I've been attempting to teach myself the Katsuramaki -- which is essentially rotary peeling. The technique is best illustrated by this video...
I've been able to get the sheets of daikon radish down, but they're not as thin, or as evenly cut as they could be. But, I've only practiced this so far on 4 radishes, and getting sheets now is probably good enough progress for now.
It looks dangerous, but really, the movement of the knife should just be up and down. The left controls the movement of the radish toward the knife, and the right thumb is in charge of guiding the daikon roll around the knife. The right index finger controls the angle. And the secret is to move slowly...
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
My Obsession
I own a lot of kitchen knives. Here's some pictures of them.
These are my primary go-to knives. I also have three traditional Japanese knives, which I bought as a box set. And then I have a variety of utility knives. Let's go through them all.
This is my Asai wa-gyuto. It's a high-carbon stainless steel blade layered between etched nickel Damascus. It's surprisingly thin and light for its size, and its one of my favorites. It was a little pricey, so I'm still not confident trying to sharpen it. However, it holds its edge very well, so that hasn't been much of a concern.
Gyuto roughly translates to "cow-sword," and this knife excels as a general chef's knife -- meats and veggies. It has a French pattern, which basically means the knife doesn't have as much of a belly. (So, it's more suited to a slicing motion, than a rocking motion.) The edge is rather thin, so it is not suitable for things with bones. Additionally, I'm not a fan of roughly chopping things with this blade -- I have a tiny chip (which is easy to fix, given a competent sharpener) near the tip where a rogue rosemary stem got in the way.
This is my Tojiro-DP honesuki. It's a chicken boning knife -- basically designed to rip a chicken to pieces. It's stainless steel, and it was fairly cheap for a Japanese knife. I just recently got this one, so I look forward to using it more.
This is my French chef knife -- Thiers-Issard Nogent Sabatier. It was made by Thiers-Issard early this century, where at some point it was hidden so it wouldn't be turned into ammunition during WWII. This is the 10" version, and I may actually get the 12" at some point. It's made out of carbon steel, which generally means it has superior edge holding abilities to most stainless steels. The downside however is that it can discolor and rust if not constantly wiped down. Carbon steel also tends to be easier to sharpen.
European steels tend to be "softer" and respond better to steeling to reset edges. Since the steel is a little softer, they also tend to hold up to more abuse without chipping. But they do have to sharpened way more often...
This is my go-to knife to use when I have to do things that might be a bit too abusive for my Japanese knives -- such as ripping a lobster open.
This is my set of single bevel traditional Hon Kasumi Japanese knives. All three are made out of white carbon, so discoloration and rust are a concern when using them. The top one is a yanagi-ba, which is generally used to slice fish fillets. The second is used for the cutting of vegetables. The third is a knife used to fillet fish. I bought these as a box set, so they came together.
Traditional Japanese knives tend to be highly specialized. The single bevels allow them to obtain incredibly sharp edges -- but the downside is that these edges can easily chip or break. But it takes an incredibly sharp instrument to get paper thin slices of fish that you can read through...
I use these a fair amount, and I think over time, I will probably slowly upgrade. Blue steel is considered better than white steel, but it's a lot more expensive. And I would prefer a longer yanagi-ba. But so far, I'm happy with the performance of these knives, and this set was a good introduction.
This is my Masamoto carbon steel gyuto. This is probably the sharpest, most bad-ass of the knives I own, and one of my favorites. It's also an easy one to sharpen. When a vegetable wrongs me and my family, this is the kitchen katana used to render it into pieces.
This is my Messermeister. It's a stainless German knife, but unlike most German knives, it has a 15 degree edge instead of a 20 degree edge. This is probably my favorite for chopping herbs and garlic. I bought this about the same time as I bought my Asai, and used them equally as much, and this one has a much duller edge. It's easy enough to resharpen, and I'd recommend Messermeister to most people who don't want to fuss too much about their knives.
This is my Migaki Oishi petty. It's a utility knife, best suited to paring and peeling. It's a carbon steel blade wedged between two layers of stainless steel. I really dig the handle on this knife, and I may acquire its bigger brother one of these days.
It's also probably one of the sharpest knives I've used, right out of the box.
This is my Kikuichi Elite Carbon sujihiki. It's a carbon steel slicer that is my second-favorite knife. It was made a family that traditionally made swords for over 700 years. It's razor sharp, and pretty easy to sharpen. In fact, here's a video of someone sharpening one:
And finally, these are my utility knives. On the top is a kershaw fish slicer/gutter. The next is a Henckels cleaver. And finally, there's a Shun Nakiri, which is a vegetable cleaver.
