Octaveman

Does anyone see any reason not to use cornish game hens in addition to chicken in making stock? I have these two hens that I've had in the freezer for a long while and just can't seem to cook them up so I thought I might stick them in the stockpot. Also, I have a bag of fairly hefty chicken wings...would it be a good idea to stick a few of those in with the other stuff I have as well?. BTW, by other stuff, I mean two chicken carcases where only the breast and thighs have been removed and a whole chicken. I need more to fill out the pot so looking for advice on what I'm proposing. Thanks a lot for your thoughts. Cheers, Bob

Well, since I've started Weight Watchers I've been eating hot dogs for BF every day. Fat Free Ball Park Franks 1 pt. Wonder Light buns 1 pt. Mustard, catsup (ketchup, whatever) Glass of milk Hot, tasty, very filling and jump starts my day. Been on WW two weeks and lost over 12 lbs so far.

Strange, that's the two main ingredients in bbq sauce that you so love. I too love bbq sauce on the grill.

Barbequed beef using mesquite charcoal. Garlic as it's being cooked for shrimp scampi or calamari. Actually, anything involving garlic is good for me. Get's me horny. Maybe that's why I use a lot of garlic in my dishes. Baking bread Chocolate chip cookies Chicago deep dish pizza with everything

I'm considering buying a book or books that teach techniques of pretty much everything. The books I'm thinking of are: Petersons Classical and Contemporary Sauce Making Julia Childs Mastering the Art of French Cooking CIA, The Proffesional Chef I'm pretty much sold on Peterson's Sauces book but not sure which book to get between the other two. I want to make this purchase to learn professional techniques and I've heard that Julia's book is THE one to get but I came across the CIA book and am wondering which is better. Thoughts? Thanks! Cheers, Bob

I can't remember where I got this recipe but I think it's a combination of a few different recipes that I played with until I got what I liked. I use dried Shitake and Porcini mushrooms as my sliced and Crimini as my diced. I also use half stock and half soaking water from the dried mushrooms rather than all stock. Very mushroomy, very rich. Mushroom Bisque 3 cups of mushrooms sliced 1 cup mushroom small diced ½ cup shallot, finely chopped ½ cup unsalted butter 3 cups chicken broth 1 cup whipping cream 1 cup heavy cream 4 tablespoons flour ½ tablespoon dry mustard 1 teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon white pepper ¼ cup dry sherry Brie, sliced Parsley for garnish Combine flour, mustard, salt, white pepper and set aside. Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add chopped mushroom and shallot and sauté until mushrooms are nicely browned and shallot is translucent. Add sliced mushrooms and sauté until moisture is cooked off. Sprinkle in flour mixture over mushrooms stirring constantly for one minute. Flour should not brown or burn. Add broth and cook uncovered stirring frequently until mixture thickens. Gradually stir in whipping cream and then heavy cream. Heat thoroughly but do not boil. Stir in sherry just before serving and garnish with small, thin slice of Brie (rind on) and sprig of parsley. Cheers, Bob

Howdy, Bob. Welcome. (I live very near to Gilroy, myself.) Wanna try my recipe for garlic bread? Ultimate Garlic Bread concoction Mix in a smallish bowl with a fork: 1 stick butter, softened A few cloves of crushed/minched fresh garlic Grated parmesan cheese (about 2 TBL.) Italian Seasoning (less than 1 TSP.) Slather thickly on slices of (preferably) Alfaro's 4-Seed Sour (a local bread, but do your best), and broil until the butter and cheese are molten, and barely golden brown. Thanks a lot, I will give it a go. Since you're near Gilroy (where abouts?) have you been to the festival? Gilroy is the Garlic capital of the world, ya know. Gourmet Alley's garlic bread during the Garlic Festival is a tough one to compete with. Here is the recipe I got from them: "Melt 1/2 cup butter & 1/2 cup margerine in a sauce pan. Add 1/4 oil and 10 cloves of minced garlic. Simmer over low heat for 1 minute. Add 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp Oregano and 1/2 cup white wine. Bring to a boil. Add 2 Tbl chopped parsley. Remove from heat and pour into large baking pan. Cut 2 french bread loaves in half lengthwise. Toast on grill or under broiler until golden brown. Dip toasted halves, cut side down, in butter mixture. Serve immediately" When I dip the bread in the mixture I REALLY dip the bread making sure there's plenty of garlic and herbs on each piece....GAWD that's good stuff. Cheers, Bob

