Yard Sale, Thrift Store, Junk Heap Shopping (Part 3)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

58 minutes ago, boilsover said:

 

Yes, of course.  But a lot of the time you are, even close to the heel.  Or am--today I thin-sliced some leftover NYE prime rib for French Dip sandwiches.  I have an ancient, thin, 14" Henckels slicer that would only contact the board at the extreme tip if I wasn't prepared to hang the handle over the edge.

 

Granted, and I have a similar 12.5 inch (blade length) Wusthof.  I don't think these knives were meant to be used for slicing against cutting boards. Mine, as I recall, was sold as a salmon slicer.

 

[ElsieD]

6 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Granted, and I have a similar 12.5 inch (blade length) Wusthof.  I don't think these knives were meant to be used for slicing against cutting boards. Mine, as I recall, was sold as a salmon slicer.

 

 

I have one too.  I used it when we had the house and I used to cold smoke my own salmon.  It's a great knife for that.  Nowadays it gets used on occasion to thinly slice ham, and not much else.

[chromedome]

Mine's a Victorinox and lacks the bolster (I'm in the anti-bolster camp) but is otherwise very similar. 

 

I cured my own gravlax when my restaurant was open, and used that to slice it. I made three varieties, and served them as an appetizer plate. I also used the cured salmon in an eggs benny variation on my lunch menu. 

[Martin Fisher]

16 hours ago, andiesenji said:

I have a couple like that.  I don't wrap my fingers around the handle, I hold it like a wand with one finger on the back of the blade.  This Global "utility" knife is one such.

A real knuckle banger.

 

Another trick, useful in some instances, is to use a thick or elevated cutting board—keeping the handle out beyond the edge of the board.

[boilsover]

13 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I don't think these knives were meant to be used for slicing against cutting boards. Mine, as I recall, was sold as a salmon slicer.

 

Gosh, I'm having a hard time getting my mind around how you'd slice salmon (or bread, or charcuterie) without board contact.  I totally get slicing certain things, e.g., turkey breast, ham/venison joints, etc. "in thin air", but I don't think slicers were intended for such limited use.  Would you please explain?

[andiesenji]

11 hours ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

 

Another trick, useful in some instances, is to use a thick or elevated cutting board—keeping the handle out beyond the edge of the board.

The blade is too short to be effective that way.  It is a 5 inch blade.

 

[Porthos]

I would like to make sure that one detail is clear. I had no intention of ever using this knife myself. I own a lot of knives for my own kitchen, not to mention the 20 or so I have for my faire kitchens. A new find at a thrift store would have to be rather special for me to buy yet another knife for myself. The last such purchase was a Shun carving knife.

 

On a related note, I am a firm believer in buying tools that work well for my style of cooking. I am not interested in having tools that require me to adapt to how they would like to be used.  I am very fond of this quote from Waiting for Godot, "There's man all over for you, blaming on his boots the faults of his feet."

[JoNorvelleWalker]

8 hours ago, boilsover said:

 

Gosh, I'm having a hard time getting my mind around how you'd slice salmon (or bread, or charcuterie) without board contact.  I totally get slicing certain things, e.g., turkey breast, ham/venison joints, etc. "in thin air", but I don't think slicers were intended for such limited use.  Would you please explain?

 

Here is a video I found:

https://www.google.com/search?num=100&as_q=slicing+salmon&gws_rd=ssl#gws_rd=ssl&kpvalbx=1&spf=1516253956225

 

Note there is a story to my salmon slicer:  two friends were getting married.  I wished to surprise them with smoked salmon at the reception.  So of course I needed a salmon slicer.  I did not find it at a thrift store.

 

...Turns out the salmon was pre-sliced.

 

[boilsover]

10 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Here is a video I found:

 

Sure, you can do it that way.  You can slice bacon the same way, too.  I guess I'm not as stingy with my smoked salmon--I slice on the diagonal, thicker, and down to the board.  But I also rarely smoke to that lox consistency; I can see how the style of slicing might be good for that.

[Anna N]

Over on this thread a few of us have sheepishly blushed when we attempt to buy a Kindle book and Amazon informs us that we already own it. 

