mcohen
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Posts posted by mcohen
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This website here seems to offer a conclusion based on various reports that have been done by people such as Consumer Reports and Good Housekeeping. I would love to find a convenient way of making our city water drinkable, as right now it tastes as though it has come straight from the lake down the road.
I remember looking at that same report on the website last year, and they had rated the PUR filter higher than Brita for their best water filter pitcher so I'm not sure what changed since then.
Keep in mind, that website is only as good as the sources it uses. The problem is that it relies too much on Consumer Reports for stuff that CR doesn't really do well on. (I'm not sure what topic I would trust CR on). Ask yourself this: would you really trust CR's rating on food?
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In my lifetime, I've eaten so many chinese meals that I'm sure I must be part chinese by now.
But, I was at a 99 Ranch store and noticed they were selling shell oysters. However, I can't ever recall eating oysters in a chinese restaurant.
In chinese cuisine, other than using them for oyster sauce, what do they do with oysters? Are there any chinese dishes I could make at home using oysters?
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I use the same Victorinox blade referred to on 24Mar by FatGuy which is 20cm (8") and is sharp all the way along its length. I bought it after Testuya Wakada identified it as the blade he used in one of his cooking demonstrations.
The weird thing is that I googled Testuya Wakada and knife, and I guess he's signed some deal with Mac knives because he's quoted as saying, "It (Mac)is the only brand of knife I will use in the kitchen." And, given his japanese heritage, you'd think he would have used the japanese fish fillet knives as discussed previously in this thread.
But, I'm still curious about the Victorniox blade. Under the category of fillet/fishing knives, Victorniox mades quite a number of different knives with different shapes. By now, you'd think there would be some type of consensus on the best shape for a knife to fillet a fish with.
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Ideally, what's the best shape for a fish knife?
I've seen different variations from cimiter shaped knife where the spine and blade are curved like a sword to something like the boning knife where the spine remains straight.
The knife referenced is listed as boning knife by Forschner with a usable blade of 5". I would have to assume that the Microban treatment makes the knife attractive for commercial use but in reality the knife is too short to fillet and remove skin from all but the smallest fish. An 8" fillet is the shortest I use and sometimes even the 9" Wilson could be bigger depending on the fish size.-Dick
Just when I was all set to buy the Forschner Fat Guy recommended...
First of all, I'm kind of confused- it said it was 6" so how did you know it only had a usable blade of 5".
What's the most versatile size for a fish knife? If I'm going to fillet fishes like salmon, is the 6" still too small?
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What's the best cookbook out there for cooking with fruit?
I'm thinking about buying Nicole Routhier's F"ruit Cookbook: 400 Sweet & Savory Fruit-Filled Recipes", but I'm wondering if there are any better choices.
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If I read Mr. Bourdain correctly, he's not overly impressed with himself. He knows that he's been incredibly lucky and grateful to have chanced into a unique opportunity to travel around the world tasting food. The cameras surrounding him are a necessary evil. The producers are a constant butt of his snarkasm, but are the same time, his life blood. He's almost a parody of himself - in a good way.
So, when he looks at food bloggers, I imagine that it's hard for him to take himself out of the equation. The job is basically the same. And since he doesn't take himself very seriously, can he in any good conscience not view food bloggers with the same deprecation he willingly and enthusiastically heaps on himself?
I don't know...
After seeing the way those food bloggers debased themselves like that, do you really think Bourdain sees the food bloggers on the same level as him? In his own eyes, Bourdain sees himself more as the too-cool-for-school rebel bad boy. With the way some foodies flock and stalk Bourdain, there's no way he could view them the same way. As modest as Bourdain portrays his cooking skills, I don't ever recall him poking fun of himself as some type of band geek loser who can't get a girlfriend.
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I only found this catalog recently. I'd always wondered why we used to use butcher knives to cut fish up - and here they were fish choppers all along.
This is a very interesting point. If there are specific knives designed for fish, why do we use something like a boning knife to cut up fish? I know I'm almost never going to use it to bone a chicken, and I want the best possible knife form to cut fish.
I'm assuming people have used the boning knife for versatility- one knife to bone both meat and fish instead of getting two knives. However, in Fat Guy's experience with professional fish mongers, they're using a boning knife to cut fish even though they don't need that versatility. Surely, the professionals must be using a boning knife for a reason?
Can anyone quickly explain the Western, flexible-blade technique? Or point to a good video of someone doing it cleanly and expertly?Here's a really good video:
At the very least, you should watch it just for the part about the importance of using a mallet when cutting fish into steaks.
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Why not use Steven Raichlen's books? He seems to be the go to guy for BBQ and grilling.
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I've started cooking more fish, and I figure it should be cheaper and better in terms of getting fresher fish if I buy whole fish and break it down myself.
But, when I've been tried to do that with a regular chef's knife for salmon, I end up leaving so much meat on the bones that I figure its probably costing me more money buying a whole salmon rather than buying salmon fillets.
