A love for cookbooks: An Epicurean MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Go to Smart & Final or better yet, an actual restaurant supply shop. You should be able to pick up a generic chef knife for about $20. Or, if you want to be wierd, get a 12-pack for under $100and have a knife in every room of the house. Or plenty of spares to lend and not have to worry about someone wrecking a good knife.

Speaking of restaurant supply shops - I highly recommend 'em. If for no other reason than to ogle and to marvel at how ridiculous the markup on things can be at “home gourmet” stores. Call them first though - some are to the trade only and won’t let you in without a business license, some welcome the public only during certain hours, and others don’t care a whit, so long as you don’t run around and make a mess.

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Blarf here too. I’ve got that pecular form of insomnia where I fall right to sleep and sleep for about 4 hours, and then wake up and just lie there until it’s just about time to get up, when I fall back asleep. :rolleyes:

Puggy, I used to work for a famous knife manufacturer, and have at least 2 knifeblocks worth of knives, plus half a dozen stuck to a magnet bar on the wall, and my favoritest knife is a cheapo 8" chef’s knife that says Sanelli for Rowoco on it. We also have a santoku by Kitchenaid that I paid less than $20.00 for ('cause my wife wanted one), that’d do just fine for you. Also, I’m terrible at sharpening knives, but I can do a decent job with a diamond stone. They’re more expensive, but darn well worth it IMHO.
I by no means intend to denigrate Henkles or Wustofs products. I lurves Henkle and Wustof knives. I’m just sayin that you can get a perfectly servicable knife for a lot less $$$.
On review I notice that Gotti mentions restaurant supply stores. Yes, by all means, check them out! They’re great fun to snoop through, and you’ll see things there you never knew existed.

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Kind of late to the party, but I need to recommend cookbooks by the (lamentably) late Laurie Colwin. Good writing, good food.

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Tupug, a chef’s knife is like any other tool. You have to spend some dough to get a good one. Fortunately, there are sales aplenty on the interweb, and holiday time is a good time to look for knives in places you might not ordinarily look, like Macy’s. Macy’s in particular puts some quality kitchenware on sale at loss-leader prices during the holidays. I bought a 14-inch Calpholon non-stick saute pan with lid for 99 bux a couple two three years ago. Retail was closer to 270.

The two things to look for in a good chef’s knife: The blade must be made of high-carbon stainless steel. Imperative. It won’t keep an edge without this. You can look on the blade itself; a high carbon blade will have this periodic-table-like symbol on it.

Secumbly, the knife’s tang (get your head out of the gutter, mumpers!), which is the part of the blade that goes into the handle, must extend all the way through the handle. Any decent-quality knife’s handle will be constructed in such a way that you can see this. Stay any from the white-plastic handled Dexter-Russell-type knives. If you can’t see it, it ain’t happening, usually.

There are three types of blades: the French blade, which has a straight-ish edge extending in a long triangle to the tip of the blade. The German blade is a rounded triangle-y shape to the tip of the blade. And the santoku type, which is straight all the way to the tip.

The French blade is slightly better for slicing; the German for chopping. But both do either well. The santoku to my mind is crap for chopping as you can’t rock the blade through what you are chopping nearly as well as the other shapes. Plus the rounded indentations of the santoku are not necessary, rilly. They help to prevent a hot roast from forming a vacuum around the blade whie carving. You will see some real long and thin blades with those indentations called ‘ham slicers.’ I’m not sure they are necessary on a regular chef’s knife.

As long as the above two requirements exist, almost any brand will do. Henckels, Wustof, Sabatier, Messermeister. If you can, grab a few and see how they feel in your hand. I have a mix of Messermeister and Henckels; I like the way the Messermeisters balance in my hand, personally.

Do an online search for ‘chef’s knives.’ I recently bought online from Bridge Kitchenware who had a sale going on.

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I see that while I was typing away some other folks checked in. Grain of salt and all that, YMMV, etc. I firmly believe that quality will out. Some extra dough will give you a tool you’ll have for the rest of your life.

Couple other things. Storage: don’t keep em in a drawer where they will bounce around with other things. That will make them lose their edge pronto. Stick em on the wall, keep em in a block, I stick mine underneath my big cutting board that is raised up on legs, or I keep them in my knife kit.

DON’T put em in the dishwasher. I see so many people doing this. They will band around and get dull times bleen if you do that.

DON’T put em in the dishrack to dry. They will again get dull faster that way and you can cut yourself good. Wash em off and dry them right away and put them in the right place.

