paulraphael

handwashing dish soap is actually detergent. not that this automatically means much; any mix of chemical surfacants (as opposed to natural fat-based soap) is called detergent. i imagine some detergents are much nastier than others. dishwasher detergent has a lot of stuff besides surfacants in it that you don't want on or in your body--like powerful alkaline chemicals and bleaches.

The recent thread on what to do with basil in a dessert gave me the idea of strawberries with sweet pesto. I tried it this weekend; what I arrived at was 2oz basil leaves, 2oz mascarpone cheese, 2 oz whole milk, 1/2 oz butter, 1 TB superfine sugar I blended the basil with the milk (using the milk to help get as fine a blend as possible), then melted the mascarpone and butter with the sugar. I mixed it all together and blended again. I served the strawberries whole, point-side up, in a pool of light creme anglaise, with the tips dipped in the pesto. It worked ok, but the concept seemed better than the execution. For one, I wasn't thrilled with the texture. I was hoping to get a smoother, creamier puree, but it ended up being fairly coarse. I tried forcing it through a strainer but couldn't ... all the solids just stayed behind. Also, the flavor wasn't as intense as I'd hoped. I was afraid the basil might overwhelm the strawberries, but the opposite actually happened. I'm wondering if basil is just less pungent this time of year. Any ideas? Do you think a mortar and pestle might be able to get a smoother texture?

this is what I thought, but the whole waxed vegetable thing still concerns me. if any water soluble pesticide has soaked into the skin of a vegetable, and then the whole thing gets waxed, isn't it possible that the poison's been sealed in? i also wonder about the possibility of pesticides getting INTO the plant, since the water based pesticide is bound to flushed into the soil where it could be picked up by the root system. has this been studied?

Thanks Bob, I hadn't seen any of those ... had just been looking at Korin and at the more familiar lines at JCK (hadn't checked out Hattori because of price). It's curious that with brands like Misono they dont cary pairing knives in their lower lines. The Tosogata looks interesting. Cheap! I'm normally not a fan of the traditional handles, but they might work for a pairing knife. What do you think about this one?

I never see anything smaller than 120mm from most of the manufacturers. It might indeed be bad translation when people call these paring knives, but I don't see anything that's more like a paring knife. Who makes paring knives??

i don't know if this violates the plan, but you can get battery powered coolers for the car: http://www.compactappliance.com/xq/JSP.jum...ble_Coolers.htm a photographer friend of mine has one of these, and we used it on a road trip through the deserts in the southwest. worked great.

I've been wasting a fair amount of my employer's time leering at Japanese knife porn these last few days, and am curious about the rationale behind 150mm paring knives. I think the western 75mm to 150mm standard works just fine. I can only see the extra inches getting in the way for the things I do with a small knife. Am I missing something?

i have a bunch of those pyrex cups that get used for nothing else. also got a great deal on ebay on a stacking set of heavy stainless mixing bowls, that included four 1-1/2 cup bowls, all with plastic lids. these are great too.

Rona, I tried this combination for one of the pizzas and it was perfect. Thanks for a great idea! The crust was Peter Reinhart's variation on Neapotitan dough. The other pizza was more italian .. fresh mozerella, prociuto, san marzano tomatoes, and some choppe asparagus. And thanks everyone else ... a lot of good ideas, definitely worthy of future pizza experiments. The phyllo crust sounds like a fun variation.

And some of us like the look of tarnished, scorched, used copper. I love it. If someone polished my pans I'd be pissed.

I'm considering raising some boneless chickens, and wondering if it can be done hydroponically.

This brings to mind that chapter (or section?) in Fast Food Nation entitled "Mr McDonald's Breasts" or something. Apparently, the chickens that they use to make McDonald's all-white meat nuggets have been bred to have the largest breasts possible. I think that's true with most modern breeds of chicken. Traditional chickens have tiny breast muscles It's a pretty amazing example of breeding, considering that birds use their breast muscles for flight, and we've created these Swartzenegger-esq uber-breasts in a bird that can't even fly! I have to admit, as uncool as it might be in the foodie universe, I like breast meat. IF it's from a good tasting chicken and has been well prepared. I find that most people overcook it by 10 degrees or more, leading to its reputation as dry and boring. When it's well done, it has qualities like a beef tenderloin--not as much flavor as some cuts, but a nice one, and a succulent texture. All of which makes it an excellent foil for sauces and other accompaniments. I agree it's interesting that it ended up with its current reputation (and pricing).

