Borgstrom

In the mood for mala on Monday, so cracked open Kenji’s Wok book and made some mapo tofu

Beef and Broccoli from Kenji’s Wok book. Had a bit a Wagyu left over from Monday, so this version was a bit decadent…

Good idea on using oil when starting the charcoal - I’ll have to try that next time. I just picked up the chimney that doubles as a used-charcoal storage container — clever!

Absolutely. For my several-hour Memorial Day dinner I think I had about half of it remaining. I took all the charcoal out and placed back in the chimney, then quenched with water. You definitely don’t want to quench with water while still in the ceramic grill as the grill would crack. I’ve just ordered a new chimney that has a removable top and bottom that can be used to extinguish the charcoal instead of using water, avoiding the resulting steam/mess.

Binchotan has a reputation of being hard to start. In Japan they typically start it on a portable butane burner or commercial kitchen gas hob in a special pot with perforated bottom. I started in a chimney, but then stuck a MAPP gas torch up the bottom to get it going - you can see both on the ground in one of the shots.

It’s a ceramic “konro” grill I bought on eBay from a seller in Japan. It’s very traditional there (I lived in Japan for 5 years a long long time ago) for yakitori and other types of kushiyaki. A similar model is available here. This unit is made from diatomaceous earth, which relatively light and insulates very well. Outside of grill is warm to the touch while the binchotan charcoal inside is burning at 1000F+. This type of grill is meant to be used with traditional Japanese binchotan charcoal, which these days is very expensive (a box of it can cost as much as the grill) and hard to come by, but it burns long (4 hours +/-) and doesn’t emit much smoke. I’m using a “fake” binchotan from Thailand (I think) made from compressed sawdust. It seems to work very well, burning much hotter and much longer than typical lump charcoal I typically use in the US. I really like the grill because it is compact and efficient. So much so that I plan to sell my large Big Green Egg, which is really best for long/slow cooks of big chunks of meat that I’m not as in to these days. The 2-foot konro will do yakitori obviously, but it would also fit a couple burgers or a steak if I’m in the mood.

Some yakitori, asparabacon and yakionigiri (amongst other things)on the new grill for Memorial Day.

First time making poke - will definitely make it again!

I gave up on FN a long time ago; at one point you could learn something but these days it is all about the personality. There are alternatives, however. I recently discovered this great series of 24 35-min lectures by Bill Briwa of Culinary Institute of America (The Everyday Gourmet: Rediscovering the Lost Art of Cooking). His "personality" would never make it to a pilot on today's FN, but he is engaging/sincere/competent enough to make the series really worthwhile. I was more than happy to shell out $69. I've saved all the videos on my computer, and then watch them on my TV through Apple TV. I suppose if you demand free ad-sponsored cooking TV, you end up with the entertainment-focused drivel on FN. Perhaps the path forward is paid content like this, or from other sources like Rouxbe, ChefSteps, etc.

Recipe was loosely based on the Tartine basic country loaf formula Made "starter" night before with flour/water/yeast in bowl left on counter Used 1/3 each AP flour, home ground hard white wheat, home ground hard red wheat in Vitamix with dry blade. Note: Vitamix gets flour pretty warm - 122F after 45sec on high. This may deactivate some of the enzymes needed to convert starch to sugar for the yeast during autolyse ; need to research... About 75% hydration. Autolyse 1 hour 3 hours bulk rise @ 80F 5 hour proof @ 80F Paid more attention to stretching dough, creating tension on outer surface. Tough with sticky dough; will take practice 20 min in steam at 450 Switched to convection; 30 min at 425 Pan: http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/wilton-advance-reg-perfect-results-9-inch-pie-pan/1041707654?categoryId=12048 Baking stone: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000QJBNHY/

I've had pretty good luck with my unit; it's great to not have to heat up the big oven. And it does a good job on bread; here are some pictures from a recent whole wheat batch:

My Devin Thomas 240mm Gyuto AEB-L knife....or maybe my Devin Thomas 150mm Petty AEB-L knife...the only knives I use anymore. These would be the only things I'd grab from the kitchen if the house was burning down...

Best wings I ever made were from this recipe: http://blog.sousvidesupreme.com/2011/02/deconstructed-buffalo-wings/ I made them for Superbowl Sunday, and can't wait to make them again! Boneless chicken wings stuffed with a blue cheese / chicken breast mousse, rolled into a cylinder and sous-vided, sliced into serving-sized pieces and then deep-fried for color and crunch. Yum! I wish I had pictures, but they were consumed before I got the camera out.

I was disappointed to find that instead of metric weight/mass based measurements, the version I ordered from Amazon.com had US/volume based measurements. I then ordered the version from Amazon.ca (Canada), which had the metric measurements on the pages shown at the site, but, alas, it shipped with the US measurements. Now I have two copies of the version I don't want. Perhaps the UK version has metric/mass based measurements, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to purchase a third version at this point...

Definitely looks like a Kramer Chevron Damascus Gyuto: http://kramerknives.com/d7_chevron.htm Nice knife if you can get one... #5 looks like a Devin Thomas ITK -- the only really nice knife I have -- the AEB-L steel never rusts but keeps a wicked edge forever... http://www.devinthomas.com/midtech.cfm