windtrader

Hello tea lovers, I'm new to the tea forum, having recently stepped forward to learn more deeply the fine points of tea beverages. I just received a very nice tea samples from Anupa at Silver Tips Tea, as recommended in this forum by Gautam. I don't mind making a cup or two at a time while learning and studying a specific tea, appreciating it's unique color, aroma, and taste. After trying a few variations in steep time, tea to water ratios, and additional infusions, I can get an adequate idea of what works and if I like it and if I do, I just want to brew up a thermos full and draw out of it for the next few hours. No more fussing with water, boiling, strainers, etc. I did not see much howling about doing this in the forum, so none of you do this or it is not a big deal or or or. As long as I keep the cap tightened it seems not much aroma would be lost. If all the tea leaves are carefully strained out during the decant to the thermos, color and flavor changes would not occur. Very small particulate would get into the pot such as the powder in some Japanese green tea but the majority of teas would strain out completely. This topic is not about the fine art and etiquette of formal tea preparation or serving as pouring a pot of freshly brewed tea into a thermos jug would I'm certain constitute a sin, rather just a practical way to lessen the time spent preparing (fiddling) tea to drink throughout the day. When preparing an amount such as a litre, is there much practical difference in taste and aroma between using a quantity of tea leaves so a single infusion produces the desired amount in the least amount of time and assuming the tea can take a second infusion, using half the amount of leaves, brewing half the desired amount of tea and pouring into thermos, followed by a second infusion producing the remaining half? Thanks

One additional consideration in selecting a wok burner is identifying all your likely uses of an outdoor cooker. One that is designed to hold a 18" wok securely will likely be poorly suited to hold a 10" round flat iron you may want to use for a blackened steak/fish dish. I've had several types of cookers and you'll want to study the design of the support structure for the cooking vessel, whether it be a wok, turkey fryer, cast iron pan, etc. The types with a single ring are great for woks with sufficient diameter to allow the wok to rest inside and pots with diameters larger than the ring. The problem with these ring types is they do not support smaller woks, pans, and pots due to lack of internal support. Some with rings have added internal structure which assists smaller flat bottomed pots and pans but do not let the the wok seat as firmly. Just try to consider all your uses for the outdoor cooker and get one that provides the best overall support for the complete range of cooking vessels you might use with it. One other thing - if looking for a truly high pressure regulator, look for the adjustable types: the ones with a tee handle on the top. You can be much more sure that they will provide as much as as you need. There appears not to be any standardized labeling of the fixed regulator types which makes it much more difficult to know exactly how much psi they pass.

Sorry dude. You could try an experiment to see how much heat the burner is capable of with more pressure. See if you can somehow bypass the regulator and run the burner straight off the T on the propane tank. If you start with the value totally shut and very slowly open it until you hear the slightest hint of gas then light it up. Very slowly crank the valve open and watch the flame increase. You may need to adjust the air mixture valve to keep the flame blue. Keep doing this very slowly until you get a blazing flame or a flameout or explosion or I don't know what. Just be very very careful. You can then decide if you just need higher pressure or if the burner itself is too small. I'd bet the burner delivers the heat you want with more pressure but you'll want to study the flame pattern under a wok to see if it gets the proper coverage on the bottom of the pan.

Just in case you need that jet burner regulator. You only need the regulator, reuse to hose you get. The adjustable unit is well priced at 20 bucks. http://www.turkey-fryers-online.com/7850-t...r-regulator.htm http://www.bayouclassicdepot.com/propane_regulator_kit.htm haha good eye, I actually saw that too. I'm thinking that if my wok burner isn't hot enough, I'll just buy an adjustable regulator with it. I'm learning something new everyday. ←

If you read the fine print in the description on the Big Kahuna it states "high pressure" but then says it is adjustable up to 10psi, not 20psi. The amount of misleading descriptions on these things is quite unbelievable. I guess it is an unregulated and unmonitored business sector, so anything goes. If the regulator is truly adjustable it usually goes to 20psi. However, look here and you see the difference between a 10 and 20psi regulator. The Kahuna picture shows what looks like a 20psi regulator, so maybe it is just an ad copy error. http://www.cajun-outdoor-cooking.com/outdo...rner-parts.html

