How to stock your kitchen

[Howard]

Two dutch ovens, two burners

 

[ivan2]

Originally posted by: theblackbox
nope. from scratch. the last try i did the balls ended up falling apart and making a rather nasty lumpy paste. i'd love to get it down, though, so i could pick the fish for the balls instead of having to rely on what is available at market.
i prefer to use a hotpot with two sections because usually we have a couple of vegetarians that aren't too hot on meat in their side, so we get a vege based side and a meat based side.
plus i am with you on cleavers, i have a cleverest sons wife cleaver that i absolutely love, and wasn't a bit over 12 dollars.

according to my grandma, the thing with fishball is that the longer you mix the stickier it becomes and that you should only mix it in one direction, it falls apart if it's reversed. I saw her do it with a pair of chopstick.

 

[Howard]

upped again

 

[theblackbox]

Originally posted by: ivan2

Originally posted by: theblackbox
nope. from scratch. the last try i did the balls ended up falling apart and making a rather nasty lumpy paste. i'd love to get it down, though, so i could pick the fish for the balls instead of having to rely on what is available at market.
i prefer to use a hotpot with two sections because usually we have a couple of vegetarians that aren't too hot on meat in their side, so we get a vege based side and a meat based side.
plus i am with you on cleavers, i have a cleverest sons wife cleaver that i absolutely love, and wasn't a bit over 12 dollars.

according to my grandma, the thing with fishball is that the longer you mix the stickier it becomes and that you should only mix it in one direction, it falls apart if it's reversed. I saw her do it with a pair of chopstick.

thanks i'll give it a try to see how it works.

 

[Howard]

bomp

 

[NaOH]

Is it just me or are a lot of these links dead. I'm looking for the link for the that chef knife

 

[OogyWaWa]

so i'm pimping it up here in tokyo for a little while longer, any knives i should bring back with me? also any request

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: NaOH
Is it just me or are a lot of these links dead. I'm looking for the link for the that chef knife

Haven't updated in a while. I'm going through them again.

 

[tyler811]

oops wrong thread

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

I have a question about cast iron. My sister bought me a square cast iron pan with griddle lines (is that the correct terminology?) for Christmas. It's obviously not as versatile as a regular cast iron pan but I'm really looking forward to using it. Thing is, the pan has been painted at the factory. Not the cooking surface, but the outside of the pan is red, including the bottom. Will high heat affect this paint (or powder coat or whatever it is)? I want to cook some steaks using the oven to finish them and I'm worried that the heat will damage the paint and that the fumes from this will affect the steak in the pan. Am I just being paranoid?

I'm a total kitchen noob. Are the griddle lines a good or bad thing when it comes to steak cooking? All of the cooking shows I've seen where steak is cooked show flat pans, so presumably there is a reason they don't use griddles.

EDIT - I don't think "griddle" is the correct word. According to Wikipedia "griddle" is a flat cooking surface, I'm talking about a surface that has raised parallel lines.

 

[F1N3ST]

Necro thread.

 

[ivan2]

I have a question about cast iron. My sister bought me a square cast iron pan with griddle lines (is that the correct terminology?) for Christmas. It's obviously not as versatile as a regular cast iron pan but I'm really looking forward to using it. Thing is, the pan has been painted at the factory. Not the cooking surface, but the outside of the pan is red, including the bottom. Will high heat affect this paint (or powder coat or whatever it is)? I want to cook some steaks using the oven to finish them and I'm worried that the heat will damage the paint and that the fumes from this will affect the steak in the pan. Am I just being paranoid?

I'm a total kitchen noob. Are the griddle lines a good or bad thing when it comes to steak cooking? All of the cooking shows I've seen where steak is cooked show flat pans, so presumably there is a reason they don't use griddles.

EDIT - I don't think "griddle" is the correct word. According to Wikipedia "griddle" is a flat cooking surface, I'm talking about a surface that has raised parallel lines.

it most likely is enameled, surface is hard but brittle, avoid banging it on stuff

 

[Howard]

I have a question about cast iron. My sister bought me a square cast iron pan with griddle lines (is that the correct terminology?) for Christmas. It's obviously not as versatile as a regular cast iron pan but I'm really looking forward to using it. Thing is, the pan has been painted at the factory. Not the cooking surface, but the outside of the pan is red, including the bottom. Will high heat affect this paint (or powder coat or whatever it is)? I want to cook some steaks using the oven to finish them and I'm worried that the heat will damage the paint and that the fumes from this will affect the steak in the pan. Am I just being paranoid?

I'm a total kitchen noob. Are the griddle lines a good or bad thing when it comes to steak cooking? All of the cooking shows I've seen where steak is cooked show flat pans, so presumably there is a reason they don't use griddles.

EDIT - I don't think "griddle" is the correct word. According to Wikipedia "griddle" is a flat cooking surface, I'm talking about a surface that has raised parallel lines.

You'll be fine.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

All-Clad is indeed high quality, but bang/buck is looow.