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll take a look at those other forums. I hae a gatco system (looks a lot like the lansky) .. it works, but I think I'd like something with a bigger surface to work with.

been a while since i've stopped by, but they most likely have a bunch of glassware. i believe it's also where i bought my wok several years ago ... they had beautiful hand-pounded ones for under $20. i thought i was getting a small one, but it only looked small next to the wading pool-sized ones next to it ... there's a beer store in the new whole foods? that's going to be worth a special trip.

one of my favorites is chef restaurant supply on the corner of houston. they're one of the more consumer-friendly shops. they're the only one that would split up a case of $2 cafe wine glasses (the ones you don't mind replacing, but never have to, because when you're friends knock them off the table they don't break.)

All the time ... restaurant supply stores are great. If you're lucky enough to be close to a big city, you'll probably find different levels of store, ranging from ones that serve mostly cheap takeout joints to ones that serve high end restaurants. Few of the stores I've seen have truly high end saucepans and things like that, but they're a gold mine for other things. I've gotten good deals on big stockpots, woks, tongs, cafe wine glasses (some places only sell this kind of thing by the case, but others will sell fewer), used appliances (like bar blenders), etc.. They're also a good resource for cheap nonstick pans and professional baking sheets. A lot of this workhorse stuff can cost close to twice as much at kitchen boutiques. I also like to window shop. There's something cool about stock pots that are too heavy to lift even when they're empty, and hobart mixers with bowls the size of a hot tub.

I just realized that I read about the mousepad trick here in the EG sharpening tutorial. Steve Bottorff's site only seems to mention sandpaper on wood or glass, so sorry for any confusion. As far as you know, do the people who use sandpaper use as a substitute for waterstones, or in addition to them? I'd be curious to know what the pros and cons are. Also if the pros and cons of the kind of convex edge you'd get from stropping on a mousepad.

Does anyone have opinions about the information on this site? http://users.ameritech.net/knives/ I'm especially curious about -the use of angle guides on stones -the woodworker's trick of using sandpaper mounted to glass, wood, or a mousepad Thoughts?

i've been in the mood to make some kind of pizza, and thought it would be fun to make some for appetizers for a dinner party this weekend. i'm thinking something small and simple, with a neapolitan style crust. the main course is going to be a moroccan tagine with lamb and apricots. any thoughts on some interesting seasonal toppings?

Just so I'm not confusing anyone, I mean foil in the sense of something that emphasizes something else by contrasting with it. Not something thin and aluminum

i like the idea of the three sorbets (will they each have a different fruit flavor?) not sure about the creme anglaise ... consider that that's essentially unfrozen ice cream! sorbet and a cream sauce strikes me as a little strange. the sorbets might work better with some kind of foil ... something not at all sorbet-like and not basil flavored. you'll have already made a strong enough statement with the basil.

i'm a fan of cliff builder bars (20 g protein, tasty, and not a lot of horrible chemistry ... $1.29 at whole foods). one thing to consider is protein source. whey is probably the highest quality protein source, in terms of amino acid profile. it's particularly good in terms of glutamine content, which may be helpful for recovery after exercise. on the other hand, there's some research that shows soy to be a better source of protein for consumption during endurance exercise. i'll dig up the research if anyone's interested; i don't remember the reasons soy was better.

my calphalon cookware is 5mm thick, and the pieces i've used on high heat have warped. some of them i've pounded back into shape with a hammer to get them to sit flat on a burner!

this might be a place to tip my hat to the place that makes the best pancakes i've had: Maggie's Krooked Café, in Tannersville, New York. It looks like a typical cutesy/touristy café in a typical catskills ski town. But the breakfast is out of this world. I haven't found a better brunch in Manhattan (I'm more of a pancake guy than an omelette/caviar guy) in the mornings. If you're a New Yorker and an ice climber, this is the only place you need to know about.

I've been curious about this too. Seems impressive that you can stick together metals with wildly different thermal expansion coefficients, repeatedly heat them to 500 degrees and quench them in water, and not have things warping and flying apart. I find it especially curious that my clad pans (aluminum encased in stainless or stainless bonded to copper) seem impervious to warping, while my all-aluminum pans warp prettty easily.