paulraphael

That's what I liked about the old bog-standard Oxo. It opened cans and I never had to think about it. I don't need to know if it's the world's finest. People with arthritis or some other challenges with their hands might disagree.

After reading a few glowing reviews, I got an inauspiciously-named EZ-DUZ-IT can opener (eG-friendly Amazon.com link). It's ok, but not special, and the handle grips don't stay on. I'll eventually go back to OXO. I think that's the nicest one I've used. I see now that OXO has a fancy smooth-edge opener (eG-friendly Amazon.com link). I haven't seen it in person. Would be interesting to try. The problem I have with these de-crimping openers is that I'm not convinced I'll know how to work them early in the morning, pre-coffee, or late at night, post-cocktail.

Reviving this thread again. I've recommended to a friend, and SV Toolbox is no longer available in the Apple App Store. Says "not available in your region," which sounds suspicious. This is a problem especially because it seems there's no way to back up apps anymore. The usual backup methods will save your personal data and information about where to put the icon on your home screen—but if you get a new phone or do a restore, the phone will re-download the app from the store. Maybe something to do with security and code signing? I don't know, but it's troubling. I went to the Breville / PolyScience site and complained in their customer feedback form. If you are an ally of all that is good and just and true, you'll do the same. Or set me straight: is there any way to get this? Or another app that's close to as good?

We discovered aster honey a few years ago in Vermont and are hooked. It has a piney / hoppy flavor and aroma. Not so easy to find in NYC, so we just buy a giant jar from the same VT farmer every few years.

Interesting. I've gotten that bulletproof black layer on all kinds of metals, including stainless. I suspect it's almost all carbon, because of how hot things get on that side of the pan. I don't think it's identical to the standard seasoning on the inside.

I haven't noticed with starches. But I've never compared, or even paid that close attention. There's a huge difference with gums. Not just different brands and product lines, but sometimes different batches. The supply chain shitshows of the last few years have shaken things up. The big companies (like ingredeon) seem to respond to price hikes in a particular gum by finding a cheaper and possibly lower-quality source. And not telling anyone. I had a couple of ice cream consulting clients say they started having problems with familiar brands. Some of them had to start experimenting by importing alternatives from different countries and doing their own experiments.

You can get good at it without it becoming a hobby or obsession. I don't especially like sharpening. What I found is that it took a couple of months of practice to get decent. Meaning, there was a lot to learn still, but already my knives would work better than when they were new, or when sharpened by some jackhat. One tip: if you don't want to buy that diamond plate, you can get a cheap stone flattener. That too will dish ... you can flatten it by rubbing on a concrete sidewalk.

I experimented with seasoning bare aluminum once. It kind of sort of worked. The piece is a heavy 2-burner griddle. It took a seasoning layer, and it resists sticking, but the finish is very fragile. Maybe not worth it. Still, don't listen to anyone who says it's impossible.

Are any of the people who re-tin copper still alive? If so, you might want to catch them while they're around!

That's too bad. I think I used their products a couple of times and thought they were decent. It looks like their commercial products are still available. I didn't realize they were made by Ajinomoto.

Carbon steel is less porous than cast iron, so the seasoning just doesn't stick to it as tenaciously. But I notice that in places where it's used, like restaurants, no one seems to care. They just let the seasoning form and flake off as it will. I don't know why your rice is such a good scouring pad. Other than starch being a naturally good glue.

Conventional wisdom says don't use it on teflon, but that might not be based on anything. I don't know why lye would attack teflon. It could make a mess out of any aluminum it contacts. So I guess you could make this work but you'd want to be careful.

You even have to be careful with regular oil. Especially the kind of refined oils people are most likely to use (canola, safflower, etc.). These are high in polyunsaturated fats and so are the most efficient at oxidizing, polymerizing, and turning into a bulletproof coating. Just like what you want on iron. I notice this as a brownish coating that first shows up around the sides of frying pans. It's not coming off.

Peterson's Fish & Shellfish is a good one. I also like Ripert's old Le Bernardin cookbook, which has recipes for some of their iconic sauces.

