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J Greedy posted:I'm looking for a good rigid boning knife that's at least 6 inches. I'd use it for breaking down PSMOs and hangers primarily. I usually end up borrowing a Messermeister at work but if I can snag a good one for $30 or under I'll probably take it. I like Victorinox but I'm not terribly confident in how well they hold an edge (you get what you pay for); if that would be the best brand for the price, so be it. This is what I use. It's high-carbon Japanese steel. http://www.ckitchen.com/equipment/adcraft/adcrat-cut-8nbwh-sti-illetboning-knie.html
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Jan 12, 2013 02:50
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Victorinox are fine, chef and I use Tojiros, sous only brings Dexters to work because he doesn't trust one of our AM cooks. Anything works, just find something comfy and steel often.
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Jan 12, 2013 02:51
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GigaFool posted:This is what I use. It's high-carbon Japanese steel. Pretty much what I think I'm looking for at this point. With how often my knives seem to tumble to the tile tip-first, I just love me some cheap white plastic handle knives. I didn't really mean to disparage Victorinox, I like my 10" chef and santoku, just that I'm open to other brands if they're out there, primarily if they might hold an edge longer. I'm not a fan of bringing fancy knives to work, for the above reason (watching a nice $200 Japanese knife lose a quarter inch from the tip is heartbreaking) and from working in kitchens where my knives disappeared if I left them overnight.
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Jan 12, 2013 03:23
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Does anyone have any recommendations for garment transport, preferably in backpack form? I'm starting a chef apprenticeship in a few weeks, and am expected to rock up every day with a perfectly neat wrinkle free uniform. This unicorn will need to be transported to work daily on a bicycle, 20 K's. Save me from my poor planning!
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Jan 12, 2013 04:52
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Isolationist posted:Does anyone have any recommendations for garment transport, preferably in backpack form? I'm starting a chef apprenticeship in a few weeks, and am expected to rock up every day with a perfectly neat wrinkle free uniform. This unicorn will need to be transported to work daily on a bicycle, 20 K's. Save me from my poor planning! Hey there young chef, when I was in a pinch on my way to culinary school at five in the morning and I had to have a pristine uniform I would take a nicely ironed jacket and roll it up very carefully and very tightly. Put it in the bottom of your back pack so it doesn't unravel. Should do you fine and save precious space. Pants will be fine folded.
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Jan 12, 2013 05:31
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Wow if anyone is looking for a pressure cooker that's a good value, check out the Fagor Duo 8 quart model. Cooks Illustrated rated it their best value, and after cooking a meal with it I'm really impressed. Previously I had a 6 quart Presto pressure cooker that was terrible about scorching food. This one has a huge aluminum disc base and is a bit wider so it's much better at distributing heat. I'm impressed and will definitely be getting a lot more use out of this cooker.
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Jan 12, 2013 08:36
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So I've looked back a few pages and see this is a thing that's been discussed a lot, but I'm going to bring it up again. Mixers. I'm currently leaning toward the 1000W Cuisinart because that's an awful beefy motor and Cuisinart seems to have a good warranty program (better than KitchenAid?). I guess my main hang up is price. A refurbished KitchenAid Pro 600 is way, way cheaper than the Cuisinart, but it seems to lack anything more than a 6 month warranty. Further, reading some older threads on Chowhound from around 2007 people seemed to be getting insanely cheap deals on mixers whereas anything new and good seems to be $300+. What's up with that price increase? Do sales happen often enough that it's worth waiting?
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Jan 12, 2013 08:56
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How much are you seeing the refurb for?
