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Chinese kitchenware

rarerollingobject

By rarerollingobject
in Kitchen Consumer

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rarerollingobject

rarerollingobject

Posted
Posted

Because I can't really see a "wares of the Chinese kitchen" thread in this sub-forum, which seems a crying shame, I'll start this as a paeon to the indispensable tools of the Chinese cook (of which I consider myself a disciple, long story.)

 

So, behold - my beautiful new hand-forged, rough-hewn carbon steel knife from Chengdu, Sichuan. Carefully ordered, personally transported across the seas and sweetly delivered to my hands by a dear Chinese friend and her friends.

 

I'm going to do what the Chinese do with these knives, and wind hessian cord around the handle for grip.

 

Isn't she a beauty?

IMG_9072.JPG

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Thanks for the Crepes

Thanks for the Crepes

Posted
Posted

Very nice rustic knife @rarerollingobject.

 

I am in love with the bamboo spatulas, spoons and other bamboo cooking tools from China. My first one came free inside a purchase of an electric Dutch oven that could be used off the generator during extended power outages. In just a little time of use, I started to realize how much more durable bamboo was in the kitchen than even some of the more expensive hardwood tools I had. Even the better wood tools start to crack and split much more quickly than bamboo. Then they start to collect old food in the crevices, impart off flavors, and who knows what else? to your food, and need to be discarded. I don't seem to be able to put even a dent in my bamboo tools, and I don't baby them at all. I will never buy another wooden one.

> ^ . . ^ <

 

 

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, rarerollingobject said:

my beautiful new hand-forged, rough-hewn carbon steel knife from Chengdu

 

Beautiful, yes. Not sure about indispensable, though. In 20+ years in China, I've never seen one before*. What are they used for?

 

* There are many things I've never seen before. One of the reasons I love the place still is finding new things.

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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted
39 minutes ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

I started to realize how much more durable bamboo was in the kitchen

 

In general I agree, but bamboo chopping boards are a sure way to screw up your knives. Avoid!

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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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dcarch

dcarch

Posted
Posted

I am not sure there are many special Chinese kitchen tools/gadgets in a typical Chinese kitchen.

In the old days, when a Chinese chef/cook needs to get something done, they tend to develop new skills rather than new gadgets.

 

Here is a very popular one in China and everywhere else.

 

dcarch

 

42523284-Strainer-or-Chinese-Strainer-Us

 

 

 

 

 

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted
16 minutes ago, dcarch said:

I am not sure there are many special Chinese kitchen tools/gadgets in a typical Chinese kitchen.

 

 

There are many. I saw a new (to me) one just today.

I'm busy the next few days, but I'll post some later.

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, rarerollingobject said:

Because I can't really see a "wares of the Chinese kitchen" thread in this sub-forum, which seems a crying shame, I'll start this as a paeon to the indispensable tools of the Chinese cook (of which I consider myself a disciple, long story.)

 

So, behold - my beautiful new hand-forged, rough-hewn carbon steel knife from Chengdu, Sichuan. Carefully ordered, personally transported across the seas and sweetly delivered to my hands by a dear Chinese friend and her friends.

 

I'm going to do what the Chinese do with these knives, and wind hessian cord around the handle for grip.

 

Isn't she a beauty?

IMG_9072.JPG

 

I want!!!!!

 

Where can I order one?

 

 

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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rarerollingobject

rarerollingobject

Posted
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Posted (edited)

This is a tale of love.

A few months ago, I ordered the knife I mentioned above. 

I knew the handle wasn’t bound and wondered how best to wrap it. One of my close friends at work is very good at doing things with his hands, so I brought him the knife, semi-jokingly sent him a bunch of YouTube videos on ‘ornamental coxcombing’, the kind of rope-tying techniques 19th century shipwrights used, and left him to it.

Seven weeks later and after a few increasingly impatient queries from me, he’s reported back with the following:

“Well, it’s been involved. First, I watched about seven hours of the YouTube videos and bought some thin plasticky rope and a vice and made some blade-protectors out of an old tire, and I practiced the knotting over the course of about three days on broom handles and rolling pins before trying it on the knife. Then, when I thought I had the technique down OK, I decided the rope gauge was too thick and it didn’t look good, so I went to three different Bunnings hardware shops to try to find different kinds of rope thicknesses and re-did it. I re-did it about four or five times after that, but I still didn’t think it was good enough, so I then went to a specialist boating shop and bought some 5mm yachting twine. That was the right thickness and everything, but then the ends were fraying every time, so I tried burning them off, but it looked shit, and then I tried covering them in wax, and I didn’t like that either, so then I tried binding the rope ends in fishing wire and using needle-nose pliers to do the pushing through.

THEN I realised that the handle of the knife is just slightly curved, which meant the rope was sitting up slightly higher on one end than the other, so I went to a chemist and bought a syringe and injected acrylic cement underneath the last knots to raise them slightly. Well, I had to go to the chemist four times because the first needles I bought were far too thin to push the acrylic through. I’m pretty sure they thought I was a smack addict. Then, when I asked you to send me a photo of where they’ll go and I saw you’ve mounted your knife block on the left and you’re right handed? That’s why I’ve put the knots on that side. Anyway, here it is and it's for you and I hope you like it."

Now that’s a man who loves me. :wub:

knifehandle.jpg

 

 

Edited by rarerollingobject (log)
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dcarch

dcarch

Posted
Posted
On 10/31/2016 at 2:13 AM, rarerollingobject said:

Because I can't really see a "wares of the Chinese kitchen" thread in this sub-forum, which seems a crying shame, I'll start this as a paeon to the indispensable tools of the Chinese cook (of which I consider myself a disciple, long story.)

 

So, behold - my beautiful new hand-forged, rough-hewn carbon steel knife from Chengdu, Sichuan. Carefully ordered, personally transported across the seas and sweetly delivered to my hands by a dear Chinese friend and her friends.

 

I'm going to do what the Chinese do with these knives, and wind hessian cord around the handle for grip.

 

Isn't she a beauty?

IMG_9072.JPG

That looks like a throwing knife.

 

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=960&bih=537&q=throwing+knives&oq=throwing+knives&gs_l=img.3..0l10.3786.10250.0.10624.15.10.0.5.5.0.229.1052.7j2j1.10.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..0.15.1085.mNYQoEFgXuM

 

dcarch

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rarerollingobject

rarerollingobject

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Posted

 

5 hours ago, dcarch said:

That looks like a throwing knife.

 

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=960&bih=537&q=throwing+knives&oq=throwing+knives&gs_l=img.3..0l10.3786.10250.0.10624.15.10.0.5.5.0.229.1052.7j2j1.10.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..0.15.1085.mNYQoEFgXuM

 

dcarch

 

It's not.

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