Sharpening: I get my knives ground by a good sharpener guy once or twice a year. And I use them every day. If you have a steel and know how to use it, and you wash and store them properly, you won’t have to worry about them getting dull. Someone mentioned upthread that a steel straightens the blade. What happens: the blade is actually like a saw with thousands of microscopic teeth. As you use the knife, the teeth get pushed around all willy-nilly, forced and separated apart. The further out of line they get the duller the blade gets. Used properly, the steel straightens the teeth out and gets them all into line again.

It takes a little minute to get used to doing this, but once you get the hang of it, you can actually feel that the blade is at the right angle against the steel, usually somewhere between 15 and 20 degrees. A few gentle strokes is all that’s needed. When I see someone whappin their knife all fast and hard against the steel, I snicker. If you press too hard, you can actually force the teeth further apart. Almost every town has a sharpener who does barber shears and other things that need sharpening. Take your knives to this person and ask them to show you how to work a steel. Hone your blade every little while during use and the edge will last a really long time.

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Lastly, I taught a cooking class last night: Classic Desserts. And I learned a couple two three things. We caramelized the canned pumpkin in a saute pan a la Mrs. Appleyard (Yay. What a great book.) It worked really well, and what landed out was the pie was too sweet with the cup of sugar called for. The caramelization process must have really sweetened up the canned pumpkin. I would cut the sugar to 3/4 cup. But taking the extra step of caramelizing it made a huge difference.

While we were waiting for the various pies and tarts to cool (old fashioned apple, Amish sour cream apple, aforementioned pumpkin and a lemon tart), we made cookies. I found a reskipee for pineapple coconut macaroons on the interweb. The recipe called for, whadda ya know, caramelizing a can of crushed pineapple before adding it to a regular macaroon recipe. So we tried it. Iffen you love yourself some pineapple and coconut, as I do, this recipe rocked like three the hard way. Also took about 5 minutes to put together and get into the oven after the pineapple had done its thing. Here’s a link. Yow.

And we made the world’s greatest cookies, me muvver’s recipe, goes by the name of oatmeal crisps. Do not know where she got it; she’s been making them for 40 years I guess. Very unique in that there are no eggs, and you melt the butter instead of creaming it with the sugar. The crispiest durn things! If I am not boring you and taking up cyberspace in the MMP with my posting, let me know and I’ll post the recipe hey.

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Yes. Good one. I loved her.

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I think I’m in love! Will you marry me???

What??

Li-Li’s got about seven husbands, why can’t I have two?

:wink:

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Re the santoku, everybody else has already commented, so I’ll just add:

Seconding or thirding or whatever the suggestion to find a restaurant supply store. Good quality and (usually) great prices.

I would stay away from Wusthof and Henckels. They’re fine, but they’re overpriced. Go with a Victorinox instead, if you can find it.

And what Soul Brother says is correct: you can’t use a santoku like any other chef’s knife. If you have one, or have used one, and know what you’re getting, great. But don’t get it because it’s trendy, because it’ll feel wrong when you try to use it, and will wind up just sitting on your magnetic strip. (I use mine in certain specialized circumstances: for example, when I have need to do vertical chopping, i.e. bringing the blade up all the way off the cutting surface and then back down, with the edge parallel to the surface. It’s a great tool when you need exactly what it offers but it’s not an everyday knife.)

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I’ve been doing this per my dad’s instructions but have never known why. What does that mean - band around? You mean bouncing around hitting the other instruments in the washer?

Also, these are stored in a wooden block where they lay on their sides. Is this “acceptable” or is a magnetic strip the only way?

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Yes, SoulBro, YOU MUST POST RECIPES!!! This is an unalterable law a la the Medes and Persians, I have said it, so mote it be!

Nikki, how can you be doing a Vegan T-giving with all that cheese? :confused:

My veg-head daughter is doing a Tofurkey thingie so her family can have dinner with the rest of us–I’m slated to cook the meat turkey and bring it over to her house for enjoyment. No dishes for me, WIN!

I’m all bummed out today because of the crap job market, some bad news re a job I was hoping for and it’s horribly windy and rainy out. On the cheerful side, Pratchett The Terminally Stoopid decided he was going to do the thousand room dash and yodel because he THOUGHT he wanted to go out–so I let him! He got very moist and changed his mind, so we let him back in. Then he forgot it was horrible out and started yowling again, so out he went and this time Himself refused to let him come in until he was thoroughly soaked. Now he’s napping in the library and/or sulking at the horrible betrayal by his beloved Outside. :smack:

I did get the gazebo covered by a tarp this weekend so at least it’s not all soaked under there. That’s a good thing.

