paulraphael
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Posts posted by paulraphael
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On 5/23/2018 at 1:25 AM, DiggingDogFarm said:
That would make an interesting poll.
Who takes the time to process any sort of impromptu photos destined for a forum.
I usually take the easy route for such pics, nothing beyond simple editing.
A blog and such, that's another matter.
It completely depends on what the image needs, if anything.
My perspective might be a little different from other peoples', since I use Lightroom to process raw files and organize my photo library ... so pictures get slurped into LR right off my phone or my big camera's memory cards, and the initial processing is automatic. If I don't like the way the default processing looks, it's usually just a matter of moving a couple of sliders until the color pops into balance. Maybe it needs to be cropped or straightened. Then I export into whatever format is needed for posting online or emailing someone. Typically JPEG, at a very reduced size.
If I'm making exhibition prints or sending something out for publication, that's a whole 'nuther story. I might then spend hours or days on an image, much of it in Photoshop, just as I once would have done in the darkroom.
I don't know what it's like working with the more consumer-oriented raw processing and library organizing tools. I hear many complaints about these, but then I hear many complaints about Lightroom too ...
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My smallest ones are a 0.3L stainless mixing bowls that came as part of a set. I use these constantly for little stuff, including whisking slurries and weighing out small quantities of dry ingredients.
Beyond that, it's all takeout containers and semi-disposable plastic containers from the supermarket, which do triple duty for prep, storage, and leftovers. I try to standardize on just a few sizes to keep from going crazy with organizing and finding lids. Right now the arsenal includes:
-1pt takeout containers
-1qt takeout containers (uses same lids as above)-1 qt square ziploc containers
-2qt rectangular glad containers
The ziploc and glad containers last almost forever, except the lids sometimes tear. The takeout containers last almost forever too, which is a problem, because takeout delivery people are always bringing new ones. Both kinds can break when they're cold (I use the pint takeout containers for ice cream, and often crack them when trying to scoop before it's warmed up a bit).
All this stuff is dishwashable. All but the stainless mixing bowls can go in the microwave. The plastic containers are all polypropylene, so there are no food safety concerns. But they'll all melt at moderately high temps (don't use for grease right out of frying pan, etc.).
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55 minutes ago, gfweb said:
@JoNorvelleWalker You have one of these? I use t he heck out of it.
I have that exact one. Forgot how cheap it was. It's great for getting a quick read on oven temperatures, seeing how the fridge or freezer is doing, and checking the temp of any non-shiny pans. When I bake bread I use a dutch oven, and the gizmo lets me check the actual temp of that vessel so I can know how long to preheat. And it's not a bad cat toy.
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On 4/21/2018 at 9:08 PM, DiggingDogFarm said:
Obviously RAW has it's advantages.
I'm guessing that most take casual shots.
Who, here, shoots RAW and takes the time to post-process?
Raw doesn't really take more time to post-process if you use an application like Lightroom. There will be some default preset (editable by you) that will be applied on import to all your images. If you just take what you get from the default process, then that's the same as if you shot JPEG.
But you also have the option to do all kinds of tweaking that go beyond what would be possible without the raw file.
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On 5/19/2018 at 5:48 PM, JoNorvelleWalker said:
This afternoon I finished off the batch of batter. Such a sad sigh the iSi makes as it runs out. By the way these beautiful berries are actually from Georgia (not the walnut one).
You probably have days worth of batter left. One of those plump blueberries just got stuck in the valve. Try talking to it gently.
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You'll probably want to blanche the bacon first to pull out some of the sauce.
The simplest thing, if you have some demi-glace or meat coulis, would be to simmer the bacon along with some shallots in the wine as you reduce it. Then add the glace and any finishing herbs.
If you do it with a stock reduction, it won't have as much flavor but can still be good. Make sure it's a good quality unsalted stock. Add to the wine reduction, reduce until the flavors are balanced, and then thicken. Arrowroot starch is an excellent thickener, and is made better by a pinch of xanthan gum.
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Always happy to find new uses for my retired battle armor!
