DIY Chamber Vacuum Sealer

Like many other food geeks out there, I long ago put together a DIY sous vide rig. Mine is particularly less elegant than the one linked there, but functionally it works well.



But if the sous vide is the Ying, a good chamber vacuum sealer is the Yang.
Without a chamber, you can't vacuum anything with liquids. Also, you're not able to use techniques that rely on the compression (think watermelon) or degassing (think un-bubbled sodium alginate solutions) effects of the vacuum.

Unfortunately, retail chamber vacs ($1k-$5k) make retail sous vide machines look cheap..... so it was time to build one.


Main Parts List:

• 10' x 10" x 1/4" Cold Rolled Steel Sheet ($100)
  
• 2 Stage HVAC Vacuum Pump With R12 (Freon) Inlet ($150)
  
• 5mm Impulse Sealer ($50)
  
• 12" R12 - R12 Hose ($10)
• Vacuum Gauge (or boost/vacuum gauge) ($10 ebay)
  

Accessories Part List:

• 14mm to R12 Adapter
  
• 1/4" x 1/2" x 10' Weatherstripping
  
• 1/4" NPT Ball Valve
• 1/4" Male to Male NPT Coupler
• Large Gauge Extension Cord
• 12-24 x 2" Bolts with nuts
• Crimp On Electrical Connectors
• 1/4" OD PVC Pipe
• JB Weld - Quick Set

Assembly:
Step Zero- Find someone that can weld!
For me, that came by way of my friend Seth (who graciously helped with this crazy project).

He used a 110v MIG welding machine, Cutting Torch and an 8" angle grinder for the majority of the work.


Step One
He cut the 10" Steel at 4x 19" (sides, top and lid), 2x 10" (end sides) and one remainder piece for the bottom. Then he used the angle grinder to put a 45 degree edge on all four of the "side" pieces. Using the torch, he cut a huge hole in the "top" piece where it left only 1" border on all sides.

Step Two
Using magnetic 90 degree wedges, he welded on the long sides to the bottom and then the short sides.
Then he welded the top "cut out piece" to the top of the box.


Step Three
Drill and Tap holes for the suction ("14MM" used 12.5 x 1.5mm tap), release( 1/4" NPT Tap) and gauge (1/8" NPT Tap).
Note: The size for the drill bit will be less than the size of the tap. I had a bit set in 64ths from 1/16" to 1/2" and it did the trick. Use teflon tape and screw in those three items.
Drill two holes that will fit your PVC pipe through.

Step Four
I used the JB Weld to make airtight insulators around the 2" bolts.
The picture in this case is worth 1000 words.
I then stuck those connectors through the box and used the JB Weld on the PVC into the box.



Step Five
Using the weatherstripping, I applied one long piece, starting in the middle of the long side of the box. I made the radius of the corners as large as I could. I overlapped the end by a smidge and pressed it against the starting edge. This, somehow, seals it just fine.

Step Six
I hooked up the vacuum pump with the R12 hose to the box.

Step Seven
I put an eye bolt into the swing arm of the sealer so I could tie it down with string.
I placed the impulse sealer into the box and plugged it into the sealed power connections.
The sealer is set at 8 of 10 power.

A Note on Bags
"Real" chamber vacuum bags work best. The bags for an external vacuum sealer were hit or miss.

Using the Vacuum
Vacuuming is pretty easy.
Prepare the bag like normal.
Place in the sealer's opening, lower the arm and tie with string.
Place the lid on the box, close the relief valve and fire up the pump.

It takes about 3 minutes to get most of the air out and up to 10 to make a huge vacuum.
This is due in large part to the size of the box. It's pretty big compared to some of the real chamber vacuums.

Chewable Cocktails, the Rare Idea

2 weeks ago I fire off a text message to Zack, who writes the better posts on this site, saying "What if we made our suspended cocktails spheres not so suspended, but actually chewable?" He wrote back stating he already had been thinking the same. I tipped him off to my idea and he shared his. We both agreed they sounded neat in concept. So...

