btbyrd

Get a butane burner and go outside. That’s what I do. The problem isn’t with you or your technique but with the inadequate ventilation in almost all home kitchens.

These are tacos filled with creamy poblano peppers, onions, and mushrooms. A hit with my wife, who is mostly vegetarian these days. Making your own tortillas is a real game changer. Masienda's masa harina is fantastic and produces tortillas more beautiful and flavorful than Maseca. You can get a fantastic Victoria brand cast iron tortilla press for like $25. I haven't started making flour tortillas yet, but you don't need a press for those. I ordered a small wooden rolling pin in anticipation. There are few things better in life than fresh flour tortillas. Or fresh corn tortillas. Fresh tortillas rock.

Perhaps the best resource I've found is Rick Bayless's "Taco Manual" series on YouTube. I just kind of watch them at random whenever there's a new one posted, but it's really upped my game. Here's the first video in the playlist:

I just want someone to give me 5 Staubs in various sizes. And let me pick the colors. Is that too much to ask? And Control Freak Home. And an ANOVA Precision Oven. And some silver lined copper. Or just some straight up silver pans. A set of silver pans in various sizes, please. An enormous Blue Star cook top with either the griddle or French top. An enormous hood that vents the cooktop and the pair of combi ovens that you've mounted in the wall. Makeup ventilation. Solar panels and a RO filter on all the water coming into the house. Carbonation on tap with an ice machine. A low speed rack/table to hold the Minipack vacuum machine. Low boys everywhere. Stainless everywhere. Finished concrete counters. Salmon leather magnetic strips for knife storage. Some new knives... someone get me a pair of rehandled, spa-d out Fujiwara Denka in 230 and 270mm please. And a Takeda Cleaver and some custom blades from Ben Kamon IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?

Porcelain will stain and discolor over time. Much of it can be removed with Bar Keeper's Friend, but it's the sort of thing I only do once every few years. Some manufacturers (notably Staub) use dark porcelain on the interior of their pans. It does take some getting used to in terms of judging browning, but I like the look and it looks less "dirty" over time (even though it's the same amount of crustified).

If you're buying the small tubs for consumer use, the MTG stuff will last basically forever in your fridge. Like six months to a year. Just use clean utensils when you go in each time. If you wanted to freeze it in cubes, you could always dunk the bottom of the ice cube trays into warm water to help them release.

Yesterday I got dressed up and went grocery shopping. Then I came home, changed into my cooking clothes, and spent the rest of the day in my back yard because the weather was *perfect*. I got so much sun. Anyway, everything I cooked and prepped was done outdoors, and I did a lot of documenting. This was both an extravagant meal and a bulk prep session for future meals. We've now got protein and veg coming out of our ears. The menu was b 40oz porterhouse seared over binchotan charcoal, cooked again over wood coals on my gas grill, and finished in a low oven. Also some yakitori chicken. Grilled asparagus, red onion, eggplant, and purple cauliflower came to the party along with some binchotan roasted fennel bulbs that I cut up, tossed with charred fronds, and dressed with blood orange and lemon juice, olive oil, and some cilantro/mint. There was a classic arugula salad with shaved parm, lemon juice, and olive oil. And a cilantro yogurt sauce I got from Jean-Georges. It was stupid you guys. A bit of the grilling experience: So stupid.

Just preheat it longer. Breville’s smart ovens are real dumb about thinking they’re up to temp. They just lie about it.

If you could deep fry them in schmaltz, that’d be winning. I’d salt them and put them on a rack in the fridge overnight, pop them in the freezer for like 15 minutes and then deep fry as your pre sear. You don’t get a pan sauce, but the uniformity of the sear is superior and there’s less worry about overcooking. You could even shock them in an ice bath after frying and quickly blot them dry.

Definitely not. But I did once own a couple of knives made by this smithy and that may have been an inspiration for my flattening project. One day I really want to get one of his cleavers...

Great find and great work rebending the handle! Doing that sort of work can be nerve wracking. Some of my Dartos warped slightly and I mostly use them on an electric cooktop, so I went through the process of getting them close to red hot and then beating them flat. By the time I was done with them, the handle angle wasn't ever quite the same. But now they feel like they're more fully mine because I applied a heavy layer of Brandon's wabi sabi.

I have the Taskmasters, the Tojiro shears, and the MAC shears and snips. They're all a bit different. I like the Taskmasters as general use packaging scissors and use the others on (mostly) food. Not that the Taskmasters aren't well suited toward cutting food, but just that they've become the everyday scissors in my kitchen and so often have tape goop or other household dirt on them. There are two or three other kinds of shears that I'd like to try but I already have too many.

Those are great and that is a great price! Maybe even stock up for last minute Christmas gifts? In any event, I'm going to let some friends know.

I have been waiting on them to drop a 31cm skillet for half a decade or more. I keep screaming it to the sky. I keep screaming it to their e-mail and insta accounts. I always get the same answer.... "next year, maybe..." I do want one of those fatty No 27s though. But I have an OG No 27 and its performance is pretty spectacular, so I guess I can't complain.

You're too kind. But one quick point of correction: There was nothing beneath my standards about that knife -- I just needed to pay some bills! I still miss it sometimes, but it makes me happy that it went somewhere where it's being loved, used, and enjoyed.