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The need to peel winter squash


heidih

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I tried Delicata squash for the first time recently. The standard with this little gem is to leave it unpeeled as the skin is thin. Then I picked up a 99cent orange acorn squash and left it unpeeled http://forums.egullet.org/topic/136548-what-new-ingredients-are-you-trying-out/page-5#entry1943362 I have seen kabocha ( my favorite) left unpeeled often.

What is your standard MO?

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i hardly ever peel before i roast. i find that if the peel is too tough to be consumed, it's much easier to pare it off after it's cooked. delicata, most of the time i eat the skin.

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For the tool lovers out there - we saw an extreme peeling method by a member here http://forums.egullet.org/topic/109342-peeling-butternut-squash/#entry1487946

Disappointed by the quality of the machine tools. I'd use a Monarch EE, or at the very least a Hardinge HLV-H. Modernist types would doubtless want something in CNC.

This is my skillet. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My skillet is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it, as I must master my life. Without me my skillet is useless. Without my skillet, I am useless. I must season my skillet well. I will. Before God I swear this creed. My skillet and myself are the makers of my meal. We are the masters of our kitchen. So be it, until there are no ingredients, but dinner. Amen.

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Funny you should ask, I just saw an episode of Jamie's 15 minute meals where he grated a butternut in the food processor, skin and all then cooked it. I was surprised and wondered if anyone had tried something similar.

I usually peel before cooking in the PC but after for roasting.

It's almost never bad to feed someone.

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I haven't peeled pumpkin or squash in years... I stopped after I figured out that the toughest pumpkin will get very soft when it's cooked, and then you can scoop the flesh off the skin without risking life and limb trying to carve it. The skin is easy to peel off if you don't want to eat it. Most of them have skins that get soft when you roast them anyway, so I generally eat the whole thing.

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Disappointed by the quality of the machine tools. I'd use a Monarch EE, or at the very least a Hardinge HLV-H. Modernist types would doubtless want something in CNC.

To use CNC, one would first have to arrange for a 3D scanning setup, and do the toolbit programming.

So using a wood lathe, where the operator can adapt to surface changes, is a fine (and I might suggest, a better) approach. Of course, then there are the questions of variable speed through pulleys or variable reluctance... and whether powdered metal steel chisels will last longer between sharpening.

Apparently I clearly spend too much time with my woodturning hobby...

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I don't peel before roasting and never make them any other way. So easy to scoop out and looks pretty in thick slices on a plate too. We just made delicata, what a gem! Probably my favorite now. I doubt I'd peel one if I'd use the PC either, I'm sure the skin will more or less just fall off.

Have a Spaghetti squash in the kitchen that we'll probably have tonight.

"And don't forget music - music in the kitchen is an essential ingredient!"

- Thomas Keller

Diablo Kitchen, my food blog

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If the squash were so tough that I needed anything more sophisticated than the most basic lathe tools to take off the skin, I wouldn't bother. :raz:

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  • 4 weeks later...

I don't peel before roasting and never make them any other way. So easy to scoop out and looks pretty in thick slices on a plate too. We just made delicata, what a gem! Probably my favorite now. I doubt I'd peel one if I'd use the PC either, I'm sure the skin will more or less just fall off.

Have a Spaghetti squash in the kitchen that we'll probably have tonight.

My wife loves cubed pumpkin steamed with pround pork and garlic... and I'm prtetty sure there isn't any other way to do this except by peeling the pumpkin first. Note, the peeling is actually the easiest part of this dish because it's not that hard to remove the peel from a 1 inch ring of pumpkin with a decent chef's knife.

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