Finally got a 'Spiralizer'

General Cooking tips

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PLUMPUDDING
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The box is 30cm x 26cm x 15cm.
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Ricard with an H
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I agree that the pencil sharpener type is 'of limited use'. If you you have a large carrot or courgette it works to some extent but keeps getting blocked by the centre of the carrot that is not being spiralled. What I do, out of determination, I spiral both ends then use the peeler type and finally a knife.

A better option is my professional mandolin that has an attachment so as you slice it also shreds though that is also a faff. I'm more likely to use the potato peeler type though I hate being beaten so always try a new approach before giving up entirely.

Yesterday we made my favourite pasties which are based on a 'Cranks' cookbook. Wholemeal pastry filled with a mix of equal parts potato, swede, carrot, onion an amount of grated cheese to suit your taste or obsession with diet. We just use salt, pepper and fresh herb. Sautée the veg first to soften it. The tool I used will always be my tool of choice, a quality knife that is super sharp. In fact having a range of sizes of super sharp knives makes life so much easier in the kitchen.

The only reason I raise this is that whenever I visit any home and check the knives they are always dull.

Lakeland now do a range of Damascus knives that are less costly than most, I do wish I could warrant spending the money though my knife set is good it isn't up there with Damascus knives.
How are you supposed to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle if it completely removes a wine lover’s reason to live?
Richard.
Westi
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Hi Richard!

I've just been browsing the Lakeland catalogue that came with the newspaper as the edge keeper range on the cover looked interesting. When you finish with the knives you put them into their own scabbard which has the right angle & shape for each individual knife & is really thin & sharpens every time you put it away.

I actually sharpened my Global's today with his fine file thing we bought at the Southampton boat show probably 10 years ago. You got one magnetic handle to pop the file on & two files. Once you master the angle it is very good. It has a coarser file for garden equipment & that works brilliantly on the hoe.
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Ricard with an H
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Thanks for the nudge on sharpeners Westi, even though I'm professional when it comes to sharpening knives I had often thought about buying one of the gadgets that have ceramic stones set at an angle. I bought one for a pal who had a fabulous Wusthauf chefs knife but the knife never got sharpened.

Global knifes are professional so should hold an edge, my knives are a professional range but not up to Global or Wusthauf and fortunately Mrs doesn't use the larger ones so they rarely need to be sharpened. It's the smaller ones in the set that get blunted from carefull cutting onto a PLATE. (Smile)

The gadgets I refer to relieve you of the skill needed in sharpening at the correct angle and because the ceramic is none sacrificial they should last a long time.

My immediate problem has been a good bean slicer, I have three of those that everyone else has got and no one ever managed to improve on the design but the cutting blades are naff when you consider how good graters are now compared to 20 years ago. That bean slicer must be a 20 years old, or older, design. It's ok, I don't get on with things that are " ok ".

I'm in a green bean glut, eating beans daily and freezing some. Picking them before they get half an inch wide seems a good idea. This will be my first year growing climbing beans, I always preferred French bush beans but they fall over. The ones I grew have white flowers. Can't remember what they are called, even the ones that won't go through the bean slicer are tender.

They keep coming and I'm away for a week next week so a big harvest when I get back. Slugs like them.
How are you supposed to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle if it completely removes a wine lover’s reason to live?
Richard.
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Geoff
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My wife uses Global knives (present from son) and loves them. Sharpens them with the ceramic/water gadget you mention. Only time I handle them is from drainer to storage block.
Are you growing Runner Beans or Climbing French? My wife just tops and tails French Beans then freezes them whole. Even though the modern Runner Bean crosses and supposed to be stringless she takes the edges off with a peeler then slices them with a knife.
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Ricard with an H
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Geoff wrote:Are you growing Runner Beans or Climbing French?


I'm sure I told you I was going to sow French climbing beans, I'm growing a runner bean called Moonlight. Maybe I switched at the last minute because of something I read because I mostly avoid runner beans.

Moonlight is a very nice tender bean and a pleasant surprise for me, I wouldn't know if they are cropping well compared to others. I can't keep up and already have enough in the freezer.

