dougal
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Posts posted by dougal
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Here's a good source for parts.
I haven't been able to find an actual service manual, but if you give me your email I can send you the KA parts list, which has an exploded view of the thing ... it should help you figure out how it comes apart and goes together.
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I've posted a link previously (on this thread) to a different page on that same site, which emphatically DOES have a PDF download of a 32-page illustrated KA "service manual" of some sort. (I've no idea of specific relevance to particular models, but it does look useful.)
http://www.mendingshed.com/kitaidparts.html
Hope that helps! (Download re-checked today.)
Chad, for routine domestic (and domestic+) doughmaking, (and other tasks too), check out the DLX.
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I've been buying salmon from my fishmonger. ...
The original post was wholly unspecific about what type (species) of "salmon" was being referred to.
My understanding has been that there was a considerable difference between the hazards relating to Pacific 'salmon' and the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar).
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iafp...000001/art00019?
Abstract:In the present study, a total of 1,180 samples of muscle or viscera from Norwegian-farmed salmon (Salmo salar L.) were examined for the presence of nematode larvae. The samples represented all salmon-producing counties in Norway. The method applied was based on the degradation of fish soft tissue in an acidified pepsin enzyme solution. None of the samples examined in this study contained nematodes.
I think it matters rather a lot as to exactly what you might be calling "salmon".
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Ignoring labels for a moment, what is the pro opinion regarding the usefulness of shaft and bearing rolling pins, which are rather more expensive than most simple lumps of wood)?
I've seen these with marble and silicone rollers, and wondered if they might be helpful to my stumbling occasional progress with pastry.
So, what are the experiences and the prejudices?
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It is about West Indian (Caribbean) island cookery.
Specifically that of the island of Guadaloupe.
Guadeloupe is actually a part of France, that just happens to be in the Caribbean, sending Deputies (think Congressmen) to Paris.
Hence the cuisine of Guadeloupe seems to be Caribbean, with occasional French twists.
The author is a Guadeloupe-born French tv cook.
It seems as though the book might be a translation from a French original
http://www.amazon.fr/Festins-cr%C3%A9oles-...35226033&sr=8-2
Accordingly, I'd be astonished if it made reference to any US cooking styles.
I've never seen a copy that wasn't shrink-wrapped.
Its from the same publishers as Silver Spoon and 1080 Recipes (both also translated).
Unfortunately, that pedigree, for me, gives it a mountain to climb.
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... converting grams into cups, etc.
It's extremely useful, click on conversions.
The basic wrong assumption is that an accurate volume/weight conversion is possible for loose solids.
It doesn't matter who does the conversion, it is at best approximate.
Because any volume measure of a loose solid is an approximate measure.
Maybe I should create a website that uses the power of a modern computer to convert precisely (to at least four decimal places) those techie foreign grams into an easy and traditional measure that everyone has access to -- 'handfuls'.
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Does anyone have the US American copy of Pastry: Savory and Sweet by Michel Roux? (Wiley, ISBN 978-0470421345). I just wanted to find out for a friend if it's in Metric or not. Thanks!
I do recognise that you are asking a very specific question (which I can't answer).
However, it might be worth putting on record that the British edition (Quadrille, 2008 hardback, ISBN 978 184400 620 5) is based on metric weights, with metric (5ml and 15ml) spoons used for small quantities.
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Can't help if you are wanting to sample unusual tea blends before buying (you may have THE place), but if you just want to have a nice selection of teas in a nice place, then consider the restaurant (as opposed to the café) at the Tate gallery. "Tate Britain".
Special murals too.
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No, I don't have it - maybe 'not yet'.
The Marianski's know their stuff, but they do tend to have an authentically Polish take on things.
The Amazon review saying "self-published. needs a good editor to knock it into shape, but even so, worthwhile" sounds highly credible.
They run a big website, and if history is anything to go by, the outline of the book has its origins in this section of it. So this should be a good 'taster' for the book.
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The Press Association reports:
But 40 of {the 60 staff} are expected to get their jobs back after Antony managed to raise private support and use some of his own money to buy back two of the restaurants, in Windsor and Kew, and the shop.http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/a...6uTdpvdxLBl9x9Q
So, have I got this straight?
