daveb

Quite a tangent from the original question. I freehand sharpen, mostly Japanese knives, some Germans. I fllatten by putting pencil marks across the face of the stone then use a flattening stone to remove the pencil. The face will then be flat on that plane. It may not be flat relative to the base of the stone but that's ok. I find that doing so prior to a sharpening session also gives me a little slurry to start with. Sharpening on a dished stone is no good for thinning, no good for complex bevels, no good for the edge. Other than that it's ok. To the "wasting stone" argument I'll offer that the stones that dish the most are at the coarse end of the spectrum. And the cheap end of the spectrum. A Bestor 500 or Gesshin 400 or JNS 300 (my fav) will last several years with frequent use and regular flattening and cost less than 100 bucks. Higher grit stones are used less and dish less. "Waste" becomes noise. To the OP's question the "how high" depends on knife hardness, steel, type of blade and other considerations. For a mirror finish on a stainless (VG-10, AUS-8, AEBL, etc) Gyuto or Petty I usually finish on a Suehiro Rika 5K. 3K to 6K is a good balance of tooth and polish. I also finish my Germans here but know the edge won't hold very long due to the softer steel. The Rika are commonly available, one source is linked below. Depending on your preferences you may want to take a Suji or Yani to an 8K+ finish, most stones in this range will leave a haze or mist finish at the edge. http://www.japaneseknifesharpeningstore.com/Suehiro-Rika-5000x-5k-sharpening-stone-p/suerika5k.htm Friends don't let friends use Edge Pros

I've made the asparagus salad recipe (pg 40) several times - usually using more asparagus than called for. Very nice, clean salad. Can be made with Nakiri or thin Gyuto. Both the Yanigiba and Deba technique seem counterintuitive until you've done it a couple times. I've still a long way to go before I could be called proficient but I'm having fun getting there.

I use King Arthur's Expresso Powder with almost anything chocolate. But do like the different size options of the Spice House product. They have a retail store sort of local to me, will have to give that a try.

An easy answer may be this "one off" custom from Haburn that he posted yesterday. 170 mm. I've used knives from Ian and his craftsmanship is outstanding. . http://www.haburnknives.com/store

Just saw the mushroom question. I recently took on 4 20# cases of shrooms with my Carter Nakiri. A perfect match.

J, The Watanbe would be a fne choice, was not aware that he only accepted PP. Have you emailed about alternatives? An equally strong choice would be an Itinomonn 180 mm Nakiri from Japanese Natural Stones. Maksim at JNS is an excellent retailer of both J knives and the stones to maintain them. This knife comes in at about 150 USD, if you purchase another 10 dollars worth it will get shipped free. (Tried to post link to no avail) The Kato is a great line of knives though they typically run heavier than their counterparts. I would be concerned about losing the nimbleness that you're buying a Nakiri for. And it's 2x the price of very good alternatives. I would not touch any of the Numblychuk products. Not his knives, not his stones, not his tree stump held together with hose clamps that he uses in his Utubes. "Blue" Steel and "White" Steel are not adjectives for steel - they describe the color of the paper the steel is wrapped in. They do have different charactoristics (that go quickly over my head) "Black" steel reminds me of the "special sauce" used on Mickey D's products.

In Fl they are painted with tacky pictures of 1) Flamingos, 2) Palm Trees or 3) Alligators. Good for displaying your coconut Indian heads on..

Nice gift! It's a Carter. Can't tell length but prob something close to: http://www.cartercutlery.com/5-2-sun-kuro-uchi-wa-bocho-ironwood-133grams/ Your's was likely done before he started offering upgraded handles. I've one like it and it's a great little cutter.

To me using a Nakiri is fun. The knife dances on the board through the vegs. I've had Nakiri in 210, 180 and 165mm. The 210 (Shig) was a fine knife but to to big and clunky to dance for me. The right 180 has eluded me (and Watanabe may be it) but I think it would be a perfect size. My 165 Carter dances well but is a wee bit short for bulk use. Is fun for a little bit of this and a little of that. I've not seen a Usuba longer than 210 but won't say there's not one. It would be difficult to effectively use a longed edge.for in hand cutting. .

J, The Usaba is more than a single bevel Nakiri, technique is critical to properly use it. The primary use is Katsuramuki or rotary peeling. These super thin peels are then ken cut into decorative (and tasty) pieces. Most users will be better served with a more robust and versatile Nakiri. Japanes Cooking Knives is a good reference and a good read. http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Kitchen-Knives-Essential-Techniques/dp/1568364903/ref=sr_1_sc_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1412086811&sr=8-2-spell&keywords=japaanese+cooking+knives

Fixed that for you. CKTG has many good offerings but the forum is anything but unbiased. There are other forums that are not retailer based that can offer recommendations based on user requirements. Chef Talk and Cooking for Engineers come to mind as does this forum. Kitchen Knife Forums is specific to kitchen knives and related "stuff".