Regarding the way I prepare, I have always loved my beans sliced lengthwise rather than diagonal and the odd large one I harvested I ran the peeler along the edges first just to reduce the size though I have yet to have a stringy one so maybe they are stringless and why I did a U turn at the last minute from French climbing.

A nice surprise Geoff.

Back to the Damascus knives with a warning to anyone considering, yes, they have a very hard sharp edge that stays sharp and a superb tool but it's so hard that it can break like glass if you're not careful with them. A better option if there is a risk of damage is to buy blades with a high Rockwell institute stamp on the blade of around 58 to 60 or a metallurgy content of something like this with variations of content. CO50-CR14-MO0.25. If they don't have this detail it may have worn off or with some well known pro knifes the blade construction is so well known they don't have to etch the details on the blade.

A set of Global knives ? Wow.
How are you supposed to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle if it completely removes a wine lover’s reason to live?
Richard.
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Geoff
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Moonlight are superb beans, I did think you were growing Cobra. My wife slices them very long not in chunks like some people do so probable almost the same effect as a slicer.
Westi
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My Runner bean tool is a Krisk little hand sized model not the big boy & quite cheap! You push the bean through the centre & the strings go outside the blades &you just cut the middle long strips into your desired length.

My French beans I top but not tail & if not too huge cook like that but other wise I just chop them into bite size pieces!
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Ricard with an H
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That's the name I was looking for Westi, Krisk. I have two, if you have two you're more likely to find one amongst all the stuff in the cutlery drawer.

The Krisk bean slicer was well designed and on sale for countless years, no one has improved on it. The blades can't be sharpened so you have to buy another, and the main reason I have two. But why do I always find the blunt one.

My food grater has been replaced by three different sized micro-plane type graters, they are very very sharp and easy to use. The same designer/manufacturer should look at the Krisk bean slicer to improve it. It's just the blades really, they are poor after a short period of use.

If a really good design was produced we could have very thin strips of runner bean to go with spiralled carrot.

One of my chefs knives ended up in the dishwasher at the weekend, my "Er-indoors" is a very bright lady but I just cannot get her to understand about my obsession with knives. You'll be pleased I didn't make a fuss. My chefs knives have very good blades but the handles are not up to dishwasher cleaning and mostly only a wipe and dry cloth will be fine. Booooo. 0/10.

On a completely different subject and at the risk of digressing a digressed subject, I keep repeating myself. Not all the time, just occasionally. Then, during a conversation my train of thought is interrupted because I forgot the name of something or just forgot the plot. Am I in good company ? Or do I need treatment ?
How are you supposed to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle if it completely removes a wine lover’s reason to live?
Richard.
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Geoff
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I guess the doctors' acronym would be N470, well I hope so!
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Ricard with an H
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N470 ? It's an Intel atom ?

I'm worried.

A neighbour who was a civil engineer of some intel-ect has gone from working out the volume of my oval shaped oil tank to not knowing the difference between oil and petrol. I had to get his mower going twice now after he did things that stopped it working. Mostly he doesn't know what day it is and there is some self denial going on, supposedly to protect him.

He reported roadside water escapes twice over two months, put his name and address to the report, emergency crew turned out, Nothing. I could tell more but you get the picture.
How are you supposed to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle if it completely removes a wine lover’s reason to live?
Richard.
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Geoff
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As in 'Normal for Norfolk' but 'Normal for 70'.
There are lots of them http://messybeast.com/dragonqueen/medical-acronyms.htm but they are supposed to be banned, I made mine up.
It isn't amusing when the problem becomes dangerous.
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Ricard with an H
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Oh-yes, I understand now. I stopped doing it because so many fragile souls were offended.

Bless them.

MOVING-ON.

The Moonlight beans are proving to be the best ever in my experience, I just sliced a foot long bean that I would usually throw on the compost heap. After slicing and the pre-freezing dump in boiling water they were lovely, no stringiness. I suppose this is like being the father of a naughty boy who can do no wrong.
How are you supposed to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle if it completely removes a wine lover’s reason to live?
Richard.
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