Question Of The Day #43

If you had $1000 to spend on kitchen gear, what would you buy and why?

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Currently.... I'd buy a half-barrel-stainless steel cone fermenter (for wine making...numerous advantages over other options) and an Anova Pro with the stainless tank.

HammeredChef_DEFINITELY_does_NOT_work_at_22134

chamber vac for all the OTHER things you can do with it...removing air, compression, infusion, etc

Tasha_78709

A sharp pointy knife and an immersion circulator.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

Can you buy a centrifuge and a PacoJet for $1000? If so sign me up.

Jorge_Falsis_80743

A larger sous vide and a chamber vacuum sealer.

Pablo_Chang_69473

A Sousvide and a set of the sexy japanese knives... ;-)

anthony_34093

Automatic coffee grinder, espresso machine, new plates, petty knife, sweet thick wood cutting board. Mostly things that I don't have vs upgrades of current gear.

Brendan_Lee_56950

Only $1000?

Right now, probably the biggest Kuhn Rikon PC I can find, a new sashimi style knife, and a very nice boos bros block. Might have a few extra bucks to buy a nice new apron.

HammeredChef_DEFINITELY_does_NOT_work_at_22134

No but, I did just find a centrifuge that holds 4 50ml tubes for $850

http://www.amazon.com/ELMI-CM-6MT-9-Clinical-Centrifuge-Included/dp/B00LN0N5BC/ref=sr_1_1?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1418413805&sr=1-1&keywords=50+ml+centrifuge (link short cut wasn't working )

Mike_Rupp_31704

I'm curious what the advantages of that fermenter are for making wine. It just looks like any standard wine tank with a racking port. Out here in WA, red wines that score over 95 points are commonly fermented in open top plastic bins and racked to barrels.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

Ooooooooo

Is this the one that Arnold tested? I think I merember something about the volume not being that great.

T__2156

chamber vac or blast chiller.

Brandon_Byrd_40557

If you're only spenning 200ml at a time, your yield is going to suck.

Brandon_Byrd_40557

I'd get a Waring MX1200XTX blender, the 12 quart Kuhn Rikon (or larger, but I think that's as big as it gets), and a set of coarse/fine sieve + base from Affordable Sieves.

DiggingDogFarm_65362

I'm talking advantages over common home winemaking set-ups....most home primary fermenters are plastic buckets. The racking port is the major advantage....ability to remove sediment (so the cone fermenter can even be used as a secondary fermentor if desired)....ease of cleaning and sanitation are other advantages.

Alex_McWilliams_90982

I would put it toward a a minipac vacuum sealer. I cook using sous vide constantly and have the sous vide supreme vac sealer, it's okay in general but terrible with liquid. It never seems to get all the air out either.

ttpoker

This thread needs more money. LOTS more money.

Matt_67991

Probably a chamber vac. Maybe some lab sieves, although I bought a matfer bourgeat chinois which is good enough for most purposes. I do have a camelcamelcamel alert on a Breville sous chef, which looks like a really nice food processor and is a realistic purchase for the next time it goes on sale.

Matt_67991

I just got an 8L Kuhn Rikon, upgrading from a Hawkins. It's so much nicer.

Mike_Rupp_31704

Got it. I'd think it would be easier, cheaper and more effective to simply rack the wine off of the lees into another similar sized bucket and then dump the lees from the original fermenter. Are you doing reds or whites? $600 could buy a nice, little diaphragm pump with the hoses/fittings/wands/etc.

tshewman

That's the one, but he also uses 2 enzymes to help hings out (and to increase yield).

tshewman

I'm torn here.....I would either go for a rotary evaporator (and save for the vacuum component after) or refrigerated centrifuge (via auction-got my dewar that way recently). OR, I would go with one small PC (pan size) and a 12 qt PC for stocks (I love my 8L-but I would prefer one larger for stocks and smaller for other things), sieves (mine are on their way out), another knife (my shun is nice, but veggies sticking does get annoying sometimes) plus a slicing knife (fish/boning knife for certain). OR (yes a long list), OR, an induction cooktop (those can be found for close to $1,000, so I'm exercising some liberty here) and would gladly chip in the remainder. Why....???? Rotovap to introduce friends and family to different aromas and flavors presented differently (and more concentrated). Centrifuge to clarify more efficiently and supports the concentration goal mentioned previously for friends and family, the PC, knifves and sieves to support the basics (necessary almost every day) ad the induction cooktop to make all the burner style cooking easier and more predictable. I'm thinking I should be starting a Chefsteps lab/restaurant in Columbus OH! LOL!

douglas_bd

First of all, that's not enough, but depending on my mood at a given point in time, I'd use it towards an espresso set up or one of Mareko's damascus chef knives.

T__2156

combi oven, blast chiller, centrifuge, but that's about it for me in the post-$1K range. Maybe a rotavap or Pacojet if I'm really rolling in money.

T__2156

sous vide setups are getting relatively inexpensive! Less than US$200 and your own stock pot...

brodieblake07

Vitamix and an anova immersion circulator. Both amazing tools that I do not have. The functions for both of these are endless!!

tshewman

Damn left out the combi oven! The paco jet is up there but.....

