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dino. posted:I've said it before, but buying the Fagor or Cuisinart electric pressure cooker is a much better buy than getting 3 different appliances. It has a setting to sautee onions, a pressure cooker setting, a rice cooker setting, AND a slow cooker setting. Thanks for mentioning them, I didn't know they even existed. Well those brands don't in Australia but someone called "new wave" sells a similar 5 in 1 multi cooker here. To all those using MAPP in the kitchen, I'm surprised. I'm in HVAC and use it a lot. The stuff stinks, I can't believe anyone would use it on food. Also there was a safety recall here in the beginning of the year as the cylinders sometimes leak. MAPP gas is severely toxic, as it contains methylacetylene, one breath of that causes instant lose of consciousness and death shortly after. Not because of asphyxiation, but methyl acetylene will shut down your nervous system. If propane isn't hot enough I'd switch to MAPP Pro as that doesn't have methyl acetylene. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 03:22 on Oct 10, 2012 |
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Oct 10, 2012 03:13
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SweetJuicyTaco posted:Just bought my first house, I pick up the keys on Thursday. I'm super excited too because it's also my first time having gas burners, no more electrical rings. I am pretty set on cookware, I have a shitload of cast iron. I do need to purchase a fridge. It's kind of rough finding reviews on refrigerators, every type seems to get mixed reviews. I have all stainless steel appliances and want to keep that theme going. Ideally I would like a stainless steel french door bottom freezer. Does anyone have recommendations or experiences they could share? I am looking at Samsung, LG, Kenmore, and Whirlpool's offerings but am really open to anything. No real budgetary constraints other than I am probably looking to spend 2k, maybe 2.5 maximum. Best bet is just to buy something that has the best support in your area, so if it breaks, you have spare parts and someone to fix it. I used to fix Samsung, LG, Sharp and Electrolux. Some models in the same brand are bad, others are OK, so I can't even recommend by brand. But I'm not in the US so I don't know US specific brands at all (like Kenmore). Whirlpool here in Aus as well as Europe has been regarded as one of the worst brands in the past though due to poor electronic PCBs. LG aren't too bad, but if you have no local repairer you are going to be stuffed if something happens as the Korean brands may not have a large repair network compared to domestic/'western' brands in your area. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 08:24 on Mar 20, 2013 |
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Mar 20, 2013 08:19
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This is a long shot, but Philips is an international brand. So, anyone got a philips viva food processor? Specifically this one: http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/cpindex.pl?ctn=HR7762/90&slg=en&scy=AU To me, it looks good, cheap, small, light. They aren't normally good signs in an appliance, but I need cheap, small and light due to budget, storage and bench space. It's cool that it comes with a blender and spice grinder as well. I've never had a food processor but I want one because I have a baby that's due for solid foods soon, and I want to eat healthier, like make hummus or falafels. The blender is handy as an attachment and not taking up more space, ie not making the base larger for storage. not going to trust the blender for smoothies or ice but may be better than a regular food processor for baby food. Later on I'll probably get a stand alone blender for me, but for now just looking for something to help cook better for myself and to make purees for baby food in a month or so. Edit: Oh well, went and bought it anyway. The main thing that sold me on top of the size was separate full cutting and grating discs. A lot of other brands have just a little square insert you have to swap into a plastic plate. i) that's a pain, ii) less working surface and more plastic to get stained and brittle. Next question. I love carrots, specifically 'match stick'/julienned carrots. One of the cheapest veg ever and I put carrots in almost everything. Looking to get a "V" slicer as I can't really afford a mandoline. Anyone use a Borner V slicer? Also as I'm buying meat whole, a good recommendation on a boning/filleting knife on a tight budget. Someone around here was selling a cuisinart knife for $15, but then I ummed and arred over a wenger swibo knife for $30 and couldn't decide. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 16:00 on Mar 25, 2013 |
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Mar 24, 2013 14:20
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Thanks, I'm in Australia, so prices are higher and for the most part, different stores/store names too of course. Which is why I just trying to stick with brand names as they are mostly common worldwide so I could get an indication of quality and usefulness. Borner was a mid priced international brand (I think?),for a V type slicer which I know where to get from (but it's $50-70 here). There's cheaper ones locally but of no brand name of course, so no one here is going to know anything about them so not possible to get an opinion on them. Thanks for the reply though, maybe others can benefit from it. I wish I could get things at that price. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Mar 26, 2013 |
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Mar 26, 2013 16:27
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GrAviTy84 posted:I think for mandolines, either get a cheap one with good adjustability or if you get a more expensive one, make sure the blade is removeable so you can sharpen it. So yeah: adjustability and removable blade. Benriners are a little bit more. I've noticed these kyoceras though here that are cheap and say they are adjustable http://www.everten.com.au/Kitchen-Mandolines.html?objects_per_page=all When I was into coffee I know other's raved about how good their hand grinders were. Anyone used them? Otherwise, anything that stands out on that page for a good mandoline? Fo3 fucked around with this message at 17:52 on Mar 26, 2013 |
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Mar 26, 2013 17:46