These are my primary go-to knives. I also have three traditional Japanese knives, which I bought as a box set. And then I have a variety of utility knives. Let's go through them all.
This is my Asai wa-gyuto. It's a high-carbon stainless steel blade layered between etched nickel Damascus. It's surprisingly thin and light for its size, and its one of my favorites. It was a little pricey, so I'm still not confident trying to sharpen it. However, it holds its edge very well, so that hasn't been much of a concern.
Gyuto roughly translates to "cow-sword," and this knife excels as a general chef's knife -- meats and veggies. It has a French pattern, which basically means the knife doesn't have as much of a belly. (So, it's more suited to a slicing motion, than a rocking motion.) The edge is rather thin, so it is not suitable for things with bones. Additionally, I'm not a fan of roughly chopping things with this blade -- I have a tiny chip (which is easy to fix, given a competent sharpener) near the tip where a rogue rosemary stem got in the way.
This is my Tojiro-DP honesuki. It's a chicken boning knife -- basically designed to rip a chicken to pieces. It's stainless steel, and it was fairly cheap for a Japanese knife. I just recently got this one, so I look forward to using it more.
This is my French chef knife -- Thiers-Issard Nogent Sabatier. It was made by Thiers-Issard early this century, where at some point it was hidden so it wouldn't be turned into ammunition during WWII. This is the 10" version, and I may actually get the 12" at some point. It's made out of carbon steel, which generally means it has superior edge holding abilities to most stainless steels. The downside however is that it can discolor and rust if not constantly wiped down. Carbon steel also tends to be easier to sharpen.
European steels tend to be "softer" and respond better to steeling to reset edges. Since the steel is a little softer, they also tend to hold up to more abuse without chipping. But they do have to sharpened way more often...
This is my go-to knife to use when I have to do things that might be a bit too abusive for my Japanese knives -- such as ripping a lobster open.
This is my set of single bevel traditional Hon Kasumi Japanese knives. All three are made out of white carbon, so discoloration and rust are a concern when using them. The top one is a yanagi-ba, which is generally used to slice fish fillets. The second is used for the cutting of vegetables. The third is a knife used to fillet fish. I bought these as a box set, so they came together.
Traditional Japanese knives tend to be highly specialized. The single bevels allow them to obtain incredibly sharp edges -- but the downside is that these edges can easily chip or break. But it takes an incredibly sharp instrument to get paper thin slices of fish that you can read through...
I use these a fair amount, and I think over time, I will probably slowly upgrade. Blue steel is considered better than white steel, but it's a lot more expensive. And I would prefer a longer yanagi-ba. But so far, I'm happy with the performance of these knives, and this set was a good introduction.
This is my Masamoto carbon steel gyuto. This is probably the sharpest, most bad-ass of the knives I own, and one of my favorites. It's also an easy one to sharpen. When a vegetable wrongs me and my family, this is the kitchen katana used to render it into pieces.
This is my Messermeister. It's a stainless German knife, but unlike most German knives, it has a 15 degree edge instead of a 20 degree edge. This is probably my favorite for chopping herbs and garlic. I bought this about the same time as I bought my Asai, and used them equally as much, and this one has a much duller edge. It's easy enough to resharpen, and I'd recommend Messermeister to most people who don't want to fuss too much about their knives.
This is my Migaki Oishi petty. It's a utility knife, best suited to paring and peeling. It's a carbon steel blade wedged between two layers of stainless steel. I really dig the handle on this knife, and I may acquire its bigger brother one of these days.
It's also probably one of the sharpest knives I've used, right out of the box.
This is my Kikuichi Elite Carbon sujihiki. It's a carbon steel slicer that is my second-favorite knife. It was made a family that traditionally made swords for over 700 years. It's razor sharp, and pretty easy to sharpen. In fact, here's a video of someone sharpening one:
And finally, these are my utility knives. On the top is a kershaw fish slicer/gutter. The next is a Henckels cleaver. And finally, there's a Shun Nakiri, which is a vegetable cleaver.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Pork Belly
I brined a slab of pork belly overnight in the following brine solution:
4 cups water
50g kosher salt
50g dark brown sugar
4 bay leaves
.5g thyme
.5g ginger powder
After rinsing and drying, I vacuum sealed the slab of pork belly with maple syrup (from Michigan!) and duck fat. It was then cooked at 182F for 10 hours.