 

Today @Kerry Beal and I popped into a thrift store looking for something that was not food related.  While she searched the other aisles I lingered in the cookbook aisle. I was actually in search of Vegetarian India by Madhur Jaffery.  It was nowhere to be found but I did find myself drawn to this book:

 

 

When I reached the checkout  and the cashier rang it up over $6 I was quite annoyed.  In other thrift stores it would be less than $3.  But what the heck.

 

I am always especially intrigued by secondhand books that have Post-it notes or bookmarks in them. 

 

 While Kerry was in another store taking care of a very fast errand I stayed in the car and picked up the book to have a quick look. 

 

I turned immediately to the page marked with the Post-it note:

 

 

 I stared at it for quite a while before I clued in.  That’s my handwriting. 

Edited January 31, 2018 by Anna N (log)

[ElsieD]

1 minute ago, Anna N said:

Over on this thread a few of us have sheepishly blushed when we attempt to buy a Kindle book and Amazon informs us that we already own it. 

 

Today @Kerry Beal and I popped into a thrift store looking for something that was not food related.  While she searched the other aisles I lingered in the cookbook aisle. I was actually in search of Vegetarian India by Madhur Jaffery.  It was nowhere to be found but I did find myself drawn to this book:

 

 

When I reached the checkout  and the cashier rang it up over $6 I was quite annoyed.  In other thrift stores it would be less than $3.  But what the heck.

 

I am always especially intrigued by secondhand books that have Post-it notes or bookmarks in them. 

 

 While Kerry was in another store taking care of a very fast errand I stayed in the car and picked up the book to have a quick look. 

 

I turned immediately to the page marked with the Post-it note:

 

 

 I stared at it for quite a while before I clued in.  That’s my handwriting. 

 

 

@Anna N  I haven't laughed this hard in a long time.  Thank you.

[patris]

16 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Over on this thread a few of us have sheepishly blushed when we attempt to buy a Kindle book and Amazon informs us that we already own it. 

 

Today @Kerry Beal and I popped into a thrift store looking for something that was not food related.  While she searched the other aisles I lingered in the cookbook aisle. I was actually in search of Vegetarian India by Madhur Jaffery.  It was nowhere to be found but I did find myself drawn to this book:

 

 

When I reached the checkout  and the cashier rang it up over $6 I was quite annoyed.  In other thrift stores it would be less than $3.  But what the heck.

 

I am always especially intrigued by secondhand books that have Post-it notes or bookmarks in them. 

 

 While Kerry was in another store taking care of a very fast errand I stayed in the car and picked up the book to have a quick look. 

 

I turned immediately to the page marked with the Post-it note:

 

 

 I stared at it for quite a while before I clued in.  That’s my handwriting. 

 

 

A book so nice you bought it twice!

[rotuts]

@Anna N

 

nice report

 

im sure your can re-vitalize your find !

 

 

even better 

 

Diogenes

 

can nose take a few weeks off

 

and perhaps enjoy

 

a few slices of Modernist Bread ?

 

as Fr. toast ?

 

eggs , Maple syrup ?

 

Canadiene ?

 

reviewing once more :

 

 

I would not mind being to that Breakfast !

[Anna N]

Diogenes is more than welcome to my share of French toast which in most of its iterations I find quite, quite unpalatable.   

As for Modernist Bread...  stay tuned. 

[andiesenji]

37 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Diogenes is more than welcome to my share of French toast which in most of its iterations I find quite, quite unpalatable.   

As for Modernist Bread...  stay tuned. 

Have you ever tried my "mock French toast?"

[andiesenji]

It has been at least 15 years since I worked on of the "Breakfast fund raisers" for the Antelope Valley service clubs but a member of one of the clubs phoned me a few weeks ago and asked if I still had my  portable propane stove (8 burners and a 24 x 36 heavy steel griddle.  I said yes and then he asked if I wanted to help with a fund raiser.

I told him I would donate the stove to the club but my health was such that I could no longer take part.

He said that the first time he tasted my "French toast"  He thought it was terrific because he hated the "soggy stuff" and mine was crisp on the outside and like he had always hoped the product would be on the inside but never was and he hoped they could have it again.

I told him no problem, I still have a dozen of the long, deep straight-sided loaf pans and will donate them to the club and will give him a printout of my recipe and method.

I told him anyone who could construct a bread pudding could do it with no problems.

