mpad's Profile
Anyone seen fresh fiddleheads in Calgary?
Don't know about Calgary, but they had them at Superstore in Edmonton last week.
Help! Too many cucumbers!
How about a Japanese-type sunomono salad. Slice the cucumbers super thin (a mandoline would help) and salt for 15 minutes or so. Squeeze hard to get the juices out then dress with rice vinegar, a bit of sugar, and a touch more salt if needed. Add some wakame seaweed if you can get some.
Salting and squeezing cucumbers greatly reduces the bulk. A serving of salad would be about 3/4 of a cucumber per person.
How Come "Rare" Duck is Okay, but "Rare" Chicken is Deadly?
Raw chicken tastes about like raw fish. As with sashimi, the taste of the raw version is more subtle than the cooked version. Difficulty is more mental than because of the flavor. But also not so special that I'd go out of my way to eat raw chicken again.
How Come "Rare" Duck is Okay, but "Rare" Chicken is Deadly?
Not sure if ducks are processed any differently.
You're right that it is not inherent in chickens to be contaminated, but they get that way in processing. In Japan I once ate at a restaurant that specialized in chicken. Every course in a traditional Japanese menu but all using chicken, including the sashimi course. Eating the chicken raw was fine because the restaurant raised and slaughtered their own chickens, taking impeccable care not to contaminate the meat with fecal matter.
Pomi boxed tomatoes - yyc
It will have been blind tasted by a panel along with a dozen or so other brands in a variety of applications.
I can't at the moment, though, remember what their objection was to Pomi. I'd have to dig through my old magazines to try to find the review.
Pomi boxed tomatoes - yyc
Sorry, don't know about Calgary, but they are sold in the Italian Center supermarkets in Edmonton, so they may be available somewhere in Calgary.
Should note that Pomi placed dead last in Cook's Illustrated ratings of diced tomatoes.
What knife should I get next?
I've long lusted after the Takedas. Getting one would be like an anti Suisin. The Suisin is sleek, modern and shiny (and stainless) while the Takeda is irregular, handmade and a kurouchi finish (and carbon). They don't have a Takeda sujihiki on their website, though there is a lot in the store that isn't on the website. I might have to try out the nakiri.
What knife should I get next?
The Suisin is a lot of fun to use. It's so light it really feels like you don't have anything in your hand. It is 137 grams whereas my 10 inch Forschner is 222 grams--and the Forschner is already a really light knife compared to most. It takes some time getting used to using it, which is why I was asking myself if I should get a more regular gyuto and save the Suisin for when I need a "laser", or whether to forge on with the Suisin until I get used to the lightness of it.
Looks like a honesuki is a very likely purchase. I'd forgotten about the difficulties of using my Edgepro on a single bevel knife. That probably makes a yanagiba unlikely.
Any thoughts on whether a sujihiki would be useful, or can I just use my gyuto for most such slicing?
I'm going to give some nakiris a try when I'm in the store to see what I think.
What knife should I get next?
Just regular household cooking. I strongly suspect that I don't need another knife, just that I may well be tempted into buying one!
Does the nakiri have a very different feel from using a gyuto? I suppose I can try a few out when I'm in the store to see if I'd like one.
What knife should I get next?
Don't think I can sell my wife on my needing a $1000 knife!
For sharpening I'm using an Edgepro Apex, though since I'll be in Calgary anyways I'm going to take my Japanese knives in to get sharpened in the store. Last time they did an amazing job on my usuba, which was pretty badly chipped on the edge. They took it through at least six water stones, including a natural stone. It's got a beautiful polish on the edge now.
The Edgepro does a great job, but it can't beat that.
What knife should I get next?
My understanding is that honyaki knives are forged from a single kind of steel as opposed to a core or cladding of different steels. It is a rare and expensive knive. The Suisin sure seems stamped, though I'm sure it is a high-tech stamping with a lot of work done on it afterwards. There's conflicting info out there on this, but this discussion seems to clarify a bit... http://www.knifeforums.com/forums/showtopic.php?tid/879782/
You're probably right that I wouldn't have the issues with a deba that I do with the usuba, but then I don't often break down whole fish. I could probably get used to the usuba if I worked at it, but not sure I want to dedicate the time to mastering Japanese cutting techniques.
What knife should I get next?
I don't think she has any idea how much the knife cost--lucky for me!
What knife should I get next?
Just a home cook. I'm not looking to go high end on these. The Fujiwara Maroboshi no Meito are beauties, but likely more than I'm looking to spend--especially for a yanagiba.
Truth be told I spent more than I intended on the Suisin (though it was money well spent). I went to the store intending to buy a Tojiro DP or the Haruyuki SRS15 (previously known as Akifusa and prior to that Ikeda) but then held the Suisin and had to have that one. It is so light it doesn't feel like there's anything in your hand at all. It actually takes some getting used to, which is why I was considering also getting a more conventional heavier gyuto.
A honesuki is tempting as I do bone chicken fairly often. On their website there's a Suisin Inox (not Honyaki line) for $79, a Tojiro DP honesuki for $97, a Moritaka Ishime in Aogami #2 for $155, a Masakage Kumo in VG 10 for $181, or a Masakage Koishi in Aogami Super for $255. Question is how much of a difference it'll make on a honesuki.
What knife should I get next?
As Chem notes, the prefix yo implies foreign (or more specifically Western) in Japanese. Yoshoku, for example, is Japanized Western food, as opposed to Washoku, which is Japanese food. The same wa as in wa style handle on a knife.
What knife should I get next?
The "Honyaki" seems to me to be a misnomer. I don't think it's forged at all. Looks to me like a stamped blade.
