Since getting my Sous Vide Supreme, I’ve been itching to develop a sous vide turkey leg recipe. And what better time to enjoy turkey than the month of November? All of the local butchers are starting to carry a variety of turkey parts, so I decided to take advantage of the seasonal bounty and see how well this large bird stands up to water bath cooking.

Turns out there are no recipes on the internet for how to sous vide turkey legs, unless you’re making turkey confit – which I’m not. This recipe is for straight-up turkey drumsticks, cooked with some simple seasoning. You can make this recipe for Thanksgiving, but it’s also great for any other day that you’re having a hankering for turkey.

Overall, I was very pleased with how the legs turned out; moist, tender, and if given a little sear at the end, this recipe will yield a great, golden turkey leg perfect for caveman-style gnawing (don’t forget the UUUNNNNNNGGGGGHHHHHH grunt!). I highly recommend this recipe for nights when you’re planning a full-contact dinner party, renaissance faire style. ... Read the rest of Sous Vide Turkey Leg Recipe on The Culinary Life.

Permalink | Posted in Equipment, Meat on Nov/Mon/2010
Post tags: cooking, legs, recipes, sous vide, sous vide cooking, sous vide thanksgiving, stuffing, tender, turkey, turkey drumsticks, turkey leg recipe, turkey legs
© Stephanie Stiavetti for Wasabimon!, 2010.

Note: I’m going to buy the Canon 7d. Just so you know!

Welcome to the Nikon vs Canon camera death match!

I am in serious need of a new DSLR camera. I have been a Canon girl for as long as I can remember, but a few key friends of mine are Nikon users and you should see some of the beautiful pictures that come out of their digital studios. This has led to a lot of indecision on my part as far as what sort of camera I should buy when I finally do upgrade. I don’t have that much money invested in accessories — I’ve only bought a 50mm macro lens and a 430EX II flash — so if I was going to make the jump from Canon and Nikon, now would be my chance.

But the problem was, is Nikon really better than Canon? I’m definitely prone to gear lots and while I think that Nikon cameras take more saturated, evenly balanced photographs, I was a little wary of the fact that I was suffering from “grass is greener” syndrome.
... Read the rest of Nikon vs Canon Camera Death Match! on The Culinary Life.

Permalink | Posted in Equipment, Reviews on Nov/Sat/2009
Post tags:
© Stephanie Stiavetti for Wasabimon!, 2009.

I’ve been perusing Amazon.com for holiday gifts, and I just came across a good deal on KitchenAid mixers. I know a lot of you out there are dying for one of these babies, so I thought I’d share:

• KitchenAid Artisan 5-Quart Stand Mixers in a HUGE variety of colors, only $269 (free shipping and no sales tax)
• The smaller KitchenAid Classic 250-Watt 4-1/2-Quart Stand Mixer in White, only $198 (free shipping and no sales tax)

Also, Amazon’s got a great deal on the BlendTec blender:

• Blendtec Home 1500-Watt Total Blender, $399 (you have to click on the black model… for some reason the white one is $20 more.)

Other deals I’ve posted:

• Agave Nectar for Cheap
• Pamela’s Gluten Free Cornbread Mix (perfect for the holidays!)

Permalink | Posted in Equipment, Random on Nov/Sun/2009
Post tags:
© Stephanie Stiavetti for Wasabimon!, 2009.

Don’t forget to enter to win your own Shun Ken Onion chef’s knife, a $250 value. Contest ends at midnight Sunday, PST

So far in the kitchen knives series, we’ve talked about what cutlery is made of and which knives are the most important for home cooks to own. Today we’re continuing on about knife selection, looking at a few specialized models – including my personal favorite, the meat cleaver. >=)!

Specialized Knives & Cutlery

You might not need to go out and buy any of these babies, but they’re all fun to use!

The Santoku Knife

Santokus have become super popular lately. Originating in Japan, the word santoku means “three values,” which indicates that it’s a handy, all around good knife to have. Santokus are shorter and generally have a more rounded tip, making them lighter and easier to wield. While they’re not as versatile as a chef’s knife, santoku knives are great for performing a variety of tasks, such as chopping and slicing.

Note: those little divots on the blade’s edge, known as the “Granton edge,” are not part of the traditional design of the knife. They came much later, in the beginning of the 20th century. Many high-quality santokus don’t have them, so don’t let their presence influence your decision when shopping.

