ScoopKW
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Posts posted by ScoopKW
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My in-laws prefer cucumber sliced on the bias, about 3/8", tossed with a little sea salt. Try it that way. It's really good.
Question: Cucumber is native to where?
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I will chime in to mention my love of ceramic knives.
I love them too. Except if they drop from a height of more than six inches, then they break. They're just too brittle for me. So I stick with INOX (stainless) Japanese knives. (And the only reason for INOX is that it's required for commercial kitchens. I prefer carbon steel. But that doesn't fly in my world.)
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I always season just before I cook the meat. Seasoning way early doesn't yield good results, and seasoning after just tastes salty.
Try experimenting, and find the technique that works best for you. Don't rely on some cooking God on Mt. Olympus making proclamations from on high. After all, at the end of the day, it's your food.
But if you're in a restaurant, do whatever the chef who signs your paycheck tells you to do. That's the right way for you boss, and ipso facto the right way for you.
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PS. I'm enjoying your LV cook's helper thread. More, more..
I'll post some more tomorrow.
Just got back from a hellacious audition. This was for a restaurant on the Strip that most people here know of. I was required to perform the classic French vegetable cuts, with a chef timing me with a stopwatch, while asking me questions about my cooking philosophy. I think I nailed it. But we'll see.
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Now, in your last post, you give a link to your carving knife - which retails for $315!
What's going on here?At any rate, I'm assuming that jfresch is just looking for a decent carving knife for home use, may not be interested in the intricacies of edge geometry, or carving meat with a lightsaber.
As I said, 95% of the professional cooks use cheap "beater" knives. I'm one of the other 5%. Perhaps one day in five, I'm called upon to do some fancy knife work. And on those days, it's nice to have my usuba, gyuto, sujihiki, kiritsuke, etc. I keep all my knives in a cheap-looking backpack -- not a fancy knife case. I don't want my coworkers to know that the contents of my bag are probably worth more than their car.
Also, I never assume casual "home use." If someone wanted a casual knife, there's probably a Bed Bath and Beyond in their neighborhood.
"This doesn't hold true in sushi-world, however, where knife cost appears to be a surrogate for penis size."
One has to try to understand the cultural significance of Japanese knives and specifically those manufactured for sushi/sashimi.
I think I understand the cultural significance. And I'm here to tell you that in Las Vegas restaurants, the ONLY people bragging about how much their knives cost are the sushi cooks. Everyone else uses cheap knives, or they keep mum about their expensive knives, lest they grow legs and walk.
As for "I think that's a load of crap", certainly a judgement that offers no real help to this Thread.Telling someone who probably doesn't have local access to a superlative cutlery store to "try before you buy" isn't helpful, either. How many places, worldwide, can someone compare a Tadatsuna to a Devin Thomas to a Hattori?
Five? Ten?
There isn't a store that good in Las Vegas, I can tell you that, and we have quite a few cooks and chefs.
Better to pick a style, edge, and grip, go with reviews, and buy something that can be easily resold if needed.
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6) Everyone here is going to tell you, "Go try the knives out for yourself!" I think that's a load of crap. First, your area probably doesn't HAVE a decent knife store. The white-handled special and maybe some Wusthofs is the best they'll offer. Second, there's a BIG difference between dicing an onion in the knife store, and dicing 20 cases of onions in the kitchen. You're only going to find out if the knife is "your knife" after long hours of repetitive use.
Get a grip, Scoop! He's looking for a carving knife. Not dicing 20 cases of onions for thousands of wackos shoving food into their mouths in between playing the games in your Las Vegas casino.
And my recommendation stands. If possible, get to a store that has some knives and see which one feels most comfortable.
I spend many hours a week carving meat for wackos.
Here's a link for my carving knife. It's as close as one can get to carving meat with a lightsaber.
And my recommendation stands -- learn to sharpen, learn about edge geometry, then go knife shopping.
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I got the same coupon through LivingSocial.com...also made my dad and husband sign up for accounts and buy them too. $30 for $60 of groceries is a pretty good deal!
EDIT -- is there any way to still get this coupon/offer? Living social is currently offering something I'd never use.
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We should stop watching TV -- particularly Food Porn TV, and start cooking. The American food landscape, in the words of Charles Dickens: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us."
It is the best literary device I can think of to describe a country where those with the inclination can source and cook the absolute best of the best food, often for a fraction of what it costs elsewhere. And yet most of the population eats junk food every day because it's too freakin' hard to heat up a Hot Pocket in the microwave.
Why should I be upset about Bittman's opinion?
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I could just walk around until I find something that catches my eye, but anyone have suggestions or favorites?
