see what he's dishing up for Thanksgiving. Don't know that I'm up for that $120 Tomahawk Ribeye, but maybe there'll be something tasty.

Jim
 

ScoopKona

Guest
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
5,722
Reaction score
3,309
Points
598
Location
Monkey King Coffee - Captain Cook, Hawaii
A thousand thanks! You can go back to your fried cod now. We're headed out to (Brian) the longest tenured chef in Utah's place in Park City to see what he's dishing up for Thanksgiving. Don't know that I'm up for that $120 Tomahawk Ribeye, but maybe there'll be something tasty.

Buy a couple tomahawks and make that your first sous-vide meal. Steak is the easiest dish to make. Seriously, you can make "as good as the best steakhouse" the first time, every time. This is the best way to elevate your cooking to "best restaurants on the planet" level.
 
Top