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Jan 12, 2013 09:12
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funroll loops posted:So I've looked back a few pages and see this is a thing that's been discussed a lot, but I'm going to bring it up again. Mixers. I'm currently leaning toward the 1000W Cuisinart because that's an awful beefy motor and Cuisinart seems to have a good warranty program (better than KitchenAid?). I guess my main hang up is price. A refurbished KitchenAid Pro 600 is way, way cheaper than the Cuisinart, but it seems to lack anything more than a 6 month warranty. Further, reading some older threads on Chowhound from around 2007 people seemed to be getting insanely cheap deals on mixers whereas anything new and good seems to be $300+. What's up with that price increase? Do sales happen often enough that it's worth waiting? I was in the same predicament when buying a mixer for my girlfriend. I went with the Cuisinart and have had zero problems. It is absolutely fantastic. The motor hasn't strained once. I think the price drops during Christmas. I got our Cuisinart for $270. [EDIT]: Crap, we have the 800W, not the 1000W. Sheesh, that's powerful.
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Jan 12, 2013 10:07
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I've got a refurb KitchenAid Pro 500 that we got for 200bux, it gets used nearly daily, and no issues. It even makes a 6lb batch of pizza dough just fine.
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Jan 12, 2013 15:59
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Steve Yun posted:How much are you seeing the refurb for? For some reason I had in my head that it was a lot cheaper, but I guess those were like $300 refurbished from shopkitchenaid.com. I must have been thinking about reading how they were like $250 in old threads. The 7 quart 1000W Cuisinart is $320 in chrome on Amazon, although now I see that the white 800W model is $290. Looking through some more reviews it looks like the wattage specs are some sort of accounting magic like measuring peak power drawn from the wall rather than average power that the motor produces. I'm also not sure I really need a 7 quart 1000W mixer but the price difference is pretty small, and the chrome looks nicer.
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Jan 12, 2013 21:13
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SubG posted:I've been using a Rival Seal-A-Meal for the past two years or so. I think I gave something like US$30 for it on amazon. Use it and a SV Demi a couple three times a week and don't have any complaints about either. The Seal-A-Meal is loud as hell and the rubberised seal likes to come loose if you shake the machine around, and the perforated tray thing that came with the Demi is discoloured all to hell and gone, but all that's firmly in the `gently caress if I care' column as far as I'm concerned. This is cool because I associate Rival with cheap, badly made poo poo, but I have a Rival electric griddle and I have zero issues with it. I might have to take a look at that Seal-A-Meal thing.
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Jan 12, 2013 21:16
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funroll loops posted:For some reason I had in my head that it was a lot cheaper, but I guess those were like $300 refurbished from shopkitchenaid.com. I must have been thinking about reading how they were like $250 in old threads. The 7 quart 1000W Cuisinart is $320 in chrome on Amazon, although now I see that the white 800W model is $290. Looking through some more reviews it looks like the wattage specs are some sort of accounting magic like measuring peak power drawn from the wall rather than average power that the motor produces. I'm also not sure I really need a 7 quart 1000W mixer but the price difference is pretty small, and the chrome looks nicer. Costco is selling bowl lift KitchenAid mixers, discounted to $290 through Jan 27, new and with a 1 year warranty. I'd still try to steer you towards the Cuisinart 5 quart though
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Jan 12, 2013 22:13
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Steve Yun posted:Costco is selling bowl lift KitchenAid mixers, discounted to $290 through Jan 27, new and with a 1 year warranty. For the $30 price difference, is there any reason not to pick up the 7 quart model?
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Jan 13, 2013 05:27
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I guess the only concern would be the extra height and whether it'll fit under your cabinets
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Jan 13, 2013 05:33
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skipdogg posted:I'm part of a huge family and my mom routinely makes breakfast for 15 to 20 people on Sundays. She has a pair of Waring Professional waffle makers and they're awesome. Costco has them in stock for a steal if you live close to one. http://www.costco.com/Waring-Pro%C2%AE-Professional-Belgian-Waffle-Maker.product.11600422.html You will absolutely want to spend the extra $15 and get the Waring Pro model from Costco that makes 2 waffles at a time. They get just as crispy and there will come a time when you will want to make a bunch of waffles at one.
