dcarch
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Posts posted by dcarch
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3 hours ago, Recoil Rob said:
I'm sorry, but that's a bit confusing. Aren't hoods rated by CFM?
If a hood is motorized, it will have a CFM rating, but sometimes the fan (or blower) is not in the hood, like in the duct, or on the roof, the hood will have no CFM rating.
dcarch
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Go to YouTube and search for smoke test of kitchen exhaust hood.
You may see that the hood for the exhaust fan may not be that critical, CFM is.
dcarch
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check with your town/city Department of Buildings.
There may be Code requirement for make up air, and also distance to boiler exhaust.
dcarch
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I will try to make my own.
Thinking of chestnut with pistachio nut filling. Hoping chestnuts will be available soon.
Bought salted egg yolks already.
dcarch
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3 hours ago, liuzhou said:
Which one is correct?
They are both correct.
Sharpness and durability are two different qualities a good knife should have.
There is a person on YouTube who can sharpen a blade made of wood, but the sharpness only last for one or two cuts.
dcarch
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4 hours ago, paulraphael said:
1. Do you ever sharpen a vegetable peeler? The peeler remains sharp because the blade never touch anything else except food.
They get dull. I don't sharpen them because I don't know how. And the best ones I've ever used (Kuhn Rikon Y-peelers) are so cheap I just get a new 3-pack once a year or so.
2. Sushi chefs have razer sharp knives because they use good knife skills. If you watch carefully, the main part of the bade never touch the cutting board when they cut.
That's why they can have such sharp knives. They're sharp in the first place because they're single-bevel blades with a very acute bevel angle; they're made with fine-grained steel (almost always low-alloy, high-purity carbon steel that has superior edge stability at high hardness), and the chefs themselves are excellent sharpeners who sharpen the knives after every shift.
3. Steel is one of the cheapest metals. Stainless steel is also cheap.
There are many kinds of carbon steels and stainless steels, and some of the best knife steels are very expensive. A blank made of some steels costs more than what many people are willing to pay for a finished knife.
5. Any metal can be make razer sharp. It's meaningless to judge a knife when you have a new razer Sharpe knife .
Most metals cannot be made razor-sharp. Most knife steels can't be made razor sharp. If you're speaking literally, a razor needs an a tip radius that's close to the minimum possible for a very fine-grained steel. Otherwise it will give a rough and uncomfortable shave.
If you're using "razor-sharp" colloquially, to just mean "pretty damn sharp," then sure, you can get most steels pretty damn sharp. But if you look at both edge geometry and edge fineness in appraising sharpness (which you should; they're both important) then steels are very unequal in their ability to form a usable sharp edge, and to sustain it through use without chipping or rolling. They're also very unequal in how easy they are to sharpen.
6. A $1,000 knife can be permanently destroyed in a few seconds if not sharpened carefully by knife sharpeners.
Maybe. If you do something dumb while cutting or sharpening, you're more likely to just create a big tedious repair job for yourself. Or for someone expensive.
6. A $1,000 knife can be permanently destroyed in a few seconds if not sharpened carefully by knife sharpeners.
Maybe. If you do something dumb while cutting or sharpening, you're more likely to just create a big tedious repair job for yourself. Or for someone expensive.
The final steps for a good knife is hardening and tempering of the edge. I am horrified to see people take their expensive knives to a farmers market knife sharpener who uses only a rough belt sander to sharpen a knife in a couple of minutes. You can't really repair a blade once the hardening is de-tempered.
dcarch
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When it comes to knifes, I always consider the following:
1. Do you ever sharpen a vegetable peeler? The peeler remains sharp because the blade never touch anything else except food.
2. Sushi chefs have razer sharp knives because they use good knife skills. If you watch carefully, the main part of the bade never touch the cutting board when they cut.
3. Steel is one of the cheapest metals. Stainless steel is also cheap.
4. Tool steel is so hard and so cheap, it is used to make tools to cut other metals. Some knife makers just use cheap files to make very good knifes.
