paulraphael

I think the issue is less hardness of the food than a kind of toughness that could grab the edge of the blade. If the blade catches in something of certain consistencies, and you torque it one way or another, you could chip the edge. After a certain degree of hardening, kinfe steel takes on a brittle failure mode, so it chips instead of bending. I have some softer knives with faint ripples in the edge; those would likely have been chips if I did whatever I'd done with my gyuto. I don't cut a lot of pineapple, so I don't have much sense of it. I read elsewhere that by "pumpkin," JCK might be talking about some heavier duty kinds of squash or gourds.

I'm trying to cultivate the habit of using as many cues as possible simultaneously. It's easy to get in the habit of just using one (visual, feel, time, thermometer, etc.). The nice thing about using several, beyond getting multiple opinions, is that you get to learn more about what each cue really indicates. You start to get a sense of how something feels when the center is 140 degrees, and how long it takes for that cut of meat at that size to get to that temp, etc. You also get a better sense of when one of your indicators isn't trustworthy. For example, when I was experimenting with roasting chickens, I used a probe thermometer (placed in the section between breast and thigh) to monitor doneness. I became a slave to the thermometer, and didn't pay attention to other signs. A couple of times, the reading was way off, and I ended up pulling the bird out ten degrees over- or undercooked. It turns out that with a chicken, thermometer placement is really tricky, and there can be a range of over ten degrees between the thermometer tip being in flesh, in an air pocket, or against a bone. This issue is separate from the accuracy of the thermometer, which is pretty good ... it's more along the lines of the difficulties with using them that you mentioned. Now i might use a thermometer, especially in an unfamiliar oven, but I don't obey it without looking at other indicators, like surface browning and the looseness of the hip joint.

Even regular pastry flour is tough to find. Most grocery stores have next to nothing. Whole foods has everything but what I need. Thoughts?

Most herbs freeze pretty well in a ziplock bag, so I don't mind buying a little extra. My gripe is that the price per ounce they end up charging for the individual packages. I'd be afraid they'd go even farther if the packages got smaller. Parsely is a real exception. It's always sold in bunches that are bigger than my head. I'd need a restaurant to find a use for all that. I wonder what would happen if I snapped off a few stems of it and brought it in a bag to the register.

Any idea where to find it?

Another idea. I just saw this on the baking 911 site. Funny thing is, it's exactly what I used to do, but stopped because it was nonstandard and seemed unrefined: use foil instead of parchment, and pennies instead of beans or rice. i'm also considering preheating the pennies while the oven preheats ... so they're already hot and can contribute to baking when they go into the shell. foil is a little easier to work with than parchment, molds to the shell better, and conducts much better. pennies dense and conductive. total cost of equipment: mere pennies.

It goes against some of the conventional wisdom, but I find that a steel works really well on my Japanese knives. The effect is the same as with Euro knives; it restores the feeling of a freshly sharpened edge after the knife has seen some use. If you already use a steel very delicately (which I believe works best on any knife), you won't have to adapt much. Especially with harder steels, you want to wipe out any images of t.v. chefs holding a steel in the air and swiping wildly. The steel goes vertically against a cutting board, and you restore the edge with just a few very light, even strokes. Maybe a couple on each side. It's best to use a smooth steel like the Hand American borosilicate glass steel or their metal version. While I don't think it's at all true that a grooved steel acts as a file or creates a "toothy" edge (if used correctly), it does concentrate much more pressure and is probably too agressive to use on brittle knife edges. When the steel doesn't work any more, I go to the strop, which is loaded wtih abrasive compound. It actually polishes away a bit of metal. It's faster and easier than the stones, but not as fast and easy as a steel. When this no longer works, I go to the stones or abrasive papers, and the cycle starts over again.

Thing is, if the sides have a tendency to collapse, I don't see how the saucepan lid will help. It will hold the bottom down, but won't support the sides. Of course, if anyone else wants to play guinee pig ...

