ScoopKW
-
Posts
1,036 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Posts posted by ScoopKW
-
-
Basil flowers taste like basil leaves. So just substitute. I can always find an excuse for adding basil. Marinara? Basil! Stuffing a chicken breast? Basil! Cheerios for breakfast? Basil!
-
Sharpening stone and practice. It's the only way. Anything involving a motor or a wheel is suspect, in my opinion. It's hard to completely ruin a knife by hand with a stone. It's easy to do with a motor -- even a low-RPM motor.
Besides, learning to sharpen your own knives means you get the edge geometry that YOU want. All of my Japanese knives are single-bevel, left-handed. They didn't all start out that way. But that's how they are now. Because that's the way I've sharpened them. Best of all, the knives are as close as I'm going to get to using a lightsaber in the kitchen.
-
The results were: Wood boards are safer. When plastic boards get scratched up, the gouges harbor bacteria. When wood boards get scratched up, acids in the wood are better at killing germs. (Better, not "100% effective" is the important thing to take away, here.) Two clean, unscratched boards? Toss-up. Moral, replace (or sand, in the case of wood) your cutting boards when they're full of gouges.
http://faculty.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/faculty/docliver/Research/cuttingboard.htm
-
We cool our house with an evaporative cooler. For those of you who don't live in the desert, it's a big honkin' humidifier with a squirrel cage fan to blow the moist air into the house. The moist air hits the dry air inside, and bam -- 20 degrees cooler almost instantly.
We put hot things in front of the cooler. We can get a pot of simmering liquid down to a reasonable temperature in half an hour or so.
"Thermodynamics: It's not just a good idea, it's the law."
-
Chances are, you have previously exchanged bodily fluids of one kind or another with at least half of the people you're cooking for.
Is there a way to cook exclusively for Victoria's Secret models, then?
-
Better than most of the Food TV periodicals featuring "airbrushed to hell" perkiness.
-
I buy PLENTY of Chinese goods -- from Taiwan.
As far as I'm concerned, the only problem with our Chinese foreign policy is that we started recognizing the wrong government.
Taiwan is a stable lively democracy with an excellent environmental record. (I know, this wasn't always the case, especially back when Nixon normalized relations.) Just don't try to smuggle drugs into the country -- capital punishment for drug offenses. Other than that, I think it's a model for democracy in Asia.
That big neighbor to the north? Not so much. Although it IS getting better.
So, those of you who are "boycotting" China, please keep in mind that Taiwan isn't the PRC.
-
1
-
-
Cope. The only reason these restaurants exist is because of the slobs, not despite them. Michelin-starred restaurants are dependent on enormous traffic despite equally enormous pricetags; without the millions of poorly-educated buffoons flowing through Vegas, they would not exist at all - and neither would Vegas itself.
What does it take to put on a button casual shirt and a clean pair of pants?
My original gripe is a real story from Jasmine at the Bellagio. Took my MIL out for her 80th birthday. Geoduck, sharkfin soup, the works.
Sitting next to us was a Larry the Cable Guy wannabee in dirty jeans, a greasy flannel shirt with the arms haphazardy ripped off, and smelling of B.O.
Doesn't my right to enjoy a pleasant meal trump his right to "dress comfortably?"
-
I make eggplant parm -- slicing on a mandoline for consistency.
Then I use the eggplant parm as the "noodles" in lasagna.
-
I lived in Cairo for almost a year. I can assure you it doesn't get too hot to eat. Even at 120f.
-
Small portions on the soup course -- a little mini-crock -- and I don't see a problem.
I've been to many an old-school steakhouse in Las Vegas where the menu was -- Caesar salad, onion soup, ribeye with creamed spinach, baked potato, and fettuccine alfredo. And THEN they ask if you have room for dessert!
-
I went to my local "scratch and dent" appliance store yesterday.
Glad I did.
The websites all list the Kitchenaid models I favor as being 71.5" tall. A tight fit, but within the 1/2"
tolerance from the manual.