My first entry. Quite simply, tonight we're having twice roasted 5-spice duck with a tangerine sauce with Grand Marnier, wild mushroom rissotto, steamed broccoli and a baby green salad with balsamic vinegrette dressing. This is my attempt at duck...not much meat and WOW look at all that fat! This is a peking duck (I think (white?)) purchased at a local asian market. Is there a particular type of duck with more meat or all they about the same? Last night we had chicken breast with stuffed with cilantro, garlic and onions, a side of roasted cauliflower and roasted garlic loaf. The roasted garlic loaf was a hit. Bought it at Costco. My wife said she thinks she liked it better than the Gilroy Garlic Festival recipe I have for their garlic bread. I'm still undecided because it's a different taste all together. Man, just thinking about it, I can't wait until July 29th. The festival started in 1979 and since my first year in 1981, I've only missed 4 years. I love the GGF. (sorry for going OT). Cheers, Bob

Briefly, a slurry is a mix of cornstarch (or other thickener) with water or stock and is used as a thickener. It can be thick or thin. In my opinion, it's best to make it medium so your sauce in the wok doesn't get too thick too quickly or too thin which may make you to add too much liquid to the sauce. But if the recipe calls for a specific amount of stock/cornstarch then go with that since it's actually "the sauce" rather than a general thickener. So, yes, combine all of the sauce ingredients before putting in the wok. Regarding the sugar debate. I can't get into a regional debate as I'm not Asain nor did I grow up with Asian cooking other than the periodic outing to the local Chinese restaurant. But as I've been increasingly making Asain (basically Thai, regional Chinese) these days, adding sugar or not will depend on the dish I'm cooking. If it involves sweet soy, thick soy, oyster or hoisan sauce or any other thick sweet tasting sauce I leave it out. I do like to add a little sugar to spicy dishes just because I like the result. When I do add sugar though, it's always Palm sugar. I like the flavor a whole lot better than white cane sugar...more subtle, I think. Cheers, Bob

No skins. Good to know that a dark brown reduction is fine. Thanks.

Since we're talking about stock, my chicken stock after reduction is a fairly dark color. it has a strong flavor and tastes like concentrated chicken stock but is brown in color. I did not roast any bones or use tomato paste to get this color. It was supposed to be a white stock. It's my first attempt at making stock so I'm not sure if this isn't a problem. Any thoughts? Thanks

A typical white sauce for a dish like Moo Goo Gai Pan is: 6T chicken broth/stock 2T sherry 2t cornstarch 1/2t sugar I put the quantities just for ratio reference. It's from a small asain cookbook I acquired.

Spicy or non-spicy? I used the spicy sauce in a Thai fried rice dish. Damn that was good. It's very strong stuff so use sparingly. What kind of wok did you get...carbon steel or cast iron? I love my cast iron wok from them. Tane Tran was very nice to work with.

My work has been closed for the week so I bought a Sitram 17.9 qt. stockpot from Amazon for $60 (originally $133) to make some stock. I bought Sitram based on Fat Guys recommendations for the Sitram Profiserie line of cookware. I ended up making an awesome batch of chicken stock that turned out perfect my first attempt at making stock. I now have about 2 qts of clear, concentrated stock that has gelled very nicely. Here is the stockpot: Sitram 17.9 qt stockpot at Amazon I can highly recommend this stockpot. It doesn't come with a lid but one can be ordered at Bridge Kitchenware. Actually for stock, you don't need a cover anyway. Cheers, Bob

Well, I got two knives, a cookbook and misc kitchen items. Boring, I know but cool none-the-less. Knives: Hattori HD 270MM Gyutou with Saya cover (Thank you, Koki) Watanabe 180MM Deba in blue steel and octagon handle (Thank you, Sinichi) Cookbook: Soprano's Family Cookbook Cheers, Bob

Ed, in my opinion...no, you're not out of your mind. I have a Boo's board that's too big to fit in my sink so all I do is stand it on end to wash it and fill a large plastic cup to rinse it down. Stand it vertical to your body so that each end of the board rests on the back and front of the sink wash down and rinse over the sink. Let it stand on its own to dry. I also see nothing wrong with washing it on the counter. There's always a way. Get the board you want. Cheers, Bob