I think there's some truth to this ... A dull knife is flat out dangerous because it's more likely to slip on the surface of food, and it also urges you to use bad technique, like leaning on the knife with a lot of force. These two things together lead to knife disasters. A razor-sharp knife discourages this kind of thing, because you learn to use gentle pressure, and it rarely slips anyhow. But they seem to like cutting you just for blinking at the wrong time. In the five years I used my German knife (sharp, but not ridiculously so) as my main knife, it only cut me once, and it was while I was washing it while drunk. But I've lost count of how many times my new Gyuto has cut me in the last couple of months. But to be fair, much of this has been from learning to sharpen on stones (ha! back to the original topic) and unfamiliarity with such a light blade. Luckily the cuts have been minor, and have healed fast. Sharp and dull might just be dangerous in different ways.

Do you mean putting another tart pan on top of the shell? I've thought about that, and about just using the circle, but they're just too big. The dough is too thick, so there isn't room for anything that size in there. If your pans had a lot of taper it might almost work, but the top pan wouldn't sit all the way down on the bottom of the shell. I don't like the idea of there being insulating air space there. The freezing idea is interesting. Does Dorie recommend this for any kind of tart dough? What's the foil for?

I've been reading old threads on blind-baked shells, trying to find a solution to a couple of common issues: getting a crisp bottom when you're filling it with something dense and wet, and dealing with the nuissance of beans/rice/weights. I've gotten big improvements by switching to some blue steel tart pans made by bourgeat. My old tinned steel pans just reflected too much heat, so the bottoms and sides didn't brown as quickly as the top edges, no matter what else I did. But I'm still finding that things like apple tarts lead to soggy bottoms. And the whole routine of lining with parchment and filling with beans is annoying. It also seems countner productive, since it shields the whole inside of the shell from heat. I use an egg wash, but I'm just not convinced it makes much difference, considering how little time the inside of the shell gets direct, dry heat. I'm curious if anyone has ides (or good guesses) about any of these possible alternatives: 1) don't line the shell with anything. if it starts to poof up, reachin with a skewer and let the steam out. would this work? or would the sides of the shell collapse? 2) get one of those stainless steel pie chains 3) just drop an aluminum saucepan lid that's roughly the right size onto the bottom of the shell. 5) use the beans, but then brown the inside of the shell with a propane torch. i'm sure this would work, but it's clearly the most annoying solution of all. Any thoughts? (FWIW, the tart dough I like is similar to a traditional 100%/66%/33% pate brisée.)

Cookbook authors and t.v. chefs still spread the idea of mixing butter and oil to magically raise the burning temperature of the butter. Something that defies reason and can be dismissed with a 2-minute homegrown experiment.

I'll have to look at the packaging again. I don't remember any descriptions besides organic. FWIW, the flour has a very fine consistency, that would be consistent with stone grinding. It doesn't feel coarse. It's also not especially dark. maybe just a shade darker than regular unbleached flour. It didn't look strange until after the dough was mixed and thoroughly rested/hydrated.

My seasoned cast iron is WAAAAAAAAY more nonstick than my clean stainless steel. And I keep it as clean as I know how ... if there's any discoloration or spotting, I scour with BKF until it gleams. I'm not a clean freak by any stretch, but I've learned to keep the cooking surfaces shiny. Trying to sauté a delicate fish in stainless lined copper is usually a disaster; the same in cast iron works well. This is with using a small amount of oil in each; I only use the iron pan dry with food that renders its own fat. It is definitely less nonstick than a teflon pan, which I reserve for crepes and for the most delicate fish. That said, I agree that seasoning stainless doesn't sound like a great idea. The surface is just less versatile than plain stainless. I'm guessing that the polymerized oils would cling less well, and you'd have more issues with off flavors and even clumps of goop ending up in your food. I have been wondering about seasoning bare aluminum, though. I have a heavy, plain aluminum griddle that I use for pancakes. It begs to be seasoned. I'm constantly scouring off a thin film of very hard oils from around the edges ... and it fights me for it. Has anyone tried seasoning this material?

