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Post by Paws on Jan 28, 2005 5:29:24 GMT 12.75
The first thing we will be discussing is the selection, acquisition, placement/layout of the equipment used for cooking. To begin with I would like for each of us to discuss our "favorite" piece of kitchen gear and talk about why it is our favorite. We will follow up with our "least favorite"! Here is a link I will be using heavily during our discussions. This presents and discusses various pieces of kitchen equipment and the process of selection. Please review it. www.reluctantgourmet.com/choosing_cookware.htmMemory Work: To Cook means to prepare food for consumption usually with the application of wet or dry heat. Now for a teaser. We have all heard the terms skillet, fry pan, and sautee pan. What are they? This is a test! ;D
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Post by OLKoot on Jan 28, 2005 9:30:25 GMT 12.75
Looks like good reading...especially the sauteed chicken with garlic and shallotts....YUMMMMMMM, probably would be great with thinly sliced venison or other meats.
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Post by Paws on Jan 28, 2005 10:24:28 GMT 12.75
You are beginning to get the idea Steve. If you follow a recipe you follow a recipe!!! But, if you know the basics you can "sautee" anything; if you can sautee!! Now focus on the discussion. What is your favorite kitchen gadget, tool, etc and why? Mine is probably my 10 inch Chef's knife. I love it. It gets used for virtually every kitchen cutting job where scissors won't work. It is a Henkel and holds an edge for about 18 months before it needs resharpened. It gets a steel used on it before and after each use.
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Post by Rich on Jan 28, 2005 13:13:41 GMT 12.75
Phil,
Mine is probably my wife. She's about the greatest kitchen gadget I've ever found. I do like Henkel knives though.
Rich
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Post by Paws on Jan 28, 2005 13:46:45 GMT 12.75
Aww isn't that sweet. I found my wife once in the kitchen; lost!
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Post by kenh on Jan 29, 2005 11:49:01 GMT 12.75
My favorite kitchen gear - my 10" Kershaw Professional Deba knife. The shape is halfway between the French chef's knife and the Japanese Santoku - perfectly suited to my Asian-style knife skills rather than the French Chef's Rock.
Least favorite gear - any uni-task item other than a fire extinguisher (thanx Alton).
Other very useful gear to have - bird's beak paring knife, 10 cup rice cooker, wooden citrus juicer, mandolin slicer, salad spinner, tall narrow "pasta pot" with basket, reversable stovetop griddle/grill, Chinese wok with bamboo steamer baskets, big box grater, peeler with interchageable blades, small (2 cup) food processor...
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Post by Paws on Jan 29, 2005 16:33:27 GMT 12.75
You reminded me Ken of my Granny's paring knife with the curved blade. Gets an awful lot of work.
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Post by kenh on Jan 29, 2005 19:10:22 GMT 12.75
Love that bird's beak! You can surface grate round veggies on the inside of the curve, grip clown to the tip for doing intricate fancy veggie carvings, or just plain peel and pare. Not worth a hoot for slicing meat or pie, but worth every penny for veggies.
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Post by Paws on Jan 29, 2005 19:23:25 GMT 12.75
It is a must for preparing brocolli stalks for my brocolli heart and carrot soup!
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Post by OLKoot on Jan 30, 2005 6:31:54 GMT 12.75
I have one knife...dont know what it is,probably a bastardized version of a chefs knife,very heavy and my wife hates it.......GOOD!!! then its left only for me.....I love the feel of heavy!!!...I use it to chop, pry frozen burgers apart, and sometimes drive nails if I have too!!!...LOL.. ;D..I use a small sharpe cleaver for slicing and light chopping,and I have a smaller knife I use for general light work....I also love my parring knife for that real close work like slicing fruit.....I did learn a method of sharpening while watching Martha Stewart...She had an excellent Japanese chef on and he explained how he cared for and sharpened his knives....basically on a stone you would hold your knife at a good angle and stroking forward and back 50 times on one side turning the knife only to do the same angle and stroke only 10 times...makes a razor sharpe edge.... I do have a decent set of knives I bought from Wolfgang Puk, but my wife has hid them from me... I'm far from the pro and I'm far from the better quality knives, but this is what works for me................
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Post by Paws on Jan 30, 2005 6:42:17 GMT 12.75
I'm sure anything Puk would attach his name to is good quality. Sounds to me though like you seem to naturally prefer Ken's Asian style of cutting for whatever reason. Anyway that's the impression I get from your preferred cutlery. I learned the French approach from Miss Julia Childs. She is the first person I can remember who taught how to do the cutting and chopping with a Chef's knife. I started practicing it while I was a kid. Still can't make myself bend my fingertips under though which by the way is recommended for safety. That is to fold the fingers under on the hand you are using to feed the food to the blade. My buddy Kenny (Gran Daddy Long Legs) willvouch for that as he drove me to the ER one evening after I sliced off my fingerprint on my "up yours" finger while cutting cabbage for slaw!
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Post by Two Tales on Jan 30, 2005 6:46:35 GMT 12.75
I'm not sure if I have a true favorite..I have this really,really,really old 7 1/2" chefs knife and a Joyce Chen (like the one that Martin Yang uses) that are dang near used for every thing..then there are the wisks..what can you say about wisks...as long as the have a good sized handle...of course I could get yelled at for this but my wooden spoons rank right up near the top of the list also..not to mention all the cast iron skillets and pots that I use every day...if I'm baking then it would be my spring forms....my least favorite would be a can opener..(I don't think I need to explain that one)
Knives in general are more than likely the most important tool in a kitchen IMO...so they need to be of high quality and must be kept to a razors edge at all times...
