gimmeflavor's Profile
Foodstops along I-15 between Ontario & stateline [moved from L.A. board]
As the other poster said, Mad Greek in Baker is the only "destination" and IMO the food is not worth the stop. Victorville/Hesperia have grown up quite a bit but that just means they have more of the usual sit-down chains (Macaroni, Olive Garden, Johnny Carinos, yadda yadda) now. Victorville's culinary claim to fame used to be that it had the worst Chinese restaurants in California...but I think it lost that crown in '03. Now it's kinda normal. Anyway, it's fairly close to Ontario.
It's a desert. What do you expect? :)
California Mexican vs. Tex Mex?
DiningDiva is right... in most Local San Diego and Los Angeles Mexican restaurants a carne asada burrito is: a lot of Meat with Cilantro, onions, and sauce (not necessarily in that order). Sometimes the sauce is guac, sometimes it is a red chili sauce. The whole thing is usually wrapped in foil for serving. It's as much a signature dish as a "wiz with" in Phila but tastes better IMO. Intense crisp flavors, nothing to coat your mouth and dull the flavors... great. Those same restaurants usually sell tacos that are two soft corn tortillas stacked and topped with a mound of meat, cillantro, onions, and sauce.
I've had Mexican food in pretty much every corner of the US (and a sampling of the middle) and a lot of it is not great...but the worst by far is in Dallas. It sounds paranoid but I've wondered if it is some sort of systematic racism actually -- a deliberate perversion of a culture's food to insult the Mexican people. I don't believe that but I haven't come up with any better explanation. If I want my mouth coated with greasy yellow slime and mealy "meat" I...well, I guess I know where to go. :(
I've lived in Dallas for going on two years and every so often I forget just how badly they abuse the term "Mexican" in relation to food. But I'm not bitter. :)
Shopping for new Foodsaver
So what's the difference between the v3840 and the v3825? They look identical to me.
How do you get a nice black patina on a cast iron skillet by seasoning?
I sand new pans. It gives a better finish. I don't set about taking off the pre-seasoning but much comes off.
I then wipe the pan down with oil (olive or similar... I don't have a wide variety of oils on hand) and heat. I keep it wiped down and heated for a while and then use. I do that in the oven if I can but stove top is fine too.
The last pan I bought was a smallish lodge a few weeks ago. After sanding and stove-top seasoning it now has a grayish brown patina... no bright metal showing but the seasoning is pretty thin in places.
How does it work? Well, a few days ago I went to fry an egg and forgot to oil the pan. Realized my mistake just as I dumped the egg from its shell... but it fried just fine. No sticking, no mess, it cooked perfectly, flipped perfectly, and came out of the pan perfectly.
I normally add a bit of cooking spray if I'm cooking lean foods. After a while the patina builds up but the pan does NOT need to be black to work properly.
Non Stick Spray - Non Stick Pan
LOL...yeah, I forgot about that. The cornholios in corn oil will attack any cracks in the pan and next thing you know...well, best not to go there.
:)
Non Stick Spray - Non Stick Pan
Some stainless (bare or non-stick) is fine. It has to be magnetic though. The non-stick pan I have left is carbon steel w/ aluminum plating on the outside and non-stick inside. I have some stainless pans that work, and a few (e.g. Cameron's stove-top smoker) do not.
Non Stick Spray - Non Stick Pan
Sounds like an urban myth to me.
I switched to spray for just about everything 15+ years ago when a family member had a heart attack. I don't use much oil (a liter of EV Olive oil every couple of years and maybe a few ounces of flavor oils in that same time-frame); for day-to-day cooking it's all pam/equivalent.
I've never seen a problem. Not with old lousy Teflon coatings, the hard modern stuff, or anything in between. The pans last a long time. The food doesn't stick.
I've recently fallen for induction cooking so I've given away all my aluminum (mostly non-stick) cookware -- I have one non-stick pan left plus the appliances e.g. indoor grills -- but the old non-stick pans were fine and I gave them to people who are happily using them today. I now have more cast iron and spray works fine on that too.
