HowardLi

Also, is it possible to overcook potatoes for mashing?

Is it better to refrigerate the retrograded mashed potatoes before or after the dairy is added?

After you rice the potatoes, work the puree through a tamis or fine mesh strainer. The retrogradation technique doesn't work well with a coarse-textured potato mash, precisely because of the graininess issue. Trying to understand what you're saying here... the retrograde doesn't effect a smoother texture if the potatoes are not mashed finely enough? Isn't that sort of... obvious? Or am I missing something?

Can anybody in the last few posts offer their thoughts on how to solve the graininess issue next time?

Oops, I meant to say _not_ very useful - can't edit now.

Power rating is very useful... lower power can be fixed by starting off with hot water, preferably hotter than your set point. Most important feature is an accurate probe, and second most important feature I would say is reliable and fast convection/circulation.

You have it about right. 746 watts equals one horsepower. 1000 watts equals 1.34 horsepower. It still amounts to a lie. Wattage is can be used to measure power consumption or output power. Horsepower is ONLY used to measure output power. HP is a unit of power, no more, no less. It'd be better for the manufacturers to rate their units in terms of how fast you can take bread dough to windowpane, but alas...

If it helps, I'm a mechanical engineer.

Thank you. It is not easy to find a good high-carbon steel cleaver. Everything is stainless steel nowadays. I had to make my own. dcarch http://www.japanesechefsknife.com/ChineseCleaver.html At least half of the cleavers on that page are carbon steel.

What point are you trying to prove, that one needs professional training before attempting to use a belt grinder to sharpen a knife?

Yep. Power ratings are pretty much useless, unless you want to know how much money you are paying when you're running the thing full load.

It's nice that we're pointing out the disadvantages of belt sanding, but note that it takes a lot of force, applied for a fairly long time, for a steel to get hot enough for heat-treat processes to become active, seeing as there is no backing behind the belt where the knife is sharpened. If you simply tell someone to dip the knife edge into water every few seconds, you avoid the problem completely. As for metal removal speed... if someone tries to do this without following instructions, I wouldn't feel too bad. Those who have used a machine to grind a knife will tell you it takes seconds to heat up the thin edge of a knife and permanently turn a $300 knife into a $10.00 knife. Dipping in water helps, but not much. Regarding no backing behind the belt, that is a completely different issue altogether. One of the important thing with sharpening a knife is to keep the proper angle of grind for the specific knife edge. Using a belt sander with no belt backing, you will be putting a what is known as “Convex Edge” on your knife, which can be desirable if you know what you are doing and what your knife is used for, but not very good idea if you are not familiar with this topic and you knife is not designed to take on a convex edge. It is important to know that sanding belt can only run in one direction. To replace multiple belts on the machine constantly you run into the risk of mounting the belt in the opposite direction and break the belt easily. There is some danger if you grind your blade and not follow the direction of run of the belt. The blade can cut into the belt, and the belt can grab the knife and throw the knife at high speed in an unpredictable direction. IMHO, do not try. dcarch It is quite easy to heat up the steel too far... if you leave the belt grinding the same spot. Dipping into water immediately cools the steel to below 100 degrees C, and within a fairly short period of time, to near the temperature of the water. Remember, though the edge is thin and easy to heat, it is also easy to cool. A belt grinder with a backing would simply be a quicker way to sand a knife with a stone; much of the same technique is required. No, I speak of purely sanding on a belt without a backing, to intentionally acquire a convex edge. Convex edges are, in many ways, superior to the typical hollow or double bevel grinds from the factory on most knives. Your argument about the knife needing to be made for a convex edge - I don't buy it. Without getting into the nitty gritty, a convex edge is the strongest edge. I have never heard of a one-directional belt of this style (1"x30" meant for these small garage units). Can you link to one that is? Why even bother mentioning that the belt needs to run away from the edge? May as well tell someone not to sharpen their knife, period, because they might cut their fingers off. Come on... somebody interested enough in moving onto the next step of sharpening is probably able to figure that part out real quick. Anyway, don't take this as anything more than civilized discourse.