I'm not sure. That style of regulator is usually connected to bbqs which use low pressure (10psi), while high pressure regulators (20psi) usually have a flow shutoff and the adjustable units have the extra T-knob to adjust the pressure. If it is listed as "55,000 BTU", this tag usually means it is low pressure. All is not lost - you just need to changeout the regulator. Maybe the dealer will allow you to swap that part. It would cost a lot less to exchange than the whoe thing. Just make sure the wok sits securely on the base you got. Otherwise, you might just return it as it has two strikes on it. I'm certain the wok shop unit burns way hotter than 35k, that rating is just too low. If it has an adjustable regulator which I am sure it does (you can call and verify), it has to pout out closer to 150,000.To see the differences in regulator styles, just look at the site you bought from and look at the 13" burners. The second one clearly shows an adjustable regulator. It has the T-knob to adjust the pressure but is lacking the gas cutoff knob. This style seems to be the ones coming directly from China. Now, look at the last unit on that page and you can see the regulator lacks the T-knob and also does not have a cutoff value, just the regulator. This usually means low (10 psi) pressure. The fixed high pressure units that look like this usually have a cutoff.

Hi, I think you got this one: PowerFlamer PF9S50, sold in the 9" units. This unit has a fixed pressure regulator. The knob is just to adjust the flow of the gas, not the pressure. They say high pressure but I don't think it is. They don't show the actual burner in this picture but looking at the air adjuster it seems like the common ones found in these units with a single ring of holes. Take a look at PowerFlamer PF13L130. It is basically the same burner, just fitted with an adjustable regulator. The one I have is basically this unit: PowerFlamer PF13S130EI without the electronic start. The PowefFlamer unit is basically the same as the one sold at Wok Shop. http://www.wokshop.com/HTML/products/steam...tove_32000.html Wok Shop rate it as 32K BTU which is WAY underrated. It is closer to 150K The picture does not show the regulator but I am sure it is similar the ones that are shown in the higher priced units at your online store. Adjustable regulators have a T-shaped, threaded handle that adjusts the pressure. Your website shows two different types of adjustable regulators. One has an additional on/off knob, the others just have the regulator. The ones without the on/off knob are fitted on burners coming directly from China. The red adjustable regulators are fitted here and can be purchased by places like Grainger or some of the cajun turkey fryer outfits. What this guy is doing is taking the basic black wind screen housing and inserting a Chinese wok burner, adding some legs and selling them for $150 bucks more, quite a tidy profit. I came across this site last fall and he has made a huge improvement in the variety of products he is now selling. Business must be good! If you can, you may want to cancel the order and get one of the powerful units. You could also add an adjustable regulator to this one and get way more heat. But the regulators are not that cheap. Good luck.

I came across this thread and remembered that it was quite useful in my hunt for the "jet powered" wok burner last fall. For those of you still looking for a high power unit, here are my recollections. * I had purchased a Cajun styple burner many years ago and was not happy with it. It was not made for wok cooking, had a nice steel ring but had metal support protruding inward which did not give the wok a very platform. BUT output was too low. It was one of those you see with a red single burner, primarily sold as turkey fryers. My mission this time was to get one that made that wok melt! * Summary of key learnings 1) Shop for burner units made for the type of gas you will use. There are those made for propane and natural gas. Typically the natural gas ones are used in permanent fixtures like commercial kitchens. They are designed to run on less pressure and are larger to obtain the same heat output as a smaller propane burner. 2) The key to heat output is gas pressure to the burners. For propane use, you will usually find a high and low pressure regulator. Gas barbeques use the low pressure regulators. It turns out some "cajun" turkey fryers will also be fitted with the low pressure regulators. The result is they do not put out enough heat. Make sure to look for a high pressure regulator for wok use. Best of all are the adjustable pressure regulators that allow you to dial in how much maximum flame you want. 3) Take BTU ratings with a grain of salt. Some of the most powerful ones seems to have quite nominal stated output ratings and some with high ratings don't throw nearly as much heat. I know this from personal experience. ** THE HUNT ** * I started searching last fall (2006), read alot and looked for about a month. As hzrt8w lives in Sacramento and mentioned a couple shops there, I was going to make the trip as I live in the Bay Area but I figured what one could get up there must be available in SF Chinatown or Oakland Chinatown or the many other Asian specifc markets ringing the bay. As I live in the East Bay and knew many of the shops in Oakland Chinatown I started there. Found a few shops with a huge variety of woks and other cooking utensils and a few wok burners as well. * I found one that looked very much like this one and the one available at the Wok Shop in SF. They seemed identical so I called the Wok Shop and found out the ones she sells have electronic starter, the one in Oakland did not but has a pilot light, not as elegant but just as effective. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...dpost&p=1168153 http://www.wokshop.com/HTML/products/steam...tove_32000.html * I bought the one in Oakland for about $40. Fired it up and it no doubt has more power for any home cooking needs. The only burners I have ever seen throw more heat are the ones in a commercial Chinese kitchen that have HUGE woks on them to make HUGE quantities of food. * The unit has an adjustable pressure regulator and after tuning it up, it makes an instant intense inferno. I have a 13", 14" and 16" wok and it has no trouble blasting as much heat onto the woks as they can handle. At some point, it just becomes too much as the flames climb out from under the wok and wrap the sides of the wok with a wall of flame. I call this "blast mode" and it is nice for those times when you want some very intense heat for a short time to reduce a sauce or for a very quick toss of something to get some heat. I only use this briefly otherwise it just gets too hot. Based on the regulator setting, I rarely give it more than a half of a turn and find that most normal wok cooking occurs just fine on about 1/4- 1/3 turn. I guess I could turn down the pressure on the regulator but I just love the feeling of all that power in my fingers. :-) If anyone want any pics, just ask. Happy wokking!

