dcarch

If you use your knife at a consistant angle to slice, and not to chop, and don't let the edge cut into bones, you practically never have to sharpen your knife. dcarch

I heard an artist once said, "There is no such thing as an ugly color; there are only ugly color combinations." Similarly, there is no such thing as bad seasoning; there are plenty of bad recipes in using seasoning. I believe you should not rule out any thing in the conceptualization of the design. It is the total gestalt of the end result that is important. If you focus on any single element then the statement/image of what you are trying to convey will be distorted. Start with the menu, the customer base, your budget, ----------------- then think outside the box, let your imagination go free. The problem with most restaurants is that, they are ugly, everyone thinks they are the greatest designer. A properly designed place can make the difference whether you succeed or fail. Get professional advice. Professional designer can be expensive, but failing is even more expensive. dcarch

My portable induction burner does that with my LC dutch oven and, as far as I can tell, it is far worse with the dutch oven then any other vessel. With the LC, you are in serious danger of burning things in that zone. It works well with most other pots, but the "ring" does show some in other pots as well, but not nearly so strong. This seems ridiculous to me! What's the point of having induction if the heat isn't even across the burner?! Is there some technical reason why these have to be an empty ring and couldn't be absolutely even across the surface of the burner, or is it cheapness on the part of the manufacturers? I think the center hole of the induction coil is where the electronic sensor is to sense the presence of a magnetic cookware and also the temperature senor to control power delivery. dcarch

I didn't mean the voltage was generating the heat. I beleive that is from the frequency of the oscillation of the magnetic field, vs the resistance of the atoms in the metal in the pot/pan. I still wonder how they make the whole thing work without both the "windings" being around an iron core though. You don't need an iron core for the "transformer" effect to happen. A coil will generate a magnetic field without iron core and induces a voltage/current in another coil nearby. However, for the current/voltage to be induced in another coil the magnetic field must be changing in strength or polarity, hence the primary coil (the cooker) must be driven by high frequency current. dcarch

A reciprocating tire inflator (not very expensive, possibly $20.00)is a piston type of pump, it compresses air. If you remove the casing of the pump, you can find there is a little air filter, behind the filter there is a 1/4" little hole, that's where it can draw a vacuum. If you glue a thick-walled tubing to this little hole, you will have a vacuum pump. A cordless Foodsaver vacuum looks like this: http://d.deals2buycdn.com/i/o/d2b-88810075/main-orig.jpg dcarch

And I can see half the potential audience refusing to set foot in the place due to the presence of AV equipment in the dining room. If the proposed restaurant is a sports bar, AV away. Otherwise, you're sliding into chain restaurant territory....not the sort of folks who'll pay top dollar for tarted-up comfort food. It's a matter of design. All you need is a 3" x 3" hole for the projector to project. The projector, which normally has electronic auto parallax correction, can be mounted at an angle and the image still will not "key stone". The screen can be incorporated into the overall design theme, it does not have to look like someone just stretched a white sheet on a wall. LCD projectors have very high brightness, and can be very visible in a relatively high ambient lighting environment, especially if you have a high-gain surface material. dcarch

I can see using a projector to show a menu, then show a clip as the chef is preparing the dish, then back to the menu, then show tomorrow's menu, next weeks menu, ------ then project on a large screen Superbowl game, or any current hot sports events -----. LCD projector is not that expensive and not a big electric hog. dcarch

I agree, a flat monitor will immediately give you the airport/train station look. However, a LCD projector hooked up to a PC/laptop can let you do some fency stuff. dcarch

Mjx, there are many designs using multiple induction coils. I think I have seen some models which has the entire cooking surface active, doesn't matter what size pot and where you put the pot. Each coil has a sensor to turn on when it senses the pot. Ashen, actually voltage does not produce heat, current does. When you comb you hair with a plastic comb, you can be generating a million volts of electricty. The voltage generated by the pot follows the transformer design principle. (step-up/step-down) If the primary coil (the induction coil) has a 100 turns and powered by 10vac, the pot, being a single turn, will have 1/100 of the voltage, ie 0.1 vac. No, at this voltage, you will not be shocked electrically. dcarch