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indoflaven posted:It's an electric motor and a spinning blade. Why is it $400? That's how things work in the world. Why does a diamond cost so much? We got the  mark up here and it's about $900! What a rort when $1Au~$1US.Stuff that, I bought a $180 Breville which seems decent, would have considered the vitamix if it was $400 since even the Breville retails at $240 but I got a discount and Breville seem to be on a roll these days with decent home gear. The alternative is brands that don't enjoy large market share in the Au market, which like I said, ends up a rip off like paying $900 for a vitamix, while Breville trades in Au. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 18:27 on Apr 1, 2013 |
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Apr 1, 2013 18:16
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tonedef131 posted:I picked up that Breville Hemisphere control for like $150 on an Amazon sale and I've been thrilled with it. When my $50 Broan poo poo out on me I thought I'd step it up, and the Breville was a nice middle ground. I only use it once or twice a week so I couldn't justify the Vitamix price, I have a food processor so it's really a single purpose beverage producer and I've been really happy with my Breville burr grinder so I felt pretty confident buying it. I've still never used a Vitamix, but I will say the Breville is twice as nice as any of the other dozen or so blenders I've tried. Looks better than the Vita imo too Yeah, looks like the one I got. Here, the bottom of the top range is called the kinetix, cheapest one is $180 and called the BBL605 but there are higher models. I started throwing a smoothie mixture together since last week and chuck in full size big ice cubes from a typical tray, plus frozen banana and pressed the "smoothie" button to run a pre programmed multi-speed function for 1 min. Not a single ice chip left. Sounded scary at first thinking I may break it though, but no problems with the ice at all. Needed another minute on puree to mince up the oatmeal enough though. Bought it after some reviews seemed positive and the price was right, plus I bought the dual boiler espresso machine and smart grinder early last year and have been happy with them, so why not? Fo3 fucked around with this message at 18:29 on Apr 3, 2013 |
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Apr 3, 2013 18:24
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Going way back in this thread, on the first page was discussion about walmarts's/sams club tri-ply cookware. Walmart did set some sets called Tramontina, stocks came and went things brought up like some pans better than others. Are the ones now up for sale as good as they were 2008-2011? Looking at getting this Tramontina 12-Piece Tri-Ply Clad Cookware Set https://www.walmart.com/ip/Tramontina-12-Piece-Tri-Ply-Clad-Cookware-Set-Stainless-Steel/22984416 Would go with the 8pc but they don't have the saute pan or the stockpot. Would go for the 10pc but they have smaller fry pans and saute pan and miss the cassarole pot. But the 12pc has everything. Only problem is shipping is $150 for the 10pc and $200 for the 12pc. My existing cookware was bought by me as a 19 y/o, cheap arcosteel k-mart set. They are 20years old and always burn at the sides, have plastic handles and glass lids so not oven safe. I've bought a few cast iron or ceramic dishes in the mean time, but I want to get decent s/s cookware which doesn't seem available down here, everything is some kind of non stick or glass lids or $700 and they're not all clad/tri ply anyway. Even with shipping the Tramontina 12 Piece set will be about $500. Worth it if they last 20 yrs like my old cheap set, and I have the money now that I sold my house for a profit before I became homeless due to not affording the repayments, yay renting. Anyway, are these basically s/s coated aluminium and need to be treated with kid gloves, or are these mainly S/S with aluminium in the core? Main reason for wanting these is so I could scrape it and treat it harshly like my old s/s pans to loosen fond etc, not treat it like a non stick surface so if it's s/s coated aluminium, I would be worried about peeling of the S/S. I get get a scampan "impact" cookware set for $319, but doesn't have a saute pan, but not overly impressed with scanpan but for example http://www.yourhomedepot.com.au/products/scanpan/cookware-set-10-pieces/cookware-sets Fo3 fucked around with this message at 18:41 on Apr 5, 2013 |
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Apr 5, 2013 18:25
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Steve Yun posted:Yeah, it's the same I did find this cuisipro set, but it's a smaller set and $400 anyway. http://www.everten.com.au/Cuisipro-Cookware-Set-6pc.html And scanpan clad 5, but again smaller set. http://www.everten.com.au/Scanpan-Clad-5-Cookware-Set-5pc-18894.html That's the only clad/tri-ply brands I could find, most sets are plain s/s or anodised non stick. Cuisinart only sell 'classic' s/s or non stick here, one of the reasons why I'm looking overseas and have to pay to much in shipping. Late edit: Seems amazon have the cuisinart multiclad 12 pc set for $250 and quote $80 shipping to AU. I will miss the larger frypan, saute pan and stockpot from the $299 12pc tramontina set, but going through walmart buyer and shipping forwarding service adds $150-210 shipping and fees, while amazon may ship direct the cuisinart set. Decisions decisions. My old set has a 3qt/24cm saute pan and I hardly use it because it's so small, I usually have to use the stock pot for cabbage or beans... The more I look around, the more it seems these all clad/tri-clad things are only common in the US, hardly anywhere in AU has them, the they are soo cheap, hell even Au is cheap compared to the UK. I've done a thing. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 15:47 on Apr 6, 2013 |
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Apr 6, 2013 10:06
