sanrensho

I also thought they were French in origin.

Here you go: http://www.pichetong.com/home.php The initial page also doesn't work for me in Explorer, but works fine in FireFox (although the layout is messed up).

Does anyone else find that the 1:1 baker's grease tends require a heavy application? When I used butter, it only required a thin coating. Maybe I'm getting thrown off by the creaming of the braker's grease, which makes it look like I'm applying more.

Does adding oil help with release? (I'm glad we're talking about baking...) I've been using the 1:1 flour/shortening formula and notice that it seems to require a heavy hand during application. I'm using aluminum pans, no parchment.

Kris, I'm relieved to hear that it turned out alright. I just got off the phone with my mom. She recommends using haiga-mai (rice with bran), which is technically not genmai. She uses a 2:1 ratio of white rice to haiga-mai cooked with the normal amount of water and on the standard rice setting. A 1:1 ratio is fine as well. Tamaki Haiga-mai

I'm embarassed to say that I don't exactly know, since my wife usually measures out the rice. Knowing her, I can tell you that it was dumped in at the same time (same pre-soaking time) and cooked on the regular white rice setting. The genmai was probablyl on the low side (a lot less than half). I'll ask my mom tomorrow, since she uses a genmai blend quite often. OnigiriFB, I would try using your rice cooker with a low percentage blend (10-15% to start) to start and work your way up. Sorry if this is not too helpful.

You might want to try a genmai blend (mixed with regular rice) to start. I find the texture preferable to straight brown rice.

Woops, I misspoke. I meant to imply either a thermal carafe or one of those Zojirushi air pots.

I second the thermal carafe solution using freshly ground beans. Maybe an automatic espresso machine as well. Not everyone wants to drink espresso all day.

I think any of the short grain (California) brands are a good choice if you are looking for an authentic, Japanese-style rice. I would personally avoid any medium grain rice (Kokuho Rose) or medium-short blend (Tamaki Classic).

Is this a California rice? If so, who is the producer? We usually buy Hitomebore (California) rice. They've startet to sell imported Japanese rice up here in Vancouver, but I haven't tried it yet.

Interesting, the main difference with our UK import L&P is the omission of water. Otherwise, it's pretty similar. I wonder if the UK version is stronger? Or a difference in labeling regulations?

FWIW, here's the ingredient list from the imported L&P we get in Canada ("prepared in England"): Malt vinegar, spirit vinegar, water, refiner's molasses, sugar, anchovies, salt, tamaraind extract, onions, garlic, spice and natural flavour. The bottle is about two years old.

That was my assumption, too. But the thought crossed my mind that the deli slicers might not be considered "safe" for cutting raw food. Due to reasons such as cleaning, etc.

The Korean grocer that we go to slices it right in front of us, using a round of chuck (kata) frozen solid. Just for clarification: Did they mean that the deli slicers couldn't be used because of cross-contamination? Or did they mean that the machines themselves weren't usable for raw meat due to code?

I'm pretty sure that they use a dedicated slicer for raw meat in Japan as they do here (in Canada). We buy our shabu shabu meat from a Japanese butcher or a Korean grocery. Neither handles cold cuts, so cross-contamination isn't an issue.

Is he running it through a meat slicer? If the meat is frozen, it should be easy to run through a meat slicer at the thinnest setting.

Oops, I completely forgot about the dedicated shabu shabu pans (doh!). These make it a little easier for everyone to dip and dunk their meat/vegetables. The downside is that they are probably not as suited for double-duty when making a hot pot (nabe).

Just go to a Chinese housewares store (or T&T, etc.) and buy a Chinese made nabe. In our experience, these are not as nice as a Japanese nabe as they tend to develop cracks. However, the price is right and the pots are still usable. While you're at it, you should purchase a tabletop gas burner. You know, the flimsy ones that use can-style cartridges. I've seen electric coil-type tabletop units, but they are nowhere near as common as the gas burners. If you want to do a hot pot (but not shabu shabu) without the tabletop gas burner, you could cook it on the stove and simply bring it to the table. We often run two nabe when we have company--one cooking on the stove, one to bring to the table.

Maybe you could expand on what Lorna (Ling) did with her cocoa testing. Bake some cakes using the same recipe except for chocolate as the only variable. Same for ganache. Then build into a layer cake and see which one everyone likes best. Or cupcakes w/ganache. Lots of them. Except that it will be harder to taste test side-by-side.

I think either type of margarine would work out fine. Do some test batches and find out. The whipped type might actually work better by helping the flour to incorporate evenly with the fat, although I've never worked with that type of margarine. BTW, did you see the Gatten show on the best way to make (shortbread-style) cookies? Very educational.

I'm surprised at some of the negative comments at the beginning of the thread. These are obviously functional tools and widely used. If that's what somebody wants, let them buy it.

Ditto on the Musenmai rice, the ones I have tried are crap.

Please do! Thanks.

Yum! Any idea what kind of wafer that is? Is it a cookie base?