I make this black bean sauce for serving over fried chicken -- it was in the New York Times in the 1970's and there's no necessity of browsing through our clipped recipes:
Sweat a couple cloves of garlic in vegetable oil.
Combine together two cups of stock, two tablespoons corn starch, juice of a lemon (and zest if you have a zester) teaspoon of sesame oil and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Heat until thickened. Add a couple tablespoons of black bean sauce. Too tart, add some sugar.
What are you guys using as knives ? I tried a Victorinox Swiss Classic Santoku and while the blade was good, I was underwhelmed by its lack of weight and its handle. A friend liked it, I gave him the knife.
I just ordered a zwilling 8" chef knife (from the Pollux serie). I'll see how it turns out. Sadly, it's hard to try interesting things in shops, most only stock either real crap or fancy stuff and very little in between. Not much to be found around the 50€ mark.
I just ordered a zwilling 8" chef knife (from the Pollux serie). I'll see how it turns out. Sadly, it's hard to try interesting things in shops, most only stock either real crap or fancy stuff and very little in between. Not much to be found around the 50€ mark.
Victorinox Fibrox 250mm (Amazon.com: Chef's 10" Black Fibrox: Cutting Boards: Kitchen & Dining) chef and their 3" paring (Amazon.com: Victorinox 47600 VN40600 Fixed Blade, Knife,Hunting,Camping,Outdoor, 3.25" Paring, Black: Victorinox: Sports & Outdoors)
170mm Santoku
Masutani VG1 Santoku 170mm
The latter is very sweet and took an edge like a razor. Great for veggy prep. The 250 mm is my catch-all, and the paring are really nice for anything done in your hand as the blade is so fine. The Victorinox are very inexpensive.
170mm Santoku
Masutani VG1 Santoku 170mm
The latter is very sweet and took an edge like a razor. Great for veggy prep. The 250 mm is my catch-all, and the paring are really nice for anything done in your hand as the blade is so fine. The Victorinox are very inexpensive.
Wife likes Japanese brand "Global" knives. Hollow handle, very lightweight, very maneuverable. Dual bevel, 15 degree sharpening angle. Sold worldwide, in stores, on websites, and Amazon. example She uses the 8" chef's and the 4" paring, more or less exclusively.
I rotate between Messermeister (Germany), Shun (Japan), and Glestain (Japan). All of them are very easy to sharpen, as they lack the full-depth bolster commonly found on Wusthof and Henckels knives, which always gets in the way. image. I mostly use the 10" and 8" chef's.
BTW if you can give yourself permission to spend the money, the Chef's Choice 1520 Angle Select electric sharpener is absolutely wonderful, and will sharpen German knives, US knives, Japanese knives, and (after you read the manual six times) single bevel knives. All to razor sharpness. Selectable angle: 15 degrees or 20 degrees.
I rotate between Messermeister (Germany), Shun (Japan), and Glestain (Japan). All of them are very easy to sharpen, as they lack the full-depth bolster commonly found on Wusthof and Henckels knives, which always gets in the way. image. I mostly use the 10" and 8" chef's.
BTW if you can give yourself permission to spend the money, the Chef's Choice 1520 Angle Select electric sharpener is absolutely wonderful, and will sharpen German knives, US knives, Japanese knives, and (after you read the manual six times) single bevel knives. All to razor sharpness. Selectable angle: 15 degrees or 20 degrees.
Last edited:
I treated myself to a Misono UX10 custom made left handed chef's knife, stone sharpened you could shave with it (definitely > $50). Otherwise I use basically disposable knives from the "trade" only supply store. Even Zwilling makes plastic handled paring knives (I like the bird's beak one) that you can just replace every couple of years. I was surprised how useful the generic Japanese SS vegetable cleaver (~$15) was that they sell all over.
I confess I do have access to my daughter's collection of Japanese knives purchased in kitchen town Tokyo. The huge bevels can only be sharpened by hand on a stone, and they are scary but very high maintainance. Warning extreme knife porn https://www.hocho-knife.com
In the $50 or less range I heard the Dexter knives they sell to the trade are pretty decent.
Last edited:
I have a spyderco alumina 2x8" stone, although I wish I'd gone for a 3x8". Does a great job and sharpening is one of those peaceful meditative things, so I don't mind it not being fast/easy, necessarily.
Edit -- Scott, you referring to their "Fibrox" series? That's what I have and yes they work great.
Edit -- Scott, you referring to their "Fibrox" series? That's what I have and yes they work great.
I still swear by My Little Japanese Chef's Knife as seen in The food thread
(That was an obscure reference to Spoon's "My Little Japanese Cigarette Case" from their album GaGaGaGaGa, this is still an Audio site!)
Anyway the knife is very light weight and easy to use, and made of lovely alloy steel, and cost about $30 some 20 years ago (or a bit less, I mean fewer, years not dolkars). Cuts like a... knife!
(That was an obscure reference to Spoon's "My Little Japanese Cigarette Case" from their album GaGaGaGaGa, this is still an Audio site!)
Anyway the knife is very light weight and easy to use, and made of lovely alloy steel, and cost about $30 some 20 years ago (or a bit less, I mean fewer, years not dolkars). Cuts like a... knife!
Like my $15 cleaver I bought in a Japanese department store, very over performing (until I tried to cut some bones with it).
In Montreal the south part of Blvd St Laurent and a couple of blocks each side is "Chinatown", though a lot of Vietnamese now. They have these shops crammed full of woks and steamers and cleavers that are incredibly cheap. I always wanted to pick up one of the cleavers but tricky when flying home. Maybe next time I drive there (but still have to walk around with a meat vleaver for a ehile).
I have 10 or so for regular use and others for other things. Maybe ask us what you want to know. I'm not an expert, just a daily user.
I have an Edge Pro Professional, just the scissors attachment did over €150.
Last couple of years I wish I could go for the latest Russian Tech Studio Prof,
(the standard K02 plus stones/clamps/accessories made the configurator bill meter ran over $1500 TSPROF - The Russian Sharpener - Buy Profil K02)
Russia/Japan some culture conflict there. In Kitchen Town some sharpening stones hand selected from the right rivers were over $3000.
For sure, there are several here in the states. I have a friend who collects samurai swords and you have to have your sword accepted by the sharpener as being "worthy" then the fee is around $3000 for a proper job but these are all in Japan.
One example - Sharpening & Repair | Korin Japanese Trading
Last edited:
The Pate' turned out interesting. I used Hennessey for the Cognac as that was all I had other than Easy Jesus.
Two teaspoons kind of overdid it. I think the chicken livers ended up with a very mild flavor that was overshadowed by the herbs (garden) and Hennessey.
too much butter on top was hard to cut and spread. I probably should let it warm closer to room temp before serving.
Still nice on sliced toasted baguette.
Two teaspoons kind of overdid it. I think the chicken livers ended up with a very mild flavor that was overshadowed by the herbs (garden) and Hennessey.
too much butter on top was hard to cut and spread. I probably should let it warm closer to room temp before serving.
Still nice on sliced toasted baguette.