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Jan 13, 2013 11:44
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SubG posted:I've been using a Rival Seal-A-Meal for the past two years or so. I think I gave something like US$30 for it on amazon. Use it and a SV Demi a couple three times a week and don't have any complaints about either. The Seal-A-Meal is loud as hell and the rubberised seal likes to come loose if you shake the machine around, and the perforated tray thing that came with the Demi is discoloured all to hell and gone, but all that's firmly in the `gently caress if I care' column as far as I'm concerned. I've decided I'm going to upgrade to the actual vacs with rolls instead of hand pumps and presized baggies. Anyone have tips on vacuum pumps and roll combos? There are like 8 rival seal-a-meals. Also, it looks like Amazon has a lot of awkwardly listed rolls that may or may not work with different vacuum pumps. Biggest problem is that some stuff works together even if they're not from the same brand because Jarden Corp apparently makes all of those companies' stuff and the brand companies just happen to relabel...
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Jan 13, 2013 20:05
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Get your rolls from ebay, massive rolls for a lot cheaper. AFAIK all bags are cross-compatible, and people on other forums have been using them across devices with no problem. Rival and Foodsaver both get good reviews across their machines, and I think pretty much any motorized machine from either company is going to work for their one main task: vacuum sealing. The question is what extra bells and whistles you want to pay for. Manual load vs automatic loaders? Automatics are convenient, but use up more plastic and it's annoying when you realize you didn't give your bag enough slack when you cut it. Upright vs flat? Uprights save a little space, but not much. Accessory hose? Are you going to use vacuum cannisters and containers?
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Jan 13, 2013 20:44
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One very useful feature to look for in a sealer is a separate "seal" button, which makes it 100x easier to seal liquids in a bag. If you have the bag lower than the machine, you can press the seal button the instant the liquid starts getting sucked upwards. If you only have one button, the machine will never seal the bag on its own because the liquid will get sucked out before vacuum is achieved.
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Jan 13, 2013 20:58
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GigaFool posted:One very useful feature to look for in a sealer is a separate "seal" button, which makes it 100x easier to seal liquids in a bag. If you have the bag lower than the machine, you can press the seal button the instant the liquid starts getting sucked upwards. If you only have one button, the machine will never seal the bag on its own because the liquid will get sucked out before vacuum is achieved. If you have the foresight to do it, freeze your liquid into ice cube trays and it makes sealing with the non-chamber style of vacuum sealer so much easier.
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Jan 13, 2013 22:38
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Is there a suggested Induction Hob/Burner I can buy to use on a countertop? Buying a new range is totally out of the question right now even though mine is a 15+ year old electric flat top that is getting more and more frustrating to deal with.
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Jan 14, 2013 09:21
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A Max Burton is cheap and works well, so long as you have a plug that'll support running a 1800 watt device without blowing any fuses.
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Jan 14, 2013 12:10
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Can anyone recommend a potato ricer? Decently priced, simple, easy to clean is what I'm after.
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Jan 14, 2013 12:13
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I just realized that over the past year I've started eating a lot more rice, so now I'm looking at getting a rice cooker to make the process easier/better. Or a Searching the thread I see things like this or this recommended, but: 1) I need a recommendation available in Europe 2) Cooks for 2-3 people Any ideas? Mango Polo fucked around with this message at 15:07 on Jan 14, 2013 |
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Jan 14, 2013 14:26
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cods posted:Hey there young chef, when I was in a pinch on my way to culinary school at five in the morning and I had to have a pristine uniform I would take a nicely ironed jacket and roll it up very carefully and very tightly. Put it in the bottom of your back pack so it doesn't unravel. Should do you fine and save precious space. Pants will be fine folded. Even better, roll it up in a towel like a ho-ho.
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Jan 14, 2013 17:43
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Mango Polo posted:I just realized that over the past year I've started eating a lot more rice, so now I'm looking at getting a rice cooker to make the process easier/better. Or a If you can wait a bit, this one is coming out on 1 Feb: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Breville-VTP184-Steamer-Risotto-Cooker/dp/B0095RJ2L2/ref=sr_1_37?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1358217030&sr=1-37
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Jan 15, 2013 03:32
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dino. posted:If you can wait a bit, this one is coming out on 1 Feb: That's the first time I've seen a pre-order for cookware. Looks nice though, hopefully reviews will roll in fast.