He couldn't raise a £200k overdraft to keep the show on the road (being unprepared to risk his own capital/house), but he has somehow come up with enough "private support" and "some of his own money" to do the cherry-picking.
Isn't there an inconsistency there?
Always seemed such a nice chap too ...
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... It seems the only two variables are amount of cure and time in the cure. I would suspect amount of cure. I laid it out and pressed it in on both sides. I would guess it was more than the 1/4 cup he says to use.
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The question to all the other bacon makers is how much cure do you use?
"1/4 cup" of cure or salt?
Because different preparations of salt have different crystal sizes, they pack into a measuring cup with different amounts of airspace. Which means that there's differing amounts of salt in that cup.
This is the reason that the salt branding is specified.
And its an important reminder that R&P's Charcuterie should not be approached as a mere recipe collection. Its more of a stepwise tutorial, where techniques are built upon what has gone before, and the 'editorial matter' in the chapters is, if anything, more important than the recipes.
It is very much more accurate to measure by weight than volume.
(Goes for just about anything in the kitchen.)
Weight measurement makes the brand and crystal size of the salt pretty much irrelevant. (OK, large crystals dissolve more slowly, and that could make for subtle differences - but its not something to lose sleep over.)
Check eBay for a "pocket scale". Very cheap. Very accurate. Way better than 'cups'. (Just keep it dry - I've had to replace mine because of corrosion - duh!)
And Charcuterie is no place for guesswork.
Accurate measurement is essential. Particularly when beginning.
Two more points.
-- For my own bacon, like qrn above, I prefer to put my final quantities into the bag - rather than putting in excess, timing it for some specific uptake, and then washing away the surplus. I just put my chosen quantities in the bag and give it plenty long enough to equilibrate. Timing becomes non-critical.
Note that English bacon is not pre-cooked, as with the american hot-smoking. Ours is either unsmoked (ie raw) or cold smoked. Hence, after mine comes out of the bag, I like to give it at least a day or two of hanging in the fridge to dry and this also gives more time for the cure to mature.
-- To de-salt excessively salty bacon, you can soak it in cold water, changing the water every 8 hours or so until its no longer excessive. No need to heat/cook it if you have a little patience!
You may want to hang it to lose some of the water that will be picked up either way.
However, if you've put in an excessive quantity of Nitrite (or Nitrate), then the safest advice is to bin it and start again.
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Hamelman's "Bread".
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You can measure power output in Watts. (Its pretty normal outside the USA.)
You could measure the input in Horsepower. In principle, at least.
Check the specification to see whether the figure given is for input or output.
It'd be a mistake to assume that 'watts' must mean that it refers to input. It doesn't.
It could, but it doesn't have to. Check. Ask.
Oh, and power and torque are, strictly speaking, different.
Mechanical efficiency of the mixer design (how much motor output power is needed) varies with the design - this is most clearly seen with different designs of specialist dough mixer. There's also the matter of gearbox versatility and multiple different power takeoffs. The more outputs the less efficiency (higher power loss) is likely.
Commercial tools generally need less versatility than domestic ones. They run many more hours each day. So power efficiency (giving coolness, durability, and energy cost advantages) is a much more important criterion of choice. For the home user, versatility, convenience and purchase price (and even colour) usually have greater importance.
Wattage wasn't the best way of comparing hifi amplifiers. It doesn't mean much more for mixers. But, between different products from the same manufacturer, it might give an indication of relative capability.
However, its not really a helpful measure when comparing products from different manufacturers, which naturally will have somewhat different mechanical designs.
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I'm looking for books that will teach me how to take my cooking to the next level.
For me that means that I'm not so much looking for a regular recipe book, but I would like to learn about flavour combinations, refinement and more advanced techniques.
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Agnes, did you spot this thread?
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=117006
You should find some pointers there!
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I've been using my Hobart stand mixer to stuff sausages with but would love to hear the pros and cons of a hand crank sausage stuffer like the F. Dick models I've been looking at. Is the main advantage better control?
Three advantages, I'd say.
Yes better control.
And way easier to use with just two hands.
But the big advantage, IMHO, is that a piston (as opposed to a screw) doesn't "screw up" the texture of the sausage. It doesn't mess with the bits in a coarsely-ground sausage (especially salami and the like), and it doesn't heat the mix -- which, if you find and read the big Ruhlman & Polcyn "Charcuterie" threads, you'll realise becomes a very important consideration!
