Search results

I've been dabbling in thinning lately. It seems easy, as long as the steel is tractable, and there isn't that much to take off. It has gone well. Now I'm up against some more ambitious projects, and I think I'm doing it wrong. Physically, I mean. I read again today, as I've read before, that...

This is an interesting question to me because of what I (eventually) learned about my knife preferences: that I prefer heavy knives. Thin behind the edge, though not so thin as some here favor, but heavy. It might be a cleaver guy thing. Any 270mm or 300mm knife, no problem. Almost any 240...

Posted at the request of @Michi, who apparently thought it sounded useful. I had been dissatisfied with my fish stock for years. Never seemed to come out right. It was a problem, because I wanted to reproduce Legal Seafood's fish chowder. Finally found one I thought proper, and memorialized it...

Having recently convinced myself that I am doing unnecessary work by browning meat for large batches of stew in pans on the stove, I've been trying the oven. Line a half-sheet pan with parchment, 400-425 degrees F, and just check it periodically, then flip. That's all very well, but my half...

Like the smell of corked wine, the smell and taste of stale coffee, or the smell of rancid oil/fat, once you start to recognize the flat, unpleasant taste in nuts that have gone off, you never forget it. You can't un-taste it. The worst-afflicted is macadamia nuts. When fresh, they have a...

Wolfe scowled at her. I could see he was torn with conflicting emotions. A female in his kitchen was an outrage. A woman criticizing his or Fritz's cooking was an insult. But corned beef hash was one of life's toughest problems, never yet solved by anyone. To tone down the corned flavor, and yet...

It seems pretty clear that Nanohone will adjust their formulations without any particular fanfare, as I discovered when I reviewed their regular stone line, and the comments pointed out that my review matched the current stones, but not the stones as they used to be. The difference was quite...

Unconventional, to make spaghetti using risotto techniques, plus deliberate semi-burning, but it looks good to me. Really good. Almost seems like the Italian version of proper Chinese fried noodles, one of my favorite things, when I can afford the carbs. Anyone made it, or tried it? How is...

Ever since my first trip to Hong Kong, I have been infatuated with the congee they make there, and, when I return home, infatuated with re-creating it at home. I don't think I've re-created the congee at that place on the corner of Burd St in Sheung Wan, or that place on a higher floor in...

I can't be the only one who has observed people getting excited about special versions of ingredients for dishes, but without a clue how to properly use them to make it all worth it. What are yours? Mine are: Sun-dried tomato Moroccan preserved lemons Chinese preserved olive

This feels like a problem with a simple solution, but I haven't been able to come up with one on my own. I like to make large batches of stews and soups, and freeze them in vacuum bags in my sealer, so I have something good to eat when I'm too busy to cook. But my process for doing that looks...

Here are mine. Shapton Glass 500 This stone hardly needs an introduction. If there were a poll for "best overall synthetic," it would at least have a shot at the #1 spot. I use mine all the time. I think of it as a go-to for light repair and re-beveling, and so do a lot of other sharpeners...

A relative gave us a jar of peanuts labeled as "Almonized Peanuts." They were incredibly crunchy, apparently as a result of the process. Nice! I roast my own peanuts, cashews, almonds, etc, in the oven, much better than what you can buy, but now I want to make these crunchy ones at home, and I...

Let me first lay out the story as I experienced it. Me: Gets a new doctor after moving to a new place, after a couple of years. I'm lazy about the doctor thing. New doctor: Let's get about a quart of your blood and test it 6 ways from Sunday to find out where you're at. Secretary of doctor's...

I started this thread in the hopes that forum members could tell me all the bad things about coticules. The problem is that I have formed an inflated grandiose narrative about them that needs debunking. It goes like this: The coticule is the perfect stone. It is creamy and fun to sharpen on...

Some years ago, there was a chef who appeared on Iron Chef who claimed to always use his incredibly huge Chef's knife. Anyone remember that? Anyone know what it was? Was it any good? Having found happiness with a 270 gyuto, and eying the 300s, and having a general tendency to push anything to...

Rarely have I given mindspace to the Usuba. A one-side-flat Nakiri? Who would want that? But I had an epiphany when I bought a sort of gyuto on the BST, a JKI knife with extremely wide bevels. I was not yet sure what I wanted it for, but I sure wanted it. It's become a go-to knife, when I want...

Ever since I first tasted it, 20 years ago, Mimolette has been my favorite eating-by-itself cheese. There's just something magical about its flavors to me. And yes, I know about the little bugs that are involved in the process of making it. I don't care. So when I had a chance to get a whole...

Sometimes it seems that beef stock is the Great Undiscussed Subject in cooking. There is no substitute for a deep, rich beef stock in many soups and stews. But my experiences suggest that bones won't do it, and you need a bunch of meat, which means you spend a bunch of money. If there's a way to...

I know one answer to this, at least: peanut butter. Buy raw blanched peanuts, roast them in the oven at 320 degrees, put them in the food processor, process them until they form a ball (about 5 minutes), then keep going until the ball gives up, becomes not a ball, just a sort of liquidy...