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Of course I will marry you Tupug. We can register and you can get all kinds of good knives and such from the mumpers without payin’ a cent.

I like the way my mind works.

I may have a different take than other mumpers, but I don’t find paying 80 to 120 bucks for a tool you will use daily for the rest of time to be particularly onerous.

That said, if you look around online you can find wondrous bargains. Here’s from a joint called Metro Kitchen.

http://www.metrokitchen.com/product/HK-31161-201

Classic 8-inch Henckels chef’s knife for 80 bucks. I picked it for the picture. See the rivets on the handle? Means the tang goes all the way through.

I just saw this one, the same thing, with a hollow edge, (them indentations), for 40 bucks!

http://www.metrokitchen.com/product/HK-31171-201

Buy it now, Tupug! Crazy affordable price, that. Sniff around and buy a steel too. I just got one (lost my previous one somehow) from Bridge for 20. (I just checked and Bridge’s sale is over.) If you are going to have a good knife, you must have a steel as well. For reals.

I forgot one thing, make sure the blade is forged, not stamped. You’ll find that the stamped blades are much cheaper, for good reason. They are total crap and won’t hold an edge. You’ll see that both knives I linked to are high-carbon stainless steel and hand forged as well.

Shelli, sub the word ‘bang’ for ‘band.’ AFAICT, a wooden block, particularly one where the knives lay on their side, is a great storage idea. Better than hanging the magnetic strip over the stove, for instance, where one’s very expensive 10-inch Messermeister German chef’s knife can fall off whilst being hung and moulder away behind one’s stove. Like mine. D’oh. Can’t muster the energy to get the landlord to help me pull the stove out. It’s been months.

As per SmartAleq’s instructions, the world’s bestest cookie, no chocolate notwithstanding. I always double this recipe because it is so easy to make. In no time you will have 5 or 6 dozen wonderful crispy cookies on hand. You wouldn’t imagine that a cookie of regular thickness could be so crispy. These are essentially oatmeal tuiles. Yow!

Oatmeal Crisps

1 cup butter, melted
2 t water
2 t maple syrup

Sift together:
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 ½ t baking soda
1 t baking powder

2 ½ cups quick oats

sugar for rolling

Combine and chill (or don’t). Form into 1-inch balls. Roll in sugar. Flatten slightly on ungreased baking pan. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.

Iffen anyone makes em, please report back!

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Oooh, those look good–and I bet a random drizzle of melted dark chocolate would do just fine all over the tops!

Hmmm, I was gonna make some cashew butter cookies but now I’m wondering if I have some oats around the house…

wanders off to look for oats, whistling idly to herself

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That pineapple coconut macaroon recipe looks yummy. I had to check though, I haven’t made macaroons in a really long time. The recipe didn’t say to beat the egg whites.

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Ah, thanks! I have the Henkels International set.

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Howdy Y’all! I’s home! Soup’s ready to heat up and I’ll go make some cornbread shortly. MMMMMMMM…

BBBobbio that was fascinatin’! Again, I am all awed at what you do and the fact that you do it voluntarily! Good on ya! One of these days I plan to buy you a beer or six. :smiley:

gt sadly, you do not live in the southeast. We handle AT&T Mobility for the southeast. Puggy and Shelli could call me. Hmmm… so could Spaz and doggio. Speakin’ of which… doggio is AWOL.

I made an executive decision re Amurrkin Turkey Day this afternoon. I am goin’ to fry a turkey this year. I haven’t done this in four years, so it’s time. Plus I have a new outdoor cooker that I’ve used for crab boils but not to fry in yet. It must be broken in! I have a thirteen and a half pound turkey, which is perfect for fryin’ purposes. It’s fate!

Ok, time to go make cornbread.

Later Y’all!

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Well, thanks for the offer but considering I have AT&T and my dad has worked there for almost 40 years I think I’m covered. :slight_smile:

But you can call me for that fried turkey. Mmmmm… turkey…

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Today I purchased new goodies for our new baby packages and am currently researching lion dancers for our Lunar New Year dinner in February. Now I’m off to a meeting. Envy me.

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**FCD **wants to fry our bird this year - I don’t know if I want to mess with that. I’d rather stick it in the rotisserie. We’ll see what happens…

I came home and mulch/vac’d the front yard, finishing just as it started sprinkling. Go me!

Dunno what supper will be. My sweetie doesn’t want to eat, and daughter isn’t hungry yet. Neither am I. So we’ll see…

Is it Firday yet??

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Done. That is one Wicked looking blade and a faaaaabulouss price. :slight_smile: Thanks to you and Cervaise for steering me right.

Now about that steel. :wink: