Kitchen Equipment, Knives, Pots, Pans, Fridges etc.

[Adiaposus]

Interesting thread. I have been looking into ceramic pots myself and hearing claims about it...from the salesmen. Does ceramic pots have advantage in terms of heat conductivity and in being non-stick? Is the surface ok for sauteeing?

I am checking out cast iron pots as well and Lodge pots and pans really look good.

As for knives, I can do all with a cleaver knife and a small fruit knife (or whatever you call it).

[franzb69]

only reason why ceramic pots are great for me is that some of them impart an earthy flavor. but then i'm not sure what kind of ceramic pots we're talking about. if it's earthenware pots made out clay then they're great but they only last few times then they'll eventually crack or die on you.

sauteeing? depends on what clay pots we're talking about.

cast iron and carbon steel are need special attention and most lazy cooks will not want to bother with the extra maintenance.

maybe you can share pictures of the stuff you have. =D

[Taraq]

if you could post the picture of the knife, maybe i could comment on it. =D

ok....subukan ko tonight pag uwi ko.

[Adiaposus]

only reason why ceramic pots are great for me is that some of them impart an earthy flavor. but then i'm not sure what kind of ceramic pots we're talking about. if it's earthenware pots made out clay then they're great but they only last few times then they'll eventually crack or die on you.

sauteeing? depends on what clay pots we're talking about.

cast iron and carbon steel are need special attention and most lazy cooks will not want to bother with the extra maintenance.

maybe you can share pictures of the stuff you have. =D

Ceramic pots like those sold in SM Homeworld and most kitchenware stores. There are also ceramic knives, if you haven't seen some. I'm not talking about clay or earthen pots.

My concern is in the heat handling of these new-material pots. If they conduct heat inefficiently and unevenly like those stainless pots that do not have heat conductive bottom pad, then they would again be inefficient heat consumers.

I'd like to hear about somebody's actual cooking experience with ceramic pots.

[Taraq]

if you could post the picture of the knife, maybe i could comment on it. =D

eto na Franz

[franzb69]

a shun santoku. decent choice. i don't have the cash yet for stuff like that and i am holding off on purchasing a knife for myself (ones that are gonna be in the line with me in the kitchen)

practicing pa on my sharpening skills and knife skills before i drop the bomb on better knives than what i have now.

my problem with shuns is that they make handles that are mostly for right handed people. sure they make left handed ones as well but most sellers don't really realize this since it never gets questioned except by more knowledgeable people. shuns have a d-handle shape which is specific to ones dominant hand. i'm a lefty kase, so i have problems with many many knives, especially with japanese ones (kahit balak ko mag japanese knives talaga, i'm gonna start with low end ones and get up to custom made left handed ones) because they're mostly made for a specific dominant hand and almost always right handed people. left handed japanese knives are always more expensive (30%-50% more) and usually custom ordered. traditional japanese knives (basically 9 out 10) pa are sharpened on one side lang madalas, on the right side for righties and not like the common western style knife which is dual bevel and 50-50. some japanese knives pa nga are even sharpened 40/60, 30/70, 20/80. so right handed talaga. sucks for a left like me. shuns have a 50/50 bevel though, which is nice.

shuns have a faux damascus layer (aka pattern welded steel) which is what shows on your picture. mostly used to make it look pretty and not really much for anything else.

i'd like to point you to www.chefknivestogo.com and check out their offerings. they also offer shun and other more common knife brands as well. at least man lang may makita kang ibang choices, kahit medyo hindi available sa inyo, dyan balak ko kse bumili. walang ganyan kse dito sa pinas.

a shun santoku is perfectly a good choice in knives for home use. does the country where you stay also offer the free sharpening service from shun (basic with any shun purchase in the states) or bahala ka na sa buhay mo? if wala silang offer na ganon, you might as well start to learn how to sharpen knives as well.

i'd suggest to get a combination stone consisting of a 1000/3000 grit stone for maintenance. kahit anong ganda ng knife natin, it will get dull and it will need to be sharpened. specially pag di marunong gumamit.

check out this guy's videos on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/user/burkecutlery

he's a guy that knows what he's doing and is pretty much an expert on knives. he has vids on how to use a knife, the basic cuts, knife safety and hygiene, and also talks about how to choose a knife.

here's another channel i'd like to point out if anyone here wants to learn how to sharpen

http://www.youtube.com/user/Chefknivestogo/videos

the chefknivestogo youtube channel, talks about sharpening stones, how to use them, the kinds, sharpens different kinds of knives, etc.