I'm still furious that it wasn't properly labelled. I don't in any way appreciate the flavor of the flour. It does taste a bit like graham crackers; if I'd wanted that I would have bought a 99¢ graham cracker crust at the supermarket. What I have now is 12 oz of expensive European high-fat butter that you can't taste over the intrusive flavor of the wheat bran, and only a fraction of the delicate texture I worked all afternoon to get. I'm also annoyed by the buyers at Whole Foods. They seem to cater to some misplaced senses of healthiness (healthy pastry?) and exoticism (organic spelt flour?) without having covered the basics (there is no regular pastry flour, or cake flour of any kind, at either of the WF locations I visit). I'm going to have to chill out a bit before writing them, to make sure my abusive letter doesn't go too far.

I bought some flour at Whole Foods last week, thinking it was pastry flour, because the package said, in big letters, "Pastry Flour." I made two tart shells with it, and didn't realize something was odd until the dough was completely mixed and looked darker than normal. It took a close examination of the bag to see the ingredients listed whole grain flour. There's no other indication of this anywhere on the package. Is there really such thing as whole grain pastry flour? And if there is, shouldn't it be clearly marked? These tart shells smell and taste like dark bread, the texture is messed up, and I feel like beating someone to death.

My suggestion would be to get a cheap, commercial quality nonstick pan and know that if you use it a lot, you'll have to replace it in a year or two or three. Or see if you can find a more expensive one (calphalon nonstick, etc.) on sale or closeout. Sometimes Amazon has deals where they cost as little as the commercial ones. No nonstick surface stays nonstick indefinitely. Some surfaces are much more durable than others (like scan pan, or the version used by demeyere) but this just protects them from abuse. It doesn't stop the pan from losing its nonstick properties over time. I'd rather have a cheap disposable pan than an expensive one. I personally prefer commercial style, no-b.s. pans over feature-ladden ones designed by marketing departments (plastic stay-cool handles, breakable glass lids, goofy patterns on the bottom, non-functional shapes, etc. etc.)

Have any of you tried taking a jacket that you like (besides the fit) and taking it to a tailor? I think it would be a cheap and easy job. My friend Sara has her levis tailored! Doesn't cost her much. Getting a good fit out of a simple jacket should be easier than getting one out of pants that are supposed to hug the ass.

I ended up getting the small version of that one (17 slots, I think) and replacing the rubber feet with taller ones, so a 12" steel will fit. It works fine ... like my old one, but room for 2 chef's knives. The scissor slot inspired me to get a pair of wusthof take-apart shears. A bargain at $20 ... I really like them. The steak knife slots are empty. I have fewer than half as many knives as you!

I'd be a little concerned about salting before freezing. Salt actually increases the rate of oxidation of fats that haven't been cured with nitrites, and can lead to rancidity (more funk) in frozen storage.

Great project. I can see this evolving into Iron Chef: Dorm Room Edition. "Ok, a girl is on the way and will be at your door in 20 minutes. You have a serving of ramen, four packets of duck sauce, a leftover pizza crust, 1/8 bottle of vodka, a box of baking soda, and a George Foreman grill. Go!" As far as knives, I think the forchner is a great choice, but any knife will likely be trashed by a single semester of dorm life. I'd have them look for anything that's shaped like a chef's knife that costs as little as possible.

yes, yes, and yes.

If I get that knife, can I bring my own steak?

Interesting. Does he explain why it works? ← He certainly does. But I'm not biochemist enough to quote him on the top of my head. Will look it up when I'm in front of my home computer next time. ← I'd like to hear from someone who's tried it ... i'm not trusting enough to do it when people are waiting to be fed.

I haven't done a thorough search, but there might be some good ones made for lab use. Here's one: http://www.bestlabdeals.com/ProductDetails...InMp054&CartID= Lots of other out there; some might be more apropriate. In the mean time, that thermoworks one likes the best deal. It's basically the Polder, sold for what it's actually worth! By the way, looking for lab thermometers, I stumbled onto a few that look just like the thermopen, but for a lot less money. Might be worth a second look.