Cheese Knives

Almost everyone’s got one of these lying in a drawer somewhere, lost among the rest of their flatware. Cheese knives come in all shapes and sizes, from short, rounded blades to pointy affairs with a big piece missing out of the middle.

Crumbly cheese benefits from small cleaver-like knives that slice easily without complete annihilation. Rounded cheese knives are more for spreadable cheeses, while “skeleton knives” (with an open space in the blade) work great on cheese that is semi-firm. Skeleton knives minimize the amount of friction present when slicing, preventing your slices from stretching or distorting into a weird crumpled shape. Definitely not good eats.

Cleavers

There are two primary kinds of cleavers: one for vegetables and one for meat. What’s the difference? Vegetables cleavers are thinner than their meaty counterparts, with a narrow edge that slices through veggies with ease. Super sharp and very lightweight, these cleavers can be used similarly to a chef’s knife if you know what you’re doing.

Meat cleavers, on the other hand, are hefty, weighty weapons made with one purpose in mind: cutting through meat and bone. As gruesome as it sounds, they do this job amazingly well. Their blades are less tapered, making them extremely durable, and they can be used for chopping right through a chicken carcass or hacking away at a lamb shank. The broad spine and sides can be used for anything from crushing to pounding.

I love cleavers because, well, I’m crazy like that. I love the fact that I can cut through an entire duck in one swift whack – I’ve been known to frighten company by dismantling an entire bird in four second. Word to the wise: DO NOT GET YOUR HAND IN THE WAY OF THIS THING. If you think a cleaver makes short work of beef bones, you don’t want to see what it will do to your fingers. *shiver*

Sushi Knives (aka, the Yanagi)

Japanese sushi knives are long and narrow, easily slicing through fish without shredding the tender flesh. The goal of these knives, which range from 8″-13″, is to allow the chef to cut through fish in a single, backward stroke without having to reposition the knife. The Japanese believe that the way foods are cut have a huge bearing on how they taste, so these knives have been specially designed to maintain the integrity of sushi-quality fish.

Permalink | Posted in Equipment, Food Writing on Jun/Fri/2009
Post tags:
© Stephanie Stiavetti for Wasabimon!, 2009.

Don’t forget to enter to win your own Shun Ken Onion chef’s knife, a $250 value.

Next in our learning about cutlery series, we’re getting down to the nitty-gritty. With such a wide selection of knives on the market, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of options. Do you have to spend $1000 on a 583-piece butcher block set? Do you really need that cleaver designed specifically for taking down a buffalo? Actually, you don’t. With a few carefully selected pieces, you’ll make short work of 90% of your kitchen tasks – and love doing it.

Which Knife Do You Need?

So, what are the most important knives to know? I’d say you need three: a paring knife, a serrated bread knife, and a chef’s knife.

Paring Knives

Let’s start small: measuring in at between two and four inches long, paring knives are short blades with a pointy tip. Despite their dinky size, these versatile pieces of cutlery are an integral part of your cooking arsenal. Paring knives are great tools for scoring, peeling, boning (get yer mind out of the gutter, you pervs), and anything else you that requires a small point with maximum control. Navigating small areas is something you’ll do frequently as a home chef, and the paring knife is made with these tasks in mind.

Serrated Bread Knives

Serrated bread knives are great for cutting anything that’s crusty on the outside and delicate on the inside. Think baguettes, bagels, and pineapples: you want something hard core enough to get through the tougher outer part while not obliterating the lovely fleshy bits. Serrated knives also make quick work of tomatoes and citrus, easily slicing through their teflon-like skin.

Chef’s Knives

A chef’s knife is your all-around workhorse. They’re made to do almost anything, excelling at chopping vegetables, slicing winter squash and cutting through chicken bones. A solid chef’s knife will should be heavy, but not to the point that you’ll get fatigued using it for a long period of time – as such, it’s super important to try them out at the store before selecting a model!

Chef’s knives can come in all sorts of sizes – 7″ to 10″ are the most popular – and their weights can range all over the map as well. Solid Wustoffs are serious, hefty blades, while Globals are lighter and easier to wield. Which you use depends completely on your height, the shape of your hand, your upper body strength, etc.

We’ll go more into selecting a specific model later. But for now, do you have a favorite knife? Which is it, and what do you use it for most?