Taraq, now that you have a nice knife, i'd urge you to also purchase a nice chopping board. specifically a large enough board to be of use for your knife.

the size of the board should be at least 2 inches larger from the ends of the knife when you place the knife on a diagonal at around the center of the board.

so not like this:



more like something along these lines:



para number one, maluwag. more work space.
number 2, para pag nilapag mo yung knife, it won't fall off the counter or the board. to keep accidents from happening. we don't want any fingers getting cut, or feet getting lopped off.

you can either get plastic or get a wooden chopping board. they say wooden boards are better and more hygienic, but maintenance of a wooden chopping board can get to be a hassle. so plastic ka nalang siguro. lol. nakakatamad na mag explain, pag may nagtanong nalang uli saka ko na explain. lol.

i'd get an end grain board made from hard wood if i were to get a wooden board. something along these lines:



it's gonna be heavier and more expensive than regular boards. but these will give you a lifetime of service and will be easier on your knife's edge. they'll help keep your knife's edge sharper because they don't bang on the edge as hard as "along the grain" boards.

here's an article on wood vs. plastic boards nalang para mas madali, ayoko na mag type eh. haha. kakagising ko lang.

http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/cutting_board.htm

knives benefit from a good chopping board, a person that knows how to use them, and of course one that knows how to maintain them.

respect for one's tools will leave you tools that will last you a lifetime.

[Taraq]

maraming salamat Franz. Dami ko natutunan and I'm sure going to learn more. Sana di ka magsawa.
Walang libreng hasa sa binilhan ko. meron mga sharpening stones na binibenta dun. Di ako bumili agad kasi gusto ko mag research muna kung ano ang dapat na gamitin ko. Buti at na mention mo ang 1000/3000 grit stone so I'm going to check it again this weekend.
I'll watch the videos you linked above sa bahay....blocked kasi dito sa ofc.

[franzb69]

Interesting thread. I have been looking into ceramic pots myself and hearing claims about it...from the salesmen. Does ceramic pots have advantage in terms of heat conductivity and in being non-stick? Is the surface ok for sauteeing?

ok, sorry last na sinagot kita wala ako sa hulog non. anyway....

ceramic nonstick pans....

they're great and should last longer than regular nonstick teflon pans. also doesn't have all these poisonous gases that are given off by the pan when they get heated by more than 400F-500F. teflon pans aren't advisable to be heated without having anything in it. it should have at least some oil on it before heating it up.

ceramic pans should perform better than the traditional teflon pans and even the anodized stuff since it's a harder surface a a safer surface to cook with.

even this 20$ ceramic pan performs quite well, i've seen it reviewed on youtube and they remarkable perform quite well.



here's a more familiar brand that gets sold here locally:



the orgreenic ceramic pan has issues, such as being made with thinner aluminum for their pans. but it's nonstick performance is top notch!

the green pan, and has about the same nonstick performance as the orgreenic, thicker aluminum for better heat retention.

i personally have three nonstick tramontina ceramic pans of different sizes



, one standard teflon "baked on" tramontina crepe pan

looks something like this



, and 1 le creuset 8 inch anodized nonstick omelette pan.



with the ceramic pans, you still have to be quite careful when cooking with them as the ceramic coating is brittle. you still can't readily use metal utensils with these, the same goes with anodized nonsticks that are also said to be tougher.

so i would still advise using wooden or heat resistant food safe plastic utensils for nonstick pans, of ANY kind.

