PING Jill: butternut squash question

In ,
typed:
Jack Campin - bogus address wrote:

Use an old carbon steel chef's knife and keep it really sharp (there
are subtleties about how to do that, look it up). I've never paid
very much for one, but then I've been using the same knife as my main
kitchen tool for 20 years. You should be able to pick up a very good
one in a flea market for a few dollars. Stainless steel knives are
nowhere near as good (and are much harder to sharpen). So look for
one with rust stains.

I'm not sure I'd know a "good one" from a mediocre one when viewing a
random knife on someone's table at a flea market. Rust stains indicate
that it's not stainless steel - OK, I get that. But does that
necessarily mean it's a good knife? As I said, I know next to nothing
about knives.

Its all about the steel.

I'm no expert, but a 'great' knife will hold a very very VERY sharp blade
for a decent length of time. The steel will also be of different hardnesses
and indeed different sorts of flexibility depending on the purpose of the
knife ( acleaver, for example, needs to be solid and stiff, whereas a
fish-boner needs to be thin and flexible). The steel may well not be
'stainless steel', although may well be resistant to rust. My family's
carving knife, with the ivory handle, can be sharpened to the point of being
able to shave with it, but had to be washed, dried immediately, and oiled
each time it was used otherwise it would rust. I don't have the skills to
sharpen it on the steel that came with it but I do remember my grandfather
(who was a fishmonger, and therefore knew about knives) could do this
amazing swoosh-swoosh-swoosh thing with knife and steel (so fast it was
blurry) and the carving knife would glide through the roast like a hot knife
in butter. Said carving knife is now blunt, and a rather funny shape because
of all that use, but its not stainless by any stetch of the imagination.

Second problem. The skin of the squash is so thin that there's no
way to scrape out the flesh without taking half the skin with it.
How do you do it?? There has to be a trick. I hope it doesn't
involve leaving large amounts of edible squash behind.

Once it's cooked properly, the flesh will scoop out of the skin
easily.

Hmm. Define "properly". I've never experienced the flesh scooping
out of the skin easily. The skin tears, and a lot of it comes along
with the flesh. It's a pain to separate.

"properly" to me means "so mooshy you could put yoru finger through it" :-)

It's better not to take the seeds out before cooking, unless you want
to stuff the squash with something. The roasted seeds taste good and
have a lot of nutrients, eat them separately.

Good point.

Actually you don't need to remove the skin either. If it's clean
it's perfectly edible. The only bit of a butternut I never eat are
the fibrous knobs at the ends.

Hmm, hadn't considered that. I always cook potatoes with the skin on
and eat all of it, ditto for zucchini, and also for apples if I used
them in a dessert recipe. Skins are often very nutritious. But I
didn't realize squash skins were edible.

very much so - and quite tasty too, if not too tough.

Yowie

In ,
Takayuki typed:
"cshenk" wrote:
"Takayuki" wrote
The knife I usually use, I've had since I was a teenager.

I don't know how much it cost - it's hand made, and was used by my
father before me, and he gave it to me, before I moved out, as he
saw that I'd started to favor it when doing kitchen chores.

Actually, this is something for my to do list - I have to see if the
guy who made this knife is still alive, or if not, at least the son
or grandson of that knifemaker, because no other knives feel right
to me now, and I could use another one or two in different sizes.

Grin, thats like me. I have 5 'perfect' ones and have had them for
ages it seems.

1 long serrated one, bread knife. (I make all our bread in a
breadmaker), Kmart
1 short thin sharp one, about 6 inch blade. Almost a fillet knife,
Yardsale 1 heavy thick cleaver, got in Japan, hand made, bought new
9,000yen (85$) 1 long straight blade, seems I always had it, might
have been Mom's? 1 short sharp but heavy duty, Don's mom's

If you're like me, do you also find that nothing can keep you more
occupied in a kitchen than chopping and slicing things? The knife is
like a total bottleneck!

Never mind $40, I would sell my soul for a knife if it could cut that
time significantly. '

According to the late night advertisements, what you need is a mouli :-)

Yowie

wrote:
Takayuki wrote:
Maybe one of those ceramic knives would be good. The nice thing about
those is that you can use them to cut those overcooked airline steaks,
becase they don't set off metal detectors.