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ConfusingWizard posted:It appears to be a glitch where you get the 10 piece set I got (with the big pans) PLUS a 5 qt enamaled dutch oven for.... $36.10! But even if it's an error that they'll honour if you call them up on it, not much good for me. Shipping a CI dutch oven would be insanely high in cost to Australia, also I have to use a buying agent to get anything from walmart and they would fix the error before I could arrange that. I clicked buy on separate cuisinart multiclad pieces from Amazon, a 1.5+3qt saucepan, 5qt saute pan, 12" fry pan and 8qt stockpot with their estimated shipping, and I'll just buy an enameled cast iron dutch oven locally, which is my cheapest option. Anxiously waiting for them to email me saying shipping will cost way way more, or just say nothing, bill my credit card and ship them to me for the quoted cost.... Also I went with the cuisinart for the fact it's easier to deal with amazon than walmart, plus they look slightly better, A nice rolled lip on the pans to make it easier to pour from I heard, like allclad, rather than wallmart's tramontina that had an edged lip, or so I've read while researching. If that falls through, I'll use a buying agent to get the 12pc tramontina set from walmart for $299.97 + $209 shipping. It's insane to me that allclad and multiclad and tri-ply have been around for years but no other country besides the USA even sells them in any number. I only got a return from looking up scanpan and cuisipro and they very rarely show up or have much of a range, the rest of the brands had nothing. I even asked cuisinart.com.au if they ever plan to start distributing their multiclad line locally and had no response. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 16:09 on Apr 8, 2013 |
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Apr 8, 2013 16:02
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Jerk Burger posted:Australian companies prefer to blame customers shopping overseas instead of offering us different options at realistic prices. I just got an email from amazon, looks like I'm getting the 5 MCP pieces I want from there for $90 shipping. I did get a reply from ca aust saying they won't have MCP but have something similar. edit:"Chef Ultimate Multi-Layer stainless steel" I tried searching for them and only got results for saucepans; so no skillets, saute pans, dutch ovens or stock pots. What have I done? CA aust have even broken their website now, removed the pages for the s/s classic pans and the pro non stick pans!? Zenzirouj posted:This http://www.amazon.com/Fagor-670040230-Stainless-Steel-6-Quart-Multi-Cooker/dp/B001A62O1G is still one of my best bets for a doing relatively simple cooking (slow cooking & rice, maybe soup) for 1-3 people, right? At the moment I only have a somewhat-decent little rice cooker and a crock pot that mostly just annoys me. I'd like to get something that does better than both, takes up less space, and has electric timers. If I end up getting it, do any of you have good ideas for more uses for it? I've got a different brand multicooker and I only use it for pressure cooking beans and steaming veg. it's a metal tub and not very big, not suited to slow cooking in my opinion, doesn't cook low slow and gentle like ceramic slow cookers do, and size is an issue too, can't put big cuts of bone in meat in there. I still prefer oval ceramic slow cookers, and a stove top saucepan for rice. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 08:33 on Apr 9, 2013 |
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Apr 9, 2013 08:14
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It's poor form to post after your self, but lets talk knives again. I am a fan of knives without bolsters/guards and also made of steel that's had so hard it requires less sharpening. I like my Felix knife, but they aren't sold anymore in Aus, wouldn't mind seeing some of those Eden kinives either so I will look into them but shipping from mainland Europe isn't cheap. Victorinox here aren't that cheap either and from what I've read are soft steel and requires frequent sharpening plus have a bolster/guard. Maybe a dumb question, but anyone here looked at the slitbar knifes (edit: from Ikea - http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/series/14564/)? I would get a chefs knife, utility knife, cleaver, fillet and veg knife if they seem half decent. I love the look, designs and handle. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 20:06 on Apr 9, 2013 |
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Apr 9, 2013 20:03
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GrAviTy84 posted:If you like bolsterless knives and prefer hard steel you should really just forget about european knives altogether and go Japanese. But where to get that style near me? I'm asking about the Ikea knives because they are cheap and there's an Ikea store near me  If after asking I get told they aren't very good, (and they don't need to be poo poo hot awesome for my home use I guess), then I'll look at more expensive knives and more expensive postage/shipping options. Thanks for the links to some knives though, gives me some ideas if the ikea knives are useless. First link ships only USA, second link out of stock, 3rd is a bit too pricey. But I'm not being nasty, maybe you didn't know I'm in Aus and suppliers here are terrible, don't carry much range, and over priced generally, and importing from anywhere except china/HK, and funnily enough the UK, costs a lot. USA, mainland Europe and other places have huge postage/shipping costs compared to UK and China/HK for us down here. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 20:33 on Apr 9, 2013 |
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Apr 9, 2013 20:22
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mindphlux posted:you clearly want the ikea knives. just buy the ikea knives that you want to buy. then you'll have purchased the ikea knives. that you wanted to buy. good luck goon. I have gone off the idea entirely due to not finding anything good about them, so disregard the ikea knives. I only considered them because I could have gone and picked them up today as I was in the area of the local Ikea store. I'll probably have to order from amazon again and get either the plastic handled victorinox or the KAI knives. Late edit: Hey Gravity84, what do you think about these? Yes I prefer the western style handle. Seems this place has a flat rate $7 worldwide shipping fee as well. http://japanesechefsknife.com/page4.html or these http://japanesechefsknife.com/ProMSeries.html#PM-01 Looking at a 150mm petty and a 210mm Gyuto Though the blade thickness on most 210mm gyutos worry me a bit and they seem to be 2mm. I'll probably get a cleaver to, but will try the local chinese shops in the city first, if no luck, guess it's amazon again for me. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 10:35 on Apr 10, 2013 |