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10 minutes ago, gfweb said:
I use one of those 3M green abrasive things on my steel pans after every session to scrape off excess "seasoning". Keeps it slick
I imagine that works nicely. A spatula / scraper is still handy if you have any spots of gunk you need to pop off (like from the burned-on sugar you mentioned). The only thing that works reliably poorly is kid gloves.
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If you PM me I can point you to some tips for that knife. It's pretty easy to put straight razor-like edge on. In my experience it doesn't hold an edge very long, so it needs to be touched up a lot. But it's so thin it can outperform most other things even when it's kind of dull.
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It's helpful to scrape cast iron regularly with a metal spatula. I don't see much online about this. If you're cooking at highish temperatures, you're adding more seasoning every time you use the pan. Eventually, it's not a nice thin functional coating anymore; it's a big crusty bunch of gunk.
I find a regular fish spat works well for this. It's springy, so it keeps you from pressing too hard. The end is flat, and a bit sharp but not too sharp. I just give the surface of the pan a working over with it every once in a while during cooking. High spots like where something burned onto the pan usually just scrape right off.
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I've never had to sous-vide ribeye longer than to cook to core temperature. It's always been tender enough that going longer would risk both drying it out and creating mushy textures. Flank steak times aren't a good guideline for rib.
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I'll echo that the dry-aged steaks should be tender.
I used to get excellent dry-aged rib-eyes from my old butcher, who did some of his own dry aging. He did it on a shelf of his regular walk-in fridge, with a jerry rigged drip dray and fan and no reliable humidity control. The results were always excellent, but not predictable. I never had issues with tenderness, but there was no guarantee that steaks aged 8 weeks would have more dry-aged flavor than ones aged 5 weeks ... that kind of thing. There was little correlation between aging time and aged qualities. I know this isn't your issue specifically, but I bring it up because it's possible that your butcher's aging setup isn't ideal, and so it is isn't giving the predicted results.
FWIW, those steaks in your picture look very nicely marbled, but don't have the color i'm used to seeing in dry aged meat. I expect to see more of a ruby color to the meat, and slightly yellowed fat. Granted, color is tricky on the web and without controlled lighting.
Nice Tadatsuna Gyuto!
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Ok, Mitch. Let's go.
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On 5/6/2018 at 11:59 PM, dscheidt said:
Some things are pretty obvious, like a decent paint brush instead of a crappy and expensive 'pastry brush' ...
Pretty obvious, but I'd never thought of it. What kind of bristles work best in the kitchen?
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21 hours ago, dcarch said:
LOL!
A Vitamix is way over priced.
A router is a 4x to 5x more complicated machine than a Vitamix, yet a router is about 1/3 the price. Both Vitamix and a router use about the same motor.
dcarch
Well ... you can get a refurb for around $300. You still get a 3-year warranty. That's for a US-made machine with Swedish (Electrolux) 11 amp motor with a great reliability record. And you're not just getting a motor and shaft. You get the jug, which is designed for optimal flow and shear characteristics (sadly not for being easy to clean) ... and the stainless blades and sealed bearings. And excellent speed control. It's durable and well designed. The tamper is a killer feature, but would be fairly easy to copy. I assume a patent keeps the other companies from doing so.
If I wanted a blender that was almost as good and cheaper, I'd just get one of the perfectly good knockoffs, like a Ninja or Blendtec. I'm betting they'd be more efficient and easier to use than a hot-rodded router. But probably not as fun a project.
BTW, here's a video teardown, plus abuse, by my favorite potty-mouthed Canadian machinist/engineer/comedian. The VM is just about the only kitchen tool he has kind words for.
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11 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:
I have of course read Kenji but having done the experiment and tried abundant water and reduced water, I am firmly persuaded a large volume of water is better both for my pasta and for most vegetables. Other people's mileage may vary.
I wonder if water quality (hardness, alkalinity, something else) might account for differing results.
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I use a cheap plastic caliper like this one to measure food for calculating sous-vide times. Mine's smaller than this one... only opens a few inches.
