450 degrees in just a few minutes (could go higher, but that was more than I needed just testing it). I did take a quick look yesterday at the Kirkland model while picking up food and a grill utensils for Memorial day. Noted the folded metal corners, screws, etc. which made me more appreciative of the Virco quality in welded stainless steel (lid, lip, etc..) that they ground to a perfect edge and fit. One minor thing that I did not like were how easy the utensil hooks can swing out. I will look for a rubber gromet or something like that to slide over the end to keep them in place. Did I mention this unit is heavy? Not near the 450 lb that the Costco claimed, but Virco did not skimp on stainless steel. Double wall doors, lid that feels immense, and a minor detail, but I really like the stainless steel skirt at the bottom as it makes it look permanent vs. portable (even though it has locking casters), and how about that cover bsbbq?! Fully insulated with velcro ties. For those interested, Costco has a Hoffritz (hoffritz.com)6 pc. stainless-steel and black santoprene (like rubber) grill set that includes a large turner, tongs, biiiig fork tipped knife, grill brush, basting brush, and a 10 x 16" (I think) grid grill. Sorry to push Costco, but I checked Walmart while getting some other stuff, and just two pieces (with wood handles) were more, so I am glad I waited.

I found lots of stuff on the web about using ammonia to clean the oven -- put a bowl or pot of ammonia into a heated (though currently off) oven, leave it overnight, and in the morning simply wipe all the crud out. I did use this trick for the oven shelves -- put the shelves in a black trash bag with a cup of ammonia and leave overnight, then rinse them clean in the morning.The oven shelves looked like *new* when I took them out and washed them off. I have no doubt ammonia would have worked like a charm in the oven as well, except that after 15 minutes I was sure that we were all going to be asphyxiated in the night by the ammonia fumes, so I took the bowl out. What I ended up using was basically baking soda and vinegar and water, mixed together. Yes, you get a fizzy mess when the baking soda and vinegar mix. Once that cooled down, I coated the entire inside of the oven with the goop, as much as I possibly could. I let it stand over night. The next morning, using a sponge (frequently washed out), I wiped out the entire inside of the oven. That oven looked pretty damn good after that. Yes, elbow grease was involved, but it smelled okay (and it was immediately obvious where I hadn't wiped, because it still had white streaks). In the future: I'm going to try to get on top of spills/messes earlier (I bought a mat for the bottom of the oven now), and I'm going to use the baking soda/vinegar trick. If you want things to be really easy and you don't mind a strong smell, the ammonia is amazing. Here is a link that might be useful: Baking soda and vinegar

Yep, that's how I do it! I don't turn it, just let it cook. Be sure you use a stone that has sides on it! Mostly I use the bar stone, but I have used the 9 x 13 or what ever size that one is, when I've had more bacon than room, and wanted it done all at once, instead of spending an hour making bacon. I usually don't save my bacon grease. If it's not a lot, I'll soak up as much as I can with paper towels. I can usually get all of it with them. Then just hot water and a scraper to clean it. I do a lot of bacon in the summer and put it in zip locks in the freezer for camping. I cook it done, but not as crisp as we like it, then warm it in a pan at camp. Works great! It also is a great way to season your stones, as long as they have sides. Never do it on a pizza stone or the flat rectangular stone. The grease will run off into your oven. For those, make refrigerator bisquits, or be sure you grease them before you use them. Either works. By the way, DS went to the local vocational school for baking and pastry. They used commercial baking pans there, but he is collecting the stones (mostly Christmas gifts!) because he likes them better. Tami

Sorry, I haven't checked back here for awhile and just saw the latest messages. I haven't done much big cooking for awhile, do to current life demands, and still haven't had a chance to try the new dicing sets. I probably should, just to say I did, but for a single vegetable, I just grab a knife. I really like the dicing (original set) when I'm cooking for the crowd. I wish it worked better with raw hard roots, but I understand why there are issues. I hypothesize that the fresher and damper the roots are, the better they'll dice. Still, there are peppers and onions and squash and all kinds of softer things I chop regularly. I should make some gazpacho and play. :) OTOH, I have a highly rated manual hinged lid dicer which I can't even get an onion through, so whatever help I get, is good help. What the W-S staff were doing wrong is focusing on french fries. Most of the people I know offline don't make french fries at home. They're a drive thru thing. :) The peeler was designed for potatoes, though I've used it on apples and other things. It looks like it's taking a lot of good product, but it's really not more than most veg peelers do. The result gets beat up, though, so not for pretty work. The peeler, however, is best on smaller potatoes. I just cut mine and don't worry about loosing a little more on the cut edges. If peeling potatoes is a big enough task to even think of going to the machine (like for latkes for the multitudes), it's good. But then if you take what you've peeled and put it through the dicer, you aren't going to get much in the way of lovely long fries. I haven't tried, since I don't make french fries, but I'm guessing the demo didn't use the narrow feed tude, either, and if you're doing something vertical, you need to, or it'll fall over and give you the wrong shape. But I wasn't there and can't be sure of what they did or what you saw, Loves. I'll put it on my list of things to try just for trying. I can always cube them up after. While I do love the chopping element, the FP as a whole is just amazingly beautifully designed, and I still adore it. I never much liked my Cuisinart. It was a bother to use. The other day I was making ... fangipane, I think ... the directions called for the food processor, which is common with almond flour so you don't have to sift it. I wasn't thinking and just put my ingredients in the main bowl, rather than the small one. I was worried because it was a thin layer on the bottom of the bowl. It worked fine! I was amazed. This thing is so easy to use and clean! LOVE still blooms!