I found the genesis of all the major state dairly cooperatives: http://www.nddb.org/partners.html Name of state coop, stated production per day in millions of litres, and brands Andhra Pradesh Dairy Development Cooperative Federation Ltd (APDDCF) 2.4m Vijaya Bihar State Cooperative Milk Producers' Federation Ltd (COMPFED) 0.7m Sudha Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF) 6.6m Amul Haryana Dairy Development Cooperative Federation Ltd. (HDDCF) 0.47m Vita Himachal Pradesh State Cooperative Milk Producers' Federation Ltd (HPSCMPF) 0.03 Him Karnataka Cooperative Milk Producers' Federation Ltd (KMF) 2.1m Nandini Kerala State Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (KCMMF) 0.9m Milma Madhya Pradesh State Cooperative Dairy Federation Ltd (MPCDF) 1.0 Sneha, Sanchi Maharashtra Rajya Sahakari Maryadit Dugdh Mahasangh (Mahasangh) 3.8m Vikas, Mahanand, Gokul, Dhawal, Dudh Pandri, Warana, Krishna, Katraj, Rajhans, Koyna, Shivamrut Orissa State Cooperative Milk Producers' Federation Ltd (OMFED) 0.13m Omfed Pradeshik Cooperative Dairy Federation Ltd (UP) (PCDF) 1.68m Parag Punjab State Cooperative Milk Producers' Federation Ltd (MILKFED) 1.56m Verka Rajasthan Cooperative Dairy Federation Ltd (RCDF) 1.43 Saras Tamilnadu Cooperative Milk Producers' Federation Ltd (TCMPF) 2.7m Aavin West Bengal Cooperative Milk Producers' Federation Ltd. (WBCMPF) 1.27m Ben’s, Bhagirathi, HIMUL, Midmilk, Mother Dairy, Metro Dairy, Ben’s Torsha It appears Dynamix is an upstart, forming its own non-state dairy coop about 10 years ago. Its stated production figure of 1/2 million is quite impressive given it is independent. The technology used by them is high tech as the quality of the tin, printing, the metal material sealing the ghee inside is cleary US/Euro hi-tech in nature. Given the increasing adoption of modern technologies and processes, I wonder how much classic desi ghee is still being produced using traditional methods. I'd be not suprised at all if the brand name products coming from the state dairy coops are pervasive in the marketplace and especially in the large cities, finding a fine traditionally produced ghee is difficult, along the lines of finding a gallon of fresh raw milk on the grocer's shelf here.