Washing cast iron vs. not washing
Not to detract from your wise sentiment regarding awareness of allergies, but... most people who are allergic to peanuts are allergic to peanut proteins/solids, not peanut oil. Research for yourself, especially if you have a specific person you are dealing with, but seasoning a pan with standard peanut oil will not cause an allergic reaction in most people (perhaps any people) with peanut allergies.
Again, not trying to dismiss the care being displayed, just pointing out that peanut oil is different than peanut butter or peanut solids.
As for the original question...to wash I usually run cold water into them while they are hot (that's NOT for enameled pans) and wipe down. If something has stuck (can happen if I've done something that "dried out" a section of the pan then put a sticky food in the unoiled area) I scrub under running water (while hot) with a bamboo wok scrubber. In either case once clean I usually position them in such a way (hanging, in a rack, or whatever) that they can drip dry or I heat them up again to evaporate any water. If I think it's called for I'll put a little extra oil/cooking spray on the pan before storing.
I like my cast iron a little smoother than the surfaces usually are so I often sand the inside of new (pre-seasoned non-enamel) pans and re-season. I usually use EV olive oil or sesame oil because those are the only two oils I usually keep on hand...not a big oil person.
Korean Stone Pot---care and seasoning?
http://yumyumasia.com/category/rice-and-noodles/
Scroll down a ways and you'll see May 11/Dol Sot Bibimbap
FWIW I have cooked rice in the stone bowl but it comes out very scorched...basically all crust. I liked it but I was playing around more than anything.
Refilling soda-club CO2 cannister
I have absolutely no experience w/ soda club.
I did find this:
http://soadahclub.vox.com/
Might provide insight.
Should I get a pressure cooker?
I've read that a major factor in "better" pressure cookers is how much water they vent before comming up to pressure (and in holding pressure). Less loss means you can start with less water which means they come up to temperature faster so the whole cycle can be quicker.
To really optimize you probably need to experiment a bit with just how much your pressure cooker vents over time. If you put 4" of water in your PC, heat it to full pressure, and hold it there for an hour, then cool it, how much water is left? If you have 3" left, well, maybe you could have started with just over 1" and quartered your heat-up time. Of course... don't cut things that close because you don't want the thing to run dry.
Water loss rate is my main complaint with the tramontina PC compared to the Fagor -- it doesn't seal very well (the regulator passes more steam all the time and the gasket they included is too stiff or something so it doesn't always seal perfectly) so I need more water to start so... well, it's fine if I'm cooking a big pot of beans but I don't use it otherwise. I got it cheap so I'm not complaining.
As for cooling the cooker in water at the end... the manual that came with my Fagor specifically allows/recommends the practice but also says you should not do that with older pressure cookers because they can draw a vacuum and suck water in IIRC...so it probably depends on the cooker.
Should I get a pressure cooker?
Good question...it doesn't appear to be listed on that site.
After some searching I think mine is a "vita plus convex" 6 liter... dunno how I managed to get that when it seems to be more Euro-targeted. The closest equivalent appears to be the duo but I'm not sure the dual pressure feature matters that much.
I also discovered that the first pressure cooker I used, the one my parents got when I was growing up, was a Fagor Classic or "pressure magic". They still use it. Looks to be bloody expensive though ($280 for a 6qt) and I remember it was a major purchase. Worked well though and you could pressure fry in it (not that we ever did).
Should I get a pressure cooker?
I am a big fan (and advocate) of pressure cookers. Not so hot on crock pots. I can't see having a kitchen without a pressure cooker. I can easily see not owning a crock pot (I don't, though I've had them in the past).
The core advantages of pressure cooking have been well covered in this thread.
One point I'd elaborate on is that pressure cookers, unlike crock pots, aren't single use utensils. A crock pot is basically a crock pot. You aren't going to make spaghetti in one. You can make whatever you can make with the one or two temperature settings they usually have. A pressure cooker is first and foremost a rather nicely designed small (6-8 qt) soup/stock pot. They tend to have thick bottoms to distribute heat evenly (because you can't easily stir with the lid on, and people often run them at full heat to reach pressure quickly) so they can also brown foods. The typical start of a pressure cooker dish for me is to heat up the pot, add some oil, garlic, onions, spices and the like, then the meat, and finally add liquid and other ingredients. That's something you can't really do in a crock pot (won't get hot enough), and you often can't do in soup or stock pots because they have thinner bottoms (uneven heat).
