Hey Boar d laze !!

[MikeLM]

BDL-

You're probably way ahead of me on this, but if you haven't looked at the knife sharpening chapter in Leonard Lee's Sharpening you definitely should. The book is mostly devoted to woodworking tools, but the knife chapter is, like the rest of the book, excellent. You could steal a bunch of stuff from it!

Lee is the founder and retired CEO of Lee Valley Tools Ltd., a premier supplier of woodworking, gardening, and kitchen tools. I am pretty sure that he was the person who first suggested that the Microplane wood rasp might be pretty handy in the kitchen, too.

Mike

[boar_d_laze]

Originally Posted by MikeLM

[...]if you haven't looked at the knife sharpening chapter in Leonard Lee's Sharpening you definitely should. The book is mostly devoted to woodworking tools, but the knife chapter is, like the rest of the book, excellent. You could steal a bunch of stuff from it!

I kind of half scanned - half read most of the book, including the knife chapter. It's a great guide; it's very well thought out, and the conclusions and recommended practices are based on solid evidence -- including some wonderful pictures that are in the book.

However, it's not the only good book on sharpening. While I really don't have the qualification or knowledge to criticize Lee, I'm more in the John Juranitch / Chad Ward school of knife sharpening -- along with some of my own variations and poorly reasoned conclusions. That is, I prefer to sharpen most culinary knives free-hand on dry India and Arkansas stones to an appropriate level of polish; most of them to 15* flat bevels, but again, bevel shape and angles as appropriate.

The knife selection and knife maintenance sections of my book have been kicking my butt since I joined this forum; and I still haven't finished them. It's more a matter of what not to put in than anything else. There are any number of good methods based on mutually contradictory theories. I don't want to invalidate anything that works, but I'd like to give the reader a shot at what will work best for her or him.

If you have the chance, take a look at Chad Ward's new book, An Edge in the Kitchen. It's the best on the subject to date -- and includes some wonder knife-technique instruction.

BDL

[CookingAngry]

I was wondering what you though of Ward's book. I love it. I was expecting you to provide a condensed version for the knife section of your book then mention his book as further reading.

ProChef CIA does this all the time with the further reading section.

Just a thought. Can't wait to buy it.

[oscarkat]

You can put me down for one of your books as well. I love learning from all of you on this board, and teaching style recipes are right up my alley!

[boar_d_laze]

Oskar -- Thanks. Now and then I think of hundreds of reasons why I should just quit. But people like you remind me they're bogus. Consider yourself down.

Angry -- Definitely in the "recommended books" section with a "mini" two sentence review. Ward's book is another one of those, "I don't completely agree with all his methods even though he knows ten times more than I even thought existed."

BDL

[izbnso]

So I was going to post to a thread that suggested that we all ignore BDL so that he would be forced to finish his book, but then it disapperared. But since I felt my comments, especially onced typed out and all, were relevant in thier own right to the discussion of cook book development in general, I'll post them here:


I would just like to state that in my infinite wisdom and vast sage-ness, I was the first to post on the topic of the much anticipated Boar D Laze manifesto. Yes, that was me. A little credit over here please.

And while I certainly want to do my part in getting the book to press, understand that this forum is probably playing a vital role in the research and development of the book. So if you want to help, don’t ignore him, cook the recipes he posts and critic them. I don’t mean just critic the final dish. Critic how it was written. Did you clearly understand the instructions? Were you able to produce the dish yourself or did you flub it? Did you find information included relevant or helpful? Are the ingredients used something someone in your region can easily get a hold of? Etc. Etc. Etc.

Not all talented chefs are talented writers and not all talented writers can convey technical information in a clear, concise and interesting manner, but IMHO BDL can. A good cook book will have had all of its recipes put through the ringer before it is published, lend a hand and be a part of the BDL test kitchen.

IMO it would be especially helpful if someone chose to test a recipe that was out of their comfort zone. That is the true litmus test of a well written recipe. If you don’t bake, try a couple three of BDL’s bread recipes and post your results.