5. Any metal can be make razer sharp. It's meaningless to judge a knife when you have a new razer Sharpe knife .
6. A $1,000 knife can be permanently destroyed in a few seconds if not sharpened carefully by knife sharpeners.
So I make my own knives.
dcarch
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Not sure where to post this:
With flesh-eating maggots effecting cattle in the news, should the practice of sous vide cooking be discussed?
dcarch
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4 hours ago, Ddanno said:
Using sausages for quick meals by just discarding the skins and breaking it up is one of my favourite cheats,they're already seasoned well, especially varieties like lincolnshire/cumberland/Toulouse, which gives you a shortcut on getting more flavour into the sauce.
Problem is 30+% fat in sausages.
dcarch
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On 7/28/2025 at 10:37 PM, liuzhou said:
That what the sandalwood boards are - slices of tree trunk. I've seen the same with the other true woods I've mentioned.
The nice thing about this type of cutting boards, it's the only end-grain cutting board which does not have any plastic glue in it.
dcarch
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9 hours ago, KennethT said:
@dcarchinteresting - I had never heard of that before.
I am sure you know about this, you seem very knowledgeable about tech stuff, but just in case:
If your ground is mostly dry, you may have to install the ground rod deeper and may be more than one rod.
dcarch
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9 hours ago, KennethT said:
Sort of. My parents had hosta beds that the deer LOVED. My father and I put electric fences around everything but we constantly needed to maintain them as the plants grew because the leaves would touch the wires and create a short (especially if rainy). Plus the beds were maybe 10 feet in diameter and the deer would always try to jump the fence to get into the interior... many times with disastrous consequences.
You do need to maintain some degree of plant control. A higher power fence charger can actually kill / burn plants that touch the wire.
For deer control there is 3D wiring method.
dcarch
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49 minutes ago, gulfporter said:
When we lived on 5 acres in Northern Virginia we called our hosta, "deer caviar." How did you manage to beat Bambi to them 🦌
Electric fence works.
dcarch
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5 hours ago, Ddanno said:
My search for 'hosta scapes' was just a bunch of gardening shops saying it was out of stock. 'Cooking hosta' worked after gf's clarification
Go to youtube and do a search on "hostas recipes"
dcarch
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Hosta scapes are showing up big time in the garden. One of my favorite veggies, crispy and tender.
SV steak on hosta scapes and yellow zucchini from the garden.
dcarch
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Got poison ivy.
Never had poison ivy before. Got lots to learn!
dcarch 🥶
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A quick SV steak dinner.
dcarch
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Fiddlehead fern is around for only a few days from farmers market..
Made drum sticks with fiddlehead on asparagus from the garden, Morel mushroom sauce
.
dcarch
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Spring is happy time. One of the very early harvests from the garden is hosta. Tender, delicious shoots, with shrimps.
dcarch
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On 5/6/2025 at 10:45 PM, JoNorvelleWalker said:
"Minimum order is four (4) plants." Though I really enjoyed reading about the varieties.
I am growing 66 tomato plants this year. two plants per variety. I feel bad that I had may be 20 extra seedlings leftover which I composted. Those were big 10 to 14 inch tall seedling I started under LED lights. A few were already blossoming.
I wish there is an efficient way I could ship some to you from NY.
I am way behind in getting my garden in shape. Unexpected things happened, like the rototiller not working
dcarch
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4 hours ago, Tan Can Cook said:
This is creative and well done.
Thanks Tan Can Cook.
dcarch
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1 hour ago, TdeV said:
Gorgeous, dcarch!
How do you sous vide your shrimps?
Thanks TdeV!
After the shrimps were shelled and cleaned, I dried them with paper towel so I could vacuum bag them. I sous vide'd them at 150F for about 20 minutes then quickly pan fried them with fish sauce.
dcarch
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5 hours ago, Smithy said:
Clever plating! How did you get those heart-shaped sear marks on the steak?
Thanks Smithy! I came across a heart-shaped piece of thick metal, so I turn it into a branding iron.
dcarch
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After I made Valentine's Day Dinner, a comment was made, "Why can't Valentine's Day be everyday?"
So I had to made another one. Sous vide/grilled porterhouse, and sous vide shrimps. Kind of surf & turf.
dcarch
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Range hood for a 36 inch Bluestar all gas
in Kitchen Consumer
Posted
In the selection of a hood that has a built-in fan, besides CFM, is the noise level rating, DBs? Sones? A very complicated subject, but very important also.
dcarch
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