Reviews | The End of the Tunnel

Ratio Book Review

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:31:51 -0400

Originally posted on the Zombie Squad Forum on Wed Jan 05, 2011 1:02 am

Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking, by Michael Ruhlman

I’ve been cooking for most of my life, even though my definition of cooking has changed considerably over the years. When I was young, cooking meant helping my mother in the kitchen with whatever she would let me do. It started out with holding a spoon here and there, to stirring the pots, to actually cutting up the veggies. Cooking was listening to what my mother told me to do, and following her instructions closely. As I grew, cooking became more complicated. I found cook books and cooking shows, which opened up an entirely new world! All of a sudden I had recipes to follow instead of just my mother’s words of wisdom. This evolution continued as I learned to “customize” recipes. Take a little from one recipe, a little from another, maybe change up some spices here and there… This led to some culinary triumphs, like the oddly delicious scrambled pancake, and many culinary failures; pancakes should never have tendrils. The evolution continued as I realized there were different techniques for cooking. I purchased the Culinary Institute of America’s The Professional Chef and worked my way through bits and pieces of it to broaden my horizons and skill base. I watched shows like Alton Brown‘s Good Eats and began learning how ingredients actually worked together. I started to see the patterns in recipes and come up with some of my own. But I was still basing my culinary work on existing recipes in one way or another.

Then I came across a list of Alton Brown’s favorite cook books. Some of the items on the list were familiar, the first one was my mother’s culinary bible The Joy of Cooking. Others were just plain intriguing, like this book called Ratio. Math? In cooking? My inner engineer just had to know more…

Eventually, Ratio was ordered, made its way into my mailbox, my book pile, and my hands. Let me start by saying that Ratio is not a cookbook in the classic sense: it does not contain a list of recipes. In fact, ratio has only a handful of recipes in the whole book. Ratio is, as its title suggests, about ratios. More specifically, it is about the fundamental ratios that exist in the world of cooking. Why is this important? Allow me to quote from the first paragraph of ratio. “When you know a culinary ratio, it’s not like knowing a single recipe, it’s instantly knowing a thousand.” Ratio is primordial culinary power, pure and simple.

Ratio’s author, Michael Ruhlman gives each ratio in its own chapter, where he discusses some of the nuances of the ratio. In the bread section, for example, he details kneading, yeasts, and a few ways to expand on the basic ratio. Each chapter then has some example recipes using the ratio, and a few final notes. Every section of this unassuming little tome is packed with useful information. Even it’s cover is a useful chart of the continuum of dough, from bread to crepes. Ratio is a true eye-opener. Want to bake bread? Five parts flour to three parts water. Salt and yeast are encouraged, but optional. Five to three and you will have bread. All bread, of any kind starts with this simple ratio. Want pie dough? 3:2:1 flour, fat, water. Crepes? 1:1:.5 Liquid, Egg, Flour. Stocks? 3:2 Water, Bones. Mayonnaise, not the clunky, bland store-bought mayo, but deliciously creamy and flavorful mayonnaise? 20:1+1 Oil, liquid, yolk. Ratio is the culinary world at its simplest and most elegant.

Ratio by itself won’t do the average person much good, I suppose. You have to have an appreciation for cooking and a desire to understand why it works the way it does. If you like your TV dinners luke-warn, Ratio is not for you. If, on the other hand, you want to learn the most fundamental parts of actual cooking, if you want to expand your horizons past simple recipes, if you want to grow as a cook and not just be a follower, Ratio may well be your path to enlightenment.

Review of the September 19th, 2009 Appleseed Shoot in Saratoga Springs, NY

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:08:51 -0400

Originally posted on the Zombie Squad Forum on Mon Sep 21, 2009 3:39 pm

“Shooters, Your 2 minute preparation period has begun!”

The chill from the night is still in the air as I lay down on an old carpet remnant and examine my loaned Ruger ¹⁰⁄₂₂. Chamber flag out, wrap the sling around my arm “hasty” and lie down… The sun shines at a shallow angle and warms me. It also creates some glare in the tech-100 sights. I focus on the target and dry fire a few times. Wait, this isn’t right. I remember the training from earlier: align the sites, create the site picture, control my breathing, focus on the front site, get into the shooters bubble, squeeze the trigger, and follow through… I run it all through my head. So much to internalize!

“Shooters, your two minute preparation period has ended. Load!”

Two minutes up already! I take the rotary magazine and insert it into the ¹⁰⁄₂₂. I hear the soft click of it locking into place and I rack the bolt. Thoughts run around in my mind, I try to calm myself and get back into my natural point of aim and the shooter’s bubble… Shimmy to the left, shimmy to the right… my hand steadies as if by magic. Ah, there it is!

The line boss gives the final command, “Fire!”, and the line erupts with dozens of little snaps of 22 and the occasional loud bang of a larger caliber. I turn the safety off and squeeze the trigger. My Ruger mews to life, sending it’s tiny .22lr down range at the target. I call the shot, low and to the left. The smell of gunpowder hangs in the air throughout the day…

All totaled, we launched 716 rounds of ammunition down range over the course of two days. Two folks were awarded a rifleman patch that weekend. Though I was not one of them, my shooting improved significantly, going from a 120 to a 180. Using my own rifle, it will be even higher. I’ve learned what to practice, how to practice, why to practice. I want to become a Rifleman. I want to teach others. This is only the beginning. I think I just woke up.

