paulraphael

Yes, that's my experience as well. I think it's just something that people aren't educated about, and don't want to be educated about. The topic bores them. They want to have a Good Knife, but don't want to pay any attention to it. Use it on glass cutting board, throw it in the sink, the dishwasher, the drawer, and maybe five years from now say "huh, maybe I should get this thing sharpened." This is why I bring my knives when I go anywhere to cook, and why people who come to help cook in my kitchen they use my girlfriend's knives (she doesn't care) and not mine. Unless they care enough to let me teach them. Which has happened maybe twice ever. But in my pontifications about very sharp knives vs. sort-of sharp knives, I wasn't even thinking about the typical home knife drawer. Those knives don't even have edges on them. By sort-of sharp, I'm talking about those knives when they were brand new, or when freshly sharpened on a coarse stone or ceramic rod.

Seriously, Rotus, if you haven't had Stumptown or Intelligentsia, how do you know that no commercial roaster can roast as well as you? Considering that I'd never encountered well-roasted coffee anywhere in NYC before those two came to town, I can only assume it's not easy. The home-roasted coffee I've had was indeed better than Starbucks ... I'll leave it at that.

Rotus, do you think Stumptown and Intelligentsia coffee tastes like dirt? Or maybe you're using a different definition of light roast than they are.

Do Stumptown and Counterculture beans taste like dry dirt dust to you? Maybe your idea of light roast is lighter than what they're talking about.

as of when?

I have to agree with the glaring Aussie barista snob in the first post. As good coffee availability has improved, i've noticed my favorite roasters all use a light roast. I had a long conversation with a rep at Stumptown about this; she simply said that the darker the roast, the less the intrinsic quality of the bean comes through. Once you get to "Italian Roast," it hardly even matters what you started with. This is why dark roasts are favored by companies like Starbucks. I've noticed the same pattern at companies like Intelligentsia and Counter Culture (although I buy less of their coffee and haven't have talked to anyone there ... I can't say for sure they don't roast anything dark). Anyway, I'm sold. By far the most complex and flavorful coffees I've had are light roasts. Dark roasted beans taste to me much more one-dimensional.

These guys have been my favorite roaster for the last couple of years. They moved into New York and practically took the town from some of the local roasters (guys like Gorilla coffee, who excel at graphic design but don't seem to know much about roasting). Then this fall, I'm seeing that a lot of coffee shops that used to serve Stumptown or sell their whole beans have switched brands. I'm seeing replacements like Heart Coffee (unimpressed by my first try) and Toby's Estate (still deciding). When I've asked people behind the counter, I get cryptic answers. The suggestion is that Stumptown's quality has declined, but no one's coming out and saying it. Other possibilities, of course, are that they've become more expensive or harder to do business with, or that I'm only imagining a pattern. Any thoughts, from NYC or elsewhere?

We probably agree about that, although I don't like putting people in boxes like "normal cook." It seems more about priorities and temperament than anything normative. I actually like the working style and esthetic of the European knife and Cordon-Bleu techniques. The idea of a jack-of-all-trades tool (chef's knife) that always does your bidding and can be quickly and simply maintained (steeling) appeals to me tremendously. The question is if the appeal of Japanese-style cutting and sharpening techniques outweigh the costs—which I see as additional education and a more heightened need for attention. Different cooks are going to answer that differently, but I don't think it has to do with who's more "normal" or who's more professional. I think I'd mentioned in an earlier post that at a Michelin 3-star seafood restaurant where I staged, I saw all kinds of knives and all kinds of techniques. Everything from garden-variety Wusthoff to laser-thin gyutos with wa-handles. What I'm getting at, is that it's for the cook to decide. The benefits to sharp knives (in the Japanese sense) are real. So is the investment in new skills, and the added attention they require. No one can make the cost/benefit analysis for you.

Tell that to all the chefs in Japan. Here's how I like to show off with a sharp knife: all the cuts look great, all the herbs are fresh and vibrant, even though I cut them two hours ago, I finished prepping the food 20 minutes faster than I otherwise would have been able to, I don't have to stop and steel the blade to keep the edge useable, and even if I did this all day long I wouldn't get one of those knife calluses on my index finger.

Actually, I don't think many butcher shops use especially sharp knives. They get their cutting ability from a moderately sharp but very toothy edge. Most butchers use forschner or dexter kinds of knives, sharpened on a grinder by a sharpening service, and maintained on a steel. Commercial grinders use a coarse-grit that gives a toothy edge; this does a great job ripping through the sinewy, slippery texture of raw meat. A thinner edge with a mirror polish cuts even better, but the advantages are less significant with meat that's going to be cooked. Any time you see someone maintaining a knife with a butcher steel, you know it's not a very sharp edge. A thin, mirror-polished edge would get trashed by steeling. Thin edges need to be maintained on waterstones on on strops. What you're seeing in those butchering videos is the skill of person with the knife. They're slipping the blade perfectly through the joints of the chickens or between the muscle groups of the cow, so the knife has to do surprisingly little work.