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Apr 10, 2013 07:53
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GrAviTy84 posted:gekko gyuto by gtrwndr87, on Flickr I've been doing this thing as I'm the world's most slowest shopper and never impulse buy. I usually spend weeks researching any purchase except food and booze, and you could even argue that case because by being in this forum I am researching them too. Also looking into some carbon knives. It's so tempting to pay just a little bit more for speccy looking knifes, but I'm going to be hard on myself and just buy something utilitarian, no damascus patterns or fancy stuff I think. Edit: Though in thinking about it, I might get the masamoto CT carbon petty knife to try them out as a brand, and the gekko gyuro just for a 'thing' as it's the same price as most other decent gyutos anyway. Then I could know about even wanting a damascus pattern knife compared to a carbon, or even stainless knife in the future. As well as getting a feel for masamoto knives in general compared to another brand. My brain says just buy the cheapest though like fujiwara or hiromoto. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 17:54 on Apr 11, 2013 |
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Apr 11, 2013 17:32
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Oae Ui posted:I've seen this said often but figuring out what angle to hold a knife at while using a stone and managing to keep it that way isn't all that easy. You pretty much start out dealing with a dozen or more variables and if the sharpening doesn't go well then good luck figuring out where things went wrong. It's not insurmountable but it's also not a simple thing to learn and can be phenomenally frustrating. Despite a great deal of effort I've never managed to get very good at it and wish there were classes available on the subject. Some hands on instruction would probably go a long way. Seen this video? Old Japanese Global knife guy showing how to sharpen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te1KIpGyz-4 If youtube is working right, then after that video you're going to have a lot of related videos show up you can watch as well. That being said, I'm just going to get a cheapy carbon steel chinese cleaver and sharpening stones and play with them before buying any expensive knives now. Learn to see if I can live with carbon steel in the kitchen and do any sharpening stuff ups on cheaper knives. I was going to get into proper sharpening and getting stones myself years ago when i got interested in vintage razors and was looking at getting a straight edge razor. I did get a s/h razor and almost sliced my thumb in half when trying to polish off the rust, so that put me off them and that idea. But now I want decent kitchen knives, I guess it's time to get some sharpening stones and learn myself. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 10:44 on Apr 12, 2013 |
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Apr 12, 2013 10:31
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Bob_McBob posted:For anyone who ordered that cookware bundle from Walmart, you are definitely not getting anything other than the Dutch oven. However, customer service may offer to just let you keep it and refund the charge rather than shipping it back. My friend returned it before he got that e-mail, so he missed out on a free Dutch oven. Speaking of shipping, CK2go has a sale on the masamoto knives I want, but $50 shipping for the two knives I wanted though, $40 for one  Edit: free shipping in the US, that's just the postage charged if sent overseas, so some lucky goon could get a bargain if they live in the USA.When I come back to Japanese knives, I guess I have to buy from japanesechefsknife.com. Hopefully I can find a cleaver locally, as nothing decent on amazon (the only cheap postage/shipping place from USA to AU edit: and by cheap i mean it only cost me $92 shipping for a full set of pans, it's not cheap cheap or free, but reasonable), and I'm not going to pay $80 inc shipping from CK2G for a cck. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 20:31 on Apr 12, 2013 |
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Apr 12, 2013 20:12
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GrAviTy84 posted:I think the Tojiro ITK Shirogami 240mm gyuto is a steal. Yes I can't even buy the knife in your link as I said before, but funnily enough there's a brand available in AU called tojiro that has western style knives everywhere. No idea if it's the same manufacturer. If I try to google it like I do most other japanese knife brands, all I get is shopping links, rather than the usual chef.knife sites, so they seem to be very prevalent in Au But it seems they only have western handles and either DP damascus or dp3 here in Aus. But their knives are cheap and plentiful in the western designs here I have just found. Even a set of paring, gyuto and petty for $200. http://www.everten.com.au/Tojiro-DP3-Chef-Knife-Set-3pc.html edit: HA! went out of stock while writing this post. Before it showed one set left in stock. oH, it seems like hype brought them to our lousy kitchenware shops because Heston Blumenthal liked Tojiro knives. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 21:45 on Apr 12, 2013 |
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Apr 12, 2013 21:34
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The Midniter posted:I just bought a paring knife on a whim because everyone seems to think that a chef knife and a paring knife are all you need. The thing is, I use my chef knife for...pretty much everything! What types of stuff should I use a paring knife for?? I only use it for getting that little bit of skin that a peeler can't get too after peeling using a regular swivel peeler on a potato/sweet potato/daikon/pumpkin etc. or cutting tops and tails or eyes etc on root veg that are sunken in. Or peeling a frozen banana, or peeling ginger, sometimes cutting tendons in meat as I don't have a boning knife. The answer is: little things, fiddly things. To be honest I bought a crappy ceramic knife set that came with a paring knife a utility knife and a chefs knife, and the paring knife is the only good one in that set, I think the chefs knife broke. But I could get along just fine with a utility/petty knife if I didn't buy that ceramic set, which is why I'm only interested in buy a good new chefs/gyuto and a utility/petty knife.
