The Something Offal kitchen equipment thread

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Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Re: KitchenAid plastic gears.

KitchenAid uses plastic gears in the most likely to jam areas so you only break a gear, not the whole mixer. Older models used softer lead gears, and the pro models do as well. Even Hobart, who we all recognize as the end all be all of commercial kitchen equipment, uses lead gears to prevent motor burnout. Replacing a few gears costs :10bux:

, or in the case of a Hobart $200, but that's so much better than a new KitchenAid($3-600) or a new Hobart($15-50k).

# ¿ Nov 8, 2015 17:35

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 13:20

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Fo3 posted:

Then you get chilli in everything.

I'm failing to see the problem.

# ¿ Nov 8, 2015 17:36

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

And I know this a triple post, but, as far as restaurant pans we use cheap single ply aluminum, the highest end Vollrath nonstick, and a lot of cast iron or carbon steel.

# ¿ Nov 8, 2015 17:39

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

No, you want to find one of these.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2015 16:21

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Get a Vollrath. You can never go wrong with commercial quality kitchen equipment.

# ¿ Nov 14, 2015 02:07

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

San Jamar boards are good. They last 2-3 years in a commercial kitchen, and are fairly cheap. I(and the health dept) also like the grips on the board, no need for a wet towel to anchor it.

# ¿ Nov 16, 2015 16:09

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

You could just brine your drat turkey, cook it at 225F for 3-4 hours, and turn on the broiler to crisp the skin. Or go ahead and do fidgety nonsense, granted spatchcocking AND brining is the proper way to go.

# ¿ Nov 25, 2015 02:00

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Swagger Dagger posted:

Dry brine it!

http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/11/the-food-lab-the-truth-about-brining-turkey-thanksgiving.html

That is a stupid article. Nobody brines with just salt. You brine with aromatics, beer, sugar, molasses, etc. You want your turkey to taste amazing? Wet brine it in Guinness, 5% salt, pickling spice, and a bit of brown sugar.

You want a lovely moist turkey? Just use a 5% salt solution.

# ¿ Nov 25, 2015 02:13

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

DARPA Dad posted:

A dry brine isn't a "solution" at all. It's basically just a rub-down with salt, pepper and whatever other spices you want followed by a nice long rest in the fridge

Please explain to me how you'll get the flavor of dry juniper into a turkey with just salt, thanks.

I'f you'd read the article, his "brine" was JUST salt. No aromatics, citrus, spices, etc. That's loving stupid. Nobody brines with JUST salt.

e: and just so we're clear, he only used a 5% salt BRINE solution. Dry brine is a stupid term, you're just salting it prior to cooking.

# ¿ Nov 25, 2015 04:27

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

SubG posted:

Just apply non-salt flavourings as a rub/mop before cooking. Adding them to the brine usually won't hurt, but you're not actually accomplishing anything apart from covering the surface with them anyway.

That isn't really how that works, but okay. Always boil, and chill your brine. If I coat things in peppercorn and salt before cooking, they won't taste like pepper, dude.

# ¿ Nov 25, 2015 05:15

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Carbon steel pans are the correct answer to what should I cook everything in.

# ¿ Nov 29, 2015 20:02

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Use a 1 or 2oz ladle with a chinois, it's much faster. And no, a fine mesh food mill does not exist afaik.

# ¿ Dec 15, 2015 14:25

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Al2001 posted:

I'm looking for a 3-4" kitchen knife for my sister for Christmas. She specifically requested that size (so that's a paring knife I suppose?) and she'd prefer a wooden handle for some reason. Any recommendations? I'm looking to spend like £30ish (~$45.)

Tojiro DP petty, 120mm or 150mm for good performance and low maintenance, Tojiro shirogami petty in 150mm for best performance, but it needs a little more care, as it can rust.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2015 02:25

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

They'll both smooth out over time, I'd go with the Imusa.

# ¿ Dec 17, 2015 22:28

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Dr. Gitmo Moneyson posted:

Is that a "no" on the vertical smokers?

Got a price range? These are pretty good, otherwise, you could build a terracotta smoker for ~60bux.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2015 03:24

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:

We really should get a mod to close the other thread if this is now the official one.

Anyway...