Edit to clarify - The "coupon" is actually a $20 credit purchased for $10. I'm looking to buy something interesting since I will be in the store anyway. I can't get 50% off my entire order, so this isn't a free ticket to buy something really expensive.
Delitia parmesan butter. Made in Parma with the same milk used for making parmesan cheese. Go buy that. In fact, go buy $20 worth. Spread it on bread. You'll thank me later.
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Time for a new installment.
I would love to tell you what I did this past week. But if I did, anyone familiar with Las Vegas would know exactly what casino I work for. And anyone who works at that casino would know exactly who I am.
We can't have that. I don't mind telling you the generalities of casino life. But if I start being specific, that's breaking the rules and I could be fired.
So instead, let's talk about the people in my neighborhood.
The demographics of the Las Vegas casino kitchen cooks is roughly 10% caucasian, 10% black, 15% Asian, and everyone else is Latino/Hispanic. Being Las Vegas, most of the Latinos were either born in Mexico, or are second or third generation. There are lots of Salvadoreans and Nicaraguans as well. Roughly 80% are male.
The demographics of the chefs, however, is 40% caucasian, 30% Asian and 30% Latino. Half of the chefs are women. I draw no conclusions about that. I'll leave it to you.
Back to the cooks.
I'd say roughly 10% of the cooks are the sort of person who reads eGullet, or Food & Wine, or watch the occasional show on Food Network. They're foodies who not only cook in restaurants, all their free time revolves around restaurants. They're constantly going out to eat, or auditioning at fancier places in their free time. (Incidentally, my phone just rang -- an audition for a spot in one of those fancier places. Wish me luck.)
The other 90%? It's just a job. A casino cook makes a fairly good living. A husband/wife cook team could easily save up enough to put a good down payment on a house in less than three years. Many cook's helpers are content to remain cook's helpers. Cooks spend more time in front of hot stoves. There is a significant workload increase.
Many are happiest on "easy money" days. "Easy Money" is something you hear a lot in the kitchen. A cook comes in on swing shift to relieve the day cook.
"Easy money?" the swing shift cook asks.
"Easy money," is the reply.
That means there's enough work to keep you busy, but you're not plating for a convention of 3,000 people -- being served one hour from now. The actual saying of "easy money" is unnecessary. Anyone can tell when the kitchen is slammed. But it's something the cooks say to each other at least once every other day, so I thought I'd mention it.
Speaking of "easy," let's talk about the kitchen itself. They are a DREAM to work in. Throw out all your preconceived notions about what it's like to work in a Las Vegas kitchen in the summer. They keep the air-conditioning cranked so cold, I sometimes wear two layers under my jacket. The kitchens are pleasant, well-lit, and meticulously clean. We have teams of stewards assigned to each kitchen. All they do is clean. Eight hours a day of cleaning. Our stoves and ovens are spotless. You can eat off the floors. Cooks and cooks helpers clean the equipment -- slicers, buffalo choppers, Robot Coupes, etc. But everything else is handled by the stewards.
In Kitchen Confidential, when Tony Bourdain suggests that quitting your career and becoming a cook is a stupid idea, I have to ask, "Why?"
Haveave you ever worked on top of a Florida roof in the summer, Tony? What the [censored] do you know about hard manual labor? I've worked all sorts of jobs. And I'll tell you what. I wish I had started in the kitchen. I come home feeling a lot better -- physically and mentally -- then most jobs I've ever worked.
Finally, cook interactions.
There's some of the stupid, sophomoric, blatantly sexual comments passed around. All of them involve [a specific homosexual act]. Unless, of course, the cook in question is gay. (I forgot to add that to my demographics. I'd guess roughly 30%. Ten percent are open about it, which means there are probably a lot more in the closet.) No point accusing a homosexual of being homosexual -- doesn't work. My favorite ever comment was from a woman mercilessly cutting down an older Asian guy.
"Sure I have small [mammary glands]," she said. "But I still get more women than you do."
She then held up her pinkie, insinuating older Asian guy is hung like a roll of Certs. That got HOWLS from the kitchen.
But there's not as much of that going on as you've been led to believe. At least not in the kitchens where I work.
More often, the conversation is "what you did before you became a cook." The answers would surprise you. Roughly 30% of them have an advanced degree -- one that isn't conducive to employment. Like philosophy. "I thought I could teach philosophy," they'll tell you. "Didn't work out. Here I am."
Other cooks are quite wealthy, and cook anyway. There's one guy in the main kitchen who rents his 30-something houses to coworkers. "I only rent to coworkers," he told me. "If they get fired, they get evicted. If they [censor] up my place, I'll find them and beat the [censored] out of them."
