Recent content by Hardly Core

I came across an older Carbon steel Ontario Knife Company "Old Hickory" knife. It cleaned up pretty well, now I want to sharpen it. I would also like to start practicing on a sharpening stone, and this knife presents me with the perfect opportunity to learn, as I only paid $3 for it. So, what...

Yes the store let me spend a good 40 minutes trying out a bunch of knives. It was fun. And it showed me how much a knife needs to "fit". A few were really nice, but obviously not right for my from the first cut. Yes, I have provisions to safely store my knife. I have a good sized...

So, I went to the kitchen store last night. I tried 7 knives out on some carrots. I chopped and chopped. I cut big chunks, I cut strips, I diced up some cubes and eventually, after having nothing but finely shredded and minced carrot in front of me, the Shun Classic 10" chef's knife won me...

My bro in law went there a few years ago. He did culinary school, the went on to become a butcher. Nice campus. Good luck with your studies and welcome to the site. I joined only a week or so ago myself. Some very goo insight here.

I can't wait for tuesday to chop a few carrots in the store with a few different knives. they have a wonderful demonstration kitchen to try them out in! Thanks for the help everyone.

Some very good food for though JP. thank you. AARRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!! I'm so torn. So if I want a knife to own for 80 years, I should probably go Euro carbon steel. (which I'm drawn to because I love all things French and all thing of old technology and simplicity). I won't be unhappy at all...

Despite it being called a coffee "grinder" I do believe it is much more of a chopper. When I chop garlic for example to rub on my steaks before I BBQ them, I also squish all the juices to the surface of the little bits of garlic to bring out the flavour. Adding a tiny bit of salt enhances this...

I'm afraid I have to strongly disagree. especially in cases where the food is not cooked, the grinding adds greatly to the overall end flavour.

Fair enough. I know the guy personally though, and I know he is good at and proud of what he does.

some very good input, thanks everyone. I'm still drawn to carbon steel. It will be used daily, and well taken care of. Also, I may not know how to sharpen it myself but the store I'm buying from offers free sharpening for life. (a good deal I figured). And I know I'll learn how to do it...

A coffee grinder may work well. But really it's just chopping everything into smaller bits. It's not actually grinding the flavour from different fresh ingredients together. Like smushing garlic, there is something to be said about grinding the juices out of fresh herbs.

Are you the college in North Bay?

If you pre-heat the cast iron you don't need to pre-bake the home-made crust. when you put the crust on the iron it starts to cook right away. then top it, then bake it for a few minutes. It really turns out perfect. not to say I won't try other methods, but this is my go to way of doing a...

I wouldn't shy away from cast iron though. I make all my omelets and egg dishes in mine. It works as well as any non-stick pan I've used. I use it for baking, for frying, for making sauces. The best part is that I can scrape it, cut on it, use whatever I want on it. It's very versatile...