It's nice that we're pointing out the disadvantages of belt sanding, but note that it takes a lot of force, applied for a fairly long time, for a steel to get hot enough for heat-treat processes to become active, seeing as there is no backing behind the belt where the knife is sharpened. If you simply tell someone to dip the knife edge into water every few seconds, you avoid the problem completely. As for metal removal speed... if someone tries to do this without following instructions, I wouldn't feel too bad.

The type of belt grinder he is using is inexpensive compared to some manual systems (including EPs, water stones, etc.) and belts cost a few dollars a piece, even for the good ones.

Yeah, this is pretty much what I was looking for, though I didn't think it would take 20 posts to achieve it.

Correct. No thermal energy is being transferred... which, at least, is a change from "the cooktop does not heat up the pot". Please describe how and which characteristics of a cooking vessel affect how evenly itself is heated.

Induction cook top does not heat up the pot. The pot heats itself up by converting the magnetic field to heat. Therefore the design and construction of the pot have a lot to do with it. dcarch Not sure if you're playing with semantics here, but the cooktop does heat up the pot. It runs AC through a big-ass coil which in turn produces a rapidly-changing magnetic field which causes Joule heating in the ferromagnetic (for cooking) material. So, in effect, what I am asking is if you had a flat sheet of iron on the cooktop, turned on the cooktop, and looked at the top with thermo-vision, what would it look like? No need to lecture me about how conductive certain materials are, this isn't about that. Not at all playing with words. I am sorry if you feel that I am lecturing. Induction cooking is very unique that it really does not heat up the cookware. The cookware, by the effects of hysteresis energy and eddy current generated (two of the most undesirable effects in transformer design are being taken advantage in induction cook tops), heats itself up. How the heating distribution menifests, as I understand, depends a great deal on the design of the cookware and not the cook top. dcarch Yes, I suppose if you could that you take away the ferromagnetic substance above the cooktop, then yes, nothing is happening. However, in the non-trivial situation where there is a vessel containing ferromagnetic material above the cooktop, the power goes into the cooktop and is transferred somewhat efficiently into the vessel material. You even admitted that eddy currents are necessary within the material; where are the eddy currents coming from, if not the source of the energy? Electrical energy -> magnetic energy -> electrical energy -> thermal energy Are you trying to make the point that heat energy is not conducted through the cooktop? Everybody knows that. Anyway, enough on this point - we are speaking of words and words alone.

Induction cook top does not heat up the pot. The pot heats itself up by converting the magnetic field to heat. Therefore the design and construction of the pot have a lot to do with it. dcarch Not sure if you're playing with semantics here, but the cooktop does heat up the pot. It runs AC through a big-ass coil which in turn produces a rapidly-changing magnetic field which causes Joule heating in the ferromagnetic (for cooking) material. So, in effect, what I am asking is if you had a flat sheet of iron on the cooktop, turned on the cooktop, and looked at the top with thermo-vision, what would it look like? No need to lecture me about how conductive certain materials are, this isn't about that.

Does anybody know the power distribution of an induction element, i.e. how evenly the heat is transferred to the cooking vessel? Is it perfect even, or a series of concentric heating rings, or random, or varying?

Make it even smoother? The mechanical action which turns potatoes into glue doesn't simply become benign once there's enough liquid, does it? To clarify again, I'm talking about smooth potato soups, where a blender has been used (stand or immersion).

Specifically CI's "Creamy Leek-Potato Soup", the creamless one; would it make a difference if the potato was cooked to retrograde its starch first? How about for smooth potato soups in general?

I use 18" wide foil, heavy duty, folded twice for 3 layers of protection. Yes, it hurts.

Unless you live in a very deep hole, you can't bring water to 225F.

Perhaps I should go with a leek-potato soup, followed by a leafy salad, then? I need to do the osso buco for various reasons. Small portions, of course.

That is, in a full course?