To the upper right is a whisky sour sitting in a lime rind bowl. I cubed lime which was then candied it in lemon and caramelised simple syrup. Afterwards I topped it off with whisky caviar. I at some point said, "I think we've invented a different drink class, cocktails you can chew" and yes, this is much better tasting and more skillful than jello shots. Some google-fu later, I could find nothing on the matter.

Then comes Eben Freeman, Mixologist, I've posted his video below. He makes an amazing White Russian out of Rice Crispies twice dehydrated in Kahlua, served in a cereal bowl with half and half, vodka and some other voodoo. Brilliant idea and more importantly, he invented "chewable cocktails" before we did. He also has a neat Margarita concept which is mostly just a jello shot sitting on top of one of the coolest lime crackers ever. After creating my whisky sour above, I made a toast to Eben and nommed it down.

Enjoy Eben Freeman below :)

Coffee and Cream

Coffee and Cream
Originally uploaded by Dash and Mrs. Dash

This one was an easy dessert that turned out very tasty.

The cream is:
1c Cream
1/2c Milk
1 Vanilla Bean cut and scraped
All of that was simmered for 15 minutes.

The coffee was 100ml Cafe Du Monde made in a french press mixed with 3tbps sugar and 1g sodium alginate and dropped into a calcium chloride bath.

Interestingly, some of the balls failed pretty quickly (a trend for me, it seems) but the ones that survived and then stashed in the cream lasted more than an hour.

For fun I also did some Jack Daniel's caviar on top to 'irish it up'.

Only thing left is to add some color to it.

Biscuit Cutter Eggsample

Biscuit cutters make great looking eggs.

Homemade Veggie Stock, Cutting Food Waste

A couple weeks back I was processing some vegetables and cleaning the fridge. Typically I throw neglected vegetables away, ones that aren't rotten, but obviously not in serving condition and I have no plans for them or time. Let me add that this feels very wasteful all the time, so this time I threw in mustard, spinach and collared green stems, some old celery, bellpepper, onion, aging jalapenos and a few other things into a pot and boiled away. The stock came out really spicy, so I knew later I'd have to tone it down in halfsies portion.

This week is my first use of that veggie stock that cut my food waste down quite a bit. Pictured is a homemade cream of asparagus, with garlic and lemon juice puree, rare rib-eye, basmati rice pilaf with my jalapeno veggie stock and a parmesan cracker. Normally I don't make cream of asparagus and do just a puree of asparagus juice, which I wanted to try alginating, but I don't have all my tools yet. Here's to hoping you see that next time I post.

Back to cutting food waste... I have since started a repository bag for each week where I put

scraps that aren't edible. These then get collected into the freezer and in another week or two they'll be pulled out and made into a stock. Typically I freeze the stock in ice-trays and then bag it up, makes it easy to portion out what you need for specific meals. Here's an example picture

where I preserved some beer brat stock.

Now I just need a deep freeze.

Enjoy

Pea Soup with Carrot Caviar in a Bacon Ring

My first attempt and incorporating a sodium alginate gelled item into a real dinner has worked. The Split Pea Soup was more or less standard. I used the "leftovers broth" from last week with split peas, onions, ham and ground coriander.

The carrot caviar was pureed carrot with sugar, salt and a little water. The hand blender did a fantastic job of getting the alginate into the water without becoming a mess.

The bacon ring in the picture is V2.0. I first tried making the rings around my ring molds in the oven. That led to a crazy sticky mess of baked on bacon that wouldn't come off.
For the second attempt I used a paper towel roll, covered in parchment and cut off the size of the round of bacon secured with a toothpick. Three minutes in the microwave and voila, bacon rings!

Soft Boiled Egg

Eggs
Originally uploaded by Dash and Mrs. Dash

For my test run with the hacked up immersion circulator, I set a couple of eggs in and set the water to 146f. After an hour and a half, I crossed my fingers and cracked one open. Absolutely perfect. The white was just set and interestingly the yolk was a little more set, not runny but slightly gelled. I'd call experiment one a success.

Powdered...

Last night Zack and I checked out Bootsie's Cafe in Tomball, TX. We had read some reviews that it was quite the place to visit and indeed it was.

One of their chef's Chris Leung served up a few dishes which used a technique I do at home, powdered dehydrated meat. The powdered items he served to us in 3 of our 10 dishes were, powdered duck, powdered granny smith apples and last but not least, powdered bacon.

