scubadoo97

When we remodeled your kitchen we pretty much got rid of most things and started fresh. A year and a half later and my pantry is over flowing. I was thinking about this not long ago and thought, you know the pantry is the soul of the kitchen. I can whip up many different ethnic dishes on a whim with all these condiments at hand. I have yet to take inventory so no lists available but it would be a daunting task.

How have ducks you've enjoyed eating been prepared? Do you definitely want to do something 'whole duck'? If that's not a strict requirement then I would suggest breaking the duck down, serving the breasts pan fried. Score skin deeply but not to the meat, slowly render out most of the fat. Reserve same. Sear the meat and crisp the skin, and make up a simple pan reduction sauce; balsamic deglaze and berry fruit or something simple like that. The fat from the carcase gets rendered out and used with the gently rendered breast fat [boosted with some lard perhaps] to confit the legs. Rich ducky stock results from the carcase and giblets, but I'd recommend frying up the heart as a separate little nibbly. Lots more duck for the buck. ← This is my preferred method as well. I like to break them down. Duck breast are at their best medium rare with a crispy skin. The fat rendered off the breast is usually not great for confit due to the higher heat needed to get a good crisp skin. The legs, thighs, wings, gizzards and heart are cooked in the rendered duck fat harvested from all the skin and carcass for a confit of duck. The gizzards are melt in your mouth tender after the long slow cooking and are a personal favorite. The carcass makes great stock and the liver is fried up as a cooks treat to be eaten on the spot or made into a pate or the best chopped liver.

I hope they are not trying to sell them as real eggs at real egg prices. If they are then they're losing money. It has to cost more to make a fake egg then to get a real one.

I am temped to try a very simple method for cold smoking smaller items shown in the video below. All you need is a can some wood chips and a soldering iron.

I have an EdgePro but I'm not sure an EdgePro can do that. You would have to remove a lot of metal to plane the back side of the knife flat and create a chisel edge. Maybe someone with more experience can comment further.

Has anyone tasted Rachel Rays EVOO? Is it at least as good as say Vigo or Bertolli? I just saw it in the store and the price was significantly more than average brands common in the grocery store. I found the idea of her picture on the EVOO bottle humorous yet disturbing.

Here's a pic of my cheap homemade edge guard.

The open end is locked over the top of the spine; the closed end is in contact with (at least part of) the blade, as in this image from the eGCI course on knife maintenance and sharpening: They stay on pretty well -- though I don't have lots of experience personally with them. They're also damned cheap, so you could grab one or two for a few bucks and see what you think. ← I picked up a few of these from Korin when I purchased my Tojiros. The little blue plastic binders for acetate report covers work well too but because they are not as deep as these, if the blade has a lot of belly it may not cover the tip well. I have a bunch of these homemade edge covers on my knives in my kitchen draw. Protects the edge well and the tips for most knives.

Exactly! This I have to try. My Grandmother was not known for shortcuts.

I thought I notice a very slight bevel on the honesuki's back side but wasn't sure if was a true bevel. I would say this is a 90/10 it's so slight. It did a great job of cutting up a chicken. Very clean cuts through the joints and sliced through the flesh like a razor. Not sure how to go about sharpening that back side when the time comes.

Thanks for the explanation Bob. I just got my Torjiro DPs and I have to say the fit and finish are better than anticipated. Beautiful knives and all shaved hair off my hand OOTB. The honesuki appears to be single beveled or chisel ground and on the Korin site it is listed as double edged so now I understand. I would have thought that a boning knife like the honesuki would have been double beveled. I would think that a single beveled knife would be more delicate and susectable to chips from hard items. I have a chicken to cut up tonight so the honesuki will get some use today.

I've adoped ChefCrash's technique of using the the heal, (not exactly heal but close to it), of the knife instead of the tip to make the vertical cuts of an onion and it works well for shallots too. I find I can get a lot of very tight cuts which result in a finer dice using this technique. Link to onion thread here http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=102316&hl=

I also don't find the santoku to my liking. I much prefer a chef's knife so I can get some rocking action when chopping. I also miss the pointed tip in the santoku. I have a Heinkel santoku and it get much sharper than my Heinkel chef knife since it's thinner. I cuts very well but I just don't like the shape or the feel in hand. Today I took advantage of the Korin sale and purchased my first 3 Japanese knives. A Tojiro 240mm gyuto, 150mm honesuki and a 270mm sujihiki. I wish they had a deba but this will get me started. I was thinking about a higher end knife but after some feed back to inquires at the knifeforum felt this was a good place to start and I can always move up.

I agree. Gulf shrimp don't have claws either.

I love it raw. Made a salad last week with cucumbers, tomatoes, raw corn and onions. The corn gave it a wonderful sweet crunch.

I find microwaving with out any water, just put a couple of ears in and let it go for a short spin has the least effect on flavor. I like mine on the undercooked side. I grill with husks off. When I clean the corn I always leave the stalk end on so it acts as a handle when turning on the grill or what I do most often is to grill directly over the flame of the rangetop.

This was my thought when I splurged on the EdgePro Apex. Absolutely no buyers remorse for the purchase. It was an investment that I feel was well spent.

Are they making these cheap grills better now? I use to buy the cheap ones but use to have to toss them after a year or two when the frame rusted out. I got a Weber Silver B nearly 10 years ago and have not only not had a problem with it rusting out but find the heating is more even and I get better results with the Weber which was under $500.

This might help but it looks like you are too far north to expect good results unless you have a green/hot house. http://www.ehow.com/how_318_grow-ginger.html

Wow, 7 dinners over 10 days. A fast track to a regular customer. Are those items on the menu or speicals from the kitchen? I really enjoyed my meal at Michy's back in March. Highly recommended

The mold you speak of is ergot. Ergot contains small quantities of lysergic acid. Lysergic acid, a molecule used in the synthesis of LSD, can be isolated from ergot.

Rebecca, glad to hear some positive news. Wishing you a full remission. Tonight it was just the four of us for a simple dinner. We leave for Israel tomorrow. My first visit there. Shabbat Shalom to all.

I agree a dull knife is dangerous but when they are razor sharp you can easily take off an appendage with little effort if you make a mistake. Curl those fingers!

Use to use the skillet but now that I have a gas rangetop I just flip them sam tongs rapidly over the flame. I don't mind a few light burn spots since it adds a roasted flavor to the corn tortillas This method work great for frozen pita bread as well.

white beans could be incorporated in with the prosciutto. I have done them with a vinaigrette