Sometimes I roll lazy, I make enchilada casserole. Shredded chicken and cheese, thin sliced onions, crema, wrapped up and a base of homemade sauce on the bottom of the dish and poured over the top. Bake. Okay, I’ll admit to throwing cheese over the top. Gotta support my local folk, ya know. Enchiladas in Mexico aren’t cheese centric.
I love quick recipes like that. I make quick chilaquiles the same way. Honestly, it’s the aging I sometimes look forward to. Enchilada casserole that’s been fridge aged is an amazingly nice lunch. When the onions meld in even more, the cheese, reheated, is imbibed by the shredded chicken. Then, two other perfect reheaters: rice and beans. Spicy yellow garlic rice and (I love) northern beans. Okay, I just said what I just said on another thread.
Now, I see a fried egg, or two, on chilaquiles as a must.
Thanks for the recipe, though. I’ll have to make both ways and compare. Still, I’ve never put eggs over enchilada. Have to try that. I still get eggs pretty cheap. Even when they aren’t cheap, they’re good protein bang for the buck, and add any texture you choose for them.
We’re really saying much the same thing–you “prep your knife” before you prep your food, and then prepare your meal. For soft steel knives, I’ve added on the job honing–which has always been best practice for them.
I’ve learned, from daily use of my Wusthof Precision 3 1/2", that just a quick honing touch–whenever the knife seems less sharp–makes all the difference in the world. The performance to complete the task is restored.
You are clearly dialed in to variances of sharpness I cannot detect. I notice zero difference in sharpness or efficiency over the course of prepping a single meal, probably several.
How many people do you cook for on a day in, day out basis?
I’m not sure how many vegetables you have to prep (and eat) on a daily basis, but from what you seem to be asserting in your myriad posts, I’d hate to be your colon.
The vegetable and protein prep for the nightly dinner for six people ought to take no more than 25 minutes for the halfway accomplished home chef. If it takes longer than that, the likelihood that something is being mauled beyond recognition is high. The cheapest knife from just about any supermarket’s cookware aisle would EASILY cope.
This is quite possibly a consequence of relying exclusively on stropping as a way to maintain an edge, as our resident obsessive advocates. It’s worth reading this article on the upsides (and down) of stropping: https://scienceofsharp.com/2014/08/13/what-does-stropping-do/. Particularly striking are the images showing the effects of extended stropping, including micro-chipping and burnishing. That’s not how a truly keen edge should appear.
In order to properly maintain an edge, knife users are well advised to actually sharpen – not just strop – their knives on at least an annual basis. Further, maintaining the geometry of the blade away from the edge is impossible with stropping alone.
Why do you keep qualifying “soft steel” for steeling? Steeling helps recover an edge irrespective of whether the knife is made from soft or hard steel. And btw - if the edge is dull steeling won’t help.
My mileage varies. I realize that my experience is probably an outlier but wanted to chime in to say that prep time varies by what’s typically on someone’s plate and the source of the goods. A couple of sharp knives are of course essential
for the task.
The sourcing of vegetables can make my veg prep for a household of two more time-intensive than this. For reasons of flavor, variety, and wanting to support what’s left of local agriculture in our area, we buy our vegetables through farm shares during the growing season. I supplement that with farm stand fruit and produce that we might not get in our farm share.
This produce comes directly from the field which means dirt and bugs happen. Also we get a lot of leafy greens, which are particularly time-intensive to pick over, wash, and chop in way(s) that we enjoy eating them.
More work in washing, blanching, and chopping (because of the amount of produce) than when I buy produce at the grocery store.
On the other hand, when I source fish and meat locally there’s almost no prep as the the smaller operations I buy from package more meticulously than the supermarket or even my butcher. Often there’s no trimming or chopping at all and the proteins tend to arrive in a very clean state.
A reasonably sharp knife will perform fine on non-proteins. Of course vegetables needing precision cuts like artwork is a different story. Otherwise no one is going to notice a difference. It’s sharp or it isn’t.
There is a noticeable difference when cutting proteins when working in volume. A slightly rolled edge will drag in the meat and drive you crazy so you steel it. No home cook is going to notice it. Either the knife is sharp enough to cut the meat or it will need sharpened.
No. I am afraid you don’t know what you are talking about Ray. If the knife is dull a steel won’t help you.
You steel a knife because the sharpened edge has rolled over a bit…often when hitting a bone or tough skin or the cutting board. Steeling straightens it out so you don’t feel the drag. A dull knife is dull.
I use a no-name ceramic pull-through I bought at a Carrefour in Lyon a kajillion years ago for touch-ups. If an edge will catch at a low angle on my thumbnail it’s good to go. My knives go in the dishwasher. Period. An associate saw me put what I learned later was an $800 knife in the dishwasher and he gasped. My response was “I couldn’t effing care less, I want it clean” or something along those lines. That’s why I try to give those kinds of knives away when they come my way. I don’t want, or need, something that precious in the kitchen. No precious equipment, and no precious egos allowed.
Otherwise, I do usually hit my knives on a pull-through when they come out - maybe ten strokes. If somebody else in the household puts them away without the touch up a time or two it’s certainly no big deal. They’re still eminently functional for prepping a family meal for less than six people.
When it’s necessary, I reshape and hone on synthetic oilstones (Norton India stones) and finish on a natural surgical black Arkansas. Takes minutes.
I bake for breakfast three or four times a week and do eggs (lots of ways) and bacon or sausage the morning of to supplement but not every day. My prep for baking involves very little knife work. We always have some kind of housemade laminated dough in the freezer. We’re not afraid of carbs. Everybody stays busy and nobody is the slightest bit overweight. I haven’t slept more than five hours a night (usually just four) in thirty years. There will be time enough for sleeping when I’m dead.
Evening prep takes well less than 30 minutes when I’m involved, but my wife cooks a lot as well, and I don’t put a stop watch on her.
My test is my Wusthof Precision–that I use every day. It sits next to my computer, and I often eat and snack on a nearby table.
When it feels a little dull, I try using it to cut paper. If it flops , I hone (steel) it, then I test it again. Viola, it’s sharp.
I’ve only used it for very light work–no bones, no tough skin. I have a makeshift cutting board, or use one of the bamboo plates I own. I have no idea why it’s gotten a bit dull, but honing works many times before I have to resharpen–and I can measure it.
If you need an example of professionals honing on the job, take a closer look at the caterer who’s slicing your turkey at a buffet dinner you attend.
As I’ve described, there are ways to find out that go beyond your intuitions–if you want to. Occasional honing is a best practice both for safety and performance.
Ray I was a professional meat cutter for several years. I understand how to use a [boning] knife and steel. I’ll go out on a limb here and say a chef or caterer is not in the realm of a professional which explains why you say some of what you do. Cheers mate.
