Quote:
Originally Posted by lurley
Kath,
My Vittorio is an older model, but I also have a strainer that looks almost exactly like it made by nor pro. If you can find one, maybe it will work better, and you could then refund the Vittorio?
And burned enamelware? Are you reducing your sauce in your enamelware? It is very thin and burns easily (as you may know). You may want to reduce your sauce overnight in a crock pot set on low with the lid off. I did it that way for many years before changing to the method I use now. I had four crock pots lined up on the counter along with my turkey roaster oven, all with lids off and set on low. It was the easiest way for me to get sauce reduced without burning it.
Good Luck!
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Lurley,
Thanks for your help- I was wondering if maybe the older models might have been made better, but I got over my fear and dread and tackled batch #2 of ripe-enough maters today and didn't have any problems. I'd been thinking about a couple of Tom's comments and suggestions and it seemed to me that he was using a lot more force to move the tomato pieces down into the body of the machine, so that was my plan of action today.
So, it appears that the problem was as simple as not keeping the flow of tomatoes going through to the screw consistently. The hard turning was the same as you experience when just beginning to use the mill and at the end when you're pushing through the last bits and it is essentially empty. My problem was too literal an interpretation of "DO NOT FORCE, simply GUIDE fruits..." and listening to the customer service rep who was convinced I needed to cut into smaller pieces, only fill the hopper with a little bit at a time, and not force the tomatoes at all.
So thanks to Tom and to all who have tried to help me figure out how to make this work! I feel a bit foolish.
I only have one small slow cooker, so it's nowhere large enough to hold the amount of sauce I'm dealing with, so I was using it along with my turkey roaster oven...is that black lining called enamelware? Maybe I had it set too high or something- I did have to let it go all night. What's your upper limit for a temp setting?
To clean it, first I tried soaking with hot water and dish detergent for a couple hours and scrubbing with a plastic net thing; then I coated it with vinegar and salt, let it sit 30 min. and scrubbed some more; then I coated with a baking soda paste, let it sit and scrubbed again; then I coated with liquid Tide, let it sit and scrubbed again; then I blew off the warnings and used Brillo to get it clean so I could get on with another batch of sauce.
So if anyone has any suggestions for how to clean these roasting pans without scrubbing off the finish, I'm all ears.
Kath