In the Kitchen with DKDetective and InCali: All Things Food, Wine, and Spirits, Etc.

[InCali]

When I designed the remodeling of our home, I really maximized the living area part of it. The downside of that is that we don't "quite" have enough storage space. I've done some creative thinking, replaced the side by side washer/dryer with stackable models and put in a 7 foot high utility closet next to them which helped. I also opened up the ceiling in a hallway and created a storage loft. After that, I figured out how to fit a larger, 5', vanity in the bathroom (without making things crowded) and installed a 5x3' medicine cabinet, There wasn't much I could do with the kitchen since the cabinets are fixed and there's no room for the S**T ton of glassware that never gets used that my wife likes to have around. Because of this, room for pots and pans is limited and they take up a LOT of space. I wanted to hang them on the wall but the idea was vetoed (NO. NO. NO!!! That's EFFING UGLY!!!)

So, I got to thinking about it and found some stackable pots and pans with removable handles. The set includes:

8" frying pan
10" frying pan
12" frying pan

6.5" sauce pan
8" sauce pan
10" sauce pan

10" griddle pan

It comes with 3 lids (8, 10,12") that fit both the sauce pans and frying pans and I already have a 6.5" lid. The entire set fits in about a 13x13x8" space; which is less than 1/3 of the space currently being taken up.

I'm not sure how they will wear and if I have to replace them in a year or so, it won't be the end of the world. I was having a really hard time finding the quality I was looking for so if anyone has any suggestions, I'd like to hear them.

 

[InCali]

So here's a pic of the new set of 7 pans (3 sauce, 3 frying, 1 griddle) with lids, silicon caps for refrigerator storing or serving, felt protectors, 3 removable handles, and silicon utensils (not shown). If you want to use them as serving plates, you can do that by just putting them on a trivet or something like that and detaching the handles. The bottoms are actually pretty beefy and seem like they'll heat evenly.

They're designed to all fit in each other and save a lot of space.

It's a cool idea and I'll see how long they last. I think they'll be okay for awhile as long as we take care of them.

 

[InCali]

Bummer......I have a 48", 6 burner Thermador range with a griddle that I bought 20 years ago. It's been pretty much aces, but recently the two left hand burners haven't been working correctly. They will light sometimes, but the igniter keeps clicking once it's on.

I called the repair person and they quoted me $750 to fix it.....not the end of the world...right? Well, I just got a call from the repair people and they told me the parts are no longer available. It's some Fing circuit board....uggghhhhh.....new stove unless I can find someone who can fix it. Personally, I'd just use 4 burners, but I got overruled.

Doesn't anyone make a quality range that doesn't need a bunch of electronics? I don't need an EFFING touch screen and I don't care if my range has an IQ less than the dumbest MFer that ever passed their GED (aka Lauren Boebert).

I worked as an electronics engineer and designed some pretty cool stuff, but don't need a range that talks to me, alerts me when it's feeling bad, or sends me holiday cards. I need knobs, igniters, a gauge, and gas.

 

[InCali]

If I can't get someone to fix the stupid circuit board on my stove, I've been thinking about getting a Viking stove that's their "basic" model. That means it doesn't have a lot of electronics and seems to be mostly using basic semiconductor technology for controls and mechanical knobs. I haven't done a deep dive yet, but this looks like what I'd like as it appears to be a simple design using mostly commercial grade materials.

I saw that Viking had some serious quality control issues in the not-so-distant past, but they appear to have rectified those issues.

The bottom line is that it's nice to have certain features for certain kinds of devices, but these same features generally mean higher failure rates and more expensive repairs. I don't need to remotely turn on my stove, adjust the temperature of my refrigerator from my car, or turn on my lights when I'm at a restaurant. I want to turn a knob to cook things, take food out of a cold refrigerator, and put leftovers back into it so they don't spoil. I know that's a lot to ask, but.......

 

[Lily Adler]

This monstrosity.

