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We eat rice about three times a day, give or take. One of those large 26 lb bags of brown rice will last me roughly a month and small change. http://www.amazon.com/Sanyo-ECJ-HC100S-10-Cup-Micro-Computerized-Cooker/dp/B000X8TEVU/ Was worth every penny. I bought it in September of 2008, and it's still working like a horse, producing pot after pot of perfect rice. It's also good at cooking beans (done in about an hour), steaming stuff, and it keeps the rice hot for days at a time. Seconding the stick blender. Those things are hella useful around the kitchen.
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Jan 16, 2011 17:16
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LoungieMu posted:Anybody got a recommendation on a good steamer? I'm trying to make radish cakes, but pretty much anything like dumplings, bao, bulk veggies are fair game. The little add-on for my rice cooker is good for broccoli and rice, but not much else.
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Jan 19, 2011 12:26
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Acetone posted:Here's a recommendation for goons stuck with cheap, rapidly-dulling knives: the Accusharp 001 sharpener.
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Jan 26, 2011 02:23
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I own more than one pot for sure. None of them cranks out a pot of brown rice with the ease or consistency of my rice cooker. We eat rice three times a day, pretty close to every day. Without a rice cooker, I'd be spending obscene amounts of time cursing at the stove for making my rice (1) mushy, (2) stuck to the bottom of the pot, meaning that I'll have to spend a few hours soaking/cleaning, or (3) burned. Also, it really is nice to be able to dump rice into the cooker, add water, turn it on, and /walk away/. I don't like doing that with regular pots because it's caused some fairly major gently caress ups in the past.
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Jan 26, 2011 12:53
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Kenning posted:Hey, can anybody recommend me a good chinois? Winco makes a really good solid one.
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Jan 27, 2011 03:21
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cocksocket posted:Thank you a million times for recommending this. I just got one of these in the mail last week and this thing makes the best rice I've ever had. I went back to update my Amazon review, and realised that I've had the machine for well over 2 years now, and it's still going strong. Happy rice cookings! They make a smaller 5 cup model that my friend bought at the same time I bought mine. She doesn't eat rice as frequently, but hers is still going strong anyway.
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Jan 27, 2011 15:30
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Chard posted:Speaking of I bought it in 2009, and have been pleased with it since day one. It even grinds ajowain seeds to a powder, and those fuckers are TOUGH.
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Jan 29, 2011 14:17
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I should think they'd be useful for getting jam into Berliner/Kitchener buns.
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Feb 1, 2011 14:58
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With a rice cooker, think of it more along the lines of "if it's going to get my rice perfect, that's really all I can ask it to do." I have that exact model in the 10 cup version, and it churns out pot after pot of perfect brown rice every single day for me. Also, when I take it out of said pot, the nonstick coating on the inside doesn't let the brown rice stick to it. Also, it makes my brown rice fluffy and nice. If you want the thing to make brown rice, let it do its job, and don't ask it to try to do other things at the same time. The temperatures and cooking time needed for brown rice (as well as the pressure that's needed inside the cooker) is such that you turn it on, and /leave it alone/. Opening the lid will gently caress with the cooking time and consistency of the rice. Therefore, if you're asking it to steam vegetables, you're going to end up with mush. At the restaurant, when we steam vegetables, we put said vegetable into a mixing bowl, pour boiling water over it, and let it sit for about 3-5 minutes. You end up with perfectly steamed vegetables every time. Your better investment would be an electric kettle, that will boil your water very quickly. That way, when you're in your last 10 minutes of cooking time (for the rice), you can have your steamed veg around the same time with no hassle.
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Feb 9, 2011 15:06
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Iron Chef Ricola posted:Don't bother buying a nice paring knife, a $4 plastic-handled henkels parer will work very well and you can just replace it after a while. http://www.amazon.com/Kuhn-Rikon-4-Inch-Nonstick-Colori/dp/B000GZDY6Q/ref=pd_sbs_k_1 All those knives are stupid sharp, and last a good long while, and are cheap.
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Mar 8, 2011 13:11
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BraveUlysses posted:Mortar and pestle recs? I had a porcelain one from amazon, shattered from a tiny accident. My sister in law bought the Ikea one. She dropped it a short distance, and it broke. http://www.amazon.com/Stone-Granite-Mortar-Pestle-capacity/dp/B000163N6G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1299612757&sr=8-1 This one, on the other hand, is a gently caress off sized one, and has been with me since January 2009. Best money I ever spent.
