Posted by arkansas_girl "Wouldn't a piece of meat cooked for two days at such low temps(129F) be spoiled? I don't get those super low temps? The meat certainly looks like it would taste good but doesn't seem hot enough to even kill the bacteria etc." That is a very important question. Very important. Fortunately today with internet, you can check out all kinds of information, and you do need to go to multiple sources to confirm your information. I am not going to be very specific, just some general ideas here. The general guideline given by the authorities are safe to the extreme, they need to account for all those young, old and the immunological challenged. Furthermore, to make things simple, the guidelines do not take into account the time factor. In other words, when they say (again, I am not giving any specific information here, just talking about concepts) 160F is safe for chickens, they are not telling you that is also safe for 150F if you cook at that temperature for 30 minutes, and 140F for 60 minutes. For beef, (for me, may not be for you) it is generally very safe that you can eat raw beef, if the beef is handled properly. Since you can not be sure of if the outside of the beef is handled properly, you can sear/torch using quick high heat to sanitize the outside before you cook the meat in very low temperature. It is entirely not recommended to eat raw ground beef because you cannot sanitize ground beef. There are charts available showing safe temperatures for all kinds of meat based on time and temperature. dcarch

Thanks for all the kind words! GW was a great resource all the way through the planning and then the "doing"! Just a couple examples - until I posted a question about which mullions I should choose for glass front cabinets, it never had occurred to me that I had far more choices than plain glass. Now every time I open my cabinets, I smile - I do love the river ice! And because I had always had them, I started my plan with lower cabinets but thanks to GW I changed to all drawers. I love having all my pots, pans, mixing bowls, and small appliances in deep drawers. No more pulling everything out to get the one thing in the back. When we were house hunting, I dreamed of a huge eat-in kitchen with an antique butcher block, but I'm really enjoying cooking in this cozy space with everything so close at hand. mabeldingeldine: We're not Mainers, we just wish we were! We take a trip to the mid-coast area every summer. We got married there and got the Common Ground poster that year - it was also the perfect addition to my kitchen chicken collection! t-bird: Getting the Scherr's doors didn't save any money but I was able to get exactly what I wanted - I just didn't love the finish/materials on any of the white Ikea doors. I posted a breakdown of my costs on the "Under $20k Kitchens thread". I've still got some little paint touch-ups to do, and I need to put some trim where the backsplash ends but it's so nice to have a kitchen that really works. Here is a link that might be useful: Under $20k Kitchen Remodels

I often roast two small chickens in a pan just big enough for them and occasionally a wing will touch the sides of the pan. No rack. I put just a small smear of oil in the bottom of the roasting pan so that the birds do not stick. After 15 minutes I give the pan a good shake to make sure that they are not sticking. If I'm roasting a turkey I might do that once more after a half hour. Otherwise I just leave them be to roast. I never add veggies or liquid to the pan. Ann

With the reverse sear and very low-and-slow cooking time, you will want to get a little closer to your target final temperature before pulling it from the oven because there won't be quite as much carryover cooking as if you roasted at a higher temperature. I'd say get within 5-7 degrees of target rather than 10-15 like you would if you were roasting at a higher temp. What temperature do you prefer for rare meat? Personally, I like 125 or so for rare, 130-135 for medium rare, so I'd pull it at 120 or 125, tops. As for the searing step, you can do it either before or after resting, but personally I like to do it after - that way the outside of the meat is piping hot and sizzling when you bring it to the table. You don't need to rest again after searing. Here's an article with some tips on timing: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/12/perfect-prime-rib-beef-recipe.html I would anticipate about 30 mins per pound of meat at 200, maybe less if your meat is at room temp to start. One other tip to get an extra crispy, delicious crust - use some butter in your pan when you sear the meat. The milk solids in the butter brown and contribute to caramelization.