so far, with my use the le creuset hard anodized is the best performer when it comes to heat retention as it's got a very thick aluminum body and a metal bottom for use on induction cookers (most nonstick pans won't work on induction as they don't have a metal bottom / metal plate)

with nonstick performance from the three kinds that i own, the le creuset works best.

with cast iron, my choice would be staub.

i'll post pix of the stuff i've added since i last posted what i got. i've added more sharpening stones, pans and another knife.


but personally, if you can avoid nonstick pans altogether, you should.

man has been cooking without nonstick pans for the past few hundred years, and all we've gotten from all these newer nonstick surfaces are poison and pollution. who knows baka biglang may magsabi na nagkasakit sila dahil sa ceramic or sa anodized nonstick surfaces. i wouldn't really advise it. kahit na andami kong nonstick pans. lol.

40/60 naman, half of my pans are nonstick and the other half is either stainless steel or cast iron / carbon steel.



oh and i had one of these while i was still in culinary school:



a sunnex nonstick 9.5" pan

bought it for practice on eggs. i gave it away coz i hated the fact that the nonstick surface would practically come off everytime i cooked with it. even with plastic utensils and my wooden spoon, gasgas agad. and noone wants to eat nonstick bits on their food. you're forced to use a heat resistant silicon spatula for wooking to keep the scratching to a minimum.

darn thing was too soft, the pan was too thin. you'd probably get a year out of it then you throw it away. oh well, 800 lang naman yun.

don't buy those things if you don't wanna get cancer.

i try to stay away from cooking on nonstick surfaces as much as i can. i still use my stainless steel pans better than any pan i have. for pan searing meat, my carbon steel and cast iron pans are my go to pans. nonsticks ko are almost always just for eggs or cheese para hindi dumitikit.

[franzb69]

There are also ceramic knives, if you haven't seen some. I'm not talking about clay or earthen pots.

kyocera is a good brand for ceramic knives, but there are others. kyocera's the only brand here that actually has a distributor and not sold as a gray market product.

not sure tho if they also offer free sharpening that kyocera in the states does. afaik wala.

i have a kyocera ceramic honing rod for honing my knives and truing the edge.


with any kind of pot or pan, the heat retention issue is always down to how thick it is, how the material is made, in this case if it's impact bonded, welded, or cladded steel, and what kind of heat your exposing it to.

isa lang naman question ko to be honest, how much are you willing to spend? if you're willing to spend a lot then you get better performance than the cheap stuff. you get what you pay for ika nga.

but of course there's such a thing as the law of diminishing returns. kahit magkano pa yan, there will always other things that will perform better and cheaper.

after checking out the material and how it's made, you just have to make sure that you have even heat coming off of your heating element. be it LPG, coal, electric heating plates or induction. kung di maganda ang nagbibigay ng heat, edi hindi rin talaga maganda ang bibigay sayo ng pan mo.

entry to mid level elba models or mid level la germania models come to mind. those are decent performers for home use. i miss cooking in a professional kitchen.

unless you wanna go custom made stuff with your heat, pwede naman. pasadya ka ng burners na maraming butas na pwede mo adjust kada isa like the pros use.

something like this:



each ring of fire has an adjuster.



once you have something decent to cook with, if it's not the burner then it's the pan talaga.

these babies are awesome to cook with:



mura pa kesa mag elba or whatever. cast iron and will last practically forever. once meron ka nyan, a person that knows how to cook knows that you are hardcore. lol. bad @$$ kung baga.

and if you have one of those that has the fan underneath, a turbine burner? now that is truly the ultimate in bad @$$ery. lol.


they may not be pretty, but they sure do their jobs well.

[Taraq]

^^ bilis siguro maubos yung isang tanke ng LPG nyan.