Roughly one third of the cooks have rental properties, vacation houses, stocks and other investments. The other 70% haven't made a smart financial decision in their lives. They're the ones driving $70,000 cars and renting an apartment at $1,000 a month.
They're ALSO the ones who will tell you that the CIA invented AIDS, and keep the cure locked away in a secret vault. That 9/11 was an inside job. And that it's impossible for the poor to work their way up the socioeconomic ladder.
That's all I have time for today. I'm back to work in an hour.
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I asked this exact question here years ago.
Since then, I've learned that:
1) Brands don't matter.
2) Usually there one knife that is superior (for me) for each knife style. Sometimes they're cheap. Sometimes they're very expensive.
3) Since nobody has answered one of your questions: What are most professional chefs using in their kitchens? Mostly cheap restaurant-store knives. Good knives get stolen. It's not nine out of 10, it's more like 95 out of 100. White-handled 10" chef's knives that cost $40 is the usual brand for the professional chef. This doesn't hold true in sushi-world, however, where knife cost appears to be a surrogate for penis size.
4) Learn how to sharpen whatever knives you have first before going out and buying pricey knives. It doesn't make ANY sense to practice changing edge geometry on a $2,000 Hattori KD. Go out and buy a set of sharpening stones first. No matter what knife brand(s) you go with, a good set of stones is a must have. It's money very, very well spent. Besides, your current knives might not be all that bad.
5) Speaking of edge geometry, that is far and away the most important thing about a knife. I like a single-bevel. Once the edge is put on the knife, it is a lot easier to maintain than a v-bevel. The tradeoff is that it's a little harder to cut straight down through vegetables. The knife "pulls" in the direction opposite of the bevel. Keeping the knife more-than-razor sharp makes that a non-issue.
6) Everyone here is going to tell you, "Go try the knives out for yourself!" I think that's a load of crap. First, your area probably doesn't HAVE a decent knife store. The white-handled special and maybe some Wusthofs is the best they'll offer. Second, there's a BIG difference between dicing an onion in the knife store, and dicing 20 cases of onions in the kitchen. You're only going to find out if the knife is "your knife" after long hours of repetitive use.
My advice is to go to knifeforums.com, and see what the knife nuts over there are currently buying. Buy that. THEN, if you don't like the knife, sell it to one of those guys for 90% of what you paid for it. That's the cheapest way to get your hands on what amounts to a knife rental/audition. Provided you don't completely ruin the knife with bad sharpening practices. Seriously, get stones first and learn to use them. Get to the point where you say, "Professional knife sharpener? Not on my knives, baby." Only then should you go knife shopping.
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Chinese stores have both in a bottle and as a powder.
dcarch
Seen this in my local Asian megamarts. And I'm wondering if this is good enough for pretzels -- what sort of dilution? The bottle warns that anyone dumb enough to drink the product will die. So I'm sure it's very high on the PH scale.
Anyone used this to success making pretzels?
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I'll re-edit the list shortly (off to work a double shift, ugh). I'm getting too old for doubles.
Some of the ideas, I'm a little unsure of including. I can't add every state fair and food festival on Earth. So I want to stick with things that have broad, international appeal. (Oktoberfest) Or at least very strong regional appeal. (Hatch Chile Fest)
Well it is your list so do what you want but it seems to me that you mmay have a hard time judging what has strong regional appeal outside of your jurisdiction. Maybe you should spell out some more specific groundrules.
Hm, I thought this was (essentially) just for fun?
Also, are there no special annual culinary events in Asia, Africa, Australia or New Zealand..? Someone must have something to recommend!
Of course this is just for fun -- but I've also already been to roughly one third of the events on the "official" list. As for ground rules, it's kind of like art. I can't define it, but I know it when I see it.
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Bosch = "boshe" (with an "o" as in "bow")
Miele = "mee-luh"
Wouldn't that be "Bösche" if using the long "o"
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I'll re-edit the list shortly (off to work a double shift, ugh). I'm getting too old for doubles.
Some of the ideas, I'm a little unsure of including. I can't add every state fair and food festival on Earth. So I want to stick with things that have broad, international appeal. (Oktoberfest) Or at least very strong regional appeal. (Hatch Chile Fest)
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1) Don't pack any clothes you care about. We usually make extra room in our luggage by leaving clothing in a drawer. For us, it's a vacation, not a fashion show. And if for some reason we need to dress up, we can always buy suitable clothes at our destination.
