Who makes that knife? Nice looking pizza! Also, have you ever had tomato sauce eat away at the seasoning on your cast iron? It doesn't happen to mine, but whenever I cook something acidic in my carbon steel omelet pan, I need to re-season it.
Shun. I'm sure you have a good knife, but just in case there's anybody eavesdropping that doesn't- a good knife is bar none the most important piece of kitchenware anybody can have. More important than pots and pans (although I swear by my pans, more in a sec), more important than measuring cups or mixing bowls or anything. I can cook in any old kitchen so long as I have one good knife. But goddamn does it drive me crazy to cook in somebody else's space (read: in-laws) when all they have is cheap, dull, wobbly crap. Never had the tomato sauce eat the seasoning on my cast iron (so far as I know, although I have needed to replace it twice), and never even tried with my good carbon steel- learned through trial and error to use that shit almost exclusively for searing meat and then deglaze/sauce-making. Fucking you had to mention oxtail right before my leftovers meal. That sounds incredible. For grubski: ongoing list of cheapo meat products that are way better than the expensive dry-aged song and dance or else enhance the same. Humbly submit chicken livers (most versatile organ I've ever messed with), marrow bones, caul fat. Would include sweetbreads but those guys are expensive.
Ah, thought so but wasn't sure. Sadly, I am using a second-hand CutCo knife at the moment. Full-tang and holds and edge well but it doesn't rock on the board like I want it to. I agree about a good knife and a sharp one at that. Lots of good cheap cuts, like country ribs, which are like ribs and pork chops combined. We could do a hubski food challenge. Set some rules and a budget and then we share recipes and junk. Anyone game? It could even be educational!
Splurge and get a good knife. And a sharpener. Put you back like $200 all told, but it is so, so worth it (says the guy that got both the knife and the sharpener as gifts). Before this I had a Wusthof and it was plenty passable at a lower price point. But I'm never going back from Shun.
What sharpener do you use? Ceramic rods are nice and really easy. I'll probably just get a stone and a steel for what I've got at the moment. The knife I have isn't terrible, but it has no flex at all but I mean, it's stainless so I didn't really expect there to be any. But yes, I need a better knife and also not to live with a roommate. He's been a friend for a while, but he doesn't know how to treat a knife worth a shit. He's blunting my edges dammit!
Dude, I don't have the manual dexterity or the patience required for that. I have and electric Chef's Mate, works like a dream. "You're blunting my edges" is an incredible breakup line.
Ummm, fuck yes. Tell me more, how does this challenge work?
Incredible idea- I'm definitely game. I'd push the budget down further, though. $35 for one meal is actually prohibitively expensive for me these days, I couldn't really get away with much over $20-25. Guess the $35 could stand and extra points for every dollar under. I would willingly be the first gastronaut tomorrow if you want to kick it off in another post, as I don't yet have a menu planned.
Cool! LET'S DO THIS. thenewgreen is game too. I agree, let's set the budget low.
I'm not sure why everyone buys "chicken breast?" I tend to use chicken thigh meat in the place of breast meat. It's more full flavored and it is normally less money too.
This is funny because almost every chicken recipe I ever use is for thighs and I always have to choke back tears as I substitute breasts. Wife is really health-conscious (boo), and hates the taste of a) dark meat and b) chicken skin. Nobody's perfect, I guess.
Agree. Plus, chicken breast is gross. I don't get why America loves white meat so much. I mean, ok in a soup or a pot pie or something but dude, thighs are where the flavor is. That reminds me. When Popeye's opened in Boston, it was packed. I think I saw one white dude in there. Anyway, first they ran out of hot and spicy chicken and half the crowd walked out. Then they announced that they ran out of dark meat and the other half walked. I don't know what happened to the white dude.