andiesenji

Everyone has a right to their opinion and can make what they want of any person's avowed passions or even make fun of them if they choose. My problem is with people who write articles that are not actually informative but are jingoistic patter that is designed to ridicule or trash a person without actually presenting a cohesive argument that illustrates the tack they have taken. Of course, a purely objective, truthful and positive article probably wouldn't sell as well and that is what these hacks are all about, selling the product.

I'm bumping this topic up because I just got an email from Chef Tools with what sounds like a good price for a sale on a 9 inch Shun butcher knife. I don't know if anyone is interested in this shape, I am just the messenger!

This was originally invented in late Victorian times when there were hundreds of kitchen gadgets and implements for specific purposes - lots of servants - that were supposed to do a particular job with greater efficiency. This creates extremely fine shreds of peel that are difficult to achieve uniformly with a knife and we are not talking about small batches. My grandpa's cook would fill a huge jam pan (round bottom, holds about 22 quarts easily).

I was just looking at a couple on e-bay great britain - I'll keep an eye out. ← I saw one a few months back listed as a "sausage slicer" I suppose it would work marginally for hard cured sausage... The item was located in New Jersey! INcidentally, if you find one without the pusher - the shaft size is just a tiny bit larger than a standard wood closet rod or dowel. I'm sure one could be easily fashioned.

I have long been appalled at the "trashing" of Alice Waters by people who should know better, but the fact that they say or write these things, shows that they haven't a clue, much less good manners. I first visited her restaurant back in the mid '70s, not a long time after it had opened and my friends and I were impressed. (A group of women attending a writers conference for women in Berkeley.) She has been generous with her time in advising and helping the Berkeley school system to greatly improve the food served in the school cafeterias, resulting in much healthier children. My daughter and a group of her students, who are participants in the Jefferson awards program attempting to improve the school cafeteria offerings in the Livermore school system, were invited to meet with her last month and were treated with courtesy and given a significant amount of her time and a great deal of help. Incidentally, they won the top award for the State of California and will be going to D.C. for the national competition in June. This fact alone, that she is not just hyping the use of fresh, locally grown foods, for her own profit, but for the betterment of her community and others, is enough to convince me that she is doing it right. Anyone who thinks differently is either unable to comprehend the importance of her contributions or DOESN'T want to believe because they want to sell their articles.

Kerry, I have seen them on ebay from time to time some not identified as marmalade cutters. Several manufacturers made them but I think that like so many metal objects that had limited use, were scrapped for the war effort during WWII.

The "Aligrator" is used for coconuts (the tail part) but also for grating cinnamon, and other dry or hard roots, galangal, ginger, tumeric, etc., while the fresh roots are usually pounded in a mortar. It is quite heavy. The turkey lifter is also a ham lifter and is great for turning other heavy chunks of meat that are awkward to handle when hot. I have two and use them a lot for things on the barbecue as well as oven-roasted meats. Here's a close-up of the base of the marmalade cutter that identifies it as a "Magic" one: It came from England along with tons of other kitchen and household stuff in 1919 so I know it is close to 100 years old. It has a wooden pusher that has been stuck where I can't find it, for the moment. I have used it, but not for many years as it takes a strong arm and perhaps a bit of anger to really work it properly. I can vividly recall my grandpa's cook operating the thing when I was about nine or ten. The peels were separated from the fruit (which was chopped and cooked separately and the pulp strained out) stacked and rolled then shoved into the maw of the cutter and rammed against the cutting blade so the peel was finely shredded. The final product was thin strands of peel in clear jewel-toned jelly. The forth one is a dough/pastry cutter and is actually adjustable, although it takes time to loosen the screws and move the blades. I use it for cutting large slabs of dough or puff pastry into strips that are then cross cut to make squares, such as for apple turnovers. I have one of the accordion-type adjustable ones for smaller jobs but this one is easier to use for the big jobs. My mom sent it to me when she closed her bakery in 1979 as I wanted a memento from my first ever job.

You can use it just as you would grape leaves to wrap small portions of rice and meat or rice pilaf, etc. The lemony flavor of the sorrel goes very well with rich, fatty meats. As noted above, it is often paired with carrots, squash, pumpkin, etc., in soups or purées. I have layered it in strattas with artichokes, eggs, bread and tomatoes, occasionally with ham or similar type meat.