I can't speak to the subject of expensive piston stuffers, but I'm still delighted with my ultra-basic NT/Gizzly/etc 5lb model, and my aftermarket (stainless) parallel stuffing tubes.
Its a whole different game to any of the screw-feed units I've experienced.
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A very very very useful data source for nutritional info is the USDA database. (Even if it isn't 'normalised' on portion sizes.)
http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=9673
Note that each dataset is available as two pdf's. One sorted alphabetically (though not always by the most important word!), the other by nutrient content.
I find that using one's pdf reader (Acrobat/Reader/Preview/etc) and its 'find' function for the relevant word (eg Liver), is the easiest way to locate a foodstuff.
The Vitamin K table ought to be readily at hand for every Warfarin/Coumadin patient. (Asparagus and liver, to name but two, might be surprising - in opposite directions - for many.)
I'm sure other tables could be equally vital to others.
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Two related things:
1 - it ain't only a matter of what you put into the pan (adding up the inputs).
If you put two teaspoonfuls of salt into the water for boiling potatoes, then how much of that salt ends up on the diner's plate? Or if you fry anything, how much of the oil/fat you add to the pan gets left in the pan? IMHO, that varies considerably with the process detail (coatings, temperature, even shape/texture). How much fat renders out of the meat while it is being roasted and doesn't get served?
A spreadsheet will simplify the arithmetic, but recipe inputs doesn't equal served outputs. And that's even if you think you know the inputs - just how much beurre manié was that?
2 - because the detail of the way that you cook matters, its a matter of making appropriate assumptions and estimates -- and you really cannot expect a programmer to make accurate assumptions about what goes on in your particular kitchen.
And because of all the above, I'd be making sure that the legal Ts & Cs covered the point that any published figures were non-contractual, best estimates not analytical measurements, offered in the hope that such estimates, with whatever inaccuracies and variations, might be more helpful than no estimate at all, but no responsibility can be accepted for etc, etc...
Incidentally, I'd expect (and I hope you'll report back on this) that making such figures available to your diners would change, to some extent, the dishes popularity ranking. It'd be interesting to hear how much change it might make!
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All 'diets' (in the sense of being only for a limited period of suffering) are ineffective in the long term, and like 'low carb diets', in essence, they are all fads.
However, they do sell books.
Year after year, by the truckload.
But to the same people! Those that believe that a short period of doing penance will atone for their sins.
The very fact that there are so many of these books is actually proof that - long-term - they are ineffective.
Doctors speak of 'yo-yo' dieting - the faster the weight loss, the faster it gets put back on after the 'diet' ends.
Therefore, instead of a 'dieting cookbook' I'd prefer to recommend something like the BBC paperback 'The Taste of Health' (Jenny Rogers), for guidance on a long-term sustainable style of eating for ordinary (non-feast) days, but its long out of print, and may be hard to find.
As Prasantrin says, such dietary habits are best adopted by making small, but 'sticky' changes. New habits for the long term. And to avoid 'bouncing off', go for the easiest first.
There's no virtue in suffering!
If it took years to pile on the pounds, don't even try to shift them in weeks.
Adopting 'sustainable' habits is the smart way to trim down, and stay trimmer.
HOWEVER, for those specifically wanting to learn some tricks for flavour, aroma and interesting texture, while minimising calorie intake, there was a glutton for butter and cream that underwent a Damascene conversion to become a low-calorie zealot - though still not wanting to miss out on the joys of his former sins.
Graham Kerr (the former 'Galloping Gourmet') wrote his "Smart Cooking" and "Minimax Cookbook" after his wife's stroke and heart attack. So, one should excuse his preaching.
Also restauranteur (and glutton) John Tovey wrote a nice little book called "Having a Binge on a Diet" with his suggestions as to making the penance enjoyable.
I do hope that this is recognised as responding the question posed, even if I have troubled to try and explain why I think its far from the best question to follow the statement in the first line of that initial post.
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Welcome howsmatt !
I'm sure a microbiologist will give a better answer eventually, but, as an initial response, my 'take' is that - if you intend storing for subsequent reheating - the faster you do the cooling, the better.
Turning that round, the slower you cool it, the shorter the 'shelf-life'.