Anyone have a rec for a food dehydrator? I want to make some jerky. I do not want to use a bunch of air filters and a box fan.

Got my dad this one last year. Has a no heat setting, which is good for proper beef jerky.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2015 19:14

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

At work I buy everything through Southern Style Spices. Think they have a website, and pretty sure they do home delivery.

# ¿ Dec 29, 2015 05:00

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Get a commercial cutter

Yeah, it's $55, but all those cheap plastic things on amazon will just break after a few months. Your other option would be a good mandoline, but that's even more expensive.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2016 13:21

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Mr. Wookums posted:

Going to replace my flatware, glasses and dishes. Any suggestions before I look for something pretty?

http://www.corbyhall.com/

If you can afford it.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2016 23:35

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Steve Yun posted:

After some deliberation I think I'll just get a bron mandoline instead

That is a perfectly adequate solution.

# ¿ Jan 9, 2016 01:23

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Steve Yun posted:

Get a kitchen aid. Unless you're going to make bread once a week in which case get the bosch universal mixer.

If you're making bread very often, I'd recommend a Hobart. Hobart's drat near never break, and when they do, the price is reasonable.

# ¿ Jan 10, 2016 02:49

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Just get a pro model kitchenaid, they're the same as the commercial model. Don't get an Artisan.

# ¿ Jan 10, 2016 16:53

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

mindphlux posted:

my MAC knives I continually enjoy, I have a shun paring knife that I feel fits the bill better than any wusthof or whatever other paring knife I've used - I have some cheap chinese cleavers which I'm sure I'd still love 700% more than a CCK cleaver if I ever were to spend the money.

Conversely, I've used many cheap chinese cleavers, and prefer my CCK. That said, I bought my CCK back when they were still cheap at 30bux.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2016 14:02

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

VelociBacon posted:

It wouldn't be a problem but holy poo poo this whole gimmicky one-pot pasta thing needs to go away already. I'm not sure if my opinion is going to be unpopular here but there is no reason to lose precise control over the cooking of the pasta (by having it in it's own pot) just to have it in the same container as the other ingredients. If you want to flavor your pasta you can do that with stock and still get perfect pasta when you rehydrate it at the end with the sauce.

Nothing wrong with single pan pasta. Didn't watch the vid, and maybe they did it wrong, but the stuff you 'know' about pasta is probably wrong anyways.

# ¿ Apr 26, 2016 16:31

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

In this order: Matfer, Vollrath, Lodge.

# ¿ May 19, 2016 02:25

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Kitchenaid whip or paddle

# ¿ Jun 19, 2016 02:19

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

guppy posted:

If anyone is sale-watching for a KitchenAid stand mixer, if you have Amazon Prime, it looks like the 6-quart pro bowl lift model is $249 on Amazon today only as part of Prime Day.

EDIT: It looks like they're doing that dumb flash deal thing so it may not be all day -- get on it fast if you want it.

This also seems like a pretty good deal on a 6qt pressure cooker. It can hit 15PSI, which I understand is pretty desirable for quick stock making.

# ¿ Jul 12, 2016 14:32

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

fuckwolf posted:

Anyone have any experience with the reconditioned baking steels? They're basically factory seconds. The only thing that would worry me is if they don't lie flat.

https://shop.bakingsteel.com/collections/griddles/products/certified-reconditioned-steels

They'll probably be flat, just have random pock marks and the like.

# ¿ Jul 23, 2016 21:19

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Horse Clocks posted:

More likely Costco wanted its wholesale price to be lower than the standard model. They're probably more quiet due to different (and probably not as hard wearing) plastics gearbox.

No, they're the same as Commerical models. Lead gears that strip instead of destroying the motor.

Ask me about that time I found out Hobart manufactures their floor mixers with lead gears, and no you can't mix 50lbs of chesnut cookie dough in there.

# ¿ Aug 3, 2016 15:35

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Squashy Nipples posted:

Tell me.

I'm trying to imagine what that might sound like, and I'm failing.

Really loud crack, like stone breaking, paddle stopped moving, and it just sounded like someone grinding sand.

Fully replacing the gearbox cost $800. A new motor would have been impossible, as I've got one of the old, old models that lack any safety features, i.e., the really good ones. So I would have ended up buying a new Hobart if the motor had fried.