[franzb69]

yup. but gets the job a lot faster. =D

ito yung sinasabi ko, tatlong ring, tatlong adjuster, cast iron.

price: 1k





oh and about ceramic knives, they're not my thing. they're prone to chipping, and pag nalaglag mo may danger pa na mabasag. you can't just sharpen them yourself, modern ceramic knives have metal particles in them so they can get detected by metal detectors.

but they are great at a few things. they're non-reactive. so they're great with fish and vegetables. ever had sushi that tasted like metal? that's because naabsorb ng fish yung metal taste. they can get amazingly sharp, sharper than regular knives but nothing a japanese knife can't match or even beat. can't cut through bone or anything too hard or you will hurt yourself and wreck the knife.

[Taraq]

i'd suggest to get a combination stone consisting of a 1000/3000 grit stone for maintenance.

can't find this combo here. Kailangan ba 3000 ang fine na gamitin? Parang pino na rin kasi yung 1000.

[franzb69]

for everyday cutting pwede na ang 1000 grit. =D

anong brand nakita mong 1000 grit stone? king 1000 grit stones are decent enough for everyday use. not all stones are created equal.

malandi lang ako kaya gusto ko may 3k stone pa. totally unnecessary for home use.

pero lower grits like 600 and below for major bevel repairs, you'll need them eventually (most likely in one or two years) to reset the bevel.

that kind of sharpening will be discussed in further detail pag may nag tanong na. hehe.

dont cheapen out on the stones. mahal kutsilyo, dapat medyo maganda ganda na den na pang hasa gagamitin. sayang lang ang knife pag di mo ginamitan ng at least decent maintaining equipment.

=D

oh and if you don't wanna go straight to sharpening, you can get a honing rod for maintaining the edge as well.



here's a link to CKTG's how to use a honing rod / steel.

he's got sharpening vids as well so he knows his stuff well. i watched him and learned from him.

[Taraq]

Thanks.

for everyday cutting pwede na ang 1000 grit. =D

anong brand nakita mong 1000 grit stone? king 1000 grit stones are decent enough for everyday use. not all stones are created equal.

Shun and Global meron dito pero konti lang.

[franzb69]

either one will do the job taraq. =D

[stepehenyan@12]

nung nasa iscahm ako pinapagamit sa amin kutsilyo mga vanadium knives maganda ba yun!? me nabibili ba dito.

[franzb69]

nung nasa iscahm ako pinapagamit sa amin kutsilyo mga vanadium knives maganda ba yun!? me nabibili ba dito.

a lot of stainless steel knives contain vanadium. be specific please. mentioning the brand or maybe including a picture would help.

[Taraq]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGXGJ...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTq9V0-3mwg

[crazy_piggy]

Franz, may idea ka po saan makakahanap ng coffee/spice grinder dito? Hindi kasi masyado pino kung blender ginagamit pag grind ko yung cacao beans. Ganito sana okay na saken kaya lang overseas to, baka may alam ka locally saan pwede bumili.

http://www.ebay.ph/itm/LUMIX-COMPANY...item3cc842c52b

Ang tanim ko kasi puno ng cacao dito 2 lang tapos maliliit pa. Kung may mahinog na pods di naman ganun karami nakukuha kong beans para ipagiling pa sa palengke, minsan wala pa nga 12 tablets nagagawa ko na tablea.

Sa ngayon blender plus mortar and pestle pa style ko gumawa ng tablea bago ko ihulma gamit yung mold ng polvoron. Gusto ko sana may grinder para di na ako dadaan sa mortar and pestle step ang sakit sa kamay kasi.

Tapos saan ba pwede bumili ng pot racks? Yung pot rack namin inalis ko na dahil may damage yung part na kinakabitan ng chain, kelangan ko na palitan yung pot rack namin.

Thanks po!

[Taraq]

Franz, may idea ka po saan makakahanap ng coffee/spice grinder dito? Hindi kasi masyado pino kung blender ginagamit pag grind ko yung cacao beans. Ganito sana okay na saken kaya lang overseas to, baka may alam ka locally saan pwede bumili.

http://www.ebay.ph/itm/LUMIX-COMPANY...item3cc842c52b

Wala na yung item sa link.

Ganito gamit ko for chilis :