The search for quality ghee in the US continues. This is what I found on the shelves of a few Indian stores along University in Berkeley. A few others are available from North American based online shops; they are listed a the end. Interesting that ALL North American distributed or manufactured product say "clarified ghee", even those labeled "pure desi ghee". The imported products do not use the term clarified butter in the labeling. Emails with the Punjab Milk Foods Inc, manufacturer in Surrey Canada, confirm that adding "clarified butter" to ghee labels is a marketing essential to ensure the consumer at large understands the essential material content of the jar. A couple of other notes: The NAFED mark was not found on any products but a couple of the imported ones do have an AJMark insignia which also implies grading with notation such as grade E-10. It's been quite a learning experience and I'm back on the right track to find and purchase quality ghee rather than that home made stuff. A quick taste test of what I made and what I bought brought out the differences as discussed in this thread. Gautam - Thanks for all your insight and knowledge on the subject! You are the expert and all the information I gathered echoed and confirmed your statements. If anyone else knows of an excellent ghee please do post the specifics. EDIT - I found this link to a review of various organic and Vedic Organic ghees. http://blog.freeradicalfederation.com/arch...ison_Table.aspx Vijaya Pure Ghee Andhra Pradesh Dairy Development Co-operative Federation Ltd (APDDCF) Hyderabad AJMark "special grade" $4.50 500ml can comment from grocer that this was popular in the South Dynamix Pure Cow Ghee Dynamix Dairy Industries Pune, Maharasthra AJMark Ghee – special grade E-10 $4.50 500ml can Amul Ghee - both 200ml packet and larger can Nanak Pure Desi Ghee Canadian 14 oz (414 ml) $4.99 clear plastic jar Verka Pure Ghee Calfornia ? 14 oz (414 ml) $4.99 qualityproduct.net Punjas Pure NZ Ghee 750 ml $5.99 New Zealand Mohan Ghee glass jar VRINDAVAN 8ox $9.99 www.kalustyans.com

Well - I can not find ghee today as I called around locally and learned this is day tree of Diwali so everyone is out partying. Learn about ghee and now Hindu holidays. This is quite the thread! Guess I'll wait a couple days until things get back to normal and one can buy a decent tin of ghee. :-)

Interesting you mention this analogy as this thought was racing through my mind several posts ago. The ghee making basics are quite simple but attempting to home make any desi ghee under the presumption that the result would be in any way comparable to a true quality desi ghee is just absurd as the home winemaker who dreams his initial attempts will render a high quality result.Based on what Gautam states, I'm convinced it is not possible to duplicate any of the quality desi ghees nor even produce a similar quality ghee as an amateur home ghee maker. A very significant committement of time and money, study, and experience would be required before expecting a truely comparable result. Gautam recommended Vriandan (sp?) as the closest desi ghee generally available in the US but my interest in tasting some of these benchmark ghees is quite high. I'm curious how we could arrange to obtain a small sampling of several of these truely original desi ghees?. Would it be possible to arrange with an Indian merchant to package up and send a few small jars of them?

Now. I know if I were to try to make this as described and my time has any value, this stuff would cost more than gold! So, I searched around a bit and found Nanak "pure Desi Ghee" (28 oz, $17) in NY; also Amul pure ghee. The merchant did not think it was buffalo, likely cow ghee but he was not certain. A little more searching and I find Nanak and discover they are a local phone call away. I'm emailing them to get the specifics of the Desi Ghee they market. EDIT - I looked closely at the picture of the jar and it shows a cow, not a buffalo. If pure Desi Ghee is being properly represented, it is from buffalo only? thx

I live in the San Francisco area and the remaining bottle of Ghee on the shelf says "Mohan Pure Ghee" ingredients: clarified butter. Packed by Dev Trading Co. 1430 Crestview Drive San Carols, Ca 94070.With such a huge East Indian population here, specifically East and South Bay, and the vast variety of specialty markets I am certain you can find a very good quality ghee as deemed by most natives. As with any product, discussions about different quality products amongst discerning folks soon migrate to the fine points as there is no disagreement that the products are quite suitable and of good quality. @gautam - thanks for the details; I learn more everyday about food - just wish I could consume half as much as I read about. btw - How is Vrindavan packaged? Can or jar? label colors, etc?

Make your own. I bought it for many years then decided to just make it myself. It is so easy and cheaper plus you know exactly what you have. Go to Costco, buy a block of butter. Throw a 4-6 cubes into a pot, slowly warm up to a low boil, and skim off the scum that floats to the top. Keep doing this until it stops. Let it cool down slightly and then slowly pour in to a clean jar. That's it.