About cutlery:

It may be that it's because I'm Chinese, but I love Chinese cleavers. They are not the thick, unwieldy beasts that are for going through bones, but rather thin-bladed cleavers meant for meat and vegetables, around 2mm thick. Consider that an 8" x 4" Chinese cleaver weighs only about a pound. The thin edge lends itself to superior sharpness, yet the extra weight from the height of the blade increases the downward force, reducing the effort of cutting.

Here's what you can do with them because of their shape:

1 - scrape the board clean and deliver the food somewhere else. It's a knife and board scraper in one!
2 - peel and crush garlic by slapping the flat of the blade on the cloves
3 - use either your index or pinky as a guide to keep your fingers away from the edge. If you're worried about safety, it's nearly impossible to cut yourself with one of these things

The $100 Misono cleaver from japanesechefsknife.com is a great knife, but I would raise the children of the $180 Tojiro Pro F-631 as my own. Just look at these pictures:

http://www.knifeforums.com/for...owtopic.php?tid/786982 (may need to register)

No matter what knives you use, do not use them on any surface but wood or plastic. Do not cut frozen foods with them. Do not use them for anything but cutting. Do not use them on bones unless they are sufficiently durable for such use. Do not use them to pierce tin cans. Do not pry with the tip. Do not leave them in the sink. Do not wash them in the dishwasher. Do not allow hard surfaces near the edges of Japanese knives. Handle your knives with care.

End grain maple boards are better than edge grain for a few reasons:

1 - slightly easier on knife edges
2 - cut marks are less visible
3 - warping is practically eliminated, if only due to the sheer thickness

As far as 2 goes, you can go over an edge grain board with a sanding block to resurface it whenever you want.

Plastic cutting boards can also be used, but they are exceedingly difficult (if not impossible) to sanitize when they get cut up. Thus, their lifetime is short compared to their thicker wood cousins.

MAKE SURE THE BOARD YOU GET CAN FIT INSIDE YOUR SINK. At the very least, it should be able to stand upright for rinsing.

http://www.hi-tm.com/Documents/Cutboard.html

wow those are expensive chinese cleavers that are probably difficult to maintain. luckily you dont need one like that. all the restaurants use the russell harrington ones

 

[TheVrolok]

Never saw this thread before, but it looks like a good read.

 

[Howard]

wow those are expensive chinese cleavers that are probably difficult to maintain. luckily you dont need one like that. all the restaurants use the russell harrington ones

Easier to maintain, actually, since good Chinese cleavers will have thin blades with good edge geometry and steel.

 

[seemingly random]

I have a question about cast iron. My sister bought me a square cast iron pan with griddle lines (is that the correct terminology?) for Christmas. It's obviously not as versatile as a regular cast iron pan but I'm really looking forward to using it. Thing is, the pan has been painted at the factory. Not the cooking surface, but the outside of the pan is red, including the bottom. Will high heat affect this paint (or powder coat or whatever it is)? I want to cook some steaks using the oven to finish them and I'm worried that the heat will damage the paint and that the fumes from this will affect the steak in the pan. Am I just being paranoid?

I'm a total kitchen noob. Are the griddle lines a good or bad thing when it comes to steak cooking? All of the cooking shows I've seen where steak is cooked show flat pans, so presumably there is a reason they don't use griddles.

EDIT - I don't think "griddle" is the correct word. According to Wikipedia "griddle" is a flat cooking surface, I'm talking about a surface that has raised parallel lines.

Like this? http://www.amazon.com/Creuset-L2021-...793289&sr=1-19

The 'paint' might be porcelain. I'd treat it like non-stick with respect to utensils - no metal.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Like this? http://www.amazon.com/Creuset-L2021-...793289&sr=1-19

The 'paint' might be porcelain. I'd treat it like non-stick with respect to utensils - no metal.

Yeah the pan looks just like that one, except red instead of orange.

 

[seemingly random]

Yeah the pan looks just like that one, except red instead of orange.

I have a round one with the ribs that came with the aga. It's great for cooking bacon or a steak in the oven since the ribs let the fat drain. Other than that, it's useless. Some people swear by iron but I just use calphalon - mainly non-stick. Some good pans and knives go a long way towards creating a cook.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

Easier to maintain, actually, since good Chinese cleavers will have thin blades with good edge geometry and steel.

doesnt that mean it has to be sharpened with special tools and at special angles etc... i wouldnt trust myself to sharpen a 350 knife. i bought some "cheapo" globals and the japanese sharpening process looked so difficult that i never used them. the dexter/russell cleavers are also tapered so the metal at the blade is very thin

i was looking at some of the links here and found one to more "authentic" chinese cleavers: http://www.chanchikee.com/ChineseKnives.html. who knew there are different designs for chopping, bbq, duck slicing and dim sum? these are pretty nice (and cheap) ones, ive seen them in the chinatown restaurant supply stores. they are a bit nicer than the grocery store cleavers.

 

[Howard]

Yeah, those are great bang for the buck. CCK knives are hard to find, though - you can get them in SF and Toronto in North America, but they're scarce elsewhere.

All knives can and should be sharpened using a few versatile and reliable methods. Check out the sharpening guide in the first post.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

I found a place that makes carbon steel knives. I was thinking of getting this.

 

[Howard]

Anyway, big update in OP

 

[Howard]

updated

 

[endervalentine]

thanks!