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In this next installment of my continuing series “Why Induction Sucks,” I boil water in some primo All Clad cookware over a primo $750 commercial 1800W induction unit. D3 8 inch skillet: Vigorous boil around the perimeter, cold spot at the center. Copper Core stock pot: Cold spot in center, ring of deep vigorous boiling, cold perimeter. D7 12 inch saute pan. She thiccc with three cs. Similar to the copper core but with a less well defined “ring of fire.” So hot spots and cold zones all around. The cookware isn’t the problem.

It depends on the induction burner. Almost all of the ones I've seen in the US have tiny coils that generate a hot spot with uneven heat. This isn't a problem with smaller cookware, but with a larger stock pot, it can cause problems if you're simmering something thick like a tomato sauce. This is less a problem with the cookware and more a product of how garbage our induction hobs are here. I say that because I've been assured by several Europeans that their induction cooktops and hobs don't really have this problem. I have a bunch of D3 as well as some D7 and Copper Core. I also have a Vollrath Mirage Pro induction unit. Even though the cookware is good and it's a commercial burner, there are still big hot spots, even with copper or huge metal sandwiches like on the D7. A small 8" D3 pan will work flawlessly on induction and you won't notice any hot spots. But once you go up in cookware size, the spot emerges. If you put an inch or two of water in a 12" D3, D7, or Copper Core pan, only the part of the pan directly above the induction coil will boil vigorously. It's like that even on super-dupes high end 1800W units like the Control Freak. The problem isn't the cookware. That said, I use my induction frequently with a cheap 8qt Presto pressure cooker to make stock. Works great! And it's fine for making most soups, even in larger pots. But something thick like chili or tomato sauce or something might not heat evenly since the thick soup/stew/whatever won't circulate itself via convection.

I had some leftover garnishes from a consommé I made earlier in the week. Broke out some instant Prima Taste curry noodles. Took leftover roast chicken and fried it in oil with ginger, curry powder, and cayenne. Put that on the noodles, topped with a leftover sous vide yolk, and rained down the chives. The food photographer in me should have wiped this bowl, but since I was going to eat it over the sink like a rat, it didn’t seem necessary. There’s a definite splash zone with these noodles. Sink eating is the way. Plan your slurpy spatter patterns wisely! Or put a tarp down, Patrick Bateman style, and throw on some Huey Lewis and The News. Or put on a poncho and go outside. Maybe eat them in a shower stall in a hazmat suit. Reasonably, the sink/apron combo is about the best you can hope for in real life. Because that broth *will* splash. And that broth *will* stain. But you got slurp those noodles. Those noodles are so worth it. Caveat emptor. 🍜 🐀 🚿

I had some leftover mapo tofu and I served it over Shin Black spicy ramyun. It was a fiery affair, but I would do it again. And again and again.

There are a bunch of Methocel formulations and they're not interchangeable. Modernist Pantry sells F50 and they ship anywhere in the world. I see you're in Manchester, so maybe you can pick up a few other magic ingredients while you're there to make the shipping make sense. Or find it locally. DuPont is the manufacturer. If you look in the sidebar on the Modernist Pantry F50 link, you'll see some product videos from the Modernist Pantry YouTube channel, including this Methocellulose "primer" that explains different types and applications. There's a hot ice cream demo at the end. The property of Methocel that makes it useful for clarifying consomme is that it gels when it's heated, so it really brings the raft together. It's amazing the amount of clarifying power you get with just a couple grams of the stuff. For dinner last night I made a really strong roasted chicken wing consomme with F50 and infused it heavily with garlic, ginger, and scallions. I used a mix of Japanese seaweed salt and this soy-sauce-like product called Yondu to season it. Yondu is nice because it doesn't darken the soup like typical soy sauce does. I used to use white shoyu for this purpose, but it's very expensive. Anyway, it made a killer chicken noodle soup.