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Apr 12, 2013 22:09
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Speaking of which, looks like I missed out on that set with gyuto, petty knife and paring knife for $199. But still possible to buy a tojiro DP3 240mm gyuto for $109.95 and a 150mm utility/petty for $70. I'm going to sleep on it... Fo3 fucked around with this message at 22:21 on Apr 12, 2013 |
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Apr 12, 2013 22:15
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I've only had Mundial knives (soft steel, easy to sharpen but requires frequent sharpening), a victornox 8" chefs, a Felix gloria-lux santoku and some cheap ceramic knives. If you don't care about looks and just want a knife set that's useful, get the fibrox handled Victorinox/Forschner because they are cheap and good. If you want something that looks better than fibrox handles, and don't want the rosewood because you don't want a wood handle, or you don't want a stamped knife like the Victornix/Forshner, my favourite knife is the Felix santoku, so maybe look into that brand (or Wusthof) . But I'm no professional chef or cook. Holds an edge very well, better than Mundial and Victorinox/Forshner. I bought it for $40 during a clearance sale. Felix was bought out by Solicut I think, they aren't sold here any more in Australia since then, but I see them on Amazon now sometimes sold as Felix Solicut, or Solicut or just Felix. late edit: For any aussie goons, these are good knives, and I have just found a place in Australia that sells them, cheaper than Amazon as well for a change, and free shipping in Aus. The website is hell slow though for some reason. http://www.homewaresdirect.com.au/index.php/catalogsearch/result/?q=Felix+Solingen+Gloria+Lux late late edit because I'm bored: You could spend weeks trawling through various other knife and cooking forums to learn about knives, or just read what I just found: http://www.thehealthybutcher.com/livetoeat/volume31/LiveToEat-Volume31-TheGuideToKnives.html Site was down when I found it, but it appears up again. If it's down then just google it and read it through google cache. Or I can link the PDF version. Did i say I was bored? Looked up the Felix steel it's 4116 or X50CrMoV15 , HRC 56 but does hold it's edge For the record the Mundial knives I have that are way way too soft are HRC 52, that's just way too soft for every ones info, but the scale isn't linear and different alloys do strange things at different hardness HRC levels as well. But 56 seems OK on a good knife IMO with no funny business with the grind that is. Looked up the steel in global knives CROMOVA 18 - Yoshikin proprietary stainless steel for their brand Global knives. Cr indicates Chrome in the alloy, Mo is for Molybdenum and Va is for Vanadium. Exact chemical composition is unknown, except for 18% of Chromium in it, which is what 18 stands for in the name of the steel. Better performer compared to X50CrMoV15 types of steel. Highly stain resistant with pretty good edge holding ability. sources: http://www.cliffstamp.com/knives/reviews/blade_materials.html#S_INOX http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/misc/articles/kkchoser/kksteelp2.shtml Make it's interesting about the stories about global knives chipping or breaking in two though. If they are low HRC they shouldn't chip. Looks like what the other site said about may be the case, that they are hollow ground, so easier to chip and a PITA to self sharpen. Also the odd few that broke is probably due to the fact that they are stamped rather than forged, impurities in a batch of steel probably. Also, like I said, before buying more knives I'm just going to try sharpen what I have and maybe a cheap new cleaver. Most of you have heard of or maybe some will have and edge pro sharpening system? I think it's about $200-$300 Well the Chinese have got us poorer people covered: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/370549539822 Faker edge pro People down here have been buying that and raw stones from the US (congress tools) as the chinese stones are rubbish. Getting raw stones mean you have to mount them yourself (cutting some 3mm plastic or aluminium and some strong binding adhesive) and flattening the stones. Plus being cheap version you can't trust the angle, so get a digital angle meter from amazon, http://www.amazon.com/iGaging-AngleCube-Digital-Level-Bevel/dp/B002LL0BIC and there you go Fo3 fucked around with this message at 21:59 on Apr 14, 2013 |
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Apr 14, 2013 13:38
