sanrensho

The fact that Purdy's is the title sponsor has prevented me from going. Maybe if it were sponsored by Valhrona? Still, I'd like to hear any feedback from anybody who has seen the exhibit.

I would suggest cross-posting in the Beverages / Coffee & Tea forum. Phaelon should be able to point you in the right direction at the very least. During the time I lived in Tokyo (late 90s), there were a fair number of shops that were strong on drip and vacuum-brewed coffee. Espresso was comparatively weak. Unfortunately, I was just getting into over-roasted Starbucks coffee at the time, so I didn't appreciate the light/medium roasts that are more prevalent in Japan as much as I could have.

I'm about to purchase some sheet gelatin online and am wondering whether to go with gold or silver. I understand that differences in bloom strength and that I can substitute one for the other by adjusting the quantities (weights). Most of the pastry recipes I work with tend to be from either European or Japanese sources. Are silver or gold sheets more commonly used in professional kitchens? Or is there no "standard"? I should clarify that the gelatin is for home use, but many of my recipes are from professional kitchens (Herme's books, CakeChef, etc.).

Bumping this thread to ask specifically about Ebay sources for vanilla beans. There are quite a few companies selling vanilla beans on Ebay. Which sellers have you bought from, and were you pleased with the quality? Which sellers are offering better quality beans? Are there non-Ebay (mail order) sources that are competitive in terms of price/quality ratio? Thanks in advance.

About a year ago, our local Safeway did away with their aisle of organic shelf products, blowing everything out at 50% off. (Yes, I did stock up.) The organic shelf products have been reintegrated into the regular aisles, but with a much smaller selection. We've recently switched to organic milk for the kids, but have noticed that Safeway and Save-on sometimes run out of stock, the former for days at a time.

Just for clarification, glutinous rice is not necessarily synonymous with long grain rice. There are varieties of short grain glutinous rice such as mochi rice used in Japanese cooking. Here's an image of mochi rice (glutinous short grain rice): http://www.zojirushi.co.jp/usual/ricedict/img/mochi_rice.jpg

It's pointless to argue this, since it's obvious that you've already decided that you're happy with your current fuzzy cooker. Nothing in the tone of your last two posts suggests to me that you wish to think otherwise or have an open mind to the opinion of others. The only thing I can recommend is to find someone with an IH cooker and do some comparisons with your own machine, using the same rice.

Because the vast majority of the market here in North America can't support the higher price of IH cookers. As you can see from some of the posts in this and the rice cooker thread, a lot of people don't see the point of a dedicated rice cooker. Nor can they fathom spending $250 on an IH rice cooker. It isn't an unreasonable attitude if you only eat rice a few times a week. Compared with cooking rice at least once a day as in Japan.

Ditto, freeze the scraps and use them in other desserts. Use them to line the bottom of a chocolate or cream tart.

^^^Excellent points, Prasantrin. The other thing to add is that rice cookers give you a level of consistency and repeatability that may not always be achievable with a stovetop. Furthermore, the warmer and timer functions are absolutely indispensable for a family that cooks and eats rice frequently, as illustrated by the above posts. As for your rice cooker search, the only thing I will add is to make sure you use a step-down transformer here in Canada or the clock/timer will eventually go. (You probably already know this.)

Not sure if this answers your question, but the Japanese Mitsubishi site indicates that the pot is coated with five layers of a teflon+(proprietary) titanium/mica+carbon coating.

There is also a very extensive (7 pages and counting!) thread specifically on Japanese rice here. Information about Japanese rice available in North America starts at the bottom of Page 3 of the above thread.

The link that Chris provided is for Zojirushi America. It's great to see that the more advanced models are now available in North America. Back in 2000 or so, I had to purchase our rice cooker in Japan and lug it on the plane. It currently runs (perfectly) on a step-down transformer.

I took a look over at Zojirushi's Japan site and 9 out of 17 of their consumer rice cookers are IH. Basically, IH is used exclusively in upper mid- to high-end rice cookers priced over 250,000 yen. IH is used almost exclusively in their commercial-grade units, covering 4 out of 5 models.

Getting back to the topic at hand, here's some info from Zojirushi on how fuzzy logic works: http://www.zojirushi.com/ourproducts/how_a...owork_rice.html My layman's interpretation is that "fuzzy logic" basically equates to microcomputer control with built-in variables to adjust and control the cooking of rice. As opposed to a straightforward program with no variables programmed in.

Ah, thank you for the elaboration. I do cook rice frequently in a "fuzzy" rice cooker, and I would love for somebody to actually explain how the actual results differ between fuzzy and IH. Setting aside your sarcastic comment, I did explain how the actual results differ. Read my post again.

Why? Please elaborate. ← It just does. If you cook rice frequently you will find that an IH cooker produces a firmer rice with the desirable bite. This has also been shown in the Japanese testing results I've seen. As several people can attest to in the rice cooker thread, once you cook rice in an IH cooker there is no going back.

Here's a straightforward explanation from an SFGate article about fuzzy logic rice cookers: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...FDGNB3FHP81.DTL Rice cooks in basically four stages: It stands in water, it boils, it absorbs (the "steamed stage") and then it rests. Heat is accelerated or decelerated for each stage and in different ways for each variety of rice. In other words, the fuzzy logic cooker does what a real cook does, using its senses and intuition when it is cooking rice, watching and intervening when necessary to turn heat up or down, and reacting to the kind of rice in the pot, the volume and the time needed. But IH cookers still produce a better cooked rice...

It seems to me like you've answered your question yourself. If you want to be as indirect as possible, just tell the customer that it isn't possible to bake the product that day. If you're uncomfortable with that line of inquiry, get the front help to answer by saying that it's for "production reasons."

Very well put. In practice, I use short-grain Arborio for risotto, short-grain Japanese rice (Koshihikari, etc.) for Japanese cooking and long-grain Jasmine rice for most other cuisines. Plus glutinous rice for Asian dishes that require it. So I generally keep four varieties of rice in our cupboard at all times. In reality, though, we also buy short grain brown and haiga rice in smaller quantities and mix that with regular white rice. I have more experience with short-grain Japanese rice, but the differences between brands can be significant. The poorer brands are actually medium-grain and cook soft. They also cook up without the bite/firmness that is the sign of a quality short-grain Japanese rice.

At the higher end, I would recommend an IH model. I've seen Japanese test results showing that it produces a superior cooked rice, and my own results also confirm this. No cons that I know of...except price.

I know this doesn't answer your question, but you can always freeze the bananas in their skins and use them whenever convenient.

Interesting. How long has it been common in Japan (obviously not before the final years of the 15th century ). ← I couldn't find a specific citation, but salads themselves weren't popularized in Japan until after WWII (according to the Japanese Wikipedia, not first-hand experience). My guess would be that potato salads became popular somewhere around the late 50s or 60s. I believe it was already a common dish for Japanese families by the 70s and possibly before that.

Sorry, I must be slow tonight. Not sure about your first question. I don't recall the color of the awning, I usually go in through the back.

Based on what Sethro is saying, you could also try thinning out the mizuame with water.