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Top 10 Pieces of Kitchen Gear

Friday, March 19, 2010 7:15 am Frank

Kenji over at Serious Eats compiled a very nice list of top 10 kitchen tools to have around for home cooks. A good set of kitchen gear is essential for any home cook as it will ensure proper, safe cooking as well as a clean work area, accurate measurements, and a good mise en place.

I agree with almost all of the choices, including the instant-read thermometer, a good set of prep bowls and even the kitchen scale. I am an avid Alton Brown follower and any time I bake, I pull out my kitchen scale and weigh ingredients rather than eyeball them. The article over at Serious Eats even lists the website URLs to buy the specified tools so there is no excuse to not have at least a few of the items on the list.

A few items I feel are missed on this list are a set of heavy duty cutting boards, a nice knife set, and a good oven thermometer would be great additions to the list.

Head on over to SeriousEats.com and take a look at the Top 10 list. If there are any kitchen essentials you can't live without, let us know!

The Food Lab's Top 10 Pieces of Kitchen Gear

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Online chefs serve up cooking advice and expertise

Friday, March 12, 2010 3:09 pm Frank

CNN.com's iReport reporters poured in home videos of home cooking shows and recordings and posted them on CNN.com. Many home cooks went ahead and shared their skills and techniques with their video cameras to post reports of their abilities and hope to share their skills with everyone that watches.

From the article:

Home cooks all over the world flock to YouTube, WordPress and the like
to share their recipes and experiences. Food blogs and communities like
Epicurious and AllRecipes explode with content, from the
"semi-homemade" recipes popularized by several Food Network shows to
demonstrations from trained cooks and expert bakers. They're a diverse
group -- world travelers, stay-at-home moms, even restaurant owners --
but they share a passion for creating and sharing fabulous dishes.

Many of these home cooks are driven by their desire to cook and share their knowledge with others who are willing to learn how to cook and want to expand their skill set. Head over to CNN.com and see what's up.

Online chefs serve up cooking advice, expertise - CNN.com

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One Minute Ciabatta Bread

Friday, March 12, 2010 12:00 pm Frank

Seth Simonds wrote a nice and detailed article on making a one minute prep solution to ciabatta bread. All you need for his recipe is all purpose flour, warm water, salt, yeast and some pretty basic kitchen hardware.

Home made bread really requires nothing more than a hot oven, some simple ingredients and a good amount of time to allow dough to rise. Many home cooks are put back by the quality of home baked bread and most breads are simple enough to cook pretty often.

Head on over to Lifehack.org and see Seth's detailed recipe for home made ciabatta bread.

Kitchen Hack: One-Minute Bread

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No-Waste Dressing Using Mustard

Wednesday, March 3, 2010 4:15 pm Frank

MarthaStewart.com has a good tip on using the last of your mustard to create a Dijon vinaigrette with the last bit of mustard in your jar. The mustard is used as an emulsifier to help keep everything in suspension (specifically the olive oil and balsamic vinegar) and prevent separation.

No-Waste Dressing
Have a tiny bit of mustard left in the jar? Toss in a few
ingredients, and shake a tangy Dijon vinaigrette right in the
container. A crushed garlic clove, some chopped fresh herbs and minced
shallot will add the right flavor. Pour in balsamic vinegar, season
with salt and pepper, then close the lid and shake. Add olive oil;
shake again to emulsify the dressing, and then drizzle over your
favorite salad. With a tightly sealed lid, it will keep in the
refrigerator for up to one week.

No Waste Dressing

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1 Chicken, 17 Healthy Meals, $26

Tuesday, March 2, 2010 11:54 am Frank

Blog CheapHealthyGood discusses a good way to be frugal with a very versatile food item that many of us overlook these days: whole chicken. Using 1 whole chicken, the author creates 17 different (and healthy) meals for an overall cost of $25.86. These were the requirements:

The budget – for EVERYTHING - was $25.
I had to use as much food already in my pantry as possible. (Which accounted for a lot, and saved me mad dough in the long run.)
Each meal had to feed at least two people (The Boyfriend and me).
Bonus points for leftovers.
The chicken had to be used up within a few days, so it wouldn’t go bad.
The meals had to have reasonable variety, preferably from a range of cuisines. It couldn’t be Chicken with Spaghetti on Day 1, then Chicken with Penne on Day 2.
The meals had to have very little added fat, since the leftover chicken would provide most of it.

While the author did go over budget by a mere 86 cents, the lesson still holds. Head on over and check out some healthy tips and recipes from the author and see if you can use them in your own kitchen.

1 Chicken, 17 Healthy Meals, $26 Bucks, No Mayo

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Last Updated on Tuesday, March 9, 2010 1:33 pm

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