paulraphael
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Posts posted by paulraphael
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My avatar just had a cup of AI coffee and said it was the best ever.
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I sauté over very high heat with a neutral oil, going for lots of color on the beans without letting them loose all their crunch. Let them sit a while between tosses so color can develop. Toss in the pan with salt and pepper, or (usually) sriracha. Optionally a little mango chutney. Fast, easy, super tasty. If you don't have a good hood (I don't) it's also smoky.
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On 10/19/2025 at 8:54 AM, Recoil Rob said:
That also brings up a point, that hood is listed as an outdoor hood, can be set up for indoors?
I believe so. It might just have some weatherproofing you don't need.
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1 hour ago, gfweb said:
s
BS makes hoods. Presumably would fit their range.
https://www.bluestarcooking.com/ventilation/?prod_wallhoods_types=wall
I'm not convinced any of their products besides ranges are particularly good.
I didn't mention brands because my research is from a couple of years ago, and isn't compete. I found this problem difficult enough that I've been kicking it down the road. I'll revisit when I'm ready to actually rebuild the whole kitchen.
Here are my old notes, all for a 42" wide hood, which is probably adequate for a 36" range:
Prestige Pro-Line “High Capacity” 42”
PLHC42300 - 42"W x 30"D x 18"H
Largest containment area I've found in domestic hoods
1200CFM / 10” duct
Lights at top of crown instead of front light bar
May be mounted up to 42” above cooking surface
Best WPD38I42SB
42” 13000CFM
27” Deep—seems ideal
Internal blower INCLUDED
3” extension available to increase capture area
Proline 42” PLFW 832.42
2000 cfm
25.5” deep
Internal single or dual blower (1000/2000)
The very best hoods are made by CaptiveAire and Accurex. These are commercial products, so it may be hard or impossible to find someone who will install it for you (but not as hard as with something dangerous like a commercial range). They also specialize in larger sizes, so finding something that fits your design can be harder.
CaptivAire
https://www.captiveaire.com/catalog/list.asp?cattypeid=64
Accurex
https://www.captiveaire.com/catalog/list.asp?cattypeid=64
I haven't yet investigated the option I mentioned in the earlier post (getting a bare insert that fits into custom cabinetry). I assumed this would be too expensive, but now know a carpenter to ask about this.
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On 10/16/2025 at 6:37 PM, Recoil Rob said:
OK, I understand this. So what are the well designed hoods, using lower CFM I should be looking at?
This is good information but really doesn't help without a brand to consider.
The most important elements are the aperture dimensions the and capture volume. The aperture dimensions are the width and depth of the actual opening of the hood (if there's a light bar or something, this doesn't count.). The capture volume is this multiplied by the depth.
The Aperture dimensions need to be larger than the active area of the range top. Ideally, you'd calculate a line from the edge of the range that tilts out 10° from vertical (both to the side and to the front of the range). So the higher the hood, the larger it should be. You will almost never see them specified large enough. The capture volume is also critical; it creates a buffer where plumes of smoke and grease can be trapped before the fans are able to suck them away. No hood blower is powerful enough to keep up with big plumes of smoke and atomized grease without an adequate buffer. The good news is that if you have ample capture volume, you can get away with less air flow.
Next time you visit a restaurant kitchen, take a look at the design of the hood. In most cases it will be large, and have 12" to 18" height. That height is mostly taken up by empty space; it's all about the capture volume. These big dimensions let the hood be mounted very high (so even your tallest, most ridiculous chef hat won't bump into it. You can even have the Pope come over and cook for you). And the hood will probably be quiet. Commercial kitchens can be loud places, but the hoods usually just sound like a whisper. Because with that design, they don't need massive airflow.
You do need to consider air flow, but not in the way the salespeople tell you. The flow rate number that matters much more than CFM is the linear speed of the air, measured in feet-per-second. You want the air to be moving upward at a fast enough rate to influence the path of the grease and smoke. And you need the air to be moving over the louvers in the vent at a high enough speed to function properly. If the air is moving too slowly, the grease and the air don't get separated by the louvers, and the grease goes up the vent, coating the sides of everything and increasing the risk of fire. Cleaning out a long greasy 10" duct is a horrible job. If the air moves over the louvers at a high enough speed, the louvers change the direction of the air quickly enough, and the grease particles get centrifuged out in to the grease collection area, which is only slightly miserable to clean (it's designed to be cleaned; most louvers can also go in the dishwasher).
There are formulas for calculating necessary linear air speed based on your dimensions.
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I can share my hood research if anyone's interested. It's a few years out of date now; I don't know how much the landscape has changed. I identified a half dozen hoods that are likely to work to an acceptable standard (be able to keep up with most bursts of smoke and atomized grease from hot food hitting a pan, but not likely completely reliable).
Another option is to buy an "insert" vent, which is the hood mechanism with louvers but no hood. This gets installed into a hood that's built as custom cabinetry. If you go this route, you can build the hood to dimensions that make engineering sense, and you can have a hood that works as well as a restaurant installation.
Some advantages of this approach, if you do the design properly:
- It can be situated much higher than a standard hood, so no risk of knocking off your chef hat or sombrero (if you've got high enough ceilings).
- It can be designed to actually work. Meaning, nothing escapes. No matter how much smoke or how big the plumes of atomized grease you send into the air, they get captured. Your house will not smell like Cajun blackened fish.
- You won't need very high CFM, so it can be much quieter than a regular domestic hood, and you won't need as powerful a makeup air system. So it won't tank your heating / AC bills as badly.
- It can be made to match the style of your kitchen.
- Equipment costs can be lower, because of lower power demands. Installation price will probably be much higher.
