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Nick

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  1. I am sorry if this information has been covered on any of the threats mentioned above, but David Rosengarten has a pretty useful article that might be quite helpful.

    Cooktops

    Hope this helps

    Alex

    Thanks for that link, Alex. Great and informative article. A couple of thoughts came to mind in reading it. First -

    THE TURNING OF THE DIALS Make sure your prospective range doesn't have sticky dials. And make sure your dials turn down to low as easily as they do to high. Often, when attempting to find the lowest possible setting, you must turn the dial so far down that eventually the flame just disappears, forcing you to reignite. My advice: Test the low heat on your prospective cooktop and make sure you can find the lowest setting.

    When I got my Amana (definitely not a high end range), I was pleasantly surprised when the people installing the propane line told me I could adjust the the lowest settings on all of the burners and showed me how. On this range it is done by removing the control knobs and adjusting a screw that is down inside the hollow shaft that holds the knob. It takes a very, very small straight slot screwdriver to do this. But, by doing it the lowest setting for any burner can be adjusted so the flame goes as low as possible without the flame going out. It's a great feature to have. (When doing this keep in mind whether there might be air currents caused by an open window or opening and closing door that might blow out the flame.)

    Second thought -

    Air flow can be affected by sealed or unsealed burners. Traditionally, all burners were left "unsealed." In other words, the flame was surrounded by an open groove through which food could drop. But then home cooks began objecting to that open groove because dropped-through food inevitably accumulated under the cooktop. Companies responded by offering a sealed burner, which contains the spillover to the cooktop—but reduces the heat efficiency of your BTUs. My advice: Skip the sealed burners.

    I've been working with fire and combustion for a long time and what is said about the better combustion without the sealed burners is certainly true. But, I'll take sealed burners anytime. I have ocassional boiler-overs and sealed burners make things much easier to deal with - as do removable burner drip pans.

    Thanks again for the link. There's a lot of info there and things to think about.

  2. I just got an email from a friend asking about gas range tops

    Bill and I are looking at the 36" drop-in gas range tops, that we plan on putting into a center island. I really want the high btu's and the low so we're looking at the following models. Have you heard much about these brands: Dacor, Wolf and DCS. I'm sorta leaning towards the DCS since I've read a lot more positive reviews about this range.

    I know there have been previous threads related to this but I just did three different searches and couldn't come up with them. Most recently I know it was discussed in Varmints kitchen reno thread but it's really buried in there so I thought I'd start fresh. Any thoughts or links to the right threads? Thanks.

  3. Thanks for all the encouragement to use the eggs. I guess most of them would end up in the fumet when I make that out most of the shells. But, things have gotten slowed down considerably from my initial burst of enthusiasm to make bisque. Getting the smelts sidetracked me for a couple of days while I ate them - and figuring I better take care of the shrimp, I shucked most of them to freeze, including the shells to freeze, and freezing some with just the heads off. So it looks like I'm not gettin' to the bisque right away.

    I also got sidetracked because after I started the thread I got a mess off different kinds of miso from South River Miso and one of them, Garlic Red Pepper, makes the most perfect shrimp miso soup I could ever imagine. When I was sampling the different misos I'd gotten and came to the Garlic Red pepper, I knew it would be perfect with shrimp and it is. Then too, the second night of cooking the smelts I made a temura batter for them and did a few shrimp tempured at the same time. Great! (The smelt are better off the old way - coat with egg and cornmeal.) Anyhow bisque faded off into the distance. I'll get to it sometime along. I was mostly viewing it as a way to use the shells, but now I'm thinking if I make a fumet that uses them, then I can use the fumet in the shrimp miso soup in place of water.

    On the fishing front, I called Craig (the fisherman) a little while ago and learned than he's only getting 75 cents off the boat and little market. Cindy, his wife, is shucking them out for meat to sell to make some money. That's a bitch - especially as the shrimp are only about medium size right now. A lot of shucking for a little meat.

    Shady - good to hear you're still around. I got to thinking maybe you'd drifted out to sea. :biggrin:

  4. Miso will keep almost forever, especially if refrigerated. I have unrefrigerated miso anywhere from five to ten years old. It gets some white on the top. Just scrape it off as the miso is still good and even more aged.

    Edit: See also here.

  5. Well, I've gotten myself into deeper water than I thought I was in. I can be so naive. I thought, well I have some shrimp shells so I'll make a bisque. Now I see that first I have to make a shellfish fumet so it's off to town to get some white wine and more shrimp. The Pro Chef recipe calls for heavy cream, but I discovered Judy Rodgers has a corn-shrimp bisque recipe in the Zuni cookbook that doesn't use cream. So - to cream or not to cream? I'm leaning towards Judy's recipe without the corn (and cream.)

    Rachel, Judy's got a method of turning fumet into sauces in Zuni - see page 172 which will then lead to page 56. I don't know if it would work with the bisque, but it's worth looking at.

  6. Thanks, Brad. I'll use the eggs. Beachcove, they are the small Maine shrimp. Small, but tasty. I'll be using the recipe from the Pro Chef - if anyone's got a better one let me know. Thanks.

