btbyrd

My cookware addiction, like all of my consumptive addictions, is mercifully self-limiting. Once I (thoroughly) cover the bases, I don't feel a strong pull to buy more. If a new pot or pan isn't going to do much for me functionally, I don't find it all that desirable. But if I've got a particular need for a pan, or if there's an obvious gap in my batterie, I feel the urge. Here's a quick outline of what I have with some quick commentary. From All Clad I have 3 D3 saucepans (or pots, as normal people call them) with lids in 1.5qt, 3qt, and 4qt sizes. That's a pretty good range, though I kind of want a 2 or 2.5qt saucier to fill in the gap between the 1.5 and 3qt pans. I also have two D3 skillets, 8 and 12 inch. These get used less frequently than they used to, as I tend to use my nonstick and carbon steel skillets more often for some reason. The D3 skillets are slightly lighter weight than I prefer, but they're still great performers. Moving away from the D3, I have the D7 12" skillet. It is big, bad, and in charge. Huge and heavy and awesome. It's my stainless alternative to cast iron or carbon steel for searing. The stainlessness makes it great for making acidic pan sauces, which are my preference. I'd like to have a 10" Copper Core saute pan to do some shallow frying in. My last 2 All Clad pans are stock pots. The first was featured above: a Copper Core 8qt stock pot. It's more of a soup and pasta pot than a stock pot, given its small size. But it's great for soups. Nice big flat bottom also sears well and the high walls mostly contains the spatter. In Stock Pot country, I also have a Mystery Line All Clad stock pot with steamer inserts that I was gifted for my wedding many years ago. I think it's 12 qts. Unfortunately, it's not induction compatible. I basically only use this to make larger quantities of stock on the stovetop or in the oven. But I mostly use pressure cookers for stock. So yeah, it's not super useful. Maybe if I get into making tamales, or if I want to fry a turkey on my wok burner. Or something. My only other piece of stainless cookware also mostly gets used for stock making. It's a cheap Presto 8-qt pressure cooker with a disc bottom that works pretty okay. I wish I had a fancier pressure cooker, but I bought this when I was a grad student just getting into cooking in a serious way. It was a bargain, and I'm glad I have it. The base works very well as a standalone pot, with the only drawback being the handles that aren't oven-safe. I'd happily swap it out for a Kuhn Rikon or a Fissler though. Who wouldn't? And I have an Instant Pot too, so... That covers my stainless cookware. Before I go into the other metals, I'd like to give a shout out to my 3 Alonon copper nouveau nonstick skillets (8, 10, and 12 inch). Unlike most nonstick pans, which are thin and tend to overheat locally, these have a thick layer on the bottom of aluminum, copper, and stainless (at least I think that's what they are). It's not a lot of copper, but it's nice. The sides are very curved/sloped, which I don't prefer, but the shape works well for tossing food. They're heavy nonstick pans that heat evenly and don't lose all their heat when you throw a lot of food into the pan. Unfortunately, Anolon stopped making them. It's almost time to replace them. Sad times. Nonstick pans are the only disposable pans in my kitchen. Everything else should last a lifetime. For cast iron, I have a 12" Lodge skillet I got as a broke undergrad. Maybe the best $20 on kitchen equipment I've ever spent. I also have 8 and 10 inch vintage skillets that I inherited from my grandmothers. That's pretty cool. They mostly get used for cornbread duty. I also have a 4.5qt Lodge dutch oven that I use mostly for deep frying on induction. It's also a preferred vessel for certain "no knead" bread recipes, but I don't bake ever. Ever. Finally, I have an enamel coated Tramontina 8 qt dutch oven that was recommended by Cook's Illustrated in like 2008. That's what I use for braises, pot roasts, and heavy searing. It's great, and I think I got it for like $50 at Walmart 15 years ago. A great purchase. My parents have all kinds of Le Creuset pieces, and this compares favorably. In carbon steel, I have a full set of the original Darto skillets as well as their No. 34 paella. I think the No. 34 paella is my favorite pan overall in the kitchen. It's just a huge thick slab of black steel. Incredible searing power. Great for shallow frying, large format fajitas, or nachos. It almost lives on my stovetop. The other Dartos are mostly used for searing or sautéing. I wish I had a No 27 paella to roast things in my Breville Smart Oven. Maybe some of the other smaller paella things. All my carbon steel is from Darto except for a 36cm wok that I got from Korin. I've used it twice for actual wokking. It's great, but I never use my wok burner. That's more of a personal failing than a problem with the cookware. I mostly use it for deep frying. Go outside to fry my fish and chips over a 100K BTU burner. You use less oil in a wok and don't have to worry about bubble-over. Basically an outdoor deep fryer, as far as I'm concerned. The wok itself performs great though and the handle doesn't get hot even though it's metal too (even over my monster wok burner). I would buy this wok again and again, but I'd buy it in this slightly smaller 33cm size. The final three pieces of cookware I'll list are the ceramic donabes I purchased from Toiro Kitchen. I have one that is designed to make rice, and that's my official rice-maker. I also have a large one designed for smoking that was very expensive and is very underused. I feel bad about that, because it was my most expensive piece of cookware and I've used it less than 10 times. I am going to work on changing that though. Even less used is a tagine style donabe. I've used it to bake bread and to steam roast potatoes. Been meaning to make some actual tagines, but that never seems to happen. I think the base of it might work well as a comal though. So maybe it's actually a 2-in-1 device that I never use! At least it's not a unitasker! All told, I think that's 24 pieces. Math was never my strong suit.

The maximum recommended cookware size you can use with the best 1800W induction hobs is ten inches. That's what it is for the Control Freak. The Vollrath is specced slightly higher at 10.25 inches, but it performs basically the same in practice (at least with respect to evenness of heat). So yes some of these pans were too big. The 8" pan definitely wasn't, but it still had a marked cold zone in the center. That's not trivial if you're doing something like searing protein. Even with 10" cookware, there's both a cold spot in the middle of the pan and falloff around the perimeter. It just gets worse when you use larger cookware. Whether it matters in practice depends on what you're doing. I use my copper core on induction all the time to boil noodles or make soup. But if I'm going to be doing any sauteeing or searing, I have to be very deliberate about the size of cookware I'm using and where on the pan I place the food. If you put a scallop in the center of the pan, it's going to sear way differently than its friends will in the Ring of Fire.

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).