 

[InCali]

So, I got my new range and rather like it. The first thing I did was check out exactly how it works. It uses mainly thermocouple technology which it very reliable and inexpensive (although I daresay, someone will figure out how to make it more expensive than it should be) and has minimal electronic circuitry.

Basically, the way a thermocouple works is that it creates a voltage when two different metals are connected to each other and heat is applied. The voltage is proportional to the heat, so you can tell by the voltage what the temperature is. This allows the oven to know when to turn off and on to maintain a particular temperature. It also uses the same technology in it's ignition system. If a flame were to go out, the temperature of the thermocouple (voltage) drops and it sends a signal to close the gas valve.

Pretty cool. Huh? Things don't have to be complicated to work well.

I also got a cast iron grill that straddles 2 gas burners (the range is an 8 burner model) so I can have 6 burners and a griddle/grill (it's reversible) or 8 burners.

The only thing I need to get is an infrared temperature measurement device for the griddle. It's basically a gun that you point at an object and it tells you how hot it is. They are pretty cool devices (I used to design them for a place in Santa Cruz called Raytek before they were bought out by Fluke or something like that). They are probably more complicated than the range. The device works by measuring infrared energy via a sensor, converts it to a voltage, and from that you can tell what the temperature is after adjusting for the emissivity (the amount of energy released by an object). Different objects can give off different levels of infrared energy at a given temperature due to the particular material, color, and finish.

 

[tzarinna]

I didn't see a Thanksgiving thread. My son finally confessed that he doesn't like turkey and requested lamb. I didn't prepare everything I had planned because I really wasn't in the mood, but we had plenty and leftovers for a couple of days.

 

[InCali]

I didn't see a Thanksgiving thread. My son finally confessed that he doesn't like turkey and requested lamb. I didn't prepare everything I had planned because I really wasn't in the mood, but we had plenty and leftovers for a couple of days.

Thanksgiving, to me, is giveth and taketh away. I like to cook and cleaning is sometimes tolerable. I frankly find it somewhat wasteful. My wife likes to totally overdo it on the food and I'm the one up at 6 doing the prep.

We had a turkey, ribeye roast (which we cut into steaks to accommodate everyone's rare to well done desires, stuffing, mashed potatoes, string bean casserole, shrimp cocktails, vege plate (which my wife insists on calling crudite, but I'm from the ghetto), pies, and so on. I made a ranch dressing that's super simple and super good for the cruddites (which may also be a group of cruddy people who lived 10,000 BC) and pesto. If anyone wants the recipe for either (or "I" ther according to my wife), let me know and I'll post it. They are both really simple and better than anything you'll buy.

So, I forgot my point...

Oh yeah, we have a ton of leftovers that no one wants to eat except me and the dogs, who, unlike your son, freaking LOVE turkey. I make them home cooked meals (If anyone wants that recipe, I'll post it too) and topping it with turkey is a big treat for them. The (3) dogs, who are mini poodles and descendants of the great Max the Dog (see my avi), each got a ribeye bone (uncooked....don't give your dog cooked bones as they splinter more easily and keep an eye on them with any bone you give them as they might be able to break off a shard).

So, I forgot my point....

Anyway, it's trash day the day after tomorrow and after 6 days everything must go. I hope I'll be able to reclaim my refrigerator. I have all kinds of good recipes I've collected over the years, so if anyone wants to make something, I might be able to help.

I think I've almost finished seasoning the new cast iron grill/griddle and am ready to make some of my world renowned country style home fried potatoes. Seasoning is actually a very interesting process. Maybe I'll write about it at some point if I want to put people to sleep (again).

Later.....

 

[Lily Adler]

These sound like a terrible idea...

 

[Dr.]

View attachment 156146

I thing of beauty. I'm guessing it costs more than some cars.

 

[InCali]

I thing of beauty. I'm guessing it costs more than some cars.

