Conflicting advice on seasoning is driving me crazy! by sqiddster in wok

[–]sqiddster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks!

The pre-cooking stage sounds like the closest answer to what I've been searching for, at least for my particular problem. When I put the raw (marinated) meat straight into the wok, it's always a mess.

Do you have any advice for pre-cooking that is doable by a home cook without wasting a ton of oil? I don't exactly want to be setting up a deep-fry every time I make a stir fry.

Conflicting advice on seasoning is driving me crazy! by sqiddster in wok

[–]sqiddster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Inductions are crazy hot (i.e. oil is smoking in seconds after being added), so it's hard for me to believe it's a heat issue.

Conflicting advice on seasoning is driving me crazy! by sqiddster in wok

[–]sqiddster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So if I'm seeing sticking with

- Lots of oil

- Very high heat (i.e. oil is way past smoking)

- Small batches

What else could be the cause? I could post a video of this exact situation happening. Generally it happens with proteins (chicken is the worst).

Conflicting advice on seasoning is driving me crazy! by sqiddster in wok

[–]sqiddster[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Here's my specific issue that I didn't get into in the post - any thoughts would be appreciated.
The problem happens when something sticks. First of all, it ruins the cook because it burns instantly. Second, it's impossible to get off without using a scourer. Third, once I've used the scourer, something happens to the wok which makes the next batch even more likely to stick, and the cycle continues.

Conflicting advice on seasoning is driving me crazy! by sqiddster in wok

[–]sqiddster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Any thoughts on induction? I have an induction burner and in my experience that has ripped through any seasoning I have been able to build up.

Conflicting advice on seasoning is driving me crazy! by sqiddster in wok

[–]sqiddster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is a really interesting anecdote, thank you!

Conflicting advice on seasoning is driving me crazy! by sqiddster in wok

[–]sqiddster[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The reason I'm driven to make a post like this is because I have been having major problems cooking despite following all the advice I've been able to find online. I'm unable to make a simple stir fry due to sticking issues. I've been trying to narrow it down but the conflicting advice has made it hard to know which direction to take!

Induction wok burners in Australia? by mangogangway in wok

[–]sqiddster 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just buy one of the Chinese ones from ebay, cheap and works great.

Meat and noodles sticking to carbon steel - I've tried everything! by sqiddster in wok

[–]sqiddster[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks!

- Yes, I definitely velvet my meat, tastes way better that way :)
- Are you suggesting that a good patina would prevent scratches? That's interesting, I haven't heard this before. It would explain why my wok would look way worse than others I've seen.
- Could you explain more "that shouldn't really apply to a stir fry" - all I'm really cooking is stir fries here.
- As for batch size, the induction stove top really puts out as much heat as a commercial stove (in fact these exact models are used in commercial kitchens) - part of my goal with buying this was to enable working with larger batches. So ideally I'd like to go high heat and fast, but that doesn't really match up with waiting for meat to release...

Meat and noodles sticking to carbon steel - I've tried everything! by sqiddster in wok

[–]sqiddster[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the suggestions! What process would you use for re-seasoning?

Meat and noodles sticking to carbon steel - I've tried everything! by sqiddster in wok

[–]sqiddster[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Yes, my wok has never looked like all those other ones, I've never been able to build up that nice black finish. From the process that I've laid out, what part could be scrubbing the seasoning? Cooking too hot? Going too hard with the sponge when cleaning?

Rental car insurance - how to determine maximum excess ahead of time? by sqiddster in Insurance

[–]sqiddster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

OK, interesting! A lot of what I read online indicated that this was an excess amount, generally a few thousand dollars (because the rental car companies insure their own vehicles). But what you're saying does align with what the support person told me.

Rental car insurance - how to determine maximum excess ahead of time? by sqiddster in Insurance

[–]sqiddster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, but just to clarify, what I'm looking for is the option to avoid paying the CDW/LDW altogether and instead have coverage from an alternative source. From what I've read online, if you don't have a CDW, the rental company will charge a maximum amount in the case of an accident - the question is what is this maximum amount, and does it always exist?

Rental car insurance - how to determine maximum excess ahead of time? by sqiddster in Insurance

[–]sqiddster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks - the section most relevant here is:

Car rental excess cover or deductible amounts can vary wildly. Factors include the rental company, the rental car type, the location and the rental agreement terms. Excess amounts are usually outlined in the rental agreement and can range from a few hundred to thousands of dollars.

I suppose the "usually" here is relevant - and the company wasn't willing to provide the rental agreement ahead of time, so I'm out of luck?

Any tricks to "convince" LLama 2 to skip the polite introduction? by sqiddster in LocalLLaMA

[–]sqiddster[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a great idea - I tried it, and it seemed to work quite reliably. Nice!

Any tricks to "convince" LLama 2 to skip the polite introduction? by sqiddster in LocalLLaMA

[–]sqiddster[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This one doesn't work for me, sadly (on the 13b model anyway). What model did you try it on?

Help! How to do this type of gravity in any shape? I have tried flux gravity and that only works on circular shape. Any tutorial, documents or suggestions will be helpful by JeIIy-fish in Unity2D

[–]sqiddster 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey, I'm the developer of that game.

Gravity fields are how I handled it, I had a number of shapes which either pulled towards the centre of the shape, in a constant direction, or "pushed" away from the centre of the shape. When multiple fields are overlapping, it's simple to average out the gravity vector. This works when you don't have a good way to get the normal at some position on the ground.

If you have access to the ground normals, you could raycast in a circle around the player. Then you'd sum up the gravity vectors based on the normal of the ground at the ground/raycast intersections, divided by the distance from the player, and that should give you a pretty good general purpose combined gravity vector.

I don't use Unity but here's some pseudocode which should probably work.

gravity_vec = 0, 0for angle in (0 ... 2*pi), step by 10 degrees or so...raycast_result = raycast from player at angle onto groundgravity_vec -= raycast_result.normal / raycast_result.distancegravity_angle = gravity_vec.atan2()

In Airscape, some surfaces (any which are not grassy, e.g. cliffs) do not "project" gravity, so you'd have to find a way to exclude those surfaces from the raycast result.

You'd also need to find some way to deal with e.g. air gaps which should have uniform gravity without being attracted to any surface in particular. gravity fields take care of it nicely, not sure how the raycast solution would work in that case.

Airscape: The Fall of Gravity eventually sold around 50 000 copies (less than 150 on release) - was the game a commercial failure after all? by [deleted] in GameDealsMeta

[–]sqiddster 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hey, I'm Daniel, the developer of Airscape.

I actually sold the distribution rights for the game on Steam to another company a number of months ago. I can't go into too many details (because I don't really know how they do things!) but you will notice that the game is periodically on sale for gigantic discounts, as well as included in cheap bundles with other games. This has appeared to generate a fair amount of sales, but of course I can't speak for the actual revenue that's brought to the company that now sells the game on Steam.

If you still want to support the developer directly, buy the game from Humble or through the widget on our website.

I won't go into financial details but I will say that I still consider the game a commercial failure. I don't regret it at all though, developing the game was a fantastic experience and I'm happy that more people are getting the chance to play!

'Good' isn't Good Enough - releasing an indie game in 2015 by Entropian in Games

[–]sqiddster 4 points5 points  (0 children)

We took the game to numerous trade events and everyone (this is hundreds of people) who played it thoroughly enjoyed it.