Part I in a maybe-never-to-be-continued series about weird food tools: the duck press. Purpose: to smash the remains of a duck carcass to pulp. Usage: You place the duck carcass in the press, crank the wheel, and the top plate compresses the duck, squeezing out whatever liquids (or liquid-y) remains into a bottom pan (not...
Keeping herbs fresh is a challenge. Some do well in the refrigerator, others (like basil) wilt and go black. The best way is to - as best one can - keep them alive. This handy acacia rack (that matches the spice holder we featured earlier) by Roost may just hold a functional, as well as decorative, solution: keep them alive in water just...
Shabu Shabu is the Japanese word for these hot pots, the Chinese hot pot is called shuan yang rou. It is also known as Mongolian Hot Pot. Whatever you call it, it's a delicious, fun and social meal. For all the whiteys out there (like myself): think Asian fondue. The Chinese have been cooking in this way for a dozen centuries....
It's so easy to grow your own sprouts year round. And that earthy, crunchy delicious flavor they add to salads is unbeatable. Also, cooking with hydrated beans, like garbanzos and black-eyed peas, is a snap. They hydrate much faster than their un-sprouted peers, making it easier to whip up bean dishes without having to resort to...
We think we know what the answer is...but we are still seriously considering purchasing these onion goggles from RSVP. Foam padding around the glasses creates a seal that protects even the most sensitive eyes from harmful onion rays (o-rays in science speak). Anti-fog lenses insure you can see, helping you get those finely diced shallots for...
Fennel pollen is, simply put, golden goodness. Because it is the harvested pollen from dried fennel flowers, it is potent stuff, offering a lightly floral, honeyed, heady, herbaceous aroma (and flavor) that is akin to fennel, but yet different. It is extremely versatile and a little dash goes a long way to making the simplest of dishes more...
Personally, I almost never follow recipes. Yeah, sure, you have to when you're baking a cake. But I don't bake cakes, so there. That said, I love cookbooks. I love the ideas I get and I love learning about different ingredients and mixing and matching them and coming up with new menu ideas, new techniques and wicked combinations. The...
The oil of the mustard seed (black, brown and white) is used all over India (though primarily in the Northern parts) for cooking. It is used for frying fritters as well as traditionally for all kinds of cooking. It's spicy flavor has that piquant in-your-throat hit like wasabi or, perhaps not so strangely, hot mustard. While this can be good...
The Japanese Santoku knife, roughly translated, means three uses (or virtues): slicing, dicing and mincing. We received a new one this year, and have found it the perfect compliment to a heavy chef's knife. Its smaller size and thinner blade make it perfect for finely cutting vegetables. We were very happy at how nicely it was to handle and...
The donabe pot is an earthenware pot that's used for the clay pot style of cooking in Japan. Think tagine in Morocco or cazuela in Spain (or "hot dish" in Minnesota...). You get the idea: one pot cooking, Japanese style. In Japan, this style is called Nabemono and is usually don in a donabe pot over a flame, or even an induction burner (the...
Pressure cookers are an old school (well, from, like, the 80s) technique used to cook things...quickly. Which is precisely why we're giving it (though we have no authorization to do so) the green thumbs up award. Shorter cook times = less energy = less CO2...you get the idea. Did we mention quickly? Yeah, that's nice. Cook beans in half the...
Himalayan salt is over 250 million years old. There was some crazy Shasta going on at that time. It has a number of minerals in it (though it is 98% Sodium Chloride) that can give it a pink hue. What we like about these blocks is that it is the pure crystal form of the salt carved into blocks that can be used for cooking (salt actually...
A salt pig is a good example of one of those things you didn't think you needed ... until you had one. What is it? Well, it's just an earthenware (at least it should be) holder, usually shaped like a giant macaroni, designed to hold (surprise) salt. Why? What's wrong with a salt shaker or a bowl. Truthfully, nothing. However, when you...
I spent a year overseas when I was 18. They had panini machines in their homes. I was amazed how simple sandwiches became amazing little stuffed pizzas or just really good toasted sandwiches. So I brought one home. Flash forward (ahem) years and the panini has become a standard at coffee shops, gourmet grocery store delis and cafes around the...
To the French chef, there is nothing that can substitute demi-glace. Often just referred to as "demi", this sauce base is part of the traditional French methods made famous by Auguste Escoffier. Demi glace is one of those crazy things that you can really only make as a chef in a kitchen. It's an all day affair, the basic process of which...
It's winter time and nothing says winter like hot cheese. I'm not talking fondue - that's so 70's and 90's - I'm talking Raclette. Raclette is a Swiss cheese (not to be confused with "Swiss cheese", which is actually Emmenthaler). It's a somewhat salty and somewhat hard cow's milk cheese that comes in medium size rounds. It's name comes...
We’ll keep this one simple. How much can you really say about a cutting board? For the environmentalist: it’s made of “polyflax”, which is a blend of 100% post-consumer recycled (food grade) plastic (I’m guessing milk bottles, but it’s anyone’s guess) and flax waste from flax production (presumably oils and whatnot),...
Molecular gastronomy, ie playing with your food. Or, bringing science into the kitchen. Whatever you call it, it's the process of making gels, foams, freeze drying, carbonating, doing all kinds of crazy cool stuff that hopefully makes for interesting dinners. Here's a list of everything an aspiring molecular gastronomist can't do...
If you are a food-happy, gadget-loving cooker (like us!), or if you have one such person on your holiday gift list, here's an awesome, handy and super hi-tech gadget: a portable induction burner. Here's the scoop on induction burners: they don't generate heat. Instead, they use a powerful magnet (which means you have to use pots with iron or...
Sur La Table is now offering antique cookware (as well as retro-cool seltzer bottles, salt shakers and other bygone acoutrements) that they find in Paris and flea markets and other various places. Of course these are one of a kind, so when they're gone, they're gone. This particular pot (unsold as of this writing) was manufactured by...
There are some food items that can transcend any dish. In South East Asian cooking, it's the fish sauce. In Italy, olive oil. You get the idea. In Spanish cooking, pimenton ahumado - smoked paprika - is indispensable. We discovered this spice a few years ago and since then, the simplest dishes now come out so much more interesting. For...
Sous vide. A revolutionary process of heating meats and vegetables by submersing them in heated water, up to 140 degrees, over a long period of time. This technique is part of the whole "molecular gastronomy" movement - where gourmet chefery meets science. People who cook sous vide say it's the best way to make really moist fish, that it...
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