paulraphael
-
Posts
5,060 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Posts posted by paulraphael
-
-
13 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:
I now have my new USB microscope delivered and set up. What should I look for and what should I be seeing? What type of lighting is best for judging the quality of an edge? What angle to the lens? I have seen random micrographs of knife edges on the internet, but does anyone have a link to a tutorial? I couldn't find more information on eGullet.
Perhaps most importantly, what's a good way to secure the blade to lessen the chance of an eventuality? I have a vise, however I don't want to damage the handle or the blade.
No answers for how to use the microscope, but I look forward to reading whatever you discover. I've read that lighting is hard ... easy to make the edge look much better or worse than it is.
Rotus's idea of some tape on the blade to protect it from the vice should work great. You could also just pad the vice with a thin towel.
-
1
-
-
On 8/24/2022 at 1:52 PM, JoNorvelleWalker said:
Thank you for the video. I believe I now understand what thinning behind the edge is and what it is supposed to do. However, unless I am missing something, this is exactly what Chef's Choice purports to accomplish.
Not really. Chef's choice does a compound bevel, where you get a fairly acute main bevel for performance, and very small, more obtuse microlevel (maybe a mini-bevel?) at the tip, for durability. It's a standard way to sharpen and can give good compromise between performance and burliness.
Thinning happens along the couple of centimeters above the edge, where the chef's choice and other sharpeners never touch. As you gradually wear down the knife through repeated sharpenings, the edge will move up to fatter and fatter parts of the blade's taper. Performance will gradually decline if you don't periodically thin up there.
That's thinning for maintenance. People also sometimes thin new knives, just to fine tune them to their own preferences. This is hard work, done with coarse diamond stones and a bit of masochism. Fortunately there are enough thin knives available nowadays that there's less need for these shenanigans.
-
3
-
1
-
-
Even a powerful countertop blender makes slush, not ice cream. A paco jet has a very sharp blade that shaves ice into fine enough bits to have a smooth texture (which is surprisingly fine) and aerate it the right amount. It's also designed to do it without heating it up significantly.
-
5 hours ago, palo said:
I see you're a Breville fan as well - how's that "a little bit more" work for you?
p
Best button in our house.
-
On 7/22/2022 at 5:26 PM, weinoo said:
Some might think that one of the gadgets I've bought over the past year or two is dubious.
But I love it, and it works great. (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)
No one would make fun of that gadget if they've seen it at scale.
-
1
-
1
-
5
-
-
17 hours ago, weinoo said:
So the small steak my friend picked up also got bagged. Both the rib eye and the strip were sous vided at 55℃, as I wanted to make sure not to over cook them. It wasn't a worry; as a matter of fact, after slamming them in a screaming hot cast iron for a minute, we decided we wanted a little more fire on the rib eye, and back in the pan it went. The wagyu was another story, as we definitely cooked it more than it needed - though it was still delicious, cause it's basically like eating crispy, beefy fat. But I think there are better ways to cook it - like maybe slices and then just feeling the heat from a torch, or 15 seconds on one side in the pan, and done. Next time! In the meantime...
Interesting. I haven't cooked Wagyu, but have been told by just about everyone to cook it at a higher temperature than the equivalent American beef. Typically 58°C. The idea is to fully melt the fat, which doesn't happen 55.
-
1
-
-
On 7/6/2009 at 10:41 PM, mrose said:
I was finally able to get some 42/43 corn syrup. It was actually cheap through a bakery supply store. I know that this has a lower water content than what you can purchase in the grocery store (Karo). Is there a difference in sweetness? Do you use it in the same amounts as I have been using "Karo"?
This is often the problem with consumer brands. You typically have no way to know exactly what you're getting. And since they don't tell you, they're not under any obligation to keep it consistent from batch to batch and year to year.
Even with products labelled for commercial use, you don't usually get all the information. They may tell you the DE but not what's actually in it (what saccharides and in what ratios). There are many ways you can get to the same DE value. You can assume that that something labelled DE 42 will be sweeter than something labelled DE 15. But you can't assume that it will be exactly as sweet as something else labelled DE 42. Or that it will have the same water content, or the same freezing point depression, etc.