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Mar 8, 2011 20:33
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Mr. Wookums posted:My parents got me this juicer and I have to say it is easier than using an actual juicer and just as easy to clean as a reamer. Well worth it if you use multiple lemons or limes a week. I bought one of those at the Indian store in Queens for $7. You'll likely have similar luck at a restaurant supply place. EDIT: And yes, it gets all the juice out of my lemons and limes. I cannot stand those finicky ones where you have to press down on something. For all that effort, might as well use one of those medieval citrus reamers. At least those are not unwieldy.
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Mar 24, 2011 12:10
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Garlic press. I don't want one that'll cost a million dollars. I just want a basic one that squishes garlic. Don't need ergonomic handles, plastic inserts, slicing attachments, or any other such faggotry.
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Apr 29, 2011 23:34
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Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:CI at one point recommended the Unicorn Magnum, and I have to say it rules. I've never seen a pepper mill that put out so much pepper with one twist. If you like pepper, this is the one to get. I have one of the big mofos, the magnum. Definitely worth its weight in gold. We go through a fair bit of pepper, and I can't imagine using the other ones that don't give very much at all. They're so frustrating. I used to have the smaller one, but that one got left behind in Florida. Once I moved to New York, I bought the large one with my first day's tips. That being said, the grinder filling mechanism stands to be improved. When you're grinding pepper, it's in the same direction as the you need to open the thing to fill it up. I have never wound up with pepper falling out, because I don't fill it to the tippy top (and really, who needs to?).
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Jun 2, 2011 15:45
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therattle posted:Yes! Yes, Happy Hat, yes it is. Glad to have someone verifying my opinion. They have three branches:  I think that's part of the reason I like the Magnum so much: no complex mechanisms to completely take apart, like the pepper grinders I used as a kid. Instead, you open the gaping maw of a hole, fill 'er up with a funnel (or, because I store my black peppercorns in an old wine bottle, just line up the bottle's mouth with the pepper mill's opening), and move on to showers of ground pepper. It's wonderful.
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Jun 3, 2011 16:53
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Steve Yun posted:Does the Cuisinart require the plunger be in the feed tube in order to process? It seems like it would be an annoying safety feature. It is the MOST ANNOYING "safety" feature. It's made me hate my 7-cup (at home) and 14-cup (at work) cuisinarts for life. Next time, I'm sticking with a Kitchenaid. The worst of it is that the cuisinart plunger has to lock in, so it's not even quick to take off and put back on. It's loving obnoxious.
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Jun 7, 2011 12:20
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Mr. Wiggles posted:I just need to add a little room to my kitchen so I can upgrade to this. I'm actually totally serious about that, I just don't know where that room would come from at the moment. It's so weird that the 20 qt is $100 more than the 10 qt. You're getting so much more space!
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Aug 18, 2011 13:40
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ThriceBakedPotato posted:At "10 cups a year" I'd just make turkish coffee in a sauce pan or buy something like a neopolitan flip that works fine with a vacuum-can grind. A drip maker just takes up too much drat room unless you're an addict. Skillet toast is best toast. 
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Sep 8, 2011 20:15
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PRADA SLUT posted:Actually, the best way to make toast is to fry it in a cast iron pan with a fat knob of butter or duck fat. Heh-heh. Fat knob. I tend to do the frying on the skillet with a bit of coconut or olive oil, depending on which one I reach for first.
