Its a good thing I didn't invite a bunch of people for Easter (just me, my wife and a friend for early dinner). We have all had equipment failures in the past but this was epic proportions.
First the menu consisted of only 2 items (3 if you count wine)
CS Fish and Chips a very multi stepped and structured process but so unbelievably worth it...
First failure was the Y potato peeler, snapped at the corner. I was doing 5 lbs of potatoes so i could freeze some. OXO straight handle for back up. My hands had started to cramp earlier in the day (getting old) this didn't help
Second was the Anova, I had loaned my old VFR Lab unit to a friend for a leg of Lamb he was doing. When the Anova FINALLY reached 194F I put in the fries bagged in brine (room temp by now) and it dropped to 176F certainly more than I expected. Thats ok I set my Anova to start timer AFTER it reached temp and opened the second bottle of Sunday Champagne....got distracted by the shiny squirrel (TV) jumped up after 40 minutes and raced to the kitchen....Anova had reached a whopping 182F...uh oh.. Immediately filled a big stock pot with water so i could get it boiling....remember my hand cramps? can't pick the pot up from the sink...had to use smaller pots taking much longer. Finally got the water to temp and the Anova was able to maintain for 25 minutes.. Total time for FIRST cook over 2 hours..
Third and Fourth was epic, brand new (read all the reviews) DeLongi deep fryer arrived Saturday. For the second cook it requires 8 minutes at 280F in oil. The fryer only heats from 300 to 370F.....shit....cook them up any way and they come out just like the pictures AWESOME ...then I think get the thermometer out and check it.....300F setting is 275 actual...noooooooooo. Fired it all the way up max of 370F and yes...wait for it.....308 with wired thermometer AND IR thermometer....Fuck. Now (especially because go my hands acting up) I have to let the oil get cooler than I normally would to transfer it.....I pull out the enameled Dutch oven and prepare to go old school, its heavy, my left hands cramps and I drop on the stove from about 2 inches...SNAP.....no, not the Dutch oven but, the damned cast iron grate on my Blustar Range. At this point I open a bottle of red....
So the fries have completed first cook, drying and cooling, second cook and into the freezer ....the M-50 is hydrated I got this...
Five.....I get ready to brine the fish. While portioning it .....yes, thats correct my hand cramps again and I shave my knuckle just enough to draw blood. Luckily I only had a small piece of fish on the board so I didn't loose much just having to stop and scrub down everything is a pain in the ass.
Now the brine, to help hydrate the M50 i use an immersion blender (Bamix), so I throw all the brine stuff in the pan and hit with the blender......what the hell is burning....there is nothing on the stove....shit...with a final sizzle the blend gives up the ghost......
Six... the fish is brined, the batter station is set, the fries are frozen....please let there be hope... and it continues. I open another bottle of red and go to double check the oil temp and my digital read thermometer has developed a new character set for the readout....kind of a cross between Japanese characters and hieroglyphics.....no problem I have my trusty IR just used 3 hours ago...WHAT.....it doesn't work or even turn on.
DEAD FUCKING BATTERY.
The fish and chips were awesome in the end.....HOWEVER considering the cost of the phycologist to help me understand that I am not being singled out by an alien race to be punished, made this meal more expensive than planned..,,,
Rob
PS Have a happy damned day!