I have a baking OCD and could probably make any bread recipe with just a list of ingredients and minimal instructions. So while I can tell him from my experience that his onion dill bread was the best I ever had (really it is, go forth to the recipe forum and bake it) and I didn’t find the written instructions overly complex, what he needs is someone who is clueless to pull it off with his instructions.

I’m sure BDL isn’t the only person here who harbors the dream of publishing a cook book and Chef Talk is an ideal place to incubate such a work. So if anybody else is cooking one up, let us know.

Oh, and I think it’s about time Nicko added another forum for food writers, gosh darn it.

[CookingAngry]

I posted the other thread and I feel that my message wasn't very clear. I wasn't advocating ignoring BDL. He is the go-to guy for me that helped me with buying a knife/sharpening stones and everything. I was trying to get more people to support his writing the book by mentioning it in almost every post to him. I feel that completing something as vast as a cookbook can be a trying task and the more support the better. None the less, the thread was deleted so I guess I'll just say within every post to or about BDL... Looking forward to the book.

[izbnso]

Cooking Angry,
I knew what you meant, I’m sure most folks would have understood too, its all good.

I did, however, want to use the opportunity to give my opinions on how to best help anyone here who is working on a cook book. Encouragement is always vital, good critic is even better.

So hop to and make some of BDL’s recipes and critic.

[boar_d_laze]

Sometimes it's a good idea to ignore me.

Angry I understood what you were getting at.

Iz, you're right that I'm using this forum as part of my research. I learn a lot about what people actually know and don't know, and what types of answers and advice get across; also, I get the chance to see what kind of reaction my recipes get.

As far as progress goes, I'm still developing and writing recipes, and am still working on organization. I've got nearly complete drafts on barbecuing with smoke, "hot pan," and quick breads. "Knives" is still kicking my behind, but when I assemble all my fragments there might be more there than it feels like right now. I'm starting to organize "how to read a recipe" and "how to develop your own recipes," roasting and baking.

I've decided on including four "regular" breads, a subject near and dear to Iz's heart. Two recipes are set, and were introduced here; although they're still subject to minor tweaking and rewriting. They're the sour pumpernickel and onion-dill. Some multi-grain thing along the lines of struan will be the third and I haven't decided on the fourth. Maybe a plain French white or maybe an Italian olive bread. (FWIW, what makes an Italian bread Italian is the use of a biga instead of a poolish or sponge.)

Iz is helping push the bread along. Angry's helped me with knives.

Any critiquing I can get from people like you is enormously helpful. I appreciate it and the encouragement too. I love the enthusiasm you have for our craft. Along that line, it's very useful to hear what problems you run across with my work, and what different conclusions you reach, techniques you use, etc. Not just my work, either. I'm not writing with the idea of teaching people to cook like I do, but to cook like they want; to have fun; to be comfortable; to not get overwhelmed; to consistently turn out good food; and to feel good about the whole thing. It's a craft which sometimes touches art. Might as well get some satisfaction.

Iz already knows working title, and I might as well share it here, since she's published it in her newspaper column. COOK FOOD GOOD: American Cooking and Technique for Beginners and Intermediates.

Nicko wrote me and suggested I blog the process of writing and marketing CFG. I hope the blog will be interesting and helpful. You don't really understand what you know and don't know until you try writing it, and the blog should help me clarify my own thoughts as well as give me an extra look at what I've written through writing about it.

BDL

[CookingAngry]

+1 for the barbeque sextion. My professor (20 years as a chef) is from the South near Brunswick, GA and says that he was walking distance from 3 great barbeque joints and that he hasn't found even a passable barbeque in MI.

Zingermans, which even interenet research will prove is an impressive company, apparantly fails at it. Zingermans was the first U.S. market to retail Iberico Ham according to their employees. Ever had Iberico Ham?

[boar_d_laze]

I know of one really good barbecue in MI, but it's pretty deep in the mitten. If and when I remember the name, I'll pass it on so you can continue to impress Chef.

BDL

[Littlechef0222]

His vast knowledge has intrigued me greatly. I spend much of "free" time reading and I would be all over reading his materials. I commend you and I look forward to success. I have already enjoyed reading many of the responses here on Cheftalk, great points! Good Luck