paulraphael

One quick thought ... if I'm spending any real money on a pairing knife, I want one that doesn't have a bolster, and that has its heel separated from the handle. Like those Geshins Btbyrd shows. Otherwise sharpening is too hard. You want to be able to reach the whole length of the blade with your stones.

They're also among the most difficult knives to sharpen or to thin. And not because the steel is so hard, which is what their marketers will tell you; it's a bug, not a feature. The steel has a gummy consistency on sharpening stones; it makes a huge burr that's especially hard to get rid of. Dave Martell at Japanese Knife Sharpening had a notice on his site that all Globals would be sharpened on a belt sander, not stones, because he didn't have the patience otherwise.

How do you like the Gesshins? I'm interested in those. The shop is mysterious about the steel used for the stainless versions, but I'm inclined to trust them.

1. Do you ever sharpen a vegetable peeler? The peeler remains sharp because the blade never touch anything else except food. They get dull. I don't sharpen them because I don't know how. And the best ones I've ever used (Kuhn Rikon Y-peelers) are so cheap I just get a new 3-pack once a year or so. 2. Sushi chefs have razer sharp knives because they use good knife skills. If you watch carefully, the main part of the bade never touch the cutting board when they cut. That's why they can have such sharp knives. They're sharp in the first place because they're single-bevel blades with a very acute bevel angle; they're made with fine-grained steel (almost always low-alloy, high-purity carbon steel that has superior edge stability at high hardness), and the chefs themselves are excellent sharpeners who sharpen the knives after every shift. 3. Steel is one of the cheapest metals. Stainless steel is also cheap. There are many kinds of carbon steels and stainless steels, and some of the best knife steels are very expensive. A blank made of some steels costs more than what many people are willing to pay for a finished knife. 5. Any metal can be make razer sharp. It's meaningless to judge a knife when you have a new razer Sharpe knife . Most metals cannot be made razor-sharp. Most knife steels can't be made razor sharp. If you're speaking literally, a razor needs an a tip radius that's close to the minimum possible for a very fine-grained steel. Otherwise it will give a rough and uncomfortable shave. If you're using "razor-sharp" colloquially, to just mean "pretty damn sharp," then sure, you can get most steels pretty damn sharp. But if you look at both edge geometry and edge fineness in appraising sharpness (which you should; they're both important) then steels are very unequal in their ability to form a usable sharp edge, and to sustain it through use without chipping or rolling. They're also very unequal in how easy they are to sharpen. 6. A $1,000 knife can be permanently destroyed in a few seconds if not sharpened carefully by knife sharpeners. Maybe. If you do something dumb while cutting or sharpening, you're more likely to just create a big tedious repair job for yourself. Or for someone expensive.

The chef who taught me knife skills didn't blink at spending $500 on a gyuto or a Japanese single-bevel knife. But he made fun of me for spending $50 on a pairing knife. He believed the best pairing knife was the cheap Victorinox you're using. It has a very thin blade that slips through everything. He never found a high-end knife with such thin geometry. Victorinox steel is pretty good and is relatively easy to sharpen. But my friend didn't bother sharpening the pairing knives. When they got dull they'd go into a junk drawer and he'd get a new one. Hard to beat for $8.

I'd experiment with just plain balsamic vinegar (or possibly PX sherry vinegar). You'll be turning it into strawberry vinegar; no need to have someone else flavor it for you. My inclination would also be to go very easy on the vinegar if you're recipe has lots of strawberries ... like over 30% by weight. Strawberries are already pretty acidic. Recipes that I see with other acids added (lemon juice, etc.) usually have a lower level of the fruit. The added acid is compensating.

The best ways I've found to keep a board from warping: 1) put feet on it. All wood boards will warp if they spend any time in puddles or sitting on damp counters. 2) when you oil them for maintenance, use the same amount of oil on both sides.

I don't see a need to change mess the water. I'd work to eliminate added water entirely, but it often helps the fruit blend to a nice puree.

I wrote a brief, maybe usable passage on how to use brix at the bottom of this article. That will probably be most helpful if you're using software to calculate your recipe. If you aren't, a shortcut that should work: 1) calculate the amount of sugar in the fruit that the recipe was written for [eg; 100g fruit at 15°B = 15g.] 2) calculate the amount of sugar in the fruit you've measured [100g at 18°B = 18g]. 3) calculate the difference, and us this adjust the sugars in the recipe.

2nd thoughts about the seed hypothesis: I just made strawberry sorbet. 750g strawberries / kg, blended to a smooth puree while frozen. No heat in the process. There is no bitterness. I'm thinking the heat and the enzymes are the most likely offenders here. The strawberry ice cream I made with the method described earlier was outrageously bitter. This was about 350g berries / kg.

The green one's become my favorite. Followed by the standard red hot sauce. I haven't tried that garlic pepper one ... how is it?

Welcome back, Teo. I think you might be right about the seeds. And I think an additional problem is that I pureed in the berries when the mix was still cooling from pasteurization—probably not hot enough to deactivate the phenyloxidase enzymes, but plenty warm enough to accelerate their action.

Not new, but classic: Portlandia / Mixologist It's got egg white, egg shell, egg yellow ...

Microplanes, all day. In the past I had a few of the flat ones (rectangular grater with a handle). Mostly marketed for home use. When I wore those out I got one of the long skinny ones, because everyone I know who cooks professionally uses them. I think you can go with either. The main advantage of the long ones seems that they fit easily in a knife roll. The flatter ones are easier to use one some things. Their protective cover design annoys me.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm interested in the Penzy's that everyone likes, but will try that later. Very expensive right now. For the near term I grabbed some spice Lab tellicherry from Amazon for a good price. Probably not as good by I'm hoping it's decent.