Octaveman

http://www.aloha-hawaii.com/dining/poke/ Add a little wasabi to the recipe above too. Basically, shoyu, onion and sesame oil and chopped Thai chili pepper is good you can even throw in a little peanut butter. A little red Hawaiian salt is good. Oops, forgot to add that you shouldn't leave it frozen for too long. The ice crystals will breakdown the fibers and make it mushy. At least that's what I was told when I bought fresh fish one day long ago.

Well? Did you get one? I see there's one on ebay right now which is rare. New and unused too! Reasonable price too!

I've always been partial to four cheese pizza. Try experimenting with difference cheeses. I've also been a sucker for luiguica.

The only thing I can suggest because I was in the same exact frame of mind before I started sharpening on my own. Reading about it is one thing, seeing it done opens up a whole new world. This is why I highly suggest getting Korin's sharpening DVD. Not sure how much Korin sells it for but you can probably find it on ebay for $20. To get the sharpening angles of the asymtrical knife is to set it by putting two pennies down on the stone and hold that angle as you sharpen and three pennies for the back side. This becomes easily understood via the DVD. Talks about how to hold the knife and at what angle to the side of the stone and how to get various bevel angles. Very good video for the beginner. Interesting that you thought the 270mm was heavy. Heavier than a 240mm, yes, but heavy in general? It most likely is due to the cladding in that it's got it in addition to maybe the slightly larger handle. I've never owend a DP so I couldn't comment on it directly. Many knives that don't have cladding and are made from one solid piece of metal are usually lighter. Thickness at the spine is also a factor. Actually, traditional hand-made knives like from Watanabe are pretty blade heavy compared to most. But they taper down real fast and are great cutters. Takeda is the exception in that they are made thin from the top down. MAC has several different lines with some better than others. HRC 58 is too low IMHO for long duration of sharpness (Kurenga). HRC 60 would be the absolute lowest I would go. I was going to say, since you live in or near frisco you gotta check out JWW. Lot's of great stuff. Bring your credit card!

Awesome, glad you like it. Post some pics when you get a chance!!!

I hear Roland is a good brand.

One should take the breast off the bird and carve on a board anyway. Your general boning knife can do that. As far as going through joints, I've found that a cooked bird is easy to take apart without any knife. I see no reason not to use your gyuto if you're not flagrantly grinding away at joints and clipping bones. Assymetrical bevels are shaped so that the there is no actual bevel going all the way up to the spine but the sides of the blade are just off center. I tried to find a picture that illustrates this but I can't so I made a quick and dirty one. You can see that the sides of the knife are shifted off-center with the 70/30 illistration. This can be easily seen by looking at the heal of the knife from the back. This doesn't mean that you can't sharpen the edge 50/50 or whatever you'd like. This is just how the blade itself is made. When sharpening,I usually make front side more acute than the back very much like a 70/30 sharpening job but without laying the knife on the stone. The bevel angles when sharpening somewhat magnified/exagerated. Just a bit more obtuse than the sides of the blade to maintain a thin razer edge. The front side sharpening bevel of the 70/30 is about 3-4mm from the edge. The backside is about 1-2mm from the edge. The Takeda is the only exception to this I make. I keep the original bevel angles which is about 2 cm from the edge. This keeps his knives super thin the way they were intended to be. Very hard to do without scuffing the blade but well worth the time and control it takes to do it. These drawings are very rough but kind of give you an idea as to the different angles bladesmiths/manufacturers set and what I do to most of my my knives when I sharpen. I could go more acute on the backside but it might make the edge weak but again that depends on the knife and what it could handle. One could make any asymetrical edge 50/50 but then you'd be changing the characteristics of the blade. If you do, make sure the angles are very acute so you minimize the affect of the change. Cheers, Bob

Unless you find one that you can live with or make one yourself, Brion Keagle will be your best and most flexible bet. Any size slots, any number of slots, any length...completely and 100% custom. You can either buy an existing block or have one mdae to your specs. Great stuff. http://keaglecutlery.com/index.htm

"Cleaver" is such a generic term...kinda like "knife". A cleaver is a Chinese chef's knife; not just something to hack away at bones. There are so many types that it will involve much more research to find the right one. I have a vegetable cleaver that is thinner than half of my gyuto's. Don't think you NEED a cleaver to bone a chicken. You don't. Then there's the learning curve on how to use one. It is akward if you're not used to it.

Matt, JWW's link is working now so I got a chance to read a little. My only concern with this knife is that at HRC 63, it will be too hard to go through chicken bones without chipping. It could handle fish bones without a problem but chicken bones I'm not so sure about. Of course, at that price it's worth trying out. I'm surprised they don't have any in stock.