The morning commute to Appleseed

Teaching the group

Proper sitting position

Proper standing position

Battle scars

And the sun shown down…

If an Appleseed shoot comes around your area. Go. You won’t regret it. This group and these events get the official seal of awesomeness.

Wiggys Ftrss Review

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:33:20 -0400

Updates at the bottom of this post.

Overview

Wiggy’s makes a line of top notch synthetic sleeping bags right here in the good old US of A. They carry a lifetime warranty, keep their warranty even after machine washing, and don’t appear to loose their loft when compressed. All bags come with a compression sack and Lamilite pillow. A particularly nice feature is that you can combine two bags into the Flexible Temperature Range Sleep System, or FTRSS.

Wiggy’s uses an insulation called Lamilite. Lamilite is their proprietary blend of “a 5.5 denier continuous filament fiber which has been coated with a silicone finish”. It has been reported by many users to provide considerable warmth when wet, however it is heavier than some other synthetics available and doesn’t compress as well.

Overbag

The Overbag is a +35 degrees F rated mummy style bag. It is available in four sizes; 33 inches wide in the torso and 82 inches long (regular regular) (weight 2 lbs.), 36 inches wide and 82 inches long (regular wide body) (weight 2 lbs.), 33 inches wide and 92 inches long (long regular) (weight 2 lbs.), and 36 inches wide and 92 inches long (long wide body) (weight 3 lbs.). Please note the larger size for the Overbag, so it will fit comfortably over any of the other bags when the FTRSS is created. Also note that a larger roomier bag is necessary for warm weather use.

Price is $190 (Additional 20% discount as of 2/2/09) Available in Black, Purple, Olive Drab, and Blue. Mine is Black.

Super Light

The Super Light is a 0 degree F rated mummy style bag. It is available in four sizes; 31 inches wide in the torso and 80 inches long (regular regular) (weight is 4 lbs.), 34 inches wide and 80 inches long (regular wide body) (weight is 4 lbs.), 31 inches wide and 90 inches long (long regular) (weight 4 lbs.), and 34 inches wide and 90 inches long (long wide body) (weight 5 lbs.). When the Overbag is added to the Super Light the temperature rating becomes -40 degrees F. When both bags are combined you have the Super Light FTRSS. The Super Lt. has proven to be our most popular bag, both with the Armed Forces and Civilian markets.

Price is $218.00 (Additional 20% discount as of 2/2/09) Available in Purple, Black, and Olive Drab. Mine is Olive Drab

Photos

My core bag, a Wiggy’s Super Light. Laid out in all its wrinkled glory.

Wiggy’s. Made in the USA.

Overbag, over the core bag.

The two bags nested, but not attached.

Showing the Overbag’s draft tube.

Starting the zippering process. You can see how beefy the zippers are here.

The two bags are now joined and I’m trying to give a semblance of scale. That’s a LMF Spork in my hand.

FTRSS Laid out. It’s Beefy.

That’s me holding up the bag. I’m 6’6″ tall, 250 lbs, and about 2′ broad at the shoulders. The door behind me is a standard height door. I was trying to hold the bag off the floor and failing. These bags in Large/Wide are Huge!

FTRSS all Packed up into one compression sack. No, it’s not very tiny.

Comments on the system

What can I say? I like the system so far and recommend it to anyone who needs a single good bag or a great sleep system. Packing the FTRSS can be challenging as it’s actually two sleeping bags, but if you’re going cold weather camping this is a lifesaver. I’ve used the Overbag extensively during this past summer. It works as both a blanket and a sleeping bag with only one real downside: The extra zippers inside can get annoying. I’ve only had a chance to test the Super Light a few times and never down to 0. It is a very comfortable bag and definitely kept me extra toasty down to 20 which is the coldest I’ve gone out with it. I’m going to test the FTRSS during the NNY09WCT this year in the Adirondacks. Last year I used a cheap zero bag inside another zero bag and still needed a blanket.

Test Results: (added Feb 27, 2009)

It didn’t get nearly as cold on this years winter trip, only around 0. I wish I had thought to take the FTRSS apart and just use the 0 bag for the trip. Ah well, maybe later this month… Here are my observations:

The Wiggy’s FTRSS did not cut it by itself in a Hennessey Hammock. The insulation got severely compacted underneath me and my backside started to get cold after 10 minutes. This was what I expected to happen, but it was worth doing and knowing. In order to use this setup to bug out, you’ll need the Hennessey winter kit to add more insulation under you.
Night one was spent on a bed made of two wool blankets and a Z-lite from Thermarest. I was completely comfortable temperature wise with no cold spots. In fact, I was overheating a bit.
Night two was spent on an Exped DownMat… I had the best night sleep of my camping career that night. The FTRSS was nice and toasty (again almost too warm) and the DownMat provided incredible comfort and insulation. Many thanks to WoodsWalker for suggesting this thing. It’s amazing.
My one complaint on the system is how the hood draws closed. It takes a bit of messing around to get the hoods to draw closed properly and sometimes the overbag’s hood gets lost. Not a big deal once you get the hang of it, though. Always keep the overbag’s hood slightly drawn. Once you’re in for the night, pull the inner bag drawstring first, then finish closing the overbag up.

Finally, there’s one feature I forgot to mention on all Wiggy’s bags. If you need to get out of the bag in a hurry, just give the zipper a yank upwards. It unlocks the zipper and you can get out of your bag in less than two seconds. Takes a bit of practice but it works very well.