I use my pressure cooker all the time... often with no intention of pressurizing it.
Regarding the results...IMO pressure cookers don't meld flavors as much. Oh, they do more than the same amount of time in a non-pressure cooker, but if you cook the same dish in a pressure cooker and crock pot, the pressure cooker flavors will be brighter (less damaged) and more discrete (less blended). Is that good or bad? Depends on the recipe and your preferences.
Some soups (those with distinct and intense flavors) seem to be much nicer out of a pressure cooker. Others (more the classical stew/blended flavor dishes) benefit from extended melding time. In my case I have a foodsaver with a jar sealer and a stack of 1qt jars, so I'll make a pot of soup (usually a little on the thick side) in the pressure cooker, transfer it to quart jars, evacuate, and then refrigerate the jars. 24-48 hours that way usually smooths the flavor blending and produces something I might argue was better than a long simmer (Because the flavors and nutrients weren't harmed by so much long term cooking). I make them a bit thick so I can make additions when I open the individual jars...
Get a good pressure cooker (I have a Fagor 6L and a Tramontina 8qt ... both are modern and of similar design but the Fagor is MUCH better IMO) and it won't let you down.
"Cobb Grill" - what is your experience?
Re: the roasting rack...
I bought a cobb (the stainless steel model) a short while ago (maybe two months?) and it did not have the rack.
I went to an Asian supermarket where they had round roasting racks of the perfect size. I assume they are intended as roasting racks anyway. They have fine wires woven into a ~1/2" grid, are slightly domed (to make the grid more rigid) and have fold-up legs. The price was $3 or $4 (can't recall). It might be a little taller than the cobb rack but hey...price difference counts for a lot.
infa-red grills [moved from L.A. board]
Mine is an "ultra-sear", purchased from a sporting goods store (academy) here in Dallas for $100ish. I spent an extra $12 on a hose to hook up to a standard propane tank.
It is identical to the "Solaire" in this video http://www.bbqguys.com/video_item_1317.html with two exceptions: The grade of stainless may be different (the handles on mine have rusted after a landlocked year) and the carry bag doesn't have pockets for propane tanks. If you watch that vid be sure to watch the "full demonstration" which looks like an edit together of the other two videos. Oh, and the name plate is different. Everything else looks identical... battery electric start, vee grill, burner, latches, not "similar" but part swap identical.
The smallish burner creates a definite hot zone. You can put slower cooking veggies, sausages, etc around the sides and grill meat in the center. To provide scale: bread placed in the center will be toast in 10 seconds (well, very little time). Shoved all the way to a corner it can stay on the grill for 5 minutes without burning.
It isn't perfect but I'm happy.
infa-red grills [moved from L.A. board]
I have one. Love it. Definitely a must-have feature for me now. Closest you can get to charcoal results without burning charcoal.
Mine is portable (table-top) with only an IR burner. I use it all the time and for fish, burgers, steaks, some sausages, and the like. Quick, perfect...can't complain at all as long as the meat is fairly thin (under 1.5"). While it is technically possible to cook thicker slabs of meat (I did a brisket once just to prove I could), it really isn't designed for low temp cooking.
Most larger gas grills I've seen with IR burners also have conventional sections so you aren't limited in either direction. If I had the space and a need for gas I'd get one of those...but, lacking the space, I can do everything with the small IR grill and a bit of planning.
As I said before... I will not buy another gas grill without an IR burner.
Tabletop/portable cooktops
Short answer: Get an induction hotplate and a turkey fryer. Far less than $200 and you've got all your bases covered. Only works if you can boil your wort outside of course.
Long answer: I have an induction hot plate I picked up from an Asian market for $90. I can't say enough good about it. I do have a conventional range but I very rarely use it... the induction stove is my first choice. The price is a bit steep considering you can get a normal hotplate for under $20 but the difference is worth paying for. 90% efficiency means a lot more heat per watt vs. a standard 55% efficient electric hot plate...and the efficiency difference translates directly into not heating the room.