To the original question, I suspect Karo is sweeter than typical DE 42 corn syrup. But I'm not positive.
And on another note, I just heard from someone in the ice cream industry that there's a global shortage of corn sugar. Like with everything else. So prices have been rising.
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
-
8 hours ago, btbyrd said:
I don't think anyone has anything against small knives. It's just small chef's knives that are kind of weird. A santoku or bunka or nakiri or petty or whatever, sure. But a 6" chef's knife is nonideal, if what we're referring to as a chef's knife is something with a classic big-bellied, rock-chopping German profile. In a former life, I had a 6" Wusthof in a set I was gifted, and that thing *never* saw action.
The place I see pros use smaller knives is during service, when they don't have lots of room to work, and they aren't moving through piles of prep. But don't think I've ever seen 6" chefs knives. Small knife usually means an 8" chef / gyuto, or or a 6" petty.
I've seen knives like these use for prep by the sorry folks who work in liliputian NYC-style galley kitchens. They sometimes have work surfaces and cutting boards that are less than a foot deep. It gets awkward to use a longer blade.
I've read that it's a Thomas Kellerism that you should use the smallest knife you can get away with. No idea why, or what counts as small, or if it's even a true story!
-
3
-
-
On 7/7/2022 at 5:09 PM, weinoo said:
James Peterson, a cookbook writer who studied chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley, stated in his encyclopedic cookbook called Sauces:
You need to cook a sauce for at least 20 to 30 seconds after adding wine to it to allow the alcohol to evaporate. Since alcohol evaporates at 172°F (78°C), any sauce or stew that is simmering or boiling is certainly hot enough to evaporate the alcohol.
Alcohol Burn-Off Chart from USDA
The USDA actually gives this data in chart form. 2Note that various other conditions are given. Most noticeable is that different values are given for baked items where alcohol is used but not stirred into the mixture. Also, you’ll notice that the alcohol evaporation for flamed dishes is lower than you might expect. You find out below why this is so.
Typically, to make a Marsala, the wine is added to a pan that something else has been sauteed in, such as chicken, onions, mushrooms, etc. and used to deglaze the pan, whereupon chicken broth or other broth is added. Even if you were to make a large volume of sauce for four people, you’d probably not use more than 3/4 cup of wine. Let’s be generous and say you use a cup of wine. And let’s also say your Marsala wine is 20% ABV, meaning the wine you use in the dish contains 1.6 ounces of alcohol. This means that one ounce of it contains 0.2 ounces of alcohol. You would then, typically, add the same volume of broth, if not a bit more. So we have two cups of liquid, plus whatever other moisture is already in the pan. This means that the alcohol is diluted by the same amount of liquid. One ounce of this mixture would contain 0.1 ounce of alcohol.
Right ... things will only flame if the alcohol percentage is high enough to create the right blend of alcohol vapor and oxygen above the food. Once the alcohol level gets too low to provide this, the fire goes out. It's a little more complicated than this—a flamed sauce will keep burning past the point where you'd be able to reignite it, because heat from the fire will boil the surface and liberate more alcohol vapor. But you're still not coming close to burning off all the booze.
The USDA chart is super useful. It's just rough guidance, though. The shape of the pot will make a big difference in evaporation rate.
-
1
-
-
On 7/10/2022 at 5:15 PM, btbyrd said:
I don't think the standard pinch grip is especially useful when using smaller knives. Typically, you pinch at the balance point of the blade to give you better control of the tip of the knife, but since the blade of short chef's knives are so much shorter and lighter, the balance point is usually much farther back -- typically at the bolster or even in the handle. So I often end up holding the bolster on my shorter knives. It's still a pinch grip, but it's non-standard because I'm pinching the handle/bolster/ferrule and not the blade itself.
The standard western pinch grips (along with techniques like rock chopping) were also invented to help you apply more cutting force. They're techniques for knives that aren't very sharp. This isn't a dig at western chef's knives; it's just a fact that in terms of their design, edge geometry, and metallurgy they're traditionally made more for toughness and versatility than pure cutting performance. We compensate with the grips and the techniques we use.
