We have a hodgepodge of kitchen knives: a few cheap ceramics, an old Fiskars set, some old Chicago Cutlery (USA) including a Chef's knife, a boning knife and a set of steak knives. More recently I acquired a few Shun laminated VG10 knives, including a slicer, a chef's and a paring knife. These are by far the best and certainly the most beautiful. My wife always reaches for these first. But all of these knives work ok if they are kept reasonably sharp. The Shuns and the ceramics have not yet required any sharpening!
Like OK Don we also have a KitchenAid stand mixer. We had a discount-store version (Hobart) since forever, but I recently lucked into a commercial model on Craig's for cheap. I almost passed on it because it had a label "no attachments", but obviously did have the PTO. I came to realize that the attachments were not certified for commercial use, thus the label. The Hobart was passed along to a son. Also forever, we have a Cuisinart food processor. When we lived in NY we acquired all the blades at steep discount from our frequent trips to Zabar's. I wanted to replace it when it stopped working a few years back, but found that this unit (or any one of equal quality) are NLA. It was manufactured by Robot-Coupe of France. I disassembled it and cleaned and repaired the switches. It should be good for another 25 years -----Original Message----- From: Mercedes [mailto:mercedes-boun...@okiebenz.com] On Behalf Of Greg Fiorentino Sent: Saturday, November 23, 2013 3:36 PM To: 'Mercedes Discussion List' Subject: Re: [MBZ] OT--Cookware Snob Opines Yes, there are some cooking tasks for which cast iron is best. But, as a good friend of mine likes to say, "horses for courses". Enameled cast iron couples the heat-retaining and spreading features of cast-iron with a non-reactive interior. We have a Le Creuset frypan, a Staub sauté pan and a Lodge French Oven that all perform excellent service. Even the new T-fal pans do a great job for fried or scrambled eggs with just a quick spray instead of oil or butter. How about cutlery? How do the snobs (count me in that group!) opine on kitchen knives? Stand mixers? Food processors? Inquiring minds.... Greg -----Original Message----- From: Mercedes [mailto:mercedes-boun...@okiebenz.com] On Behalf Of G Mann Sent: Saturday, November 16, 2013 5:58 PM To: Mercedes Discussion List Subject: Re: [MBZ] OT--Cookware Snob Opines As a devoted cast iron snob, I cook on nothing else. Over the years, I established a rule that when I find very old and very good cast iron.. regardless of condition, I buy it. Good quality cast iron can be found with a simple test.. Suspend the item by handle.. lightly rap the edge with a spoon.. if it is chinese crap.. you will get a "thunk".. if it is 1880 top quality cast iron.. it will ring like a bell.. "Dinggggggggggggg" if it rings.. buy it... If it is rusted, I bead blast it with metal shot [auto shop style] back to bare metal and season it from scratch to perfection.. I love how it cooks and it always comes out "just right". I do have some hard limit rules regarding how it is cleaned and dried, how it is pre-heated and what heats and oils I use to cook with.. To date I have bought and restored over 40 pieces,,, all the way from one egg frying pans to 12 gp Dutch Ovens [and several smaller of various sizes]. If your pan is seasoned correctly and handled correctly, food never sticks. To preheat, put a small splash of water in the pan,, "rain drops".. heat pan till water evaporates.. pan is now heated to 212 degrees F. What ever you put in the pan to cook will make a "Phsssssszzzz" sound when it hits the pan which braizes meat to seal in juices and flavors... As soon as the "rain drops" evaporate.... add EVOO [or coconut oil, or oil of choice] give it a moment to come to temp while you spread it with spatula and add item to be cooked.. I will try to attach two pics of one of my seasoned to perfection pans, and some corn bread pans [list mom please?] Grant... On Sat, Nov 16, 2013 at 1:43 PM, Rich Thomas < richthomas79td...@constructivity.net> wrote: > My cast iron cookware was passed to me from my great-grandmother, > grandmother, and mother, I presume some of it is well past 100 years > old as my ggm passed at like 98 back in the 80s, I think she got it > when she got married, no telling who it came from or if it was new > when she got it. So far it has held up well. My daughter hijacked a > few pieces of it, if she keeps the line going I guess it will serve > many more generations. I have 2 cornbread "corn" tins too, they are > well used and loved. > > I saw recently some dude has "reimagined" cast iron skillets, he has > them shaped sorta hexagonal so there are corners to pour from, and > heavy wire handles to pick up something cooler. Some of mine have > little pouring lips, and a towel works fine for handling. > > --R > > > On 11/16/13 3:31 PM, Gary Hurst wrote: > >> was a calphalon user until the ex wife stole it all. then i went >> to cast iron and like it best of all >> > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