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Jan 15, 2013 14:11
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I'm looking for a toaster oven but don't want to spend more than $50-$60 or so. Right now I'm deciding between Black & Decker TRO480BS and TRO 490B. Which is better, or is there something else I should get?
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Jan 15, 2013 18:40
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What should I be looking for in a stovetop pressure cooker? Any brand recommendations for the UK? I've seen Kuhn Rikon well reviewed, but they cost around £80-100, whereas some aluminium cheaper brands are £20-30. Is there much difference?
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Jan 20, 2013 21:31
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Slimchandi posted:What should I be looking for in a stovetop pressure cooker? Any brand recommendations for the UK? The Kuhn rikon is a unique pressure cooker. It is a completely sealed system. It doesn't lose moisture when used properly. This means in practice, that it doesn't lose flavor. By comparison, food out of a Kuhn will taste brighter, fresher, where the other cookers will taste flat by comparison. Still delicious either way but I am a firm believer that if you're going to buy a pressure cooker, go cheap or go big. That is to say, it's not worth it to go mid range.
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Jan 20, 2013 22:19
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Slimchandi posted:What should I be looking for in a stovetop pressure cooker? Any brand recommendations for the UK? I'm super happy with this Fagor Duo 8qt: http://www.amazon.com/Fagor-8-Quart-Stainless-Steel-Pressure-Steamer/dp/B00023D9RG I had a cheap lovely 6 qt. cooker and it was terrible at scorching food. The Fagor cooker has a huge aluminum disc base so it distributes heat really well, and the 8 qt. size is much more useful than 6 qt. It also makes a great second large pot for cooking pasta and other stuff without the lid on. Cook's Illustrated rated this the second best pressure cooker, and best value overall, second only to a $270 Fissler cooker.
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Jan 20, 2013 23:25
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The flipside of the Kuhn (although I don't know how this compares to other pressure cookers) is that the design means nothing will reduce, period, so you should be aware of that. When following recipes, the liquid will have to be decreased to the amount you want to end with. Otherwise, it's really silly to cook up a perfectly done stew in half an hour, and then have to spend an hour or two boiling it off on your stovetop. This isn't necessarily a downside, though, just something to be aware of - I fill my 8-liter* to the max line with bones/veg/herbs/spice when making stock, and end up with maybe two liters of completely solid jelly (once it cools a bit) that can be mixed with quite a lot of water to make stock (can't really give a number on that, sorry - I just go by how strong or mild of a flavor I need). But watch out for anything that relies on certain things like reducing tomatoes - either reduce the ingredients separately and add them in later to cook together for a bit, see if you can modify the recipe (e.g. remove all the tomato seeds and... if it's summer, just drink them or something) or go with the traditional non-pressure method if that's too much of a pain in the rear end. *Get the biggest cooker that will fit on your stove/in your budget. I only cook for two, and I often wish I went with more than 8 liters (though I am overall very happy with it since I got it for like 200 bucks shipped up to Canada) so I could make really large freezable batches of stuff. That's because the size is misleading: due to the pressure, you can only fill it up to around 2/3, and only to about 1/2 with certain things like beans that froth up. Whatever model you get, if you have a particularly crappy electric coil stove, you may end up having to babysit it (be in the kitchen to take it on/off the heat, move it around...) due to the very slow heat response. That's annoying, and it can also lead to burnt bottoms, so if this happens to you, make sure that you can attach a magnet firmly to your pressure cooker's bottom and then get a single induction cooktop. It'll help a lot. I don't know what's available in the UK in that regard: in North America, the regular Max Burton is a great option that can be found on sale for 50 bucks. I just saw something called an Andrew James on Amazon UK that looks identical to it (but has even better wattage, I'm jealous of your euro plugs). Look up reviews, and the rule of thumb is among similarly well-reviewed stuff, go with as many watts as your most convenient kitchen plug can handle, and here the cheap stuff can be just as good as the fancy $$$ models, maybe just a little noisier or not built for commercial kitchen handling. Back to the pressure cooker, if you're not sure whether to go low-end or high-end, consider what you'll mostly be doing with it. If you want the best stock you can get, and lots of quick stews, braises, curries - especially if you want to make stuff like Nihari that would traditionally cook for 5-8 hours plus - go for the Kuhn. However, if you mostly want it for convenient ingredient prep or simple stuff - cook these beans, cook this oatmeal, melt the fat off this meat - basically, the kind of things where it won't matter if the flavor goes a bit flat because you'll be seasoning it after/adding it to something else, go for a nice cheap model. Also, with all pressure cookers, it's still very possible to overcook (and with some models, like the Kuhn, over-pressure if you're cooking way past your second line). Don't go too crazy with it - too much heat for too long can kill flavors all by itself, even in a non-venting Kuhn-type fancy model. This isn't very finicky, just don't put stuff for an hour + wait for it to naturally depressurize when it's fine in 20 minutes, it's less like slow-cooking it all night and more like boiling a sauce for four hours when it should have been simmered for one. Culinary Bears fucked around with this message at 00:13 on Jan 21, 2013 |
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Jan 21, 2013 00:08
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GrAviTy84 posted:The Kuhn rikon is a unique pressure cooker. It is a completely sealed system. It doesn't lose moisture when used properly. This means in practice, that it doesn't lose flavor. By comparison, food out of a Kuhn will taste brighter, fresher, where the other cookers will taste flat by comparison. Still delicious either way but I am a firm believer that if you're going to buy a pressure cooker, go cheap or go big. That is to say, it's not worth it to go mid range. Wait - how does this work, how does it relieve pressure? Or does it just keep building pressure if you overheat it, because that sounds like a fantastic way to win to get sued.
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Jan 21, 2013 08:39
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Shooting Blanks posted:Wait - how does this work, how does it relieve pressure? Or does it just keep building pressure if you overheat it, because that sounds like a fantastic way to win to get sued. I don't have or know much about the Kuhn Rikon but the website says it's a "closed system" that doesn't let oxygen in which leads to better taste/color/etc. I'd imagine that it has to vent steam somehow. I don't know how this would translate to no moisture loss though?
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Jan 21, 2013 10:56
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It's pretty straightforward: it vents steam only if overheated (over-pressurized). There's no reason to vent otherwise.
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Jan 21, 2013 12:11
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Any recs on a splash/water proof scale? I am a moron and keep spilling hot water on that weight watchers one and it is dying.
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Feb 5, 2013 04:47
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cheese eats mouse posted:Already eyeing the Tramotina pot/pan sets for next pay check. Coming in to say I found the 10pc Tramotina set for $150 at a liquidator. 
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Feb 5, 2013 19:08
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So meat thermometers are worth it? If so, what are some good ones? Are they expensive?
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Feb 7, 2013 07:12
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Red_Fred posted:So meat thermometers are worth it? If so, what are some good ones? Are they expensive? They are if you want to cook meat properly without loads of experience. Thermapen is the best noncommercial brand by a pretty wide margin.
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Feb 7, 2013 07:46
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knife guys so, on recommendation of this thread, I bought this : http://www.amazon.com/Norton-614636855653-8-Inch-Combination-Oilstone/dp/B000XK5ZDY/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top and some oil a while ago. I'm pretty confident using it at this point, and I think I'm ready to step my game up to get even finer/sharper results. What's next? an additional finer grit stone? a strop? I don't know anything about stropping other than people on the internet seem to take it very seriously. ^_^ mindphlux fucked around with this message at 23:03 on Feb 9, 2013 |
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Feb 9, 2013 23:00
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