Gravy's Cooking Thread

Ao-_sl said:

You have a recipe for that? I've got this thing to go to on Saturday and want to bring coleslaw.

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No recipe, but here's what I did:

Shred cabbage, as much as you want. I made a huge batch of this, so probably 6 cups.
julienne cut carrots, I did 6 big carrots
2 tart green, 2 sweet red apples - cut into small bits, tossed in some lemon juice
finely diced chives to taste. I tend to use a lot.
as many craisins as you like.

for the dressing I used something like this:
1/2 cup mayo
wasabi paste to taste - I used about 3 tablespoons
2 teaspoons of garlic powder
1/2 of a lime's worth of juice
2-3 tablespoons of dijon
kosher salt and plenty of pepper
1 teaspoon of ground mustard powder

Whip the mayo and dijon together first, add the rest when that is well blended. Mix into the cut vegetables. Do it an hour before, it lets the flavours settle in.

You julienned 6 big carrots? Ain't nobody got time for that. Shred baby, shred.

I lied. I used my mandolin.

Do you like using the mandolin? For me, I really have to weigh my want of something needing to be 'mandonlined' against the prospect of assembling it, using it, and cleaning it. It could be I just need a larger, sturdier mandolin.

lanx_sl said:

speaking of mandolin's, i've been interested in cutlery, specifically japanese knives. now i'm not going crazy buying 33 layered knives, recently i bought a $15 gyuto(chef knife) off amazon, that was dull, but took an edge really easy and is super sharp now (passes paper test, can shave my arm).

recently went to a friends house and decided to bring my sharpening stand... wow their knives were ass. the santoku had so many chips in it i was amazed they were able to do any cooking. i sharpened them to a 7/10 imo (i didn't want to take off too much metal), they were amazed at how much faster and less tiring it was to prep dinner. (i could have done more but i'd be spending at least 1hr per knife and i didn't want to seem like they were making me work since i was a guest) i showed how well my $15 gyuto cut, and just offered it too them, but they didn't want it, since it didn't match their set.

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Most people have no idea how to take care of knives. The number of people I've seen wash their knives in a dishwasher is mind boggling and the amount of people who own honing steels is tiny. Just a general lack of education about knives. I was over at the home of someone in my book club and she owned a honing steel but didn't know what it was for! and hadn't gotten her knives actually sharpened since she'd bought them 10 years ago. And that behavior isn't rare.

Nothing particularly special about Japanese knives. They are a slightly different size and shape because they specialize in different tasks. My basic advice for knives for most people is buy a chef's knife because it can do almost everything, a bread knife for basically everything else, and a paring knife for small work. Buy Victorinox if you want to go for something serviceable and cheap. If you want to pay more, jump to at least $100 per knife and do your research. Including going to a store and handling the exact knife you'll be buying. Don't buy sets, sets are for suckers.

So how do you properly sharpen a knife? Mine are dull as fuck now and I didn't want to ask you knife hipsters and look like a fool.

That double-sided grilled cheese video that was posted a few weeks ago caught my eye and I've been doing up my bread like that for every sandwich I've made since. The level of enjoyment in my life has improved exponentially.

When I was in HS, I had a job at Luther's BBQ in KC (a Houston based chain, now Pappas) and we cut each order as it was made. I got a LOT of master/apprentice training on how to take care of knives. There was a great deal of respect for the head cutters, cause those guys were machines. And funny as fuck. "Those no good ho's', they'd say as the front line girls called out orders.

Anyway, learning to use a steel is very handy. And lanx, I've had one of those Lansky Sharpening systems, and hated using it. The clamp they sent was shit and had too much wiggle.

Correct. Honing pushes the edge back into alignment, sharpening takes off material to create a new edge.

Also, I haven't had to have my knives sharpened yet, but when I do, I'll be taking them to a professional. I don't trust automatic knife sharpeners or my own hand to do it manually. Even though I haven't done it, I've looked into it, and it's only a couple bucks to have someone else do it.

I wash my knives in the dishwasher because I'm too fucking lazy to wash them by hand all the time. I did when we first got them, but that's just too much work for my lazy ass. That said, I use the honing steel probably every other month.

McCheese_sl said:

That double-sided grilled cheese video that was posted a few weeks ago caught my eye and I've been doing up my bread like that for every sandwich I've made since. The level of enjoyment in my life has improved exponentially.

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Its seriously life-changing. It takes twice as long to make a grilled cheese(or any other hot/grilled sandwich) like that, but it's 10x better.