This is a 60qt bowl, I can only imagine what the 140qt would sound like.

# ¿ Aug 3, 2016 16:18

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Croatoan posted:

So only the artisan ones have the stupid nylon and plastic gears? I thought even the pro uses the nylon ones.

There was a point where the Pro was using plastic gears, I think that was about 10 years ago? My Pro 500, which is about 7 years old, uses the soft steel/lead gears.

Artisans are the trash mixers though, if you'd be using it remotely often, expect stripped gears.

e: I had to replace this piece last year, which I'd say is right in line with commercial models. If you mix a lot of pizza dough and the like, it will have an effect on gear life.

Chef De Cuisinart fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Aug 3, 2016

# ¿ Aug 3, 2016 16:44

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

mindphlux posted:

holy poo poo

the artisan is already too fuckin small and underpowered for a mixer. we have one and I have stripped 3 gears on it, somehow broken the plastic bits that cover the speed knobs, and also somehow made it so that the head-lock comes undone after 2-3 minutes of use. motherfucker sits there bouncing around on the counter every time I use it. and I definitely don't use ours more than once a week, for sure.

I guess some people might just want a thing in their kitchen that makes it look like they cook or something, and be ok with paying $300 bucks for the privilege...

Why haven't you replaced that thing with a Pro series?

The Artisan is literal trash, no offense, and I don't really know why it exists. I blame Hobart for selling the KitchenAid brand.

To be fair, KitchenAid Commercial and Pro are NSF rated, so you should be good to go, and be able to treat them like tools, not a kitchen decoration/appliance.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2016 15:35

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Why you all don't cook your bacon in the oven baffles me.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2016 20:24

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Thoht posted:

I'm not going to heat my oven up just to cook a couple pieces of loving bacon.

You cook the whole package, and reheat in a pan later. You also get perfect bacon every time.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2016 23:00

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

The new WiFi and Bluetooth Anova is on Amazon for $169 right now.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2016 02:39

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Flaggy posted:

My googling must be off, I can't find the attachment for a bowl with a bowl lift. I have the bowl lift and would kill for an attachment that helps add ingredients. Any help?

Pour shield is what you're thinking of. Make sure you find the right one for your model KitchenAid.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2016 23:32

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Harveygod posted:

My wife does a lot of cake/cupcake decorating (not really professional, more for family/friends but sometimes gets some money for it). She has some interest in getting an airbrush.

She saw this one for $64 that interested her. I literally don't know anything about kitchen equipment, but the "Cake Boss" branding makes me think it sucks. I saw another cheap one ($90) from "Tyrellex".

Any thoughts? I suspect that for under $100 she won't get a great one, but she won't use it very often anyway.

This Master Pro is good. Bakery used one at my old hotel.

Same brand, cheaper. Doesn't have all the bells and whistles. If you're gonna airbrush cakes, you want all the bells and whistles.

e: The Cake Boss guy uses a $900 Iwata model, no way he'd use his own poo poo :V

# ¿ Oct 23, 2016 21:56

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

bartlebee posted:

My GIRLFRIEND has gotten a hard-on for the soups we've been cooking recently and wants to invest in a stick/immersion blender. She's looking at this model: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G3LJB14/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_e47eyb96QKXRW

Any critiques on what to look for or if this one's any good? The only thing I remember y'all talking about was making sure the motor was any good so that it didn't burn out. The link in the OP is dead, but I'm assuming it's this one. https://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-CSB-75BC-Blender-Brushed-Chrome/dp/B00ARQVM5O

Please advise, goons; the future of my relationship hangs on the integrity of my tomato basil soup!!!!!

Thanks in advance.

Get the cuisinart. They usually last 2-3 years, and survive in a commercial kitchen for a year or so. At $30-40, they're one of the best pieces of "disposable" equipment I own.

# ¿ Oct 29, 2016 05:16

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Amazon deal today is a solid set of saucepans, sautee pans, and a stock pot for $200. All tri-ply too. http://amzn.to/2fyXxbx

# ¿ Nov 26, 2016 16:24

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 13:20

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Commercial models usually have replaceable irons, which is cheaper in the long run.

# ¿ Nov 27, 2016 01:33

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