JoNorvelleWalker

Pork dumplings, seethed. Served on a bed of napa. Ponzu sauce for dipping. Mango ice cream with pistachios.

Never would it have occurred to me that a cleaver could be more than one type of knife. With my bias of being in the US I thought all cleavers were for chopping essentially anything? I recall Watanabe offers or offered Chinese style cleavers, although Watanabe's cleavers are indeed expensive. Even more expensive are the restored cleavers offered by New West Knife works, some more than 100 years old, and all about $1000. https://www.newwestknifeworks.com/collections/restored-antique-meat-cleavers Maybe what is meant by cleaver is a cultural thing? My sense of what a cleaver is corresponds to Wikipedia's article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleaver I hope @Jaymes was not as confused as I.

For "Japanese movie night" I was more hoping for Ringu. Can't quarrel with sake though. Dinner here last night was dumplings on a bed of ken-cut cabbage, steamed in my new bamboo steamer and German wok.

I could believe that. The ring is 3 5/8 inches in diameter and 1 3/8 inches high.

There is no country of origin listed for the cleaver I purchased that I can find, but for other Enoking knives where the country is specified it is always China.

Thanks but the ring is much smaller than that shown. If I'm going to eat tonight I need to head to the kitchen and do the best I can.

Recently I acquired a new knife block that has a cleaver slot. I have never used a cleaver in my life but of course I had to have one. Enoking seems to be a decent Chinese brand of cooking knifes. I have their paring knife and their nakiri. Yes, I know, I have an exceptional Japanese Watanabe nikkiri, but I find the Enoking smaller, lighter, less precious, and thus more likely to get used. My cleaver came today: (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) At the moment amazon has a deal at $23.09, less 5% with coupon. How could I pass it up? I was surprised how heavy the cleaver feels in hand for its small size. I measured the weight at 746 gm. A suggested use is as an outdoor axe for cutting wood. The blade does not appear to be stainless, so caring for it properly may take some getting used to. I'd love if @James would share which cleaver her son ended up getting.

My previous steamer experience has been limited to metal perforated steamer inserts. Recently I acquired a bamboo steamer that I intend to try out for the first time tonight. The bamboo steamer came with a steel ring that looks to all the world like an oversized biscuit cutter. What is the ring used for?

This afternoon I presented a grateful colleague with seven pounds of Rancho Gordo beans. And in return I now have another square foot or two of floorspace in my dining room.

Push the button to turn the oven off.

Last night I fixed something close to a real dinner. Kenji smashburger with fries cooked in my new deep fryer... (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) I love the little fryer. It is small and light enough that I can pick it up and move it about even when filled with oil.* For the smashburger I got to use my Demeyere searing pan on my Paragon for the first time in a year. The bottle of ketchup was a little old. Something else I had not assayed in months: using the Watanabe nakkiri on my best hinoki board, I prepared ken cut cabbage. I dressed the cabbage with mayonnaise and a splash of apple cider vinegar. Everything came together and I finished my meal not long after midnight. I slept well. *room temperature oil

Our library doesn't have it either, but my Kindle does.

I am puzzled. I like to try new things. Tonight I received a Kuhn Rikon board of which I had high hopes... https://kuhnrikon.com/ch_en/blog/post/colori-cutting-board The product verbiage claims the board is soft on knives, but to me it feels rather hard. The material is said to be "PP", by which I assume they mean polypropylene. Thoughts on polypropylene for cutting boards compared to other plastics?

I didn't think of that.

I had digital credits, so my copy was free!

Enabler.

They are working on it. I wouldn't mind some chicken too.

I'm ambivalent when it comes to black-eyed peas, but @lindag that is remarkably beautiful food photography.

I'd never heard of the dish. Is that the same Rochambeau who one long ago summer day marched past the apartment where I live? What was the recipe?

As to scoopability, I should have stated that I had the previously spun pint stored in my kitchen freezer at -10C. As opposed to the blast freezer at -20C. I suspect that at -20C the product would have been difficult to scoop. I'm finishing the last of the pint up as we speak, sprinkled pistachios on top.

Excellent at the moment actually. The things we must suffer for the sake of science.

New can of Alphonso mango pulp in hand, I made the following recipe that I found in an amazon user review for a different brand of canned mango: 1 pint heavy cream 1 30 oz can Alphonso mango pulp 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon (I used about a teaspoon) Zest of one lime (I used zest from a lime and a half) pinch of salt Cream first, I added everything to my biggest Blendtec jar. Ran on lowest speed till all ingredients were mixed. The recipe filled three and a half jars that then went in the blast freezer overnight. Once spun the result was heavenly. Incredibly easy to make.

I have not attempted chocolate work in quite some while, however I wondered if something like this litter mixer would be helpful to get rid of bubbles? (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

Beautiful as always @Ann_T. How do you make a pasta nest?

(eG-friendly Amazon.com link) Yes, they are nice.