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If you want instead read, then no. When I was in HVAC a decent fast thermometer was $100 minimum. Though I paid that mainly because thermometers at that price were possible to calibrate myself (had knobs to adjust depending on probe type), I'm not sure if you can calibrate the thermopen anyway If are prepared to wait 15sec, and I would if you can't calibrate the thermopen anyway, then nearly every HVAC shop sells a basic thermometer with the same type of tip. Looks like this:  Very ubiquitous in HVAC, tons of different brands printed on the front, every company sells them as their house brand thermometer. Been in the field for 20 years as the first digi therm, single AAA battery, pointed probe good fro stabbing into flexible ductwork to get an air temp. the probe and wand in on a 1m cable tucked away behind the battery cover, so you can pull the cable out or keep it tucked in there like the photo. Most HVAC wholesalers have their own branded and coloured version for about $30. the key is if they are the same shape and only have two visible buttons (the rest are under a slide panel), then it's most likely the same thing. I can't vouch for anything that looks any different at all though. Can't calibrate them though, so for work I hardly used them unless I needed to stab flexi duct for an air temp. There's better thermometers that I can calibrate that I used for pipe temp, and air temp when not needing to stab flexi duct. Try heatcraft and carrier wholesalers I guess as I don't know any other US refrig company. edit: Forget that, I just remembered you have to check the max temps a thermometer can read, I don't think the cheapies can go above 50C I have thermometers that can read cooking temp range easily and are instant, but they were about $100 anyway Double edit: I'm wrong, the CPS TM50 can read up to 260C according to airefrig http://airefrig.com.au/file/price_guide/2012_mar/494-501.pdf Like I said though, takes about 10sec for a reading so they are not instant. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 02:15 on Apr 19, 2013 |
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Apr 18, 2013 22:20
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elbow posted:General recommendations as well as specific lines/brands would be great. I'm in Australia, for reference. Get a cast iron lodge like Grav said, good to hold the heat while chucking in ingredients, ie temp not all over the place if the stove can't put out enough heat. I got a 12" lodge from kitchenwarehouse a few years ago. I just use it for steak and large cuts of meat, and flat breads. Kitchenwarehouse is out of stock, but peters has it. http://www.petersofkensington.com.au/Public/Lodge-Logic-Cast-Iron-Skillet-30cm.aspx For clad stainless like Grav mentioned, you'll struggle to find it in Au, I just bought a whole set of Cuisinart multiclad pots and pans from Amazon in the US and it arrived yesterday. It took 2 weeks to get here I think. Cost me $90 in shipping for a full large set sent to Aus, so a single cuisinart multiclad 10" frypan might cost you $20-30 postage. I'm not sure if you want a fry pan or saute pan, but either or. I use the stainless steel over the lodge for quick browning of cubed meat or strips, saute or sweating veg, and making a saucy one pot dish where I have to stir or turn a lot. As the lodge cast iron takes ages to heat up on the crap stove. I got the 12" fry pan and 51/2qt 12" saute pan, and they are massive. Depending on your stove capacityyou may want the 10" frypan or the 3qt saute pan, not sure if you can buy the 3qt saute pan separately, may only come in the 12pc set. If so, just get the 10" or 12" frypan Of course if you get the saute pan and not the fry pan, then you'll need a light non stick pan for eggs or anything else you need to turn/flip with low wide sides. Harris Scarfe always has cookware on sale, everything from cheap teflon non stick for $9 to hard anodized pans for $30. http://www.harrisscarfe.com.au/store/all-deals/kitchen/loose-cookware.html Edit: peters actually sell all clad now. http://www.petersofkensington.com.au/Public/FrypansSkillets.aspx#&&/wEXAQUOQ2F0ZWdvcnlTZWFyY2gFATCKDEmPN8Lmiqaxhn9Y9yrBa9WX+g== Might be worth buying one of those pans rather than buy the cuisinart from amazon for ~$70-90 and $20-30 shipping Fo3 fucked around with this message at 08:22 on Apr 19, 2013 |
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Apr 19, 2013 07:34
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What about using a tub filing cabinet on wheels and just putting the burner on top or modifying it? http://www.officemax.com/office-furniture/file-cabinets-accessories/mobile-files/product-prod2980381 Link to first one I've found, but there may be cheaper ones. Definitely will be second hand ones about.
