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dcarch

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Posts posted by dcarch

  1. Thanks again everyone.

    Scottyboy, "---Haha well mine plating is always for one or two.---"

    Exactly what I do. I do the same even if I am microwaving leftovers eating alone. I don't really call it plating per se because most of the time it does not take any longer or any thinking. Just pile the food on a plate. After a while you feel that each ingredient tells you where it wants to be on a plate.

    dcarch

  2. Thanks guys, you are very kind.

    Tofu was braised in thick highly condensed chicken stock on very low fire for a couple of hours.

    The chicken was sous vided at 150F, with skin on, 3 hours. Then quick chill in freezer for about 40 minutes before browning in ultra hot cast iron pan on two sides.

    Those scallops were large dry scallops. At $15.00 a lb is not cheap, but no fat and no bones, all lean meat. Sous vided at 120F for 30 minutes, no lost in weight either.

    dcarch

  3. It took me a while to go thru all the fantastic meals I have missed, because I read them several times; they are so amazing!

    I have been traveling and not much time to post.

    Here are a few recent ones:

    dcarch

    Plain braised tofu with black garlic sauce

    squaretofu2_zps50e60b67.jpg

    squaretofu_zpsb7b18a48.jpg

    Sous vide chicken thighs

    chickenthightfrenchfries2_zps3c6f4f57.jpg

    chickenthightfrenchfries_zps50c8a472.jpg

    Sous vide brisket, latkes

    brisketlatkes2_zps91840fc4.jpg

    brisketlatkes_zpseb558c08.jpg

    Sous vide scallops on wild rice soup

    scallopwildricesoup2_zps61c0cffe.jpg

    scallopwildricesoup_zpse81cc097.jpg

  4. The power rating is important for a stick blender, equally, the max RPM for the motor. They don't generally give you that information. Get a cheap digital tachometer to check RPM when you shop.

    You can have a 100 HP motor blender which will do nothing for you if it goes to only 100 RPM.

    The difference in blade tip speed as it encounters the food is what makes chopping effectiveness, Here is a technique I use: I let the blender reach full speed and plunge into the food, pull out to let the motor reach full speed and plunge again and again. I use a tall container to avboid splashing.

    dcarch

  5. For those of you who is not planning to get a Vitamix, a low end blender can be very useful if you:

    1. Sharpen the blades. The blades are normally extremely dull for your typical home blender.

    2. Lower powered blender gets over heated from heavy use. Take away the jar and let the motor run free-wheel to cool the motor down once in a while.

    3. Most blenders achieve low speed by using fewer magnetic field coils or a diode to cut down voltage. Those schemes can be stressful for the motor to do heavy duty low speed grinding. Get a PWM motor speed control to control the speed of the blender. A Paulsed Width Modulated speed controller can operate the motor at much high power at low speed.

    dcarch

  6. The science of adhesion is very complex and there are many reasons why two dissimilar material adhere to each other beside mechanical stickiness as stated by Keith above.

    An adhesive tape can stick to an optically flat glass very well, two flat surface with a drop of water in between will require more than 14 lbs / sq. in. of force to pull apart, one metal can be electrically plated (bond) to another metal -----------.

    Just use lot's of oil, a non-stick cookware and enjoy your dinner. LOL!

    dcarch

  7. Dazzling, spectacular, delicious, ------------------------- and fattening!! LOL.

    Looking at all the amazing creations is like a kid in a toy store!!

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

    Playing with simple carrots.

    Dcarch

    Roasted duck with carats (carrots) :biggrin:

    carrotdiamond_zps8f99e7e1.jpg

    carrotdiamond2_zps812962d5.jpg

    Shrimps with carrot hearts (cores)

    shrimpscarrots_zps5aae0fad.jpg

    shrimpscarrots2_zpsb74556b0.jpg

    Tilapia, carrot hearts (cores) and risotto made from plain rice.

    carrotheart_zps0bbcbd8c.jpg

    carrotheart2_zpsc281904d.jpg

  8. The method I use is for low fat cracklings. Low fat because I like to eat a lot.

    1. Boil pork rind to render fat.

    2. After boiling, cool and scrape off still more fat.

    3. Set dehydrator at high heat, with fat side of pork rind down on paper towels and dry for at leeast 12 hours.

    4. Using a convection toaster oven preheated at 380F and bake the rinds with fat side down. In just a few minutes, the cracklings will be ready.

    Practically fatless!

    dcarch

  9. Dry plates, 8-10 mins at 1000W microwave, works like a charm. Need oven gloves to take them out

    You are probably doing stoneware plates. Some of them can get hot in a microwave.

    I just use a king-size heating pad. I've tried all the other methods listed above but I keep going back to the heating pad.

    Mine is like this - I got it at Walgreen's for half price. (17.95) when my old one died after 20 years...

    It turns off automatically.

    The wet towel method, I can stack 12 plates 5 minutes in the microwave.

    dcarch

  10. I bought workshop cotton towels from Home Depot, 50 white ones and 50 pink ones. They are about 12" x 12" each.

    Put one wet one in between every two dishes and microwave. You will have a pile of hot hot hot dishes. The pile stays hot for over and hour until you put them out.

    The towels are for general kitchen use, White for clean, and pink for dirty. When they get soiled, they go in the washing machine. It is very convenient to have lots of towels in the kitchen and not have to use paper towels.

    For large serving platters, I use a table top butane stove under the platter. It keeps the platter and the food hot the entire dinner. Never cracked a platter.

    For some recipes, I have a large block of Himalayan salt that I heat up in the oven to serve food on.

    I refrigerate the salt block to keep sushi cool the entire meal.

    dcarch

  11. Definitely. In my experience, today, most Chinese families make congee in pressure cookers.
    You have to be very careful using a PC for starchy type of cooking. Read the PC directions. You may end up repainting the kitchen ceiling.

    Very curious to hear how this is resolved!

    Very simple solution:

    Use a separate container inside the PC. Essentially you are steaming inside the PC, what is inside the container never boils.

    dcarch

  12. Thank you Rotuts. The meatballs were made with regular meatball recipes. I used an ice cream scoop to keep the size uniform. They were first steamed so that the shape got firmed up then there were quick grilled on a smoking hot cast iron griddle.

    Thank you Kim. The asparagus were so thick. It would be diffeicult to roast without drying them out. So I steam cooked them first and then roasted on very high heat.

    I like batter fried shrimps. Your shrimps look perfect.

    dcarch

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