Good questions Blether. I believe the shape of the induction cooktop induction coil produces magnetic field in a very limited area. If you look at the photo I posted, you can see there are many components which are senitive to magnetic field. If there is an alternating magnetic field, they can be damaged easily. For instance, I think the fan motor rotor is a circular magnet, which can be de-magnetized if it is near another magnetic field. I am not sure of the cross sectional shape of the induction field, however, as far as the cookware is concerned, the field will be essentially uniform because the cookware is right next to the "Primary coil". Although the heating of the cookware is only on the thin layer of metal next to the coil(That's why only ferromagnetic cookware works) the thickness helps to even out the distribution of the heat. dcarch

How easy it is to cook chinese food? Try making dim sum. Try pull noodles. Try roast pig. dcarch

"----Please describe how and which characteristics of a cooking vessel affect how evenly itself is heated. " If I look inside the guts of a typical induction cooker, this is what I see: The circuit on the top right is the power board. Normal household power is converted to low voltage/high current by ferrite toroidal inductors. The converted power is connected to the high frenquency converter board on the left which also converts the AC power to DC power to power the electronics and the DC brushless cooling fan you see at the lower right corner. The power at around 25khz (cycles per second) powers up the high current coil (orange colored round coil). At this point, the induction cooker becomes the primary side of an electric transformer. When you place a ferromagnetic cookware on the cooker, the cookware become the secondary side of the transformer. Because the cookware behaves as a short circuited single turn secondary coil, an even lower voltage and much higher electric current is generated, and that will produce a lot of heat (at 1 watt = 3.5 BTUs). What all this means is this: the fact that the entire bottom surface of the cookware is one single “turn”, I believe the electric current flow probably would be very uniform and producing even heating, assuming the construction (both material and geometry)of the cookware is even and flat, otherwise hot/cold spot will likely happen. I don’t know if I have given you any help at all. dcarch

Don't forget the grease trap. dcarch

I am puzzled why you seem to object to my answer to your original question, which is how even an induction cook top can heat up the cookware. The point I am trying to make is that a lot has to do with the cookware, not just the cook top because the induction cook top transfers no thermal energy to heat up the cookware. dcarch

An automobile reciprocating type of inexpensvie tire inflator pump can probably give you a good enough vacuum. A cordless vacuum pump for sealing FoodSaver bags is another option. dcarch

I wish that people in this country (USA) would eat more animal parts like the rest of the world. If we did, the need to farm animals would be drastically reduced. Animal parts are delicious. We have learned to eat chicken wings only recently. dcarch

ScottyBoy - Boy Oh Boy! You have out done yourself this time. That’s no pot luck dinner, that’s a feast!. Percyn – very nice bacon jam. Indeed, you used the jam properly. What a burger! Parmhero – I like your TV dinner very much. Kim – that’s one enormous chicken and it looks enormously delicious. The grilled ribs plate with baked beans, slaw and spoonbread is totally comfarting. FrogPrincesse – I will hire you to make me that grilled veal chop. Beautiful fresh basil angel hair pasta & mozzarella. Dejah – That’s another BBQ chicken I will have to try. Shelby – Fried green watermelon, wow! I will need to grow my own because they don’t sell green watermelons. Lovely smoked pork roast. David Ross – It is your grilled game hen that inspired me to make my sous vide / grilled game hen. robirdstx – It is your pizza that inspired me to make a pizza. ---------------------------------------------------- - - - - -- - What can you put in between the layer of dough and mozzarella cheese topping? I have a good supply of cherry tomatoes and squash blossoms from my garden, so I made a blossom/cherry tomato pizza. The blossoms were stuffed with blue cheese and chopped mushrooms. Every time I sink my teeth into a cherry tomato, it just burst like caviar with sweet jell. My apologies to pizza purists. After the pizza, I still had more blossoms. I quick-boiled the blossoms in concentrated juice from my sous vide Cornish hen. As you know, squash blossoms have a delicate perfume, which disappears after most cooking, but boiled quickly the blossoms seemed to have retained some of their floral fragrance. My apologies to all those who insist that deep frying squash blossoms is the only way. Dcarch

