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Post by Southern Thunder on Nov 5, 2014 18:06:23 GMT 10
I'd certainly agree with you on Pizza Hut. The last time I ate Pizza Hut was about six years ago when a girl I was working with at the time and I agreed to go in half and half on something for dinner and she wanted Pizza Hut. She liked it, I thought it was horrible.
Pizza aside, that's an interesting looking BBQ thermometer you have. When you get time could you let me know the brand and model?
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Post by smokey on Nov 5, 2014 19:08:47 GMT 10
It's an Ifrared surface temperature gun. I think mine is a thermo works brand and they come in different beam calibrations.. Quite handy for this kind of cooking.
Let's drop the lousy shop pizza thing ok, ? Cooking real pizza is almost a religion and is very much enjoyed by people that go to the bother to run a real wood fired traditional pizza oven.
I have a respect rule here. No dissing a members way to Cue.
Unless it's going to kill them , as far as food safety goes then sure flag it. I expect encouragement and positive dialogue to make that persons experience in their journey as fun and rewarded as much as it possibly can.
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Post by chrisg on Nov 5, 2014 19:50:38 GMT 10
 Amen, those non-contact thermometers are great, I have some ludicrously expensive one that is supposedly here to be used to check the thermal loads in data centers to pin-point just what server etc is the culprit - pretty damned useful for cooking though. I totally agree on pizza cooking being sort of a religion, first time some friends of mine had some of the ones I turn out on the very infrequent occasions that I get the yen they had what one could call a religious awakening - raised on PH and Dom.... Pizza is to some areas of Italy what rotisserie lamb is in Cyprus or Paella in Spain etc. I don't really recall if I ever mentioned it but for those who have not been to Italy if you are on an autostrada and get peckish look out for usually pretty ancient vans or caravans in rest areas. A lot of them specialise in what is sort of half way between a pizza and a calzone. It's a small maybe 8 inch pizza that is folded over and sealed like a pasty before being pretty much flashed in a very rustic wood fired oven. The filling will be whatever is good and cheap in the area that day and the van's own cooked rich tomato paste. In Italy even the roadside food is enough to have you scheming on how to live there Cheers |
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Post by Southern Thunder on Nov 6, 2014 0:16:43 GMT 10
It's an Ifrared surface temperature gun. I think mine is a thermo works brand and they come in different beam calibrations.. Quite handy for this kind of cooking. Let's drop the lousy shop pizza thing ok, ? Cooking real pizza is almost a religion and is very much enjoyed by people that go to the bother to run a real wood fired traditional pizza oven. I have a respect rule here. No dissing a members way to Cue. Unless it's going to kill them , as far as food safety goes then sure flag it. I expect encouragement and positive dialogue to make that persons experience in their journey as fun and rewarded as much as it possibly can. I did not at all mean to diss anybody. I apologize if it came across that way and of course, I utterly agree IF you're doing something that I know makes the food unsafe then I'll be the first person to say so. I've had food poisoning a couple of times myself and while NOT from anything I cooked it's not much fun and I wouldn't want to see someone else go through that. But short of that, it's your food, cook it however you want. All I was trying to say is around here we do have some good pizza shops. I've no idea how it is over there and yes I don't know of pizza place around here that cooks it over to run a real wood fired pizza oven. As I said, I wasn't at all trying to disrespect anyone or trying to take any of them fun out it for them. |
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Post by Southern Thunder on Nov 6, 2014 0:27:37 GMT 10
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Post by captaincook on Nov 6, 2014 1:01:47 GMT 10
I used to sell the Raytek brand one when I was with Snap-on tools it was a high end one in those days with a high end price. I bought one off eBay from Hong Kong for $22.00 delivered.
Don't forget they only measure the reflected surface temperature not the internal temp. If you were to run one over a BBQ you would get a lot of different readings and none of them would be good just indicative. As I said they measure the reflected temperature. Point it at a Fluor light it will read different as you move from one end to the other, it will show you where the starter is and where the ballast is.
I use mine for checking for loose electrical connections (higher resistance = higher heat reading).
They are a great toy to play with. Buy one with temp range to 550C not the 330C model.
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Post by bill44 on Nov 6, 2014 6:44:44 GMT 10
Regarding Italian food in general, many times one hears that Chinese would be the choice if one had to only eat one nationality of food.
The hell with that, I grew up with Italian families and Italian would be my choice. OK, Chinese would be second.:-)
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Post by Southern Thunder on Nov 6, 2014 18:31:21 GMT 10
I don't think I could manage to eat just one nationality of food but fortunately I don't have to. I don't particularly care for Chinese but I'll give anything a go at least once.
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Post by chrisg on Nov 6, 2014 20:16:38 GMT 10
 I'd suggest there is a reasonable chance that you've never really eaten real Chinese mate, tbh you haven't really missed that much - I like it but what we get diluted down to account for distance can be either better or worse, rarely original. Indian is somewhat more portable actually. Were you live the Mexican influence is pretty big, and that's a FAR bigger cuisine than exists in popular culture. I get a bit annoyed sometimes by the denigration of English cuisine, all that gets criticised is a small subset, and as for the revering of French - heh, was imported from Italy, by the personal cook to Napoleon, and Italian has Chinese influence... It's just food, work with what you have Cheers |
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Post by smokey on Nov 6, 2014 20:26:10 GMT 10
It would be Greek for me. Hands down. But by Crikey the cravings for Asian would send me insane. I couldn't do it. But spit lamb, grilled seafood, Yogurt, Olives and all that stuff just do it for me  |
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Post by Southern Thunder on Nov 7, 2014 2:13:03 GMT 10
Yeah, I don't know how authentic it is but not much Chinesse in my little corner of the U.S. Far more common on big cities in the North East like New York.
What very little Indian food I've eaten I made myself and so I have no idea how close to the real deal it was.
I've not made it in so long I'm forgotten about it but I used to make chicken curry over brown rice fairly often.
As for Mexican, yes Mexican is hugely popular here and becoming more so as more Mexicans come to the U.S. and bring their way of cooking with them.
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Post by bill44 on Nov 7, 2014 5:25:12 GMT 10
Having lived in SE Asia I can tell you that it is very rare to find genuine Chinese food in most other places. You do find it in some places in a big city Chinatown, but you have to search for it.
Most places have "Chinese style" food.
From experience I've found that the Vietnamese, on the other hand, tend to provide reasonably genuine food.
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Post by Southern Thunder on Nov 7, 2014 6:20:53 GMT 10
I've never traveled to China, if I ever do then sure, I'll give the food a go but not much genuine Chinese here.
Most of what we have here, at least where I live is prepackaged, store bought and you just add water and microwave it.
Thanks but no thanks.
I just did some Googling and come to find out, I was wrong. There are some Chinese restaurants where I live but I've never eaten at any of them I have no idea what authentic Chinese is supposed to taste like anyway and so even if I did to eat at one of them, I wouldn't really have a basis from which to judge the food.
I would guess there are probably a lot of authentic Vietnamese places around the U.S. for the simple reason that a LOT of refugees from South Vietnam fled to the U.S. after the war.
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Post by chrisg on Nov 7, 2014 6:54:56 GMT 10
Bill is so right, "Chinese style" is far more the norm. There are a few good places, I used to work for a Singaporean Chinese guy who is a good friend, he's pretty good at seeking out the more authentic ones but real Chinese is not cheap food here and the whole market is really based on the take way.
I suppose that's an extension of street food but that's only a part of the Asian food scene.
I do agree on Vietnamese as well, we have some great places here in WA.
Cheers
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Post by ozymandias on Nov 7, 2014 13:51:12 GMT 10
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