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Apr 20, 2013 02:56
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Yeah, good move. Due to the weight of a 12" lodge CI pan, I wouldn't hesitate in suggesting the 10" all clad pan also from peters, as the extra cost in postage is $0. So if that suits, then that's the best buy and what I would say to anyone. But wanting a saute pan may cause me to start thinking of getting it from cuisinart at amazon though, edit: because I haven't found a saute pan here that is all/multi clad under $200 The 8" all clad frypan from peters is a bargain, the 10" frypan is worth the bit extra over personally importing a pan from the USA. Over all because prices here are by hype and brand, the all clad brand is a bargain if you can find it, because it's not celebrity chef endorsed. Prices are suprising really, on par with lesser brands, and sure to change once word gets out. edit: All clad 3qt saute from peters: http://www.petersofkensington.com.au/Public/All-Clad-Stainless-Steel-Saute-Pan-w-Lid-28L.aspx $180 though. It would cost about $120 for the cuisinart multiclad 5qt from amazon delivered. Bare in mind the 5qt is massive, so would be great for large stirfries to serve 4-6 people, only if you stove was good enough to deliver the heat though. Also if you can find the 3qt cuisinart on amazon, it's probably only $100 inc post. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 14:50 on Apr 22, 2013 |
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Apr 22, 2013 14:35
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I'm suprised it originally wasn't supposed to be a body filler rasp personally. I've heard it was supposed to be a file or something in the hand tool market, but never seen much use of rasps in wood working, when a planer or router could do the job. Files are more metal work, and rasps are more body filler, or "bog" work as far as I knew.
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Apr 27, 2013 16:30
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I think some factories use belt sander for their factory grind. In saying that, I got my ebay fake Chinese edge pro today, $30, and reprofiled the bevel of two cheap knifes I had quickly with the reportedly crap OEM stones. Used it on a mundial slicer and utility knife. The existing edge was about 22deg, so a fair bit of metal had to come off. I set them to 15 deg easily in less than 10 min each though, with the included 180, 400, 800 and 1500 stones. Still not where I want them, but a massive improvement in their use. Mainly I was just testing the machine and stones on two knives I don't care about. Going to buy and mount some stones from congress tools like I mentioned a couple of weeks ago in this thread. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 18:02 on May 2, 2013 |
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May 2, 2013 17:59
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A soundtrack happened to that post. I just saw iggy pop's "lust (zest) for life" happen. I had my trials and tribulations happen, seems a knife magnet bar from amazon costs $20 to ship alone, like added that to a bulk buy no matter what I ordered, so 86'ed that. Got dino's book, a 10" victorinox chefs knife, (just to see how I would get along with that compared to a 8"), I'm guessing bad as there's not much room here. Plus I got the victorinox boning knife and a fillet knife. Followed Chef De Cuisinart's tip and got a torijo gyuto, dropped the petty, and picked up instead a nakiri. The nakiri was close call, was looking at a usaba or kama-usaba. But I don't really have any experience at single edged knives and not a fan of the pointed tip veg knife or slicer type knife. I have the felix german made santoku anyway, I just went for the flattest blade nakiri style knife I could find. Edit: just got to source a decent wall magnet knife rack, most of them have two edges/rows of magnets, one's bad enough worrying about blade damage! Seems the earlier amazon link and what seems like global uses is similar to this one: http://www.everten.com.au/Avanti-Magforce-Magnetic-Rack.html So I'll guess I'll go for that. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 21:33 on May 3, 2013 |
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May 3, 2013 21:20
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Blender chat was on page 82/83. Everyone loves the vitamix, so about the cuisinart... 
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May 6, 2013 09:17
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Remy Marathe posted:Are there any risks with using a lower-end honing steel (Besides handle-based issues)? I ask because I see a Winco 12" hone for like $10, and others seem to run in the ballpark of $25-$30. Such a simple object I'm not really even sure what to compare. Lot's of people use ceramic hones, I think the deal is they're less likely to chip a blade? If you use the sides only, and not the middle V grove, it's probably OK. The V groove angle is probably not suited to kitchen knives. But running/pulling it along the left with the knife in a vertical/perpendicular to the ground way, and then the right side of the blade on the right side without touching the bottom, seems to me OK. Ceramic hones seem to have some fans, I've heard idahone mentioned, also to follow on from ikea chat in another thread, ikea sell a ceramic hone. http://www.ikea.com/au/en/catalog/products/10167004/ that some people down here are using after running their knife on stones. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 19:00 on May 6, 2013 |
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May 6, 2013 18:53
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PhazonLink posted:A few question even though it's too late to be delivered by Mom's Day. What is more useful a food processor or stand mixer? What are the recs for both? Also, what are the recs for a hand/stick blenders and hand mixers? Click this: 
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May 10, 2013 05:55
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QuarkJets posted:Shopping for blenders on Amazon is literally the worst. I've never seen so many products that seem to have big clusters of 1-star reviews that are all along the lines of "dead in 3 months" or "dead in 6 months" or "sucks at everything, can't chop ice" I've got the Breville, and someone else on page 82 or something said they have too. It's actually cheaper here ($160) as Breville is Australian. I've had no problem with mine, I use it for oat/milk/ice/frozen banana/dash of cinnamon and honey smoothies for breakfast. It does the job perfectly for me. From some bad reviews I saw, there seems to be some from serious green leaf smoothie makers, saying it wasn't as good as a vitamix in doing that, so anyone that wants thick, thick, with no liquid added smoothies, or green leafy ones, and that they are someone who takes smoothies seriously, or any "raw food" type people should just get a vitamix as that is important enough for their specific needs to spend the extra. I didn't even look into a Vitamix as they retail at $900 here and not worth importing due to voltage/frequency power supply differences. On a second note, you mentioned you want to make hummus. That's a bad idea, as this blender like some other complaints mentioned, the blade base in not removable. So it would be hard to get all the stuff out and clean solids out from under the blade without a bottle brush. I actually use my philips food processor for hummus. Comes with a mini blender (good for making your own tahini), comes with a blender (with removable blade so I use that for pureeing veg, eg for baby food as it's easier to scrape food out and clean semi solids, but it's nowhere near a smoothie blender standards for ice etc - That's what I use the Breville blender for), and the food processor bowl is something I'd make hummus in. http://www.philips.com.au/c/Food-Preparation/viva-collection-750-w-compact-3-in-1-setup-2.1-l-bowl-hr7762_90/prd/ So I'd suggest if you don't want to spend $500 on a vitamix (or buy s/h), you get two different dedicated products like I did, or make do with a ninja. Edit: ninja master prep type thing I meant, not a ninja plain table top blender. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 09:44 on May 13, 2013 |
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May 13, 2013 09:26
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Everyone I know that dries a serious amount of chillies uses the excalibur dehydrator.