This just happened to me a few days ago. Four of us went to an up-scale midtown restaurant in NYC. After we were ushered to our table, the waiter gave us the menus. The reason we went to that restaurant was because they were a participant of the NYC Restaurant Week. But the waiter did not give us the discounted Restaurant Week menu. I asked for that menu, and got a little subtle dirty look from the waiter. We didn’t get much service through the whole meal. Yes, I still tipped at the end. dcarch

Induction cook top does not heat up the pot. The pot heats itself up by converting the magnetic field to heat. Therefore the design and construction of the pot have a lot to do with it. dcarch Not sure if you're playing with semantics here, but the cooktop does heat up the pot. It runs AC through a big-ass coil which in turn produces a rapidly-changing magnetic field which causes Joule heating in the ferromagnetic (for cooking) material. So, in effect, what I am asking is if you had a flat sheet of iron on the cooktop, turned on the cooktop, and looked at the top with thermo-vision, what would it look like? No need to lecture me about how conductive certain materials are, this isn't about that. Not at all playing with words. I am sorry if you feel that I am lecturing. Induction cooking is very unique that it really does not heat up the cookware. The cookware, by the effects of hysteresis energy and eddy current generated (two of the most undesirable effects in transformer design are being taken advantage in induction cook tops), heats itself up. How the heating distribution menifests, as I understand, depends a great deal on the design of the cookware and not the cook top. dcarch

"------My main issue with dcarch is the notion that a waiter is FORCED to wait on a "nasty" customer. And the idea that the server/customer/tip relationship is the only other sales relationship that smacks of "prostitution." And that waitstaff are the only ones that have to put up with unpleasant, disagreeable, demanding customers. And that if it were not for the current tipping policy, they wouldn't have to. -----" I am not advising not to tip in today's reality. I am just finding the fundamental concept of the tipping practice very troubling. A waiter has a professional job to do just like a doctor. He should not be bribed to do a better job. Do you tip a surgeon after a surgery? Most corporations have very strict policies of no gift accepting and there are no examples of gift/money accepting permitted in all political systems. I am a good tipper, the waitstaff in my usual restaurants always give me bigger servings of desserts, free drinks (without the management’s knowledge). They wait on me before they wait on other customers who were there before me. Don’t tell me that is not bad. dcarch

Induction cook top does not heat up the pot. The pot heats itself up by converting the magnetic field to heat. Therefore the design and construction of the pot have a lot to do with it. dcarch

Oil atomized and mixed with air is EXPLOSIVE; that's how an internal combustion engine works. You may be able to blow your house apart if your pressure cooker fryer valve errupts. dcarch

Amazing read! I have decided to live another 100 years longer so that I can enjoy all the wonderful food and visit all the remarkable places in your part of the world. Thank you. You are a great writer and a very creative cook. dcarch

Posted by Pedroinspain “ ------ I did a birding trip to Costa Rica last year. 14 out of the 17 were Americans. At the end there was a discussion as to what to tip the tour leader. "10% of the tour price" was the consensus. What!!?? --------------“ I was travelling to Costa Rica sometime ago, at the end of staying in a hotel, I was going to tip the fellow big-time, who served me so well and took care many things for me. He refused to accept the tip. As it turned out, he happened to be the former President of Costa Rica, Mr. Rodrigo Carazo Odio. Mr. Rodrigo owned the hotel, he came in to help out because a few staff got sick. Anyway, I feel the tipping system is morally questionable. I do tip, but I am not comfortable tipping. The financial relationship between the tipper and tippee is the same as prostitution. Using money to buy smiles. A good waiter brings more business to the restaurant, and the reward to the waiter should be given by the owner of the restaurant. A waiter is forced to be very pleasant to a nasty customer because he is a very good tipper. That is so wrong! dcarch

Many cultures eat dogs, cats, horses as well. Many animals are meat eaters. Animals die in nature in excruciatingly horrible ways. A deer killed by a hunter is a very lucky deer. Most butchering methods by humans are extremely humane. A free-range chicken is a happy chicken, but a caged chicken is not a miserable depressed chicken. I respect vegetarians, I think vegetarians should respect meat eaters as well. dcarch