Mellow, the robotic sous-chef • Hacker News Board

Re: Mellow, the robotic sous-chef

#111

Post by ebiester » Wed, Apr 23, 2014, 5:56 AM UTC

So, I notice that it's quite possible to set on autopilot, but is there an option to have more control, in the case of recipes we find separately?

Is there some sort of way to know if the power went off? If so, does it check the temperature to see if it was just a surge or if it went into the danger zone?

I'm trying to reduce the amount of meat in my diet, personally, and most applications seem to be for meats. Are there significant advantages to getting one for anything short of slow carmelized onions and a few soups?

Re: Mellow, the robotic sous-chef

#112

Post by dang » Wed, Apr 23, 2014, 6:04 AM UTC

jack-r-abbit wrote: post #110

dang wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When a story hasn't yet gotten significant attention, a small number of reposts (2 or 3) is ok. Otherwise, many more good stories would get lost to randomness and churn.

Yes. And some times you guys merge them and the original submitter gets the credit. And some times you just kill the dupes. I was just pointing out that previous thread like so many people do every day here. I wasn't being a dick about it. No need to flog me for it. But what ever. HN has its finicky moments.

I certainly didn't mean to flog you! Was just trying to clarify what sorts of reposts we allow vs. kill as dupes. Merging wasn't an option in this case because the prior submission was too old to make the front page.

Re: Mellow, the robotic sous-chef

#113

Post by eric_the_read » Wed, Apr 23, 2014, 6:30 AM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #71

zemvpferreira wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Proteins aside, auto retrograding potatoes is really nice. It's one of those techniques that makes a huge difference, but you'd never use on a regular day.

Starch retrogradation is neat, but you can do it with a normal circulator really easily. (I'm partial to the IiF 7 minute risotto trick). What's the win with potatoes while I'm at work? I haven't done potatoes in the circulator successfully yet.

I read the IiF article, and maybe I'm just a newbie with sous vide, but I don't get how you parcook the rice. Based on this thread and other articles, I'm guessing you soak the rice in water first, at room temp, and then stick it in a bag in the water bath?

Re: Mellow, the robotic sous-chef

#114

Post by eric_the_read » Wed, Apr 23, 2014, 6:31 AM UTC

I have to say, this product sounds pretty cool, but for myself, I got really excited about sous vide, even made my own immersion circulator from Scott Heimendinger's plans a few months ago, but when I fried two aquarium pumps due to long times at high temps, I knew I had to get a commercial model. I ended up ordering an Anova, and at $200, it's just at the high end of what I feel I can afford. A $400 machine could easily be twice as good, and I'm still not sure I could convince myself to part with that much.

In addition, the new crop of immersion circulators (Anova, Sansaire, etc.) don't need very much space- they just clamp to an existing pot or whatever. It seems to me the Mellow has a very hard fight for precious counter space on top of the price.

Re: Mellow, the robotic sous-chef

#115

Post by eric_the_read » Wed, Apr 23, 2014, 6:34 AM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #81

jadence wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the reply tptacek! I tracked down Dave Arnold's report to 9:28 here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cooking-issues-episode-1... In summary: SC Johnson (SJC) told Grant Achatz and others chefs not to use their bags for sous-vide so Dave Arnold contacted SJC and asked specifically about using the bags for sous-vide and explained why he believes the practice is safe. The SJC representative replied with "…

Cooking Issues is so great . If any of this thread interests any of you, you should be listening to Cooking Issues.

Thanks for the recommendation! Looks like it's time to prune my podcast list so I can make room...

Re: Mellow, the robotic sous-chef

#116

Post by beachstartup » Wed, Apr 23, 2014, 6:37 AM UTC

zemvpferreira wrote: post #54

polemic wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks! I think most people equate "medium rare chicken" with food poisoning, so it was interesting to see that used in the video. Never knew that you could actually cook it safely that way.

Medium rare chicken is like medium rare pork. If you can get over your upbringing enough times to get used to it, you can never go back. It me took 3-4 times for each, and the only reason I stuck with it was that my snobbery overpowered my mother's education. But really, sous-vide, medium rare chicken breast has a taste and texture you'd never think chicken breast could have. Same with pork, it's a revelation on all…

i disagree. having grown up eating hockey puck pork chops and dry chicken, medium rare pork is delicious while medium rare chicken is just gross and unappetizing.

a good thoroughly cooked, yet juicy and delicious roast chicken is still one of the most basic, yet difficult, dishes to prepare.

Re: Mellow, the robotic sous-chef

#117

Post by Tyr42 » Wed, Apr 23, 2014, 7:06 AM UTC

alexhutcheson wrote: post #108

This looks really cool! I've been interested in getting into sous-vide for a while, but I'm not sure where to start. Could anyone point me to some introductory resources? (websites, maybe cookbooks?) I'm interested in learning the difference between different equipment setups, and also understanding what works well for sous-vide and what doesn't.

I enjoyed the sous-vide section of Cooking for Geeks, (and the rest of the book is great too!) That's enough to get started.

Re: Mellow, the robotic sous-chef

#118

Post by satiani » Wed, Apr 23, 2014, 7:09 AM UTC

Your payment form is not secure, even though it makes a submission over SSL, the fact that it is hosted on a non-SSL page exposes it to Man in the Middle attacks. An attacker may, for example, change the iframe URL to something controlled by the attacker but looks like the payment form on your site, and trick users into giving them their credit card details.

The fix is simple, make your whole site https and redirect all http traffic over to https. There are cheap SSL certificates out there (as low as $99 a year) and its pretty easy to setup.

Re: Mellow, the robotic sous-chef

#119

Post by shalmanese » Wed, Apr 23, 2014, 7:22 AM UTC

Any plans to open the device up to API access? I know a lot of cheese makers who need a specific series of heating steps and it's currently a major pain in the ass with available SV setups as it all has to be done manually. A way to program it in would be awesome.

Re: Mellow, the robotic sous-chef

#120

Post by prawn » Wed, Apr 23, 2014, 7:49 AM UTC

As an owner of a $2k+ Thermomix (which can do sous-vide in a very confined and limited fashion) this interests me and $400 doesn't seem outrageous if it can become a regular tool in the kitchen. I do wonder how much is covered by a slow-cooker though.

Going on the TM, my concerns would be cleaning (doesn't seem like a big issue) and how much of a meal it can actually do.

With the Thermomix, we found it went from gimmick to regularly used device quickly enough - marinades, sauces, pureed baby food, mashed potato, etc. Besides weigh, heat, blend, etc it can also work to a set temperature (though with broader increments) and I eventually tried some steak sous-vide. Vacuum sealed bag, into the basket (to prevent the blades from rupturing the bag) and away it went. It worked OK though the steak obviously needed to be seared at the end. That left me rinsing the TM and still having to wash the pan/griddle, etc.

If you still need to prepare/cook your sides, I wonder how much time has truly been saved? I've had reasonable success with the slow-cooker too: one-pot dish so cleaning is easy, sides aren't much of an issue, etc.

I imagine that the value in Mellow will come once the community strengthens and people work out a set of go-to recipes that minimise other mess and prep.