oraklet

matte black le creuset must have been around for many many years, as i own two - slightly different in the way of design - vintage matte black french ovens which are both from the pre plastic lid handle era. one with a square handle, the other with a round handle.

i'm not sure, but that thing about scorching the milk has, i've been told, to do with something chemical going on when milk is at near-boil. something that will prevent, to some extent, crystallization in an ice cream.

i wish i knew what "bar keepers friend" is. there must be a danish equivalent, i guess. hmm. but thanks anyway

One could easily say almost the opposite: one benefit of Staub's matte black interior over Le Creuset's shiny white interior is that it is much better at browning -- which I have found to be true. Unless you have a dimly lit kitchen, it shouldn't be all that hard to judge the level of browning on a piece of meat, etc. It's just not something I have found to be a problem, and I like the fact that it's faster at browning. And, once you get past the browning part, I just think it's a better pan for low/slow/wet cooking. It's heavier and I like the basting spikes. ← you're absolutely right about the black matte's browning properties. it's almost like using raw cast iron. the two lc french ovens (perfects, picked up dirt cheap at flea markets) i own are both black matte, and i'm very very happy with them. however, they do not clean easily. i've tried next to everything, but they still retain a little smell of whatever's been cooked in them. almost like raw cast iron does. not that it matters much, as most casserolle dishes have flavour profiles that are somewhat overlapping, but still... now, i also own a 1 liter lc sauce pan. it's blue, and darn pretty, and picked up at a second hand shop for 3$, so i couldn't resist it. but - i don't really know what to use it for. any ideas?

just one comments, as you seem to think of most things : i feel that one should not have any very hard surfaces in one's kitchens, be it sink, countertops or og floors. for me, that rules out marble or granite or tiles. sure, they look chic, but stone and ceramic can be very tough on your cookware, glasses, plates, knives etc. only exception is a granite slab for rolling out dough.

here's a link to the place where you get the absolutely best layer cakes in denmark, http://www.laglace.dk/page.php?alias=lagkager my own favourite being the "appelsinlagkage": sides covered with marzipan, orange flavoured sugar icing(?) on top, orange flavoured pastry creme between layers, and the bottom is a crunchy layer of some caramelly stuff i don't know what is called in english (macaroon?) and, if i remember rightly, raspberry jam. the orange slices on top are, of course, sugar glazed. oh yes, and whipped cream around the top. insanely expensive, but worth it.

for a cheap knfe, victorinox is always a good choice. and my local knife pusher - who could easily have tried to sell me something expensive - told me that their bread knives are the best. i tend to think he's right. i believe it's sold under another name in the usa?

seth, thanks for your answer. the temp: well, my only alternative is the oven, with the light on. but i thought that the higher temp would result in at more sour dough? (and it certainly is rather sour, and not bitter in any unpleasant way) i haven't fed my starter yet after baking, as it's quite new (should i?). it was started with c.125 ml water and 100 g whole wheat. next day: the same amounts. it reacted very fast. third feeding was 150 ml water and 100 g flour. very lively when i decided to use it. the dough fermented, first at c. 20 C for 4 h., until almost doubled, then was put in the fridge because i didn't have time to start the baking process immediately, and not enough space in the fridge to hold 4 individual loaves. i wonder if that may be when the sourness set in, as it didn't taste very sour when i put it in the fridge? i'm very gentle with the dough when dividing it and forming the loaves. they all look quite alike when formed as well as when theyre slid onto the baking stone after the second rising. i slash with a big bread knife (my 10" victorinox).

ok, i'm still hoping that this thread is not yet completely dead so, reserving some of the starter (made from whole wheat flour and water), i made the dough, ending up with c. 40% whole wheat flour, 20 % durum wheat and 40 % strong refined wheat. the starter was about 1/5 of total dough. the loaves came out rather sour. apart from the sourness, they had a lot of fine taste nuances, but i'd certainly like the acidicy to be less dominating. am i right in thinking that i should use less whole wheat (but i love the taste of whole wheat!)? also, there was some variation in the structure of the 4 loaves. i baked them in two batches, and in each of the batches, one had a marvellous bees' hive structure, the other was rather dense. can it be imprecise slashing that makes for the difference (i've noticed that the structure tends to be densest right underneath the slashing. i may be slashing in the wrong way), or may it be because the loaves are cut from different parts of the dough (the dough itself may be rather uneven, as it's "torn" a bit when i pour it from the bowl onto the working table)?

