mgaretz

Diamonds are cleaved, not cut, with steel implements. I would have to say that it's impossible to wear a diamond with pure water unless the force of the jet impingement is strong enough to subject the material to plastic, not elastic, deformation. If the plastic beads are glass-reinforced, sure. Otherwise, I don't see how the effect could be significant (though high impact energies may cause surface fatigue to set in). To set the record straight, diamonds are both cleaved along their grain and also cut (sawn really) with diamond on metal for any cut that isn't on the grain. For a gem diamond both of these are only used to get the diamond into a rough block. The facets (all the angly edges on a finished stone) are created by grinding using diamond on a metal disk and then polished with finer grits of diamond the same way. The grinding and polishing steps are identical in function to how we put an edge on a knife. In the gem world this is called lapping, and almost all faceted gems are created in a similar fashion, but diamonds use specialized versions of the equipment because of their hardness. But diamonds aren't tough, which is why you can cleave them with a gentle tap if done just right (and usually they saw a little groove so the tool doesn't slip).

Because, in a dishwasher, the only mechanical action is the turbulence of the water. By itself, that's not enough to clean moderate to heavy soil. So the detergent has to be a lot more harsh to get the dishes clean. It's that extra strong chemical action that can have a negative effect on finishes, wood and knife blades. It may not be apparent even after many washings, but over time it will have an effect.

We recently got a new electric pressure cooker. Used it tonight to make a great beef stew. Meat, carrots, celery, onion, new potatoes and peas. Sauce used a chicken broth and red wine base with some soy, ketchup and porcini mushrooms. Thickened without effort by adding 1/4 cup of pearl barley. Forgot to take a shot before serving - this is the leftovers in the serving bowl we'll eat for dinner tomorrow or the next day.

A soap solution test showed that the leak was around the bottle-to-regulator interface. There is no O-ring seal, but there is a sliding coupling, and that may be the problem, in which case the Teflon probably won't help. TBD. I'd suggest looking into getting a different model that has the o-ring seal. Here's a link to a data sheet from Taprite: http://www.taprite.com/pdfs/beer/Sentry_Nitrogen_Regulators.pdf Taprite primarily serves the beer/wine market so their regulators are designed to be on at all times (meaning the main tank never gets shut off unless it's being replaced) and they are also designed to work at and hold a low delivery pressure. You can see in the picture there's an o-ring at the tip of the nipple. I never had one leak.

Hmmm. Your nitrogen regulator shouldn't leak and I don't ever recall having to use Teflon tape. Been quite a while since I had a tank and regulator, but I think there should be an o-ring type seal. If it is the regulator, it's defective. I suspect your leak is elsewhere. 30 psi is quite high actually and good regulator should be able to hold that without an issue.

Hmmm ... Toots and I just recently joined Costco, so maybe on Tuesday, which is our day to run around, we'll take a zip over there. Thanks for the heads-up. I just noticed that Costco will have these on sale for $19.95 starting 1-2-12 through 1-29-12.

Well you can shoot me if you want, but the Martha Stewart Cooking School book is an excellent reference. Say what you want about the lady, but the book is good regardless. I'd also recommend How to Cook Everything by Bittman as others have said. Spend the rest of the money on a decent knife or two and decent pan.

I can't speak to the electric model, but my son wanted the gas model for his housewarming present and he loves it.

You're welcome. Also, I see that you're in the bay area. The Costcos near me (Danville and Livermore) have this unit in stainless finish with all the accessories (whisk, chopper bowl, cup etc.) for $29.95. I'm tempted to get one for myself.

Definitely corded. You can see the manual on Cuisinart's site.

Or maybe the camera?

From my wife: Cuisinart griddler (grill/pannini press), (same issue as gfweb - where am I gonna store it?), large Lodge cast iron skillet, Essential Pepin. Got myself a set of Tojiro Japanese knives: a santoku (Damascus finish), a gyuto, a sujihiki and a honesuki.

I agree with Lisa. And even though I couldn't eat it, I serve them with some really rich vanilla bean gelato.

I decided to make separate, smaller pies. I made a test (cherry) pie tonight using the ramekins I have. Made my normal all butter crust and used canned cherry pie filling with some added almond extract. Cooked at 350F for 45 minutes on a cookie sheet in my Breville Smart Oven. It came out fantastic! The crust on the bottom and sides was fully and perfectly cooked and the top was just right, even the edges weren't over-browned.

