ragebutt

Oh see I was continually referring solely those coworkers I had at the psych hospital in my original post you replied to

I mean I’m sure there are people who believe this though who are like trump people or whatever

Yeah my actual stove is a cheap induction but the wok burner is from a place that shut down. It’s converted to propane from natural gas and I have to use it outside. It’s pretty wild, it burns through a tank pretty fast and runs like 150,000 btu. I can fill a 16” wok with cool water and on full blast it’ll boil it in under a minute

I’ve been working on Chinese and Japanese cooking for the past year since. I still suck though. The technique is challenging but it’s fun and even when you’re bad the results are tasty. And it’s awesome to make vegan Chinese food that’s not just “general tsos tofu that’s sickeningly sweet and has 2” of breading or steamed bean curd in brown sauce with veg”

That’s the dream. A mixer that can break my fucking arm. A mixer that commands respect. However to be fair to the kitchenaid:

Brand new kitchenaid professional 7qt: $550 Brand new Hobart n50 5qt: $4,500, though pre owned is cheaper (like 12-1500 for a very old one which tbf works fine). Used kitchenaid is also cheaper though, like $300-400ish

If you or anyone can direct me to an alternate source of kitchenaid that are stronger than I would kiss you on the mouth (assuming consent)

Whirlpool p/n 9703337, 9703338 (especially 338). If anything alt source parts are weaker than oem

If you stopped it that means you’ve started to wear the gear teeth. The metal used for the gears is weak (though apparently there was a period in the late 90s/early 2000s where they briefly used plastic gearing, stupid). If you one day hear a chunk and then the normal mixing noises but the hook is no longer moving then congrats, you’ve stripped the teeth. Bagel dough def makes sense

I would also LOVE a slicer. I don’t eat meat but I like to make fake lunch meat out of wheat gluten and pea protein sometimes. slicing it with a knife is never the same as I’d get with a slicer. But it’s just so much space! If I ever run across a deal at a restaurant or deli closing down though I’ll probably pull the trigger. I do love going to auctions whenever a place shuts down, it’s how I got my wok burner

Actually a surprising amount of appliances are manufactured in the USA again - whirlpool conglomerate and Samsung both have a sizable amount of manufacturing in the US

That said Chinese manufacturing is a response to demand. Chinese manufacturing quality is also a response to input. Iphones and pixels are manufactured in China (though this is changing). China will manufacture you incredible things but will make cheap garbage too. If you buy cheap shit don’t blame China, they just filled the role of making something as cheap as possible

As a counterpoint for example: my go to kitchen scale is an oxo good grips. Used it for years. Manufactured in China. Excellent product. I have other scales for when I need fine precision beyond 1g but this scale is my workhorse. Still accurately weighs to calibration weights after like a decade too.

This is why manufacturing origin is pointless. America makes crap. China makes crap. America makes good stuff. China makes good stuff.

Wholeheartedly agree. I fix shit, and I’m apparently rough on kitchen shit

I have 2 kitchenaid stand mixers in my house rn. One is my personal one. I have rebuilt the transmission 8x. This is because the teeth on the gearing have sheared away. This happens because I am mixing somewhat small batches of dense dough: bread dough, pasta dough. Roughly 1-2lbs. Once because I was using the extruder attachment.

The second mixer in my house is from a family friend. They were doing something similar (bread dough) and it exhibited similar behavior (audibly spinning but hook not moving) so they dropped it off here.

It’s a simple fix thankfully albeit a bit costly. Take off the top, take off the transmission cover, remove the captive bolt (worst part), slide off old gears, remove old grease thoroughly to ensure you get all metal shavings (second worst part), put on new gears, regrease, reassemble. There are videos showing this process, it’s not hard. There’s a proper tool for the captive nut that I refuse to buy. I instead use needle nose pliers and struggle and curse every time instead of spending an extra $15 to make my life much easier for a tool I will never use outside of this task

You need replacement gears (check which one first, not always the same one breaks), gasket, and grease. It’s like $50

It is as you’ve said, they’re not built for serious kitchen use. I am furious I got this. I have the 7qt “professional” model. I make bread, pasta, tortilla, ramen, etc dough all the time. I have had this for years tbf but I have also rebuilt it eight fucking times. At $50 a pop I have doubled the cost of the mixer. I wish I spent a bit more and just got a Hobart. A lot of my kitchen is shit from restaurant auctions and I should’ve got the stand mixer there as well. But my partner wanted me to reign it in so our house wouldn’t look like inside of a food truck and I acquiesced, and now my baked goods are fucked

I would sell it the next time I refurbish it but I would feel guilty cursing someone with this

Appliances are a nightmare

For one there’s the “hidden conglomerate” thing. Like oh I’m not buying Maytag anymore! They’re shit! I’m gonna buy whirlpool instead! Or jennair! Or kitchenaid! Or amana! But it doesn’t matter because those are basically all whirlpool