i'm trying my hand, once again, at sourdough. my starter is bubbling nicely along after its first feeding, and will probably be ready for baking tomorrow. now, a few questions, as i'm not able to find the precise information in this otherwise most worthy thread: 1) am i right in assuming that a kitchen temperature at about 18-20 C will give me a starter (and a dough) with a relatively high pH (which is what i'd prefer)? 2) whan the sponge/biga/whatever is ready fo ruse, do i then reserve a small amount of that as starter? or do i reserve a small amount of the first starter (and feed that?)? 3) should i feed the starter between baking days (once a week, c.)? please forgive me if this makes for a highly redundant answer

one thing i don't get is the supposedly great temperature control: once heated, iron will stay hot for a long time. or is there something very special going on that will cool, say, cast iron as fast as will copper on a gas hob?

I have not had that experience. After researching seasoning cast iron, I have successfully done it. First, it's a method using bacon fat, not oil. One coats the interior of the skillet in bacon fat, and then bake it in the oven on low heat for 2 hours. After this the skillet should be rinsed and not washed with soap ever, but you can use salt as a cleansing agent. As of yet, I have not had to reseason a pan, but I'm sure I might have to at some point. As Blondelle pointed out, a well-seasoned pan is almost non-stick. Here's another thread regarding stovetop grill pans. There is much discussion on seasoning. ← as shalmanese points put, i'm talking smoking hot. and it's actually the grease which at lower temps might become seasoning that smokes when you heat your grill pan. but you're right, a cast iron skillet, which isn't used at extremely high temps, will be almost non-stick if properly seasoned.

raw cast iron is no doubt the best material for a grill pan: you can heat it till it's smoking without risking to ruin it, which means that it is hot enough to give you grill marks AND at least some of the authentic grill taste. look for a grill pan with high, sharp ridges that are close to each other. le creuset won't do, in my opinion, as the ridges are rounded, low, and very far apart - AND you pay a lot extra for the enameling which is of absolutely no use, but is rather frail. the swedish make "skeppshults" is ideal, as i see it, but i don't know if it's available in your corner of the world. and, please forget about seasoning it. it's burned off every time you use the pan, any way.

as others have said, there may be several things in this: habits formed in childhood, control issues, or even, perhaps, that your wife is a super taster? anyway, some of the texture problems can be solved by different cuts and preparations. i actually hate chunks of boiled carrot but adore them when cut into batonnets or juliennes. cauliflour is almost a whole different thing, taste wise, when roasted in bits or slices as compared to boiled. and spices may be sneaked into meals where they're not seen as offensive as in their usual "surroundings". all of these tricks have worked wonders with my kids. fat - well, i can't think of any tricks there, except that once the 6-year old tasted pork fat on a grilled top class chop, he surrendered. but it's a tough one, no doubt. good luck

I have to concur. Dude's received warning letters from the FDA. Edit to add: more stuff from quackwatch.org ← all right, the methods used by mr. mercola to promote his products may not be legal - but he may be right about the facts. see for yourself: http://www.google.dk/search?hl=da&q=the+ch...erol+myth&meta=

i rarely cook in the morning or at lunch. just cereals, oatmeal, bread etc. home made bread, hehe. i always cook dinner, tho' in my book, it's not that often real cooking. i just go to supermarket, find some ingredients that will probably go together, and kinda make a meal of it. rarely more than one course (tho' almost always a salad of sorts) - menus are reserved for entertaining/celebrations. i find the everyday cooking quite fun while i'm doing it, with all the chopping sauteeing timing etc., but i also find it kinda hard to remember what i cooked a few days ago... sure, planning and executing a full scale menu is really, really interesting, but boy, it's time consuming and expensive.

I believe many nogent knives have "rat tail" tangs, rather than the full tang with riveted handle. If I'm right about that, it might account for the lighter weight. ← ok, so i weighed the 12": 360 g. - slightly lighter than yours, but as it was a bit hollowed when i got it, i had to partially put a new edge on it. that inevitably involves some loss of weight, so i guess they basically are similar in shape etc. i wish they still made knives like my old french nogent. a 10" would be a wonderful thing to use. i'm still on the outlook on ebay.

