You can look at silicone splatter covers, which wash better, but may have the same “might as well not be there” effect.
My un-helpful advice would be to not deep fry in a wok, get a tall stock pot, which should decrease the splatter because it requires more energy to escape.
Oil storage is the reason I don’t deep fry at home. Alton Brown recommends buying oil in big metal jugs, get a huge funnel and coffee filters, and re-filtering the oil back into the can when you’re done frying, for re-use. Eventually, when the oil has broken down too much to be recoverable, just throw the whole thing away and get a new one. Like I said, I decided it just wasn’t worth it for the frequency with which I consider frying. If I did it more often, probably just buy a countertop frialator.
Never use a wok for deep frying on a regular stove burner! Most woks have very small flat surfaces on the bottom. That means that they are inherently unstable. The more liquid in them, the more likely that they will tip and dump some oil right onto the flame. Bad news there.
Heck, even if you’re using a large and deep pot, you should have a fire extinguisher around. Accidents happen. It’s better to get that powder all over your kitchen than having to run outside while you’re talking to 911.
Probably just want to get a little fry daddy or something, to be honest. If you’ve got the counterspace to set it up for use, it’s just gonna be a lot easier to deal with than something on the oven. IMO, at least.
I know I’m not the first one to get to this, but a mandolin is serious business when it comes to the cut yourself department. I fully expect someone going to town on one could take off more than one slice of their hand before they even realized they got cut.
I’m browsing Amazon and reviews for cutting gloves often mention mandolins. :)
Edit: BWAHAHAHA I just noticed that in my amazon search for cutting gloves (why had I never heard of these before they were mentioned here???) that a Benriner Mandolin is in the search results. :)
I’ve never even used a mandolin because I can so clearly envision what it would do to my fingers. That said, I’ve shave off a fingertip a few times with a chef’s knife as well.
With a mandolin, always use the hand guard or get a kevlar glove (like I believe Alton Brown suggested in one episode of good eats).
Every time I don’t use one I end up cutting myself, or getting very close to cutting myself.
Also, Houngan, thanks for the suggestion on the flat lid for the food processors. I ordered one and it should be here today. Cleaning the safety lid is absolutely one of the most annoying things about using my food processor, and the main reason I don’t use it more.
True of everyone. Provided I’m not doing anything oily/fatty I can literally take it off with one hand, pass it under the water in the sink, and it’s clean. I haven’t bought prepared red sauce from the store in years, it’s just so easy to plop in a can of whole tomatoes, herbs, and go.
It’s rock solid and big, no fear of that. I also have a giant fire extinguisher - as in thigh high - squirreled away in an easily accessible spot. Won’t really help if I dump a quart of boiling oil on myself now.
I might have to go with that method CLWheeljack. Right now I have a great big plastic bin of canola oil in the basement but I don’t put oil back into it. I’ve tried filtering and storing it in another container but the filter clogged up constantly. A big funnel would help though.
No as an addition to. My stove is electric and the times I’ve used induction I really liked the responsiveness and heat control of induction way better. So the day I have the extra cash I’ll spring for a single burner model.
They’re really neat, but not better enough than a standard stove to be worth replacing an existing range. If I had the money and was building a new kitchen, sure. Although, I’m a gas man, and I’d also have to think hard about just getting an industrial gas range instead.
I don’t really have a use case for a separate stand-alone burner, but my kitchen is tiny, so I just don’t have space for one.
Anyone got any suggestions for a nice chef’s knife? Or perhaps a set of like 3-4 “must have” knives for food preparation. I don’t need the whole kit with the steak knives and such. Just kind of fed up with the ones I have and would like to use some of the tax return for a nice couple of knives. Preferably something non serrated so it’s easy to sharpen down the road.
I have a 8 or 10" (I forget) chef’s knife for chef-ing, a smaller serrated knife (for tomatoes), a paring knife, and a bread knife. That’s literally all I use, knife-wise. (Actually, I have 2 chef’s knives, for convenience when cutting raw meat and veggies separately). The chef’s knives are the only ones I really care about, I have Henckel’s because I was given them as gifts years ago, and I’ve never seen the need to replace them. So, not a lot of range of experience, but I’d recommend the ones I have.
Some people will recommend just buying cheap bulk food service knives and replacing them every year or so. I can’t really argue with that approach economically (assuming you get your knives professionally sharpened occasionally, which I do) but I do like the heft and look of my knives, and that has some value.
It’s brilliant for a lot of reasons besides price. Perfect blade profile, it’s thin so a 10" feels like an 8" expensive knife and you will love having the extra length, good steel, good grip. I don’t know about replacing it every year, I’ve had mine for years and it hasn’t changed at all, I just hit it with a bigass ceramic sharpener every few weeks:
I grip my chef’s knife by pinching it just above the bolster, so thin knives bite into my forefinger if I’m trying to cut anything that requires any force. For that reason I prefer thicker blades. I suppose if I were a manly man with callouses and whatnot, I wouldn’t notice.
Really, it’s about whatever works best for you. If you don’t already have a pretty good idea, go to store where you can hold it before buying it yo figure out your grip, the length you’re comfortable with, etc.
I have an 8" Wusthof chef’s knife which is what I use for general purpose cutting. I also have a santoku knife with scalloped edge that I find handy for making thinner cuts. A paring knife and serrated edge knife round out the must haves. I also have a carving knife, but it isn’t something I would classify as a must have. I have a Chinese cleaver which is useful for mincing, again not a must have.
I understand that all that money in your account is causing you some pain. Mr. Itoucan help you with that pain.
On the other hand, we use the $27 Victorinox that Houngan mentioned and the thing is bulletproof. You may also want to look at these paring knives. You don’t have to get the purple one, but for less than 10 bucks, these are great.