Chicken noodle soup. Roast chicken consommé, pulled oyster mushroom and chicken thigh, egg noodles, spicy sesame kale, 64C egg yolk, crispy chicken skin, chive. Oyster mushrooms sauteed in chicken fat. Similar texture to the chicken thigh meat. Garnishes: Raw thigh skin, scraped and salted and fridged overnight: Crispified:

Actually, this was the future. The Methocel F50 consommé technique is one of my favorite techniques that I gleaned from Modernist Cuisine and ChefSteps. It's so easy, and the raft that forms can clarify a larger volume than they use in this video. It strips less flavor than egg whites do and the technique just works like magic. You use very little F50, so a bag of it will last you forever unless you're busting out consommé every weeknight. It's a good enough reason to keep F50 on hand. (You can also use it as a pre-batter for fry batter and use it to create eggwhite-like "meringues" from purees, sort of like aquafaba. But I digress). ChefSteps uses a French press to infuse the herbs at the end of this video. I've always fantasized about having a super fine dining establishment and doing a tableside consommé service using a vacuum coffee siphon to do the aromatic infusion. Again, I digress. Here's an example from my own home cooking. I wanted to do a high end version of chicken and rice soup, served with its traditional garnishes. The rice was Carolina Gold from Anson mills that I cooked in a donabe. There was poached chicken breast, blanched carrot and celery, and hen of the woods mushrooms sauteed in chicken fat. And a 64C egg yolk. It was spectacular but understated, evoking some nostalgic flavor memories of grandma's chicken soup.

There are a lot of variables that determine cutting performance in these kind of insane tests. Technique is an obvious one. That wasn't the first take with either of those knives, and it took a few swipes with the Takeda to get the grapes to cut without pushing them around. Maybe if I'd taken more time with the ZDP I would have gotten there. But I ran out of grapes. The videos were shot with two different batches of grapes, so that's another variable. Steel type is unlikely to play a role in this test, but ZDP is much more difficult to sharpen than aogami super is. The surface of the blades makes a difference, but how much of a difference and what kind are often debated. The mirror polish in particular is often credited with being sticky. People also often say that mirror polishing reduces drag. I don't know. In practice, there's not a noticeable difference between the mirror polished Sukenari and the hairline one. And the core steel on the Takeda was mirror polished because of the epic thinning, sharpening, and polishing progression that District Cutlery put on it. So who knows? The ZDP was also fresh off a sharpening by the same sharpener (but using a different progression). The Takeda was definitely sharper though. People also like to say that damascus cladding is "stickier" compared to knives with monosteel cladding. Again, I've not noticed a difference in practice between damascus and non-damascus knives in terms of stickiness. There are some etching processes that can make the blade grabbier, and that's more likely to cause issues than the layered steel is. Layers per se aren't a problem. I have a mono steel carbon knife onto which I forced too hard of a patina, and the sides of that thing are grabbier than any other knife in my kitchen, layers or no layers.

I have other knives that can get sharper. The Sukenari ZDP-189 wasn't quite up to the sharpness of the Takeda in aogami super. That initial sharpness fades quickly, and the Sukenaris will stay sharper much longer than most knives, including Takedas. But that initial edge might not be quite as freakshow sharp as the edge apex you can achieve on a lower alloyed steel. Here's the failure of the Sukenari. The music in this was auto-generated by my iPhone, so I don't necessarily condone it. And here's the success of my Takeda. I made the music for this one from raw electrons, so any lousiness is attributable to me. I think the HAP40 one is somewhere in between in terms of achievable edge and grind performance.