After ten hours, the pork belly was taken out, the fat side scored, and then placed onto a cast iron pan and cooked for about 12 minutes on the fatty side to crisp it up.
The pork belly was also served with some apples. For the apples, I first created a syrup of sauvignon blanc by taking 25g sauvignon blanc, 25g sugar, 25g water and boiling it in a sauce pan. Stirring to make sure the sugar was dissolved, I placed the syrup into a steel bowl over ice, and cooled it. Using a melon baller, I pulled apple balls, and placed it into the cool syrup. The entire batch went into a bag, and it was cooked sous vide at 185F for 30 minutes.
4 cups water
50g kosher salt
50g dark brown sugar
4 bay leaves
.5g thyme
.5g ginger powder
After rinsing and drying, I vacuum sealed the slab of pork belly with maple syrup (from Michigan!) and duck fat. It was then cooked at 182F for 10 hours.
After ten hours, the pork belly was taken out, the fat side scored, and then placed onto a cast iron pan and cooked for about 12 minutes on the fatty side to crisp it up.
The pork belly was also served with some apples. For the apples, I first created a syrup of sauvignon blanc by taking 25g sauvignon blanc, 25g sugar, 25g water and boiling it in a sauce pan. Stirring to make sure the sugar was dissolved, I placed the syrup into a steel bowl over ice, and cooled it. Using a melon baller, I pulled apple balls, and placed it into the cool syrup. The entire batch went into a bag, and it was cooked sous vide at 185F for 30 minutes.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Basic Blood Orange Glaze over Chicken
This is a super simple glaze that I've used for poultry dishes that I like. Serves two.
1) Two blood oranges
2) 1.5 tbsp sugar
3) Some cooked chicken. In this case, I used two chicken breasts approx 2.5cm thick, cooked sous vide at 145F for 1 hour, each having a spice rub.
Halve the oranges and sqeeze as much juice as you can into a sauce pot. I like to get a few little chunks of the pulp in as I do this to give the sauce some sort of texture.
Turn on the heat, and bring to a boil. As it's warming, add in the sugar, and stir.
After this point, you basically want to simmer it until it's almost evaporated. It'll take about 30 minutes or so, but when it starts to thicken, you'll want to stir it around.
And, that's it. The sauce will be quite sweet and tangy. You can try throwing in a tbsp or so of cognac when the sauce starts to thicken to give it another dimension. Since it's so sweet, it's best used in moderation. You can also probably substitute any citrus fruit, and have this recipe essentially work.
Let the sauce cool a bit, plate the chicken, and spoon the sauce over or under.
Sous Vide
I first heard of sous vide like most people, while watching Top Chef, and seeing contestants vacuum pack food and stick it inside a water bath, with the temperature controlled by a thermal immersion circulator. Being a total gadget geek, I thought that was cool as can be!
For those not in the know, the wikipedia entry for sous vide states,
"French for "under vacuum",[1] is a method of cooking that is intended to maintain the integrity of ingredients by heating them for an extended period at relatively low temperatures. Food is cooked for a long time, sometimes well over 24 hours. Unlike cooking in a slow cooker, sous-vide cooking uses airtight plastic bags placed in hot water well below boiling point (usually around 60°C or 140°F)."
So, I did a lot of research, and decided to pick up an Ary Vacmaster VP-210 chamber vacuum sealer and a Polyscience 7306c. Lots of people get buy using Tilia Foodsaver vacuum sealers and other cheaper solutions to monitor the temperature of the water bath, but I decided I wanted to go in all the way. (Food savers have an annoyingly high defect rate, poor sealing of bags, and they don't handle liquids well.)
In the past week, I've made fish, eggs, chicken, and beef. All of my attempts have yielded a protein that was amazingly well cooked. My girlfriend, who was at first skeptical of me filling the kitchen with laboratory equipment, is now a convert.
All this said, this technique isn't for everyone. There are some legitimate food safety issues to consider regarding safe holding times, how long and how hot to cook things at, which are magnified by the fact you're cooking in a vacuum -- which is a ripe breeding ground for bugs like botulism.
For those interested, I highly recommend these resources,
Thomas Keller's Under Pressure
A Practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking
Saturday, December 12, 2009
The beginning
Hello world. I'm an amateur home cook who occasionally stumbles upon awesome recipes and manages to occasionally make something unique, pretty, and most importantly -- tasty. As a foodie who lives in Seattle, is a pretty decent photographer, and has more kitchen gadgets than is sane -- I decided to start this blog.
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