To compare (and assuming my calculations are correct)... a standard 1500w hot plate delivers as much heat to your cookware as a 6000BTU gas stove burner. An induction 1500w hot plate delivers as much heat as a 9700BTU gas stove burner. A standard unsealed gas stove burner produces 9000BTU....
There are two limitations on mine: The temp. control only has 12 positions (available 6 at a time depending on "mode", and I haven't completely figured out those modes), and a built-in 2-hour inactivity timer limits long cooking (I can keep resetting it but simmering soup overnight is out). Between my pressure cooker and my haybox I can work around that very easily.
I've been to a bunch of Asian markets and almost every one has a different brand/model of the same device ranging from $90 to $140. Some are round, some are square, some have flowers silk screened on a plastic case, others have a stainless steel chassis...some are 1300w, others 1500w. Mine is a Myland, which happens to be square, stainless, 1500w, and on the lower end of the price range. Wattage counts.
As for brewing beer... I do full boils w/6ish gallons using a turkey fryer type stove (which you can get for well under $100) set up outside. The induction cooktop might be OK for wort boiling but it would take longer or limit you to partial boils. I did a search and a gas stove is 47% efficient. So... 15K BTUs on paper becomes 7050 which converted to KW means ~2KW delivered. Compare that to a 90+% efficient 1.5KW induction hotplate delivering 1.35KW and you can see that it's in the ballpark but not the best choice.
So...with shopping you should be able to do everything for $150. Plus the turkey fryer burners are second only to proper wok burners for woks.
Cooking Texmati rice in a Zojirushi rice cooker
The rice cooker has markings and came with a measuring cup. Use 'em, especially at first.
I don't cook texmati but go through a bunch of basmati. here's what I do.
Measure the rice into a bowl.
Rinse the rice.
Put the rice into the rice cooker bowl (sometimes this is actually step 1, sometimes I use 2 bowls)
add salt, saffron, whatever else I'm using for flavor
add water to the proper line. If I'm cooking 1 cup of rice that would be the "1 cup" line.
Adjust the water level based on past experience with this brand/lot of rice.*
Place bowl in rice cooker.
Set timer and engage the cook cycle.
Return after rice is cooked to fluff and eat.
That's actually what I do for all types of rice, though I use different lines for brown, glutinous, and "other" types of rice.
You'll notice there is one step, adjusting the water, which isn't very clear. That's because the only way I've found to do it properly is to adjust based on the last batch cooked. Start with the rice cooker lines, then deviate if the results are too dry or sticky or whatever.
Try that.
Soda Siphons vs. Club Soda
I've had a couple of soda siphons over the years.
The good: It is certainly easier to carry some C02 cylinders than bottles of carbonated water home from the store.
The bad: siphons are fairly small (1-2 quarts/liters) and they take a fair amount of time to chill and carbonate. They are fine for a spritz of water in a cocktail but not so hot for a tall glass of home-made fruit soda. They are also fairly expensive to use because the Co2 cylinders cost $0.40 each when bought in bulk. That's $.40 per liter of water.
A friend of mine who really likes club soda went to a homebrew supply store and bought some red caps that fit on standard 1 and 2-liter soda bottles and have a ball-valve/connector built in. They then got a 5lb CO2 bottle, regulator, and a hose with the connector for the cap (which is also used by some beer or soda kegs). The whole thing goes in the back of their fridge though it's a bit bulky. They say they spent "about as much as a good siphon" (I have no idea how true that is) and they can have 1 bottle charging as they use the other. They claim it costs them $0.04 per liter in CO2. They were quite pleased with themselves.
Induction Cook Tops
I've had a portable 110v induction hob for about 2 years. I love it! Especially in the summer. The difference in room heating is surprising. I typically do any summer cooking I can get away with (single burner can limit things) on the induction hob. I'll have a full induction cook top as the primary stove next time I redo a kitchen....
As for better/worse than gas... different.
Gas allows you to control the heat by moving the pan up/away from the hob. That can be good for some applications where you want a lot of heat but you need quick control. For some pans (thin wok is the main example) gas also feathers the heat more... the bottom gets hottest but the sides warm up too because hot air is flowing up the sides of the pan.
Induction requires the use of the control (and the control must be good) because it heats the part of the pan that's within an inch or so of the ceramic plate. You can move the pan around a bit but if you lift it up as you might do with gas the stove will start beeping and shut down.