I measured one at the store -- 72"
I think I'll just buy a sub-zero -- they use the least amount of energy, saving money in the long run.
-
I use a chinois procured from my local Asian market. (It's a "chinois" after all, it SHOULD be purchased at an Asian market.)
I also use a set of four nesting cheap-assed plastic colanders. But the chinois does the heavy lifting when making stock and sauces.
-
In general, the "new" casino has the best buffet -- for about six months. Then they always seem to cut costs.
I believe the Cosmopolitan is the ' new' casino.
Is that the best buffet, or have they already started to cut corners and food costs already?
No idea -- I haven't been. I've been staying away from the buffets because the line is usually too long for me. Add to the fact that casinos are so desperate for revenue that they'll let people "line jump" if they pay a premium, and it can get ridiculous.
Also, in general, the food just isn't all that good. The quantity is there, sure. And it's prepared as well as can be expected considering the price. But don't go to a buffet expecting "Red Lobster" quality seafood. (And I don't eat at Red Lobster.)
Lately, I just take my "dining out" money and spend it at our AMAZING food markets. Why eat waterlogged, bland shrimp when we can have fresh sole, with a fennel beurre blanc?
EDIT -- That's not to say that you can't eat well on the cheap in Vegas.
Try the $2 shrimp cocktails at Golden Gate casino. Stop by the Fremont first and buy an armload of $1 margaritas. Ten bucks well spent.
If you're mobile, Market 168 and International Market have great little "hole in the wall" asian kitchens that serve nice Cantonese comfort food for very little. International Market is a MUST DO for any foodie, anyway.
For my all-you-can-eat dollar, the best deals are at the Brazilian steakhouses. In general, the further from the strip, the better.
We also have some really good Thai places sprinkled around town. Google them.
And of course, there's always the taco joints. I'm very fond of them.
-
ScoopKWs "Home Alone" Drink
1) Break out a tumbler.
2) Pour single-malt Scotch into the tumbler.
3) Add an ice cube made from good spring water into the tumbler. (If I could source Highlands spring water, THAT is what I'd use.)
4) Sip*
5) Repeat as necessary.
* EDIT -- Preferably while watching The Godfather, or The Great Escape, or playing Fallout Las Vegas. Also works while staining a new piece of furniture, or searing a ribeye or shucking some oysters.
-
Again, I wave my magic staff, and engage in another round of thread necromancy.
(Better than starting new topics, I guess.)
A new 'fridge is in my VERY near future. The icemaker in my P.O.S. GE died for the THIRD time in THREE years. Water dispensing is becoming flaky, and the main board relays feel hot to the touch.
And that's it. It's gone. I refuse to spend another $500 in parts that don't even last one year. Same damned problem as the last two times. Based on the last two times this GE fridge died, I have a month, maybe two, before the mainboard dies again, rendering the fridge useless.
So....
1) My main concern is dimensions. I've been hopping back and forth between appliancesconnection.com, ajmadison.com and rainbowappliance.com
These sites allow the user to narrow choices by the width/height/depth of the fridge. The problem is, none of these sites carry EVERYTHING. So it makes comparison shopping difficult.
Is there ANYWHERE I can say, "My maximum measurements are: 39" wide x 70.5" high x 30" deep" and find all the refrigerators that FIT. Then I can whittle them down by style, color (and absence of GE badge on the front).
2) Since Fatguy started this thread, four-door 'fridges have become immensely popular. Anyone have one of these? Care to comment on whether it's useful to have four doors? Or is it just a gimmick?
-
Buy your stone from a hardware store, not a kitchen supply store and you'll pay a LOT less.
A good 1000/6000 grit Japanese stone can be had for less than $35.
-
In general, the more tender the cut of meat, the less needs to be done with it.