Hence, from hot bath to cold bath is a much better bet than mere air-cooling, let alone cooling in a timed-out, and subsequently very slowly cooling hot bath.
I think that's the basic idea, but I wouldn't want to be the one to put numbers on it!
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A mighty achievement Chris!
My question: you pulled it out of the oven when it hit 150F (65C). Did the core rise much while it was 'resting'? With my very much smaller pieces, I've tried to aim for a 65C peak as being 'cooked' without being 'overcooked'.
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My problem with this tariff is that it seems to penalise Roquefort farmers in particular for some reason.
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How many other cheeses favoured by those famous "monkeys", and not already banned "because of Bioterrorism threat", do you think they could name ???
Its selected purely for its recognition value as a symbol.
Not because of the commercial value of the trade.
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Not in the least "crabby".
I'm just concerned that readers enthused by Pax's post should "play safely".
And that is a valid consideration where mains electricity (and potentially water) are involved.
One can indeed use a lamp dimmer to provide variable control of a simple heater.
Just watch out for the power ratings.
I don't have a dimmer rated more than 400 watts. That would be a lot of light, domestically.
But 400 watts is not a lot of kitchen heat.
(The article linked above used a dimmer able to handle 600 watts.)
For comparison, my cheapo Rice Cooker can draw 800 watts. A typical UK electric kettle is 3000 watts. 400 (or even 600) watts is VERY gentle heating -- but crockpots (slow cookers) are just about the lowest wattage heaters you are likely to find.
All I'm saying is "Please check the wattages on the dimmer and cooker labels."
Make sure the dimmer is able to provide at least as much the cooker would take.
That's all.
At the risk of sounding really crabby, I'd suggest that readers avoid the risk of being an injured idiot and take a moment to check the safety labels (or else get someone to check them for you!) -- don't think its safe to plug random things together just because the plug fits!I never imagined having to worry about burning the house down over plugging in a dimmer since pretty much an idiot can install one in their dining room without a degree, so I'm really not so sure why Dougal is so crabby with me about that part. -
Calum, AFAIK, the legal position of trapping is still a mess.
Since 2005, it has been (theoretically) possible to be licensed to trap Signals.
But... somewhere along the line, the bureaucrats quietly did their best to save the Signals.
It seems far from easy to trap Signals legally (outside your own fish farm that is).
Traps need to be identified. Otter and vole conservation imposes specific sizes for traps. Then there's trap disinfection, so you don't spread Crayfish Plague (the disease, not the Signals themselves) from one watercourse to another. It goes on.
And it seems that the license is only issued for one specified day of crayfish trapping.
The Bylaws permitting the use of traps (with approval) are here
http://www.efishbusiness.co.uk/formsandguides/byelaw.pdf
The application form
is "FR2" Here are the Guidance Notes http://www.efishbusiness.co.uk/formsandgui...FR2Notes705.pdf
and the form itself
http://www.efishbusiness.co.uk/formsandguides/FR2v051.pdf Do please let us know how you get on.
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My husband has a degree in electrical engineering. I told him what I wanted and he fixed it up for me. My experience is he's pretty good at keeping me from burning the house down, but I very much appreciate your efforts, too. Thanks!
*knocks on wood*
Glad to hear it, but my comments about taking care to make sure that the dimmer was able to handle the wattage of the heater were intended to be addressed to anyone that might follow your advice, but without the benefit of having a Graduate-level Electrical Engineer around the house!
And, then ...
I've made a couple of these, they do work well. Found this online guide, it's a very well written and illustrated guide to building your own unit.Edited to add: You can only use these with basic slow cookers, none of the smart-pot type cookers.
Actually, I'm not so sure that one of the illustrations is correct, and have mailed the author.
The wiring diagram (at the time of writing) shows the red (live) wire going direct to the outlet socket.
Not through the switch.
That would make the socket live, even when the dimmer switch was "off".
Not ideal.
Better to swap over the red and black in that wiring diagram.
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Calum, happy to assist!
But note that those postcodes relate to (freedom from) licenses to keep Signals. (But indicate their presence in those areas.)
Licensing to take is a different matter entirely.
Baking & Pastry Books in Metric
in Cookbooks & References
Posted
"Repackage"?
So how did you do the conversions?