I'm in. Assuming I can remember myself. My mind, at best, is cabbage, and my memory is positively goldfishian. Edit: Update. Done! I weighed -and, for a lark, measured- both my 10" Sabatier 69, and my 12" Sabatier Au Carbone. My 10" 69, which is actually 9.75", weighs in at 8oz, about 230 grams. My 12" Au Carbone, really 11.5", comes in at 13oz, roughly 375 grams. ← didn't weigh the 12", but the 10" was c. 240 grams. not much difference, actually. i think the nogent knives are a good deal lighter than the newer knives - or at least my 8" is. i'll try weighing the 12" tonight.

fimbul, thanks for your response. as you say, it's difficult to compare the two sizes. i've got an ancient 12" sabatier "jeune" which is rather blade heavy, too. i think it's supposed to be that way, really. the heavy, broad, end may work as a cleaver, and you can cut/slice/chop with the slighter part, pulling the knife towards yourself instead of pushing. only guessing, though, as i haven't used it that way... anyway, one way to find out if your 10" "69" is lighter than my 10" "lion" is to simply weigh it. i'll weigh mine tonight (if i'll remember it...).

hmm, let's see... most used big old copco enameled cast iron roasting/lasagne-pan. eva trio 9" and 11" ss./aluminium disc frying pans. eva trio 9" sautér pan same as frying pans. 2 ikea 365 8" pots/casseroles for rice, sauce etc.. 5 l. ikea 365 pot for stock, pasta etc. but there are also two 11" cast iron grill pans, one a copco, the other a skeppshult. and there's the 11" polaris copper sautér pan (sadly with rather low sides) and ditto 9" risotto rondeau (often used for reducing). plus the two large rondeaus, one 11" eva trio and one 13" from sitram. and a skeppshult 11" cast iron skillet. and a scanpan 11" non stick frying pan. and the cheap lil' teflon crepe-pans. and the 10 l. stockpot. and... sure, some are favourites, but it all sees a fair deal of use. i think i'd like to have a few copper pieces more, like a frying pan or two, a reducing pan and a sauter pan with taller sides than the polaris - the 2.5 mm stuff, all of it. but the cookware i've got works quite fine.

this one: http://www.lacuisineus.com/

how do they differ from the amazon.com ones (i think that must be the "au carbone" brand)?

the best places to eat old stinking danish cheese would be in one of the lunch restaurants that have specialized in the danish version of "smorgasbord". kanalcafeen is, in my opinion, a very good choice, though you should be aware that smoking is allowed in one of the two rooms!

that one hurt, arey! most of all, 'cause it's true. there are, though, quite a few decent original danish cheeses, like den gamle havn or and aged haribo, which typically taste best when eaten on rye bread (with butter, onion rings, rum etc. it's SO good!). may be one reason they're not that well known outside the rye bread kingdom. anyway, one would immediately answer that french cheese is best, partly because they're such fine accompaniment to good bread, partly because they're better known. personally i know of no better cheese than a brie de meaux au lait cru. but i wouldn't like to have to live without parmigiano reggiano...

i'm rather the opposite, mostly, when it comes to planning. i go to the stores, or the supermarket, and check out what looks good or what may be on a special offer, then think of something to do with it, trying to figure out what i may need that is not already in the fridge or the storecupboard, and bring it home. of course, if i'm to do a regular menu, it takes some planning, and that's good clean fun. makes cooking something of a challenge at times, as i'm not always right about what's actuallly in the fridge etc. i do find pleasure in chopping and most other knife work (hehe), as well as sauteeing and other things that are touch-and-go. in a way, that's the part of it that's least potentially frustrating. it's also where you get your interesting ideas, when you have to deal with missing ingredients... eating is, luckily, mostly all right. but once in a blue moon it IS perfect. like last saturday, the lasagne had us all just sit there, wondering at how such a simple down-to-earth thing could be, yes, perfect. you know the signs, i'm sure: you start eating, then slow down, starting to really enjoy the depth of the flavours, then look up and realize that everyone else around the table shares the same wonder - and you start talking about it, and a strange peace settles on you! it had never happened before with my lasagne, and it will probably never happen again. it is, admittedly, a very rare occasion. and adam, i think your hit rate would be a good deal higher than mine when it comes to perfection