JoNorvelleWalker

Wok technology has not changed that much.

Nothing so adventuresome as deboning small birds! I just wish to spatchcock or more often cut in half. To remove the backbone I place the bird on the board on its back, and insert the knife through the nether end, making cuts through the rib bones on either side. I have never tried going at it from the outside. Then if I am cutting the bird in half I turn it over on its breast and slice through the sternum. Maybe my technique is not the best?

It turns out I may already have a solution to my problem -- my bone cutting problem, not my kitchen toy addiction: a Chicago Cutlery BT43. I bought this probably back in the 1980's. I believe it was sold as a carving knife. The blade is 9 inches and the heel is 1.5 inches. The first two inches of the blade are serrated so I was always afraid to try to sharpen it. I never found a use. Long ago the BT43 lost its place in the kitchen, and for most of this millennium has been relegated to a mortuary of broken, useless kitchen junk living in the living room. I plan to grind a new edge and see how it performs on a Cornish game hen. I don't actually have a Cornish game hen in house but when this heatwave breaks I intend to go out to the store to get one. (Or actually get two, since that is the only way they come.)

A friend told me the birds got all her raspberries.

If you have access to a copy of Modernist Bread there is a procedure for the CSO.

I don't know what I may have done to deserve two perfect avocadoes in a row.* Served with a can of Progresso New England clam chowder and the last husk of this week's bread. *I suspect it may have to do with birds.

Sorry I did not see this before: I can't imagine a cleaver fitting in the cavity of a poussin.

A little shorter than my heavy chef knife but just as wide unfortunately. Any deba would probably be too wide for my application. I've read there are at least 800 types of Japanese kitchen knives. One of these 800 shapes is probably just right! Meanwhile I made the mistake of visiting New West and ordered a fillet knife on sale: http://www.newwestknifeworks.com/ My most used chef knife is from New West but I don't cut bones with it. Or any meat for that matter. Worse, New West has a new 11 inch chef knife that is calling out to me. But which I don't need. (Not that I exactly needed another western fillet knife either.) I'm still looking for a knife for chicken bones. Sadly I've been pricing hamokiri and Watanabe's least expensive hamokiri is $621 at current exchange rates.

At work today I spied a copy of @Chad's book and sat down with it for lunch. Not that I haven't read it before, but it got me to thinking of a knife need. For splitting poultry I use my heaviest chef knife. But for smaller fowl the distance from the spine to the edge (2 inches) is too great to fit through the cavity. My smaller blades have insufficient heft. I know some people use shears for poultry but that is not for me. Can anyone suggest a suitable knife style, Japanese or western, that would do the job? I looked at the Wusthof bone splitter mentioned up thread but the blade height is probably too great, same problem as with my heavy chef knife. Musing about Japanese knives I thought of hamokiri or kurouchi ryodeba. Thoughts?

Clearly I do not have the courage of my convictions. I cancelled my CSO order. I'll have to wait to see what the anova oven offers. Though the idea of running my oven from an iPad... Nonetheless my price prediction stands.

I'll take the octopus, please.

Sweetbreads!

BB&B shows the CSO available online? Anyhow, I took a chance, even though I paid less than $237.01 last time -- $218.08 to be precise, two years ago almost to the day. I note BB&B, WS, and Home Depot all currently list the CSO at $299. Yesterday Home Depot's price was $237.01, strangely close to amazon's price of $237.01. Furthermore none of the amazon third party sellers have the CSO anywhere close to $237 unlike a couple days ago. I predict amazon's price is about to change as well. Now where will I put it?

I think epsom salt for blossom end rot is an old wives' tale. I use gypsum myself. But I'd love to hear how epsom does in the @kayb field trials.

CSO still $237.01 on amazon but only 16 left in stock.

Unsalted noodles? Unsalted mashed potatoes? Tuscan bread?

How do you share two pearl onions amongst three people?

Funny you should ask! I've tried berry netting in the past with very poor results. Managed to trap a bird in with the berries. Managed to trap myself. But I just came in from wrapping several branches (those with a few remaining berries) in frost protection cloth. I then soaked the cloth and myself in methyl 2 aminobenzoate. I consoled myself with a small handful of strawberries.

So far I have sprayed three times today. I sat at my table as I watched a bird fly down and steal a berry. Shamelessly. I was eating an omelet at the time which almost made me feel a little better.

Yes...I believe.

Counterintuitive but true, and it works! My anova (with no calibration offset) now measures between 55.02 and 55.04 when set to 55.0. Joy.

I just found this on the anova site: "If your thermometer reads lower than the system use the minus sign. If your thermometer reads higher than the system use the plus sign. Press Check to accept or X to exit without saving." What this means is that I had it backwards! I was using the minus sign to try to make the bath cooler. I have to say, if true, this is counterintuitive.

It's one at a time but I'm thinking of the OXO pitter. Unfortunately amazon is out of stock.

Well, that did not last long. I sprayed at noon. Hour later we had a cloudburst here. Followed by birds. Birds. I hate them. They have hit my harvest hard. Is it too much to ask that they might share? I wish Bird Stop did not so readily wash off.

This morning (and yes it was morning if just barely) when I looked out I seemed to be missing berries. Unless it's my imagination. We had thunderstorms overnight and one is supposed to reapply Bird Stop after rain. I feel a bit chagrinned. Maybe the early bird gets the blueberry after all. Though I still haven't spotted any birds on my balcony since I started using Bird Stop.