My 112 is the heaviest 50# I've ever lifted. I can move it but woe to the person who gets between me and where I'm going...

When I started using the chamber vac I still had a few rolls of bags from my strip sealer. They cut fine to fit the application and work fine in the chamber vac. (A little bit PIA though....) Often on sale, they would be worth exploring if trying to minimize per use cost.

I've never had a 3 mil fail. Why worry?

I have a 112. All was good, anything I sealed would get to the .9 (my max) in about 20 seconds. Still ran it 30 seconds. Then it started going slow, real slow and would not reach .9. I was contemplating warranty and sending back when I realized I had left the hose in the aux port. In effect I was trying to vacuum the state of Fl. Pulled the hose out and all is good again. Suggest you do an exam of the port area and ensure that's not your problem. fNow anybody have a trick to keep the gasket seated between uses? It wants to pull out of the track when I lift the lid. I'm thinking of a food safe grease or just continue to tuck the gasket in everytime I use it.

If the question is "how to not have small particulate in your base liquid", is the easy answer not "seive it through a fine strainer"? The desired flavors will have been released, be it round or square pot, residential or commercial stick. I know you did not advocate it but a step up transformer has got to be the Rube Goldberg solution..

This piqued my interest so... I rough chopped some lettuce (no parsley handy) and put it in a sauce pan with a qt of water and broke out the Bamix.. It pureed quickly but there was still visible particulate in the water. Bamix is relatively new with a new blade. Then I repeated process in VMix. It pureed with no visible particulate. Ran the water through a fine mesh strainer and got no particulate. My thought is that the leaf is too light (no mass) for the Bamix to cut it into puree. The VMix probably is faster, the leaf spends more time in the "vortex" and is disintegrated. Seems the easy answer for clean puree is to use Bamix and then seive the liquid or use a VMix. .

I've had a different experience with CKTG. My 1st order was a 3 stone set, everything was good. 2nd order was for sink bridge, all was not good. The knurled screws to adjust the bridge were attached and not protected (dumb). The bridge was packed loosely (dumb) and upon receipt the screws were broken. Mark was not helpful in resolution. $140 bridge now sits on top of my junk pile. I found the forum a little cheesy with those providing advice having a retail interest in that advice, be it knives, sharpening, etc. YMMV.

I like JKI and Korin as well. For something different, Epicurean Edge, (Seattle?) offers a diverse selction from entry level Japanese knives to consignment peices from high end American makers.

I've seen the thermoworks needle probes "perfect for sous vide" but could not figure how it could be done and not leave a hole in the bag. The foam tape makes sense. I'm getting another toy for the toy box!

I use three of the lodge grill/griddle pans frequently across 6 burners, cooking grilled veg and steaks for 30-40 at a time. I would rate the pans very highly and was curious about the negative reviews you mentioned. The three common themes of negative reviews involved size, uneven heating and food sticking. Proper size is important - the outside edge to outside edge of your two burners should be covered by the pan. Easy to check with the availability of Lodge at any Ace hardware and a host of other retailers. Uneven heating is valid - it's hotter over the heat source. It's also workable, know this, rotate food and it's not a problem. Food sticking is a function of seasoning the pan. The Lodge out of the box seaoning works for some people, I do a more extensive seasoning with flaxseed oil before using a new cast iron or carbon steel pan. I've also used the All-Clad griddle pan at home. Much lighter (which can be a good thing), non-stick, good quality and not too pricey. It won't give you the distinct grill marks but will get the job done. Hope this helps.

I've been reading/following threads on here awhile but this might be my first post. The most obvious difference between domestic and wild duck is the "no fat" part. Wild game, ducks, geese, quail, pheasant, deer, et al, has very little if any fat. In the kitchen that means the meat is not forgiving to overcooking - it will dry out quickly and develop the gamey, liver like flavor that is not good. A high heat very quick cooking method works best for me (though I have a pheasant in the freezer that I'm thinking about introducing to my Anova...) IMO the most significant difference between them are the species available. The species of domestic duck is predetermined. Long Island ducks are popular domestics products. Muscovey ducks are popular in the asian markets near me. When I'm preparing domestic duck I like the product from the Hudson River Valley that is available at RD. All of these are raised and sold because they are good eaters. With wild ducks first you have to harvest (shoot) them. While a hunter can target a specic species, a mixed bag is common. There is no catch and release. Ducks such as Mallards, Widgeon, Teal, Wood Ducks, Redheads, Mottled and others are all excellent table fare. Shovelers, Bluebills, Meganzars and others cannot be made fit to eat. The differences between wild and domestic geese are pretty much the same. Hope this helps.

1st post - not as intellectual as some but a long time favorite. "When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?" "What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?" "I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet. Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said. Regards, Dave