Jenny_106356

I'm reading so many good answers. chamber vac, knives... ect.. can we just add a couple of extra ZEROs to that question? : )

A_L_Esterling_35269

Definitely one of Mareko’s knives, Brian!

Johan_Edstrom_5586

Go for the induction, sharpen bean cans

Michael_93748

I just realized how much I don't know about modernist cooking...I don't even know what most of those would be used for.

Michael_93748

Truth. Induction is the single greatest thing I've done in my kitchen. Needed to get a range for the basement suite and took the crappy ceramic top downstairs and grabbed a decent (but not amazing) Kenmore Elite induction top/convection oven and I love it. LOVE it. Truly. I pretty much hate cooking on everything else. I even bought an induction burner for my office with the true reason that I can then bring it home to add to my arsenal if doing a big meal...and make grilled cheese at the office.

Michael_93748

I just got my Blendtec and an Anova (with 4 more on the way...heh...but only two are for me...and maybe will only keep one...)

douglas_bd

I'll take that list and raise you a freeze dryer!

T__2156

Frankly, I think this is one of my few complaints about the MC books: they are so open to possible uses of these tools, they never quite state directly that "tool X is really great for application Y." (In the long run, their explanations are more accurate, but maybe less clear. Several MC staff have, post-publication, done a lot of work to translate MC into lay language, including some Chefsteps folks.) But to fill you in (and give me some practice explaining, please correct me folks):

Combi ovens regulate not only the temperature, but also the humidity, of the oven. This means better breads (you've heard the home-cook hack of spraying some water into your oven as you insert the bread dough? This is the pro version) and less dried-out meats/veggies. Since many combi-ovens are large enough to hold 100 portions of pork chop without drying them out, they're particularly good for function halls (bride showed up late? no problem, food's still perfect).

blast chillers cool down foods super quickly and that's all. In a home environment, they'd be great for chilling the wine your guest brought to the party, and for getting your gallon of freshly made stock cooled out of the danger zone without acrobatics.

centrifuge separates out liquid from goop. You can imagine that carrot puree is made of mostly water and bits. The centrifuge separates the water from the bits. Some ingredients will separate out three or four layers of stuff. The water is almost always useful, because you'll get carrot-y water. The bits are sometimes useful too, as a spread or ingredient. Scott Heimendinger has a video.

Rotavap is a way to evaporate stuff out of a liquid without heating it up too much. My impression is that sometimes you want to collect the evaporated stuff, and sometimes you want to keep the thicker stuff left behind. Mota has a video.

Pacojet is a brand-name appliance that allows you to make sorbets and ice creams with a couple of advantages: first, it mixes ingredients finer than your tongue can detect, so your sorbet is super-smooth. Second, you can sorbet-fy ingredients all by themselves, skipping the sugar syrup or ice cream base. Pure tomato, pure coconut, etc.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

Espresso?

That requires a few more of those notes.

T__2156

Oh, yes!

T__2156

For those of us getting excited, be warned you can get countertop-sized, less-than-$300 centrifuge on eBay... but it only holds small test tubes. I have nearly fallen into this hole at least three times.

jmiller0703

It would have to be one more Polyscience circulator, as it would increase my productivity, and a liquid nitrogen dewar so I can stop borrowing one from our source.

Matthew_Snyder_68770

Number one priority for me is a chamber sealer. There are plenty of suitable options for home cooks below the $1k price point, so that leaves room to play. I think after that might be that Cuisinart countertop toaster/steam oven thing, which seems to be getting excellent reviews. That will leave me with between $200 and $300. So.... food dehydrator? Two single 'burner' induction cooktops? 7-qt pressure cooker? Countertop centrifuge? (Altho that might stretch the budget)

T__2156

I love my Vitamix. Worth every penny over regular blenders.

reck.harm

i just got a chamber vac so propably a vitamix. A centrifuge would be awesome but 1000$ might be a little short for that.

Michael_93748

I had never seen that Cuisinart before. I dig that. I've been thinking for awhile that it would be great to have a countertop oven for the times that I don't want to heat up the whole big oven for a small dish....this seems like a great option (over the Breville, at least...)

T__2156

I can't believe I forgot a colloid mill and rotor-stator homogenizer! What was I thinking?!

Kyle_Swanbeck_13795

Since I just got a Polyscience Immersion Circulator I would spend that money on getting a Chamber Sealer. I REALLY would love to have that added to my collection. So many things you can do with one that you just can't do with a food saver.

jordan_poudrier_74905

Defiently a vitamix then maybe a new knife like a Kochi or something from JKI

lfmichaud

If you're willing to go for a used centrifuge you can probably have a nice large capacity desktop centrifuge for less than a thousand dollars... Try to find it local since they're very heavy and shipping is a pain.

brodieblake07

I'll take one haha!

Ernest_133898

A better stove/ oven

Francesco_111569

I would buy so many things i am actually missing at home! first a chinoise strainer and a drumsieve, i think they are necessary! Since a good themomixer i think would be too expansive a good blender would be great! I don't have one at home.. And definetely a pasta machine with the attachment, i make pasta by hand everytime.Then one medium size good quality sauce pan and I would be really happy

Chef_Le_Paradis_187406

this

Alyssa_Patterson_991537

Thanks for discussing this thread here. And I would also like to buy new knife like a Kochi.

Alyssa,

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