If you're using thinner, sharper blades, these grips and techniques no longer make sense. The whole idea of balance becomes mostly irrelevant, because the knives are lighter. You don't need to apply a lot of force, or create shearing action through rock-chopping (and if you try, you might damage the blade). So the grip is all about control. More like a violin bow than a hatchet. I sometimes use a modified sort of pinch grip when cutting with the tip of a long, lighter knife. But it's a very loose grip. It's just to choke up a bit to get closer to the food, like for slicing garlic. Or it's to let the knife pivot easily, like when doing rapid chopping with the tip. Otherwise, the best grip is often the one that European cooking schools tell you never to use: holding the handle, with your forefinger on the spine of the knife. Forbidden in France, but the Japanese work magic with it.
The chef who taught me Japanese techniques took this a step farther—he let his index finger kind of hover above the blade. He held the handle very lightly with his thumb and middle and ring fingers, and used the tip of his pinkie against the side of the wa-handle to counter any rotation and keep the blade cutting straight. Looked silly, but his cuts were perfect ... looked like they'd been made by a robot with a mandolin. I never got the hang of this technique in its pure form.
I personally don't understand the point of a small chef's knife. The western chef's knife is for cutting with power, and for being crazy-versatile. A small one is neither burly nor versatile. If you want something for precise tasks, there are many choices that make more sense.
-
2
-
-
On 12/27/2020 at 12:49 PM, weinoo said:
I get pretty good, even heating on a gas range. Using the smaller, square reversible baking steel I have...
On a gas range, you have those hot gasses spreading out under the pan. They have to go somewhere, and they deliver some energy out to the edges of the pan through convection. So even if you have a big pan sitting on a small flame, you're getting at least a little help from something besides the pan's conductivity.
And that steel you're using is probably thicker than a skillet, so it could do a somewhat better job of spreading the heat.
-
1 hour ago, weinoo said:
I actually wear ear plugs when grinding coffee; don't use the mini prep much, but the Blendtec also is noisy enough for me to pop in a pair of high quality plugs.
These are my concert ear plugs...https://us.loopearplugs.com/
And these are my kitchen ear plugs...https://www.etymotic.com/product/er20hd/
They pop in and fit much better than the foam junk.
I use ear plugs when making nut butters in the vitamix. That takes long enough to be a real hearing loss threat. The little bamix is quiet. My girlfriend uses it in the same room when I'm on zoom calls.
-
1
-
-
On 6/27/2022 at 11:32 PM, JoNorvelleWalker said:
Humbly I retract my expressed happiness with KitchenAid. I purchased the KitchenAid after my Cuisinart immersion blender burned out. Unlike Cuisinart the KitchenAid did not burn out, but the KitchenAid motor now spins and spins while the blade does not move at all. It's not like I relied on the KitchenAid more than once or twice a year.
The plan was for Kenji's Caesar salad...
https://www.seriouseats.com/the-best-caesar-salad-recipe
For the Caesar dressing Kenji calls for an immersion blender or a food processor. Given my food processor is humongous and lives in the bedroom, I chose the immersion blender approach and was met with profound disappointment. Thankfully I have an homogenizer on the kitchen counter. And I am now set for my next batch of anchovy ice cream.
Is there any point to replacing the KitchenAid? Is there anything an immersion blender will do that other kitchen appliances can't accomplish?
I like them for small tasks, especially things like make vinaigrettes. Of course you're the one person here with a rotor-stator homogenizer, so I can already hear you laughing at my Bamix.
They're also handy for whipping a single egg white, or sticking into a pan on the stove to puree something to a somewhat finer texture. I use it more as a monster whisk than a mini blender. The smaller sized Bamix models are great for this use, because they're nimble and they spin very fast. They're probably not the best as a blender substitutes ... I've heard they're mediocre at things like pureeing a whole pot of soup, etc., which I use the vitamix for.
Your stick blender died because it stripped a sacrificial plastic pin or gear. This is a part that's designed to protect a more expensive part if the thing gets overloaded—but it's a pointless feature here, since consumer stick blenders aren't designed to repaired anyway. It makes sense on a Kitchenaid mixer—whenever some genius throws a frozen stick of butter into the bowl (it happens somewhere on Earth every 15 minutes), the plastic gear strips, which feels catastrophic in the moment, but you're only actually out a $5 part and a greasy afternoon.