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Sep 10, 2011 03:25
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Randomity posted:Recommend me a waffle iron. My sister wants one for her birthday. http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-WBM500-Belgian-Waffle/dp/B000063XH6 We use this one at the restaurant. You need to let it come up to heat (about a minute or three), and it /does/ need fat, and it takes exactly 7 minutes (we use a timer) to make a perfect waffle. Aside from that, it's best waffles you ever had. We make it gluten free (rice flour, sunflower seeds, baking powder, soy milk, vinegar) and it still comes out delicious. Also the negative reviews are silly. The thing has lasted a good year or so, and is still ticking. This is after heavy use on (  ) brunch (I loving hate brunch and everything it stands for) on weekends. EDIT: It takes about 1 cup's worth of dry mix + 1/2 cup worth of liquid mixed together to make said waffle without having drips or overages. If you're a sloppy waffle maker, can't blame the waffle iron. dino. fucked around with this message at 02:08 on Sep 11, 2011 |
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Sep 11, 2011 02:05
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Get the smaller one for now, and enjoy the one at a time waffles. If you see yourself desperately needing more waffle space, get a second one. Two in one machines aren't worth the extra expense. Honestly, if you seriously use the waffle iron more than a few times a year I'd be surprised. For something that doesn't do an awful lot, stick with the cheaper cost, and see if you actually do get a lot of use out of it. Once you do, then go spring for a pricey one.
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Sep 11, 2011 05:46
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Flyboy925 posted:I'm looking for a good smoky tequila for my birthday. Any suggestions? I do like whiskey, scotch, rum, and the small bottle of Jose Cuervo out of the freezer had the smoky flavor that I like. I've had a few different ones, but am looking for a good anejo, not too expensive, that I can enjoy sipping for a while, not for doing shots. Would you be willing to try a Mezcal? Mezcal Semillero Anejo has a really smooth smoky taste, and isn't that expensive, as Mezcals go.
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Sep 21, 2011 01:36
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Fuzzy Pipe Wrench posted:I was about to buy that when I realized I was going to spend 30 bucks to make water hot. Is there any reason it's worth twice the price of something like this? I bought that exact same model for $5 off of someone on Craigslist. She'd used it a couple of years, and it's been working just fine for me. Heats up the full kettle full in about 4 minutes. When it's done heating the water, I leave it open so the water evaporates off. Before I leave out the door, I wrap up the cord, and stuff it back into the kettle, so I don't  lose it. Best money I ever spent. Check your local Craigslist for electric kettles, and I'm sure you'll find one really cheap. It's loving boiling water. Save the unicorn farts for when it actually makes a difference.
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Sep 21, 2011 13:08
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Comic posted:Am I asking for too much here in the pursuit of laziness?
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Oct 2, 2011 16:58
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GD_American posted:I cleared out so much drat cabinet and counter space it's ridiculous.
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Oct 22, 2011 11:14
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Iron Lung posted:I've been looking for a food processor for awhile, and this 10-cup Oster came up today on home.woot. Does anyone have any experience with it, good or bad? To be honest, while the machine itself looks solidly made, the parts look a little cheap. The bowl, the blades, the chopper, the dough thing? All look like they cost 50¢ combined. If it's near on $100, spend the extra 50 and get something decent.
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Nov 19, 2011 22:45
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mindphlux posted:wtf? always cook over low to medium heat? I don't understand - is this all just 'cover your rear end' poo poo they're putting on their sites? or is cooking with copper really different than cooking with stainless? I abuse the heck out of my stainless pans, and they've always been fine. still wondering about that above caution against using steel wool on the inside of the all clad pans....
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Nov 20, 2011 20:54
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The point is that copper looks like poo poo if it's used over high heat repeatedly. In other words, don't buy it.
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Nov 21, 2011 01:34
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feelz good man posted:Swing-a-Way is my favourite. Just don't ever send it through the dishwasher. I hide my good can opener from my roommates, whose can opener is rusty as gently caress and can barely open anything. Seconding the swing away: http://www.amazon.com/Amco-Swing--407WH-Portable-Opener/dp/B0000505IZ/ref=sr_1_3?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1321882325&sr=1-3
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Nov 21, 2011 14:32
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KozmoNaut posted:Thirding the Swing-A-Way, my parents have been using one just like it for the nearly 30 years. Different brand, but 100% identical otherwise. Fourthing it, because we also use the same exact one at the restaurant. Mind you, we rarely need to open tins. Aside from coconut milk, diced tomato, and tomato paste, everything else is fresh, but when we /do/ open up tins, it's nice to have something sturdy enough to stand up to those #10 containers.