I don't know if its technique or equipment, and its probably both.
So, what's a good flexible boning knife to use on fish?
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A friend gave me a pair of these Oxo steel whisks:
which have handles that are a little less blocky than the composition handles.
I just watched Cook's Country on PBS and they did a whisk evaluation and rated this whisk tops along with the more expensive Rosle whisk.
I was just on America's Test Kitchen website, reading throught their equipment reviews. But, with their ballon whisks, I didn't see Oxo as a recommended product.
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I don't know about Jason and the others, but we all know that Fat Guy is married and that they have a darling son - he seems to have done just fine in the relationship department!
Plus, Fat Guy probably ended up doing better financially in the end by dropping out of lawering and becoming a food blogger. I know that Lehman Brothers very strongly urged and prodded its employees to invest their money and bonuses back into Lehman Brothers, and he would have lost it all if he had stayed with Lehman Brothers.
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This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I thought the show was truly awful during the part about the food blogging community. The other parts were fine but I'm just so... disappointed in the food bloggers who were all too eager to play up to the worst sterotypes about themselves, and by extension, the entire online foodie community, just so they could get some air time. I was just cringing in embarassement as the bloggers laid out to the world how pathetic they were with the whole sublimiation of sex into food. At some point, if you've got some self-respect and dignity, you need to walk off instead of particpating in that charade. The only way it could have gotten worse would have been to find out that the bloggers still living at home with their parents.
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What's the best fish spatula on the market? And, what should I be looking for when buying one?
I see some that are metal, but wouldn't that be a problem for most people when they cook a fish in a non-stick pan?
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Ideally, I was looking for a Weber One Touch Gold.
One last thing, Weber kettles can be found used and in good condition. Lots of people buy them, but can't/won't learn to love charcoal. If I had to do it all over again, I'd buy one on craigslist for a fraction of what I spent...
At what point, are they still in good condition. From CL, I've seen pictures of the grills looking all crudy and nasty so I just bypassed them.
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You are correct, it's not, and I'm not saying she shouldn't ask the tough questions. That's not what bothered me. There already is a compromise position, she just chose not to show it. Everything - her tone, questions, voice over commentary, and the editing - made the idea of eating well sound ridiculous. She left out a million things you might mention about slow food, sustainability, farmers, the environment and locavorism.
To me, its funny that you complained about the editing becuase I've read and heard unedited Alice Waters interviews, and Alice comes across much worse than the 60 minutes interview. But, what ended up happening was that sympathatic journalists would end up editing the interviews so Alice wouldn't come across that badly.
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monster munching is a decent blog for OC ethnic eats...
Also, a warning to unsuspecting foodies, that same guy somehow leveraged that blog into a position as the restaurant reviewer at the OC Weekly. I was never a fan of Gustavo Allerano's-I-can't-be-a-racist-because-I'm-Mexican shtick, but at least his Hole in the Wall wasn't that bad with his recommendations.
My friend and I spent almost $90/person for omakase at a sushi place because the reviewer at the OC Weekly was swooning all about their omakase. Needless, to say, the omakase wasn't that good- the sushi guy didn't really understand how to do omakase and things were jumbled all out of order. I might as well have gotten a seat at a table. And, to add insult to injury, the sushi, from the rice to the quality of the fish, wasn't that great.
It upset me that we spent that much for a mediocre meal, when we could have gotten a very good meal somewhere else for the money we spent. Given how divergent our experience was from the review, I was curious what went wrong- did that place simply have a very bad night. I googled that place, only to discover that the OC Weekly writer was the same infamous elmomonster blogger. No wonder that place was such a disappointment.
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According to a report on NPR tonight, Chez Panisse stopped selling still bottled water to its patrons months ago. As the general manager of the restaurant explained, the environmental impact of bottling and shipping water from Europe was of concern, especially since a perfectly good alternative comes out of the faucet.
Her business's move is very much in the spirit of one of the author's major arguments for eating local as much as one can.
Is bottling and shipping water from Europe really that much worse for the enviorment than bottling and shipping wine fromm Europe? If you look at Chez Panisse's winelist, most of their wines come from Europe even though CP is located so close to the Napa Valley. What could be more local than Napa Valley wine?
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Is there a specific time in the month when charcoal grills go on sale? And, how much would something like Webers go on sale for?
I've got a 10% coupon from Lowe's that I could use to buy a charcoal grill, but I can wait to buy them if they go on sale.
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Interesting....its been awhile since I have been back, yet another reason to get in there! Sounds like a steal, its $20 not including drinks, tax and tip?
It was $25 when I last tried their lunch menu, not including drinks, tax, and tip.
And, as somebody pointed out, the lunch menu does get kind of repetitive especially the desserts which I've found to be the most underwhelming portion of the restaurant. I'd rather not get the desserts, and I view the $25 asthe price for a two course meal and a dessert that I wouldn't have ordered.
If Florneau Morneau wasn't married to the pastry chef, I think we'd have seen a new pastry chef by now.