How about this: And this is an odd "critter" - And this? This is quite old: but still very sharp, hence the blade guards.

I first began making yogurt when I was in the Army, stationed at the Presidio in San Francisco back in the late '50s. I shared a room with two other girls, one of Japanese descent, one Greek. I learned how to make yogurt and used a Sunbeam heating pad to wrap around a one-gallon pickle jar that one of the mess cooks gave me. We shared many "fusion" meals......... I have a few yogurt appliances and also occasionally use my big dehydrator for big batches (in several quart jars) but usually make a two-quart batch in a Yolife using the tall cover.

I've had the book for a couple of months and have tried the Buttermilk with coarse salt "pot bread" and the Cheddar with chiles. Both were excellent. I also made the brioche and it turned out fine but I like my old recipe better. I am planning on preparing the yeasted pain d'epice on Friday and baking it off on Saturday morning. If I can remember to, I'll take photos and post my experience with it.

I love the taste of chocolate but I am allergic to regular chocolate, however I can consume cocoa with no problem - it's a mystery to me but I have been to several allergists who tell me this is not a rare event. Anyway, I have been making these Cocoa cookies for most of my life and I am 70. You absolutely must use at least a major portion of Dutch process cocoa - the so-called "natural" cocoa will not work. The darker the cocoa the better, I note in the recipe that I use King Arthur's Double Dutch mixed with the black cocoa. The dough is very forgiving. You can prepare it and refrigerate it for up to a month with no loss of flavor or texture. It is also very versatile. I don't have the patience to do it, but one of my friends forms the cocoa dough and a vanilla dough (her recipe is a plain "ice-box" cookie dough) into a cylinder that when sliced forms a yin-yang design. The fanciest attempt for me was forming the dough into ropes and braiding with one "strand" of a vanilla dough and cutting the braid into 2-inch lengths. Usually I just roll the dough out right on baking parchment, sprinkle with powdered sugar, cut into rounds, either plain or scalloped edges, lift the scraps away, slide the paper onto a sheet pan and into the oven. Five minutes later, out of the oven and pull the parchment onto a cooling rack and slide another sheet filled with cookies onto the pan and back into the oven.

I use the super-sized Zip-lock and Hefty storage bags - blue, clear so they are see-through. I have a lot of the Cambro containers, from 1 qt to 22 qt and keep the lids separated into appropriately sized bags which are hung from hooks on the ends of the industrial wire shelves in the pantry. I also keep various sized lids for Tupperware and similar containers the same way in smaller bags. This keeps them clean, dust-free and easy to find.

Go to an art supply store, pay a little more and get a brush that will last for many years (as long as you take care of it). I have some brushes I have been using in the kitchen for more than ten years and they are still in excellent condition - all natural bristles and they don't shed.

I've been using the recipes on this site for several years. I ordered the cookbook several years ago and loaned it to a friend who does not have internet access (a Luddite) and never asked for it back. My dad lives in New Mexico and I generally include a bit of shopping for local ingredients on every trip to visit him.

I received a free meat grinder with the KA 600 and used it once to try it out. It "froze" after a few minutes operation on a relatively easy job (cheddar cheese and pimentos) and I was unable to take it apart, even using a big channel-lock pliers. It went immediately into the trash. It seemed to be made entirely of plastic, except for the dies. Since I hadn't paid for it, I saw no reason to complain. I have the all-metal (cast aluminum for the housing) meat grinder for at least one of my collectible "vintage" K-3 A or B KAs and I do recall trying one out years ago with satisfactory results, but that was in the days when they were made by Hobart! However, I have had stand-alone meat grinders for many years so really had no reason to use the KA attachment - same with the other accessories.

Just buy a coffee measure - the "regular" coffee measures, from the cheapies that are still included in some cans of ground coffee, to the expensive, long-handled stainless ones from Starbucks, hold two tablespoons. ← Interesting because all my coffee measures (Melitta) are just one tablespoon! So check to be sure. ← The "standard" coffee measure is two tablespoons per 6 oz water: As noted here. However they do include a caveat that some measures are as little as one tablespoon. I have several, and spent a while earlier today determining how much they hold and except for one that was a freebie, they are all close to two tablespoons. The Tupperware one (ca. 1965) is slightly more generous - (possibly an Australian tablespoon measurement ) Anyway, it was just a thought. I routinely use the long-handled Starbucks one for cocoa and it is exactly 1/8 cup.

