Dave the Cook

nearly new Wusthof Classic 10" cook's knife...came in at 9 3/4 oz. Are they starting to skimp on the steel? For purposes of comparison, my 10" Henckel (made c. 1979) is 9-3/4 ounces.

I'm confused. Is this terrine better than the tete de veau at DB Bistro Moderne? (Nick, I'm with you. The hurrieder I go...)

Right. And it's been mised by somebody making ten bucks an hour. (And will be cleaned up by somebody making even less, but I digress.)

Boy, you got that right. It's one of my pet peeves. I think it partly explains the success of the Food Network--watching somebody execute is so much more informative than reading about how to do it, especially the way cookbooks are usually written. Of course, many cookbooks by TV chefs have this same shortcoming.

The bastards. Onions fall of the knife pretty much by their own weight, don't you think? And the pieces are bigger than minced garlic. Plus, onions are watery, rather than oily like garlic.

Well, I meant my question half as a joke and half to get back on topic, but you're I think you're right. And as for: I have to thank you for helping me figure out these: And one does not even have to guess which Jacques. The answer is either something out of La Technique, or "payunt eet wis zee whyut shocolot and let eet coool." Either way, you get a great answer. Oops. Off topic again.

I was about to write that such elementary procedure went without saying. But then I realized that the insouciant introduction of a second lean and smush lifts your technique above the mundane. Thank you. But don't you get a lot of little bits sticking to the knife?

The correct answer is: whatever way works for you. But often, it's done like this: 1. The clove is cut lengthwise from one end almost to the other, to make a few "almost slices." 2. The clove (or the knife) is rotated 90 degrees, and the operation is repeated, again lengthwise. 3. The operation is completed by cutting widthwise at narrow intervals to release the mincees. You can do onions this way, too. Or you could get a (shudder) garlic press.

...and so Fat-Guy brings us full circle. One day, in an unremarkable thread, he mentions, in passing, that he is thinking about buying one of these. He gets us to feed him all this information, then slyly moves on to arguing with Plotnicki about something (anything). But he has planted a seed. The next week, he introduces a topic about slicing things really, really thin, insinuating that the only decent tool for the job is a $300 countertop rotary deli slicer. We toss some ideas around, and Fat-Guy waits. And waits. Eventually, somebody suggests what? A granton-edge Wusthof Santoku! He must have turned blue holding his breath, waiting for us to do his evil bidding... Now he can justify the knife--it wasn't his idea, it was somebody else's. And it's not an $80 hit to the pocketbook, it's a $220 savings. What a clever clever man. I feel cheap and used.

I would think consistency would be a problem. With paper-thin or near-paper-thin slices you don't have much margin for error.

Well, I have an Oxo (or a reasonable counterfeit), so I'll say yes, because it's better than the VP I used when I did it. I'll also come clean and admit that I haven't actually done salumi this way. But we used to use this technique to shave nearly-frozen Hormel "prosciutto" for hors d'oeuvres and garnishes. Anyway, I figured it was worth a shot, as long as Fat-Guy seemed to be trembling by his PC, waiting for suggestions and willing to try just about anything.

Not to confuse things, because I think for the most part this is really is technique and practice practice practice, but one should not underestimate the utility of a vegetable peeler for small, hard salume.

BTW, where is this recipe that gives me an excuse to use a half-cup of chopped garlic?

Never heard that one before. A colloquial linguistic erosion common to rural and Southern U.S. We use it lots hereabouts.

Given the price and the "J&R Music" appellation, I'd bet Cuisinart has discontinued it. Better get yours quick.

Lucky you to have green tomatoes this late in the year. Ours crop is almost gone. Make a Remoulade, substituting finely crumbled blue cheese for about 1/2 the mayonnaise, and let it meld for at least an hour. Core the 'maters slice them about 3/8" (~1 cm) thick. Dip in flour seasoned with salt, pepper and a teeny tiny bit of sugar. Then dip in egg, then corn meal. Fry in neutral oil over medium high heat. Or, season the flour with S&P, thyme and cayenne. Instead of blue cheese, adulterate the remoulade with some Old Bay (if your Remoulade has tarragon, omit it) and chopped shrimp.

