[QUOTE=kittenblue]
My culinary sins are numerous and plentiful. To start:
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I sometimes measure dry ingredients in a liquid measuring cup, and vice versa.
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I don’t sift anything anymore, and I certainly don’t measure after sifting.
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I use the measuring cup to scoop up flour from the box, rather than spoon flour into the cup.
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I use salted butter even when the recipe specifies unsalted, and I don’t reduce the amount of plain salt used elsewhere in the recipe to compensate. This is a new transgression…I just got fed up with things tasting so bland, and realized this tiny change made a huge difference…to me, at least.
I’m sure I’ll remember more in a while…I also thaw on the counter.
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QFT!
I’m a counter-thawer, and I eat beef bloody raw in the middle, though I am careful to only do this with good, locally-raised, butchered and hand-cut beef, never commercially produced or processed meat. I tend to over-cook turkey and pork though–somehow I have this total panic about food poisoning from underdone turkey and pork, though like I said I’ll eat good beef raw. Go figure. I wish I could get over it, as I bet turkey and pork are way tasty when they’re not dry-roasted to oblivion.
On that tangent, one year I managed to turn out an exquisite turkey, but each one since has been dry as a bone. Coincidentally, it occurs to me that we got a meat thermometer as a wedding gift, whereas before I’d just been eyeballing them. Now that I think of it, eyeballing it means keeping a closer watch on the progress rather than just an ear out for the temperature alarm. :dubious: :smack:
Okay, ya’ll just witnessed me realizing why my last two turkeys have been so damn dessicated and chewy. I’m gonna have to try roasting a turkey next week just to see if that’s the problem!
No way. The proper way to cook a turkey is to stuff it with butter, oil the skin, toss it over a mirapois and forget about it. When you remember “oh shit, the turkey”, it’s perfect.
[QUOTE=Cervaise]
Ditto with me. If you shop very carefully, you can get a very good chef’s knife for thirty or forty dollars. I’d much rather do that, and use the crap out of it, and replace it in, say, eighteen months…
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I completely disagree. If you shop in a restaurant supply store with utter and complete abandon you can find a chef’s knife for $40 that will last you your lifetime. If you’re spending 30 or 40 bucks every 18 months, you’re just getting ripped off.
Example
[QUOTE=NajaNivea]
-somehow I have this total panic about food poisoning from underdone turkey and pork
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I’m very wary of underdone poultry, especially chicken, but pork should be cooked (in my opinion) until it still retains some pink. Trichinosis in modern pork is indeed very rare, and is killed at 137F. I cook pork to 145-150 (which corresponds to a medium level of doneness), and it makes a world of difference versus cooking a loin to the old 170F recommendations. I’ve also been known to eat pork raw.
[QUOTE=Labrador Deceiver]
I completely disagree. If you shop in a restaurant supply store with utter and complete abandon you can find a chef’s knife for $40 that will last you your lifetime. If you’re spending 30 or 40 bucks every 18 months, you’re just getting ripped off.
Example
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Even better example.
Did I mention they’re dishwasher safe?
I feel compelled to mention that there’s a lot more to a knife than how sharp it is and if you can stick it in the dishwasher. I’m pretty lazy, but even I’m just not understanding how it’s such a huge inconvenience to stick it under a little soap and water for a few seconds. Do you folks not use your knives more than once per dishwashing cycle?
[QUOTE=Labrador Deceiver]
Example
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That, in fact, is exactly the knife I was thinking about, and at my restaurant supply store it is, in fact, thirty bucks.
And yeah, it’ll last a lot longer than eighteen months if you take reasonably good care of it. When I said “use the crap out of it” I meant throwing it in the dishwasher, tossing it in a drawer, making tartare by slamming the blade directly against the cutting surface, etc., etc.
[QUOTE=Cervaise]
That, in fact, is exactly the knife I was thinking about, and at my restaurant supply store it is, in fact, thirty bucks.
And yeah, it’ll last a lot longer than eighteen months if you take reasonably good care of it. When I said “use the crap out of it” I meant throwing it in the dishwasher, tossing it in a drawer, making tartare by slamming the blade directly against the cutting surface, etc., etc.
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I recommend those knives to anyone I know who wants to get started in the kitchen.
FWIW, I have seen the above-linked knife in professional kitchens taking all kinds of abuse for very long periods of time. Short of snapping it in half, it will last indefinitely. The only maintenance I would recommend would be an annual trip to a professional knife sharpener ($5 per blade) & running a steel over it every use or so.
ForumBot - you’re right. I hand-wash all of my Japanese & German knives, and they take about 17 seconds a blade to clean. Hit it with soap and a sponge, then pull a towel across it. In all honesty, most high-end kitchen equipment will take 3 or 4 times the abuse that the low-end stuff will.