It looks evenly more menacingly utilitarian when it's in its saya. Sukenari offer knives in a variety of steels (VG10, Ginsan, Aogami Super, White 1, ZDP189, R2, HAP40, and more I'm forgetting about). They come with either a "hairline" migaki finish and a mirror polished etched damascus finish. The damascus is stunning, and I think mine is the most beautiful object I've ever owned. But it costs a lot more and doesn't doesn't really contribute to performance. I will say that when I saw that polished blade with that custom amboyna handle, I fell in love immediately. The damascus one is a 270mm gyuto in ZDP-189 steel. That's a very highly alloyed steel that has a tremendous amount of both carbon and chromium in it. It was developed by Hitachi primarily for kitchen knives. It's capable of achieving a very high hardness, around 65-66 HRC in this case. The bottom knife is a 240mm gyuto with a kiritsuke tip in HAP40 steel with a hairline finish. HAP40 is much less alloyed than ZDP is, but it is capable of even higher hardness ratings. Sukenari treat theirs to 67-68HRC which is quite high. For both ZDP and HAP40, you'll want to have good stones to sharpen them with. Shapton Glass do a great job, but vitrified diamond are the "sky's the limit" type of stone for these extremely hard steels. The profile on both knives has a generous flat spot, with the only obvious difference in profile coming from the shape of the tip. That's down to preference of what you like the look of; both cut quite well at the tip, with a slight advantage going toward the thinner k-tip migaki. The fit and finish on both knives is superb, but the damascus ones have gorgeously rounded spines and choils, making them extremely comfortable to hold. The hairlines are rounded as well, but not to the same degree (but still much better than many, many companies out there). Sukenari's knives have excellent convex grinds that are extremely thin behind the edge. The cladding on the damascus knives is slightly thicker than the hairline knives, making them slightly thicker at the spine. But it's subtle and the performance on both is very similar (which is to say, exceptional). Here are a couple choil shots. ZDP first, then the HAP40: The prices on Sukenari vary depending on the finish and core steel. There's a big upcharge on the damascus version, and steels like ZDP cost a lot more than more basic steels. I think the best value might be the R2 line, which is a high hardness stainless steel that's much less expensive than some of the alternatives. FYI: The edge lengths on Sukenaris are about 8mm shorter than their stated length. My 270 is 262mm, and the 240 is 232. This means that the 210 is more like a 202, which turned out to be too short for my preferences. The 240mm HAP40 hairline is maybe my favorite all around knife. It's long, but not too long. It cuts like a dream and is very easy to control. It just feels like a part of you. And when you hold it, it screams "craftsmanship" in a way that few factory-made knives do. Both knives are fantastic for tackling a big head of cabbage or iceberg and finely shredding it into oblivion. Great for julienne, fine dice, brunoise. And it's great on animal protein as well. The generous flat spots on these make them great for push cutting, which is generally my preferred cutting technique. It also works well for rocking, which is a bonus. With all that said, here's a video of a 210 ZDP damascus made by a Chef Knives to Go forum member. It pretty well captures the experience of using one, as well as the beauty of the mirror polished, shot blasted damascus finish. I'm sure those were more details than you wanted to know, but in case I didn't say enough, feel free to ask more questions. 😁

These are my Sukenari Wonder Twins.

So sorry to annoy you both! I also fixated on these high end grinders when I first became aware of them. I was especially fond of their high output (and high build quality). But my wife remarked "I don't think I'd ever want to grind pepper faster than the Unicorn does it. It puts out plenty for me." And it turns out, that's true. If I was making bulk pastrami on the regular, maybe I'd want to up my output. But as a normal (well, kind of abnormal) home cook, I don't need that kind of power. And if I did, I'd probably end up buying an electric burr spice grinder. The real advantage in these seems to be in the well machined adjustable burrs that deliver not just high output, but a full spectrum of particle sizes. Upon reflection, I really only use two sizes of ground pepper in my cooking: moderately coarse and fine-ish. I just permanently have my Unicorn set to medium coarse and my Atlas set to fine-ish and between the two of them, all my needs are taken care of. The dual grinder solution is space-hogging and somewhat pricey, but I got my Unicorn on blowout for like $16, so I count my blessings. I still curse its plastic body and less-than-great grind adjustment, but I can't argue with the excellent coarse grinding and high-enough output.

Salad.

My wife and I visited Zingerman's on our honeymoon and bought enough olive oil and vinegar to stock our pantry for a year or two. That was many moons ago. These days, I usually snag some of the 16 and 30 year during the sale. The 10 year is fantastic, but the 16 is only $5 more and is thicker and more complex. The 30 year is astonishing and is my favorite, but it costs 2.5 times what the 16 costs, so it gets used sparingly.

Dave Arnold developed a couple of interesting ISI techniques. Rapid infusion is probably the most useful. Here he is on the ISI YouTube channel demonstrating the technique. (Check out that channel for a bunch of recipes and ideas). The other technique Dave Arnold developed mimics the result of vacuum infusion or quick-pickling using a chamber vacuum machine. You basically pop your soft ingredient in a bag with a flavorful liquid or booze or whatever, get all the air out, put the zippie in the ISI along with some water, and pressurize it to drive the liquid into the product. A similar technique is rapid marination which uses pressure to drive marinades into soft product. Scallops in your whipping siphon? Why not? ChefSteps has a siphon class with a bunch of techniques. It's paywalled, but they have a few public recipes that are worth checking out. Like their hollandaise. It's nice because you can make it a couple hours ahead and then hot hold it in the ISI in a circulator. They also have a good tempura fry batter that's light and airy and doesn't require vodka or beer. That recipe was posted in a video to their FB page. If you have access to liquid nitrogen, frozen and par-frozen foams are fun. The most famous dishes in that regard are probably the frozen apertifs at The Fat Duck and the frozen foam in Alinea's "dessert on the table" preparations. ChefSteps has a Fat Ducky recipe for Strawberries and Cream Cryocycles: Microwave sponge cakes are another fun thing to do when you're not cooking for a crowd. Iron Chef Cat Cora was especially fond of using the ol' siphon cake technique in Kitchen Stadium to pull off a quick and convenient dessert. I have been meaning to do this myself, but it requires you to buy microwavable paper cups that I never seem to have on hand. They also have an ISI kimchi recipe if you like yours bubblin' for some reason. And there's rapid nitro cold brew coffee, if you're in a hurry. These are basically just applications of rapid infusion. Lots of fun possibilities. Mine mostly makes whipped cream.

Hoppin’ John with Anson Mills peas and rice grits.

I do this almost every time I prepare endive (which to be fair, is about three times per year). But I half it and pop it in a bag with some oil and salt at 85C and let it go for like 40-45 minutes. Then unbag while hot and let the surface moisture flash off. Then sear the cut half in copious butter and olive oil and garnish with flakey salt and chives. Endive is relatively tender compared to cabbage, at least in my experience, so you don't need extended cook times to soften it. You can if you really want it to go all sogged-out braisey, but then you're making a different dish than I'm making. If you're not keen on bitterness, you can blend in some sugar with the salt when you season pre-bagging. A splash of vinegar can be nice too.

Mapo tofu Shin Black. It makes sense.

Beef cheek pastrami. Recipe from Modernist Cuisine.

Grilled chicken hearts are one of my favorites. I'd totally eat them more often if I could source them locally. Hearts can get tough if you overcook them though, but I've found a good workaround for that. I learned it from the "Next: Taste of Thailand" eBook. Briefly, you cook the hearts sous vide for 5 hours at 90C. This renders the fat and tenderizes the tough muscle tissue. Then you cool them down, trim any excess fat, and sear them over very hot charcoal. Tasty, tender, and delicious!

Knives in rental properties will be not only dull, but made of garbage steel that will be difficult to sharpen. I like the idea of buying an inexpensive knife like a Kiwi or even a Victorinox Fibrox and using that instead of trying to shine the turds that you'll find at your destination.

Thanks for the heads up Smithy! I finally picked up that All Clad quad waffle maker that I've had my eye on for the past few months. I used coupon code: SDADECVIP15 and saved 15% with free shipping. I don't know if the shipping was because of the coupon code or because of the item I ordered, but either way, I hope it saves someone money.

She's done a bunch of interviews and appearances on Heritage Radio Network. One thing I wish she would try to emphasize more is the role of the USDA and FDA in creating and perpetuating our broken food system instead of placing so much emphasis on corporate bogeymen. There are lots of those to be sure (she heaps a lot of warranted abuse on Nestle in her book Food Politics, for example). But US food policy favors the production of low quality commodity agricultural goods which then get transformed into low quality highly processed foodstuffs, and a lot of those incentives came out of government subsidization and ag policies during the Cold War. I wish she'd focus more on that part of the story. Regardless, she's a legend in the field (and for good reason).

The company is based in Maine. They contract with fisheries and canneries to produce a product tailored to their spec (while also producing some products themselves in North America). Latvia is one of the largest fish processors in Europe and their canneries handle fish from all over the North Atlantic.

I'm definitely not a super-taster! The Nuris have a piece of bay, a clove, and a peppercorn hanging out in the tin (along with the chili, carrot, and pickle), so it's not like the spices are a secret. But they vary somewhat from tin to tin, with most being close to the average. (Same with the salt level.) My first tin of Nuris was a clove bomb and I loved it, but none since then have had that same level. Except for one rogue tin of their spiced mackerel filets. Whatever the case, it's clear from tasting the oil that the flavor isn't just coming from the chili. I find clove to be pretty distinctive, so I can usually suss out that note... the other flavors are mostly a background spice melange. On a related note, I recently discovered that Minerva makes a tin of sardines in olive oil with clove. Since I'm apparently so keen on that flavor, it's on my "to try" list for sure.