Yeah, victorinox doesn't make a big deal about their steel, but it does seem to take a better edge than the usual German suspects. I just use their utility / boning knives, and for that purpose keep a fairly burly edge on them, but have noticed they'll go pretty thin. Some of the Japanese and Swedish steels can go much thinner. My gyuto is made of hitachi ginsanko (basically the same steel as vg-1 and the Swedish 19C-27), and I sharpen practically like a single bevel knife. About 10° on the outside, and nothing more than deburring it on the inside ... a barely visible bevel. This steel doesn't hold an edge exceptionally long, but the nice thing with this thin geometry is that it cuts pretty well even when dulled. If you used it for a long shift, it would be way duller at the end than at the beginning, but still way sharper than anyone's German knives were at the start of the day. The trick with a knife like this is to start with all the most delicate stuff (herbs, etc.) even though it means they'll sit longer. Finish with the more robust ingredients.

To your original question, unfortunately I can't think of anything better than winging it and splitting the difference. I checked the tough-cut texture tables in the MC books, and they don't have anything on chuck. And I'm not sure what kind of flaky or pull-apart texture would work on a meat slicer. I've never used one, but my impression has been that slicers are generally paired with tougher, more cohesive cuts—the final tenderness comes from the thin, across-the-grain cutting. Not sure how well a slicer would do on something that readily flakes apart, either from a slicing or eating perspective.

Still a lot cheaper than anything I see. Must be a totally different economy. I'd be rather suspicious of anything called prime rib in the developed world being sold for $6/lb, regardless of the nominal grade. If I saw nice looking chuck for $6/lb, I'd happily sous-vide it. And I'd 100% think of it as poor-man's prime rib. Another angle on the prime rib: imagine what you'd have to do to raise a steer so cheaply that you could sell the most desirable parts for $7/lb. The thought makes me extremely uncomfortable.

You're not alone. But this can be a matter of degree. Sorbets are great, but a well made fruit ice cream can be great also. In the sorbet you taste an intensified version of the fruit; in an ice cream you taste fruit and cream. I agree 100% that the cream should be reduced and the eggs should not be perceptible. I'd suggest thinking more along the lines of what people in the U.S. consider gelato: aim for milk fat between 10 and 12%, and keep the eggs at or below two yolks per 1000g. If you go below this level of yolk, you may want to introduce another source of emulsifier.

Wow, $6/lb sounds like poor-man's prime rib to me. In response to Rotus finding the chuck inconsistent from part to the other, it can be helpful to specify the chuck-eye. that way you're mostly getting the prime-ribish muscle and not the other (myriad and assorted) ones.

I think this is the root of our disagreement. Technically, yes, no one needs anything more than a knife that's somewhat sharp in order to make little ones out of big ones. But there are serious advantages to knives that are "scary sharp" by western culinary standards. In Japan, such knives would just be called knives. If you have an extremely sharp blade, whole new culinary techniques become available. You're able to work with more finesse than what's possible with European techniques. It's unfortunate that the hybridized Japanese/western techniques aren't widely taught. There isn't a lot online or in cooking school. I was lucky enough to learn from a chef who'd trained in Japan. It was the second time I threw out everything I knew about cutting and started over again, and I'm pleased that I did. Possibly the biggest advantage is that your cuts will be cleaner and the food that you cut will stay fresher looking and fresher tasting. People don't believe me, but I can cut herbs hours before service and they will not turn brown. They will in fact not turn brown even in 24 hours (they'll eventually shrivel and dry out, or go limp and ferment, depending on climate). But I can make cuts that are so surgical that none of the oxidative enzyme reactions are triggered. I don't believe this is possible with a knife that's sharpened to western knife standards. A Wustoff knife right from the store isn't anywhere near sharp enough. This is why sushi knives are so damn sharp—sharper even than anything I use. You don't need such a crazy sharp knife just to cut fish. But to make cuts with a glass-smooth finish, that retain their uncut flavor from the kitchen to the table, and do so to the standards of a chef who's honed his palate for such things—you need blades that are sharp as hell. And yes, every cook at a serious Japanese restaurant hits the stones every day. The advantage I find in day-to-day cooking is mostly that I like the techniques more. Western techniques are about transmitting force to the cutting board, and compounding it with the shearing action of rocking the knife. The Japanese and hybrid techniques are about letting the edge do the work. Unless I'm cutting something tough (in which case I use my german knife or a cleaver), I NEVER apply force to a knife. I do all my cutting with just the weight of the blade. And my gyuto is very light. The grip I use on the wa-handle is more like what you use on a violin bow than on a western knife or a hatchet. It's more about guiding the blade through the food than pushing it I find this a lot more fun, and more interesting, and less tiring. Sometimes it's just a bonus that the cuts are all glass-smooth and surgical. I wouldn't suggest that cutting this way is mandatory. When I staged at a Michelin 3-star seafood restaurant, I saw people using a huge variety of knife styles and cutting styles. Which suggests there's no one right answer. That said, I haven't met anyone who's learned the Japanese techniques and gone back western-style cutting ... or to western standards of "sharp."