You might check out these posts from other food bloggers:

• Choosing a Knife: Metals and Materials (wasabimon)
• Reasons for Buying a Quality Chef’s Knife (christies-corner)
• Choosing a Chef’s Knife (chilicheesefries)

Permalink | Posted in Equipment, Food Writing on Jun/Wed/2009
Post tags:
© Stephanie Stiavetti for Wasabimon!, 2009.

Monday we started off the cutlery series by announcing a huge drawing for your very own Shun Ken Onion 8″ chef’s knife. Didja enter? You should.

Today we’re going to start at the very beginning: metals. Knives can be made of a range of materials, and if you’ve ever shopped for cutlery, you’ve probably read a billion different metal-related buzzwords. Stainless, carbon, high carbon… what’s the difference? Here are some of the most common metals you might hear of when researching kitchen cutlery:

Carbon Steel

Kitchen knives have been made from carbon steel for centuries. Carbon steel is essentially iron with a little carbon added in, which makes for a stronger blade that keeps an edge much longer than a solid iron blade. While these knives are known for being solid workhorses, they also rust easily and don’t stand up very well to acidic compounds. If properly seasoned, carbon blades can become more resistant to breakdown.

Still, a good carbon steel knife will last forever if properly cared for, and some folks relish the dark stains they develop as they would stripes on a military uniform. Even though the market has been taken over by newfangled stainless steel cutlery, carbon steel knives are still treasured by chefs who appreciate a solid kitchen tool.

Stainless Steel

In the early 20th century, stainless steel was developed by adding chromium to carbon steel to make it more durable and resistant to rust. Stainless steel is also much slower to corrode when exposed to acids (hence the name stainless steel, duh). It’s important to note, though, that no steel knife is completely invincible – they all break down when exposed to acids, salts, and moisture. This is why you’re supposed to wash and dry your knife immediately after using it, but you already knew that, right?

Other factors: stainless knives don’t take an edge as well as carbon steel blades, and they’re more of a bear to sharpen. This is why knife manufacturers are always futzing with their metal mixtures, trying to come up with the perfect balance of strong/sharp/soft/etc. Recipes for steel are almost as prolific as recipes for cookies, and they’re kept under lock and key.

High-Carbon Stainless Steel

High carbon stainless steel is basically stainless steel with a little more carbon added (get it, high carbon?). This is supposed to make the knife both stain resistant and more capable of holding an edge, though the jury is still out as to how effective this is in practical, every day use. While high carbon cutlery may hold its edge a little longer than standard stainless steel, it’s not by a huge margin.

Damascus Steel

Damascus, or pattern welded steel, is more of a process than a type of metal. By taking a few different kinds of steel and layering them together, artisan knife-makers achieve unique patterns in their cutlery. Take a peek and you’ll notice that Damascus knives have interesting-looking patterns throughout the metal blade, and these patterns actually go all the way through the knife. Anything called “Damascus-look” isn’t really damascus at all; it’s most likely a superficial pattern that just looks pretty.

Damascus knives are super expensive but woo-wee, are they gorgeous. Someday I’ll get my mitts on a custom Bob Kramer knife… once I’m rich and famous. Actually, pattern welding is something I’ve always been interested in. I’d love to actually make my own someday.

Other Metals

Knife manufacturers put all sorts of metals in their steel mixtures. They can contain such compounds as cobalt, nickel, manganese, and others, each having their own properties. There’s no such thing as “the perfect knife” – each manufacturer will tell you that their steel recipe is the best for X and Y reasons. In the end they’re all pretty similar, and unless you’re interesting in becoming a major metallurgy geek, the only way to truly understand which knives are stronger and sharper is to use them yourself.

Ceramic

Clearly, this isn’t a metal at all. Ceramic knives are becoming more popular these days, and they’ve got a few advantages: they’re super lightweight, they keep an edge for an extraordinarily long time, and they don’t stain, rust, or react to acids. The downside is that they can chip or shatter if not cared for properly, and that’s a big bummer.

Ceramic knives are a lot of fun to use. They cut through veggies like a light saber and their lack of heft makes them feel like an extension of your arm. Plus, there’s just something really satisfying about a super sharp white blade. It kind of turns me on.

Win Your Own Shun 8″ Chefs Knife!

And don’t forget to enter the “Shun Kitchen Knives are Bad Ass” Contest to win your own Shun Ken Onion 8″ chef’s knife. This baby will change the way you chop, that’s for sure.

Permalink | Posted in Equipment on Jun/Wed/2009
Post tags:
© Stephanie Stiavetti for Wasabimon!, 2009.