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Nov 21, 2011 16:22
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Lovelyn posted:Haha yeah I know, I was really just throwing it out there as an example of what I'm looking for (although more than one spatula would be convenient since I'm slow to do dishes sometimes). Do ya'll have any less ridiculous recommendations? I made you a list. If anyone else has any suggestions to add to my list, just shoot me an email or something, and I'll see what I can do.  http://www.amazon.com/lm/R3D907YKSJ0AG8
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Nov 28, 2011 14:41
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SatoshiMiwa posted:Local store has the Kitchenaid 7 cup food processor on for around $60. Is this a good deal, or will I be better off going for the larger size (12 cup one) and spending more? I bought a 7 cup cuisinart a few years back, and I still wish I'd held out for the 14 cup. It cost more, but there are many many times when I wish I just had more capacity.
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Dec 1, 2011 04:37
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zerox147o posted:So I got a $150 Williams Sonoma gift card last week. Never shop there really for fairly obvious reasons, but gift card kind of locks me in. Only two things I really need for my kitchen are a rice cooker and a good meat probe, but they really only have high end models for the former and didn't bother looking at the latter. Should I burn this card getting a good rice cooker instead of whatever that $50ish one is that gets posted in this thread from time to time or just sell the gift card and take my cash over to Amazon? ... Or do I get a nice 6" Santoku to replace the crappy stamped one I have now and chalk it up to giftcard != me spending money? Sell it and go to Amazon. They've got much better selection, and better prices.
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Dec 2, 2011 15:59
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CuddleChunks posted:Thanks! I think the one I had my eye on was a block of porcelain with the textured/rough interior to better hold onto stuff. I'm hoping to order some decent spices from Penzy soon and want to make sure I can grind them up nicely. I've used the porcelain ones, and the noise of the grinding sets my teeth right on edge. I bought this one a few years back, and it's treated me well: http://www.amazon.com/Stone-Granite-Mortar-Pestle-capacity/dp/B000163N6G/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1326034112&sr=8-3 I got the largest sized one, and it came to like $25. RE: Sharpening. The knife guys here in NYC charge like $5 - $6 per blade. Where are you going that asks $20? O_o
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Jan 8, 2012 15:49
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Zirah posted:Any recommendations for a bread machine? I assume Zojirushi have the best ones on the market, but they are out of my price range, I'd like to stay under $100.
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Jan 14, 2012 13:06
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Planet X posted:I am looking for a reasonably priced, small pressure cooker. I have that exact model. I would strongly suggest getting one size bigger though. When I'm making my daal and beans, I like to also put a stainless steel bowl with rice (and enough water to cook it in), and float it on the beans. That way, I knock out two things at the same time, and have dinner done sooner. If my pressure cooker were a bit bigger, I'd be able to fit a second bowl atop the rice, and steam some veg of my choosing too. That being said, the Presto is a champ. The lady who bought me the one I own had a presto before that one for about 25 years that she trusts. She also uses it to make daal.
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Jan 15, 2012 04:17
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It's the method that my mother would use while cooking in India. Most kitchens in South India have two gas burners that are fairly small, meaning that you want to maximise your efficiency. So you'd put daal in the bottom, rice on top of that, a vegetable stewlike dish atop that, and then put the lid on the whole works. There are way too many soups to count that just involve dumping a bunch of veg into a pot, and letting them boil with a few seasoning items (herbs, ginger, bit of garlic, etc) and a bit of fresh grated coconut or coconut milk for creaminess. I bet you could make stock in a trice. I know I use it to quickly break down tomatoes when I have to make rasam. Traditionally, rasam is made with whole tomatoes that are cooked in boiling water for ages. You cook them whole, because you want a specific flavour that comes from cooking them whole. In my pressure cooker, I add the split peas, the tarka, the whole tomatoes, the tamarind paste, salt, lots of black pepper, and some ginger and garlic, and let that sucker go for about 20 minutes. Perfect rasam every time. Once, I was doing the beans and rice trick, and knocked out the steel cut oats in the second bowl, so that I could have it ready for the morning. Gorgeously done, and in a fraction of the time they'd ordinarily take. The next morning, I was able to have steel cut oats in a couple of minutes. That was awesome. I've done barley in the pressure cooker, to excellent results. I've done my daal, with the tarka, and some pretty boss root veggies, like parsnips, or taro, or yucca, and made very filling and hearty stews in that manner. If I want daal and aloo subzi, I'll make the daal, the rice, and then put that trivet thingie that came with the cooker atop the (covered with a plate) bowl of rice. I set the potatoes atop that, and let the whole mess go. I then have perfectly steamed potatoes for my subzi, which now takes minutes to cook rather than an hour. Bear in mind that I only use brown rice at home, and even that only takes the 20 minutes that it takes to cook my beans. The best part of this? I can make a different meal every night with NO leftovers, so that we don't get bored of the same thing, because by compartmentalising my pressure cooker, I can do tiny quantities without feeling guilty about using a large pot of that size. That's why I'm saying you should get the largest one you can afford that's not army sized. 