That Time of Year

As usual with this time of year things get a little busy with home and work, so the posts may be fewer and farther between.

Just keep one thing in mind.

HAVE A GREAT HOLIDAY SEASON!

Slicer Study (For You Knife Nuts Out There)

I've been running tuna carpaccio lately so I decided to do a little comparison of knives, blades and blade types when it came to slicing raw tuna. For carpaccio I'm looking for large thin slices about an 1/8 inch so I cut from a whole loin. The idea is to cut "sheets" of tuna. You can see in the title picture how they're used.

I sharpened each knife just prior to the test.



Watanabe 270 Damascus Sujihiki
The blade has a satin finish so it tends to be a bit "sticky". This is also a case where size does matter. I ran out of knife. If this was a 330 it would have done the job nicely. Light comfortable knife to use. Not one of my favorites.

Nenohi Highest Kasumi 270 Kiritsuke
Again I could have used a little more blade, length that is, the wider the blade the more the protein sticks to it and this blade is WIDE. Although it performs wonderfully on smaller "loins".

Mizuno Tanrenjo 390 Special Blue DX Honyaki Yanagi
No shortage of blade here. Length or width. It cuts smoothly and thinly but gets a little grabby and some tuna separates with the back stroke. Other wise it cuts like butter.

Masamoto 360 White steel Hon Kasumi Yanagi
I say it over and over, "my Masamoto kicks ass". It's my favorite slicer. It gets sharp as hell and as you can see here it doesn't grab the protein. It performed the best over all in this test.

"86" Samurai Salad Man

Our Samurai salad man (aka Blake) has informed us he will be moving on to bigger and better things. He has done the right thing and given proper notice. I thank him for that because I have a sneaky feeling that he will be back.

He's been itching to get behind the line and I think his new position will offer him that. I caution him though, because someone gives you an opportunity it doesn't mean you're ready. It could do more harm than good. Never the less, I fault no one for stepping out and giving it a shot.

Good luck Blake.

In other staffing news:

Justin continues to improve and prove himself valuable. He has been splitting duties between cold kitchen and the line and is doing a great job.

Cacho (my Sous Chef)is still a rock and continues to be the glue that binds this kitchen.

Victor is a serious saute man. That little dude rocks.

Miquel is a happy dishwasher, salad man and 2nd saute. A happy crew is a fast crew.

Lo Lo is doing a great job holding down the fort busting suds.

Jeff, though part time is doing a nice job on saute or in the middle.

Good ole Juan still contributes on the weekend as the "old timer" on salads and desserts.

Cook Book Synergy

A tip of the hat to Michael Walsh for facilitating a cookbook discussion on the chef's blogoshere. I'm not an authority but it prompted me to take a snap shot of my cook book shelf. It's grown considerably over the nine years we've been cooking here.

aaahh, just to the point of flaking. Way fresh sable fish aka "black cod", Alaskan spot prawns sauteed with poblano and red pepper, brandy and prawn shell reduction. (yum)


I'm not sure if the onions work. They eat good though.

(I encourage you to click for close-ups)
Find me a prettier salad.