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May 21, 2013 11:24
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Good news everybody. There's a new West Elm has a good price for a Lodge 10" CI skillet, $29 http://www.westelm.com.au/Lodge-Cast-Iron-Skillet-ndash-10-rdquo.html Edit: W-S.com.au sucks, $70 for the same thing even though the websites are affiliated. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 10:15 on May 23, 2013 |
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May 23, 2013 10:08
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I don't know about the kapoosh. You could see if the knives fit your existing knife block and banish the old knives to a draw, you could get a saya (Japanese wooden sheath), you could get a magnetic knife rack for them, you could use a jar full or rice/cornmeal for them. As far as maintenance accessories though, look into a ceramic hone. Idahone or MAC are the main ones. The MAC ones that CKtG sell are black, not just for the not 'staining and going grey' pretty factor that a lot of white ceramic hone owner whine about, but the MAC blacks have a steel rod inside to prevent them breaking if they are dropped, so they are worth it for more than aesthetics. I have a MAC white though, which they don't list there, but it was ~$30 just like the idahones were priced at there. But idahones seem OK, they just aren't sold in Au so I've never seen one
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May 29, 2013 15:21
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deimos posted:
eg: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Hot-Knif...=item3cd21082c5 Both the basic one and their upgraded one. The stones they supply aren't too good, but many good stones available too, from China at a higher price than the whole kit. Eg the good stones go for more than the faker edge pro kit: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Sharpeni...=item2a283f2334 Or can order from a proper US sharpening stone supplier bare stones cut to about the edge pro width/length, eg from congress tools in the US (but have to make your own backing plate for them to suit the edge pro, faker edge pro) Plus edge pro makers made an updated version with a huge single suction cup mount, they are available in faker form on ebay from china too if you search.
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Jun 6, 2013 18:04
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Man (some) uses right tool for the job?
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Jun 6, 2013 18:09
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angor posted:Looking for two recommendations. Just buy the Cuisinart MCP-12 MultiClad Pro cookware set from amazon USA for about $270. http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-MCP...t+multiclad+pro I didn't buy that set, bought individually pieces I wanted and had no problems getting them to Australia, (larger fry pan, larger stockpot, larger saute, and the 2 saucepans) As far as food processor vs stick blender, stick blenders are better for blending hot stuff while still in it's pot. So good for soups and purees. Food processors are good for slicing and combining ingredients. proper blenders are better to deal with smoothies, ice, uncooked ingredients. Choose which you want most of I guess. All are handy in their own ways. I wouldn't go without a stick blender, but I wouldn't buy one that comes with attachments and blades, fittings and bowls that tries to be a food processor either. I've got a 15 year old stick blender (black and decker "slender blender"), a cheap food processor (philips), and a fancy blender for smoothies/ice (breville 605) Read the first page of this thread, and maybe the last 20-10 pages or so as these are the most popular questions. Edit: Getting a vitamix outside of the USA is not economical feasible. It's like $900, curse your stupid 110VAC/60hz! Fo3 fucked around with this message at 19:37 on Jun 24, 2013 |
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Jun 24, 2013 19:32
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Nope, anything above 1500 for a kitchen knife is overkill. You're just polishing the edge past that grit. You could do without any stones above 1000 grit and just strop, or use a 1200-2000 grit hone. Higher grits have their purpose, like you wouldn't shave with anything not sharpened with 6000 grit, but they don't hold their edge any longer though either. edit; How long a blade keeps it's edge is all to do with the steel, the bevel, the edge (concave, multi bevel etc), and how it's used, not the stone grit it was sharpened on. Fo3 fucked around with this message at 22:04 on Jun 24, 2013 |
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Jun 24, 2013 21:56
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deimos posted:Oh god should I get a CCK or a Nakiri? Any other goons that don't want to get into sharpening and want a stainless steel knife, get the tojiro dp nakiri. I have one and it's a great vegetable knife that's low maintenance.
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Jun 27, 2013 04:27
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