JoNorvelleWalker

Ask me again after I've played with it a bit.

I confess I've had one sitting in my amazon cart for several years. Do you have the laser sight?

Here is a picture of the setup: The microscope table is 4.5 inches wide, and only my smallest knife will sit on it without additional support. I looked at several knives handheld but I don't really know how to see a good edge from bad. They all look similar. I'm guessing there probably is a better angle for viewing than just flat. Ideas welcome.

I thought I knew canned fish. Tonight I opened a tin of Pinhais sardines in olive oil. It was a revelation. A new experience. I ate it with a bowl of Spanish onion, a bowl of shaved fennel, a bowl of Castelvetrano olives, and my bread.

Salt is salt. Pretty much, depending on trace minerals and contaminates. "Saltiness" varies by volume but it does not vary in cooking terms by weight. Weigh your salt till you are familiar with it. If a recipe calls for "salt" I add half as much Diamond Crystal Kosher salt by volume as called for. For pickles you need to be particularly careful about trace contaminates in your salt. However pickles are outside my realm of expertise.

Here at the start of the pandemic Diamond Crystal was like toilet paper*. Not to be had for love or money. At the moment amazon is offering the three pound box of Diamond Crystal for $7.79 -- bargain at any price. Speaking economics, I recall in school being asked to name an inelastic commodity. I responded "blood". I might as well have just said "salt". *not suggesting Diamond Crystal be relied on for urogenital hygiene. Use at your own risk. My amazon order of toilet paper arrives tomorrow.

Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts and concern. I found my missing box of Diamond Crystal. @blue_dolphin, do what I do. When I want fine salt I grind my Diamond Crystal in a mortar. I don't have a Bug-A-Salt, but grinding in a mortar is the method I use when baking bread.

Understood. I was responding to the product page linked by @DesertTinker.

I now have my new USB microscope delivered and set up. What should I look for and what should I be seeing? What type of lighting is best for judging the quality of an edge? What angle to the lens? I have seen random micrographs of knife edges on the internet, but does anyone have a link to a tutorial? I couldn't find more information on eGullet. Perhaps most importantly, what's a good way to secure the blade to lessen the chance of an eventuality? I have a vise, however I don't want to damage the handle or the blade.

I went to check my Diamond Crystal box and it is indeed 3 pounds. Unfortunately it is close to empty. I was sure I had a new unopened box in the bedroom. None could be found. I probably have a box of Diamond Crystal...somewhere. Tangentially, with regard to Fine, doesn't it make more sense to choose your salt shaker based on your preferred size of salt crystal than the other way around?

Beautiful! I have never seen live scallops. My question though is about cilantro flowers. A few weeks ago I needed a bunch of cilantro for my dinner. The store was sold out but they did offer little pots of live herb plants, including cilantro, one of which I brought home. On reflection I decided there were not really enough leaves to use, so I decided to put the plant by the glass door and let it grow. Last night I cooked a mess of Good Mother Stallard, and went to pluck a few cilantro leaves as an accompaniment. To my surprise if not dismay, the plant had flowered. There were no flowers the day before. A google search suggested one should not eat cilantro leaves once the plant had flowered, as the leaves would be tasteless. But rather wait and collect the seeds. I saw no mention of anyone using flowers themselves. I would love to learn more.

Beautiful! What is the sauce in the little cup? Is that your own bread?

Here in New Jersey for years I co-planted marigolds with my tomatoes but the marigolds were inevitably attacked and wiped out by spider mites. Spider mite infested marigolds are disgusting. However what eventually did in my tomato crop was my landlord.

Time Life Dried Beans and Grains.

Thank you for the video. I believe I now understand what thinning behind the edge is and what it is supposed to do. However, unless I am missing something, this is exactly what Chef's Choice purports to accomplish.

Strange coincidence: The New York Times today promotes another Brooklyn butcherblock purveyor: Artisan Revere. But they do not look as pretty to my eye and they possess funky little feet. http://artisanrevere.com

As someone who usually walks for her cheese, I appreciate your situation. However, not to doubt you, I find it hard to believe there is no quality blue cheese within an hour's walk, as long as you walk in the right direction. But should I be wrong: sign up for amazon* prime, and order from Whole Foods. The cheese should be on your doorstep within two hours. One hour if you pay extra. They also offer Ortiz anchovies. *admittedly amazon might not be considered a small retailer.

If it helps, the Wall Street Journal has an article today on roasting eggplant, either outdoors or directly over a stove burner. Neither of those options work for me but I think eggplants would roast fine on my Philips grill. If I am remembering the article correctly, the eggplants in question were grilled whole, so presumably the seeds were still inside.

I've never tried freezing bread. There is usually no room in my freezers anyway. Modernist Bread suggests preventing mold by storing bread under CO2. I never tried that because I don't have a suitable container. But I just had a thought: I keep my baguettes in plastic bags designed for bread storage. It would be easy enough to flush the bags with CO2. Plus if I were making a batch of Methode Rotuts to have with dinner, no CO2 would be wasted.

It's always a challenge to decide in which cutting board topic to post. But this is the Wood Cutting Boards topic and I took delivery of a new wood cutting board. So anyway, a bit of backstory: I have three Boos boards. The smallest is 15x20 inches, by 3 inches thick. The largest a few feet by several feet, by 2 1/4 inches thick. I do not actually use them for cutting. The little walnut end grain board has shown up in many of my kitchen photographs. It is more for show than blow. But I wanted something I would actually cut upon that was more gentle to my knife edges than the poly boards at my disposal. The board I bought is 12x18x1.75 inch end grain cherry, from Brooklyn Butcher Blocks: https://www.brooklynbutcherblocks.com/collections/end-grain/products/end-grain-cherry-butcher-block?variant=31721875177572 I chose cherry as it is the softest wood offered. Not to mention, the least expensive. The board is quite attractive. Searching eGullet I find no love for Brooklyn Butcher Blocks? I wonder why this is.

Not a stereo microscope, but amazon is having a deal today and I ordered a USB microscope. (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) Until the microscope comes I remain pleased with my new Chef's Choice.

Callipo tuna, Rancho Gordo Cranberry beans, romaine, boule. Soave not shown.

Last night I was devastated when the third of last weekend's batch of baguettes horridly molded. So this time it's a kilogram boule again. One difficulty with large loaves is the dough drapes over the sides of the little Exo peel I originally purchased for use with the CSO. It's always a challenge not to land the dough on the kitchen floor. A larger Exo peel is now on order. That will make my fourth Exo. I've been raving about Exo Super Peels long before they were pictured in Modernist Bread.

Wow, I only have three pressure cookers total. (Though I admit I have three Paragons, not that that helps you.) Forgive me for misremembering the probe temperature range. I think I was previously corrected about this in an earlier thread. On the Paragon they allow the probe to go up to 375F, which is useful for deep frying. In my post just above I clarified that for use with a pressure cooker you would need the mat, which also goes up to 375F. I use the Paragon with the mat several times a week (most recently the last two nights), whereas I seldom use the probe. I do not know if the mat would work with the stovetop or not. To pressure cook with the mat, usually a batch of Rancho Gordo beans, I set the temperature to 260F till in a couple minutes the pot comes up to pressure. Then I reduce the temperature to whatever temperature I want for cooking. I can then go take a shower or read eGullet without worrying about beans on the kitchen ceiling.

I happened to think that if the GE part number includes only the probe it would help with the stock pot situation but not with pressure cooking. For using a pressure cooker you would need the Paragon mat. I may be misremembering but I recall @lindag has a GE induction stove. Perhaps she could say more?