I don't think the Bamixes are built this way—they're transmissionless, so the only part that could break is the very accessible pin that holds the blade in place. It would take a serious commitment to abuse to shear that thing.
-
1
-
-
This is my favorite. Addictive, and it keeps for weeks. It's all about the vinegar: if you don't have a local source for great sherry vinegar I recommend ordering from Despaña.
To make ~360g / ~12 fl oz
180g neutral oil
5g garlic clove
5g dijon mustard
1.5g salt
1.5g black pepper
0.2g xanthan gum (optional)
35g Pedro Jiminez sherry vinegar
35g Palomino sherry vinegar
~60g Water (to adjust consistency)
Blast it together with a stick blender. I recommend adding all the solid ingredients to the oil, blending until it's pureed, then blending in the vinegars, and finally blend in water just until the consistency is right.
If you use xanthan, it probably won't separate.
You could use 100% pedro jiminez vinegar if you like, but that makes a bit too sweet for my tastes. The 50/50 blend is just right.
-
2
-
-
On 6/2/2022 at 11:53 PM, themistocles said:
Sometimes I make steak balmoral, which consists basically of steak braised in whisly (or rather what remains of it after setting it on fire). It has a nice color, good flavor and a tender texture and, like most such preparations, you can keep it on the stove for a while if you are not ready to serve the meal (it's useful for when I'm not sure at what time the missus is going to be back from work, so I can have it ready to serve at a moments notice).
For this recipe, you need a lean cut of meat (it can be pork or beef, and maybe chicken, although I'm not a fan of it), mushrooms, honey, whiskey, pepper, butter, stock and cream in undetermined quantities. You should mix the honey and the whiskey in advance.
First, sautee the mushrooms with butter on a pan or a wok with crushed peppercorns. Once they are done, set aside and cook the meat. Sometimes, if I want the result to be less oily, instead of sauteeing the meat with cooking oil, I use the fat of the meat itself to coat the wok. It might be more carcinogenic, but it's less oily. Once the meat is cooked, toss in the mushrooms, pour the mixture of whiskey and honey and set it ablaze while stirring. This is the perfect time to take a picture for Instagram, but be careful not to drop the phone on the pan. After the flames die out, add the stock and cream, and stir until the texture looks good. Usually I season it with rosemary and tarragon, and maybe fresh parsley if I have it.
So there you have an example of a recipe that includes whiskey and meat. Maybe it's not technically braising, since the meat is cooked before tossing whiskey on it, but it's tasty nontheless.
Yeah, this is a sauté that you've finished with some flamed booze. Nothing like a braise, and doesn't require the silly quantities of whisky that you'd probably need with a braise. Your technique is traditional for pan sauces. More commonly done with cognac.
Regarding the meat being oily, this doesn't have to be a thing. Meat can't absorb oil from the pan; it stays on the surface. So there shouldn't be a difference in meat oiliness if you use a little oil or a lot. But you'll get the best browning results if you use plenty of oil; its purpose is to fill in all the gaps and conduct heat to the meat. Once the meat's cooked (before you make the pan sauce), pour the excess oil out of the pan. Assuming the pan drippings are properly browned and stuck to the pan, you won't lose them. If you want to reduce oil farther, just blot off the surface of the meat with a paper towel.
-
1
-
1
-
-
5 minutes ago, weinoo said:
I have some of that as well, @paulraphael. And - I got it at Japan Village (which has quite an assortment of soy sauces).
Have you been to the sake store around the corner?
I walked by, but am not really a sake drinker.
They do indeed have quite a selection. I was overwhelmed, so video called a friend in Chicago who cooks a lot of Japanese food and does all his grocery shopping at Matsua. He said, "that one, get that one!"
-
2
-
-
I don't know what this is, but it's the best I've had.