Then the actual appliances: very often you’ll find that they are basically the same thing with only tiny differences cosmetically. Like kitchenaid and Maytag will sell an oven that is the exact same, like you can swap parts between them, they fail in the same way, but they look different because the kitchenaid has different plastics to finish, basically, and maaaybe a few differences in the control board to add some “luxury” features. So it looks nicer (arguably) but is functionally the same and has a similar failure rate (they may filter better quality parts to the “luxury” models, doubtful), and costs 30-40% more

With the way capitalism has gutted shit even a lot of the old sentiment about brands is useless. The only real sentiment that is viable is that yes, buying commercial appliances for your home is going to get a product that is built to last longer and stand up to more abuse (like certain speed queen models). But then it’s like “oh well nice now I’ll spend 3-5x as much and get something hideously ugly so that my house ends up looking like a laundromat or bodega. And even then, there are shitty commercial appliances that fail quickly

While I agree with you 100% and every tv in my home is under this mantra I get where the parent comment is coming from. Family members and friends visiting have asked about access to my Jellyfin library and they aren’t necessarily keen on buying additional hardware, aren’t willing to educate themselves on setting up options that would be objectively better for connectivity, privacy, control, etc.

They just want an app in their TVs app store. It’s convenient and easy. I disagree with them but I don’t blame them. It’s human nature to go for the option that results in expending the least amount of effort. But then they don’t get my sweet Jellyfin library. If you cant run the client or kodi then I can’t help you, sorry.

UPenn’s endowment is larger (22.3 billion vs Columbia’s 14.8) but I agree with you, UPenn will bend

Do you have a stand mixer?

This sounds like a pain but it’s much easier than you think and it actually makes superior ice cream than if you went and got a proper ice cream maker and churned it:

Make any reasonable ice cream base. Custard basically. If you have a sous vide stick thing they make this remarkably simple (basically just dump it all in a bag or mason jar, put in the heated bath, wait). If not the stove top way is obviously totally fine, slightly less smooth unless you’re super good at temp control.

500g whole milk 500g heavy cream 200g sugar 210g egg yolk Vanilla bean paste or actual beans (if you want to spend the money), as much as you want really

I do the sous vide which is blend all that, cook 185F for 1hr, chill at least 8hrs, sieve. This could be done on stovetop though.

This bit is all what you’d have to do for any ice cream regardless of how you churn. And again that’s just an example recipe. You can use whatever. Though keep in mind mix ins come later. If you want like chocolate chip cookie dough with a vanilla base you do the above and at the very end mix in chocolate chips and cookie dough chunks. Or a swirl, or whatever

——-

Churning:

Get some dry ice. This is where it sounds like a pain. But it’s actually really simple to get usually. Many grocery stores carry it and if not you can often find it at beverage shops or you may have an ice shop. It’s dirt cheap. Try to buy pellets if you can but if you can’t it’s not the end of the world

Put the dry ice in a clean apron and fold the apron over it. (Don’t touch it, it’s so cold it hurts. It won’t harm you if you touch it for a second but if you grab it it can actually do damage). Smash the shit out of it until it’s a powder. Run this through a large sieve, big chunks are bad.

Now you’re ready for the endgame:

Get your stand mixer. Put on the paddle. Put the base in and start mixing on medium ish. Start dumping in the sandy dry ice. Ice cream will begin forming basically immediately. Let it churn a few seconds, add some more, let it churn, add some more, etc. it won’t take long, like a minute or two.

It’ll be a bit soft. Put it in a container and put it in the freezer to firm up. This lets you ensure the dry ice is fully sublimated (you def don’t want to eat it) and if you eat it immediately the ice cream will be slightly carbonated (you may desire this though, the effect can be cool, like fizzy soft serve. If you’re very confident you’ve done a good job getting the dry ice to a small sandy texture it should be safe to eat. Chunks are dangerous!!)

——

Why this is superior: ice creams texture is determined by the size of the ice crystals formed when freezing the ice cream. The slower the freezing process the larger the crystals and the easier it is for you to perceive them on your tongue. They feel more gritty. The best way to do this is with liquid nitrogen, which is -196F. However, while you can get this at welding shops this needs specialized equipment to transport and it can be dangerous to handle. Dry ice is -109F which is close enough. much easier to obtain, transport, and handle safely.

Additionally the less time you spend mixing the more rich the ice cream tastes because you are not whipping air into it (this is called “overrun”). This is how low calorie ice creams like halo top work. They do cut cane sugar with sugar alcohol and artificial sweeteners of course but they also whip a ton of air into the ice cream so it’s simply less dense.

Again, this sounds like a total pain but realistically it’s:

You make ice cream base (would have to do this anyway

You source dry ice (this can be a pain, depending on where you live) and you smash the shit out of it

You churn in a stand mixer with the dust (which ideally you would make right now. Dry ice “melts”/sublimates in your freezer. It won’t keep and keeping it in the larger form as long as possible reduces waste)

Done

I’m loving this, redirecting so many cancerous sites automatically

Good looking out