Why would the ramekin be a problem? I don't think they are any thicker than my Pyrex glass dishes. In fact there appear to be lots of porcelain pie dishes out there. (I checked and I don't have any small pie dishes.)

If you think about it, matzoh is just baked flour. Not sure how that affects the latkes but I have never bothered with matzoh meal. For that matter when I use flour, I use potato flour.

I thought of making smaller pies. I'll have to root around and see if I have any smaller pie dishes. All the ones I use regularly are the 10" Pyrex kind. I do have some largish ramekins that I could use to make individual pies. Last time I used them to make a blueberry crumble without crust. (they were in my eg food blog)

My son likes blueberry pie (he's home for the holidays) but my wife and daughter prefer apple. At the store I have seen pies that are half one fruit, half another. (not mixed, split down the middle) Any suggestions on the best way to accomplish this? Or should I just make what I want: cherry!

This seems to be new over the last couple of years. It corresponds (surprise!) with the Tojiros getting more expensive. The blades also look much thinner than they used to ... a good thing. The Tojiros I saw last year at Korin definitely had a sharper factory edge than most knives, but they were still not close to their potential. Do you mean that the actual sharpening job could be done to produce a sharper edge, or that the angle could be further reduced, or both?

Just an update: I had ordered a Shum Premier Santoku from SLT because they were on sale at $99.95 but my store was out of stock. They came in last week so I went in over the weekend to pick it up. It's a very nice knife, but in side-by-side testing with the Tojiro, I decided I liked the Tojiro better. The Tojiro cut a bit better, probably because the angles are less acute on the Shun, but the Tojiro seemed easier to control - I had a better sense of where the blade was. So the Shun went back. Yesterday I got the chance to test the Gyuto and the Honesuki. Our local Sprouts had Harris Ranch Organic Rib Roast on sale for $5.99/lb so I bought one. I sliced it into rib eye steaks. The Gyuto performed admirably. It was "bone in" but as is common in our area, the bones were pre-cut away and tied back on. I used the honesuki to slice the ribs apart and trim the excess fat away. It worked great. I also used the honesuki to debone/cut apart a roasted chicken. Wow! Easiest time I have ever had with that task. It cut through the thigh/leg joint like it was butter! It made quick work of separating the breats from the bones.

Thanks rotus. The DMT stone is pretty expensive - the Edgepro flattening kit is about half that much. I do have the coarse diamond rods from my Spyderco which can be fitted into the base to simulate a larger flat stone. I'll probably try that first for flattening the Edgepro stones.

Got my other three knives yesterday. They are all very nice. Haven't done much with them yet except do so trial cuts on celery and carrots. The gyuto and sujihiki did a great job. The santoku is still better for veggies, being thinner than the gyuto (and while the sujihiki is thin, it's too long and slender for the task, but I am looking forward to trying it for slicing meat or sushi). The honesuki is a bruiser - plenty sharp but too thick for veggies. Looks like it will be perfect for boning - its intended purpose. As far as I can tell so far, none of the knives needed any sharpening out of the box. If you read the comments on the various knife sites (dealers and forums), many people comment that the Tojiros have some fit and finish issues and the edges need to be touched up out of the box. I can't see any evidence of that. They are every bit as well finished and refined as my Wusthofs.

Yes that's what it's for (a boning knife) and it is intended to replace my Wusthof curved boning knike. Since the honesuki is a straight blade, I have read that it's also useful as small utility knife (petty) and I plan to also use it as such. I like the Wusthof boning knife for slicing the fat layers off beef like brisket and also for cutting beef into chunks, like for stew. So I'm hoping the honesuki will be useful for that too.

I just got the basic kit with the 220 and 320 stones (since I already had a ceramic hone from DMT) and added a 600 stone to my order. One thing the basic kit did not include was the DVD. Can anyone comment if there is more/better info on the DVD than on the YouTube videos?

So far I am very happy with it. Practiced on some beater knives to get used to it. I was finally able to get performance out of my Wusthofs that I hadn't been able to achieve with the factory edges, a Spyderco Sharpmaker or an EdgeCraft 1520. I can't speak to the difference between it and the Pro version, but it appears others have.