dcarch

The past week or so’s cooking by everyone has been totally spectacular, and truly awe inspiring. Such as: Nickrey’s dazzling food! mm84321’s and Mjx’s fowl play. djyee100’s Gkoong Ohb Woon Sen. Panaderia Canadiense’s Mangrove shrimp in wasabi-tomato sauce Rico’s Carbonara Keith_W’s wings Hassouni’s chili patrickamory’s chicken soup Panaderia Canadiense’s turkey breast djyee100’s winter salad mgaretz’s sous vide steak - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------------------------------------------------------------------- A few times I have been asked by people to suggest ideas for their dishes for entering in the Master Chef TV show competition. This was one contestant's dish: baked beans, coleslaw, and pulled pork sandwich. To me, IMHO, Ifrom the few shows I have watched I didn't think this dish stood a chance. Too “humble”? It is not that it was not delicious; I would think that every other would be delicious. All contestants would be entering with T&T recipes. It seems to me that the dish must be beyond delicious, it must be outstanding, unique and most importantly, camera ready, after all, it's show business. Using this person's original ideas, I just suggested some modifications: Pulled pork - sous vided pulled pork instead of stewed pulled pork to get that juicy tenderness, and then quick BBQed to get that caramelized flavor. Sandwich - puff pastry instead of bread. Baked beans - used black beans instead of pinto/navy beans, added a touch of black garlic sweetness and a few drops of white truffle oil. Coleslaw - basic recipe, except only the cabbage was presented, all the other ingredients were blended into "coleslaw dressing". Cabbage was first quick blenched in concentrated chicken soup, but still crispy, then pickled in the dressing. Garnished with crispy coleslaw deep fried in bacon fat. dcarch

Why is it necessary to de-vein shrimps? What do you think you are eating when you eat raw oysters and clams? dcarch

Very few people have kitchen knives sharp enough to score tough pork skin. Invest in a surgical scalpel and some scalpel blades. They are very inexpensive on eBay. You will find a big difference. I bought some a few years back, 100 blades + blade holder, $8.00. The first blade is still sharp. I should have enough blades for 400 years of pork belly making. :-) dcarch

Sounds like you will need a filter that has activated charcoal in it and a reverse osmosis filter. dcarch

Serveral points: 1. Ceramic blade is brittle, but almost as hard as diamond, a ceramic scraper will remain sharp a long long time. 2. You cannot create a burr on a carbide scraper. Carbide is also extremely tough, only diamond tools can work on carbide. A carbide scraper will also last extremely long. 3. A microscope slide cover is about 1" x 1", but not a slide blank. dcarch picture shows my many carbide scrapers, including the first 3 from the left, which are custom made carbide scrapers. This picture shows the mirror shine a glass microscope slide blank can put on wood. The scratches were made by sandpaper.

I will pay high price for cooking lessons for information I cannot get from youtube, from Googling, from the hundreds of cooking shows, or from eG Forums. dcarch

In any case, I would not try to cook any low temperature food using a regular thermostat. They are highly inaccurate. dcarch

Do you use a computer fan for something like this? Can they run off regular wall current if they are spliced into a power cord? Most computer fans are 5VDC or 12VDC. They cannot run on 110VAC. dcarch

A steel woodworker's scraper gets dull at some point, then you will need to create the burr again, as was said. A carbide blade lasts for much longer (50 times longer?) There is another trick; you can buy microscope glass blank slices and use them as scrapers. It will give your wood a mirror smooth finish. dcarch

Compressive strength is closely related to hardness. There are many kinds of bamboo. Young bamboo and mature bamboo are different. dcarch For steels, hardness is approximately proportional to tensile strength. This is the first time I've heard it compared to compressive. Can you think of materials that can take a lot of compressive force that are not hard? dcarch

dcarch

"-----the LeeValley scraper is an ideal tool, but difficult to master. it works extremely well on figured wood. but you have to know how to keep it flat and create that thin burr. videos might help ---" Get carbide planner knife blades on eBay. They are sharp, long lasting, and give you a very flat surface because they are very long. dcarch

Compressive strength is closely related to hardness. There are many kinds of bamboo. Young bamboo and mature bamboo are different. dcarch

"-----bamboo has a higher tensile strength than many alloys of steel, and a higher compressive strength than many mixtures of concrete. It even has a higher strength to weight ratio than graphite." Imagine what it can do to knives. dcarch

Amazing blog so far. Everything. A very well equipped kitchen. Thank you! A small unimportant suggestion for your cutting board: I also have a white plastic cutting board which gets yellow after a while. It does not bother me and it is not a health issue, but if I invite friends over for dinner, I do the following: I lay a layer of paper towel on top, pour some bleach to wet the towel and cover the towel with plastic bag overnight. The next day the board will be completely pristine white. dcarch

Don't they sell pre-sliced bagels? dcarch

Dejah – I love beef tendons. Your ground turkey dish sounds very delicious, and healthy too. Blether – Wow! Amazing Cornish pasties. Rico – I like the way you serve lobster risotto, simple but graceful. Kayb – Every thing is grilled to perfection on that burger plate. Scottyboy – Overwhelmingly elegant plate design. Very much recalls the art of Ikebana. Jmahl – Wonderful clams. Keith_W – great plating for the salmon dish Mjx - lovely braised venison. -------------------------------------------------------------- - - The freak snow storm here in NY knocked down trees, power has been out here for many days. Halloween was basically cancelled. No street lights. No trick or treaters, Still trying to keep up with the Halloween spirit, t’is the season for strange foods: Indian bitter melon, sautéed in tomato sauce Octopus in pepper bacon sauce with pickled pacaya encurtida. Roasted pepper with tilapia. Home made bread dcarch

I agree. Chicken feet alone give not much taste. dcarch

Thank you very much. Fantastic blog! I guess I will be making travelling plans. dcarch

Actually, tasteless and without the ability to taste are not the same. dcarch

Just totally amazing posts, absurdly amazing! Outrageously amazing! rarerollingobject - Korean Fried Chicken wings, wings of glory! David Ross – wonderful plating, the cedar-plank roast salmon. Scottyboy – You have redefined what a burger ought to be with that kobe sirloin burger. The sous vide kobe sirloin is very elegant plated. EatNopales – Very nice duck eggs with watermelon radish quelites. djyee100 - I have never made pork that way with lemon, but that look so nice that I will have to give it a try. Dejah – I wish you had taken a picture of the wind-dried Chinese meats (duck, sausage, bacon) and salty fish sandpot rice. It sounded so wonderful. ChrisTaylor - Steak, roast potatoes, roast mushrooms, roast tomatoes, everything looks perfectly done. Panaderia Canadiense – I always like your recipes. The Encocado de Corvina looks very sophicticated. Very interesting Cachos. Xilimmns – What a great salmon dish to introduce yourself here. Welcome. Dakki – Love your rustic style. Nice plating of Tacos de Tripa. gfweb – Delicious filet cooked for one. You treated yourself well. Lemon flavored cauliflower and bell pepper. Sous vide ribeye steak Tomato from the garden with avocado salad. dcarch

Pressure cooker for 45 minutes will probably amke that very good eating. dcarch

Wouldn't that freeze you tongue? dcarch

How about Hollowweenie? dcarch

I have seen machines that will make perfect spherical ice. dcarch