wabi

Aloha. I fish here in Hawaii, and fish in Alaska every summer. We bring home a lot of fish. My personal preference for halibut and black cod is 130. My wife likes her fish well done, 130 is done but still succulent, and not dry at all for those who like their fish on the rare side. One of our weeknight meals is (Hawaii style) Chinese steamed fish. Cooked sous vide to 130, it's then draped with almost a salad of thinly sliced green onions, cilantro, then drizzled with shoyu and searing hot oil with a bit of sesame oil in it. Served with rice, it's a wonderful dish. Done sous vide is an adaptation of using a small whole fish, sous vide gives exact control over the doneness of the fish. It's one of our favorite meals.

Thank you for the nod for the San Francisco Baking Institute....it has been high on my radar since I started thinking of this.

I want to thank you all for your excellent suggestions. I am still contemplating what I will do, but I think that trying some of the online courses seems like a great idea to start.

Thank you keychris. I have 20-30 bread baking books in my collection, including those you mentioned.

I'm 64, and am winding down in my professional career. A avid home chef, I still enjoy learning new techniques and dishes. The real weak spot in my cooking skill set is bread baking. I can make a hella good loaf of Lahey's no need to knead bread, but I really want to up my game to include both day to day loaves, but also artisan breads. My goal in life is to learn to bake a really good baguette. I just renovated my kitchen, which now includes a large island work surface, and a pair of Miele ovens...a convection oven, and a plumbed convection steam oven. I've plenty of cookbooks, telling me how to bake everything from A to Z, but I've never had anyone show me how to bake a loaf of bread. I dont know the basic techniques. You can read everything you want to about how do do certain things, but until you see someone do it, see the fine points, ask questions as they and then you are doing it...I have a hard time perfecting even the basics. So I have thought about going to a baking school. I've researched with Google, and have found the King Arthur Flour Company's school, but before I put down my tuition, I wanted to know if there are any other schools out there, with courses about 1-2 weeks long that will be intensive bread baking instructions...Hands on, here's how you do it kind of schools. Does anyone have knowledge, experience or have gone to any courses like this and have an opinion or recommendation? I live in Hawaii, so no matter where the school is, I am going to have to travel..... Thank you all in advance for your thoughts.

They were sublime! I'm, going to Alaska next week to fish...I'm gonna make sure I bring home all of the collars!

I'm interested in recipes for Taiwanese Beef Noodle soup as well as other Taiwanese dishes. It's nice that it is being differentiated from mainland Chinese food. Can you recommend any Taiwanese cookbooks that includes a great recipe for Beef Noodle soup?

And for closure's sake... The halibut collars were buttered and salted. Grilled, and then a homemade Ponzu sauce was used for dipping.

I thought of miso preparation. We catch a lot to black cod as well, and that is my favorite preparation.

Every year I go to Alaska to fish for a week, and end up bringing home about 100 lbs of processed fish. This last year I brought home a bunch of salmon and halibut collars as I did not want that good meat to go to waste. Now I am embarrassed to say that I have gone through most of last years fish, but still have these collars left. I've poked around the interwebs for grilled or broiled fish collar recipes, but dont find a lot of them. I was thinking a soy sauce/butter/garlic/ginger marinade and brush during cooking them, or a home made teriyaki. Any other thoughts or suggestions on a marinade or sauce to brush on during grilling?

I use a vintage T-20 toaster. They are awesome for toast, but suck for bagels...the slot isn't wide enough.

I have one of these...it gets wicked hot. The airflow through them is such that the charcoal just glows. It's great for searing steaks.

I am convinced there is no perfect seasoning technique. I mostly use the Sheryl Canter technique, but even then after 6 coats or so, when you use the pan it inevitably sticks, and you gotta use a scrubbie on it. (Don't use soap!) So...after you've done your Sheryl Canter seasoning, and your pan looks oh so nice with a uniform brown seasoning...you use it and the food sticks....like it sticks with every freakin seasoning regimen. What do you do now? The answer is easy..... Its not a beauty contest. The goal is to use it. So you use it. Over and over and over again...and then one day you realize...hey...stuff's not sticking to it any more! Then you realize, there is no scientific way to season cast iron or carbon steel. Get a start on seasoning with whatever technique you are most comfortable with. (And it wont be perfect)...Then use the pants off of it. That's how you season it, and that's how you end up with a nice pan...but the key is to use it, and use it hard.

Well...I started using the pans, frying up some sausage and some bacon...after 6 coats of flax seed oil...and they acted like carbon steel pans with a moderate amount of sticking. I am going to use them, use them and use them...for frying, and use a moderate of oil in them until they build up some non stick to them...Its hard sometimes breaking in new pans..and you always want to go back to your old tried and true standbys.. But I will stick with it.

I was lazy...ran the pans 2 cycles in the dishwasher, and then hand cleaned the residue off with a scrubbie and Bar Keeper's Friend. Dried them on the stove so they would not corrode in front of my eyes. I am impressed with their construction. Simple... a nice thickness and basic construction. This isn't your mother's All Clad. All that said, they should make for nice pans once they are seasoned. My plan is a mix of OCD and common sense. I am going to put a couple of coats of Flax Seed oil on them, and then use them for everything I can imagine. You can prep them all you want to, but I think functional seasoning comes from using them and not babying them. I have no aspirations of frying pristine sunny side up eggs in them, but there will be some serious frying done in them. They are now in the oven with their first coat of Flax Seed oil. Come on Sheryl Canter! I want to get these things into use...