what's cooking? part 5: 2017-2027

Chefs knife 10” no more or less

a good quality nonstick frying pan is imo important for omelets frittatas etc

we have a bunch of oxo measuring cups & they are great and have lasted 10+ years without replacement
also like pryex

Too short for me but I think it comes down to how tall you are relative to the countertop

I have made some very good omelettes in a stainless steel pan lately. I consider the fact that this requires like a tablespoon of butter to be a feature not a bug.

wood spoons otm for stirring/sauteing. also otm that you need silicone spatulas for scraping every last bit out of a bowl or container.

also need a non-coated wok, shovel, and spider. more important to me than a cast-iron skillet these days.

I measured my chef's knife blade and it was 7.5". It works well for me. I think a 10" blade would start to be unwieldy for my preferences.

The 10" cast iron skillet I got from my sister for my 21st birthday has been in daily use for four decades. Now I could not live without it. The other kitchen item I swear by is a large (8 qt.?) sturdy stainless steel stock pot with a thick aluminum base and a steel (not glass!) lid. It gets used constantly.

btw, I am not a fan of glass lids on saucepans or pots. I've dropped one and shattered it and that was more than enough to convince me against them.

transparency is kind of useless after things get simmering, but the thermal conductivities are very different. I wonder if that can matter in some applications.

Nonstick frying pan: I keep ONE inexpensive one at a time, for eggs only, never touch it with anything except a silicone spatula, and cover it with an old potholder when I put it away. No one else is allowed to use it. Usually lasts at least a few years before it gets too scratched.

Whisk: Yes. You might think a fork is just as good until you're trying to combine something wet with something really powdery and it clumps up. You need a whisk.

uncoated wok & shovel otm
i dont fry in mine but our spider fell apart years ago anyway

NB I didn’t mean to list a minimally complete kitchen just my material preferences for some things. Can’t imagine a whiskless existence.

I admire yr approach to the nonstick pan IO, v sensible

Our landlord replaced our stove a few months ago; it’s a nice Samsung job with a powerful burner which came with an accompanying wok holder. So I own a wok now, have used it a few times, it’s a blast. It’s starting to blacken nicely.

nice, a round one that you use with the ring? I looked for a cheap one, but the majority are flat bottom.

I had plastic measuring cups until I left the 1 cupper in a soup pot and turned the burner on. Now my largest measuring cup is the 1/2 C. Stainless steel ones otm.

Another up-side: You can heat things in metal ones over the gas flame if you need to melt butter or infuse oil quickly.

^^^person I could cook with

I really love my microplan and dowel rolling pin and glass lasagna size pan that I use for a lot of things. All the rest above is pretty spot on. The last time I moved I fit almost all my utensils in a bottle bag and all the cookware in 2 boxes. I kind of want one of those deep soup pots though.

I make eggs every morning so a non-stick pan is a must.

i love non-stick pans. i just get really cheap ones and then replace when they are inevitably done.

I bought a bunch of paper last year to do fish en papillote but I can't seem to make myself do it.

Yeah found a round-bottom wok at Uwajimaya here in Seattle.

damn, that place looks amazing

i used a carbon steel 12" skillet at my friend's house the other day and i'm totally smitten. definitely gonna splurge on one in a few paychecks

They’re not even a splurge! ~$30

Oh wait I’m thinking wok; don’t know about a carbon steel skillet?

they are similarly affordable

Carbon steel is my material of choice for wok after trying 3 or 4 different kinds

same

mr veg got me a carbon steel wok for my birthday a few years back & i love it

is anything that isn't carbon steel even really a wok

Rude!

is anything that isn't carbon steel even really a wok

― valorous wokelord (silby), Wednesday, 11 April 2018 9:03 AM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Truth

I bought a bunch of paper last year to do fish en papillote but I can't seem to make myself do it.

― Yerac, Tuesday, April 10, 2018 5:43 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

do it! easy and satisfying.

