Gravy's Cooking Thread

You can just use it in place of sour cream and it's baller because it has so much more depth and flavor than sour cream. The other big thing is that it doesn't fall apart over heat, so it functions more as a replacement for cream except with more flavor.

'Nother vote for Victorinox knives. If you aren't going to spend $150-200+ for a knife, buy a Victorinox. There is nothing that competes in that price range of the $20 they cost. Also get a honing steel.

All Whole Foods have Creme Fraiche. Most larger normal grocery stores do, as well.

Re: Pots/Pans. I have some All-Clad pieces and they are nice, but I also have Modernist Cuisine. Turns out, the incredibly expensive pans? Not worth it. They cooked a bunch of things under thermal imaging cameras and the single greatest factor was burner size relative to pan size. That's it. The cheap-ass completely stainless steel pan heated up and cooled down at a rate not dramatically different from the $300 All-Clad Copper Core line. If you have small burners the best solution they came up with was to go to a metal shop and ask them to cut you an inch thick 1' by 1' block of aluminum, put it on your burner, put cheap ass pan on top. Also shiny pans cook more efficiently, dark pans end up radiating a lot of waste heat into the room.

I understand Viking and a couple of other manufactures are taking this data to heart and actually making variable burner size stoves, where you can adjust the size of the burners based on your pan.

The Master_sl said:

'Nother vote for Victorinox knives. If you aren't going to spend $150-200+ for a knife, buy a Victorinox. There is nothing that competes in that price range of the $20 they cost. Also get a honing steel.

All Whole Foods have Creme Fraiche. Most larger normal grocery stores do, as well.

Re: Pots/Pans. I have some All-Clad pieces and they are nice, but I also have Modernist Cuisine. Turns out, the incredibly expensive pans? Not worth it. They cooked a bunch of things under thermal imaging cameras and the single greatest factor was burner size relative to pan size. That's it. The cheap-ass completely stainless steel pan heated up and cooled down at a rate not dramatically different from the $300 All-Clad Copper Core line. If you have small burners the best solution they came up with was to go to a metal shop and ask them to cut you an inch thick 1' by 1' block of aluminum, put it on your burner, put cheap ass pan on top. Also shiny pans cook more efficiently, dark pans end up radiating a lot of waste heat into the room.

I understand Viking and a couple of other manufactures are taking this data to heart and actually making variable burner size stoves, where you can adjust the size of the burners based on your pan.

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I've got a stack of some pretty nice knives, but for some reason, the price on them has gone up 3x-5x. While still really awesome, it's hard for me to recommend on price/performance alone. That goes to Victorinox; still sharp enough to get the job done, but at killer prices...and easily better than anything in their price range, and lots better than Popular Housefrau Brands.

Pots/pans. I use a cheap Italian brand that I got at Costco. Cheap, able. Used expensive stuff...no better. As for the metal shop thing, you can get cheap cook's pans that have the same thing (giant slug of metal on the bottom)...can get them from restaurant supply stores. When I need thermal inertia, though, I still use cast iron. The non CI stuff are handy, though...and cheap. Keep in mind that I don't need a lot of thermal stability in my cookware, but if you do, then big slabs of metal under SS is needed to keep the temp from dropping out of cooking range when you drop a big slab of meat or whatever on there.

Viking appliances...complete shit. Had them. Always broken, breaking or back-orderd parts. I tried to sell them after 5 years, and no one was interested. They got recycled (put into a metal grinder). That doesn't mean what they are saying isn't right, though. My GE gas has 1 really small burner, 1 less really small burner, and two burners that could slow cook a fucking Brontosaurus. My old Jenn-Air gas would vary the flame size based upon knob setting...totally independent upon burner size. At least now, all my wooden spoons look well used...as in burned to a crisp between the spoon part and the handle.

That isn't true. That is the point. People thought that was true. Then they went and actually tested it for the first time ever. Turns out? Not true. The only real factor is burner size. I'm not talking about the flame, I am talking about the size of the circle of the burner relative to the pan. And it is relative to pan size, a small burner on a large pan is just as bad as a large burner on a small pan.

And you're not getting an inch of aluminum on a pan.

Bellweather farms is a brand of creme fraiche that is very common in socal markets. You may find the cream in the dairy section with regular heavy cream (where it should be) or mistakenly placed in the cheese spread section. I think people who stock the shelves confuse it with a spread since it comes in a small tub and has a weird name.

For any of you who aren't pussies about sodium, throwing a bag of frozen chicken breasts into a slow cooker and covering it with a bottle of buffalo sauce for 6-7 hours, pulling it apart with a fork, and letting the rest of the sauce soak up into the chicken is fucking delicious.

I love Muesli! I get the sugar free stuff and put a teaspoon of honey and a some cinnamon into it!

I love mixing Greek Yogurt with my Muesli, sooooo fucking delicious!

Sir Funk_sl said:

I love mixing Greek Yogurt with my Muesli, sooooo fucking delicious!

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Flavoured yoghurt....real good! shame I'm lactose intolerant!

Shhmmooove_sl said:

Flavoured yoghurt....real good! shame I'm lactose intolerant!

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So is my wife. Try almond yoghurt, works like a charm for her.

chaos_sl said:

I'm starting to think ahead to Thanksgiving. I'm not going to do anything too crazy. I think turkey, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, and something new. I just have to figure out what that will be, but I'm looking through websites trying to get ideas.

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Think ahead? Shit's in like 4 days bro!

As much as I like green beans, it doesn't seem like a cool festive dish, and if overcooked they're all mushy/gross. Definitely need some more veggies in there, though. Brussel sprouts are all the rage right now (and a personal favorite - halved and grilled), or maybe just a cobb salad if you've got a lot of peeps.

Whoever was looking for non-stick pans earlier, you might be interested in this deal

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER