infernooo

Hi Kenneth! Here are some bookmarks I had before I decided to by a tandoor oven (which I sold shortly afterwards due to having to relocate :-(): http://piers.thompson.users.btopenworld.com/index.html http://www.cpsusa.com/ebay/tandoorOven.htm http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Island/3012/page2.htm http://www.villagok.dk/tandoor/index.html http://oildrumtandoor.blogspot.com/

So I now can check off another item from my most wanted list of gadgets... I purchased a brand spanking new pyrolytic oven (an absolutely stunning oven made in Italy) for a killer price through an excess stock auction online. Once it arrived and I had an authorised electrician install it (I asked him to put in a switch on the near by power point so I could easily cut power to it if I wanted too), I got to work on figuring out how the pyrolytic function worked and the safety features I would have to circumvent. It was a helluva lot easier than I had planned - the safety locking mechanism was an electronically actuated steel arm which swings out and locks the door closed once the temperature goes past a certain point. At first I put a piece of aluminium foil to block it from latching on, but that resulted in an error code being displayed and refusal to start the pyrolytic cycle. So, I figured that the oven just actuates this arm, and when the arm reaches a certain angle (there were no contact electronics), it sends a signal indicating it has locked on. So I simply cut off its arm. Now it swings its little arm and thinks it has locked the door, but I can freely open it! I now have a domestic home oven that does everything I could possibly want (it even has a proving function and steam injection for baking) that can reach and maintain temperatures of 1000f (560c) - PERFECT for replicating a tandoor oven or woodfired oven. Here are pictures, including one of the oven from the outside, one of the locking mechanism (hard to see), one of the cut locking mechanism, one of me using my laser gun during the pyrolytic cycle, and one screenshot showing the temperature of the oven during the 3 hour pyrolytic cycle (you can set it to however long you want).

Hi folks, I thought I would post a video I recorded of my old wok burner today - I donated it to a friend of mine as I am now using the more powerful duckbill setup I put together. Here is the video, it is pretty short but gives you some idea of what my old setup was capable of... the wok sits perfectly on it as well so the only real advantage of my new setup os the ability to run even hotter (not that it is needed: the old setup on full bore has the same output as the largest Chinese restaurant wok burners available from my research): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viEuOyrm-Ps

Hi Mike! I bought myself one of these about 2 months ago. Living in Australia, we basically have a choice between 2 vacuum sealers. Sunbeam or crappy ebay ones. I tried an ebay one first and threw it in the trash after the second use. Don't even go there. I then figured that there are so many in the USA and so many people swear by Foodsavers that I would give it a go. So, I purchased it from the site you linked and also included enough accessories, spare bags, bag rolls and other goodies to last me a life time. I can tell you that I am EXTREMELY please with it. It looks great, stores easily in the cupboard, and best of all, makes air tight seals that work a treat for sousvide and frozen goods. Sure I haven't tried any of the other brands, but I don't need to - this one works great. The only honest downside I can mention is the first few times I had some trouble feeding the bag into the vacuum channel properly. Hope that helps! ← Hi, I read the accompanying documentation on the product and can't see if it has variable voltage. Can it take 240 V directly or do you use a transformer? Thanks ← Got myself a high amp step down transformer and a USA power board for all my international electronics :-). Runs my commercial strength kitchenaid mixer, zojurushi rice cooker, foodsaver vacuum machine + more!

Thank you so much Hiroyuki! I looked up kanpachi (amberjack) and hamachi (young yellowtail) and many of the pages I found list them as the same species. Many also list them as both from the yellowtail family, but one younger than the other or Japanese caught. (e.g. http://www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au/Informa...20/Default.aspx AND http://www.chowhound.com/topics/482091 for example) This may make it difficult when I get back to AU and try find them at the fish markets ! :-( Thanks again!

Hi Mike! I bought myself one of these about 2 months ago. Living in Australia, we basically have a choice between 2 vacuum sealers. Sunbeam or crappy ebay ones. I tried an ebay one first and threw it in the trash after the second use. Don't even go there. I then figured that there are so many in the USA and so many people swear by Foodsavers that I would give it a go. So, I purchased it from the site you linked and also included enough accessories, spare bags, bag rolls and other goodies to last me a life time. I can tell you that I am EXTREMELY please with it. It looks great, stores easily in the cupboard, and best of all, makes air tight seals that work a treat for sousvide and frozen goods. Sure I haven't tried any of the other brands, but I don't need to - this one works great. The only honest downside I can mention is the first few times I had some trouble feeding the bag into the vacuum channel properly. Hope that helps!

Hi all! I am currently in Japan, and as part of the requisite eats, bought a huge assortment of Sashimi from one of the well known depachikas - Tobu @ Ikebukuro. Besides the fact that I was blown away with the quality, there were 2 in particular that stood out which I would love to know the name of. I am sure I know them by another name but I am not the best at ID'ing fish ! They are circled in green and red. The one in green was slightly chewier, whereas the one in red was more buttery and tender. I have also included close up shots of the names in Japanese. Thanks in advance! Larger versions: As for the other ones: Top right may be snapper? To the left of the prawns/shrimp I am not sure about (was VERY firm) To the left of this I think was seabass? Above the salmon I think is flounder?

Hi everyone! I'm off to Japan soon, and have my mind set to stay either in Shinjuku or Shibuya. Can someone give me a run down of the benefits/drawbacks of each of these places in terms of food joints (mainly looking for awesome sushimi and hawker / authentic street eats [including organ meat yakitori] rather than upscale expensive michelin restaurant type places), shopping and general sight/feel of the places? I have done a lot of searching and guide book reading, but figured I would probably be best to get some advice from my fellow food nerds :-). Thanks!

These Ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter have legendary status here in Australia... haven't tried them myself yet but am looking forward to trying them this weekend! http://www.bills.com.au/recipes/recipe2.htm

I tried my first one yesterday - they are new here in Australia. IMO they are very nice, but Pink Lady are my all time favourite - the perfect balance of sweetness, tartness and floral notes.

Hi Takadi, Apologies for the delayed reply - things have been quite hectic! Firstly, I have since switched to a new even more powerful setup (200Mj/Hr = 189000 BTU) which consists of a Mongolian burner (I also have a Duckbill burner outputting similar levels) which I have mounted on a special stand and only operate outdoors (it is just way too powerful to do indoors without a VERY high rangehood or vent above it... otherwise you will vaporise anything up to a few feet above the flames). They look like this when you buy them without stands: Now onto your questions! It looks similar to the burner I purchased, but of lesser quality... the one I purchased is of very good build quality and the metal it is made of appears to be a dark grey as opposed to the light gray in the one you linked. The highest power ones I have seen for sale online in the USA (keep in mind, I am in Australia and bought mine here) are the big kahuna burners or the turkey fryers on amazon (e.g. http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-SP10-H...1610068&sr=8-5). At the end of the day I created my own wok stove that is essentially identical to what the Chinese restaurants use (the duckbill/mongolian jet burners)... whether you are willing to go to such extremes is completely up to you :-) when I get obsessed with something (in this case, wok hei), I won't stop till I get it :-).

Hi folks! I will be visiting San Jose (Santa Clara area mainly) for the next few weeks and am looking for some recommendations on the best places to try some barbecue and also the best farmers/produce markets to visit... I have previously tried Uncle Frank's barbecue... it was pretty good, but not nearly as good as I had been led to believe. Anyways, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I will try and remember to take some pictures of mine tonight... but compared to some it is just a baby master stock - only about 5 months old. It is dark and murky and ugly, but has a real depth of flavour that is hard to describe.

One of my best friends is greek and his mother made these for us when we were growing up... Basically cubed lamb marinaded overnight in pureed raw onion, salt, pepper, lemon juice, crushed garlic, olive oil and dried greek oregano.

Better quality produce, nicer presentation, waiters are more polite, harbour looks nice at night time. I don't know how romantic it is in comparison to Quay, but if you and your wife love seafood, the Pier is the place to go.

+1 for Pier

Pork Ribs were postponed until today, modified method is as follows after thinking about it some more and due to my inability to be home to control/watch things: 1.) Rubbed, vacuumed in fridge for 2 days 2.) Put into 140f/60c water bath for 11 hours 3.) Temperature bumped to 161f/71c for 5 hours 4.) Temperature bumped to 172f/77c for 6 hours 5.) Removed, brushed with home made BBQ sauce and put underneath a hot overhead grill - turned to crisp/caramelise both sides. Will report back tonight!

Well I purchased a huge slow cooker, ordered my Auber Instruments plug n play sous vide cooking controller last week and got it this week - tomorrow I'm going to do some pork ribs... currently they are in the fridge covered in my personal version of the BRITU (http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/rib1.html). My plan is to put them in a 160f bath for ~ 10 hours (start them in the morning, take them out when I get home), then brush with some smokey home made BBQ sauce and either blow-torch them or throw them on a hot cast iron grill.

This recipe by Neil Perry will blow your mind! :-) The tastes and textures work perfectly IMO. http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/recipes/recipe.asp?id=257

This might help some people - the transcript from the recent Good Eats Marshmallow show: http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Season11/ma...mallow_tran.htm

FWIW, Alton Brown on Good Eats recently did a show on home made marshmallows! Recipe is here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/re...6_88610,00.html

I'm always looking for it :-) I had some hopeful times thanks to an article in Good Living food section of the Sydney Morning Herald, but it turned out to be a dead end :-(.

FYI, if you are looking for a terrific Indian place in Chunking mansions, go to "Swagat Indian Restaurant". Compared to the surroundings, it really stands out (the surroundings are as mentioned earlier, quite run down and sub-standard), but this little restaurant really stands out like the gem it is. The same lovely people have been working there since I first went, and the food has been EXACTLY the same, which I really appreciate.

Cool, thanks everyone! P.s. how does the other type of tripe (牛柏葉) differ in taste/texture to honeycomb tripe?

Sorry my mistake, I didn't specify which... I am talking about 牛肚 (honeycomb tripe).