2) Ask for metal containers when shopping for wine and spirits. The storekeeper usually has a ton of them in the back, free for the asking. Clerks at wineries usually do such a good job wrapping bottles that nothing else is necessary. I pack the stuff I don't want ruined by an errant bottle in ziploc bags, not the wine or whiskey. If the bottle breaks, the plastic is likely to tear as well. We've had better luck bagging clothing. It also packs better -- squeezing all the air out of the bag.
3) We haven't lost a single bottle. But we did have an incident with German mustard.
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EVVO?
Extra-Virgin Vegetable Oil?
Extra-Virgin Viper Oil?
Extra-Virgin Viola Oil?
Extra-Virgin Volvo Oil?
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Wow...
Perhaps the fact I've been making linguini with heavily-basil'd clam sauce my entire life (it was the third dish I learned to make, behind french toast and omelettes) has skewed my perspective. No basil? May as well skip the clams, pasta, garlic and olive oil.
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It freezes just fine -- after all, the fat content is through the ceiling if you make it right.
No basil? Don't care for basil? I don't even know what to say. If I could have only one herb for the rest of my life, I wouldn't even have to think about it.
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About the same time I'll add kernels of corn from the extra ear I steamed last night unless someone thinks that won't work. I think it will be good with the clams.
Corn works fine with clams in a clam bake. But I don't think it will work at all with an Italian-American white clam sauce. I'd skip the corn.
EDIT -- "Toss sauce with slightly undercooked linguini in a pan." I didn't mention that the pan should be on a medium-low flame, and the idea is to cook the slightly undercooked pasta to al dente with the sauce. Usually a minute per serving. Then reload pasta and sauce and repeat for each guest.
EDIT x2 -- I cannot suggest strongly enough that you try and find some basil to go along with your parsley. If I didn't have basil, I wouldn't make this dish. It's just as important as the clams. I'm also of the mind that it's hard to overdo the basil. When I make four servings, I add something on the order of 1/2 cup of minced basil.
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Half olive oil, half butter, sweat shallots and garlic for a minute or two (just so the garlic doesn't brown), white wine, reduce, clams in shell and clam juice, simmer until clams open, add chopped clams, basil (and parsley) a good amount of coarse black pepper, and adjust seasoning (considering a final addition of capers in the next step). Kill the heat.
Toss sauce with slightly undercooked linguini in a pan for each serving. Toss in some capers. Turn out into a bowl and shave parm on top. Serve with warm crusty bread and white wine.
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I second omelettes. Hard not to go wrong -- easy to make, makes use of whatever you happen to have lying around, and actually gives the guest somewhat of a choice.
"Hatch chile and Chinese sausage for me!"
But, since that's already been suggested, here's a new one -- linguini with a white clam sauce. I keep a couple pounds of cooked clams in shell cryo'd in the freezer along with small containers of blanched minced basil frozen in olive oil. And I always have canned clams and clam juice in the pantry. So, I can whip up something that tastes like I spent all day on it in around 20 minutes. Ask guests to "pick up a baguette" on the way.
My procedure is to have the frozen clams in a bowl, and the clam sauce mostly done by the time the guests arrive. Then just toss in the basil, add the clams for a couple minutes, and everyone has a glass of white wine while the pasta cooks.
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For any flake pastry, and particularly for pie crusts, have all ingredients as cold as they can possibly be. Lard/butter/shortening? Frozen and grated into the flour. Water? As close to 0 C as possible. Flour? Pull it out of the freezer just before working with it. Rolling pin? Freeze it solid. I use a marble one. Sure your hands freeze too, but the crust that comes out of this process will be amazingly flaky and tender.
Panaderia Canadiense::Using Google Scholar above for: Process of Pastry making you might enjoy seeing and reading a 1950 Patent application for pastry making using your freezing/chilling processes.
I do all of the above, but I use carbonated water as close to 0c as possible. The dissolved gas makes the crust even more flaky.
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I have to go with the old masters and new scientists on the use of salt. Salting meat just before you cook it makes the muscle fiber proteins contract, resulting in a tougher, dryer and less tasty end product.
It is my understanding that the former believed you seal in the juices by searing the steaks, (wrong wrong wrong) and the latter say nothing of the sort. Perhaps I'm wrong though, which new scientists are you referring to?
Surely Modernist Cuisine has an answer for us. Would someone open their book to the "grilling" chapter and let us know?
A Day in the Life of a Las Vegas casino cook's helper
in Restaurant Life
Posted · Edited by ScoopKW (log)
Next installment will compare "strong" and "weak" cooks, and how things go in the kitchen on a bad day. I'm just wiped the [censored] out today, though. I've had maybe six hours sleep in the last 72.