Also, industrial nylon or polyester filter bags, down to 5 microns. These are the same thing as Superbags, but come in more (and finer) mesh sizes, and cost a fraction. Great for anytime a chinois isn't fine enough, but you don't need to actually clarify something. Make sure to get the mesh ones and not the felt ones (you can't clean and reuse the felt).
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1 hour ago, btbyrd said:
Just use an oil you'd normally put in a salad dressing.
Spoken like someone who hasn't sampled my WD-40 vinaigrette.
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1 hour ago, gfweb said:
I either pour it into a strainer or fish it out with tongs.
For short pasta shapes a skimmer works well.
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I've had a 12 qt stockpot with a pasta insert since around 1990, and have used the insert maybe 3 times. I just don't find it useful. It seems to add to the time the water takes to boil, and it's harder to clean than a regular colander. Also, I've long rejected the traditional advice that you need gallons of water per pound of pasta. So I mostly use a 5 qt rondeau and a regular colander.
I can see the insert being great if you wanted to reuse the same boiling water for multiple batches of pasta, as restaurants often do.
The insert on my pot also stops a couple of inches short of the pot's bottom, so it would make a great steamer (if you needed to steam something big, like a bunch of lobsters). I haven't used it for this yet.
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This is all quite mysterious. As far as their indestructibility, wouldn't recipes where you melt it take care of the problem?
As far as the psychedelic vision quest, no idea! But I'd like to try.
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5 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:
I purchased the boiled linseed for another purpose, also food related: for treating my new garden tools. I had hoped to use it for cookware also but I read somewhere boiled linseed has additives. Can I safely put it on my pans?
Maaaaaybe. Much of the boiled linseed oil that gets sold for finishing wood has volatile organic solvents in it to speed drying. So you could get some bad fumes whiles heating. Once the seasoning is cooked on, you'd expect any solvents, and anything else that separates linseed from flax oil to be long gone. But be careful.
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26 minutes ago, btbyrd said:
All the obsession with what lipid to use is misguided nonsense. I've used all kinds of oil, and now I use "whatever." The weak link in your seasoning chain is you, not your lack of superluxe Organic Peruvian flaxseed oil handpressed by virgins at the base of an active volcano on the night of the first full moon after the autumnal equinox.
The most common error is using too much oil. The layer's gotta be so thin that it's basically not there. I wait for the pan to get hot and just before it starts smoking, I'll do a final scour with a clean paper towel to get any excess oil. Thick layers end up being gummy and disgusting. They're not even seasoning. They're just gross. Don't be that person with the sticky pans. Just don't.
99% agree, except the type of oil will effect your process. I think you'll find that with a mostly unsaturated oil, you'll get where your going in fewer layers than with bacon fat.
The result probably won't be any different, you'll just be saving time.
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18 hours ago, kayb said:
Cooking the bacon, pouring off the grease, wiping the skillet out with a paper towel. Over and over and over. That's why it's good to season skillets in the summer, so you can make lots of BLT's.
I would suspect the burger thing is the same principle, but beef fat has never seemed to me to be as "greasy" as pork fat. Dunno why.
The pan won't season properly from cooking bacon properly. You need to get the pan past the fat's smoke point. This would mean wiping the pan after cooking the bacon, and putting it in a hot oven, or on a very high flame. The "greasy" quality of the oil isn't relevant. There's no greasiness to a seasoned pan. It needs to be partially carbonized, fully polymerized oil. If the pan's greasy, it's just not clean.
Bacon fat works, but being high in saturated fats it will be less efficient than the unsaturated options, meaning it will take more coats to get a durable seasoning. And being a very unrefined fat, the smoke point is relatively low, which means you'll have to season at a lower temperature, and possibly have a less durability than with a more refined oil.
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Anova Sous Vide Circulator (Part 3)
in Kitchen Consumer
Posted
The Anova's thermocouple should be more accurate than than the one on the Thermoworks. If you have doubts, write to Anova tech support. They generally implore us not to try to calibrate the circulators using home thermometers. If you have reason to believe the thing is really out of whack, they can calibrate it using their lab instruments. If I remember their support article right, it suggested the only really good reason to calibrate to your thermometer is if you mostly care about them agreeing.