It was "relatively" inexpensive because it doesn't have all the bells and whistles; which is exactly what I was looking for. I looked at other commercial grade ranges and none of the rest of them (Wolf, Thermador, etc.) make a truly basic range. This one has a direct 120V connection to power that turns on the oven light and the same for the convection fan (small black switches on the left and right respectively). If the light or the fan stop working, it's either the switch or the device. Simple. On my old Thermador, the light and convection are powered via the circuit board below the burners. If their circuit goes down, you have to replace the entire circuit board. Depending on the board, you are looking at a replacement that costs in excess of $1,000 plus tax and labor.....and Trump isn't giving me a 1,000% off on the cost.

The heating levels, as I've described before, can be controlled using minimal circuitry. It also isn't self cleaning, but I don't mind that. IMO, most self cleaning ovens don't really work that well. I can do a better job cleaning my oven. It's really not that big of a deal. The main thing is to make sure that you don't have oil on the bottom of the oven and leave it there at high heat. Why? I wasn't really going to get into this, but it's kind of interesting.

So, when, say, vegetable oil, which is high in polyunsaturated fats, reaches its smoke point, the bonds of those fats break down, react with oxygen, and form long chemical chains known as polymers. To put it simply, it becomes a type of plastic, that is very, very difficult to get off because it actually binds with the metals to create a hard, smooth, dark surface. If you've heard of seasoning a pan (a poor choice of words IMO), This is what they are doing. Generally, they are putting a thin coat of oil on the bottom of a cast iron pan, heating it, and creating a plastic coating that is much more non-stick that the pan itself.

If fact, I did this with the griddle/grill I bought for the range. I won't use the grill because if I'm interested in cooking something in that way, I will use the BBQ. It just occurs to me that I can show you a couple of pictures to highlight what I'm saying. The way I seasoned the griddle (for pancakes, home fries, etc) was to wash it with hot, soapy water, dry it thoroughly, spread a thin layer of vegetable oil on the griddle, and heat it upside down in the over at just under 450 degrees for about an hour. I repeated this 3 or 4 times to get multiple thin coats on the griddle that should hold up really well. One note of caution....If you are going to use this technique, put something larger that what you are seasoning underneath is because if there is any drippage (and there will be), that oil will polymerize on the bottom of your stove and this you don't want.

If you want to go all out (I didn't), you can even sand the face of the cast iron with a whetstone or something like that to make the surface smoother because cast iron has a lot of nooks and crannies in it when it pops out of the mold. I think they use sand molds to.make cast iron and that's why it's so rough.

So, I'll send 3 pictures. The seasoned griddle, the flip side of the griddle, being the unseasoned grill, and the cookie pan I put under it to catch any oil that dripped off the griddle. You'll note the griddle is dark and shiny, and smooth (if it comes out in the pic). The grill looks like normal metal (even though they call it "pre-seasoned", it's very rough and just about anything will stick to it. I just looked at the picture of it and can see that a little bit of oil got on the grill and caused some discoloration). The kind of interesting thing is that when you look at the cookie sheet, you will see certain parts where the oil dripped on to it and polymerized. It will appear a brownish sort of stain that you've probably seen before on some cookie sheets and things of that nature. It is exceedingly difficult to remove, but the good news is that it doesn't hurt anything and you can still make cookies or whatever on it.

So, that's that.....

 

[InCali]

So, here's my first effort at cooking something on my new griddle. What I like about it is that it isn't fixed and it's heated by the gas burners. On my old stove, the griddle was heated by electric coils and it took a long time to get up to the temperature I wanted (although it had a gauge).

My son works odd hours and lunch isn't generally available to him where he works so I cook his lunch for him before he leaves. Today I made Chicken Parmesan and vegetable fried rice. Here's a pic of the chicken being browned.



Here's a pic of what the griddle looked like after I removed the chicken.



Here's what it looked like after I wiped it down with a paper towel after it cooled a bit.



And here's a pic after I washed it with a bit of warm water and put a new coat of oil on it. You shouldn't put cold water on a really hot griddle. Let it cool a bit, but don't let it sit overnight or anything before getting the gunk off.

