dcarch

I never seasoned my cast iron cookware. If you cook with cast iron, seasoning will develop all by itself, unavoidable. I also scrub with steel wool, soap, detergent, dishwasher, ----- I can't get rib of seasoning on cast iron. dcarch

"---Pity what you got appears to have no skin---" I think I see skin tucked under. I am not sure I agree with many. Perfect pork belly is not easy. There is the meat, fat and skin. Each requires drastically way of cooking. So if you fail to end up with a "restaurant ready" dish, don't blame yourself, just try again. Sometimes you succeed in achieving the most incredible dish, then you can fail the next time using the identical method. It all depends on your preference, what kind of texture you would like to end up with, do you like crispy skin? Do you eat fat? How chewy you want the meat to be? Of course, you can always make bacon. dcarch I got lucky this time:

Thanks for the tips Simon. I'm a perfectionist, so at 171F 12 hours MOST of the meat is meltingly tender. What I'm talking about is the meat at the bottom part. Usually there is 3 or 4 layers of meat, and I'm talking about the very bottom layer that is dark colored. That's the part that is dry and stringy. Have you had issues with this bottom part? Based on the fact that (in my limited experience) I have never heard about this, and had never encountered the same situation in my pork belly cooking, I think it might not have anything to do with your cooking. It is possible that when the meat was packaged, it got dried out. Once the meat is dried out like jerky, it is not easy to make tender again. dcarch

Chocolnut? Sexy names may totally confuse people. dcarch

I think J. Pepin is the only TV chef who suggest everyone to use broccoli stems. Broccoli stem is never tough. Sometimes the skin can be very tough, sometimes not. The thing to do is just cut a small part, add water, and microwave to find out. 1/4 of the time the skin is tender, peeling is not necessary. It makes me mad to see people throw away delicious broccoli stems. dcarch

Thanks! Oh yeah, Super Mario. But we need more violence in video games. :-) dcarch

What a display of wonderful meals since I last posted !!!. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- In another food forum, someone talked about vegetable dishes. I thought it would be a good idea to do a few meat-less ones. dcarch

I have not seen baked tofu. There are many fried tofu in the stores. dcarch

Recently, J. Pepin did looked like an oaf to me. I was on a train. He got in after me. Then he rushed out the next stop. "Everything OK? Mr. Pepin?" "Stupid me! Wrong train!" I strongly suggest everyone to Google "J. Pepin paintings". You will agree he is a museum class artist. It really does not matter what he does in the kitchen, his work, everything, is art. dcarch

What is 1.5 kilos? 3.3 lbs? That doesn't sound too big to me. Do the best you can and find a way to do a 72 hour SV. It will be beautiful. dcarch

It will be worst. You are creating more starch. dcarch

Speaking of knife skills. The story told to me for this classic dish. The dish was prepared for the Emperor. If the Emperor was not pleased with the outcome, "Off with the head". Which was a very good incentive for acquiring good knife skills. This dish is quite popular today. Try making it without good knife skills. dcarch

CUTTING-UP IN THE KITCHEN BY ELLIS? dcarch Posted at the same time :-)

Perhaps this is indeed a very simple reason; force of adhesion v.s. weight. As partially answered by PV above. For a given weight the pasta orzo has more surface area per weight than other pastas. True. There are three forces of adhesion operating on wet pastas surfaces, namely water surface tension, gluey starch and 14 lbs/ sq. in. atmospheric pressure. dcarch

if indeed knife skills are not important for the general public, why are expensive Japanese knives so popular nowadays? dcrch

No. No welding gloves. Just pliers and your gas stove flame. About 10 minutes of work. save you half of a day of driving and looking around. Another important thing about HD hooks: Never use galvanized items in a high heat environment. Zinc fume is toxic. dcarch

You can make heavy duty stainless steel hooks/skewers easily. Stainless steel wire/rod bends easily, just heat it up red hot. dcarch

I have 300 years supply of sponges. :-) I was trying to throw away a foam rubber cushion. It occurred to me that the foam would be perfect for the kitchen. So with an electric knife (yes, that's what they use to cut foam rubber) I cut the cushion into various small blocks. Using the vacuum (Foodsaver type) bags, the foam blocks were reduced to 5% size for storage. dcarch

I X2 But I get totally turned off by the knife skill circus acts performed in a Japanese Hibachi grill. May be I am the only one. dcarch

But if you are cheap like me: A D-2 steel blank for $20.00 With a few hand tools and a grinder, shaped it to look like a knife. Sent it out to be hardened and cryo tempered for $20.00 Sharpened it on a belt sander and stones to razor sharp and glued some scales for the handle. I got myself a 330mm yanagiba for $40.00. As you know, D-2 makes a very nice knife and keeps a razor edge for a long time. dcarch

Thank you everyone. I figured this would be a worthwhile project, because this thing can be used basically anywhere, including with a camp fire. Would be interesting for a fishing trip and roast some fresh catches. "Nice! How long did it take to cook the chicken? How well did the chicken cook compared to a conventional rotisserie?" Actually a little tricky there. About 20 minutes. First the chciken was perfectly sous vided at 150F to make sure it was 100% cooked and still moist and tender, then it was put in a dehydrator to dry up the skin. Finally rotisseried to crispy up the skin, which took less than 20 minutes. dcarch

Enjoying you blogg so far. Thanks. I like the center island in your kitchen. It has plenty of electric outlets. Good planning. dcarch

I made popover dough, poured in a 14" frying pan and baked. The flat dough started to "climb" the curved side of the pan as it was being baked and formed the interesting shape in the picture. Then I put all the stuff on it and baked until the cheese melted. dcarch

Until they make a transparent stainless steel one, I am sticking with glass. dcarch

And this is what you'll get, using popover dough to make pizza. Not bad actually. Interesting the dish shape happened naturally. dcarch