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What chopsticks to buy? Asian people help prease. - Page 2

post #16 of 191
7/27/11 at 8:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by impolyt_one View Post

I've actually been to Flagstaff, Arizona. More than once. I can't say that I want to go back. =\

I sort of liked it. Good hiking, some incredible cliff dwelling Indian ruins, a couple of nice places (including one co-owned by Richard Betts, Master Somm and co-owner of Betts and Scholl wines), and generally relaxing in a run down, northern kind of town way. Reminds me of some places in northern Ontario I spent time in as a kid. That said, been years since I was there, and with all the millions of places to go, I'll probably never visit again.

WTF were you doing there?
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post #17 of 191
7/27/11 at 8:08am
I also have to agree that the Korean metal ones can be difficult to get used to. I'd recommend non-lacquered Japanese chopsticks. There are some beautiful ones made from nice woods.

For a slightly off beat suggestion, there's the Tibetan yak bone ones. I got them as a gift and was skeptical at first, but once I got over the fact that I was eating with bones, I've rather come to like them. Great feel in the hands and easy to use. There's go to day-to-day one.
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post #18 of 191
7/27/11 at 8:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bryanayrb View Post

while we're sort of on the topic.. why the hell do koreans use the long spoon for soups? shit is ridiculous after drinking chinese soup using the deep porcelain spoons

Well, that's a good question, I guess beyond the sanitary aspect, not really sure to be honest, but like I said, traditional high-class Korean table manners involve eating rice with the spoon, banchan with the chopsticks, and that has trickled down through the ages; in plebe table manners oft times the solids in a stew get fished out first and put on top of the rice and eaten semi-dry... and then depending on your judgement and the consistency of the soup/stew, it can be vice-versa and you dump the rice into the soup. Kimchijjigae, the former, yukgaejang, the latter. In those cases, we only need the chopsticks to pick at banchan (which can be tiny as fuck, like black beans or little anchovies, thin sprouts, etc) or to tear at whole braised meats.
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post #19 of 191
7/27/11 at 8:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Piobaire View Post

WTF were you doing there?

Lived on the Navajo indian reservation for a bit. (I'm serious)
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post #20 of 191
7/27/11 at 8:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mafoofan View Post

This thread is so FAIL.

Wooden chopsticks? wtf.

They should be made of bamboo, with a square cross-section (not round). Don't get anything fancy. They're not supposed to be expensive. Just go to the local Chinese grocery market and buy a bundle.

Lacquered or metal ones are terrible, as they slip too easily between the fingers.

REALASIANHASSPOKEN

what he said. Chopsticks are the main utensil at my house and inexpensive bamboo (square on top, round at the tip - i.e. normal shaped chopsticks) works the best. Plastic is for restaurants and they're a cheap sub for bone (good luck finding real bone chopsticks here, they are pretty decent). I suppose if you want something a little fancier you can find bamboo ones with little nubs/ribs turned into them at the tips for extra grip but I don't really care for that. Avoid lacquered ones unless for show because you'll end up eating the lacquer as it eventually chips away. yummmm. You can use metal I guess but they're gonna suck when eating anything slippery.
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post #21 of 191
7/27/11 at 8:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by impolyt_one View Post


Lived on the Navajo indian reservation for a bit. (I'm serious)

Oh cool. I did some work in the Nation years ago to do with some public health projects and research.
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post #22 of 191
7/27/11 at 8:22am
Well, to me, now that this thread has me thinking about it, the hierarchy is this:

-metal chopsticks at home (because I'm Korean and live in Korea, but I don't actually ever use these except for stirring a drink if I can't find my bar spoon)
-metal chopsticks at almost every low-end Korean place
-wooden chopsticks at every 'ethnic' Asian place - Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese, etc
-bamboo disposables with takeaway/delivery, or whenever and wherever you want - I can go downstairs to the convenience store and the guy will give me 20 pairs for free if I need, they give you a pair with every pack of ramen people buy. Ate sushi not long ago at a decent restaurant, and the chopsticks were disposable bamboo. They were turned nicely and not the break-apart kind, but still, couple hundred bucks a head and the chopsticks were throwaways
-bone - Chinese fine-dining equivalent places, the only really fancy Chinese places I've been to were in Japan, at Japanese-Chinese restaurants - the china is nice, the chopsticks are nice, the glasses and linens all nice, etc - the same as if you were to go to a French restaurant and eat off Reynaud with Cristofle and Laguiole, i.e. they expect you to spend a couple hundred bucks a head, at least.
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post #23 of 191
7/27/11 at 8:28am
^^^ Bamboo is not only used for the cheap, disposable, pull-apart sort. What most of you are calling "wooden" chopsticks are probably bamboo. As far as I know, wood is not a material tradtionally used for chopsticks.
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post #24 of 191
7/27/11 at 8:30am
yeah impolyte, when I said inexpensive bamboo above I'm not talking about disposable.
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post #25 of 191
7/27/11 at 8:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by impolyt_one View Post

Don't use the Korean skinny metal ones, even other Asian non-Korean people bitch about them, lol.

I hate those things so fucking much. I'd like Korean food a lot more if it didn't come with such stupid utensils.
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post #26 of 191
7/27/11 at 8:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mafoofan View Post

^^^ Bamboo is not only used for the cheap, disposable, pull-apart sort. What most of you are calling "wooden" chopsticks are probably bamboo. As far as I know, wood is not a material tradtionally used for chopsticks.

yeah you're right, I should've said 'fancy bamboo/wood' - the stained or lacquered jawns, versus the un-lacquered pull apart disposables.
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post #27 of 191
7/27/11 at 8:51am
Your major chopstick types are

Metal - Easy to wash, hard to use (heavy and skinny)
Bamboo - Easy to use, Good Grip, Hard to clean - Replace every 6mo -1 year
Lacquer - Nice looking, slippery, low quality ones might contain unsafe material / chip
Ivory - More for collection rather than everyday use
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post #28 of 191
7/27/11 at 9:06am
just buy several different ones and try them. They're cheap. Or just buy bamboo and don't look back.
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post #29 of 191
7/27/11 at 9:12am
I've always preferred lacquered chopsticks. They feel nice in the hand.

Even as a Koreaman, I cannot successfully use thin metal chopsticks. Then again, my parents never corrected my chopstick usage, so I use the improper X method.
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post #30 of 191
7/27/11 at 9:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by erictheobscure View Post

I use the improper X method.

you're a heathen of the lowest class. Even whiteman with the choke-up two inches above the tip method has you beat.
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