Bamboo boards end or edge grain are indeed nice looking but they are still harder than Maple and will result in faster dulling knives. The fact that water beads up on the board is not necessarily a good thing. One of the benefits to using woods like maple is the natural antibacterial nature of wood. Bacteria will be absorbed in the wood fibers where they will perish. This will not occur with bamboo or any other non-porous board as the bacteria will sit on top of the board until properly cleansed. One does have to be careful with oiling a maple board as to not oil it so much that water beads up. The oiling should be used in moderation to not remove the "bacterial cleansing" affect of the board. If Bamboo is the board of choice, be careful what you buy as not every maker uses the best food safe glue. Totally Bamboo is very good as is another brand I can't recall right now. Bamboo boards offored through Costco are not good quality and I would not recommend. My board is a Boo's board but not end grain like I'd like. I got my board at Frontgate of all places. It's a Boo's board custom made exclusively for Frontgate and you can't get it anywhwere else. I wanted a 24x18 reversible board with gravy groove with handles and was more than 2" thick. I couldn't beleive I found this. I love this board and plan to keep it for a very long time. End grain maple is ideal as is Boo's brand of boards. From what I understand, a minimum thickness of 1.75 inches is needed to reduce or avoid the warping problem. I had a 1/2 thick board that warped on me within 6 months. Good luck with your board of choice. Cheers, Bob

There's this thing that my Grandmother made during my childhood that I just LOVED and when I inhereted her old hand-crank meat grinder, I carried on the tradition of making ground meat sandiches in my household. Any leftover roast beef would be ground up along with plenty of celery then add sweet pickle relish, a little lemon juice, salt/pepper and bring it all together with Miracle Whip. I love this stuff but everyone that's tried it (mostly soon to be x-girlfriends) says it's awful. Not sure what came first, the decision that this isn't the girl for me so I gave a fond farewell with a sandwich or they said this guy isn't the one for me once the took a bite of the sandwich. Who cares because either way I come out ahead. It's still a comfort food for me but my wife who's still around after her first exposure says she'll pass. HOORAY!! More for me!! Bob p.s. My current wife? She tried the sandwich AFTER we were married.

Cajun popcorn shrimp. Ate too many one time...got sick...15 years ago. Mushroom Chicken at any Chinese fast food. Found a cigarette butt in my dish one time. It's been 4 years and counting.

Right here, to make one example. You can get a super-badass 9.5 inch K6 for $161 US, which is substantially less expensive than the $210 9.4 inch Misono UX10 gyutou. In fact, I am in communication with the maker right now, so stay tuned for a "limited edition eGullet Society knife" in the next month or two. ← Sam, from what I understand of this knife, it is more like a cleaver than a gyuto. It weighs over a pound and while it can be used for prep work it is not as well suited as a gyuto would be. That's over 1/2 a pound heavier than the average gyuto! Fatigue may be an issue with this knife. The page below is a detailed review of this exact knife including a great picture. It is a great knife for sure but cannot be compared to a gyuto. Tichbourne K6 review Cheers, Bob

RETREVR can easily expand upon this but in a nutshell, rockwell hardness ratings are very important in choosing a knife. A low rating (55-58) means the edge retention will not be that good therefor you'll end up spending more time sharpening. And since the metal is softer, more metal will be removed during sharpening. A higher rockwell rating (high 59-63)allows for better edge retention and metal strength. I think you can also get a sharper edge with a higher rated knife. The blades metal recipe also highly influences strength, edge retention and durability. There are carbon white steels and carbon blue steels, carbon knives sandwiched between stainless steel, carbon steel sandwiched between iron, all stainless steel (VG10 being the best) and they all have pro's and con's to each. I highly recommend visiting Knife Forums.com and check out the "In the Kitchen" forum. There is a plenty of information that explains everything you could possibly want to know. Another great resource is Foodie Forums.com. This forum has great reveiws of various Gyuto's and also discussed Japanese knives in general. As far as buying these knives, there is plenty of brands with really good western-style knives at Korin.com (Japanese-Knife.com) for under $150. There are knives to fit any budget. Some more places to check out: Kikuichi.net Watanabe Blade.com Japanese Chefs Knife.com Japan Woodworker.com On these sites is a wealth of information that explains for example what white steel is and what blue steel is, which steels are harder than others, which knives are easier to sharpen, which knives are appropriate for the average user v. pro chef, etc. It's all out there, you just gotta look. Cheers, Bob

Hmmm...interesting. Until now, I always thought the typical toppings were the ones you get at confection shops like caramel, chedder cheese, butter, etc. I don't eat a lot of popcorn but I may try some of these. Is there a sour cream and onion powder out there? Ya know, the kind that is used on soft pretzels or chips? I think that might be pretty good. I make popcorn the way my grandmother did. Pop the corn the old fashioned way but instead of using oil, use bacon grease! Then top with melted butter slightly browned then sprinkle with popcorn salt. OMG...it is so good. The flavor from the bacon grease lends a nice hint of bacon that complements very well. As I said, I don't make it often but when I'm in the mood on a cold winter night sitting on the couch with my wife and four cats watching a dvd, it really hits the spot. Cheers, Bob

A whole new can of worms is right. The "trend" toward Japanes knives is not because it's a current fad but because they are far superior to European knives in many ways. As AzRael said they are harder and sharper but they are also lighter, better balanced and easier to sharpen because of the absence of a full bolster. They are also becoming more popular because they are more available than they've ever been. Check out this site as they have many brands in both Japanese and Western styles but all with Japanese steel... Korin Japanese Knives. There are many other web sites that carry Japanese blades. Want a hand made knife of very high quality? Watanabe Blade.com I've ordered a Japanese Deba from this maker and from what I've heard from other people who've ordered from this maker the craftmanship is outstanding and the sharpness of the blades out of the box is unreal compared to other brands. Some people I know have several knives of his. I can't wait until my knife arrives. Sorry, putting the worms back in the can... My first Japanese knife was a granton edged Shun Santoku. I used it daily until I bought a Japanese Gyuto (Western design Japanese chef's knife). Since Santoku's don't get much longer than 6.5 inches, I now prefer my ten inch Gyuto over the smaller Santoku. IMO the kullens don't really keep food from sticking. I think they may be good with a slicer but not with a daily working knife so the extra expense is worthless. You either like the Santoku or you like a chef's knife. In my experience with my Santoku, it's wider than my Gyuto so I have I have to lift it higher to get the rocking motion going. But if you use a push/chop method rather than rocking a Santoku would be fine. You can rock with the Santoku but I just think the Gryuto is more versatile. I recommend going here for more research into which knives are best: Knife Forums.com. Go to the "In The Kitchen" discussion forum. There is a wealth of information about knives including the Gelstain knives or any other knives with kullens. Cheers, Bob p.s. Don't buy a knife just because it looks good. Looks should be secondary to it's performance.

Shun knives are indeed great knives. I have two of them...Granton edge Santoku and a parer. I love their look and feel very much. It was extremely sharp out of the box and the steel is very hard so only honing is needed for a long while. If you use the pinch grip with your bigger knives rather than holding by the handle I don't think the handle size will be a problem for small handed people. If anything I'd think the bigger handle would give you more to hold therefor more control over the knife. Since I bought a Japanese Gyuto I don't use my Santoku much anymore but I can tell you Shun truely is a great knife. You can't go wrong by buying them. I see them on Ebay all the time. A good basis for comparing prices on ebay is Chef Depot.com. They have the lowest retail prices and this is where I bought mine. One note though, Shun chef knives are blade heavy but the Santoku's are more balanced so keep that in mind if you're considering both a chef knife and a Santoku. Another thing to think about is that Santoku's don't come very long. I think the longest is about 6.5 inches. This is why I use my 10 inch Gyuto more often. There was a previous post that said he/she wishes the knife was wider. Shun does have a wide Santoku too. Also, don't spend the extra money to get the granton edge Santoku because it doesn't come close to keeping food from sticking to the knife. If you have a store close by to check them out that would be ideal but I can pretty much guarantee you'll like the Shun Santoku. Cheers, Bob

So far I have a total of 11 but if Santa is going to be good to me this year, it will soon be 14. I specially can't wait for The Soprano's Family Cookbook. I heard good things about that one. Current: Complete Chinese Cookbook Quick & Easy Sushi Quick & Easy Thai Gourmet Gringo Sushi for Dummies Panini The Italian Way The Book of Pasta Fast & Easy Cooking Fit it & Forget it crock pot recipes The Breath of a Wok Peterson's Essentials of Cooking Xmas want's: Peterson's Sauces Julia Child Mastering the Art of French Cooking The Soprano Family Cookbook. Let's not forget the hundreds of recipes I've printed off the net. They're all organized in a 2.5 inch binder. Cheers, Bob