  7. I'm with Fat Guy on getting at least one high output burner for boiling water. The Amana I got (which is no pro model) has two high output and the second one really isn't needed. Definitely get a simmer burner with what ever you get. I use that a lot as I make lots of soups, stocks, etc. Very good for making rice as well.

  8. Here in Maine, shrimp season opened Monday and I got some yesterday. So, I've shucked them out and kept the shells thinking I'd make a bisque. The thing is that the shrimp right now have lots of eggs since they're headed to spawn - and most of the eggs come off with the shell. The question is - when I go to saute the shells in the butter, should I include the eggs or rinse them off before sauteing the shells?

  9. Robyn - What are these fixtures? I still haven't done my kitchen lighting and am looking for energy effiency and good light. I have a small solar electric system and it would be nice to run the kitchen lighting from it if need be. (I can transfer load from grid to solar.)

    Do you have any links to learn more - or a google term to search for?

    Thanks

    Nick: usually what this means is that the base of the fixture (the part that attaches to the celing) is smaller than the diffuser, so the part that houses the lamp(s) appears to float off the ceiling.

    Here's an example that shows the principle pretty clearly, since the base is black: click

    Dave (and Robyn) - thanks for the info. Unfortunately it looks a little to commercial/surburban for my place. And huge! Right now I'm illuminating the kitchen space with one 24 watt compact flourescent in a clip lamp aimed toward the ceilng - flat white ceiling, as are the walls. Flat white really makes a difference in being able to light an area with only one or two lamps. I don't know if there's anything available like this, but if there were a fixture that reflected lamp light to the ceiling and would hold one or two compact flourescents it would light a lot of space. (If you don't gease up the ceiling. :biggrin:)

    Well, I've gotta get out of here to go puke - listening to GW's state of the union. That dude has got to go!

  10. Here is one way to save money when it comes to lighting.  Use a couple of "floating look"  fluorescent fixtures for now.  Maybe a rectangular one along the "galley" and a square one in the middle of the left hand area.  They are cheap -energy efficient - and will give you tons of light.  There are "warm bulbs" which emit a light color which won't make the kitchen look like a garage.  Robyn

    Robyn - What are these fixtures? I still haven't done my kitchen lighting and am looking for energy effiency and good light. I have a small solar electric system and it would be nice to run the kitchen lighting from it if need be. (I can transfer load from grid to solar.)

    Do you have any links to learn more - or a google term to search for?

    Thanks

  11. Well, I just ordered a "sampler" from South River.

    1 x Hearty Brown Rice Miso 1 lb. Glass Jar (RHBR) = $8.25

    1 x Chickpea Barley Miso 1 lb. Glass Jar (RCPBAR) = $8.25

    1 x Three-Year Barley Miso 4 lb. (RBAR) = $30.15

    1 x Dandelion Leek Miso 1 lb. Glass Jar (RDL) = $12.00

    3 x Miso Tamari One Pint (T0) = $24.00

    1 x Azuki Bean Miso 1 lb. Glass Jar (RAZ) = $8.00

    1 x Garlic Red Pepper Miso 1 lb. Glass Jar (RGAR) = $10.00

    ------------------------------------------------------

    Sub-Total: $100.65

    Discount: $15.11

    Table Rate (Ground): $9.50

    Total: $95.05

    I got the 4# of three year barley because I know it's good. I got the 3 pints of miso tamari because if it's as good as what they were making 20 years ago, it's some kick ass tamari. I've never had better.

  12. South River Miso makes very nice miso. It's a "chunky" miso, rather than being a smooth paste. My favorite is the three year old barley. They take their miso making seriously and the results show that. If you go to their site there are lots of places to poke around and learn more about miso and their shop.

    Edit: They also have recipes at their site.

  13. I'd put the sink back where you had it. I think it's going to feel wrong to be standing at the sink and have your forward plane of vision divided like that. Also, although it appears that you still have close to two feet of open peninsula at the range end of the sink, I think you're going to want that as both prep area and hot zone, so I'd be happier with the previous larger space.

    I do kind of like the additional few inches of depth, though.

    A detail, but just in case you haven't thought about it: you've squared off the end of the peninsula, which is fine, conceptually. In reality, you want to make sure these corners are rounded to avoid sharp gut-checks as you turn that corner, and of course to protect the Li'l Varmints' heads and shoulders.

    I was looking at that last night and thinking the same thing - both about the space at the range end of the sink (good place to put hot pans and pots if tiled) and the need to round the corners of the end of that counter. Better to lose a few square inches of space than to, as Dave says , snag a gut on it or have one of the little ones heads run up against a sharp corner.

  14. Woodburner -

    Her garden out in back of the restaurant here is well known. They also have a greenhouse where some things are grown over the winter using Eliot Coleman's techniques. We've had a lot of below zero(F) weather here over the last few weeks so I'm not sure if anything survived. I also see at her website that you gave above that she seems to have opened a place in Orlando, FL so she may be down there cooking over the winter. Also at her website you can click "Garden" (second line down) to find out more.

    Pat Manley built the wood-fired oven there and I did the steelwork for it. One of these days I''ve got to get over and sample some of the food.

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