 

[Lily Adler]

So, here's my first effort at cooking something on my new griddle. What I like about it is that it isn't fixed and it's heated by the gas burners. On my old stove, the griddle was heated by electric coils and it took a long time to get up to the temperature I wanted (although it had a gauge).

My son works odd hours and lunch isn't generally available to him where he works so I cook his lunch for him before he leaves. Today I made Chicken Parmesan and vegetable fried rice. Here's a pic of the chicken being browned.

View attachment 156332

Here's a pic of what the griddle looked like after I removed the chicken.

View attachment 156333

Here's what it looked like after I wiped it down with a paper towel after it cooled a bit.

View attachment 156334

And here's a pic after I washed it with a bit of warm water and put a new coat of oil on it. You shouldn't put cold water on a really hot griddle. Let it cool a bit, but don't let it sit overnight or anything before getting the gunk off.

View attachment 156337

Meanwhile someone out there:

 

[InCali]

Meanwhile someone out there:

View attachment 156339

I wish them luck.

 

[InCali]

So, I'm only a little bit embarrassed to admit I'm totally geeking out on this temperature measurement device I bought. It's WAY more cheaply built that the ones I designed, but our contract was with Caterpillar and they used them to measure the temperature of their tractor engines so if one started to heat up, they could take it off line and repair it before the engine seized up and they had to completely replace the engine. Saved them a lot of money.

The model I got doesn't adjust for emissivity (the amount of infrared energy put out by a given substance...various materials emit more or less infrared energy at the same temperature), but that ended up being okay because this particular model is preset with an emissivity of .95, which is just about what well seasoned cast iron emits. Since I'm only using it to measure the temperature of the griddle, it works for me. If I need to use it on something else, I can easily calc out the temperature according to the differing emissivity, but I doubt I'll have to.

I really like the griddle, but there's a slight downside. Since it spans two burners, the middle part doesn't get quite as hot as the sides. I don't think that's going to be a problem because the temp is only about 40 degrees lower in the middle than on the sides. I "think' if I heat it up above the temp I want to cook at and then lower the burner, the differential will shrink somewhat, but we'll see. The griddle has a good amount of thermal mass so it doesn't cool down very quickly.

The gun (see photo) has a laser so you can point and you know exactly what you are measuring. It also has a Fahrenheit/Celsius button. The technology is pretty cool. It's a little more complicated than this, but essentially, it has an infrared detector that generates a small voltage when it receives infrared energy, it then amplifies that voltage, and based on the voltage level, you can tell how hot an object is after factoring in the emissivity.

The sensors that trigger faucets, lights, etc work essentially in the same way, but they just have certain thresholds that trigger an on/off response. It senses your body heat and turns on. When it doesn't, it turns (or stays) off. It also has a counter that tells it how long to stay on once it doesn't sense energy. Faucets turn off fast and lights are configured to stay on a little longer. It's really a digital device as opposed to the more analog temperature measurement devices that gives you gradient information (temperature measurement). Those faucets, lights, etc that turn on when you need them to, were developed by my engineering group (2 of us) in the early 1980s (some people think RCA did it first, but that's not true). The concept of doing it was there, but we were able to refine the technology (electronic and optical) to actually make it commercially viable.

Okay.....now I'm slightly more embarrassed about geeking out over this, but not much.

I did notice when I made chicken parmesan the other day that the middle pieces didn't cook quite as quickly, but I just swapped them about halfway through cooking them with the ones on the outside and everything worked just fine. I think I'll make some home fried potatoes and see how it works at a higher temp.

Here's the pic from when I was first warming up the griddle.

 

[tzarinna]

It's well into soup and stew season. I'm going to make a pot of chili. Here's hoping my son doesn't eat it all in one day. I'll make cornbread to go with it, maybe two to fill him up.

 

[InCali]

It's well into soup and stew season. I'm going to make a pot of chili. Here's hoping my son doesn't eat it all in one day. I'll make cornbread to go with it, maybe two to fill him up.

I make a really good chili. What’s your recipe?

 

[tzarinna]

No real recipe just going with the flow.