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slayer202

Lifer
Nov 27, 2005
13,679
119
106
ugh why'd I bother with the nomiku kickstarter, I want some damn sous vide NOW!

but now I'm thinking I need one of those insane looking blowtorches...
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
50,117
6,374
136
but now I'm thinking I need one of those insane looking blowtorches...

I'm on the fence about the blowtorch. It's really cool, but it uses fuel and takes five or six minutes to do both sides of a piece of meat, so it's really only useful when cooking for yourself or a small amount of people. However, Baking Steel has gotten tremendous praise as a large-scale searing station: (scroll down for shots of the steak)

http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/04/the-food-lab-the-new-reversible-baking-steelg.html

I've read that a few people have gone the DIY route for homemade baking steel, like this one:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Pizza/comments/2jdmyr/baking_steel_pizza/

Ordered some 1/4" thick A36 hot rolled steel from my local metal supply shop. I had it cut a little smaller than my oven racks 21"x14", came to be about $26. Grinded down the rough edges, and rounded the corners at home with an angle grinder. Deep cleaned the steel with dish soap and water. Dried it in the oven, and seasoned it with vegetable oil. Will be making a bunch of pies tomorrow for friends to see how it works.

Another example:

http://www.kozknowshomes.com/2013/07/diy-baking-steel.html

My only concern is the manufacturing oils that are in the steel itself, so I'll have to do some more reading about whether or not that's an issue in A36 steel, but considering the 1/4" is $79 on up to $155 for a complete 1/2" kit (with bag), might be worth looking into for DIY.
 

slayer202

Lifer
Nov 27, 2005
13,679
119
106
5-6 minutes seems like an awful lot of time. shouldn't it be much quicker?

I'd like to see more examples of the baking steel. That steak says it was cooked completely with that method. I'm curious how it would work if you are just going for the sear
 
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Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
50,117
6,374
136
5-6 minutes seems like an awful lot of time. shouldn't it be much quicker?

I'd like to see more examples of the baking steel. That steak says it was cooked completely with that method. I'm curious how it would work if you are just going for the sear

I've read it takes a minimum of 2 minutes per side with the Searzall. You're basically taking the meat and broiling it very quickly using a ~2" diameter heat source, so from that perspective it's a reasonable amount of time, but if you're sitting there for 10 minutes just to sear 2 steaks...

Here's an example of searing on the Baking Steel:

http://bakingsteel.com/sous-vide-art-sear/

At 500F+, it takes 45 seconds per side post-waterbath cook. Gets the entire process down to under 2 minutes for an entire pan's worth of meat. Lots of benefits with the Baking Steel:

1. Can handle lots of meat at the same time
2. Same pricerange as the Searzall
3. No fuel required (nor accessories like the torch)
4. Faster searing
5. Can do other stuff as well (pizza, bread, full steak process, etc.)

I'm curious as to how the taste & texture would compare. I don't know how hot the Searzall gets, either (I know it's at least 500F from a quick glance at the Kickstarter page). The Baking Steel seems like a better investment since it's not just a unitasker, plus there's some cost savings in regards to fuel & also for DIY (if you want to go that route).
 

slayer202

Lifer
Nov 27, 2005
13,679
119
106
agreed on the utility of the sheet, though that sear doesn't look very good imo.

I wasn't thinking about limited surface area in regards to the torch, that amount of time makes more sense now.

hmmm. back to the torch?
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
50,117
6,374
136
agreed on the utility of the sheet, though that sear doesn't look very good imo.

I wasn't thinking about limited surface area in regards to the torch, that amount of time makes more sense now.

hmmm. back to the torch?

Downside with a standard torch is that you only get like a 1/2" of actual surface application (= much longer sear time), plus it makes the food taste a bit like gas. With the Searzall, it bumps it up to about a 2" section, and diffuses the gas taste so your food isn't flavored with it after searing. So that's $75 for the Searzall, plus the torch ($62 for the T8000) and at least one fuel canister ($7), so you're looking at nearly $150 shipped if you're starting the kit from scratch.

I think that it would be a worthwhile investment if you're really into Sous Vide because crusts are awesome on steak, chicken, pork, etc. I usually just cook for myself & my wife, so I wouldn't mind the time too much. It's a lot of dough for what it does, but it also gives you really nice restaurant-style results, so it would probably pay for itself within a few dinners in terms of cost savings over going to a nice restaurant.
 
Oct 25, 2006
11,036
11
91
Downside with a standard torch is that you only get like a 1/2" of actual surface application (= much longer sear time), plus it makes the food taste a bit like gas. With the Searzall, it bumps it up to about a 2" section, and diffuses the gas taste so your food isn't flavored with it after searing. So that's $75 for the Searzall, plus the torch ($62 for the T8000) and at least one fuel canister ($7), so you're looking at nearly $150 shipped if you're starting the kit from scratch.

I think that it would be a worthwhile investment if you're really into Sous Vide because crusts are awesome on steak, chicken, pork, etc. I usually just cook for myself & my wife, so I wouldn't mind the time too much. It's a lot of dough for what it does, but it also gives you really nice restaurant-style results, so it would probably pay for itself within a few dinners in terms of cost savings over going to a nice restaurant.

The torch taste isn't from the torch, it's chemicals created in the food because the torch is too hot.

Dial it back a bit, wait for the flame to be a solid dark blue, and the strange flavor will disappear.
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
50,117
6,374
136
The torch taste isn't from the torch, it's chemicals created in the food because the torch is too hot.

Dial it back a bit, wait for the flame to be a solid dark blue, and the strange flavor will disappear.

Interesting, people in the comments say it has a gas flavor, maybe that's what they're talking about. I haven't used a torch myself. Debating between a Searzall or Baking Steel
 

randay

Lifer
May 30, 2006
11,018
216
106
has anyone tried or know of somewhere online i can read about sous vide a whole fish? like an 8 pound snapper maybe 30" long?
 
Reactions: shortylickens

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
50,117
6,374
136

Regs

Lifer
Aug 9, 2002
16,665
21
81
I'm on the fence about the blowtorch. It's really cool, but it uses fuel and takes five or six minutes to do both sides of a piece of meat, so it's really only useful when cooking for yourself or a small amount of people. However, Baking Steel has gotten tremendous praise as a large-scale searing station: (scroll down for shots of the steak)

http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/04/the-food-lab-the-new-reversible-baking-steelg.html

I've read that a few people have gone the DIY route for homemade baking steel, like this one:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Pizza/comments/2jdmyr/baking_steel_pizza/



Another example:

http://www.kozknowshomes.com/2013/07/diy-baking-steel.html

My only concern is the manufacturing oils that are in the steel itself, so I'll have to do some more reading about whether or not that's an issue in A36 steel, but considering the 1/4" is $79 on up to $155 for a complete 1/2" kit (with bag), might be worth looking into for DIY.

This is why normal people call a pizza place! Come on.
 

Howard

Lifer
Oct 14, 1999
47,982
10
81
The torch taste isn't from the torch, it's chemicals created in the food because the torch is too hot.

Dial it back a bit, wait for the flame to be a solid dark blue, and the strange flavor will disappear.
I've tried using a low flame to sear foods. Two problems:

1) Baby goes from zygote to fetus in the time it takes to finish the sear
2) The sear still sucks
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,688
2,810
126
Video of Searzall: 5 minutes total, 4 large steaks. 1.25 minutes per steak, 38 seconds per steak. Real time and proper technique. Get that sucker closer!

Got my 3rd Anova dropped off a few minutes ago. Going to start tons of testing rofl. Wife was like, "well, so we just need to start buying a lot of roasts and steaks to try out?" YES HONEY, YES WE DO

Searzall looks like lot of work moving that small wimpy torch around. And you have to move it around for minutes at a time. I'll stick with cast iron pan on a stove.

I have a roofing torch I could use. I should test it. The roofing torch puts out serious flame. I could set the steaks on my Weber grill and torch it with the roofing torch.
 

notposting

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2005
3,498
33
91
Searzall looks like lot of work moving that small wimpy torch around. And you have to move it around for minutes at a time. I'll stick with cast iron pan on a stove.

I have a roofing torch I could use. I should test it. The roofing torch puts out serious flame. I could set the steaks on my Weber grill and torch it with the roofing torch.



TS8000 is wimpy now? Hmmm...I bet the steaks would taste just great after a touch of serious flamepower like your roofing torch was applied.

MINUTES! WHOLE MINUTES! Wait...I mess around preheating my cast iron for at least 20 minutes...I smoke the hell out of the kitchen with the wild uncontrolled hellfire heat of the cast iron...it still takes minutes searing everything on the cast iron...I throw away an hour or two, or perhaps dozens of hours in the case of a roast, I just cooked to edge-to-edge perfection in the water bath by immersing it in the fires of Mt. Doom. Now how much sense does that make?
 

RichieZ

Diamond Member
Jun 1, 2000
6,549
37
91
if i buy the searzall and the TS8000 how much does it cut down on smoke compared to a cast iron pan? my condo has a pretty shitty kitchen hood

edit: FVCK it I just bought both of these on amazon. here we go!
 
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