Yes, get a big flank steak. It's better to have too much of a good thing than not enough. I don't think it really matters how big the steak is in relation to the amount of marinade. Isn't skirt steak much thinner than flank? I would reduce the marinde time in half for that. Basically, you just wanna make sure the whole steak is covered by it and since it's as thick as water, there is not much adhearing going on so the more the better. Just make it, stick it all in a zip lock bag (suck out the air) and grill it three hours later. Also wanna make sure when you grill it that the grill is uber hot and you get a good sear/crust going. I always dry it off with paper towels first and cover it with thin layer of veggie oil for the deep sear marks. Serve medium rare sliced thin on the bias so you get plenty of crust with each delectable bite. Cutting against the grain kinda goes without saying so I won't point it out here. Feel free to use the dipping sauce I posted too...awesome.

I'm sure there are a few exceptions but the blocks I've seen don't have long enough slots for most decent sized steak knives. They're usually 3 inches long give or take. No steak knife I would want is that short so it renders that part of the block pretty much useless as I don't have 8 paring knives.

Tosagata knives are very good knives for the money. Cheap handle and rough kurouchi finish but they do a great job at cutting s**t up. The iron is only the cladding. The core cutting edge I believe is white carbon steel. This wouldn't take any more maintenance than any other carbon steel knife...wash and dry thoroughly when done. Don't let it sit wet, etc. I can't check the link you gave because I guess JWW's server is down right now. I believe the atsu deba is the one to get. Heavy duty knife perfect for chicken ribs, back, etc.

I've used a honesuki, a western deba and a traditional deba for this purpose over the years. The traditional deba is what I'm using right now. The garasuki (never tried one) is just a larger honesuki usually about 180mm to the honesuki's 150mm. I know someone who bought the Glestain Garasuki and said it's definately a beast but works great. All of these choices are better than their Euro counterpart for a couple of reasons: 1) knuckle clearance is a huge advantage and 2) nice stiff blade. I've found the honesuki at 150mm too small for me and a traditional deba at 180mm too big. This means that for me 165mm might be the ideal length. I've tried to find a 165mm honesuki but there is none and I've treid to find a 165mm western deba but the choices are not what I'd want. There will be one available in the new Hattori line but won't be ready for a long while. So I bought a few months ago a 165mm stainless traditional deba from Korin (actually Korin's brand) which is manfuactured by Suisin (see pics below). So far after months of use, I like it a lot. The HRC is low enough to not really have to worry about chipping and it's proven itself by going through ribs and the back as well as taking the meat off the bone. With Korin's July sale going on, it may be a good time to snag this if it appeals to you. THIS post in a knife recommendation thread talks in more detail about this very subject. There's also a lot of good info in there in general. Great thread on knives. Cheers, Bob

MT, if by the bold portion of Chads writings is what you're referring to as thinking harder is better, wood boards are not harder than poly and chad was referring to end-grain wood boards being easier on your knives which is 100% true. I don't read anywhere in what you qouted as a harder board of any make is easier on your knives so I'm still confused but my confusion is honestly irrelevant. I've tried poly boards and HATE them. The "crunch" that Chad brings up makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Can't stand it...specially when my edges start chipping. When I want to use something quickly without having to wash a huge/heavy board I bring out the flexible boards that they sell 4 to a pack. They're cheap, very convenient, can go in the dishwasher, and when my knives slice right through them (too often I'm afraid) I just use one of the others until they all get thrown out and I go get more. I have a Boos 18x24 board and you would be better off with one. Save your money and plan on getting one in the future. Wiser choice than poly. There are other brands that carry end grain that are just as good. One key thing is to get it at least 1" thick. My board is 2" thick and will last me a very long time. 20 x15 end-grain for $87 22 x 18 end grain for $99 Custom end-grain starting at $30 The Boardsmith custom end grain Catskill, J.K. Adams, Boos, Michigan Maple and some custom makers are all out there to consider. Seriously, hold off, do your research, save your bucks and get something worthy of the cost. You'll be happy you did.

