Kitchen Essentials
The Gastrologica Podcast has been running periodic segments on kitchen essentials. Although most of you are familiar with the items we have, and will, discuss, Dan took some pictures so you could see what some of the implements of destruction and refinement look like. Yes, we've all seen a chef knife, but these will give you an idea about what shape and size you might consider.
This is an example of an 8" vs. 10" chef knife. Note how much extra reach you get with the 10". It is the defining factor between Michael Myers and Jack the Ripper. Remember these are working kitchen implements, they get dirty and need to be cleaned regularly. This is an example of just before cleaning.
Look at this:
This lovely holdover from the French Revolution is a mandoline. It is an indispensible instrument to effect specialized, uniform cuts to your vegetables. It can slice thinner than any knife you manually wield, and it can produce the egnimatic waffle cut fries that have baffled consumers for eons. It is also an incredibly dangerous utensil in the hands of a careless schlamiel. One wrong move and you'll be serving your guests a skin chip. This thing takes no prisoners, but it takes a lot of fingertips.
You know what these are, do you know how to use one properly?
We discussed the point of a steel is not to create a new edge on your knife, it is used to preserve the edge that a knife-sharpener made. These are two types of steels, the regular and the diamond. The diamond is a flat edge, and the cross section looks like an almond.
You know what's cool? You do not need to steel your knife with the blazing speed of Robot Ninja. Hold the blade against the steel at a 45 degree angle, and pull back toward you as you slide the knife down the pole. Slowly. No need to get frantic. Just make sure you sharpen one edge the same amount as the other.
It looks like a stirrup, it peels like a Robot Ninja. We both agreed we prefer the traditional peeler, but this is the ergonomic preference of many chefs. This is great for long strokes that cut a wide, precise swath. The older one is good for rapid fire, automatic, NRA approved slicing, that piles potato peels like eagle's nests.
Tongs are tongs, just make sure you get a pair that have a good locking mechanism.
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This is an example of an 8" vs. 10" chef knife. Note how much extra reach you get with the 10". It is the defining factor between Michael Myers and Jack the Ripper. Remember these are working kitchen implements, they get dirty and need to be cleaned regularly. This is an example of just before cleaning.
Look at this:
This lovely holdover from the French Revolution is a mandoline. It is an indispensible instrument to effect specialized, uniform cuts to your vegetables. It can slice thinner than any knife you manually wield, and it can produce the egnimatic waffle cut fries that have baffled consumers for eons. It is also an incredibly dangerous utensil in the hands of a careless schlamiel. One wrong move and you'll be serving your guests a skin chip. This thing takes no prisoners, but it takes a lot of fingertips.
You know what these are, do you know how to use one properly?
We discussed the point of a steel is not to create a new edge on your knife, it is used to preserve the edge that a knife-sharpener made. These are two types of steels, the regular and the diamond. The diamond is a flat edge, and the cross section looks like an almond.
You know what's cool? You do not need to steel your knife with the blazing speed of Robot Ninja. Hold the blade against the steel at a 45 degree angle, and pull back toward you as you slide the knife down the pole. Slowly. No need to get frantic. Just make sure you sharpen one edge the same amount as the other.
It looks like a stirrup, it peels like a Robot Ninja. We both agreed we prefer the traditional peeler, but this is the ergonomic preference of many chefs. This is great for long strokes that cut a wide, precise swath. The older one is good for rapid fire, automatic, NRA approved slicing, that piles potato peels like eagle's nests.
Tongs are tongs, just make sure you get a pair that have a good locking mechanism.
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