The heat delivery is very precise and local. As an example... I sometimes use a flat-bottomed stainless steel mixing bowl (from a restaurant supply place) as a backup pan... I can boil water in the bottom of the bowl and still pick up the bowl by the rim without burning myself. I have a flat bottomed wok I sometimes use on the induction hob but basically just the bottom heats up... move even an couple inches up and food will stay cool. Again, I can hold it by the rim even as food is frying at the bottom, at least early on. A cast iron wok would eventually solve that by conducting the heat up the pan but you'd wait a long time for it to heat up.
Pan material is an issue at first and when you get into specialties. I gave away a stack of aluminum restaurant-style pans because they were useless on the induction hob. It's even worse when you get into stone/ceramic cookware or if you have any money invested in copper. Not only does the pot need to be ferrous and magnetic (some stainless, all carbon steel and iron, etc) but it needs to be thick enough for the electronics to detect it as a pot. The standard restaurant mixing bowl is thick enough but I have a stainless kettle that isn't and the stove will turn off if you try to heat a standard can (as in "open the can of corn and try heating it on the hob) even though the manual has a warning not to heat unopened cans.
Cast iron works great... the induction hob is my excuse for buying more cast iron.
Oh, another fringe benefit: the outside of the pans stay clean. No blackening or discoloration unless you really abuse the pan.
My ideal would be one (high intensity/wok style) gas burner and the rest induction... but I I'd pick induction alone over gas alone.
Favorite Low-energy Cookware?
I really haven't found many but that's OK... I'm horrible about following recipes...outside of baking anyway.
I did find one for "kangaroo tail soup" (yes, it called for 2lbs kangaroo tail) but...well... the zoo hasn't returned my call. :(
It's an adventure. :)
Favorite Low-energy Cookware?
Maybe I just have bad crockpot-foo. My one real experience included scraping the ceramic dish clean of burned-on food. Maybe the thermostat was stuck or something.
Anyway... haybox cooking is interesting.
The modern/silly-expensive version is this:http://www.amazon.com/Zojirushi-SNAE-B45-Stainless-Thermal-Cooking/dp/B00004S57K/ but it's really hard for me to justify that sort of money for a 5 quart stock pot no matter how nice an ice bucket is included. Especially when you can do the same job with any old cooler that is about and some ingenuity.
It has been hit and miss for me but I think once I get the hang of it I'll be happy with the results.
Favorite Low-energy Cookware?
Haybox cooking means cooking with retained heat.
You boil your food for abut 10 minutes in a fairly well sealed pot (preferably without long handles) then transfer it to an insulated box (a cooler with some padding to keep the stove from messing with it) for several hours to "simmer". The retained heat cooks the food without additional energy... plus the food is hot hours later when you are ready to serve it (and won't scorch or dry out like a crock pot).
Outdoor Grilling - Natural Gas vs. Charcoal?
Just to throw a few chips on the fire...
You can get gas grills that have (in place of or in addition to the regular burners) ceramic radiant burners. These "searing" burners run HOT, dump energy like a good bed of charcoal, and basically break all the rules of gas grills in a good way. They are great.
The charcoal vs. standard gas grill argument is fairly simple... give me charcoal... but when you introduce searing burners the question becomes a lot more interesting. You may want to check them out. I've seen them in everything from portable grills (at about $130 for a stainless grill... $30 more than a normal burner) to heavy duty built-ins.
Every Have a Stainless Steel Pan Blow Hole in the Bottom While Cooking?
I've had something similar happen. It was a pan with a laminated bottom (aluminum between stainless). The bottom sheet of stainless popped off with some energy after heating.
Looks like different rates of expansion (for aluminum and stainless) when the pan heated finally popped the welding that holds the plies together. Not quite as energetic as you describe but it was surprising.
Favorite Low-energy Cookware?
I want to cut my kitchen energy consumption. Hot kitchen, expensive power, all the usual reasons.
I have a pressure cooker I use all the time. I've also got a single-burner induction stove (doesn't heat apartment anything like the electric stove) that I use unless I need something the induction burner can't do (like heat aluminum). Between those two I can actually cook without dying or having the AC on full blast.... but they limit me to whatever I can cook with one pot and one burner.