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Hoods are the hardest thing to buy, because the residential hood companies are mostly peddling nonsense and the commercial companies won't talk to you.
Most of the conventional wisdom is wrong or misleading. Cubic feet per minute of air flow is not a useful measurement for much; there's no way to translate BTUs/hr of range power to CuF/m. The important factors are range dimensions and basic hood design, particularly the geometry and the cubic feet of hood capture area—a specification I've seen mentioned exactly never by a domestic hood company.
Here's the best short summary of how to design a hood system that I've found. Here's a longer version (scroll past the health scare part). If you figure out an easy way to translate this into a purchase and design decision, please share!
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We're about to move my mom out of the apartment where she's lived for 50 years, which means moving and distributing a whole lot of things. One of those things is a bottle of Poire William that might date to the 60s or 70s. The booze isn't that old (my dad has been refilling the bottle over the decades) but there's an ancient pear in there.
I worry that this pear could basically be mush. Or could it be as good as ever? Will transporting this bottle risk demolishing the pear or will it be fine?
Right now there's barely enough brandy to cover the pear; I'd top it off before moving it in order to minimize motion.
Thoughs?
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On 9/29/2025 at 5:48 PM, sverreef said:
I know that Flaxfiber is a pain to source, but hopefully, someone else will be inspired to try this method and share their results to further its development. I mentioned xanthan gum as an alternative to Flaxfiber under the recipe, but lambda carrageenan could probably also be an alternative?
I forget if you covered this early, but wouldn't inulin be closer flax fiber than either of those gums?
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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.
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19 hours ago, lindag said:
While was shopping for knives I was somewhat surprised to see that both ATK and Food and Wine had top-rated the Global brand. I have own a couple but was not impressed, plus, I really dislike the handles.
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.
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37 minutes ago, btbyrd said:
Town Cutler scalpel, Messermeister NSF Vic-like paring knife, Paraplui A Le’Epreuve Perfect Parer carbon, Kom Kom Thai fruit carving knives, 2 Gesshin pointy bois, 95mm Saji R2 Ironwood, Misono UX10 120mm petty, Yamashin 105mm tall petty in White no 1. I don’t know where my Wusthof has gotten off to, but I think I’ll be okay for now.
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.
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5 hours ago, dcarch said:
When it comes to knifes, I always consider the following:
1. Do you ever sharpen a vegetable peeler? The peeler remains sharp because the blade never touch anything else except food.
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.
3. Steel is one of the cheapest metals. Stainless steel is also cheap.
4. Tool steel is so hard and so cheap, it is used to make tools to cut other metals. Some knife makers just use cheap files to make very good knifes.
5. Any metal can be make razer sharp. It's meaningless to judge a knife when you have a new razer Sharpe knife .
6. A $1,000 knife can be permanently destroyed in a few seconds if not sharpened carefully by knife sharpeners.
So I make my own knives.
dcarch
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.
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On 8/21/2025 at 6:41 PM, Shel_B said:
I have this same knife, this cheapie Victorinox paring knife (eG-friendly Amazon.com link). I bought it for Sweetie some years ago and eventually inherited it, and have been using it for a few years. The handle recently got damaged and I'm looking for an upgrade.
I prefer a knife with more heft and better balance than the Victorinox, and am comfortable spending about $35.00 or so. I feel that the Victorinox is a good value. Sweetie loved it.
Any suggestions?
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.
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On 7/31/2025 at 11:15 AM, ElsieD said:
I made both corn ice cream and roasted strawberry ice cream the other day. Both were good, but the roasted strawberry one knocked our socks off. I had read somewhere that adding a teaspoon of strawberry balsamic vinegar really enhances the strawberry flavour. This particular recipe doesn't need enhancement but it piqued my interest enough to ask here if anyone has tried it? Or maybe another flavoured balsamic vinegar paired with the same fruit?
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.
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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.
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16 hours ago, Rajala said:
Thanks Paul, scrolled right past it to the comment section yesterday. That make sense. Would you alter the amount of water as well? I'm sure it'll come out good no matter what. As a classic recipe contains quite some more sugar - the whole reason you made all of this.
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.
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13 hours ago, Rajala said:
Stumbled upon this topic in the right time. I'm going to make a cherry sorbet on Friday. However, it has Brix : 18° +/-2°B. I'm going to measure it when I get home though to get the exact reading. But how do I recalculate the base recipe? I feel like I should understand it, but my brain doesn't right now. Maybe I'll figure it out later, but just throwing it out if it's just as simple calculation that someone know.
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.
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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.
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On 6/5/2025 at 3:39 PM, Shel_B said:
A few bottles of some of my favorite hot sauces were delivered a while ago. Just in time, I might add. The last dregs of the garlic pepper sauce were used this morning.
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?
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On 7/6/2025 at 5:30 PM, teonzo said:
Did you freeze the raspberries as whole, without pureeing them and strain out the seeds?
Bitterness and higher viscosity make me think about ground raspberry seeds. If you blitzed frozen whole raspberries then I suppose those seeds are the culprits.
Teo
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.
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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.
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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.
A new approach to sorbet
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
I'm not sure what the best method is with ICC. Does it let you create a custom ingredient? If so I'd just create your own custom strawberry, using this simple formula that I outlined on the blog post:
I use the Nutritionist V. Database, which assumes an average brix of 6.9. [Or use your own preferred source if you have one that's more accurate for the fruit you source]
If I measure 8.5, then this is 1.23 times the average. Use this as your conversion factor.
Multiply the total solids, the POD (sweetness) and the PAC (freezing point depression) by this factor.
The software I built has a brix field, so it does this automagically ... I've been lucky enough to not have to wade to deeply into brix calculations in a long time.