8 quart is quite a generous amount of space to stack your stainless steel bowls. Don't buy the stainless steel bowls online. They're massively overpriced. Go to a dollar store, and snag them there. Even if they're slightly more than a dollar, they're much cheaper than buying them online. Also, don't go for the fancy, heavy ones. Go for the lightest, cheapest ones you can find, and get them in stainless steel. While you're there, snag a couple of stainless steel plates too. The crappier the better. This will allow you to cover your bottom bowl, and stack another atop it without spending a fortune on rigging up the whole shebang. dino. fucked around with this message at 08:06 on Jan 15, 2012 |
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Jan 15, 2012 08:01
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Steve Yun posted:Dino does your book have stuff about pressure cookers in it There's a funny story about that. Anyone who's known me for any amount of time will know that I'm my mother's son, and there's nothing else you can say about that. Come to think of it, when I finally found out that she /can't/ do everything (like stop time, or cook anything, or be able to speak any language) around the age of eight or nine, it was a very big shock for me, because to me, she was like my superman. To this day, I still get a sinking feeling of "poo poo, something's /really/ wrong" when she complains about not being able to do things like when she was maintaining her own house. She's freaking in her 60s. Essentially, according to me, anything she did was the Right Way To Do Things. What I didn't know until I look back on it is that a lot of her cooking techniques were suited to her needs. She had a fairly bad weight problem, and standing for any stretch of time was murder on her feet. So to make sure that everyone still had made-from-scratch food all the time, she would do things that require a minimum of babysitting. That is, rather than boil milk on the stove when she was making yoghurt, she'd use a milk boiler. Rather than make huge quantities of varieties all at once, she'd make all kind of different things /very frequently/, and make plenty of them. So she'd make one or maybe two dishes at a time, but would cook at least twice a day. This meant that at any one point, she could whip up a dinner of at least 7 or 8 dishes at a moment's notice, by reheating things on the stove and microwave. And instead of using a pressure cooker, she'd use a slow cooker, because it meant that she could put everything into the pot, set it, and go back to put her feet up to reduce the painful swelling in them. Mind you, this would be after being on her feet for a few hours, because my dad always woke at 4 AM, and the kids would be up by 6 or 7. So between like 4 am and 10 am, she's more or less on her feet the whole time, helping everyone get their stuff together before leaving for work or school. This also meant that her slow cooker was a lifesaver, because she could make massive quantities of beans, and have them piping hot for us to take away with us to lunch. When I wrote the book, I was still heavily prejudiced against pressure cookers. I sincerely didn't see the point of them, because I was still living in a tropical climate (in Florida), where the growing season was nearly year-round, and the varieties in the farmer's markets were always vast and appealing. I also was living in my mum's house, and had access to her kitchen, which meant that things were set up the way /she/ liked things set up. She had (on last count) 7 crock pots. I'm for real. I got my first pressure cooker this past Xmas of 2011, and have been dedicated to it since. I just pulled up the techniques that I'd seen my mum use when we visited to India when I was like 10, and it's been smooth sailing. TL;DR: No.
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Jan 15, 2012 14:36
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Planet X posted:Dino, are you generally cooking for one or two? Or more? I'm not opposed to getting a larger one, but it's usually just me or me +1 so I was just curious. It's generally me and my husband. It's why I suggest the larger one: with the bigger one, you can stack more bowls inside, and make small quantities of more dishes without messing up a huge number of pots.
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Jan 15, 2012 16:14
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Bo-Pepper posted:That sounds like a great idea if I want to cook in what looks like the crime lab in CSI Las Vegas. The picture alone is making my eyes hurt.
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Feb 9, 2012 18:27
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