There's an airline that serves steaks? I haven't gotten a meal on a
plane in a few years now!

Take a trans-Pacific flight - they'll feed you if they don't want you
to starve to death.

"Yowie" wrote:
In ,
Takayuki typed:
If you're like me, do you also find that nothing can keep you more
occupied in a kitchen than chopping and slicing things? The knife is
like a total bottleneck!

Never mind $40, I would sell my soul for a knife if it could cut that
time significantly. '

According to the late night advertisements, what you need is a mouli :-)

I have to watch more commercials, because mine is only good for
Parmesan cheese, and for that, only if said cheese is fresh enough to
still be fairly soft.

Yowie wrote:
On /Kitchen Chemistry with Heston Blumenthal/ (on Discovery Channel),
Heston talks about sugars, starches (starch is a long, complex polymer of
sugar), proteins, gels, crystals etc etc and just why some things need to be
cooked in a certain way to bring out the best in flavour. being a chemist
myself, I could only nod and agree, and now fully understand why my mashed
potato has always tasted lousy. Since my only High Disctinction in chemistry
was Food Chemistry, I really ought to have known!

My favourite celebrity chef is, not coincidentally, Heston Blumenthal,
mostly because he explains why he's doing something in terms of its
chemistry, and even shows his disasters as well as his successes.

Yowie

(I'm not going to dissuade anyone from cooking their own, preferred, way. If
you like your butternut soup done via nuking, then by all means enjoy it
fully. Life's too short to argue about what *you* like, I only know what *I*
like!)

I also make other veggie soups by roasting the veggies in the oven
first. Roast cauliflower soup, roast carrot soup, roast mixed vegetables
etc. Gives a whole new level of flavour to the soup.

--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban.
In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.

Yowie wrote:

According to the late night advertisements, what you need is a mouli :-)

I had to google that. OMG, they still make those things? I remember them
from my childhood home. More to wash up, not much help in the kitchen,
as I remember it. In the time you need to set the thing up plus the time
to take it apart and wash it, you'd have cut the veggies several times over.

But I'll admit I find cutting veggies therapeutic. If only Caliban would
keep his nose out of the way.

--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban.
In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.

"cshenk" wrote in message
...
"jmcquown" wrote

I honestly couldn't tell you. I don't buy it this time of year because
it's not in season. I only suggested the soup because of Matthew's
limited diet at the moment. It seemed to fit the bill

Sadly he's not allowed winter squashes yet. That doesnt come until he's
allowed rice, potatoes, and other carbs.


Yes, I read that later after he posted what he's allowed to eat. I just
didn't think about squash being "starch".

Jill

I have a very old one and it hs several "blades, very easy to use, but my
version is so old there is no plastic on it, Lee
"Takayuki" wrote in message
news
"Yowie" wrote:
In ,
Takayuki typed:
If you're like me, do you also find that nothing can keep you more
occupied in a kitchen than chopping and slicing things? The knife is
like a total bottleneck!

Never mind $40, I would sell my soul for a knife if it could cut that
time significantly. '

According to the late night advertisements, what you need is a mouli :-)

I have to watch more commercials, because mine is only good for
Parmesan cheese, and for that, only if said cheese is fresh enough to
still be fairly soft.

the one i have you hold in your hand so not bad on the clean up... best for
cheeses and cucs and the like, Lee
"Marina" wrote in message
...
Yowie wrote:

According to the late night advertisements, what you need is a mouli :-)

I had to google that. OMG, they still make those things? I remember them
from my childhood home. More to wash up, not much help in the kitchen, as
I remember it. In the time you need to set the thing up plus the time to
take it apart and wash it, you'd have cut the veggies several times over.

But I'll admit I find cutting veggies therapeutic. If only Caliban would
keep his nose out of the way.

--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban.
In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.

it can be something for him to look forward to, Lee
"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
"cshenk" wrote in message
...
"jmcquown" wrote

I honestly couldn't tell you. I don't buy it this time of year because
it's not in season. I only suggested the soup because of Matthew's
limited diet at the moment. It seemed to fit the bill

Sadly he's not allowed winter squashes yet. That doesnt come until he's
allowed rice, potatoes, and other carbs.


Yes, I read that later after he posted what he's allowed to eat. I just
didn't think about squash being "starch".

Jill