oraklet

actually, i don't agree about no-bolster being a plus. if you hold a no-bolster knife properly, you're more prone to develop some serious callouses(sp?) than with french/german knives. i've got a santoku, so i know! the bottom of a german-style bolster may be filed off in a 45 degree angle to facilitate sharpening. the classic french knives like sabatier lion are made that way.

any recipe i've seen for boeuf bourg. tells that the flour should be "worked into" the cubed meat before searing/sauteing, and that the flour is what basically thinkens the sauce. but that may be old fashioned, perhaps.

ok, so it seems the pros want to season grill pans. but why?

that may be, then - but there's no reason to, really. it's not like you're making omelets on a grill pan. grilling is brutal stuff - just look at the amount of smoke that's kicked off. edit: ok, if you don't plan on using it very often, seasoning may keep it from rusting. i don't know how long it takes to start rusting, mine hasn't ever.

search flea markets and garage sales. go for cast iron. anything weighing half a ton will do, and they can be had dirt cheap. don't season, as the pan will be so hot as to ruin any seasoning, anyway. scub it off under hot water after use - if need be, violently. heat gently to evaporate leftover water between ridges.

i'm not sure what you'll miss if you thaw the spinach over low heat while you make some becahamel (flavoured with salt, pepper and nutmeg), and then add the spinach to the bechamel (+ perhaps a little cream). mine is never diluted, but perhaps that may be a question of the frozen spinach brand?

there must be several lines, then. i had a big one, and only ruined it because i left it on the burner, and - fell asleep! now i've bought two smaller ones (they're probably a lot cheaper in denmark than in usa...). as long as you don't heat it like you will sometimes wish to heat iron, steel or copper, it will keep its non stick properties, and yes, you can use metal spatulas in it. one thing, though: the aluminium base is thick, but not quite thick enough to absolutely prevent hot spots.

well...i wasn't exactly giving credence to that idea. but you see, those were the guys at the place where i bought the rondeau!

you're right, some of them said so. part of their "plan" was to shock the bourgeoisie out of its classicist way of seing art. but only a part, if you look at any serious avant garde. the goals were artistic, and in many cases political.

Precisely, and well said. And that's why we'll never see high-end restaurants making an effort to gratuitously shock the bourgeoisie, like various avant gardistes in music, visual arts, and theater did. but today's bourgeoisie likes to be shocked, a little bit, once in a while, so that they can feel (and show) that they are in fact avant garde. on the other hand, the shock effects of the avant garde is, or was, not an end nor to any great extend a mean. it is, or was, just inevitable as a result of the process of tearing down the rules.

i bought a 12" rondeau, and it serves me extremely well. i don't know what i did before i had it. but i haven't bought the copper pan yet, as someone told me that they warp rather easily (and the thicker the bottom, the worse!?!?). can that be true?

very light and fine parer, stamped, for pre-cutting. smallish (8") chef's knife for dicing. there ARE good (or at least acceptable) stamped knives out there. they're called victorinox (the swiss brand that you'll know for their "swiss army" pocket knives).

Gee Rob. Really I'm working on getting my MAC knives shortly. ALL the mac chef's knives i've seen have gone "CLONK" when used for chopping. like newer sabatiers, the curvature of the blade has been sloppily finished. same with many new henckels.

please allow me to quote myself from the excellent q&a about stovetop cookware: "i just found this, and i thought it might be of interest to others: http://www.clicshop.com/Magasin/artdetable...p9631396.1.html vat not included, but still the cheapest i've been able to find. shipping to usa is not cheap, though: http://www.artcooking.com/main/contact/lie...frais_port.html " they're situated in villedieu-les-poeles, too. edit: the linx don't work here, though they worked on the other thread. weird. i'll try a link to that, instead: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...&t=25718&st=60&

i just found this, and i thought it might be of interest to others: http://www.clicshop.com/Magasin/artdetable...p9631396.1.html vat not included, but still the cheapest i've been able to find. shipping to usa is not cheap, though: http://www.artcooking.com/main/contact/lie...frais_port.html

who? (emmery's?) what kind? (uhre?) who, where? (aurion?)

ehy, that was a very detailed and probably usefull answer. makes sense. thanks a lot, i'll try following the advice (i am kinda anarchist...). and the danish rye bread can be wonderfull if you can find a good baker. it's what danes abroad miss the most. sourdough rye bread from emmery's (or my mother...) buttered with thise butter, aaah!

actually, that's what i did. hmm. well, the starter may develop further, i guess. and thanx for answering, even though you're on vacation.

i keep my starter in the fridge, and i ferment in the fridge, and still it's a lot too sour for my taste (almost like a danish rye bread). what to do?

called gravensten here in denmark. i thought it was a danish apple. for cooking, belle de boscoop. for eating as is: ingrid marie. though most of what's sold as such is over-ripe, and too mealy.

the coffee they serve at meetings in kindergardens is worse than anything you can imagine.

one late night finishing a stock, being tired i thought i might as well pour it into a big frying pan to have a faster reduction. sat down on a chair in the kitchen, fell asleep, and woke up coughing, to smoke all over the place - and a ruined pan. anyway, it's a good idea to reduce to glace. you just have to stay awake.

ah, somewhere on the site i found the information after all. it's not including taxes...hm, i think i'll buy it anyway, and they actually do have the "pro-inox" series too, at a quite decent price (at least compared to what i find on other sites).

i've written cunillexport. anxiously waiting for answers! edit: just found some info on the thickness of the aluminium base on pro-inox: 0.25". how's that? not quite enough?

you know, the vat/no vat included just struck me last night. i'll have to check it out, cause danish vat is 25%... the casserolle, a "copco", has been brought home, at the modest price of 10$. by the way, slkinsey, do you think the big s.s. saute pans on that site look good, too? i don't see any information on what the base is, but i could check that out, too...