My pleasure. Be sure to get it good and crusty on the surface. I can't begin to describe the flavor. Also, what is originally the salad dressing for the Waterfall Beef recipe (from www.importfoods.com) it makes for a FANTASTIC dipping sauce for the beef. The beef will have plenty of flavor so it's not needed but it's awesome. Very flexible ingredients so adjust all you want to taste. Just combine all and serve cold. 1/3 cup fish sauce 1/3 cup lime juice 3-4 tablespoons minced shallots 3-4 tablespoons chopped coriander/cilantro (including the roots if possible) 3-4 tablespoons chopped mint leaves 1 tablespoon freshly roasted/fried sesame seeds 1 teaspoon freshly ground dried red chilis (I just chopped 1 chili de arbol finely) Enjoy, Bob

I'm casting my recommendation for marinating but it has to be this recipe from a Waterfall Beef Thai recipe I found. I made this same flank steak twice last week it's so good. Flank steak is damn near close to my favorite steak to grill and is the only beef product I will marinate. Matter of fact it's pretty much the only thing I'll marinate. Why? Because the flavor the marindae imparts is absolutely incredible. I've had friends tell me it's the best steak they've ever had...ever. Even my wife who's lived on steak all her life said this is the best she's ever eaten. You can easily double the recipe for large cuts. Juice of three limes 2 TBL Tamarind concentrate with 6 TBL of water 2 TBL fish sauce 3 Thai chili peppers chopped Marinate in ziplock bag for 3-4 hours Turn the grill on, close lid and let it heat up for 15 minutes getting it super hot. Put the steak on the grill and cook away. The size of the steak dictates how long it cooks per side so I won't tell you times. After it cooks for about 5 minutes (I know) lift up one side to see if there are good grill and sear marks. If so, turn it over. Cook for a while and check the thick part for doneness (firm or loose). Depending on your desire for doneness leave it on longer or take it off. IMHO, it's better to take it off BEFORE you think it's done as you can always cook longer. If after slicing you find it too rare, stick in microwave for a minute or back on the grill. Slice the meat against the grain and slice it thin. Arrange on plate fanning it out. Sprinkle a little toasted sesame seeds on it and prepare to eat the tastiest steak on earth. Serve with rice and stirfried baby bok choy.

I have the large salt box from Totally Bamboo. It's awesome. The sliding top keeps it covered and is easy to open with one hand to get the salt. The large one was my preference as it's not TOO big and it holds plenty more salt than the small one.

You're not missing anything and I'm not sure where you get that harder boards are supposed to be easier on knives. They're not. There are trade-offs though. The harder you go the longer the board lasts but they'll be harder on your knives. The softer you go, the board will develop deep cuts and will have to be discarded quicker but it will be gentler on your knives. Plus very sharp knives will get stuck in softer boards regardless of material. The Epicurean baords are veyr hard composite boards and while being convenient, they are very bad for knives. There is an industry hardness scale for measuring a woods hardness that is called the Janka scale. Woods in the 1,000 to 1,500 hardness level make for good cutting boards. This includes American Black Cherry, Walnut, Teak, Hard Rock Maple, Bamboo, Ash, Birch. These are all tight grained woods with tight pores and medium hardness and fall into this range. Woods of the same name vary greatly by species too. For example Cherry can go from 950 to 2,850 for Brazlian Cherry. End grain is ideal when it comes to wood boards of any type.

Thanks for the great reiview. I've been curious about it too and glad someone took one for the team and came out of there well satisfied. BTW, on July 20th, a big band I play with is performing there both at the 7:30 and 9:30 show so it would be a good night to go IMHO if you're on the fence about when to go. Great jazz from probably the best big band in San Diego.

Direct from Gilroy http://garlicworld.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/page9.html

In the beggining of the movie Remy talked about his keen sense of smell and this was used throughout the film. Had nothing to do with being seen or not. The fact that he was a rat in a kitchen controlling Liguine's movements was reason he wasn't to be seen. I saw this with my two kids and wife and we all loved it. Funny Funny parts that went by quick. So quick that probably not many in the audience caught it. Great movie, great characters and lots going on to keep your interest.

Here's another place with a LOT of stuff. The site is not the most well organized I've seen but they do have plenty of stuff to check out. http://www.chefdepot.net/ Bob

These places may have what you're looking for. The first link is where I bought my black steel fry pan. Great customer service. The owner was veyr helpful with all my questions. If you stay with the flat handled pans, the weight will not be a problem. It's the cast iron handled pans that are super heavy. https://www.mycookingstore.com/shopping/cus...ome.php?cat=819 http://culinary-direct.com/alias.cfm/Steel_Pans_cooking/ http://www.world-cuisine.com/alias.cfm/Steel_Pans/ http://www.jbprince.com/ http://www.davenporthouse.com/debuyer-carbon-steel-pans.html Bob

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that you put salt on it to draw out extra moisture and bitterness. I'll have to try and find it. I think it was in a well known Asain cookbook.