I've thought about a yanagiba. What are your thoughts on a yanagiba vs a sujihiki? Other than slicing fish for sushi would I find a yanagiba too limiting as compared to a sujihiki?
Truth be told, I rarely use my usuba. I find it too hard to get straight cuts with the single bevel edge. I'm not sure I'd learn to use an even more specialized knife like a deba.
What knife should I get next?
I'll be in Calgary the first week of January and there is an awesome knife shop specializing in Japanese blades there ( http://knifewear.com/index.asp ).
Last time I was there I bought a Suisin Inox Honyaki 270 mm Gyuto ( http://knifewear.com/knife-family.asp?family=5 ) and a Masakage 150 mm Petty ( http://knifewear.com/knife-family.asp?family=30 ). My question is what knife to get next.
It's not that I NEED any more knives. I've got a bunch of Victorinox/Foreschner knives (chef's in two sizes, serrated bread, boning, fileting) and assorted other knives (carving, paring). Oh, and I've got a Kamagata Usuba I bought at Aritsugu in Kyoto when I was living there. But I'm going to take my Japanese knives in to be sharpened and it's very likely that I'll be tempted into buying something else.
I'm looking for more suggestions of type rather than brand. Knifewear has more brands in store than what they've got on their website and there are tomatoes and potatoes there to try out most of the knives in store, so I can compare the feel of different knives once I'm there.
Some possible choices would be:
-a heavier Gyuto with a yo handle (would probably be in stainless)
-paring knife (again probably stainless and yo handle)
-honesuki
-sujihiki or yanagiba
The last two could be in carbon steel.
Would there be any reason to get a nakiri or a santoku if so far I'm happy using a gyuto for most tasks? So what's the advice from the Japanese knife experts out there?
Praise Cheeses! Good cheese in Edmonton/Alberta
That was Paddy's. Now moved to 12509 102 Avenue
J knife question
If you speak Spanish, the vowels in Japanese are similar--there are only five pure vowel sounds and always pronounced the same, except for the length--we'll get to that in a minute.
Tojiro is indeed the easier one. Three distinct sylables. To-ji-ro. Toe-gee-roh is pretty close, though the vowels aren't as "rounded" as in English.
Gyuto is two syllables. The GYU is pronounced together and the U is held a bit longer than normal--GYOOO. When written in roman letters there should be a bar above the U to indicate the longer length. The TO is is short and is the same as in Tojiro.
Really Japanese pronunciation isn't that hard--at least it isn't intonated like Chinese or Vietnamese. Just remember that when romanized the consonants are all hard and the vowels are all pure. Try pronouncing as if is Spanish.
Praise Cheeses! Good cheese in Edmonton/Alberta
Have you been to Paddy's International Cheese Market? 12509 102 Avenue
You'll find a large selection of cheeses you won't get anywhere else in Edmonton.
Paella rice
Sometimes you can find it at the Italian Centre, but availability is spotty. Sometimes I've found La Fallera brand there and sometimes they have a more expensive DOC rice that comes in a canvas bag. I don't think I've seen either recently.
Lucked out a back in the spring at Home Sense and I bought a dozen 1 kg bags of Spanish DOC rice for cheap. I'm set for paella rice for the next year or more. Made some great paellas on the grill over the summer.
Dulce de leche in Edmonton?
Argentinean dulce de leche is available at the Italian Centre and at the Latin American grocery Paraiso Tropical 9136-118 Ave . The Mexican version, cajeta, is also carried by Paraiso Tropical
Kyocera Ceramic Grater- Do the teeth come off?
I bought a Kyocera ceramic grather a number of years ago when I was living in Japan. It hasn't seen a lot of use over the years, but I've never had any issues with the teeth breaking off.
Ethiopian Food in Edmonton
I second the recommendation for Habesha. I've eaten there a couple of times. The food is very good and the owner helpful. The meat and the vegetable combinations are a good way to try a bit of almost all the dishes on the menu.
Looking for fine kosher salt in Edmonton
Kosher salt by definition is coarser than regular table salt since the "kosher" refers to the use of such salt in removing blood to render meat kosher, which requires a coarser grain. There are generally not a lot of brands available. The two that come to mind are Diamond Crystal (which I've seen at Italian Centre and Save-On-Foods) and Morton (haven't seen that brand in Edmonton, though I haven't looked). There is a bit of a difference in the size of the crystals between these two brands since I recall that Cook's Illustrated recipes calling for kosher salt in brining use Diamond Crystal as the standard and there is a small conversion (maybe 25%) in using Mortons instead, but there is not so much of a difference that one could be considered coarse and the other fine. Either one is rather coarser (and flatter crystals) than regular table salt, but much finer than a coarse sea salt.
Other than the size and shape of the crystals and the lack of iodine added, there isn't any other difference between kosher salt and table salt.
Looking for Great Thai Food (Edmonton)
Haven't tried Viphalay, but I can recommend Boualouong on 97th. Started off as a tiny 5 table, one cook joint, but was so successful they were recently able to expand to a proper space just down the road from their original location.
Edmonton-looking for fresh goat meat
There are two halal butchers in little Lebanon as well that probably have fresh goat. One is in the same little strip mall as Sunbake Pita (134th Ave and 107th St.) and the other is around the corner from El Safadi Bros. supermarket and Paradiso Pastries (134th Ave and 113 St.).
If you are in the neighborhood be sure to stop in to Sunbake for a pita pizza or the best schwarma and then to Paradiso to get some baklava for desert.
japanese specialty store
There used to be a long time ago, but I don't think there is one anymore. Your best bet for Japanese ingredients (besides T&T) is likely to be Korean groceries such as Canakor.