I've been moving in the direction of lower milkfat, not higher. I find the high levels of fat reduce the intensity of most flavors. I'm also not convinced by the lingering mouthfeel when the fat percentage gets much higher than 16 or so. I like a cleaner finish. Most of what I make hovers around 15%, which you get with about a 50/50 mix of whole milk and 36% fat cream. Going as low as 12% I think is preferable with a lot of flavors (fruit especially) or if you're following a heavy meal. If you do go for a higher percentage of cream, be aware that cream has a lower percentage of milk solids, so it would be helpful to compensate with something else. [Host's note: In order to avoid an excessive load on our servers this topic has been split. The discussion continues here.]

Just made some almond butter. Very smooth. Smoother than the almond butter I get from the store. Not quite as smooth as mass-market peanut butter. Possibly it would get a bit smoother with continued processing. I'm finding it helps to add a bit of neutral oil ... both this as the cashew butter had a bit of a dry texture without it. I also added a little salt and maple syrup to the almond butter, to mimic one of our favorite things at the local food coop.

Amazing prices. I don't think I paid much less than that when I got my 12" fry pan over 15 years ago.

I'm pretty sure it's all just PTFE. They may be adding stuff to it for different purposes, but teflon's teflon. Even non-Teflon® teflon is teflon. The stuff that's given off when you overheat a pan is widely misunderstood. While PTFE can break down into potentially toxic monomers at very high temperatures (greater than 600°F), what happens at lower temperatures (upper 400°F range) is the sublimation of PTFE from the surface, which condenses into very fine particles in the air. The particles are made of the same inert substance as the pan. But very fine particles of any type can be irritating to the lungs, and can be fatally so to some small animals—especially birds. You really shouldn't keep birds near the kitchen, btw. They'll be killed just as quickly by smoke coming off a cast iron skillet.

And you'll find few portable appliances like this that even draw 1800 watts, because most people have outlets on shared circuits. I think most of us would find it especially troubling if an immersion circulator threatened to blow a fuse. We like to leave these things running while we get on with our lives. Granted, almost all the danger would be during the first hour when it's heating the water, but still ...

Veal stock is great stuff, largely because of its neutrality, but it doesn't make as much sense today as it used to. Mainly because people eat a lot less veal, so the bones are no longer a cheap commodity (as btbyrd points out). It's also prized for its gelatin content, but you can get gelatin anywhere nowadays, including from a box of gelatin. You can also opt for any of dozens of different hydrocolloids, that may be tailored to produce even more desirable qualities. It's also a lot faster to make a good stock these days, with the help of a pressure cooker. For all these reasons I'm more inclined to make stocks for specific purposes ... chicken, beef, duck, etc... If I come across an affordable veal source, I'll snap some up and make a stock, but it's not a staple in my freezer.

To heat much faster, the circulator would need to always be plugged into a 20 amp circuit, and not be sharing it with anything else that draws a lot of power. This kind of constraint goes over better in a commercial kitchen than a home one. I've never found it to be an issue ... as others do, I start with hot water from the tap, and often cook sous-vide jobs back-to-back.

I've never used whole milk powder but would be much more inclined to use nonfat dry milk, and to make up the difference with a little butter. Milkfat is perishable by way of oxidation, and will develop off-flavors pretty quickly. You could probably offset this by vacuum sealing and storing in the freezer, but what's the advantage? FWIW, I look for nonfat dry milk that's 100% skim milk solids, and that has been spray-dried at low temperatures (Now brand is very good—I checked with them and they say they dry at 72°C for 15 seconds, so there's very little cooked flavor). I evacuate the air and put the original container in a ziploc bag and store in the freezer. Even nonfat dry milk picks up off flavors easily. I use quite a bunch of this stuff in ice cream and don't want any weirdness.

That was in response to someone saying they had a hard time pre-searing without overcooking.