I'm looking for other options. I've been playing with haybox cooking recently but I'm not too up on slow cooking so far. Most of what I've tried as wound up on the lower edge of done.
What other summer-friendly/low-energy cookware (and techniques) do you like?
Oh, on the outdoor side I've got a Cobb grill. Nice for roasting a chicken or doing Korean style BBQ outdoors but closer to an electric grill than a gas grill. Still, it'll roast a chicken for $0.25 worth of charcoal and the food ends up with a slightly smokey overtone reminiscent of actual grilling.
getting into cooking-- what should I get?
Yep. Sorta :)
The point wasn't that it's your dream fry-pan but that it allows you to do fry-pan recipes while you shop for your dream/bargain fry pan.
Look at a typical good pressure cooker and good fry-pan side by side... they are extremely similar at the bottom. Thick bottom to spread the heat, thin walls... pressure cookers are hard to stir (sealed lid gets in the way ;)) and they need to provide even heat or food will scorch. That makes for decent frying-pan-ness as well. Also, they are bare stainless so you get nice crunchy bits to deglaze... and since you would make your sauce/soup in the same pot deglazing is easy.
I won't say that's universal. Just that it would work for me. That was my first point -- base your choices on what and how you cook.
Then, while you are cooking delicious meals, you can be picky about the fry-pan you buy. Save up for a really nice one or keep your eye out for the bargain that is just as good but costs 1/3rd as much... either way the pressure is off so to speak.
As for immersion blender... it really does allow you to do some things (types of soup, smoothies, use whole spices, etc) that a fry-pan won't.
Not the right choice for everyone but it would work for me. :)
getting into cooking-- what should I get?
I like your list. I would change it but I like it. :)
Knife... (About $50). I must be a heathen... My workhorse knife is a Yaxell/Ran 3" paring knife (not cheap @ $50 but nice). I use it 4-5 times as often as the chef's and santoku combined.
Saucepan/frying pan... replace the two with a 6-8 qt pressure cooker. ($100...less with shopping).
I'd add a restaurant style saute pan of 8" or so (
Nothing but quality, $170, and you can cook a surprising range of very nice meals.
Here's another $100 worth of stuff I can't live without but others around here will consider borderline useless:
Kitchen scale. I have a fancy iWeigh ($50) that can count and do tricks but any scale beats no scale. This can do all the measuring (allowing you to use coffee cups and soup spoons as cooking utensils if you want) provided your cookbooks (or internet savvy) provide weights instead of volumes.
Mixing bowl. ($10) Get a medium/smallish stainless steel bowl from a sam's club or a restaurant supply.
Tongs. (
I'd then get into a picky shopping mode. A dedicated 10-12" lidded frying pan is nice to have (when I found a nice heavy one for $25 I grabbed it), so are dutch ovens, grill pans, muffin pans, comals, and 100 other must-have items you don't really need to have.
getting into cooking-- what should I get?
Kinda depends on what you cook.
Just to show how subjective all of this is... IMO the #2 (right behind a good knife) bit of kitchen gear is a good modern pressure cooker. That's your fallback skillet, your stock pot, your braising pan... no good for frying eggs (hard to flip 'em) but great for 1000 other dishes. When I had to re-equip my kitchen the pressure cooker was literally the first pan I bought. I added an item here or there (skillet, wok, grill pan, etc) as I found things on sale but the pressure cooker was and is the central bit of cookware. Ask around here and I'd bet most would say pressure cookers are specialty items of limited use... but for the cooking I do (lots of soups, some beans, braised meat, potatoes, pasta, and more soups) it just works so well and so efficiently.
Grills are supposed to get HOT. Non-stick + aluminum add up to not too hot. I'd pass but that's me. I don't use my grill pan that often. If you will I'd suggest the least expensive iron grill pan that fits in your oven.
Dutch oven? Trendy now. I have one but I use my dolsot (Korean stone pot) more often -- which says something because that stone pot is really specialized. What does it say? That I like experimenting with alternative cooking methods. Most people would use the dutch oven a lot more.
Figure out what you like eating and go from there.