He came and picked up the equipment, went home and with his wife and daughters made a single loaf of the bread pudding and sliced and griddled it the next morning.

Later his wife phone and thanked me and we chatted a while.  She said her daughters, (late teens) are very enthusiastic about the stuff and are going to help their dad at the fund raiser.  

This was a bit before Thanksgiving and he phoned again around the first of December to say it was a great success and he wanted to know where to buy more pans.

They sold out of the French toast  in less than an hour - the pancake breakfast was supposed to be 3 hours.  They had plenty of pancake batter so were able to feed latecomers but some were annoyed.  

The pancakes with 2 bacon or 2 sausages were for a $3. donation and the French toast with bacon or sausage was a $5. donation and all the ingredients were donated by a local market.

He said it was surprising how many people remembered those breakfasts from the late '90s and early 2000s and commented about it.

 

[ElsieD]

@andiesenji  Count me in as another person who doesn't eat French toast as I don't like soggy middles.  Is your recipe available?

 

Edited to add:  just found it on your blog!  Looks good.

 

 

Edited February 1, 2018 by ElsieD (log)

[chefmd]

2 hours ago, Anna N said:

Over on this thread a few of us have sheepishly blushed when we attempt to buy a Kindle book and Amazon informs us that we already own it. 

 

Today @Kerry Beal and I popped into a thrift store looking for something that was not food related.  While she searched the other aisles I lingered in the cookbook aisle. I was actually in search of Vegetarian India by Madhur Jaffery.  It was nowhere to be found but I did find myself drawn to this book:

 

 

When I reached the checkout  and the cashier rang it up over $6 I was quite annoyed.  In other thrift stores it would be less than $3.  But what the heck.

 

I am always especially intrigued by secondhand books that have Post-it notes or bookmarks in them. 

 

 While Kerry was in another store taking care of a very fast errand I stayed in the car and picked up the book to have a quick look. 

 

I turned immediately to the page marked with the Post-it note:

 

 

 I stared at it for quite a while before I clued in.  That’s my handwriting. 

 

Do you need a good Neurologist ?  You can pay me in bread;)

 

[Katie Meadow]

@Anna N that is truly hilarious. I have ordered the same book from the library at least a couple of times. Once it took me a quarter of the way through to realize I had already read it. But finding your own handwritten note in the copy, well.....how did my note get into that copy of the book? Oh, wait.

[Porthos]

3 hours ago, ElsieD said:

@andiesenji  Count me in as another person who doesn't eat French toast as I don't like soggy middles.  Is your recipe available?

 

Edited to add:  just found it on your blog!  Looks good.

 

 

Here's the link  to the recipe in andie's blog.

[andiesenji]

16 hours ago, Porthos said:

 

 

Here's the link  to the recipe in andie's blog.

 

If you follow my directions to sprinkle sugar (I buy the granulated Maple sugar) on the "raw" surface while the first side is grilling, when you turn it over, that stuff caramelizes into a crisp sugar crust and that is the presentation side.  I have never been able to describe it perfectly.   It is like a burnt-sugar lacy coating that has so many flavors, it is difficult to describe.

 

Edited February 1, 2018 by andiesenji (log)

[boilsover]

On 1/31/2018 at 1:31 PM, Anna N said:

I stared at it for quite a while before I clued in.  That’s my handwriting.

 

Speaking of synchronicity...  Yesterday, as I drove past my Goodwill of choice, I witnessed a woman loading a nested stack of 5 rectangular woven storage baskets through her hatchback  (You know, the ones that aren't really any good for anything).   Three days earlier:  A woman in front of me in the donation lane was handing the same stack to the attendant.

 

And it was the same car and woman.

 

As long as I live, I will regret not stopping to ask, a la Nancy Kerrigan, "Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy??

Edited February 4, 2018 by boilsover (log)

[Cronker]

Lol

happens all the time.

we have people donate something and a couple of days later, they come back saying they didn't mean to donate it.

if it's still there, no problem, but more often than not, it's already sold!

[Porthos]

Major score. Hobart KitchenAid 4 1/2 qt with the paddle, whisk and dough hook. Working condition. $21.25. After I clean it up it is going to a friend who bakes.

 

 

[Smithy]

A "like" isn't sufficient for that find, Porthos.  It deserves a WOW!