[Edited to add: just did a reverse image search and found it here: https://www.amazon.com/Kishibori-Shoyu-Artisinal-Unadulterated-preservatives/dp/B004XX1NKQ. Kishibori Shoyu, aged in cedar. I got it at Japan Village in Brooklyn and am pretty sure I didn't pay this much.]
-
On 6/25/2022 at 12:03 AM, Yam said:
Hello folks,
This is a bit of an odd one, but I don't have a readily available source of non-stabilized heavy cream. However, I do have access to quality butter. As long as I adjust the proportions to control for fat and use a good blender to homogenize, does anyone see anything wrong with using milk/butter instead of milk/cream?
Some industrial ice creams are made this way (I'm not sure why exactly). They have to use powerful homogenizers, and still they sometimes have texture problems. I suspect that with home equipment you'd be disappointed in the results. You would probably need some kind of emulsifying ingredient (yolks would work).
-
1
-
-
19 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:
Oil and grease from my range hood drips down onto my head. Or into the food, depending.
Oh, yeah, I'm proud of my pancakes with vent-aged glaze of mixed oils. It's a house specialty.
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
2
-
-
On 6/14/2022 at 9:33 AM, weinoo said:
Where are you looking - because that tends to not be an apartment building? However, a friend recently bought an apartment up near Morningside Heights, and it actually came with what you're looking for. The vent goes into some sort of air shaft that the building had been fitted with; since it's an older pre-war, I'm guessing it was retrofitted to handle cooking ventilation.
As I may have mentioned somewhere previously, when we renovated (down to the studs), I had hopes of venting to the outside, at the top of my kitchen window. But that involved an engineering nightmare, and by the time all was said and done, would probably have worked no better than what I have now, since it involved multiple turns in the ductwork - each turn crushes the efficiency of the venting.
Looking at houses mostly. Taking cues from if there's already a hood venting to the outside.
-
18 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:
You don't keep your pans in the kitchen do you?
I do. It's not the best arrangement. We're shopping for a new place right now, and I'm insisting on a place where we can put in a 36" range and a commercial-style hood that vents outside. Without ripping the place down to the studs.
-
3
-
-
21 hours ago, weinoo said:
The vents seen are on both sides of the hood.
The vent on mine is aimed at my face.
-
1
-
-
27 minutes ago, weinoo said:
I think the thing with recirculating exhaust hoods is that the filters are of prime importance.
Dishwasher safe ones are great, and the addition of a charcoal filter can only help.
And I think some of them have powerful blowers. In some cases they're designed to either be a proper venting hood or a recirculating hood, depending on if you hook them up to ducts or to a filter unit.
Others are like mine. Understandable more as retro / ironic art installations.
-
We have the standard NYC grease-recirculating hood. I almost never turn it on, because adding lawnmower sound effects to the cooking process, while slightly changing the direction of the smoke and splatter, doesn't strike me as much of a value-add.
My workaround is that I often have to clean pans before cooking, in addition to after. We also use window fans, and a huge HEPA air filter. They get turned almost every time I cook on the range, because I use a lot of heat. Eating good food without smoke and splatter means ordering takeout.
-
1
-
2
-
Gotten any fun stuff lately?
in Kitchen Consumer
Posted
It's pretty easy to clean. Not as easy as the grinders that come apart without tools. Much easier than my old Baratza (which I cleaned about once every 5 years, whether it needed it or not!)
Despite fellow's attempts at anti-static engineering, the thing is pretty staticy and retains some grounds. You can solve this with a couple of popular tricks. The first is to add a bit of water to the beans before grinding. Either a spritz with a small atomizer bottle, or just wet your finger and swirl it around the beans. This dissipates most of the static. People use this technique with many grinders. The 2nd trick is to wait about 10 seconds after the grind cycle is done. Most of the static will dissipate. Then hit the knocker a few times. I have no idea how staticy my Baratza was, because I never thought about it and almost never looked inside there.
You need a screwdriver to actually get into the burr chamber. The nice part of the design is that you can do this without messing with the calibration settings. Just pop the whole front plate off, take out the rotating burr, and then it's wide open. You can get in with a brush and clean everything. Only trick to reassembly is making sure you get the grounds off of all machined surfaces, so you don't mess with the alignment.