I would not do this. If you did actually create a "seasoning" layer as you would on steel or cast iron, it would probably make the teflon stickier. That seasoning is made from polymerized and carbonized oils. If you get actually get the oil hot enough to carbonize, you'll start breaking down the teflon, ruining its qualities and creating toxic particulates. And if you don't, you'll make the pan sticky. Either way, that polymer layer will be tough enough that there's not much you could do to remove it that wouldn't wreck the teflon coating. If you don't heat it enough to even polymerize it ... then you just have an oily pan. You should probably wash it, otherwise it WILL polymerize next time you preheat it. Makes no damn sense.

One of the many things I like about the show: a more true observation of the creative process than I think I've ever seen in shows or movies. There are a bunch of scenes where Carmen and Syd are working on dishes for the new restaurant. There's an intense collaboration: trying things, rejecting things, talking them out, trying to put impressions into words, circling, homing in on something, failing, trying again, agreeing, fighting, egging each other on ... I just don't recall seeing anything as convincing as this before. Writers usually fall back on lazy clichés like the "Aha!" moment, and other kinds of dramatic revelation. They don't show what the real work is like. This is as true for shows about chefs as for ones about artists, musicians, writers, scientists, inventors ...

I don't understand why hot cocktails aren't more popular. Why doesn't every bar serve them all winter long? Irish coffee especially is perfect. It's every food group in a single glass: booze, dessert, caffeine, and hot.

My grinder (for brewed coffee) is a static factory. I've used a little atomizer for this technique for a couple of years now. It works. I mostly have to do in the winter when the air's dry.

We're joking, but really, I don't see why something couldn't be made with that basic design for regular person prices. Scale the power back (or make it so you can't have all the burners running full-tilt at once) so it can run on regular split-phase power. And don't build it out of 500 lbs of unobtanium.

Here's the way to do it: Garland GME36-120C range, with genuine knobs and huge 5KW induction surfaces. Of course you'll need $25K for the range, and probably another $25K to run 3-phase power to your house, and it's commercial, so you'll probably void your homeowner's insurance. But who cares—you get knobs!

The regular electric flat-top range (not induction) that came with our house does the pulse thing. I indulge sadistic fantasies about the company's entire engineering team every time I use it. What an utterly negligent and insulting way to design a stove. There isn't anything fundamentally wrong with regulating heat with pulses. Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is common for things that need precise control, like immersion circulators, and even audio amplifiers. But the pulses have to be very short! My stupid stove has pulses and pauses that are maybe 20 seconds long. Wish me luck with the hollandaise sauce.

I don't have btbyrd's experience with induction, but everything he says reinforces my suspicions. I've been researching these things and it seems obvious that the coils are too small and the interfaces are unacceptable. I do look forward to good ones. I don't know if I trust appliance manufacturers to ever make them. Meanwhile, gas ranges have become something of a scapegoat and a distraction in environmental policy debates. To lower your carbon footprint, there are dozens of things with a vastly bigger impact. Including replacing gas furnaces, boilers, and residential hot water heaters. If you're worried about indoor air quality, get a good hood. Change residential codes to require them. If you don't have one (and probably no one here does, because hardly anyone even makes good ones for homes) you're breathing bad stuff no matter your heat source. At least if you cook hot. Which you do if you enjoy good food.

Most mobile knife sharpeners (and most stationary ones) are super aggressive, and grind way too much metal off your knives. You'll probably get a dozen sharpenings before they look like skewers and have to be replaced. I made the mistake of taking my knives to a commercial joint once, at the recommendation of a local butcher in Providence. They came back with about 1/8" taken off the blades, and a deeply concave edge profile from the grinding wheel. Luckily these were just Chicago Cutlery knives, I leaned to never do that again. “The goal is to get the knife sharp while taking off the least amount of material," says the Green Point Knife Truck man. This means he's not the typical knife truck man.

This. But also be aware that it won't necessarily take longer than a roast with fewer ribs. The weight and the length are not especially relevant*. The cook time depends mostly on cross-section (distance from surface to center). Assuming you control for all the other variables. *Except! Counterintuitively, having more length, and therefore more surface area, could speed the cooking. Because it will contribute more humidity to the oven, and therefore reduce evaporative cooling. This is why 2 chickens roast faster than 1.

“The goal is to get the knife sharp while taking off the least amount of material" This is great to see, but not the practice of most of the sharpener trucks I've seen. Choose wisely.