I also very much like WOODEN cutting boards
I have so many wizzes and gizzes and whot nots that are neat, nice, necessary and novelty that my wife thinks I'm nuts...
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Post by OLKoot on Jan 30, 2005 12:17:56 GMT 12.75
PAWS, besides the knife set from PUK, I have other items too...I have his pots and pans set which is highly pro, along with his hand held blender, electric knife, and food processor......My wife accidently burned out the motor in the base of the food processor and for $ 23+ shipping and handling, they sent me a new motorized base...I thought that was a very good deal since we were over the warrantee by a year.......
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Post by Paws on Jan 31, 2005 12:05:42 GMT 12.75
Interesting that virtually everyone mentioned "knives"! I guess we don't get too far when the portions are too big!! As noticed there are several varieties being used. I wouldlike each of you to now go through your knife inventory and tell me more precisely what you use sitfor.My 10 inch Chef's knife I use for vegetables and meat. I "rarely" use a mandolin, box grater, or food processer. Virtually everything I do from rough chopped vegetables to diced chicken breast I do with the Chef's knife. I use it to slice and serve breads, cakes, and pies as well. The only time I use another knife is when the Chef's knife is either too large or too light for the job. I peel apples with my bird's beak (granny's paring) knife which I use to peel most vegetables and fruits that I do not use the "peeler" for. I use the "peeler" mostly for reducing vegetables to fine threads before further reducing them with guess who? Yep, Chef's knife. I have a high carbon steel butcher and slicing knife that are both used exclusively for meat. Preparation and slicing. I have a hi carbon steel boning knife I use for butchering. I have a stainless steel set of knives I use exclusively for butchering meat, fowl, and fish. And lastly I have a whole drawer full of similar items that are only suitable for the re-enactment schtick. A lot of duplicates that are never touched plus two back up Chef knives in case a disaster should happen. So for the moment let's continue to talk knives we have and their uses! ;D
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Post by kenh on Jan 31, 2005 21:55:14 GMT 12.75
My Kershaw Deba Chef's knife is used for general purpose slicing and dicing of meats and veggies. The bird's beak is used for peeling and paring and decorative cutting of veggies. There's also a 10" serrated knife for tomatoes and bread (the only things serrations are good for). I use a Chinese cleaver for heavy chopping, and paring (squash, eggplant, pineapple), and a 6" all purpose knife for de-boning and other miscellaneous tasks. I use a mandolin slicer for slicing zucchini, cucumbers and similar shaped veggies into long thin (1/8" or less) slices - also for quickly reducing heads of cabbage for making slaw, sauerkraut, etc. Also a box grater for grating cheeses and zesting citrus.
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Post by Paws on Feb 1, 2005 2:58:29 GMT 12.75
Looking good there! So does anyone remember the definition of cooking? How about defining the terms skillet, frypan, and sautee pan for me? ;D
For my heavy cutting I use the Butcher knife and deboning knife along withs the heal of my hand. I set the blade where the cut is to be made and give it a good sharp wrap with my hand. I have used cleavers but find this works out to give better precision for me especially when I'm doing ribs, or disjointing large cuts of meat.
So it looks like we all pretty much agree that we need "something" to cut with!!
Slice dice chop grate peel zest disect debone disjoint peel pare shape and decorate julienne etdc.
What we have discussed is a need for a larger heavy duty knife, a smaller knife or several for fine work, and specialized knives for specific duties such as a box grater for zesting, or grating, or a serrated knife for cutting bread, tomatoes, or soft difficult to slice foods. Would everyone agree that the basic needs for knives are then probably limited to just a few; probably less than a half dozen?
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Post by Rich on Feb 1, 2005 3:22:00 GMT 12.75
Yes, but what would be the fun in that ;D
Rich
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Post by Paws on Feb 1, 2005 5:19:40 GMT 12.75
Well the fun is we can concentrate on different knives! Like; the can opener!! The blender and the food processer are knives aren't they? What about the meat grinder? is that a knife?? See, now isn't that fun?? Where do you keep your knives stored?
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Post by Buckeye on Feb 1, 2005 6:20:42 GMT 12.75
I have one Henkel chef's knife. That is the only really good knife I have aside from my deer skinng and dressing knives. I use the chef's knife for 80% of my kitchen slicing and dicing. I have a couple of Tupperware knives, a paring knife and a slicer that are suprisingly good quality.
My favorite knife however is a fillet knife that was hand made by my Dad. He used to be a tool maker at Ridge Tool, then later became the head of project enginnering there. While he was a tool maker, he worked with a guy by the name of Dick Spinelli. Some of you may have heard of him. He quit tool making and went into knife making full time. Last I checked, there was a waiting list of 6 years to get one of his hand made knives.
Anyhow, the fillet knife is made of case hardened tool steel, the same that pipe thread cutters are made of. It had a rosewood handle, solid brass bolsters, and the tang is solid silver, made by melting silver dimes down. It has my name engraved on one side of the blade and a fisherman n a boat on the other side. I don't use it anymore ever since I broke the blade trying to fillet a half frozen fish. My Dad welded it back together, but now it is just for me to admire.
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Post by Paws on Feb 2, 2005 8:49:16 GMT 12.75
Now that's what I call a specialty knife! ;D Let's take a different slant on this topic for aminute and let me ask this: What descriptive words come to mide that serve to describe the types of equipment you want in your kitchen? For me the two that just jump out are "practical" and "economical". What are yours? ;D
By the way: "A fry pan is a shallow pan designed to be used for frying foods!" It is usually a flat bottomed pan with a handle and depending on the size may have a second handle opposing the primary handle. The sides may be slanted outward or straight. A frypan never comes with a cover or lid.
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