(Flank and Plate cuts -- the bottom of the cow)
Flank steak, skirt steak: tasty but tough -- a perfect cut for a marinade. A mix of oil and acid (and usually sugar). Breaks down the connective tissues for a more tender meal. But ALSO DENATURES PROTEINS, so marinate too long, and you end up with mushy, salty meat. The marinade can be asian, southwestern, classic Worcestershire/vinegar -- whatever you're going for. I let my side dishes determine the marinade.
(Rib cuts -- the middle of the cow)
Ribeye, Porterhouse, NY Strip, Filet -- tender. I simply season with salt (and let stand at room temp for an hour) and grill. (I don't add anything other than salt because at 1600f, it just turns to carbon. I'll give the steaks a grind of pepper when I flip them. That seems to work well.)
(Chuck, Loin and round cuts -- the two ends of the cow)
Sirloin, tri-tip, flatiron -- less tender than the rib cuts, but more tender than the flank/skirt. Flatiron is my single favorite cut of meat. These I rub. My rubs are invariably 1/3 salt, 1/3 sugar and 1/3 spice blend (mostly black pepper, and then whatever floats my boat that particular day).
This isn't set in stone -- you can pound the hell out of chuck or jaccard a plate cut . There's a lot of ways to grill beef, after all.
-
If even heat transfer to meat is the goal, then multiple flips are the thing to do. It actually makes it easier to get an evenly cooked steak.
Wouldn't that depend on the heat source -- convection vs conduction vs radiation?
I like radiation for cooking steaks, and to me it seems best to leave the meat alone as much as possible. To quote the BBQ gurus, "If you're looking, you ain't cooking."
-
The texture was "odd" as well. It had almost a liver-like quality -- sort of grainy. If it weren't for the perfect pink in the middle, I would say that the steak was overcooked. Certainly not what I expected.
I'll chop one into a tartare and report on that.
-
The steak knives are of a lessor quality in that they are pressed, not forged. The handles developed cracks and pieces broke off. We only have two left, and they are in poor shape so it is time to get some new ones.
I have these same knives. No handle cracking here. And we use them every day and run them through the dishwasher -- daily. One of the tips broke off, that's the extent of five years of serious knife abuse. I sharpen them like I sharpen all the rest of my knives -- on a stone.
I would buy another set, if this one gave up the ghost...
-
I'd say that proper grilling of meats isn't all that easy. I've had far more bad steaks in backyards across America than good ones -- people buy the wrong cuts, marinate when they should dry rub. Dry rub when they should marinate. Fire too hot. Fire too low. Ash on the meat. The taste of starter fluid. The taste of "no fluid" briquettes. And people seem to uncover and flip meat ENTIRELY too often.
I was taught that a steak should be touched exactly five times on a grill:
1) Drop on grill
2) Turn
3) Flip
4) Turn
5) Plate (and rest)
Even in the classic brigade, a cook has some serious time to put in before working his way up to grillardin.
Host Note: This topic is the result of splitting off some discussion in this topic about what marks a bad cook.
-
no salt
rancid oil
glass cutting board
but even these people know how to bbq
Funny, I think good BBQ is one of the hardest things to get right for a cook. I've had FAR more bad barbeque than good. And I think there are a lot more people who think they know how to barbecue than those who actually can.
-
By Lazarus, I command this year-old dead thread arise!
Just got my hands on primo grass fed. Seared 2-inch thick steaks on a 1,600f infra-red burner for 90 seconds per side. Perfect medium rare.
It had a slight metallic taste to it, that my wife didn't like. I didn't care for the texture -- compared to the grain finished prime ribeyes we normally get.
But as I type this, a full hour later, drinking some Sangiovese, I can STILL taste that grass-fed beef. That's quite a long finish for meat. Interesting, to say the least.
That being said, I think I still prefer grain fed/finished.
Horrific habits from excellent cooks
in Cooking
Posted
Re: Perspective
Aside from time I spent living in the third world, I'd say I've been on the receiving end of low-grade food illness more from eating at other people's houses than I have from eating at restaurants.
So, I think they should make this a mandatory two-or-three day class in middle school and again in high school.
Too many people simply don't know what they're doing is dangerous.