Maybe, I misunderstood the concept, but I thought the concept was supposed to be seasonal and local. Yet, I saw asparagus and south american seafood in January.
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I tried squeegeeing the skin with a knife, and I didn't think it really worked. Maybe, I did it wrong, but I didn't notice any improvement.
Instead, I'm a big fan of this method that Gordon Ramsay demonstrates in the following video:
Its amazing how much of a difference it really made. On the same piece of salmon, I tried squeegeeing it on one half and the Ramsay way the other way.
It wasn't even close.
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Lots of Chinese people use skillets at home. The problem with CI's recommendation is they also tell you to use a nonstick pan, which is silly for stir frying. Not only will the nonstick coating decompose very quickly when using the high heat required of stir frying, but since the surface itself does not transfer heat as well as metal, the food cooked in it won't taste as good, either.
I was watching Mark Bittman on PBS where he went to Slanted Door in SF, and he also used a non-stick skillet.
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I haven't had many soup dumplings before, so didn't have a point of reference, but I enjoyed the meal.
One thing that you'll appreciate after you eat more soup dumplings is how thin and perfect the dumpling skins are at Din Tai Fung are. After DTF, you'll notice how much thicker the dumpling skins are at other establishments to ensure that their dumplings won't break apart.
The dumplings skins are indeed a beautiful thing but I must disagree with them not breaking as it happened to me
It's just a pity that the filling at DTF aren't all that spectacular otherwise they would have truly had THE best dumplings.
I've eaten at the LA one a number of times, and never had that issue.
Perhaps, you ate there while they were still new and hadn't ironed out all their kinks? It takes skill to make those dumpling skins, and they need to train those workers to make those unique skins.
Restaurant reviewers usually give a new opening a chance to get their bearings first before they review them.
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I'd second Tom Kime's "Exploring Taste and Flavour" that looks at balancing hot, sour, salty, and sweet in Eastern (predominately Thai) cooking. However, the flavor balancing principles are not restricted to Asian food: when tasting during cooking I always ask myself if these flavors are balanced and adjust seasonings accordingly if they are not.
Kime was previously a protege of David Thompson (author of Thai Food and chef at one-Michelin starred Nahm in London). His approach to food shows a strong influence of Thompson's approach.
"In late 2005 Exploring Taste and Flavour was awarded the prize of “Best first cook book in Britain 2005” by the World Gourmand Awards. In March 2006 Exploring Taste and Flavour was nominated as a finalist in the Chef and Restaurant category in the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) awards in the United States." (this information from http://www.tomkimechef.com)
Amazon link is:
http://www.amazon.com/Exploring-Taste-Flav.../dp/1856267288/
When you are doing your research, don't forget that research shows that flavor is also strongly mediated by mouth feel (texture) as well as visual and auditory cues.
I studied this book side by side with Rocco's book since they both seemed to be trying to do the same thing, and I thought the Rocco book was hands down superior in almost every way. But, with Rocco's reputation, nobody wants to admit that.
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When the LA Times opened up its archive, I noted a drop off in the quality of their food articles being written today compared to what they were writing only a few years ago. For example, in a review of Bourdain's cookbook, the writer took Bourdain to task for his flawed recipes where she actually tested the recipes in Bourdain's cookbook to see if they worked. Nowadays, when the LA Times covers a cookbook, its more along the lines of 'oh, that recipe sounded interesting' without the same thoroughness of actually testing those recipes.
The odd thing (to my mind) is that the two writers write "blogs" nearly every day, then just compile them into columns for Wednesday. If you read the paper every day, there's just no point in the Wednesday food section.I've noticed that trend too where even as the newspapers cut back their food coverage, you're also seeing more blogs and posts from their food writers. I hope those writers are being compensated for the extra work!
But, seriously, it probably makes more sense for the newspapers to shift their food coverage to their online section instead of the print section. That way, you could include a lot more photos of the food in the restaurant reviews when that would be prohibitive, cost-wise, to do that in print.
Let's face it, a large portion of the readers of the food section are really looking at the pictures. Look at all the poorly written food blogs that have thrived because they include all those shots of the food. The sad part is that one of the local sources for food review in my area rewarded those bloggers by giving them that platform to write restaurant reviews. But, with less pictures in their print review, it's becoming more obvious, to me, at least, how poorly written those reviews were in the first place.
Fish pliers
in Kitchen Consumer
Posted
Given how tedious picking out pinbones in salmon can get, its amazing that Costco's salmon, with the pinbones already removed, isn't sold at a higher price.
But, sometimes, you just need to pick out the pinbones yourself if you're dealing with a whole fish or if they don't already remove the pinbones for you. In that case, I'm wondering if buying specific fish pliers are better than using tweezers?
And, if so, anything particular that I should get? In Burt Wolf's New Cook's Catalogue, the Messemesiter fish pliers were the only ones mentioned. But, since that book was released over ten years ago, I'm wondering if there are any better choices or options today.