I've seen something similar done with the hummus placed in an open ring on a plate - then a small orange pushed into the center, twisted and lifted out - the hummus did not stick to the orange and I have no explanation why - the ring was removed and then, as noted above, a fork was dipped into paprika and the decoration placed. I think it probably takes a bit of practice. I saw it at a nice little Israeli restaurant we used to have here in Lancaster but it went out of business year before last. They did a lot of little dishes they advertised as a "Meze table" which was very inexpensive and the number of dishes was determined by the number of people in the party.

Get one of these - 16 ounce or my favorite, the bigger and more versatile 32 ounce one, works the same way. They are both microwavable - you can nuke your water and tea leaves and set the thing on top of your mug (a clear one is an advantage) and it will automatically drain into your mug. Set it on a level surface and it won't leak. The smaller one is not big enough for me as I have rather large mugs and the leaves take up some of the room so the amount dispensed from the 16 ounce ingenuiTea is only about 12 ounces. However, if that size suits you, I recommend it. I have one of the small ones and three of the large ones so I can brew multiple teas at the same time when I have guests.

Just buy a coffee measure - the "regular" coffee measures, from the cheapies that are still included in some cans of ground coffee, to the expensive, long-handled stainless ones from Starbucks, hold two tablespoons.

If, like me, you keep often used recipe sheets and cards in plastic ziplock bags, you can punch a hole in one of the top corners, where the bag is reinforced, and slide it onto a shower curtain ring - then you can hang the thing up and it is very easy to flip through them and even hang the ring at your eye level to make it easy to see and keep it off the counter. I also hang little baggies of dry stuff on one of the rings and the ring from a hook so the little bags do not get lost in a drawer or cabinet.

It is quite different because in the Kapoosh are loose bamboo skewers (you could make your own box and fill it with skewers and have the same thing. They don't stay in the box. When you remove a knife, one or more of the skewers may be pulled out of the box. With this one, as is clearly shown in the adjunct photo, the rods are attached to the base and remain in place when blades are pulled out. My best friend, who is not much of a foodie, has a very small kitchen and only a few very good knives (mostly gifts from me so I will have something to use during my visits) is very happy with it. It holds all the larger knives and paring knives and even the six steak knives they use almost every day. I use magnetic strips because I have way too many knives to fit into one knife block and want them out where I can see them, not in a drawer. I've been using them since forever and have never noticed a problem with my blades, some of which are very expensive, except in a couple of cases the blades have become mildly magnetic and will pick up paper clips and staples - not always a bad thing when a staple gets loose from a package and is difficult to see on a granite countertop! I'm 70 and my vision is not as good as once it was.

Yes there is. I have given two of these "universal" knife blocks to friends who love them. I have a lot of knives and use magnetic bars but if I had limited space, as does my best friend, I would definitely have one of these. The wider bladed knives, like the Asian vegetable knives will fit in this block and is the reason I gave one to my friend for Christmas. Chick on the View link and you can see that these poly rods are anchored at the bottom so can't pull out when the knives are removed.

have you tried this on fully polymerized oils? like on a stainless or aluminum surface? Or worse ... a non-stick one? I've used much more abrasive cleaners on my aluminum griddle ... the polymerized oil seems more abrasion resistant than the aluminum itself. ← Yes, I've used it on my All-Clad, on very old Farberware I've owned for 40 years and hardest of all on enameled steel pans like in this photo I originally posted in 2005: And which I use all the time for "Blasted Chicken" at which time it develops an almost totally black surface, except where the chicken rests. And this is way it looks today, same pan, only cleaned with plain old baking soda, dry, using a barely damp cloth. I have used this method of cleaning because abrasives ruin the finish on the enamel. I've owned this roasting pan for at least a dozen years and it has seen a lot of oven exposure.

I can solve this problem for you with very little expenditure of money or effort. Particularly good for the burnt-on spots on stainless steel and even on chrome-plated appliances. Take a slightly damped cloth, just damp enough to pick up dry baking soda when you dip the cloth into some which you have placed on a saucer. Rub the spot or spots, using a clean spot on the cloth and another dip of baking soda when needed. I have a fairly large collection of "vintage" or nearly antique electric appliances from the '20s and '30s and the only way to clean them without damaging the chrome finish is this method. I have tried commercial cleaning compounds and while some make the job easier, they all have an undesirable effect on the chrome finish.