I've powdered bacon in the past so this morning I used my leftover bacon scraps to produce such again. I am not sure what technique they used at Bootsie's, but I can only imagine they probably have a real dehydrator. I on hand do not, so the way I do this is:

• Cook bacon on low-medium heat till fat is rendered out and it's on the cusp of crispiness
• Wrap bacon heavily in paper towels and put in the microwave
• Defrost bacon in 2-3 minute intervals, flipping it each time till really dry, try not to burn
• Put bacon in mortar and pestle and mash it up into a fine powder

The picture above is bacon powder mixed with a little salt, before it meets its final demise being added to some potato chips. The next step, I need to attempt to powder apples, bananas and pears.

Complete Failure

Wok
Originally uploaded by Dash and Mrs. Dash

You might have fresh ingredients, a great stove and a gigantic wok, but that's no insurance against complete and utter failure cooking dinner (or as I like to call it "kids, load it up, we're going to taco cabana." ).

Last night was one of those nights for me.
The dinner was supposed to be "refrigerator stir fry," all the good looking things from the fridge run through the wok. I made a quick sauce of hoisin, soy, mirin and citrus. It tasted good.
I wok fried pork, then the veggies.
So far so good.

Then the crucial mistake. I made a space at the bottom of the wok and through a couple of eggs in to scramble. Under normal circumstances (like pad thai) this wouldn't have been deal.

The killer here, in hind sight, was the cornstarch thickened sauce added to the cabbage added to the egg.
Individually, these are all fine. But all three together made one of the wonkiest slimy textures I've created in a while.

Flavor wise, dinner was ok (the cornstarch fried pork pieces were still good) but the gooky ooky mess of the veggies was too unpleasant to eat.... and I was starving.

So note for the next stir fry. Keep it light and crispy and un-slimey and then I won't end up with a Super Tex Mex Dinner.

Fried Tilapia and Shrimp, Quinoa and Bulgur, Cauliflower Gratin

Fried Tilapia and Shrimp, Quinoa and Bulgur, Cauliflower Gratin
Originally uploaded by Dash and Mrs. Dash

Dinner tonight:
Shrimp and Tilapia in "Slap Ya Mama" creole seasoning.
Cauliflower and Bacon Gratin
On top of Quinoa and Bulgur

Served with Wickles Tartar Sauce

Cutting Food Waste

After making southern style catfish last night I encountered a common issue that happens, leftover flour and breading. Do I throw this out, surely it was only a few cents of ingredients, but nah, refrigerate it, even if it touched raw-fish, we'll fry other stuff tomorrow.

The ingredients of my catfish breading are almost similar to my fried pickles recipe, just add a bit of panko and a few other things. So tonight we snacked on fried pickles after we had dinner.

Recipe:

3 bowls containing the following ingredients:
flour

1:1 buttermilk/milk (all buttermilk is too sticky, all milk is too wet)

1:1 panko/cornmeal, season it up to your liking with stuff, I use cayenne, chili onion and garlic powder

Cut pickles into serving size of your choice, dry them off well, then dredge them in flour first, after dredging them in flour, bathe them in the milk/buttermilk mixture, then batter up in the panko/cornmeal mixture and deep fry @ 375f

Sodium Alginate V 1.0

SodiumAlginate
Originally uploaded by Dash and Mrs. Dash

Tried it out tonight for the first time.
Used red dyed water first then apple juice.
1g / 200ml sodium alginate for the liquid balls to make.
2g /100ml calcium salt to water for the water bath.

The red water balls were perfect. The apple juice ones were mushy, but I blame my inaccurate scale right now. There's a chance that the ascorbic acid in the apple juice is messing with things... I'll have to try more to see if that's the case.

Spherification Chemicals

1000000598.JPG
Originally uploaded by Dash and Mrs. Dash

The spherification chemicals have arrived.
Slightly more than the 2g packets I had to play with to start off with.

Oxtail and Roasted Fennel

1000000573.JPG
Originally uploaded by Dash and Mrs. Dash

Beef short ribs from the slow cooker. Deep fried beet chips. Roasted Fennel and Turnip.