I know! I just made fish and veggies tonight but it seems so much easier to just cook separately and not portioned out for some weird reason.

made kuay tiew kua gai tonight (but with tofu instead of gai). my first experience with preserved cabbage. i might need to find some other uses because i'd need to make this 100 times to use the container. not very saucy, so easier to get more char than pad see ew.

oh that sounds good. do you think kim chee would work for this?
also, anyone ever work with fermented bean curd? i made a Filipino dish once that used it that was KILLER. it was super simple - sauteed onions with LOADS of ginger, added pureed canned tomatoes and a couple cubes of fermented tofu and then stewed a side of fish in it. it was one of the best, simple things i ever made. picked up some more fermented tofu to make this again, but haven't yet. was wondering if anyone had any other ideas. thx

the cabbage was pretty subtle. there was some minced pickled yellow radish in there as well. they were nice additions, but I bet you could use almost anything with that pickled/fermented profile. I've not used fermented bean curd, but I remember seeing it in the book I'm working through. I think it may have been one of the curries? I'll try to find it again.

it's good in congee

huh, that's a good idea. i tried congee once @ a nice restaurant and the blandness turned me off. but i wld def try to make it w/some more intense flavors added

did the deep fried garlic green beans tonight, and they did not disappoint. had them with jasmine rice and spicy fried tofu (brined with garlic lemongrass, white pepper, salt. stir fried with prik tum). will be doing this one again on Friday by request.

Did you brine your own tofu?
ahi poke with quinoa tonight, tomorrow may try the pad see ew again with fried tofu.

I need to figure out a new chickpea salad to make. I usually do a cumin/tumeric, red onion/pepper thing but want to change up the flavor profile.

yes, I buy 1lb extra firm tofu. I freeze it over night and thaw in the fridge. Then I cut into 7 or 8 rectangular slices to put between paper towels. Then I cut into small triangles and put in a container with the garlic, lemongrass, white pepper, salt, and water to cover. Leave for 30 minutes at room temp and then drain. I bet some of that is not necessary, but it works.

I also fry it in the wok for a minute or two at the beginning of any stir fry because we like it a bit crispy. I add .5 to 1 tbsp of prik tum (I think this is a generic name, but it's just minced garlic, jalapenos, and birds eyes simmered low in oil for 45 minutes) after the first minute or so, if we want it to be spicy.

making garlic green beans again tonight, but also trying out homemade orange fried cauliflower. made and ate my first larb during the week, which was awesome to me, but my partner was not as into it. so will probably need to save it for lunches.

i love when i read what someone's making and it sends me down a rabbithole which is what just happened with your talk of larb and orange cauli. is the latter like an asian-flavored dish or just using orange colored cauli (or both)?

Wait why do you freeze it overnight? To make it more porous?

yeah i was confused by that too. like do you take it out of the brine and then wring it out?

xp yes, that's what it's supposed to do, and I think it makes sense. The tofu also seems to drain the water into the paper towels more readily after thawing? but I've taken the approach of doing everything to the tofu. I should probably start subtracting some things to figure out what's actually necessary. I so admired Nancy Silverton's brute force approach to figuring shit out in that one chef's table episode. She would probably make one of every permutation of that recipe and taste them all. I wish I had the time and space to really understand what works.

xxp for the orange cauliflower, I am just subbing the cauliflower into the recipe for orange chicken in the night + market book. that is also the book with the recipe for vegan larb (a variation in the margin of the larb gai recipe, but he does serve it at the restaurant). I've not done the orange cauliflower before, so it may not end well. but I have to get the oil going to fry the green beans, anyway, so I'm just going to fry everything.

Yeah, I think I knew about it being porous because my mom freezes tofu a lot when she buys it in bulk. I am not a fan of the texture after so I would probably skip that part for myself.

xp I don't ring it out before frying. I brine it, drain it, and then dump about 1/4 lb into a bowl lined with paper towel to absorb some moisture before brining. I save the rest in the fridge and do this 2 to 3 more times during the week. I don't think you need to get all of the water out before frying. I figure that there'd be moisture in chicken, too, if I were frying that. I might be doing this wrong because I'm more or less following a recipe meant for chicken.

Yerac, do you prefer softer tofu? or you just don't like how porous it gets? think I only enjoy soft tofu in soups.