Including pesky metaphorical horses, thank God. Tommy, is it like this? Or this? Find it here. I have both--use the first for dry spices, the second (got it for free, otherwise I wouldn't have it) for wet stuff like garlic, ginger, small fresh peppers, etc. Reversible and removable blade--easier to clean the gunk out of than the coffee mill. Very handy.

And what will the health inspector have to say about that? Believe it or not, I did it on purpose... edit: effing tags.

This horse has been out of the barn and hanging out in the commercial kitchen (and mine, too, for that matter) for at least 25 years. Now FoodTV has turned it loose on the public. About ten years ago, I read the following in an IBM style manual (inserted as a response to the hot tech-writing controversy of the era, whether or not "access" could be an action word): Swear to God.

I'll assume it's a serious question, but I don't know the answer. If I had to guess, I'd say it probably is, if cost is your main consideration. You'd have to compare the cost of heating the oven for 35 minutes (plus pre-heating, which would probably cost more than maintianing 400 degrees once you got there) with the cost of heating however many gallons of water one d/w cycle requires. I think most d/w's heat their own water and recycle a lot of it, so they're pretty efficient. The cost of running the mechanical bits is negligible compared to the heating costs. It does work, by the way, as long as your water is hot enough--about 145F should do it. Shellfish and thin filets come out very well, and it's almost impossible to overcook them, since the temperature never exceeds the temperature at which the fish proteins coagulate (around 170F, I think). I only do it to prove it can be done; it's not a standard part of my batterie. The dishwasher at our house is always full of other things, anyway.

Welcome! Not having Jason's respect for international boundaries, I would go another direction. Substitute andouille sausage for the ham, leave the ketchup in the pantry and add a can of diced tomatoes (drained, I think), a little thyme and maybe some basil. Gewurtz or grenache-shiraz. Or lager. This site never fails to make me hungry. Just for fun, you can do those cartouche thingies in the dishwasher--upper rack, regular cycle, no detergent.

Sounds like the start of a great thread, Nick--"What's your greatest culinary sin?" Like mixing Dream Whip with canned chocolate pudding and selling it as chocolate mousse... (250 servings one desperate Sunday)

So there's no future in cloaking smugness with a veil of false humility? Damn.

They're called skimmers. I use one like this: The problem is that scum bubbles are often the same size (or smaller) as the holes in the skimmer. So I'm thinking about getting one like this: And thank you, mb.

For a long braise like this, I would go for 250. You're trying to accomplish two things: 1) allow the flavors sufficient time to meld; 2) melt the collagen in the meat to get that silken texture characteristic of a perfect braise. The first can be accomplished by braising until done, then letting the braise sit over night. But heat will accelerate reactions, and some reactions take place only in the presence of heat, so longer is better. The second you want to do without driving all the juice out of meat too early. It will happen eventually, because a braise is by definition well-done meat, and well-done by definition is dried out. But you want to replace the juice with the melted collagen. If the meat dries out too early, the protein matrix will tighten up, and there will be no place for the collagen to go but out into the liquid. It will make for great sauce but dessicated meat. The meat needs to remain at about 200 (collagen melts at around 180, if memory serves) for a few hours in order to allow complete conversion of the collagen into gelatin. I think it needs to be as high as 250 because you will have some heat loss from the oven and the pot. (If you've got a really well-insulated oven, you could try 225.) But at 300, I think you're going to be boiling most of the time, and this is what you want to avoid. This explains a common phenomenon. People say they don't like pot roast because it gets so dry. So they cook it less--and they like it less--so eventually, they don't cook it at all, which is really too bad. They need to cook it more--four hours for a 3-1/2 pound chuck is about right. But this is just my theory (and opinion, and I do go on sometimes). johnjohn, sorry if I'm explaining stuff you already know, when all you wanted was a number.